THIS CHAPTER IS DEDICATED TO LINDS (Strawberry-Shortcake01) And to all of you for making the 252 reviews possible.

AGAIN

Chapter Eleven: Changes

Suze

I felt like Hell.

I had been living with Jesse for the past four months and that had been heaven. But for the last three weeks I had felt like crap. The mornings were usually the worst. I would wake up to the sound of Jesse making breakfast in the kitchen and just the smell of the delicious food he cooked was enough to make me want to throw up.

Which was ridiculous since Jesse was a good cook, almost as good as Andy actually. But I couldn't help it, just the smell of it made me wanna hurl. But luckily, after I threw up in the bathroom, I was left hungry and was able to enjoy my breakfast after all.

That morning, however, Jesse happened to walk into the bathroom as I threw up and he went mental, let me tell you. He picked me up and carried me to the bed and wouldn't let me get up and started to ask a lot of questions about how I felt and for how long I had felt like that. I told him, you know, about being dizzy and the nausea and all that. I mean, why wouldn't I tell him? He was my boyfriend and a doctor – a very good one, might I add.

But then Jesse got very, very serious. He started to look at me funny, something that was between amusement and incredulity.

"Querida," he said while smoothing my hair away from my face. "When was your last… er… you know…" Jesse blushed scarlet and then hastily said "your period?"

I looked at him; ready to say 'April' when suddenly I started to really think about it. Had the crimson wave come down last month? "March," I blurted out. "What are you going at, Jesse?"

"Well, querida, you know we haven't always been our utter most careful and then all your symptoms… I think is possible… that we should at least consider the possibility of you being pregnant."

I gaped like a fool "A baby? Really, Jesse? 'Cause I think is just something bad I ate that that Sushi place Adam took CeeCee and me the other day for lunch."

"Maybe is just that," Jesse allowed, though I could tell he didn't really think so. "But I would really feel much better if you came down to the hospital with me and got a check up, just to be sure. And if is just food poisoning we can give you something for that too."

"You didn't make me go to the hospital last time I had food poisoning." I remind him.

"Querida, please." Jesse said in his silkiest most persuasive voice.

That did it.

How could I say no when he asked so nicely?

I couldn't. So half an hour later I was in the car with Jesse and we were heading for the hospital, even when by then I felt perfectly fine.

Jesse wasn't letting show how he felt about the idea of me being pregnant with his baby but I didn't worry too much about it, I knew Jesse and I knew he wasn't going to ditch me, and if he wasn't letting anything show that was probably because he was worried about my health.

"Hey, Caitlin!" Jesse said cheerfully or what he thought was cheerfully, as we walked into the ER. "Is Jerry on duty, already?"

But Caitlin wasn't paying much attention to him, she was greeting me. "Oh, Suze, how nice to see you here, such a nice surprise! We just don't see enough of you." What can I say? Caitlin is very happy that I'm with Jesse. Jesse says that's because, before I came along, Caitlin used to think he was a bit of a man slut. So Caitlin is happy I have made of Jesse a decent man or so he says, you gotta know her to understand, she was a 'big sister' complex, she acts like she's fifty or something even when she's only like five years older than Jesse.

"Caitlin?" Jesse repeated, "Is Jerry on?"

She was still paying no attention to him. "Would you like some coffee?"

Jesse jumped. "No, no coffee. Caitlin, is Jerry on service?"

The chief of nurses looked at him and blinked. "Yes, he's on Exam Two doing some stitches, why?"

"Um, could you take Susannah to Curtain One while I get Jerry?"

"Are you sick, dear?" Caitlin jumped.

"Not really, she just needs to get some blood work. I'm going to get Jerry to sign the order." Jesse said. He had told me he couldn't be my doctor because it was a conflict of interests for him that might veil his judgment as a doctor, that's why he was going to ask Jerry to get my blood and all that.

I sat there on Curtain One and waited a little, then Jerry showed up and asked me a bunch of questions, basically the same ones Jesse had asked me in the morning, but he didn't blush when he asked about my period. Then Caitlin pinched me with a needle and got the blood out and told me that it would take an hour tops and that I could wait in the doctor's lodge if I wanted.

Jesse reappeared around that time and guided me to the lodge, he had been caught in a case and now he had to go and do his rounds but he said he would be back when they had my blood tests back.

Jesse kissed me before he left and said "What ever it is, we'll be fine you and I, I promise."

"I know."

"I love you, querida" Jesse said.

"I love you too, Jesse."

He smiled and went about his work.

I sat there for a long time, munching on some cookies someone had left there and thinking. Trying to digest all of what was happening, and for the fist time really considering the possibility of me being pregnant with Jesse's baby. Unconsciously my hand went to my stomach, patting it softly as a smile reached my lips.

Before, when I had been married to Paul, I had avoided like a plague getting pregnant, I even had questioned if I had motherly instincts at all but now that the possibility of it arise I realized it wasn't because of me that I didn't want to have kids, it was because I was with the WRONG guy. But now that I was with Jesse…

-


You Got Mail


To: Sam Fashiongirl…

From: Jerry DocLove…

Re: You ain't gonna believe this.

It appears that Jessekins has knock up Suze.

I'm not sure yet but I'm about to find out.

Don't tell a soul.

Love,

Jerry.


To: Jerry DocLove…

From: Sam Fashiongirl….

Re: You ain't gonna believe this

GET YOUR SCRAWNY LITTLE BUTT BACK HERE AND TELL ME ALL YOU KNOW!

Sam.


