Don't worry Lara this is a TOTALY different story.


False Negative

It was late Monday morning andMac was on her knees in her bathroom worshiping the porcelain god for the third day in a row. "God," she moaned, "how long am I going to pay for this?" Her first hangover ever, and it had to be a record. She had never heard of a three-day hangover.

She'd called the firm earlier in the morning and told them she wasn't coming in—no way, with the way she felt. She could only imagine how bad she looked.

Her phone rang. "Hello." Mac said hoarsely.

"Hey Darling, how're you feelin'?"

"Hey Daddy you're back," she responded with as much enthusiasm as she could muster.Her father, Admiral Michael Allen had been gone for three months. No matter what happened Michael always checked in with his daughter, and Mac was always happy to hear his voice.

"I called your firm and your assistant told me you were sick at home."

"Yeah it's some stomach thing" She said closing the lid of the toilet

"I just thought I'd warn you, that your mom is on the way." Mac imagined the smell of her mother's chicken soup and smiled.

"Is she bringing the soup?" she asked.

"You better believe it." Michael said. Mac could hear the smile in his voice.

"Excellent, how about the cookies?"

"She's probably got all the fixings for that with her."

"Thanks for the heads up Daddy, but I could really use her company today." Mac said walking down to her lower level and peeked out to see her mother pull up.

"Uh, Oh what did Rod do now? I'll kill him." Michael could hear the sadness in his daughter's voice, and though the threat sounded empty, it wasn't.

As her father spoke, she heard a familiar knock at the door and went to open it. "Oh, It's a lot of different things." she told him, "But Mom is here, so I'm gonna hang up."

"Talk to your mom," Michael said.

"Sure," Mac said and mouthed the word 'dad' at her mother's questioning look. "I'm gonna go eat my soup." Mac followed Kate Allen to the kitchen.

"Bye baby" he said andthen hung up the phone.

"What's wrong honey?" Kate asked pulling out a bowl.

"I have a hangover that won't quit." Mac said sitting at her breakfast bar.

"You went drinking on a Sunday night?" Kate asked.

"I went out on Friday."

"Is Rod sick too? Because it sounds like the stomach flu." Kate knew it couldn't possibly have lasted this long

"I don't know how Rod is, I haven't seen him since Friday afternoon." Mac sat impatiently waiting for her mother to set down the bowl.

Kate watched her daughter for a while, before settingthe soup down in front of her. "Is it a work thing?" Kate asked going back to the cupboard to start on some cookies.

"Sort of" Mac answered taking a sip of the soup. Her stomach rebelled and she set the spoon down disappointed.

Kate reached into her purse and pulled out some saltines and handed them to Mac. "What does sort of mean?"

"I told him I wanted to stop trying to have a baby, that I was tired of all of it." Mack nibbled on a saltine thoughtfully, "That I was tired of him and that maybe we should separate."

"And he actually left?" Kate asked incredulously.

"Yes."

"Without a fight?" Kate was surprised… this didn't sound like something her son-in-law would do.

"I guess not." Mac shrugged and watched her mother bake the cookies.

"You shouldn't have gone drinking that night" Kate said firmly. "And I'm not saying it because someone could have taken advantage of you, because they could have" Mac squirmed a little inside at the disapproving look her mother had given her."I'm telling you this because I think you're pregnant."

Mac balked and rolled her eyes."I already took one of those tests." She took another saltine and dipped it in the soup. "It was negative."

Kate wiped her hands on her apron and joined her daughter at the table. "Mackenzie Allen, I know that you realize that sometimes those tests are wrong." She took her daughters hand to keep her from completely blanking out before she said what she was about to say. "I think you should take another one. Let's call your doctor today."

"Mom," Mac protested.She didn't want to think about it. This was the reason her life was in the state it was in. If she went to her doctor that day, and she was negative again, it could very well destroy her.

"Listen to your body Mac, what is it telling you?" Kate said softly still holding on to her daughter's hands. Mac stared into the bowl of soup she'd heard what her mother was saying, and she was listening to her body. "If there's even a chance that you could be pregnant you've got to take care of yourself and that baby starting today. You can't put this off."

"Okay, I'll go today." Mac affirmed and took a tentative spoonful of soup.


On Tuesday afternoon Mac sat working at her desk. She still felt lousy but knew that she really couldn't miss work again. She'd taken a blood test but was still awaiting the results. Not, that she thought that she could actually be pregnant. Her life just didn't work like that.

She still hadn't seen nor heard from Rod. She felt hurt, angry and confused by his absence and by his silence. Suddenly, her thoughts were interrupted by her assistant

"Mac you have a call from Dr. Perkins on two." Emma saidpeeking into the room.

"Okay thanks Emma" Mac said looking up from the deposition she was reading. "Good afternoon Dr. Perkins."

"Mackenzie, I have the results of your test."

Despite being prepared for the worst, Mac held her breath. "We need you to set up an appointment sometime next week."

"Why do I need an appointment… is something wrong?" Mac asked, her blood running cold. She mentally berated herself for letting herself feel hopeful.

"Nothing's wrong," she gently reassured her. "You're pregnant."

Mac almost dropped the phone. Did she really hear what she thought she'd heard? "I'm what?"

The doctor laughed, she knew that that Mac would be doubtful and delighted herself in repeating the phrase. "Mac, you're pregnant—there's no doubt about it. I need to see you to determine the approximate due date.We also want to monitor you closely for the first and second trimesters. "

"Oh my god," Mac whispered her shock sitting back in her leather chair.

"Your history of miscarriage," the doctor continued, "and the alcoholic binge you had last Friday could have really injured your child." The information about her weekend escapade had come to his attention courtesy of her mother.

Mac didn't know what to say or think…or feel. Was she excited? Was she sad? What was she going to tell Rod? Should she even bother?

"Mackenzie?" Dr. Perkins said after hearing no response from her.

"Okay," Mac said and finally looked at her calendar. "How's next Friday?"

"Perfect," the doctor said. I'll set you up. "How about eight o'clock?"

"That's fine," she said absentmindedly and he hung up. Mac, however, just sat at her desk with the phone still in her hand. She was pregnant. The whole fight with Rod could have been avoided completely.

Now he was gone, because of a false negative. Mac finally put down the phone and placed her hand on her abdomen. "We'll tell Daddy about you later," she whispered to her little surprise.

She tried to get back to reading the deposition on her desk but very quickly gave up.

She got up and headed out of her office. "Emma, I'm still not feeling well and I'm going home early. Call me if anything."

"Okay Mac" Emma said as she watched her boss walk out of the firm without another backward glance.