A/N: Thanks to everyone who's been reading and reviewing up to this point. I'm glad you guys seem to be enjoying this at least as much as I like writing it. Thanks to Greggo Maniac and Sunset for the beta work and a special thank you to Chickie Baby for all your pointers and for going over this, not once, but twice. You guys rock! And now, here's chapter eleven for your reading pleasure.
Catherine had arrived early for her appointment, and was now in the waiting room, thumbing through a magazine. With the house empty, she could only relax so much before going insane from inactivity, especially considering her line of work. At least the light murmuring of the women in the waiting room and the television tuned to HGTV would provide a change of scenery.
Her early arrival proved to be a blessing, though, when one of Roz's patients canceled their appointment, bumping Catherine up.
"Ms. Willows? Dr. Coronado will see you now," called the professionally perky mass of red curls that sat at the receptionist desk.
Catherine slid the copy of Baby Talk magazine onto the coffee table and stood, grabbing her purse, and moving through the waiting room. A few women glanced up, watching with little interest as she disappeared through the oak door leading to the exam rooms.
Roz met her in the hall. She looked every bit the part of successful, high-end doctor with her jet black hair pulled into a sleek, professional bun, flawless olive complexion and the skirt of a navy blue pinstripe suit peeking out from under her white lab coat.
"Catherine," she smiled, both her dark brown eyes and tone exuding warmth. "Nice to see you again."
Catherine returned the smile and they started towards one of the rooms. "You, too. But we've got to stop seeing each other in a purely professional capacity."
Roz laughed, a rich, throaty sound. "Hey, you know my number. Call me. We'll get together."
Catherine smiled. "I'll keep that in mind, but I won't mention that the same applies to you."
"Fine," Roz grinned."I'll call you." She gestured through an open door. "But now, we have some things to take care of." They walked into a deceptively cheerful room that for all its warm burnt orange walls, bright lights and colorful watercolor paintings, still had the cold, sterile feel of an examination room.
"Right," Catherine's smile faded; she was actually kind of nervous. "Well, let's do this then, shall we?"
Roz gave her an encouraging smile. "It won't be that bad. Promise."
Catherine raised an eyebrow. "Now where have I heard that before?"
Roz chuckled. "Fine, I take it back. It will be all that you imagined and more. Feel better?"
Catherine rolled her eyes and perched on the edge of the exam table. "Oh, sure. Much better, thanks."
"I thought that might help." She picked up a folder that had Catherine's name scrawled across the label in a feminine script and took a seat in a rolling chair in the corner. "Now, what I want for today is some blood tests, then I'll have Carol weigh and measure you, and then we'll do your exam, okay? But first I just want to touch on some things with you."
"Shoot," Catherine said, leaning forward slightly, forearms on thighs, her hands dangling between her legs.
"Well, I'm not gonna sugar coat anything for you," Roz told her, then grinned. "You'd kill me if I tried."
"You got that right," Catherine said with a trace of a smile. "And I know how to hide a body."
"Exactly my point," Roz chuckled, lightly. "Well, let's just cover the basics, shall we? You know that with women over 35, there's an increase in possible pregnancy complications…."
Catherine nodded and listened attentively as Roz explained about the slightly higher risks of birth defects, chromosomal abnormalities, miscarriage, pre-term birth, diabetes, stillbirth and an elevated chance of caesarean delivery.
It was a lot of information to absorb, and it hit Catherine that if she hadn't been nervous before, she would've been now. But she had been nervous before and now she had the urge to run screaming into the afternoon sunshine. She mentally patted herself on the back for not doing just that and concentrated on not letting her anxiety show.
But Roz was a friend, and one smart cookie to boot, and she saw right through Catherine's facade.
"Hey," she said, getting up and placing a comforting arm around Catherine's shoulders, "no worries, okay? The risks are slight, like I said. Maybe a one in a hundred shot. Less when you take care of yourself, which I know you do. And even less than that when you have a good doctor, and, let's not kid ourselves, I am the best," she said in a jokingly haughty tone before shooting Catherine a grin.
Catherine hesitated only momentarily before smiling back. "Yeah. I know. It's just..." she made a gesture with her right hand, her words trailing off.
