See any of the previous 46 chapters for the disclaimer. Trust me, when I started this I had no idea it would evolve like this. Thanks to all of you who have read this story and to all who fave, watch and just like this. It really helps me out more than you'd know and more than just on keeping the story going. Anyway, enough of this A/N, on with the fic!

Natalya looked at the dinner that Toris had made in front of her. She had called and made a doctor appointment to make sure the test that she took was a false positive like Katyusha had suggested. She smiled nervously at Toris, having not told him anything about her fears yet. Partially because she had not wanted him to get his hopes up if it was a false positive, but at the same time, if he never knew she was pregnant, if she did choose to abort, he would never miss it and she would not be burdened with it. But that possibility also made her feel guilty. Would I be so cold to abort a child with the man I love because it would inconvience me? It is not like that I couldn't work around the child like Katyusha said, but it is still not the right time. I am also scared of how Vanya would handle that. I know how he wanted to kill Matthew when he was married to Katyusha... She thought as she took a bite of the chicken.

Toris noticed her demeanor and looked up concerned, "Is everything alright Talya?" He asked.

"Just nervous." She said, which wasn't a lie but hopefully in her mind, she would be able to pass it off as nerves about the internship and he would take it as such.

"You will do fine. You impressed our professors with your skill and brains, you will make your bosses happy and ace your MBA program. Be worried about me. I've heard Medical School horror stories..." Toris laughed nervously."

"Oh you will do fine." Natalya said. "You are stronger than you give yourself credit for." She smiled.

"Same goes with you." Toris insisted. "I know you could handle anything that life throws at you.

"If you say so." Natalya smiled as she forced down the rest of her dinner, as to not have Toris keep asking her more and more questions. She had taken the bathroom trash with the pregnancy test in it directly to the dumpster so that thought wouldn't cross his mind. He has no clue, thank god. I don't want him to get his hopes up...

She tossed and turned that night until she had a reasonable excuse to get up, grab a quick cup of coffee and headed into town to go to the doctor. Her stomach growled from hunger as she had not grabbed a thing to eat. When she booked the appointment, she insisted on the earliest appointment she could get so she would have more time to think on what she would do with the results if it turned out she was pregnant. If I keep it, then I will have to rethink my whole life and plan. I mean I am sure I would be able to talk Katyusha or Vanya into babysitting while I worked... maybe Katyusha more than Vanya after all he and his husband do work from their house and have a hard time keeping the twins settled at their age. Katyusha, well the child would be close to hers in age, about a little under a year apart... but there is the pregnancy itself... Natalya gulped as she walked into the doctor's office with a sigh, checking in and filling out the paperwork needed. She looked around and saw no one else was in the office yet. "Good." She said to herself at this. It was highly unlikely as people did not know Katyusha's maiden name, and even then, Natalya had her last name given to her by her stepfather so those who did not know the family story would not be likely to think they were sisters, but she was still worried that someone would recognize her as the sister of the adored new news anchor Matthew Williams's wife and start to talk that she was in the doctor's office and spread rumors. She sat across from the TV and watched the news as it was on.

"Traffic heavy on the morning commute from the 305 to the interstate and the maple lane byway. Expect delays..." She heard as she looked up and saw Matthew on the screen.

"Huh? He's normally evening..." Natalya sighed as she called Katyusha, the only family person she knew that would not overreact.

"Hello?" Katyusha said as she picked up the phone. "I will put you on speaker, I have Charlotte with me."

"Are you alone Big sis?" Natalya demanded.

"Yes." Katyusha said. "The morning traffic announcer had a bout of appendicitis last night. Matvey was the only one Gilbert could get ahold of to fill in while he recovers."

"So I am not going crazy." Natalya sighed.

"Nope, just very worried. I am assuming you are at the doctor's office?" Katyusha smiled as she held Charlotte up and held her to her shoulder to burp her.

"Yes. I got one of the first appointments available." Natalya said.

