Chapter 13
Rachel POV
It was a nightmare of epic proportions. She was sitting in a room surrounded by pink sticks, cardboard boxes, and piles of instructions that should have been simple for her to understand. You pee on a stick. How hard it this?
"Ok Rachel, it's not that hard. The paper says, Point the absorbent tip downward; place the absorbent tip in urine stream for at least 10 seconds to be thoroughly wet. So basically pee on the damn tip of the stick…." Kurt must have seen her nose wrinkle as he quickly started talking again.
"Or…you can do the other option." He began reading from the insert again. "You can collect your urine into a clean cup and dip half of the absorbent pad into the urine for at least 10 seconds. So you either pee on the stick or into a cup. Pretty simple stuff." He handed her the pink stick.
"Easy for you to say, you have a…" She leaned over to whisper, "Penis to aim with."
"How old are you that you can't even say Penis out loud?" Kurt said, louder than Rachel wanted him to be. He stepped back and yelled, "Penis, Penis, Penis."
The door to the bathroom yanked open, "What in the hell are you guys doing in here?" Finn says with a quizzical expression.
"Nothing, get out." She shot back and Finn quickly turned around. "No wait, come here."
He spun around reluctantly.
"I need a cup." She paused. "To…Oh goodness, I need to pee in a cup Finn. That way I can dip all these sticks into it."
Finn nodded. "Ok. A cup." He backed away and was gone.
"Are you really going to take every single one of these tests? There are like 15 boxes in here." Kurt was picking up all the sticks scattered around the floor.
"I have to be sure." She nodded emphatically.
Finn returned to the room holding a large mug in his hand. "Here ya go." He said with a half grin, probably proud of being able to find a cup so quickly.
Rachel reached out and took the mug from his hand. It really was a good size and it had a handle and a large opening so she would be sure not to get anything on her hands. She gave him a large grin and squealed. "Perfect." She gestured toward the door for both of the males to leave the room as Kurt stood up and piled all of the sticks onto the bathroom counter.
Rachel shut the door behind them and turned toward the toilet. Grimacing she gripped the cup and prepared herself over the toilet. The handle made it much easier and she finished the task with ease. She sat it on the counter, plugging her nose to drown out the smell of urine and started dropping all of the sticks into the liquid, pulling them out, and setting them onto the counter. She poured the vile liquid into the sink and quickly washed it down with fresh water. She was pleased with herself in accomplishing this task so well.
She slid out of the bathroom and both boys looked up from the bed.
"Well..." asked Finn.
"You have to wait silly, it's not immediate." She said with a frown as she realized in five minutes all of this nightmare would be a reality.
She sat down between Kurt and Finn on the bed and sighed as they sat in silence.
"Dun dun dun….dun du dun dun du dun…." Finn's phone sounded off with that incredibly stupid music that played whenever that creepy guy in the black armor came onto the screen in Star Wars which signaled them that it was time to check the bathroom.
Kurt recognized their hesitation and started toward the bathroom door first. He opened the door and screamed.
"OH MY GOD!" He yelled.
Rachel expected a giant pregnancy test to come running out of the room with an arrow screaming "you're pregnant" and a baby that jumped into their arms, but after peering over Kurt's shoulder all she could see was the multitude of colored sticks lying on the sink that she couldn't even read from here.
"Is that the cup you peed in?!" He exclaimed loudly, holding his hand to his mouth in horror. "Finn Hudson, that is my morning coffee mug!"
Rachel stared over his shoulder at the mug. It was the first time she was actually looking at the cup, before she was just worried about getting the task done. But now she saw the writing on the cup, Hummel's Morning Joy. Her face turned pink as she realized what she had done, but honestly she was more concerned about seeing how many lines were on the sticks sitting around the cup. She put her hands over her eyes, pushed past Kurt, and walked toward the sink.
She peered down at the first stick and groaned. Two lines. One line was very faint, but it was there. She looked at the next one. She felt confused. This one was clearly only one line. The next five were just as confusing. Some looked like two lines and some she could only see one.
"Well?" Finn asked behind her. It was like he was holding his breath.
