Hey guys,
So I'm super happy people are still reading this story after all this time. I'm all warm and fuzzy over it.
Also warm and fuzzy about the FUCKING AMAZING SEASON SIX TRAILER FROM COMIC CON! I MEAN GOD DAMN THIS SEASON LOOKS FAN-FUCKING-TASTIC! Like for real, but idk about this whole Rick vs. Morgan thing.
But when bad ass Rick is all 'do you know who you're talking to?' you know it's gonna be a good ass season.
Alright, and as always, to hold us over...here's my shitty fanfiction :)
We. All. Got. Jobs. To. Do.
~MaggieRhee
"Ours a love I held tightly
Feeling the rapture grow
Like a flame burning brightly
But when left gone was the glow of
Blue Velvet
But in my heart there'll always be
Precious and warm a memory through the years
And I still can see Blue Velvet through my tears."
-Blue Velvet.
-Lana Del Rey.
When Maggie and I got home, she insisted on seeing Dr. Peters right away. Even though I knew he would be in bed sleeping and I knew she was exhausted, I didn't want to argue with her. Not after the night she'd had.
Luckily, he was still in his office. I guess there had been an accident in on of the late night knife training classes and a few people needed bandaged up so he stayed late.
"Maggie, Glenn," he welcomed us with a smile and tired eyes. "What can I do for you?"
I looked at Maggie who looked like she might cry again.
"Is everything alright?" he asked. He scanned us for a moment. "Glenn, you stitches." he noticed my reopened wound. I only now remembered how much it hurt and noticed how much it was bleeding.
"I'm fine, really." I liked. "We're here for Maggie."
He came over to examine me but also looked to her. "Maggie?"
She sighed shakily, working up her nerve. "Dr. Peters, uh, I..." she let out a huge sigh and closed her eyes.
"Yes?" he encouraged.
I held her hand as she struggled with words. "I have something to tell you." she paused. "And it's not exactly something that's easy to cope with."
He nodded with a comforting smile. "Before this I was a pediatrician for just a little under a decade." he said. "I've heard a lot of things in my time, Mrs. Rhee, and not all of them are easy to cope with." he looked at her. "Do you want to try to surprise me?"
She glanced at me before reaching in my pocket. "Um, the attacker that was here earlier," she pulled out the container of pills. "He said he had taken these. They're some sort of poison?"
He took them from her and turned the bottle in his hand. We watched as he went and put on a pair of rubber gloves, which we realized the cannibals had a disturbing amount of when we arrived and go into their storage. I wondered how dangerous these pills were.
He shook a few of the orbs out into his hand, crushing them between his fingers until they were dust. "Yes, well," he brushed the powder off into the trash can and turned to us. "I can't imagine how they got their hands on these but, they are very dangerous. I can assure you that." he said. "What're you doing with them?"
"How dangerous are they?" I asked, urgently.
"Rick gave them to me." Maggie put a hand on my chest to calm me. "He wanted me to bring them to you because he thought you might know what they are."
His eyes widened. "Oh, I do." he nodded. "Why do you two sit down?"
We did as he suggested as he washed his hands.
"So what are they? How harmful can they be?" I asked again.
"I assume you two are familiar with the second World War?" he asked and we nodded. "Well, these types of pills were created during war times. They were offered to soldiers who were crossing over into enemy territory. Soldiers would carry them over and, as a last resort, ingest them if they saw their fate going south."
"So they're a suicide pill?" Maggie asked.
"Precisely. They're mostly composed of cyanide salt. They're covered with a thick white plastic. I heard a long time ago that they're difficult to swallow but, if taken correctly, then they'll get the jobs done. It makes sense that someone would've taken one before coming in here. Especially if they were caught, they would've been killed anyways." he explained.
"You only have to taken one?" she asked, tears in her eyes. I felt my heart drop to my stomach and thought I might puke.