"Good. I finally went in on a walk in and it took forever." Katyusha recalled. "They gave me both a urine and blood test. Both are pretty accurate. The urine one gives a quicker answer but the blood is just to make sure and may take a few hours or days if they do not have onsite lab capability." Katyusha knew her sister would want to know everything.

"Well this one does." Natalya said.

"Good. You should know today and we can go from there on what you need to do. If you are pregnant, I will save what I can from Charlotte as she grows older and give it to you to help with the burden." Katyusha assured her.

"That's not the first thing I am worried about if this is what I think it is..." Natalya sighed.

"Is there something you would like to share with me? Remember, no matter your thoughts I will not judge you. Pregnancy is very scary. You may have thought I was fine with the whole thing, I was not. If I am to be honest I partially envy the fact that Vanya and Fredka had no other option but adoption. I know Fredka had told me he envied the fact that Matvey and I did not have to do mountains of paperwork, court preceding and worries that some how the biological parents could mess things up. That just one night and that was that. Wait nine months and you have your baby with no outside force that could get in the way. And I understand why they were scared and envied how Matvey and I were, but it is one of those how you say...grass is always greener things." Natalya paused. "You have my word. I will think no different of you no matter what."

"Fine, but you must take this to your grave." Natalya insisted.

"Promise. Your secret will be kept with me and yours to tell who you wish when you are ready if at all." Katyusha said.

"I am thinking, if this test is positive, of getting an abortion. But at the same time, part of me wants to keep this child if I am. I know it will be hardly easy and I may have to delay some things like the MBA degree a few years and with Toris seeking medical school, it will be tough to juggle the child's needs and his need to study but it can be done. I don't know what to do."

"Let me tell you something I never told anyone, not Fredka, not Vanya, not even Matvey." Katyusha began. "I had similar thoughts when I found out I was pregnant with Charlotte."

"YOU?" Natalya asked, knowing how matronly her sister was, having practically raised her and her older brother.

"I had raised you and Vanya since I was 18. He was 13 and you were 8 when Chudovyy dyadʹko died. I had only one semester of community college finished when it happened. Imagine having to give that up. I was always made fun of to be stupid and my grades were not as stellar as yours and Vanya's were."

"If you hadn't insisted I study so much and when it came time for college, all that prep you had gotten me..." Natalya began.

"So I know what putting dreams on hold can be like." Katyusha said sternly. "But when I found out I was pregnant with Charlotte I was so worried. Matvey had just been laid off not too long before. I was working at the farm supply store and I know what that is like in the state I was in early on. You know that retail would hardly be as accommodating as the business would would be. They tend to fear lawsuits more there than retail who can simply use some backhanded ways to make me quit or fire me under some "not meeting quotas" or "downsizing" excuse. This was before Fredka and Vanya made their very generous offer, and I was not thinking to ask them to do so. I could not. So yes, before last Thanksgiving, I was seriously thinking about abortion. Matvey had as well. But eventually I decided against it and he respected my choice. I cannot tell you why but I did not think it would be for the best if we had done that. Which honestly, if not, then Matvey's job loss would not have gotten out, Vanya and Fredka would not have known we were in a state we were and helped and Matvey may never have found a job that suits him. Because if we went through with it, you know that neither one of us would have told the family. Why would they need to know?"

"You do have a point..." Natalya sighed.

"Now you must keep what I told you secret as repayment for me keeping your decision secret." Katyusha scolded.

"Naturally. It is yours and Matvey's story to tell whenever and if ever you feel you need to." Natalya sighed as she heard her name called. "Must go."

"Shchasty!" Katyusha said. "And if you do need to tell Vanya you are with child, I will help you do that so he doesn't kill Toris."

"Thanks." Natalya replied hanging up the phone.

"Hello Miss Afr-sky-a" The nurse read off.

"It's Arlovskaya." Natalya corrected. "Let's get this over with..."

"I see you are here for a pregnancy test." The nurse read, which caused Natalya to shift in her chair.

"Da..." She said.

"No need to be rude." The nurse said.

"You are a fool." She dismissed. "I merely said yes in Russian, my native language. I was under the impression that most Americans knew what it meant somewhat."

