A.N. Ahh… So tired. It's like 5 am. WHY AM I TYPING AT 5 AM? Yawn. And my laptop is do close to being dead.

Hm. Oh! Just so we're clear, I'm shooting for 19 chapters plus a tiny, tiny epilogue (that I wrote yesterday, whoot!) I'm so close to being done; I can smell the finish line. So to sum up this chapter: fluff, grouch, fluff, bad stuff. This one's a doozy. :D

Chapter 13

Concerns and Complaints

The following Saturday, Anita announced that she was going for a walk. It wasn't an unusual announcement, so her family just nodded and waved her out the door. If only they knew where she was walking to.

Anita had taken what money she had on her, a decent clump folded neatly in her pocket, and set off. The local clinic wasn't too far away, and the weather was nice, but that wasn't the problem.

She had thought about just going to the drug store and buying one of those little wands, just to make sure she was right, but she thought it would be a waste of money. She didn't just have a hunch anymore. This was very, very real.

Already her clothes were starting to get a little tight, the vomiting was getting worse, and she spent most of the day feeling miserable. Anita figured that there were only a few ways she could take this news, she could panic, and find a way to get out of it, she could tell everyone else and let them deal with it, or she could do this. She was going to hold onto her little secret for a while longer.

She had somehow managed to convince herself that this was a good thing. Stupid hormones must have been clogging her brain. Roger was off dealing with his own issues, and she would be foolish to think that he would agree with her on this crazy plan, but if she couldn't have him, then at least she would have the last gift he gave her. Their baby.

A silly little smile curled over her lips. I really had gone crazy, she thought, but she had the sweetest little image in her head. The little one get morphing and changing in her head, boy to girl, blond to brunette, it never stayed quite the same, but it had her heart all aflutter anyway.

Her insanity came to an end when she got to the clinic, as she forced herself to focus on the big picture. Doctors and tests and paperwork, all things she had to look forward to long before she got to see her beautiful baby.

The receptionist took her name, and had her go sit in the waiting room for a while. Anita checked TV first, but it was running on mute, pictures of food dancing on screen to unheard music. Her stomach twinged, so Anita turned her attention to the low coffee table in front of her.

The standard collection of old magazines were littered across the surface. Most were ragged and torn, and one copy of National Geographic had a nasty stain that looked like dried vomit. Anita decided to avoid that one and picked up a catalog. It was full of cute little babies and pretty furniture that she'd never be able to afford.

She scanned the pages, and quickly lost track of time. "Anita Greene," called a bored, irritated kind of voice.

Anita glanced up, looking at the sour nurse that was calling her name from the far doorway. Quickly, she dropped the catalog back onto the table and followed the lady into the back section of the clinic.

She led her to an open room, and left without a word. She hadn't even closed the door. Anita slid up onto the exam table, absently reading the charts and staring at the diagrams of organs and bones, while she waited for the doctor.

At last he came in, whistling a little tune. He gave her a wide smile, one that you just had to return.

"Morning, Sweetness."

"Morning."

"Hmm," Dr. Williams glanced over her. "You don't look sick, missy. What's brought you in here?"

"Babies." Well that summed it up, didn't it? "Uh, I mean, I think I might be having a baby." Happy or not, one baby was more than enough.

Dr. Williams laughed. "I've known you since you were this tall," he said, holding his hand in the air. "Come on now, what's really got you going?"

Anita's face must have been clear, this wasn't a laughing matter. The doctor eyed her suspiciously. "Why is it that all of my ladies seem to get themselves into trouble? Why it wasn't so long ago I had your mother on this table, Nita."

Anita shuddered. "I know, I – This wasn't supposed to happen."

He sighed, "Well lay back then. What symptoms are you having?"

Anita rattled off the hardships this pregnancy had already put her through. "The morning sickness has gotten worse," she added at last, rechecking the list in her head.

"Mhm. That can happen. You're already starting to show a bit. It should ease up soon, darlin'." Dr. Williams continued to poke and prod. "How long has it been?"