He nodded. "Yes, one will kill you. First, your brain dies and you heartbeat stops slowly after." he looked wearily between us. "Rick could've asked me about these himself or I could've found him tomorrow to tell him this." he said. "If you don't mind my asking, why are you two so curious about them?"
Maggie grabbed my hand. "Um, a few hours ago. I-I..."
Dr. Peters looked worried. "Maggie?" She burst into tears. "Maggie, did you take these?" he said. She could only nod and I wrapped my arms around her. "How many?"
"Three. Four, maybe." she sobbed.
He shook his head and put his hand on her shoulders. "Maggie, listen, this is very important." she nodded to him, still trying to catch her breath. "Did you bite down on the pills when you took them?"
She looked confused. "No, I-I just swallowed them. Like you would take an aspirin or something."
Dr. Peters let out a sigh of relief. "Thank God."
"Why does that make a difference? They're still in her system." I said.
He nodded. "During war, most soldiers would disguise the pills as teeth. Placing them near their gums so when they saw the end they could simply bite down and that was it."
"So even though she took four of them-"
"The plastic they're covered with is so think that unless you bite down on them, particularly hard, it won't have any impact. It's like Maggie swallowed a marble or a bead. She'll be just fine."
"And we can be sure that her stomach acid didn't burn up the plastic?" I asked. "I tried to make her throw them up and I didn't see any."
He shook his head. "If you swallow a bead, a few days later after digestion, it will still be a bead." I was still unsure. "Soldiers who took these pills were often recorded dying shortly after taking them. You said you took these hours ago?" Maggie nodded. "Then, I can practically guarantee, so long as you didn't bite them, that you'll be just fine."
I tightened my grasp around her body. She was shaking.
"Now," he said. "I'm going to ask a hard question."
"Okay," she sniffed. We both knew what was coming.
"If you knew these were poison, why did you take four of them?"
Maggie started crying again. It was uncontrollable.
She put her head on my chest and sobbed for a few moments. I looked at Dr. Peters who nodded.
"Maggie," he placed a hand on her knee. "Whatever it is, whatever the reasoning behind you taking these is, we can work through it. But it's important that you talk to me about it."
She nodded but remained silent.
"Mags," I said, my hand on top of hers. "We need to tell him. That way we can figure things out. Okay? We have too." I kissed her palm. "It's okay. I promise."
She sighed, her breath shaky. "Dr. Peters," she said. "I-I think I'm pregnant." It was hard for her to form the words.
Dr. Peters furrowed his brow and leaned back. Slowly, he started nodding. I knew he understood the severity of this.
"Why's that? Your period's late?"
"No," she shook her head. "Well, yes it is but it's really sporadic. I've not really been on any sort of schedule from month to month since this whole thing started. I think it's the stress. My weight is all over the place too so that probably has something to do with it."
He nodded. "Probably." he said. "And the stress does interfere with your cycle so I can see why it's never consistent." he looked at us. "Why else would you think you're pregnant."
Maggie looked at me like she might break. I told him the story. "Maggie and I are usually very careful but a few weeks ago, we had a mishap with a condom and-" I sighed. "Anyways, Maggie and I were at a drugstore a few miles out tonight and she took some pregnancy tests."
"And?" he looked between us.
"I took three of them." she said. "They were all positive."
He paused. "I see." his voice sounded mournful. Like how someone would say "I'm so sorry," after your grandma passed away. Or like how a parent apologizes when you scrape your knee after falling off your bike. Only this couldn't be fixed with a kiss or a bandaid. It was too real.
"Would you mind if I took a look at your stomach?" he asked. "It's obviously too early to tell if there's a bump or motion, or things like that but once you've conceived the hips start to pull apart and to make room for the fetus to grow and for the uterus to expand." he said. "If I can tell that's the case we could confirm that you're pregnant and start talking about what our plan is."
I hated that I felt uncomfortable with the words he was using but it all just seemed so complicated. Maggie didn't flinch. "Sure."
I moved off the table so she could lay down. I held her hand as Dr. Peters went and got rubber gloves from the box on the counter.