"I can't tell. Why can't things work like they are supposed to?" She slumped down onto the toilet, holding her head in her hands as Finn and Kurt started picking through the sticks with the same puzzled look.
"Well, from what I can see, you're pregnant, but you're not." Finn said thoughtfully. But Rachel only groaned.
"Why does the world hate me? I just want this to be over with. Life is so unfair." Rachel whined. She didn't need this test to tell her she was pregnant, she already felt like her life was lying in waste, she just wanted something to prove it.
"Ok now what?" Finn asked her as he leaned down and took her hands in his.
"I don't know, is it too early to go buy more tests?" She said with a snarl.
"You already bought everything from the pharmacy; I'm sure they haven't had time to restock. I think we need to go see a doctor or something. Don't they read your blood for that kind a thing?" Finn smiled at her supportively.
Kurt rolled his eyes. "If you mean a blood test, then yes Finn. She should call and get an appointment to have a blood test."
Blaine stumbled into the bathroom, his hair sticking up on all ends. "Did I not get an invitation to the party?" He noticed the cup on the sink and smiled. "Hey you even got your coffee already."
Kurt jumped forward and slapped Blaine's hand before he could take the cup. "No baby, you don't want anything from there. In fact, I think we need to burn it."
"But you love that cup?" Blaine said concerned.
"Yes, yes I did. " He spat accursedly at Finn. "Let's go back to bed." He took Blaine's hand and led him from the bathroom. "Make the appointment." He shot back at them.
"Oh Finn." Rachel sighed.
"Rach, it will be fine. We will make the appointment and then we will just deal with whatever comes our way."
"Deal with it? How can you be so calm? Get my phone; I'm calling the doctor now."
Finn laughed. "Baby it's like five in the morning. No one in their right mind is open yet."
Rachel stomped her foot. I just want this over with. He's going to tell us we are pregnant, I will quit my job, you will have to quit touring with the band, we will end up moving back to Ohio so we can afford a baby and get to live on a farm where our kid will have no chance at having their dreams either, unless they want to be a cow farmer or something equally as stupid."
Finn stood up and stared at her. "Is that how you really feel? I mean wow Rachel."
Rachel didn't know why he was getting so angry. Surely he doesn't want to quit the band. He got out of Ohio; he wouldn't want to be trapped there now would he? "Of course it is. Don't you even care what this is going to do to me?"
"It's a baby Rachel, yeah I get it, it's not what we wanted or planned for, but it's not the end of life as we know it."
"Life as we know it?! Finn, it is the end of life as we know it. I'll be huge. No one is going to hire a giant pregnant washed up Broadway singer."
"I think your mom did pretty well for herself." He shot back.
Rachel felt like she had been slapped. "Yes she sure did, why do you think she didn't keep me around? Baby's are poison to a Broadway career."
Finn turned around and walked out of the room.
"Don't walk away from me. You're the one who brought up my mom. The woman who left me to pursue the same dream I have, for Broadway."
Finn rounded on her. "She didn't leave you; she gave you to a good home. She gave you to your caring father's who actually wanted you. Stop acting like a victim."
She gasped. "Don't talk to me like that. You're a guy, hell if you want you can go back on tour like Puck did to Quinn and leave me at home to slave over this tiny dream stealer."
"The only person stealing dreams is you." He swore. "You're so caught up in yourself that you can't see anything else. It's a baby Rachel. A defenseless baby, who never asked to be caught up in stealing away YOUR dreams. You worked hard to get where you are. You just learn to work harder to keep it. YOU taught me that. So why don't you start listening to your own advise."
He turned and crossed the room to the door, not even turning around as he spoke. "I'll call the doctor for you in the morning. Go back to bed, you have a show tonight."
Rachel's mouth stood open as she stared at the door, closed behind him after he left. He wasn't being fair. He didn't understand what she had to lose. It wasn't fair.
She stared out of their window down on to the street below. She wasn't going to be able to go back to sleep tonight. Finn would understand soon enough. Once they saw the doctor, he would have no choice but to face the cold hard reality! Their life long dreams were over.