"Yes." The nurse said plainly. "Well let's get your height weight and blood pressure." She sighed as the nurse took the measurements "160 centimeters..." She noted and went through all the intake procedures that she needed to do. "The doctor will see you soon."

Natalya sat in the cold room with a sigh, waiting for the doctor to ask her a few questions and give the tests. She looked at her phone to pass the time. Looking through the pictures, there was a few of her and Toris at graduation and to many pictures Nikita had insisted she take with her to have. There were ones of them playing mini-golf and of course, their favorite game, Candy Land. If I am pregnant and do abort it, that would be taking the easy way out, and a very poor example for Nikita when she is older. Then again by the time Vanya, Alfred and I have had a chance to teach her, I doubt any man could get one over on her she is such a bright girl. I honestly never thought the twins would really like me. Toris, yes how can you not like him? Placing her hand over her lower abdomen, she wondered just what a child between her and Toris would look like. When we do have a child, they are bound to have his brown hair. She mused as she heard a knock on the door. "Miss Arlovskaya?" The doctor asked.

"You may come in." She said putting her phone in her purse, looking at the Candy Land board game keychain that the twins had gotten her as a graduation gift, thinking they would have more time to play with her and Toris, and as Dmitri put it, "If you're busy you can always play this and pretend we're there." God those two are adorable. And from what Vanya told me, they were born to a drug addicted mother and a deadbeat father who was a package boy for the Bratva and got himself killed for playing with something he shouldn't. They became wards of the state when their mother was arrested for a myriad of charges and luckily they wound up in Sherrie and Tom's care before they were adopted. They deserve someone good to take care of them. And yet... She paused as she thought it. If their mother did what I am considering, they would not be here. Maybe there is something to what Katyusha said...as if she and Matvey did...I could understand at their situation at the time... At this the doctor came in and looked at her. "Miss Arlovskaya?" He asked again.

"Oh sorry. I was just thinking." Natalya sighed.

"Says here you are here for a pregnancy test?" He noted reading her chart.

"Yes." Natalya nodded.

"Well just hop up here once you put this gown on, we will do a sonogram." The doctor explained. "I will step out for a few minutes."

"But can you do so this early?" Natalya asked.

"Well that is why we will run a blood and urine test. Says here you already used a home pregnancy test and it came up positive?" The doctor asked.

"Yes. But it was a very cheap one from the dollar store." Natalya added.

"Well quality can be an issue of these tests." The doctor said. "I assure you're here to know for sure."

"Yes sir." Natalya said.

"Well we'll figure that out. Change and I will be back and we will fire up the sonogram and see before we do the other tests I mentioned." The doctor stepped out as Natalya changed. She sat on the hospital bed, looking around nervous, feeling the coldness of the office I swear they hardly warm this place up at all... She thought as the doctor knocked and came back in. "I have a radiology student with me, is that alright if they observe?"

"That is fine. My fiancee is studying oncology himself after receiving a nuclear medicine degree. I made sure he got as good a MCAT score as he did so he would be accepted to his program." Natalya added.

"Oh, so I can see why you are so anxious. Med school is hell and to come home to a wife and young child too, ooh." The doctor replied. "I know when I was in med school I lived on coffee and Mountain Dew and took a lot to not succumb to depression. The medical field can be emotional hell, and oncology..." The doctor added. "Just to know what to look out for so he can do what he wants with your help. You already said you drilled the MCAT in him." As they looked on the screen to make sure it was functioning, the doctor pulled out the device. "Okay now this will be uncomfortable, goes the same place the pap smear does. But we aren't taking a piece of your cervix."

"Okay..." Natalya cringed as they began. "Do you see anything?" The doctor and student looked at the screen, made a few adjustments and looked around.

"No, not seeing a thing that would be expected at early stages..." The doctor replied as he shut off the machine. "But we will need you to go to the lab and do a few tests."

"Fine." Natalya sighed as she took the paperwork the doctor had given her, redressed and headed to the lab where they took the samples they need.

"Thank you mam..." The technician said. "Since you are the first patient in, we will get this done and call you back as soon as we know anything." She looked over her shoulder at the samples. "The urine test says no but the blood will be the final decider."

