10.
WARNING! Graphic context. Do not read if you are easily offended.
~ "Ariadne, I need you to relax and breath normally." Doctor Cook said passing the scanner over her already protruding belly.
"Sorry." Ariadne said and let out a long sigh. She was so nervous. She hadn't been able to stop worrying about all the things that could go wrong with the pregnancy. Doctor Cook moved the scanner over her. Rubbing the cold gel over her skin as an image jumped to life on the screen.
The Architect leaned towered the monitor. Trying to decipher the images.
"Hold still, please." A nurse admonished her. Ariadne felt Arthur taking her hand and she relaxed on the exam table. Trying to breath normally.
"Let's see..." Doctor Cook said scanning over her abdomen.
A large black mass surrounded by white was on the screen.
"That's your uterus." Doctor Cook said pointing at the darkness. "See that little white patch there?" She added pointing to a small movement that squirmed inside of the blackness. "That's your baby." She said looking at the parents to be.
Arthur was very quite as Ariadne looked at the kidney like shape. It jumped slightly and seemed to float inside the black void.
"Can we... can we hear the heartbeat?" The Point Man asked nervously.
"Certainly." Doctor Cook said.
Like magic, a whirl-whirl-whirl came through the sonogram machine.
"Oh my!" Ariadne said tears springing to her eyes. She couldn't stop looking at the images of the kidney shaped life from. It's big head.
"Can... we...um... tell the gender yet?" Arthur asked swallowing hard.
"Well, 12 weeks is a little early." Doctor Cook said noncommittally. "Let me see."
The Doctor peered at the screen, moving the scanner over her belly as they watched a clearer picture of their baby come into view.
"Here are the arms, the legs... and it looks like... we have a little girl." Doctor Cook said at last.
Ariadne burst out laughing.
"A girl?" She said throwing Arthur a haughty look. "You owe me dinner." She said with a smile.
Arthur wiped away a tear from his eye as Doctor Cook printed out a clear picture of their daughter.
"And everything looks good? She's okay?" Ariadne asked worriedly.
"Everything looks great." The Doctor said. "I'll leave you two alone." She added as Arthur clearly didn't like becoming emotional in front of strangers.
~ When they were alone, Arthur looked for a long time at the sonogram photo.
"Those are legs, and arms." Arthur said in disbelief.
"She'll have your long legs I think." Ariadne said with a smile.
Arthur nodded numbly.
"Are you alright?" She asked softly.
"I'm fine." Arthur said with a laugh. "Just... blown away."
~ "Are you upset that it's not a boy?" Ariadne asked as she curled into Arthur's arms that night. Since she told him she was pregnant, her lover had given up some of the frantic lust he had before. Lately he made love to her slowly and carefully.
She always felt extremely loved after each time, but missed the times when he had ravished her so unapologetic.
"Hell no." He said automatically. "I only worry about a girl. I mean, what if she's as pretty as you? All the boys will be after her."
"She might be ugly." Ariadne offered curling onto his bare chest.
"Not likely." Arthur laughed and she giggled.
Her lover looked over her for a long time.
"You still don't want to marry me?" He whispered. A touch of hurt in his voice.
Ariadne sighed and moved slightly away. She didn't want to have this conversation again.
"Marriage is a big step." She said not looking at him.
"I think having a baby together is bigger." He said trying to sound upbeat.
"It's just a lot to think about." She said softly.
"Were practically living together already." Arthur said running his hands over hers.
"I know."
"If we got married, it would make things a lot less complicated when the baby comes." He added.
"I know." she whispered.
"Still no answer?" He asked with a heartbroken chuckle.
"Arthur." She said sadly.
"It's alright." He said and kissed her sweetly on her forehead.
~ Ariadne laid on the exam table at Doctor Cooks office. Arthur had left for Berlin that morning on business. The Point Man kissing her goodbye and left her to sleep in.
She knew something was wrong after she woke up. She had been feeling like she was having menstrual craps for a few days before the bleeding started.
She had been shocked to see the blood in her underwear that one morning and called Doctor Cook.
"It's probably nothing too serious." The Doctor said knowledgeably. "It can happen sometimes. No reason to panic."
"It just scared me." Ariadne said trying not to cry like some silly girl. "I just... I feel like something is wrong."
"Well, lets see what we can see." Doctor Cook said passing the sonogram scanner over her belly.
"Try to breath normally." The nurse said as Doctor Cook looked sternly over the images on the screen.
Ariadne tried to relax as she saw the black mass of her uterus surrounded by white. She found herself chewing on her lip as her eyes searched for the white kidney like shape. Before, her little girl had looked like she was bouncing and swimming inside the safe, black home that was Ariadne's womb.
"Where is she?" Ariadne asked looking in vain for the moving mass of white.
"Here." Doctor Cook said soberly. The Doctor pointed to a white shape that Ariadne had not seen before. The white shape was laying still at the bottom of her uterus. Not floating in the center as it had before.
"I... I don't understand." Ariadne said. Yet, deep in her heart, she understood perfectly.
"I'm very sorry." Doctor Cook said. Her clear professionalism coming out. "You've had a miscarriage."
~ Ariadne felt a sharp ringing in her ears as Doctor Cooks words were drowned out. A nurse was in the room and held her as she stared helplessly at the screen.
"Wait." Ariadne said before the Doctor turned off the screen. "Are you... are you sure?" She asked feebly.
Doctor Cook looked sad.
"Yes. We need to preform a D & C right away. To prevent toxic shock. We can do it now and then you can start recovery." She said.
"What... what's that?" She asked.
"We need to remove the embryonic material from your uterus." Doctor Cook said as the nurse rubbed her back.
"Your going to take out my baby?" Ariadne said feeling tears well up in her eyes.
'This can't be happening. Where is Arthur? Where is he?' She thought feeling dizzy.
"The sooner we do this, the better it will be for you." Doctor Cook said.
"Well, I mean..." Ariadne found herself gasping. "Are you sure she's... are she's dead?"
"Yes. I'm very sorry." Doctor Cook said as Ariadne found she was hugging the nurse who was rubbing her back.
"She could be sleeping." Ariadne said bargaining.
"She's not sleeping." Doctor Cook told her. "I'm very sorry."
"It will be alright." The nurse said smoothing out Ariadne's hair. "It happens sometimes. It's no ones fault, Dear."
~ Ariadne allowed the D & C. The nurse holding her hand as Doctor Cook gave her a sedative to calm her. The Nurse told her to look up at the stained glass mobile on the ceiling as the Architect could feel the pressure and uncomfortable sensation of tools inside her.
"Try to relax." The nurse said gently. "She's almost done."
Ariadne nodded and tried to be brave. Tried not to cry. Tried not to look when Doctor Cook moved away from her with a small kidney dish that she wrapped in a bio hazard bag.
"Don't look at that, Dear." The nurse said moving in front of Ariadne. Blocking the view of the Doctor.
"Oh, God!" Ariadne cried covering her face.
The nurse was at her side. Helping to wipe the tears away was Doctor Cook had another nurse take the red bio bag away.
"What will they do with her?" Ariadne asked as she could feel Doctor Cooks hands on her again. The tools being released from inside her body. The pressure gone, the discomfort gone.
Her body felt strangely empty and alone.
"You'll have some bleeding. Like the flow of a regular period." Doctor Cook said. "If it keeps up more the three days, come back."
"Wait... what will they do with her? My baby?" Ariadne asked feeling desperate.
"She's medical waste." Doctor Cook said with difficulty.
The Nurse was holding Ariadne as the Architect cried until the world felt numb.