"The fourteenth of August. That had to be the day."

Once he was done with his examination, Dr. Williams sat back down on his stool, filling out her chart. After that he reached in one of the drawers behind him and pulled out a clear plastic cup. "Fill 'er up. Put it in the door, I'll be back in a little bit." With that last bit of advice, he took off to look for his next patient.

o.O.o

Anita sat back down on the edge of the cool examination table. The paper sheet crinkled as she moved, the only noise in the small space. At least she didn't feel quite so bloated now that she had gotten to pee.

Her doctor finally came back in after twenty minutes, clutching desperately to his clipboard.

"How are you doing?"

Anita shrugged. "I'm okay, I guess."

"Good," he said. "Well, you were right, missy. You're about ten weeks along, which is a little later than most girls get in here."

"I know," she whispered, looking at her feet. "Can you tell me anything else?"

The doctor scanned his papers, "You should get an ultrasound. And here," he paused to rip out a page in his prescription book, "go get these. Prenatal vitamins."

Anita took the slip, "Thank you."

"Oh, and Nita," he added before walking back out of the room. "Good luck."

o.O.o

Halfway across town, two old associates sat down in a dark study. The mayor, John Hope, passed a tall glass of amber liquid across his desk. "What brings you here, Roger?"

The other man, after taking a long sip of his drink, leaned back and examined the wall. "I have concerns about my son."

"Joseph? He and Penny took off to see that premier… The one about the aliens."

"No, no," Roger sighed, twirling his finger absentmindedly around the rim of his glass. "Roger, of course. He's completely unpredictable."

"Has he called yet?"

"Finally. A few days ago. He didn't take long, just a few minutes. And the staff… They're still saying the same. He's never home."

"And you still think he's out with who exactly? Another girl?"

"Maybe. That little Greene girl, Bella says she's upset with him. Hopefully he's gone and found a more respectable girl."

"Better hope he didn't knock this one up, this time." The old anger still lingered in the mayor's tone, but Roger brushed it aside.

"I have more than enough money to take care of that, John."

"Obviously."

Roger snorted. "She's well taken care of, and honestly you have to be overjoyed to have her out of your hair."

The mayor didn't seem to agree, and he continued to scowl at his drink. "She won't even come in for the holidays! My wife, she's always had a soft spot a mile wide for Tiffany, you know, and she's an absolute terror when she gets on a role about this nonsense."

"Oh well, it's not like I'm forcing her to stay with the boy. She could come home."

A wild look came over the mayor. "And do what? If someone was to look into this, could you imagine what that might do to our names, Roger? I'm sure you could plead innocence, but me? No, I'd get stuck with it all. And abandoning our grandson…"

Roger made an awful face. "Don't call him that. He was an accident, a misstep. Nothing more."

"Roger's not going to be pleased, you know. When he finds out."

"My son won't be finding out, John. And if he were to somehow uncover it, it would be on your head." The threat lingered between them for the moment; it carried very real weight behind it.

The mayor cleared his throat. "Well, if you don't want him stumbling across it, I suggest you see about moving him out of Las Vegas. They're too close together."

"Then you move your daughter, if the idea worries you so much."

He nodded, taking another sip of his drink. "Maybe I will."

o.O.o

Anita simply didn't have the resources to get into the hospital, even for a simple ultrasound, but she didn't have much choice. Asking for this kind of help was the very last thing she wanted to do. This was her bed, and she had every intention of lying in it, but Bella had been there, asking questions, and now here they were.

"I won't go in with you, Anita. I think that might be a little uncomfortable for both of us. But don't you worry about this, although the circumstances are beyond unfortunate, I will do everything in my power to make sure that this baby gets here safe and sound."

Anita tried to smile, but she felt awful. "Thank you, Mrs. Darling. I appreciate your concern."

"Can't have my granddaughter suffer, can I?" Bella asked, patting her shoulder.