Was this like an ultrasound? In a much different time and place I would like to think Maggie and I would've ended up in a doctor's office doing this. However, this was never the scenario I imagined.
I watched as Maggie nodded and Dr. Peters lifted up the hem of her shirt to her rib cage.
His gloved fingers pressed at her skin. I didn't know if I was supposed to be noticing Maggie's body change but I'd like to think I knew it well enough that I would have if it had.
"When was the date of conception?" he asked in a doctorly way.
Maggie glanced at me and I knew she didn't like the sound of that. Not the date of 'possible conception'. It seemed like our fate was locked.
I shook my head. "Um, two months almost. Seven or eight weeks."
He nodded. "I thought so." he pressed a few more times like he was trying to convince himself that what he was feeling wasn't possible. Like he was trying not to give this news to us.
Maggie's eyes were on Dr. Peters but tears rolled down her cheeks.
Dr. Peters' hands stopped and he nodded. "Go ahead and sit up for me Maggie."
She pulled her shirt down and sat up. I felt Maggie shaking beside me and I wrapped my arms around her.
He nodded. I watched as he turned and stood for a moment. I figured this was to hide his reaction. He knew this was bad and so did we.
Finally, I heard him sigh and pull off his gloves, throwing them into the container beside him. He placed his hands on the counter and hang his head.
"Dr. Peters," Maggie spoke. "I'm so sorry." she said. "I know that you really didn't need to be worrying about some pregnant girl when you take care of so many other people. Especially when this was so preventable. But, I didn't know how else to take care of this myself. That's why I took the pills." she said. "I just don't know what to do. I didn't want to have to bother you with this but I need help." she sobbed. "God, I'm just so sorry."
Dr. Peters walked over. "Maggie," he put a hand on her shoulder. He waited for her to look at him. "It is okay." he nodded. "I promise that it is okay you are pregnant." he said. "People have done worse things then get pregnant and people will continue to do worse things." he said.
"Yeah, but-" she said.
"You did nothing wrong. You're just in a situation that you don't want to be in. But don't for a second think that this is bad or wrong or selfish of you because it's not. You didn't mean for this to happen, but it did. You have every right to come and seek help during this. You're just as important as everyone else who needs my help. And I'm going to help you through this, with whatever you need. Okay, Maggie?"
She nodded. "Okay."
He smiled in a small way, still knowing how bad she was feeling. He glanced outside and noticed the sky was becoming a lighter shade of blackish-blue. "Why don't we all go and get some sleep?" he suggested. "Tomorrow night, after mostly everyone is in bed. I'll meet you two here and we can talk about what you want to do about this?"
Maggie nodded. "That sounds good." she said. "Thank you." she reached up to hug him. "Thank you so much."
"Of course Mrs. Rhee." he said.
She pulled away. "Also, would you mind not telling anyone about this until we figure it out?" she asked. She leaned in towards him. "If I can just take care of this and move on, I'd rather not raise a fuss about it."
He nodded. "I understand. You have no worries with me." he said.
She nodded and looked to me. I turned to Dr. Peters who saw my shoulder. "Ah, Mr. Rhee, trying to sneak away without me replaced those?"
I rolled my eyes and smiled. "Silly me." I said, turning to Maggie. "Um, why don't you go ahead. I'll be there in a few." I promised.
She nodded and kissed me before leaving the office.
I sighed as I got onto the cot across from Dr. Peters.
He put on another pair of gloves and got the needles and bandages ready.
He started with the stitches and it was much less painful than when Rosita had attempted them earlier. Then again, the wound was fresh at that point. It had some time to heal since then.
"Thank you for reassuring her." I said, getting tired with the more time I had to sit down and rest. "I can tell she's feeling a lot better about the whole thing."
"Well, don't thank me yet Mr. Rhee." he said, pulling the thread through my skin.
My brow furrowed. "Why not?"
He shrugged. "I was a pediatrician. I gave kids shots and checked for ear infections." he said.
