MS

Here's the second part of this one-shot that somehow ran away from me. Here's my elaboration of the little idea that won't let go. Hopefully it'll get a few chuckles out of you and put you all in a good enough mood to leave me a comment. Although I don't expect any laughs, since I can't make a joke to save my life.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Card Captor Sakura characters.

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40 Seconds

Chapter 2: A Doctor's Visit

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Syaoran let out a deep breath as he looked around his apartment. He had just finally finished an extensive project for one of his classes and it was now that he noticed that his apartment was in need of a bit of care. He had been meaning to change a couple of the items in it for some time, and now that he had the time, he was going to go shopping with Sakura for them.

That was another thing too, he hadn't seen his girlfriend in two days. He really wasn't sure how that happened, but things were just getting in the way. She had also seemed a bit skittish when he professed to be close to her. It was like she had been avoiding him.

It had never been so hard to find some time to even get to kiss your girlfriend. Somehow, he hadn't even been able to catch her at school and that in itself had worried him a bit. Still, some people did still need some personal space sometimes, and while he was a bit concerned, he would give her time.

His first stop was his bedroom. He looked around to see the clothing that littered some corners. It clearly reflected Sakura's absence. It's not to say that he didn't pick up after himself, but when he was involved in a project, he became absentminded. He looked out the window, realizing that the leaves were turning their colors on the trees outside.

He should start looking for his fall clothing so that he could grap something in the mornings when it got too cool. The winter clothing won't be far behind, he reasoned. They were in another closet in the apartment, and maybe it was time to air them out.

He concentrated on putting everything to rights in his room, taking the summer clothes out of his bedroom closet and placing it on the bed to see how much space he would have available. He was rumaging through a box from the closet when he found a couple of things that he knew weren't his.

Sakura spent so much time at his place that there were objects and such that also said that this place was one of regular use for herself. He found some things he was sure that she thought were misplaced somewhere at home. There were some old hair things that he remembered her using years before.

He shook his head at it, keeping the package closed since it only had a couple of old sheets and linens that he was never going to use again. And speaking of linens, he turned to the bed, it was about time he got a new comforter and such.

But that was something that he was going to buy with Sakura. He had very fond memories of this bed and she was very well included in those. A slight smile flittered as he lost himself in a little daydream of soft moans and whispered endearments.

He was alone at the moment, but he cleared his throat to clear his mind and focus on his task. He walked to the bathroom, looking into the small closet space it held to see about changing the towels. He also made sure that he was well stocked in shampoo and soap since he was making a list of items he wanted to buy or replace.

He went through each cabinet, making note of the items that were Sakura's. She had a knack for finding items that he would have never thought of buying for himself, but ones that he did use after she had introduced him to them. His eyes came to a box that he was sure he had never stared at before in his life.

It was a box of tampons.

In a moment of curiosity, he reached for it. He never understood how those things worked, and with four sisters, that was a miracle in itself. At the same time though, even though he had four sisters, he had never had the chance to come in contact with this sort of thing. He'd been with Sakura close to 3 years soon and this was the first time that he was actually linking her to one of these things.

He shuddered at the picture on the box, quickly placing it back at the back of the cabinet where it had been located and closed it. He didn't want to think about it or deal with anything about it. He looked to the surfaces around the toilet, making a note to buy some new bathroom fixtures and rugs.

Looking at the dimensions of the bathroom, he wondered if he could get a matching theme going with the whole apartment. He'd been living here for four years now and he had no plans to leave. He had an internship with a company for the coming semester and he would soon be graduating. He didn't have immediate plans to get into the family business and his mother had told him there was no need.

"Thank god for good mothers," his pronouncement rang true. He knew of many people in his position that were obliged to take over a family business because of tradition and such things. He might have to do so sometime, but he was going to put it off as much as he could.

He watched his reflection in the mirror, running a hand through his hair to pull it back somewhat. He was in need of a trim, he reflected while testing the length of the bangs. That was another thing he had put in the back burner after the start of the semester.

He started whistling a tune under his breath, grabbing onto the small wastebasket since he was about to take the trash out. There were a couple of tissues and such, with products of hygiene they both used. He took a quick glance to the trash bags before putting more trash in, to make sure that he wasn't throwing out something that could be recycled.

Satisfied, he turned it and placed it back. Syaoran stretched before checking to make sure that he had received no calls. Even though he was trying to be patient, Sakura's silence had him worried. Something had to be going on.

