Lahela is sitting in the courtyard quietly eating her lunch when Noelani happens upon her. Doogie, in typical fashion is clad in her blue scrubs. Noelani takes a seat next to her as Lahela silently stares at the butt statues. Noelani nudges her with her elbow.
"A penny for your thoughts?"
"Do you ever wonder what would happen if your entire life got turned upside down?"
"I try not to," she admits.
Lehela shakes her head, "Never mind."
"What's going on with you? I know that you are on a journey of self-discovery, but do you have to go it alone?"
"Moving out of my parent's house is hardly going it alone. I still see everyone every single day, right here at the hospital."
"You have been pushing everyone away lately. You aren't your happy bubbly self. I'm starting to get worried about you. Steph called me the other day and said you hadn't talked to her in a week. Your mom pulled me aside in the hallway to ask if you're doing okay. We are worried about you."
"My work is fine," Lehela justifies.
"We are worried about you, not your work. You have been distant. Where is your head? I mean Walter has been home for a month, and you've barely said a word about him."
"I just have some things that I need to be alone with right now."
"What things? Why are you being so cryptic?"
"You wouldn't understand even if I told you."
Noelani tilts her head, "Try me."
"It is difficult to be the golden child."
"Of course it is."
"The higher you are on a pedestal the further you fall."
"Lehala what are you rambling on about?"
"I have made a mistake."
"Everyone makes mistakes. You live, you learn, and then you move on."
"It's not that simple."
"Did you kill someone?"
Her voice raises an octave, "No! Of course not."
"Then it can't be that bad. Everything else is fixable."
Lahela furrows her brow, "I don't want to fix it. I want to live with it. I'm just not sure that anyone else is going to feel the same way."
Noelani falls silent as she sits back, and scrutinizes her friend, and colleague. Her eyes fall to Lahela's bloused scrub top. Her heart sinks.
"Lahela what do you mean live with it?"
Lahela carefully glances around to make sure that no one else is nearby. She exhales heavily, "Exactly what you think that I mean."
"I have a pretty vivid imagination, so I am pretty hopeful that I am way off base."
"You're not. You are a reasonably intelligent doctor who has competent assessment skills."
"So months ago when I found you vomiting in the morgue bathroom and you insisted you had nothing more than a simple case of gastroenteritis you were feeding me a bold faced lie?"
"Yes. That is correct."
"That was a long time ago," Noelani recalls.
"I am well aware. Look I don't really want to have this conversation here."
"I could come over after work."
Hours later after a grueling shift Noelani heads over to Lahela's condo. By the time she arrives Lahela has already showered, and traded in her scrubs for pajamas. Noelani takes a seat on Lahela's couch.
"Have your parents seen this place? It's nice."
"No. My mom refuses to accept that I have moved out."
"So are we going to talk about the elephant in the room, or just keep ignoring it?"
"I'm definitely pregnant."
"No. Maybe…"
Lahela cuts her off, "It happened many moons ago, Noelani. It was pretty apparent to me, as a doctor after a few weeks."
"How many moons ago, Lahela?"
Lahela vacates her seat on the couch, and heads over to the refrigerator. She opens a tin labeled Kale Chips, and pulls out a picture. She returns to the living room, and hands it to Noelani.
"Long enough that she looks like a human being."
"You're kidding me, right?"
"Nope. For a while I hoped it was all a really bad dream, but it is my reality. It became really difficult to deny when she started moving around like she was at a rave."
"I don't understand how this happened."
"Girl genius is not immune to teenage hormones."
"What did Walter say?"
Lahela shrugs, "I don't know."
"You have told him, haven't you?"
"No."
"Your parents?"
"Definitely not."
"So you have just been sitting alone with this ticking time bomb for months?"
"Yes."
"What are you planning on doing?"
"What do you mean, what am I planning on doing? I am planning on completely sidelining my career to become a teenaged mom."
"You're joking, right?"
Lahela shakes her head, "I wish that I was."
"Wow! Are you sure?"
"I am. I tried to convince myself of any other option, but the longer I waited the more it became unreasonable. I made a choice knowing what the possible consequences were. I had to be away from Walter, and my parents to figure out how much skin I have in this game."
"And what did you come up with?"
"I am going to have this baby even if it is the most difficult thing that I ever do."
"Wow!" Noelani's glance falls to the black and white sonogram picture that she is holding.
"I wanted to tell Walter before I told anyone else, but I chickened out."
"You have to tell him. This isn't a secret that you can keep to yourself much longer."
"I know. Scrubs are great, but even they are only so forgiving."
"I can't believe you're going to have a baby."
"Neither can I, and I am the one responsible for gestating her."