"I await the results..." Natalya sighed as she headed into town and walked down the street, looking at the shops until her stomach growled, reminding her all she had was a cup of coffee in the morning. She headed into a local bistro and got a bowl of potato soup and a sandwich and ate it slowly, looking at her phone. It had not rang and she had trusted the doctor would call back as soon as they had the results. She many not have liked the nurse working there, but he seemed trustworthy and on top of everything. So far the sonogram and urine tests said no... but the blood test takes a few hours... She took a spoonful of the soup and sighed. Looking at the keychain, she sighed, calling Ivan. "Hello, big brother?" She asked as he picked up.

"Little sis, what is the matter? You sound worried." Ivan said, noticing her tone.

"Nothing major, I will know how I feel about it more soon enough." Natalya said. "I was wondering if you and Fredka minded if I came over to play Candy Land with the twins."

"I know we won't but I will ask the twins. I doubt they would say no. Currently they are in the living room watching The Price is Right. Don't ask me why they love that game show."

"Little kids do, from what I hear." Natalya recalled.

"Sherrie and Tom said they really liked it too, once again, they had no idea. Maybe the lights?" Ivan suggested as he walked to the twins. "malen'kiye, your tetya Natalya wants to come over and play Candy Land. Would you like that?"

"YES!" She heard the twins say when Nikita spoke up. "Is she on the phone, tell her I love her and she's my favorite auntie ever!"

"Now that's not nice to your Tetya Katyusha..." Ivan said. He turned to the phone. "I assume you heard that."

"I will be over a little later. Tell Nikita I said to be good and Dmitri that I love him as well." Natalya smiled.

"Will do. See you later. Fredka and I both have big projects to catch up on and you playing with them will help us focus more on them." Ivan said.

"I would love to help." Natalya said as she hung up. As soon as she hung up, the phone rang for the doctor's office. "Hello?" She asked.

"Is this Natalya Arlovskaya?" The doctor asked.

"You are speaking with her." She replied.

"Okay, this is Doctor Stihl and I am commenting on your test results." Doctor Stihl said as Natalya felt her heart race. This was it, what she needed to know to determine her future.

"Oh." She said.

"Yes, and I don't know exactly what you would have wanted, but if it was a bun in the over, well you don't have one. You're not pregnant. As to why you may have been late, stress, medications you may have taken, working out more, just a lot of things can happen to cause a late period that isn't pregnancy. We can look further if you would like, and I can refer you to a good gynecologist but as for your main worry, you are not pregnant."

"Slava bogu za eto." Natalya said.

"Excuse me?" Doctor Stihl asked. "I don't understand."

"Sorry, that is Russian for 'Thank God for that.'" Natalya apologized.

"Oh. Well I hope that was what you wanted." He said. "Nothing wrong with not wanting a child at this moment in life."

"Yes that was." Natalya said.

"Good. To help reduce this in the future, make sure your fiancee always wears a condom and you keep current with your birth control. It happens often you forget and it can cause problems. Anything else you need to know?"

"No, thank you." Natalya said.

"Anything else comes up, feel free to call my office. Goodbye." He said as he hung up and she smiled, now ready to look after the twins, knowing that her future wasn't disrupted for now. But you need to tell Toris about your scare. It is a discussion you need to have. A voice like Katyusha's said in her mind, causing her to feel a little bit of dread again.

Translation Guide

(Obtained via Google Translate)

Chudovyy dyadʹko-Ukrainian- Great uncle.

Shchasty-Ukrainian-Good Luck!

malen'kiye-Russian- little ones

tetya-Russian-aunt

Slava bogu za eto-Russian- Thank God for that.

So how was that? Good? Bad? Short? Long? Let me know in a review. I don't have much else to say other than I want one of those board game keychains they used to sell. That's kind of why I wrote the twins giving Natalya one in the story. They don't make them anymore sadly as I looked online. Anyway remember to read (well you just did) and to review. Ciao for now,

otherrealmwriter

aka

Realm.