"What're you saying?" I asked. "You can't help us."
"No," he said quickly. "No, I'm not saying that at all. I'll try my hardest to get you two through this. I really want to help you and Maggie. You're good kids and I want to see you two go far, ever in this world. You two deserve a family anyways."
That could've been taken two ways but I knew what he meant. "I appreciate that."
He sighed. "Now, I was only a pediatrician. My brother, though, was an OBGYN. I studied a few of his books in college and then again when I went back to school for more training. I have a general knowledge of how to handle a situation like this but-" he stopped. "but I don't have any equipment. At all."
"Women have had natural birth for ages. Aren't at home births a thing too?" I asked. "Is it really going to be that difficult?"
"I hope not." he scoffed. "God, I hope not."
I paused for a moment. "So," I said. "When Maggie said 'take care of this', she meant-"
He just nodded. "Yeah, she did."
While it made me sort of sick, I saw Maggie's reasoning. "What're the odds of that?"
"Glenn, Maggie's almost two and a half months along now. We can't rely on any expired 'abortion pills' to work now." he shook his head. "It's unlikely but I'll take a closer look tomorrow and we'll talk about it."
I nodded. He wrapped the bandages around my arm. "I want to thank you anyways. Despite, everything you told me. We'll cross that bridge when it comes but right now, Maggie is in bead asleep and I'm just thankful we have someone like you on our side for this." I said.
He nodded. "It doesn't hurt that I'm also a doctor, huh?' he said.
I laughed. "That does help." I said.
He put his hands down. "Well, I'm all done here." he said, pointing to my arm.
He took his gloves off and rinsed his hands.
I stood up and turned towards him. "Thank you." I shook his hand. "Just thank you."
He nodded. "Don't be scared, Glenn. I'll tell you when it's time to be scared. Right now, we can get through this. You won't lose her."
I nodded. "And you're sure you were just a pediatrician?" I asked.
He laughed. "Yes," he said. "But, I'll do the best I can for your Maggie. And I'll do the best I can for your baby too. Truly."
I nodded and walked to our bunk where Maggie was.
Her back was to me and the rise and fall of her chest told me she was almost asleep.
I climbed into bed beside her. Gently, as if she might break. It was she like glass. The more I looked at her the beautiful yet breakable she looked.
I looked at her. God, she was so strong.
I ran my fingers across her cheek bone. Her skin was smooth and warm. Her small frame was practically in the mattress she was so small. She was so small and strong and perfect in every way.
"Glenn," she said softly.
"Yes, love?" I said as her slow breath cooled my fingers than ran over her lips.
"I'm sorry." her ribs started to shake and I rubbed her back.
"Maggie," I said. "Don't. You're here. You're with me." I said, holding her. "As long as that's where you want to be, I couldn't be happier."
"I just hate that you had to see me like that."
"Hey," I turned her towards me. "Are you glad that you took those pills wrong? That they didn't work?' I asked. "Are you glad you're alive right now?"
She nodded through her tears. "Yes, Glenn."
I held her head to my chest. "Then that's all that matters." I kissed the top of her head. "Maggie, I love you so much. I love you no matter what."
So, I have a question. Like, how do you all feel about Dr. Peters bc I know there's a lot of him and when there are OCs that can be suuuuupperr annoying but I really like him and I hope you guys do too. I know he went a little Grease in this chapter too and was like 'there are worse things you could do' like he's Rizzo or some shit but that won't always be him. I mean, obviously it sounds like he's going to be around awhile so if you don't like him...sorry. This paragraph doesn't even make sense anymore. Jesus. But idk just let me know what you think and be honest about it.
Speaking of which, TELL ME HOW YA' REALLY FEEL in a review. Give it to me straight aight?
Tell me where you think the story is going and throw all your ideas at me bc I want to hear them.
I just love you all. I love you all no matter what ;)
We. All. Got. Jobs. To. Do.
~Maggie Rhee
