Sam closed her eyes and took a deep breath, willing the latest wave of nausea to pass. She leaned forward and held her head in her hands, pressing against her forehead as she groaned.
"Here," Dante said, passing her the plastic bin from the bedside table next to him.
"Ugh…turn around," she grumbled, taking it from him and holding it in front of her as she took a few more deep breaths.
He couldn't help but laugh softly as he reached over and pulled her hair back, holding it with one hand and rubbing her back with the other.
"I keep telling you, I don't care," he said. "Do you know how many times I've seen Rocco puke? Hell, do you know how many times Rocco has puked on me?"
Sam shook her head, turning towards him and opening her eyes.
"There is a big difference between seeing your kid puke and seeing your girlfriend puke," she said and he laughed, leaning forward and pressing his lips to her forehead. She sighed and gently pushed him away.
"I'm all sweaty and gross and smell like vomit," she mumbled, sitting up and sighing as the nausea had passed for the moment.
She couldn't even fathom that there was anything left in her system after the past 48 hours. She hadn't been able to keep anything down, suspecting either a stomach bug or food poisoning. It was after she'd called Dante to cancel their date that he'd showed up at the penthouse and, immediately alarmed at how pale and dehydrated she was, insisted on bringing her to General Hospital. She would have argued but she was too weak and exhausted to put up a fight.
Dr. Robinson had taken one look at her in the ER and hooked her up to IV fluids while she ran some tests to determine the cause of Sam's illness. While Sam had tried to send Dante home, he had insisted on staying with her.
"Come on, lie down for a bit," he said, standing up and taking the bin from her. She scooted up towards the head of the bed and leaned back, closing her eyes as he sat in the chair beside the bed and reached for her hand.
Her lips curved up in a smile and she tilted her head to the side, opening her eyes to meet his.
"You're being very sweet to me, even though I'm being pretty miserable," she said and he smiled, bringing her hand up to his lips. "I'm glad you're here," she admitted and he gave her hand a reassuring squeeze.
"I know," he said, keeping hold of her hand. "Close your eyes, I'm not going anywhere."
She dozed for a while before she heard the curtain to the cubicle they were in being pulled back and opened her eyes to see Dr. Robinson. She and Dante both sat up and looked at her expectedly, waiting to hear her official diagnosis.
"Well, Sam, it's not a virus or food poisoning," she said, walking towards the foot of the bed. "You're pregnant."
Sam stared at her for a moment before blinking a few times, shaking her head.
"I'm sorry…I'm what?" she asked, looking over at Dante, who stared back at her, just as shocked.
"You're pregnant," Portia repeated, looking back and forth between them. "I gather from both your expressions that this wasn't something you were expecting…"
Sam couldn't help but laugh, burying her face in her hands for a moment before looking over at Dante and then back up at Portia.
"Oh yeah, these are the faces of two people who were expecting that," she said and this time, it was Dante's turn to laugh. He reached over and rested his hand on her knee, squeezing it gently, reassuringly.
Portia smiled and nodded, looking down at Sam's chart in her hands.
"Well, I've asked Dr. Navarro to come see you. I've been looking through your chart and, from your medical history, especially the surgery you had after your last delivery, you're likely looking at a higher-risk pregnancy than your previous ones," she said gently and Sam nodded, almost automatically, Portia's words ringing in her ears.
"Is that what's making her so sick?" Dante asked and his voice brought her out of her fog. She looked over at him and then back up at Portia. "This doesn't seem like normal morning sickness…" he added.
"It's not," Portia agreed. "You're likely suffering from hyperemesis gravidarum. That's the medical term for severe morning sickness. You didn't have this with any of your previous pregnancies?" she asked and Sam shook her head.
"I had morning sickness but nothing like this," she said and Portia nodded, making a few notes on her chart.
"Okay, well you're already looking better after some fluids," she said, walking over to the side of Sam's bed and checking her vitals. "I want to keep you on them overnight to get you rehydrated. If you can eat something and keep it down, then you can go home in the morning and we can prescribe you some things to try to manage it."
Sam nodded and leaned back against the bed, bringing her hands up to her face as she took a deep breath.
"Okay," she said, dropping her hands to her lap and smiling weakly at Portia. "Thanks, Dr. Robinson," she added and Portia smiled at both of them.
"I'm going to go get you admitted and we'll move you to a room for the night, that'll be a little more comfortable for both of you. Dr. Navarro will come see you there," she added before leaving.
Sam and Dante were quiet for a few moments after she left, looking over at each other in disbelief.
"I swear, I never in a million years thought…" she started to say but he shook his head, reaching for her hand.
