I am so, so, so, sorry for the delay you guys! I couldn't get this chapter out to you all as soon as I hoped to, but it's better to be late than never. Am I right?
Anyway, I cannot possibly thank you all enough to everyone who reviewed, favorited and subscribed to this story all ready! From the very bottom of my heart, thank you thank you thank you all so, so, soooo FREAKING much! I just love you all so much, more than y'all can possibly imagine!
There are several things that I want to address.
1. I have worked out my schedule, but I can only update 1x a week (Sun-Tues.). This gives me time to make sure a chapter is good and done before I send it out to you guys. Lately, I've been catching myself working 8 hours straight through the night to get a chapter done all at once. And I've been catching myself making alot of mistakes by doing so. So what I'm going to do is work on a chapter throughout the week, that'll give me time to think things over and make any changes that needed to be changed. So that way, you guys won't have to pay from me getting caught up and wanting to get things done without thinking them through properly.
2. Somebody addressed to me that changing Dave's character in the last chapter was a bad idea. But let me explain something. When you are pregnant, your emotions get out of whack! You can be literally happy one minute and then the next you're crying your eyes out. This also applies to Dave. I'm not meaning to change his chapter when he has these epidodes; it's just called HORMONES. Now, will he be crying and upset in every chapter, of course not! He'll get upset and shed tears every now and then, but it won't be often. I just wanted to address that issue.
3. I'm sorry if things seemed to happen a little fast between chapters 2 & 3. There could have been a bridge in between those two chapter, but at the time, I just couldn't come up with one. But hey, now we're moving along surely!
So now, without any further ado, here is the long awaited chapter 4!
Chapter 4: Houston, We Have A Problem...
"...What?" was only word that either of now wide eyed Strider siblings could utter. Not Dave nor his brother could possible believe what the doctor just told them.
Dave looked over toward his brother, who before had his arms crossed against his chest, now just stood there with his arms dangling limply by his sides.
Even though Dirk kept his expressionless poker face from slipping, Dave could tell that he and his brother were thinking the exact same thing.
'Is this guy on something?'
"Well doc," Dave finally spoke,"I don't know it you noticed but, I'M A GUY! How in the natural born HELL, could I possible be pregnant?!" Dave raised his voice a little loader than his normal, cool kid tone of voice.
You try being a guy who just found out he was pregnant and see how you react.
"I know all this sounds extraordinary, David. But your tests confirm it. You are indeed pregnant. And when we done your MRI," the doctor went on, "we found a womb and a partial ovary that are connected to the anus through a fallopian tube."
"Oh my God..." upon hearing the information the doctor had just given him, Dave felt the oh so familiar presence of bile rising up from his esophagus. Dave rolled over to the side of the bed and emptied the contents of his stomach into the bin just beside his bed.
Dave couldn't believe it, but he had to admit it. Everything the doctor said was was true. It had to be! Nothing else made any since. The reason why he always getting sick, throwing his guts up; the cramps getting worse and worse; the reason why he basically had to fight every single second to stay awake, was because...
"How, how in the HELL is this even possible?!" Dirk said, and like his brother, raising his voice louder than his normal tone.
"A literal one in a billion chance, is how this occurred," the doctor continued, "I was your mother's, Cynthia's primary care giver while she was pregnant with you David." the doctor informed. "God rest her soul, she had a rough time her first trimester too, and..."
"Excuse me doctor, but what the hell does that have to do with anything?" Dirk interrupted, his growing irritation visible in his voice.
"I was getting to that," the doctor said, "now as I was saying; we had a difficult time determining the baby's sex. Now in a normal pregnancy, a baby starts to develop their, boy or girl parts, from between 9-11 weeks in the womb. With your mother's case on the other hand, we couldn't determine your sex until she was about 14 weeks. Here's what I think happened. For some reason during that 9-11 week period, it took longer than normal for your, boy parts, to develop and it allowed partial female sex organs to grow. Now at about the 14th week, your boy parts were finally developed properly; but by that time also, you had already developed a womb and partial ovary that, as we now know, got connected to the anus through a fallopian tube." the doctor concluded.
"This truly is a miracle of modern science!", the doctor added.
"Miracle isn't exactly the word I had in mind doc," all this "information" was making Dave's head spin.
If he hadn't had been on a bed, he was sure he would have been on the floor. He looked over towards his bro and didn't know how on earth he was still standing.
The only thing keeping Dirk from having a meeting with the floor was the wall he was using as a prop. And even then his knees were still shaking.
"No, the tests are wrong. There, there has to be a mistake somewhere!" Dirk said still not believing that the doctor just told both of them, "My little brother, there's no humanly possible way that he can be..."
"Mr. Strider, I know how difficult and confusing this is, but we've run every test there is to run. We've checked for every possibility for error. And we tested him for every disease under the sun. But the test all come back to one thing, David is indeed 100% pregnant," the doctor tried to explain to Dirk as calmly as he could without hitting him over the head with the clip board.
"In fact, we won't know for sure until we do an ultrasound, but with the blood tests, we estimate that he's about 6 weeks along," the doctor went on, going over his charts, making absolutely sure that there were no mistakes.
As poker faced as he may have been, Dirk couldn't help the twitches his eye was making when he heard how far along his little brother supposable was.
It's been six weeks to the day since Dave and Noir had...Dirk's eyes widened in sheer horror.
"Oh God," instead of Dave feeling the urge to regurgitate his insides, it was Dirk.
Dirk immediately rushed over and ejected the matter into the nearest trash can.
This was all his fault. If he hadn't have even gotten involved with Noir in the first place, then his baby brother wouldn't be in this situation and he certainly wouldn't be...pregnant. The guilt was eating him up inside, but sheer anger was picking up the pace.