He reached down to something that was mixed in with some bits of paper. It was a device he hadn't seen before. It was a tube of some kind. He turned it around in his fingers, trying to figure out what he had when he noticed the screen. There was a line right through it.

He stared at it, his nagging mind trying desperately to recall where he had seen this before. He tried to imagine what it could be used for. He knew he had nothing to do with it, and Sakura was the only other person that was in his apartment all of the time, so it must be hers.

He shrugged it off, dropping it back into the bag and concentrating on what he would plan for dinner. He turned on the tv as he started to rummage through the fridge to find himself freezing on the spot. It was as if things had just fallen into place.

He threw the door back, closing the door with a bang and in a second was right before the bag. He went right for the item, staring at the screen and gaping, like a fish out of water.

He had seen things like these on tv, on commercials. He was looking at a pregnancy test. He wondered if the line like that meant positive or negative.

He felt lightheaded, and cold all of a sudden. Like someone had doused him with a bucket full of icy water. He shivered, his body reacting to the air conditioned air that ran through the room as well as the thousand thoughts that were running rampant through his brain.

There was only one explanation as to why this thing had turned up in his bathroom wastebasket. The world ceased to matter, except for one possibility. Only one thing mattered.

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Tomoyo wanted to squeal in delight as Sakura fidgeted again and again on the scratchy gown she had been changed into for the physical exam the doctor had asked to perform on her. She was just so vulnerable looking at the moment. She wondered if it should be Syaoran who should be present here, but then just shook the thought away. She had been able to squeeze in an appointment with her mother's gynecologist for the next day since she had found out Sakura's suspicions and the sooner they got this over with, the better it would be for her. They had taken a blood sample from Sakura to get concrete results on her pregnancy and were now just waiting for the doctor to come inside.

Sakura shivered as she saw the piece of cotton sticking out a bit from the bandage of her arm. She didn't like to have her blood taken out. She'd been able to get over her fears of shots as she had grown older, but the thought of having blood taken out from any part of her body still made her shiver uncontrollably.

The nice doctor came inside once again. She was clutching Sakura's file while rubbing the middle section of her temple and adjusting her glasses. She smiled benignly at the two young women. Tomoyo was a regular patient of hers since her practice had been handling her family for quite a lot of years.

"Dr. Amano," the bubbly woman she had known for most of her life greeted her with a smile. "Thank you for making time for us."

"Well," the older woman chuckled as she winked at her. "It's not like I'm not on call for whatever emergency arises with your family Tomoyo."

Tomoyo laughed herself, knowing that the woman, who was also a distant cousin of her father's, was the physician that most of their family trusted. Although she was a Gynecologist, that didn't mean that she didn't still work at practicing regular medicine when it was needed. She was also used a lot for referrals to those doctors that were actually specialized in the different branches of the field.

"So Tomoyo tells me that you suspect a pregnancy," she turned to Sakura, taking in the color of her skin and the way her hands were fidgeting. She was clearly nervous. "You are twenty years old, correct?"

"Yes," Sakura nodded as the doctor read some of the things she had written down on the paperwork she had filled out.

"When was the last time you had your period?"

"Around two months ago," Sakura blushed as she avoided eye contact for a bit and Tomoyo smothered a laugh. "It struck me some days ago that I hadn't had one for more than eight weeks. I've been regular for more than five years and the latest I've ever been is two weeks."

"And of course since you are sexually active, then you couldn't rule out pregnancy."

"I'm not under any undo stress, or changed any of my patterns so it's not like I'm irregular or anything. And then of course came the fact that I did around 10 different pregnancy tests and nine of them came positive."

"I told her that one of them could have just been a false negative and it would be better to just do the blood test for hormones and a checkup to be 100 percent sure. Although with nine of them saying positive I don't think there's much doubt in her mind," Tomoyo chimed in as Sakura's face became even redder since the doctor had lifted an eyebrow at the number of tests.

"I grabbed a lot of them from the store so instead of wasting them, I just decided to do more than one test," she explained to the woman a bit miffed at Tomoyo from letting that slip. She had only told her that a few minutes before and she had already blabbed about it. She was sure that this type of information was not a necessary one for the doctor to collect.

"She does that a lot, doesn't she?" Dr. Amano snickered at Sakura's murderous glance and Tomoyo's answering smile. "Have you felt any tenderness or change in your body lately. It doesn't matter how insignificant it seems to you, anything that comes to mind can be said."