Anita cringed at the word 'granddaughter'. Bella and Gretchen seemed to agree, the baby just had to be a girl, and although she really didn't mind one way or another, Anita found that the more they tried to convince her, the surer she was that it was a boy.

She couldn't have been more grateful when the nurses called her back, and she finally got to leave the waiting room.

The young nurse, who couldn't have been all that older than she was, led her through a door, and pulled back the curtains to show her bed. At least three similar beds were set up in that room, divided only by the thin curtains.

Luckily, Anita didn't have to wait more than a few seconds for the ultrasound technician to come to her side, another smiling woman.

He lady introduced herself while sorting through her equipment. "All right, are you ready?" Anita nodded slowly and adjusted her clothes like she had been told. "This is going to be cold. Your baby should pop up right here somewhere," she pointed to the center of the screen with one hand while squirting the bluish jelly.

It definitely was cold, and felt like she was going to be sticky for the next few hours until she could get into the shower, but it was easy not to focus on that when the tiny little blob appeared on the screen. The more she stared at the static-y image, the clearer it got. Anita could make out the face of her tiny baby, the little nose and the slight dips wear his lips and eyes were. He certainly looked like a baby, not some alien creature that most people talked about.

The doctor pointed out details as she looked. Feet, legs, own little hand sticking up, almost in a wave, as if he knew he was being watched. And all of that to the beat of his fast little heart.

"Everything looks fine to me. Come May you should have a nice, healthy baby as long as everything else goes smoothly."

Anita smiled, wiping the little tears that had pooled in her eyes. She had never been such an emotional wreck. Excited, scared, happy, sad, they all seemed to be mixed up.

"See you in a month, then."

"Yes, of course. See you then."

o.O.o

Roger finished with his classes a little late. The crazy man he had for a professor had droned on and on about the finer points of triangles. He glanced at the clock as he through his books into the passenger seat of his car, 7:45. He groaned, he was going to be late getting to Tiffany's this evening. He'd promised Jack he would be there to tuck him in that night.

He pulled into the parking complex just after eight, and made his way up to the twentieth floor as quickly as possible.

"Lunch?" Jack asked the moment Roger walked through the door.

Roger had learned quickly that Jack referred to every meal as 'lunch' regardless of the time of day. Either way, it was far too late for any meal.

"Jack, its bedtime."

"Jack hungry," he explained, patting his belly.

"What did you have for supper?" Roger asked.

"Hotdog!"

"Hotdog?" That didn't seem right. They had had hotdogs for lunch. "You ate more hotdogs?"

"No. Jack hungry." For added effect, his stomach rumbled in agreement.

"Tiffany?" Roger called. "Where's Mommy, Jack?"

The little boy stopped to think about it. "Bathroom!" He was just full of one liners today.

"Tiffany?" he called again once they had approached the door. He knocked, standing back and waiting for an answer.

Tiffany opened the door then, wearing a fluffy white robe, her hair wrapped in a towel, ad steam billowing out behind her.

"Hey! Aren't you a little early?" she asked, surprised by his appearance.

"No..? It's after eight. I'm late."

"Oh, I must have lost track of time…" That didn't seem to bother her though, she just smiled. "Did you need something?"

"When did Jack eat last?"

She shrugged. "I haven't fed him yet."

Roger clamped his jaw shut until he thought he could offer her a calm answer. "It's time for him to go to bed, and you didn't even think to feed him yet? He's hungry, and out here by himself. Where is Mildred?"

Tiffany didn't even have the nerve to look ashamed. "I told her to go somewhere else; because I knew you were coming back tonight. I – I thought we could have a little family time." She said it like she wanted something that wasn't very family friendly.

"We've been over this, Tiffany. I'm not here for you, especially when you can't even spare an hour to make sure our son gets fed."

She pouted, sticking out her bottom lip like a spoiled toddler. "He's fine."

"No, he's not fine," he nearly growled, but he forced himself to turn back to Jack. "Come on, buddy. Let's go get you something to eat."

"Lunch!" he cheered and led the way back down the hall.

It was going to be a long night.