'I'm gonna kill him. I swear to God, I'm going to tear him apart so bad that it'll take them a whole year to put him back together!' Dirk's mind raged as he spit the remaining bile in the trash can.
"All right doctor, what are our options?" Dirk said lifting his head up, "What can we do?"
"Well Mr. Strider, being that David is still early in his first trimester, it's not too late for him to get an abortion. However, in his circumstances, I wouldn't advice it. His immune system is done and the procedure would be risky for him, and he could easily catch an infection."
Dirk took a moment before he gave the doctor an answer.
What should he do? Should he give the doctor permission to do the abortion? What if he agreed to it, and Dave caught an infection and got sicker, or worse, died? Dirk would never be able to live with himself if he let anything else happen to his baby brother, much less put him through a risky procedure.
But then again, if he didn't have an abortion, then how on earth was Dave going to deliver this baby much less even take care of it. IF he could even carry it that long for him to have it. And if by some miracle that he did manage to carry it that long, he'd have to have a C-Section.
And Dirk didn't even want to think about what Dave would do about school once the baby was born. He'd probably have to drop out like he did to take care of Dave.
No, there was more thinking about.
Dirk was about to open his mouth to give the doctor his answer, but Dave bear him too it.
"No," Dave quietly said, "I won't do it. I won't have the abortion."
"The fetus, the baby didn't ask to be conceived the way it was; and it shouldn't have to die because of the way it was brought into the world," Dave spoke with the wisdom beyond his 15 years of life.
Even if he was, by legal definition, raped; he just couldn't bring himself to kill the product, the child of it.
Besides, what would their mother say if she saw him killing her first grandchild? She'd be very disappointed in him, both of them. Cynthia would love it no matter how it was conceived, and so should he.
"I'm sorry; I, I just can't bring myself to do," Dave said lowering his head.
"Well young man, I must say," the doctor was the first to speak, "that is a very wise decision and point of view you are looking from. I'm sure Cynthia would agree," the doctor smiled.
While the doctor was understanding and showed his support in the currently youngest Strider's decision; Dirk on the other hand,
"Are you completely out of your mind!"
Not so much...
"Did you even listen to the words that were coming out of your mouth?! You can't have a baby Dave! How in the hell are you going to take care of it?! Do you have any fathomable idea of what you're getting yourself into?! We'd have to get a bigger place; 3am wake ups, dirty diapers galore! And what the hell are you going to do about school when..."
"BRO!" Dave had to scream over his brother's ranting voice just to be heard, "Will you shut the hell up for one minute and let me say something?!"
That seemed to work as Dirk was now rendered speechless.
"Look, just because I'm not going to kill it, DOES NOT mean that I will keep it! It's a person too Bro, and it has a right to live," Dave boldly spoke, "and need I remind you that all this is your fault. If you hadn't had got into that debt, then we wouldn't be having this problem now would we?"
"God, don't remind me," Dirk bit his tongue.
"You know, you were right about one thing. I don't know how I'm going to take care of a kid. But we can find someone who can and will," Dave calmly said.
"There are numerous adoption agencies in the Houston area that take in newborns and find them good homes within weeks of their births. You should be able to find your baby a great home through one of them," the doctor informed.
"See there Bro! I can give the baby up for adoption and everything will be fine," Dave told his brother, "And besides Bro, what would Mama say if you or I gave someone permission to kill her first grandchild?"
That hit the spot.
"You're right. You're absolutely right. The baby, it doesn't matter how it was conceived; it's a person and it has a right to live. Mama didn't raise a baby killer, and neither did I," Dirk lowered his head in shame as he felt little beads of tears forming in the corners of his eyes.
He quickly wrapped his arms around his brother and pulling him into a warm hug, "I'm so sorry Little Man, I was just angry. Can you please forgive me?"
Dave slowly wrapped his arms around his brother, "It's okay Bro, I forgive you," Dave quietly said, his head buried in his brother's chest.
"David, here are some brochures from some of top adoption agencies in this area," the doctor said handing Dave several adoption brochures after the two brothers released each other from their grip, "I recommend that you get in touch with one of them as soon as possible."
"Thank you doctor, but if it's all the same to you, at this moment I really don't want to think about anything. I've had a very long day, I'm extremely tired and I just want to go to sleep," Dave told the doctor.
"Completely understandable," the doctor said before leaving the room, "I guess I'll leave you alone right now so you can get some rest. If you need anything, press that red button on the bed there. Before I leave, do you have anymore questions?"
"No sir," Dave sleepily said.
"Okay, well good night David. I'll be back in the morning to check on you."
"Thank you doctor," Dirk said before the doctor left the room, "and I'm sorry about my behavior earlier. I was just angry."
"There's no need to apologize, that wasn't the first explosive reaction I've ever seen and it won't be my last," the doctor smiled, "now, you take good care of young David."
"I will, doctor," Dirk said looking down at his now sleeping brother and petted his hair, "I will."
After the doctor left, Dirk remembered the horde of people in the waiting room. All waiting patiently to hear any news on Dave's condition. Dirk couldn't help the smirk that creeped up on his face at their would be reaction to the news.
"I'll be back in a little bit," Dirk said as he kissed his sleeping brother on the forehead.
"Hey there he is, finally!" Jake announced to the crowded room as the eldest Strider made his way back to the waiting room.
There was more people in the waiting room then when Dirk had left. Roxy and Jane had joined the crowd. Best as well though, everyone needed to be present to hear this.
"Well how is he? What did the doctor say?" Mr. Egbert asked Dirk.
Dirk took a few deep breaths, "I really don't know how else to tell you all this but, Dave is pregnant."
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