"Not really," Sakura sighed. "Although I'm a bit afraid now. Since those tests yesterday, I can't help but feel like a different person."

"When will the results be ready?" Tomoyo asked the doctor as she started to do a physical examination of her patient. She checked her reflexes one by one, making sure there were no abnormalities in her muscles either.

"Our lab tech is actually working today, so it may actually be done before you leave today. If not, one of my secretaries will call you with the results."

Sakura nodded as she instructed her to look forward as she checked her eyes, her tongue, her throat and her ears. This was just like a regular checkup right now.

"Take a deep breath," she ordered as she used the stethoscope to check the breathing patterns of her lungs. She undid a bow from the gown and checked the beatings of her heart as she held her breath. Sliding it down, she asked her to lean backwards into the table and bared her breasts.

"Have you noticed any tenderness on your breasts?" the doctor probed further with a smile as Sakura shook her head. "How about a much quicker arousal and response when your boyfriend touches them or maybe in other situations."

"Well, I hadn't really thought of that before," Sakura's brows furrowed as she recalled the last few times she had been intimate with Syaoran. It had felt as it had always done between them. But now that she thought about it, she had been more responsive to his attempts at seductions when he had concentrated on her chest area. Her nervous giggles were a giveaway to the experienced doctor. "I, yes. Probably."

"I'm going to test for unusual masses in your breasts. Has there been any women on your family with breast cancer?," she warned Sakura before setting her palm flat over one of the mounds and dividing it into four quadrants, she pressed down and watched the pattern of it's movements as she ground against them. It was only a tact test for now.

"Well, this is good," she worked her way down her ribs and the sides of her waist. "Everything seems to be alright." Dr. Amano stilled as she felt her shiver when she placed her hand over her lower abdomen and cervix. "Anything hurting?"

"No, it's just that since there probably is a living baby growing inside of me in there, I can't shake the feeling that I'll hurt it somehow or in someway. It seems irrational, but I was barely able to button my jeans this morning since my hands were shaking so badly at their proximity with it. I feel like a coward, but it also doesn't seem real that a small being is forming in there."

The doctor smiled radiantly at her words. "I know," she patted her over her arm before starting all of the cognitive tests. It wasn't long before they were done and rolling their eyes at one of Tomoyo's comments.

"Have you ever had a pap smear before?" she asked and saw the blank face of her patient. She took that as a no.

"I've told her about it, but she never could get up the nerve to have one of those," Tomoyo explained to her. Maybe it would be a good thing to have her familiarized with her family's doctor.

"Well, it might be a good idea to start doing so after you give birth. Still, I'd like to see if I can get some samplesto check for any infections or bacteria that might prove harmful. It's also a good way to see if there might be any abnormalities."

"Do you think she should just have a complete STDs test too?"

Sakura gasped at her friend's suggestion. She knew that Syaoran had been the only guy that she had ever been intimate with. As for him, she hadn't exactly talked to him about any previous partners, if he had indeed had any before her, since he was very shy to everyone else of the opposite sex. He'd had girlfriends, but she really hadn't asked about how far he'd gotten with them. Maybe as things stood, it should have been a question to ask sometime before they got intimate. She couldn't have done it though, she wasn't one of those girls that had a lot of nerve when it came to that sort of thing.

"It wouldn't hurt to do it at least once just to clear yourself of anything," Dr. Amano explained as she thought of it. "Since you have missed your period and can be pregnant, then I can assume that you had sex with your partner without a condom."

"I've been on the pill since I started my relationship with Syaoran," Sakura cleared her throat at her first mention of his name.

"You've stopped taking it right?" Tomoyo nodded to the doctor as Sakura stared at her hands.

"I think I read somewhere that you shouldn't be taking it even if you think you're pregnant because it could create an imbalance in the hormones and could harm the baby."

"Is there any risk to the baby if I continued taking it after I," she stuttered a bit while searching for the right word. "Conceived?" Sakura's eyes widened as she bit her lip. She was not aware of it consciously, but she wound her arms protectively around her abdomen as if to protect it from harm.

"We'll know from further tests," she checked some other things on the chart before walking to the sink and putting everything on the table beside it. "I'll get my assistant to start set up for some samples and then we'll just wait for the results."