"Hey, hey, I know," he said, squeezing her hand reassuringly. "We're careful…I mean…well…except…" he said, trailing off and she sighed, nodding as she had the same realization as him.
"My office," she said, leaning back in the bed and staring up at the ceiling. "I guess all it takes is one time…"
It had been impulsive, a little over a month ago. They hadn't seen each other in almost two weeks, first he'd been out of town with Rocco's baseball team for a tournament and then she'd been away on a case. The first day that they were both back in town, he was in the neighborhood of her office to serve a warrant but there had been a delay with the paperwork and he was waiting for the official word to go ahead. He'd decided to go by her office to see her.
Within about thirty seconds of him arriving, she'd locked the door behind him and they were taking each other's clothes off.
"I mean…technically we did it a few times that day," he teased and she smacked his arm, shaking her head at him, though her lips curved up in a tiny smile. They were quiet again for a few moments before he moved to sit on the side of the bed, threading his fingers through hers. "How are you feeling?"
She took a deep breath and shrugged her shoulders, looking down at their hands between them.
"Well…the nausea has been replaced by shock," she said and he nodded. "We haven't ever talked about this," she added and he nodded again. "I…I don't even know if you wanted more kids?"
"To be honest, I hadn't thought about it in a long, long time," he admitted. "But yeah, I wanted to have more kids. I guess I just accepted a while ago that it wasn't going to happen. And, you know, that was fine. It was more than fine, I'm so lucky to have Rocco…and I love Scout and Danny," he said and she smiled, knowing that he did. "What about you?" he asked and she laughed, shaking her head.
"Oh no, I thought I was done," she said and he chuckled. "But I honestly didn't think I could get pregnant again," she continued. "You heard Dr. Robinson, I had a lot of complications when Scout was born…and you know, I'm not exactly in my prime child bearing years anymore either," she added.
"The most important thing to me is your health," he said, reaching up and brushing his thumb against her cheek and she nodded, leaning into his touch. "I don't want to do anything that puts you at risk."
"I know…I don't really know what to feel yet," she admitted and he nodded in agreement. "I mean, we didn't plan this, we're not married, we don't even live together," she continued before she caught herself, her eyes flying up to meet his. "I mean, not that I'm saying we should get married, or that I want to get married, that's…that's not what I meant, I just meant that, you know, if we'd been planning this…"
He watched her ramble for a minute before he leaned forward and kissed her, bringing his hands up to frame her face as he pulled away and rested his forehead against hers.
"I have vomit breath," she whispered after a moment and he burst out laughing, kissing her forehead before kissing her on the lips again, not caring in the slightest.
"I need to show you something," he said as he pulled back, brushing his thumbs against her cheeks. "But I need you to promise me not to say anything when I do," he continued and she raised her eyebrows at him.
"Okay…" she said, hesitantly, waiting for him to continue.
"Because I don't want to give it to you here, I just…need you to know that I have it, and I already had it today, and I'll give it to you later…somewhere that's…not….here," he finished, looking around at their surroundings in the ER cubicle and she stared at him, completely bewildered.
He took a deep breath and reached into his pocket, and she gasped as he pulled out an unmistakable ring box.
"Dante," she whispered, her hands flying up to cover her mouth. "Is…is that…" she asked, her eyes searching his for a clue. He smiled and shrugged his shoulders, holding the box towards her.
"Open it and see," he offered and she stared at it for a moment before shaking her head and pushing it back towards him.
"No," she said, looking back up at him and his eyes widened in confusion.
"...no?" he asked after a moment and she realized what he was thinking.
"Oh! No….that's not what…no, no, no, no, no," she said, covering both his hands with hers and squeezing them. "I'm not saying no," she insisted and he chuckled, reaching up and running his hand nervously through his hair.
"Are you sure, because you just said no about seventeen times," he said and she laughed, leaning forward and resting her forehead against his.
"I meant I don't want to open the box here," she said and he smiled, letting out a relieved breath. "You open it when you're ready to give it to me…somewhere that's not here," she continued, repeating his words from a few moments earlier. "And when I haven't been throwing up for two straight days," she added and he chuckled. "I promise my answer will be…not no."
This time it was his turn to laugh and he leaned forward, kissing her softly.
"Hey," he whispered as they pulled apart. "We made a baby."
She couldn't help herself as she smiled and shook her head in disbelief.
"Yeah," she replied, leaning forward wrapping her arms around his shoulders and pressing her face against his neck. She knew there was still a lot of uncertainty and a lot for them to figure out. But as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into his chest, she already felt calmer, knowing they would figure it out together. "We made a baby."