Chapter 2

Friday, September 17, 2004

0700 EST

Harm's apartment

North of Union Station, DC

The sunshine coming in the window and the lady on the morning show giving the weather woke him up the next morning. Jumping up he looked around. It was the next day and no one called to let him know if Mattie had made it home all right. He jerked his door open and hauled ass down the hall.

That morning it occurred to Jen that it might not be a good idea for Mattie to find the pregnancy test even if it had been negative. The curious teen would ask too many questions that Jen would find uncomfortable to answer.

In the bathroom she reached into the trash and pulled out the stick, checking it once again just for that extra bit of reassurance. Her legs went week and she had to hold onto the counter to keep from falling to the floor. Overnight the test stick had turned from negative to positive! Then she noticed that the box was in the trash too and that the other test was gone. Searching the wastebasket she found the stick that she had used the night before. Jen stood there holding both sticks in her hand as the realization of what the positive test could mean. Mattie was the only other person in the apartment that could have found the test!

Reaching the girl's apartment he went in without knocking and looked around. There was a light on down the hall with the door open. He could see Jen standing there with her back to him. Walking up behind her and peeking over her shoulder he saw an early at home pregnancy test box sitting on the counter and she was holding two test strips. One was negative and one was positive. Shocked
Harm brushed up next to Jen causing her to spin around to face him. Frowning he asked her, "What's going on around here? Is there something I should know?"

Recovering from the shock of what she had just discovered, Jen turned and pushed Harm out of the way. She needed to talk to Mattie right now! "Not now, Harm!" she said as she hurried down the hall to Mattie's room. Opening the door she found Mattie sprawled across her bed crying her eyes out. Going over to her and sitting down on the edge of the bed, Jen asked, "Mattie, do you want to talk about it?"

"Jen, I don't know how it happened. I swear I've never been with anyone!" Mattie sobbed.

"Are you sure you followed the instructions correctly?" Jen asked gently.

"I did everything it said to do on the box. How could I be pregnant without having sex?" wailed Mattie, throwing herself into Jen's arms.

"What? Mattie is the one pregnant and not you, Jen? Who is the bastard, Mattie? Give me his name and I'll see that he is taken care of. Charge that son of a bitch with statuary rape!" shouted Harm who had wandered in to check on Mattie.

"Harm, she said she has never had sex! It must be a false result. You'll just have to take the test again."

"There were two tests and one of them was negative. Jen, are you sure that she didn't get hers mixed up with yours?" he asked feeling guilty.

"How do you know that one was mine, Harm?" Jen glared at him.

"Wasn't it Jen? Wasn't one of those tests yours? Which one was it? The negative or the positive? Who's the father if you're pregnant, Jen?" he smirked.

"I'm not pregnant Harm," was all she would say. Wondering if he had forgotten what had happened between them six weeks ago, right before Mattie moved into the apartment with her.

"Will both of you stop arguing? My test come back positive and I have no idea how I got pregnant.
Someone help me," Mattie cried out looking at Harm.

"Harm, go to the drug store and buy another test, we need to make sure that she followed the directions right!" Jen said and glared at him until he left the bedroom.

"Mattie, sweetheart I'm sure you just made a mistake in taking the test. Don't worry this one will turn out negative," smiled Jen wiping Mattie's face. "If not, we can always go see a doctor. There are a lot of reasons that could cause that test to come back positive without you being pregnant."

"Oh! Thank god! But you must have thought that you were pregnant...that is why you bought the test in the first place right?" Mattie asked.

To be continued…..