Tomoyo gave her friend a reassuring smile and then excused herself. This was an intimate procedure that she wasn't quite comfortable for her either to observe so she just waited outside. Her phone vibrated inside of her purse. It was Eriol's name flashing on the screen.

"Hello," she greeted her partner in crime with a cheerful voice.

"Um," this was a first as Tomoyo blinked into her phone. "Well."

This was definitely a first with the guy that could win the most mischievous award in any contest. He was never at a loss for words when it came to any situation. Maybe that was why he was so much fun to be around.

"Baby?" he called to her to gain her attention. "I need to ask you something."

She sensed a reluctance there that she had never heard before. This might actually be something very serious if he was taking this much time to get to the point. He just usually blurted whatever he wanted to discuss and then later smoothly work his way around the bluntness if he had offended anybody.

"What is it?"

"I'm wondering if you might know why there's a home pregnancy test in Syaoran's bathroom wastebasket?" Eriol pressed his ear to the phone to take in any cues of the reaction to his inquiry. You could tell a lot about how to expect a response to something if you could gauge the responder's reaction before they spoke.

Tomoyo gasped. She quickly stifled her body's sudden need to go into a bit of hysterics. It was then that she remembered in a flash that while she had comforted Sakura the day before, she had simply discarded the stick onto the small wastebasket in the bathroom and then moved on to the living room. The little stick had completely left her mind, and probably Sakura who had probably believed they had stuck it back into the box that she had taken home with her.

"Are you at the apartment right now?" that was also her way to see if Syaoran was probably in the room with him with his ear shoved into the phone. She had told Sakura that she wouldn't divulge any information and it should all probably come from her friend's mouth. Although it seemed like Syaoran had been pretty fast to react to what he had seen.

"No," Eriol wanted to laugh. He didn't need to get a confirmation to know the probability of the answer now. Especially since Syaoran had told him about the stick and his questions about what the line in the middle meant. "He just called me a bit surprised and incoherent around an hour ago. It took me quite some time to get him to talk to me in clear sentences. I just hung up on him."

"Oy," Tomoyo wanted to slap her forehead hard. It was a good thing they had everything done with the doctor today to be more certain. Although she was pretty sure that Sakura was not going to like it when she told her of this conversation.

"Tell me about it," Eriol cleared his throat before asking another question that had been nagging him. There was also a high probability of the expected answer, but it wouldn't be bad to be 100 percent sure of it. "Could you at least tell me that this test wasn't yours?"

Tomoyo's brain blanked completely. Her jaw dropped in complete surprise over hearing the question. The phone fell over the carpeted floor, slipping from her fingers. She made a grab for it quickly, hearing Eriol's concern on the line.

"No!" she shouted into the piece, hearing him wince with his customary sarcastic remark. She cleared her throat, smiling apologetically to the secretary that glanced her way from the outburst.

"Alright," Eriol didn't know what else to say. They slipped into silence as each struggled to come up with the right questions to ask, or the right answers to give.

"Where are you right now?"

"At Dr. Amano's office," Tomoyo didn't want to lie. She wasn't going to say the words aloud to anyone, but then she was sure that Eriol had enough brain cells to connect all of the facts together.

"Ok then. Call me when you're done and where you're going. I might be where you're going since my phone if beeping and telling me that I have another call."

Tomoyo would probably sweat drop as she was expecting that as well. "Fine," she saw an attendant leave the room. "I have to go too."

She slipped inside, finding Sakura and her doctor deep in conversation as she righted her gown. "I'll leave you two to change."

"So?"

"She says that there are no abnormalities from what she could see, but she's still going to refer me to an obstetrician."

"That's a good idea," she helped Sakura zip the back of her blouse. She was debating on what to say as they left the room to the front office. Tomoyo tried very hard, to find the right words to tell her that Syaoran was freaking out at his apartment while Eriol was suppossed to be the voice of reason.

The world was upside down.

Sakura took out her cell phone to get her keys and just numbly stared at the screen. Tomoyo looked over her shoulder and winced at the number of missed calls it showed.

"Maybe this is a good time to tell you that Syaoran found the pregnancy test you took at his apartment," she let out a nervous laugh as Sakura's eyes widened. "Yeah, definitely."

I'm an evil person... I had like most of this written already, but I kept dragging finishing it. I have great ideas for the coming chapters though, so expect this to be updated soon. You don't have a clue as to what I have prepared for you readers, not a one.

If you're nice and review, I might give you a clue :P... if not, you'll have to wait.

MS

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