"Scary?" Roz supplied. "Frightening? Unreal? Any of those ring a bell?"
Catherine let out a small laugh. "Yeah. Plus a few more."
"Yeah, well join the club. You should have seen me when I first found out about Sabrina. Talk about a holy wreck," she said, her eyes rolling skyward. "And I knew better. And I seem to remember you almost having a panic attack during your first visit when you were pregnant with Lindsey."
"Ah, yes. Good times," Catherine nodded, shooting a smirk at Roz.
"Exactly. And Lindsey was a gorgeous, healthy, happy baby who is now a wonderfully emotional and pouty teen," Roz said, giving her shoulders a squeeze.
Catherine chuckled. "Way to make me feel better, Doc, only to shoot me right back down."
Rosalind grinned and patted her on the shoulder. "C'mon. Let's go get those blood tests."
OoOoOoOoOoOoO
Roughly an hour and twenty minutes later Catherine was changing from one of those delightful little backless exam gowns and back into her clothes. Roz had left the room to, irony of ironies, give her some privacy, and as Catherine was pulling on her top there was a knock at the door.
"Decent?" Roz called, her voice muffled by the thick wood.
Does it really matter? Catherine thought, but simply answered, "Yeah," and finished adjusting her shirt.
Roz walked in with a new stack of papers. "So, I'd say that everything is on the up and up. Your blood work isn't back yet; the lab's backed up. You know how that is," she said with a slightly exasperated sigh.
"Oh, yeah. I know exactly how that is," Catherine smirked.
"But like I said, everything looks great. We've scheduled you another appointment, you've got your ultrasound photos, and your exam was good," she said, ticking the things they had discussed off on her fingers. "I'd say you're pretty much good to go."
Catherine nodded. "Okay. Well, uh, thanks, I guess. And I'll see you in a few weeks. Maybe sooner. If you call me."
"Or you call me."
"Right."
Roz laughed. "But you're not getting out of here that easily. You know I want to know how Lindsey took it, so spill."
Catherine grew quiet and suddenly found container of gauze extremely interesting. Roz gave her a funny look.
"You have told her, right?" Roz tilted her head questioningly.
"Uh…not yet," Catherine said slowly.
"Uh-huh. And why haven't you told her yet?" Roz asked, responding with the same slow delivery as Catherine.
"She wasn't home," Catherine said, her tone vague, even though she spoke the truth.
"Uh-huh. So that means you'll be telling her today?"
"...Sure," Catherine replied, though she look anything but.
Roz laughed at her hesitation. "You've gotta tell her Cath. And with girls her age, the sooner, the better."
"I know," Catherine sighed. "I'll tell her." At the look Roz was giving her, she hastily added, "Today. When she gets home from school."
Roz smiled and gave an approving nod and Catherine smiled back, even though her thoughts were on just how she would tell her daughter and the "emotional" teen's reaction. But telling Lindsey would be the easy part compared with telling Warrick. That was going to prove a much more difficult task, one that she was not looking forward to. But it needed to be done, and done soon and Catherine's stomach knotted in fresh anxiety at the thought.
A/N2: And now for your spoiler. Not much but hopefully chapter twelve will be up soon.
Catherine's thoughts were interrupted by the not so quiet closing of the front door. Lindsey was home.
She steeled herself, preparing the best she could for the reaction of the emotional hurricane in the other room. "Lindsey, can you come here a minute?"
If the loud and overly dramatic sigh was any indication, this conversation would not be an easy one.
Lindsey walked into the kitchen, dropping her book bag on the tile floor before dropping her self in the chair opposite her mother. Her expression could only be described as sullen, and Catherine wondered just what had warranted such an unhappy mood.
"Lindsey," she began, dropping her gaze to her clasped hands, "we've gotta talk."
"I didn't do anything," Lindsey was fast to state and Catherine eyed her with a slightly skeptical expression, making a mental note to find out what Lindsey had 'not done' later.
Might not be an exact excerpt, but it's close enough. Let me know what you thought of this chapter, if the spirit so moves you and I'll see you all next time...Ok, so I won't see you but you get the point.