Summary: Morgan and Lea have a talk about Lea's morning sickness. Meanwhile, Shaun and Park have a heart-to-heart talk about fatherhood.

Dr. Lim had been in physical therapy since the surgery and could now walk without help, but she still needed to use a cane. Even though it had been a month since Clay proposed, and she was still thinking about it, their relationship was still going well.

Danny was finally released from rehab, and while no criminal charges were made against him as it was heroin he overdosed on, he still wasn't permitted to return to work just yet. He was encouraged to talk to a therapist, stay home, and practice self-care.

Lea was 14 weeks into her pregnancy, and the morning sickness and nausea still hadn't stopped as she expected. For her last pregnancy, the morning sickness stopped at 13 weeks. Fortunately, the baby was developing normally so far with no signs of placenta previa or vasa previa. When Shaun and Lea were given the chorionic villus sampling test, they were offered to learn the sex of the baby, but they declined, claiming they weren't ready for that yet.

Right now, she was in the break room munching on saltines and sipping herbal tea when Morgan walked in and sat at the table with her.

Yesterday, Lea's morning sickness was so bad that Dr. Andrews advised her to go home and rest. Fortunately, the crackers did the trick of temporarily ending her nausea.

"Lea, you're glowing," complimented Morgan, smiling before realizing that Lea was munching on tea and crackers. "How are you feeling?"

Lea sighed as she nibbled on the cracker. "I forgot how much morning sickness sucks. It feels worse than last time, and I just hope I'm not dying like Charlotte Bronte."

"What?"

"She had this thing called hyperemesis gravidarum, which I guess you already know what that is," explained Lea.

"Mm-hm," nodded Morgan. "Are you saying that's how she died?"

"Yes," confirmed Lea, rubbing her temples.

"Wow," Morgan was stunned as she gripped the brim of her coffee cup. "I didn't even know she died so young. I'm guessing Shaun told you."

"Nope," Lea's lips were pursed. "I learned about it from reading this graphic novel called Kid Gloves. I recommend that book, especially since you're about to try and get pregnant."

"I'll look into it," chuckled Morgan. "And I'm 100% sure you're not dying the way Charlotte Bronte went. You seem to be functioning just fine."

"I guess," fumbled Lea, still trepidatious about her chances of losing the baby. "Anyway, how are you doing on the process of your journey into motherhood?"

"Well, I finally settled on a sperm donor," bubbled Morgan, smirking blissfully. "He's an English professor at San Jose State. I already started my hormone injections for my first round of IVF and implantation."

"Congratulations, that's awesome!" Lea trilled.

"We might get to be pregnancy buddies," squealed Morgan. "But to be honest, after seeing you deal with morning sickness, I'm kind of dreading this whole pregnancy process."

All Lea did was give Morgan a look, which caused Morgan to regret her choice of words immediately.

"Sorry," she breathed softly, looking down at the floor. "Anyway, any advice for dealing with morning sickness? Given you're one of the people at the hospital who has experience with it, I want to know the best remedies ahead of time."

"I've learned that eating small snacks with my prenatal vitamins and also snacks throughout the day instead of three big ones in three separate sittings has helped," recommended Lea. "Shaun and the internet also repeatedly told me to try that. Also, saltines are your best friend."

"Makes sense," chuckled Morgan, who had already asked several other St. Bons employees how they managed their morning sickness. "Nurse Villanueva and Dr. Patel told me the same thing. Saltines are the best treatment for nausea. Thanks for the advice."

"You're welcome," simpered Lea, nodding. "I just can't wait for morning sickness to be over...if this pregnancy is successful."

Morgan's smile faded, understanding Lea's dread despite never experiencing a miscarriage, and she knew that Lea's pregnancy was high risk. However, she had a similar yet different dread of the possibility of her implantation failing.

"Hey, whatever happens, it will be okay," consoled Morgan as reasonably as she could. "Everything will be okay."

"Thank you," sniffed Lea.

Meanwhile, Shaun and Dr. Park were at their desks in their shared office, silently reviewing their separate patient files.

"How has Lea been?" Alex asked with concern, setting his papers down. "What about you?"

"Lea is fine," Shaun answered hesitantly, engrossed in his patient's file, who was originally Morgan's patient with an abnormal mole. "But she is still tired and nauseous. My patient's biopsy revealed melanoma, but it hasn't spread yet, so she will need surgery as soon as possible."

Alex was silent for a while before deciding to share more words of wisdom as an experienced father.

"When Mia was in her first trimester with Kellan, the smell of seafood was a huge trigger," Alex reminisced, unsure if he already told Shaun that story. "One time, when we passed by the seafood section of the grocery store, she puked on the floor, and then we just discreetly tried to walk out like we were never there. We didn't go back for months. We shopped somewhere else until after Kellan was born."

"That sounds embarrassing. Lea still can't stand the smell of mint toothpaste," shared Shaun, taking his eyes off his patient file. "Or eggs or red meat."

Alex chortled, remembering the last time when Shaun said he was switching toothpaste because Lea couldn't stand it. "Mia couldn't stand the smell of eggs either."

The two attendings were silent for a while before Shaun changed the subject.

"Frida Kahlo might have had Asherman syndrome. She had a few miscarriages," deadpanned Shaun, as Alex frowned in confusion when Shaun shared an irrelevant topic. "When she got in a bus accident, a metal rod entered the left side of her body and exited the vagina. It also pierced her uterus. Lea said she found comfort in some of her paintings."

"Okay," said Alex, surprised by the change in subject and non-sequitur, but he knew this was how Shaun was and nodded his head.

Last time when Shaun and Lea were expecting, Alex bought an infant bathtub and a rubber duck in surgical scrubs for them that he planned to give them at their baby shower. He returned the items when they lost the baby.

It took him and Mia three months to try and conceive a child and the pregnancy was successful, but he could guess how devastating losing a badly wanted baby can be.

Alex knew that Lea's pregnancy was high risk, and he wanted to reassure his friend that he and his wife would have a healthy baby. But he knew the odds of a miscarriage, stillbirth, or premature birth were high.

"Shaun," Alex hesitated. "She made it through the first trimester. She's doing great."

Alex then realized that comment probably was unhelpful since Lea was in her second trimester when they lost the baby.

"Everything will be okay. No matter what happens, you'll both get through this," he reassured, giving Shaun a weak smile.

"I hope so," muttered Shaun.

It was the middle of the night at 3:12 am when Shaun, who was half-awake, heard Lea rapidly pull herself out of bed and rush to the bathroom to hurl into the toilet and flush.

This happened every night and day like clockwork. This was their routine.

After two minutes, Shaun heard Lea's footsteps walking out of the bathroom and back to the bedroom, eventually revealing his wife appearing in their room, rubbing her eyes.

"Done by the second trimester my ass," she mumbled, collapsing into a prone position next to Shaun, burying her face into her pillow.

Shaun shifted onto his left side so he could face Lea, lanking his arm around his wife's torso, wanting to caress her bloated belly and reaching his hand to touch her lower abdomen, wanting to reach closer to her clitoris, but decided not to since Lea was scared of having sex at this moment in her pregnancy.

Despite Dr. Winkler reassuring it was safe for her to have sex, Lea was scared of inducing a miscarriage with sex.

Instead, Shaun just rested his arm over Lea and kissed her cheek.

AN: I know most of this chapter isn't really a Shaun and Lea scene, but I did want to include at least one Morgan/Lea scene and Park/Shaun scene. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed. Please review :)

Next Chapter Prompt:
Shaun and Lea plan a trip that will either be their babymoon or grief trip.