To: Sam Fashiongirl…

From: Jerry DocLove…

Re: FYI

-

MY BUTT IS NOT SCRAWNY!

Oops, gotta go, the lab results are back.

I'm going to know, I'm going to know, I'm going to know, I'm going to know, I'm going to know, I'm going to know, I'm going to know, I'm going to know, I'm going to know, I'm going to know, I'm going to know, I'm going to know, I'm going to know, I'm going to know, I'm going to know, I'm going to know, I'm going to know, I'm going to know, I'm going to know, I'm going to know, I'm going to know.

AND YOU WON'T!

Take that!

Jerry.


To: Jerry DocLove…

From: Sam Fashiongirl….

Re: FYI

-

1. I hate you

2. You're sleeping on the couch.

3. I HATE YOU

Sam.


Paul

There I was, coming home after a long run in the beach. Though I was back working for the firm, I still only worked part days on my grandfather's request. So I got time to spend most afternoons running out in the beach, it was my way to let out my energy.

For the last few months Wendy had been living with us. Jack adored her and so does grandpa. It was odd having her around. Like she moved stuff around and when Mark –pops' male nurse – wasn't around she would cook and clean and do stuff.

Like that afternoon I got home after running. She was helping Jack with his homework which was some project about interviewing someone he respected.

"Angelovsky? Really? That's your last name?" Jack was asking when I walked in.

"Yeah, my name is Wendy Ivanova Angelovsky. I was born in St Petersburg but my parents moved here when I was like, three."

"So you don't remember Russia?"

"Not much, though I did go back there when I was 16, my grandma died and we went to drop her ashes in the Neva River. Russia is a weird place, you know, it makes you feel very, very small."

"Yeah, I guess." Jack said, scribbling down what Wendy had just said.

The door bell rang. "Could you get that?" Wendy asked, "Must be the pizza."

"I'm not your maid, you know. I might have better things to do."

"Yeah, right, that's why you have been standing there for ten minutes without blinking." Jack retorted. "And don't forget to tip the guy."

I groaned and went to open the door. It was indeed a pizza guy and after I paid I took the pizza back to where they were. "Thanks. A couple of sodas would be welcomed too." Jack said. "Okay, so you were talking about boyfriend."

"Oh, yeah. John. What can I say? He was kind and honest and he put me ahead of everything else, always. He was also the king geek of our school."

"You dated a geek?"

"King geek, mind you, and yeah, since I was sixteen, he was eighteen at the time. Two years ago he graduated Stanford with a as a civil engineer with a specialization in metal's viscosity. He died shortly after… car crash." Her voice shook a little.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to." Jack told her, but for all answer Wendy took a sip of her soda.

"That's okay." She added. "You know, the way I was brought up I was taught to believe that everything happens for a reason, always. Good and bad… so it doesn't matter. John died because… well, I don't know. My mom says that in his apparent lack of motive, God wants us to doubt, it makes us stronger."

"So your family was very religious."

"Yes but for Russians religion is something elastic, its part superstition, part religion as you know it. After John died I stayed in school for a while- I was a second year law student, wanted to be a public defender someday- but then I decided to quit school and join the church and become a nun. But a week before of that I got killed."

"Is that why you still hang around? 'Cause you were killed?" I asked, surprising myself that I even cared.

"Nope, Mark was not right on the head… he couldn't help himself when he killed me. Besides, he's dead too anyway. He killed himself after he shot me."

"Why did he shot you?"

"It's a long story. But it doesn't matter. I know why I'm here and it's not that."

"Then what is it?" I asked. "You know, so I can get rid of you." I added.

"Miracle." She said.

"What?"

"A miracle. When I wasn't dead all I ever wanted was to see a miracle with my own eyes, before I died. John said I would… he promised. So now I'm here, waiting to see one as John said I would."

"So… if I want you gone I need a miracle?"

Wendy nodded. "And a pretty impressive one."


Jesse

I couldn't wait.

The blood tests were taking FOREVER. I know we could have checked at home with a pregnancy test but I wanted to be sure and for that the best thing was blood. I was pacing around, going through the motions, trying to focus on my work. Avoiding all difficult cases because I knew I couldn't handle them.

So for the next hour I applied myself to do sutures and treat colds, going back to check on Susannah from time to time.

Finally, Jerry came with the labs and I went with him to the doctor's lodge and I sat down next to Susannah and took her hand. She gave me a brave smile and squeezed my hand a little.

"Well, well, well…" Jerry said, he has a flair for the dramatic.

"Jerry, cut it. We want to know." I said with a frown.

"Okay. Congratulations." He said grinning and slid the lab results across the table for me to see. "The test came back positive for pregnancy. I'll leave you two alone now."

Jerry left and I turned to Susannah. She looked happy and oddly serene for being the bubbling girl she is. She looked up at me and threw her arms around me. "We are going to have a baby!" She cried on my neck. I hugged her tight.

Everything sinking in slowly. "Yes," I laughed, I couldn't help it. I had made a baby with my querida. A rowdy little boy that would inherit Susannah's smile… or maybe a little girl with querida's green eyes. It didn't matter.

I felt so dammed happy that I thought I might explode just for the sheer happiness within me.

The more I thought about it the more I liked the idea of a baby with Susannah… someone that was half me and half her… yes, I wanted that.

-

End of Chapter Eleven.


Notes:

I know, I know. I'm meanie!

I kept Wendy babbling when you guys wanted to know about the baby…

But there you go!

Happiness is around the corner!

For more than one character!

Now, please push the purple button and leave a review!

Much love,

Crazy, lovable me!