I'm so sorry for the lack of updates but as I told you in Lovebirds, I've been sick for days and then busy with work. You'll see, this a short one but I had to cut the chapter in two and didn't know where to split it. I hope you will enjoy it anyway. I promise the next update will be quick!

I think you're pregnant. The words had been echoing in her head since Shaun had pronounced them, and it was still haunting her hours later as she was staring at the white stick she had been holding in her hand. She was sitting on the edge of the bathtub and was quickly tapping her foot on the floor, biting her thumbnail nervously. She hadn't expected her day to end this way. She hadn't even thought for a single tiny second about having a baby, let alone now that she wasn't in a relationship anymore. This couldn't be… right? She thought.

She hadn't believed a word he said at first and sent him off her office, telling him she would have known better if she was indeed pregnant. She had quickly brushed the idea off, but deep down she knew something was off. Despite all her efforts to distract herself with patients and meetings, she failed to prevent her mind from drifting away and as the rest of the day went by, she dwelled on the possibility that – maybe – Shaun might have put his finger on something. Let's say he was right… No, there was no way a young man could have seen it and not her. She was a smart woman, who had studied medicine; she knew her body, she would have recognized the signs of pregnancy right away. That was absurd. She had convinced herself she couldn't have missed it, reviewed all the symptoms she had been having and found a probable cause for each one of them. And then, that's when it hit her.

Fuck.

Panic had instantly rushed in and her thoughts had started racing in her head. Her life had been such chaotic lately. She'd been infected by a mortal virus and had almost died during the quarantine. She had started a relationship with her longtime friend and colleague – who had been her opponent for the position of Chief of surgery – and ended up with the job. She then had to deal with the implications and all the responsibilities it implied, realized she couldn't separate her job from her relationship and finally decided to break up with the man she loved. And above all, she had been so focused on her work to try forgetting about Neil that she hadn't even noticed it until now. How could have she missed it?

I'm late.

That's how she ended up walking around the pregnancy test section at the nearest supermarket that night. And even then when she took the test at home, a part of her kept denying the crazy idea and she comforted herself with the possibility that all of this might have been due to the stress of being the new Chief of surgery and dealing with her relationship with Neil. Actually, there was no other acceptable explanation for her. She didn't even dare imagining the mess it would create, nor even all the changes it would cause. This wasn't the right time, at all.

The vibrations of her phone against the bathroom cabinet startled her and pulled her out of her thoughts. The five minutes had passed and it had felt like ages. She grabbed her phone in a hurry and turned off the alarm. She was firmly holding the stick down on her laps. She closed her eyes and tilted her head backwards. Her heart was pounding hard in her chest, she was so scared to look at the result. She wasn't sure she was ready to see her life be completely turned upside down in one second. After having gathered the last pieces of courage she had left, she finally opened her eyes again and looked down. She hadn't realized she had been holding her breath all along, and let out a shaky sigh as her eyes fell on the result. The world seemed to have suddenly stopped spinning, time seemed to have frozen and she could feel her whole body shutting down. Positive.

Damn it. She was pregnant.

The next morning, the first thing Audrey did when she arrived at the hospital was to informally call Murphy to her office. She was nervous he might have already told other residents – or worse, Neil – about what he had witnessed the previous day. She knew he wasn't like the others and she just needed to make sure he was getting the importance of keeping it quiet. She was completely lost and had no idea how to deal with what was happening. The situation was complicated enough as the way it was, she didn't need people whispering things behind her back all over the hospital.

After half an hour, someone finally knocked on her door.

"Come in." She said from behind her desk, while she was reading some of her emails on her laptop. She looked up from the screen and saw Murphy walk in. She leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms on her chest.

"Close the door, please."

The young man did so and stepped forward to the middle of the room, not knowing what to think of this sudden call to the chief of surgery office.

"Why did you want to see me, Dr. Lim? Did I do something wrong?"

"No, everything's fine."

"Then, why am I here?"

She hesitated for a moment, and finally found the courage to speak up.

"This is about what you told me yesterday." She paused, "I'm pregnant." It was the first time she said it out loud, and it did something to her chest but she preferred to ignore it.

Shaun's face lit up, "I was right."

She rolled her eyes in exasperation. "Yes, yes. You were right. And you have to keep this to yourself, is that clear?" His smile slowly faded away.

"Does he know?" Her heart skipped a beat. She didn't need to ask who he was talking about. They both knew. It was gonna be a lot more complicated than she thought.

"No, and he can't know." She paused, before adding in some kind of mumbles, "at least for now." She looked at his face carefully, but she couldn't read it. "That's why I'm asking you to keep it a secret, do you understand?"

"I'm not good at keeping secrets."

She sighed, "Well, let's think of it more as a…" She was looking for the right words to use, "as medical information between doctor and patient."

Shaun frowned, "but I'm not your doctor. And you're not my patient."

"God, Shaun. You're not helping!" She finally lost it and raised her voice. When she saw the reaction on his face, she immediately regretted it. She took a deep breath and cooled down. "Listen, Shaun. This is really important. You think you can do this for me?"

She waited for an answer from him, but after a few seconds of complete silence she was about to withdraw.

"I can try."

She finally let out a sigh of relief, even though she wasn't quite convinced.

"Thank you."

"Can I go now?"

"Yes, you can."

He wasn't out of her office yet that she was already back into her reading. Shaun put his hand on the doorknob and stopped in his tracks. He hesitated for a moment, before turning towards Audrey.

"Dr. Lim?"

As soon as she heard him speaking, she closed her eyes and sighed. "Yes, Murphy?"

"You will make a wonderful mother."

Her heart tightened in her chest. She hadn't expected to hear him say such a thing and his words hit her hard. She then watched him walk out her office, leaving her completely speechless.