Elisa blinked at her a few times. Surely she hadn't heard that correctly…

"What?" She asked in a stunned whisper. "I don't think… That can't… no." She decided. "No. The test is wrong. It has to be."

"I ran the test personally. I ran the test four times, Elisa," Margaret insisted. "It came out positive every time."

Elisa sucked in air, a feeling like panic gripping her. Suddenly, she felt as if she couldn't get enough air in her lungs. Her stomach heaved, and the room gave a violent spin. She felt herself waver on her feet, and would have hit the ground if Margaret hadn't grabbed her and guided her back to the bed.

Elisa watched, detached, as Margaret hit the call button that would signal the others that she needed assistance.

"What happened?" Doctor James demanded as he burst into the room.

"She's taking the news about as well as we expected," Margaret said, gently maneuvering Elisa to lay back on the bed. "Meaning, she's in a bit of shock."

"As we all were," Kiersten said, coming to the other side of the bed. With the efficiency of years of practice, Kiersten grabbed the small cart that sat there, and turned the machine on. Moments later, she had a blood pressure cuff on Elisa's arm and a blood oxygen reader attached to Elisa's hand.

"Elisa, you're hyperventilating," Doctor James said, standing over the dark haired woman, "I really need you to take a deep breath for me."

Elisa struggled, wanting to tell the good doctor off. Instead, she closed her eyes and took as deep a breath as she could, then repeated the action several more times.

"There we go," Doctor James said. "A couple more, then we can talk."

Elisa took three more deep breaths before opening her eyes. When she did open them, she found three pairs of eyes on her in concern.

"What are the chances that the tests are wrong?" Elisa asked, her voice deceptively calm. "Maybe it's just a hormone imbalance or something."

"There's one thing we can do," Doctor James said. He went to the wardrobe that held the dreaded open backed patient gowns. "Get into this, and I will go get the ultrasound machine ready. We don't know how far along you are, so we may not be able to see anything, but it's worth a look. Kiersten and Margaret will help you."

Doctor James left the room and Elisa sat up slowly, thankful that the room didn't move this time. She got to her feet, stripped down to the bare necessities and with the aid of a fairly subdued Kiersten and Margaret, she got into the soft pale colored cotton "gown". She was quickly sat into a wheelchair, whether that addition was per the infirmary's policy or the fact that Elisa had almost passed out once, Elisa wasn't sure.

Once in the appropriate room, she was laid back down on the bed, a sheet covering her from the waist down for modesty's sake.

"We still have three more X.E. employees scheduled for checkups before noon," Kiersten said. She glanced at the dainty gold watch on her wrist. "They should be here any moment, but it's just their annual physicals. I can catch them and let them know that Dr. James has been called out on an emergency. I will reschedule them, then do some calling and reschedule the afternoon's appointments. I can handle it myself if you'd like to stay," She said to Margaret.

Margaret looked at Elisa. "Would you like me to stay? Or I can call someone for you…"

Elisa grabbed Margaret's hand, reminiscent of the first time that the two women had met. That time, Elisa had woken in a strange place with no memory, and she had attached to Margaret out of desperation. This time, there was no amnesia, but she was here feeling just as alone and scared as before.

Margaret nodded. "I'll stay. Thanks, Kiersten."

Kiersten gave the pair a smile, then hurried off to continue with the business of the clinic.

"Thanks," Elisa said, her voice husky with worry.

"Hey," Margaret said with a smile. "You're my friend, and I'm here for you."

Elisa was about to reply when the door opened, and Doctor James came in. "Sorry," He said, blowing out a breath. "I forgot that we had some other appointments this morning. Had to do some schedule juggling"

"I'm not going anywhere," Elisa assured him wryly. "Take your time, doc."

Doctor James took a seat on a small wheeled stool. He adjusted the sheet at Elisa's waist and had Elisa roll up the gown to expose her abdomen. With his left hand, he was deftly pushing buttons and adjusting knobs. With his right, he applied the gel that the machine had supposedly warmed, but still felt ice cold to Elisa. He maneuvered the wand this way and that, until he paused.

"Oh," Margaret breathed out, her gaze on the small screen attached to the machine.

"What?" Elisa asked, trying to make sense of the blurry picture.

"Here," Doctor James said softly, and turned another dial. There was a sudden rapid whooshing sound that filled the air, and Elisa felt the air catch in her lungs.

"Is that…" She was afraid to hear the answer, even as she began to ask the question.

"The baby's heartbeat," Margaret confirmed.

The doctor didn't say anything, but continued to move the wand around, smearing the jelly with each swipe.

"It's still early, but let's see if this little nugget is photogenic," He trailed off, then clicked a button on the machine that not only froze the image on the screen, but also spit out a small picture on the attached printer.

It was finally becoming real to Elisa, as she saw the screen, heard the heartbeat.

She was pregnant with Goliath's child.

Elisa felt tears well up in her eyes as she looked at the screen. It was still too early to see much, just a black and white shape, but it was there. He or she already had a heartbeat.

"My guess is that you don't know when you conceived… but from the looks of things," Doctor James said, working some more dials and taking measurements, "It looks like you're about six weeks along."

"Six weeks?" Elisa asked. That means…

"Holy crap, Elisa," Margaret burst out laughing. "Between you getting blown off the dock with that whole Humans First mess, and you working yourself into the ground… When did you find the time?"

Elisa sent her friend a look.

"Elisa," The doctor said in a more subdued tone, putting the ultrasound wand back in its holder. "We are going to need to talk about some things."

"I know," Elisa said softly, her gaze still on the screen. "Just… give me a moment, please."

The doctor nodded, and sat back to look at the screen as well.

After all, she'd just been given some life altering news.

He would give her as long as she needed.