Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Resident Evil characters, Capcom does. (this doesn't include the OC's that will be mentioned along the way.)
Looking inside the microscope, Claire looks and observes the tiny moving organisms under it, she is highly fascinated by the fact that there are smaller living beings in this world, whether it was visible to the naked eye or with the help of an apparatus to see, it was a hobby she has always enjoyed doing every once in a while, and she's currently spending the rest of the day at Rebecca's lab like she always does, she tries to help the woman with her experiments whenever she had a spare time for the day, and it had also helped her to forget about the thing that happened between her and that "man".
Today she was early to assist due to her only taking up half a day at Terrasave, since her boss had noticed that some of the chemicals she was handling back at the site made her gag and eventually vomit, although she has pretty much encountered the same chemicals several times before in the entirety of her career in the organization.
Worried about her health, her coworkers and boss thought that it was best to send her home to rest, she also was not feeling her normal self for the past week, she has been very under the weather to the point of feeling light-headed, dizziness, fatigue throughout the day and will choose to stay in bed whenever she can, she is also sensitive to the smell of the variety of foods that she usually likes the scent of, and it will lead to her losing the contents of her stomach after she swallows a spoonful.
"So- Claire...you're earlier than usual for the microscope.", Rebecca comments as she types down information on the computer, she is seated on an office chair beside Claire who is standing up for the last minute whilst leaning her upper body to peek through the magnifying glass of the microscope. She chose not to go home, because once she drove her car, she started feeling a bit better and decided to not waste time at her home and went straight to the place she is at now.
She breaks from her position and stood up straight upon hearing her friend, "Yeah about that, my boss just decided to send me home after I gagged over some chemicals and vomited in the toilet.", she explains, she has always been open to those close to her when having a conversation, always elaborating things, she's not the usual type to be a one phrase person whenever she's asked.
Rebecca pauses on what she was doing to face her friend, "Wait, what?"
"It's no big deal actually.", Claire smiles, as if it is nothing serious.
"Really? No big deal?, Claire you threw up, there are a lot of diseases that starts with a symptom like that.", she remarks, worried for her friend, "Other things you've been feeling?", she hesitates to answer for a second, scared of what Rebecca might find, she can't be sick can't she?, either way, she tells her all of the things she's been experiencing so far.
"The last time you took birth control?", she asks again.
Claire recalled,"I don't take it anymore, my last was last year in January when it started messing up my system, I was advised by my obstetrician to get off it."
"How about the last time you menstruated?", Claire was taken aback by the series of questions, she was not asked about her period ever since her last doctors appointment and when she was applying for a position in Terrasave and it was a physical examination. This was also when she realized that she hadn't gotten her period for the entirety of last month until now, "About-a month and a half.", she answers, becoming in denial of what she thinks this is, "Come on Rebecca, this could just have been because I'm nearing menopause, nothing more."
"But what if it is something else entirely?", she eyes her, as if knowing, and this time- Claire can't look at her straight in the eye, she's staring anywhere but the person in front of her, "Sensitive question but, have you been intimate with anyone early last month?", she's not gonna lie, but she expected this question to be asked, she's just acting dumb at this point and already knows what's wrong with her, she is just denying it to herself, she stayed silent, feeling scared and probably going pale from the possibility.
Rebecca was expecting an answer to the question but didn't receive any, she sighed, stood up from the chair and crosses her arms, "I'll take the silence as a yes, and you should definitely take a test.", she suggests, before bending down to open a drawer from her desk, reaching for an item which is a pack of pregnancy tests, she comes back up and reaches it to Claire, "Don't act innocent Claire, you know what this is all about.", it was convenient that Rebecca had several packs due to them being required to take one every month as scientists.
Claire thought of this as very overwhelming, when at first she only thought it was just because of the food she had eaten, menopause, and now she is being tested for pregnancy? but she decides not to protest, she slowly and hesitantly lifts her hand and takes the box from her friend. "Take at least 3 tests to be sure. And remember that there is still a chance you aren't pregnant.", Rebecca advises her before she went to the restroom, locking the door behind her, she sighed heavily and opened the cardboard box at hand, there are 7 tests in total, and she took out 3 like she was told, she closed the box lid and places it on the sink, and went on to proceed with the 3.
A few minutes have gone and she had finished and managed to take all the tests required, 2 are placed on the counter of the sink while she is holding the one she took first, she looks at the faint pink singular line forming on the right side of the display, she silently prays for it to be negative like when she took it several times in the past when she was late for her period with her past boyfriends, but a few seconds later and she saw another faint line forming for the first time ever. That's when she knows she is doomed, she freezes in her place not knowing how to process this information, but there she remembered she took 2 spare ones, hoping that they are negative and that this one was faulty. She stood up from the toilet to glance at the pregnancy tests and to her nightmare, they were all very much positive.
Rebecca had gone back a while ago to her job at typing experimental information whilst she waits for Claire, and when she heard the door of the lab room open and close, she immediately looked up and saw her friend who she can somehow see has tear stain marks on her face, and there she knew what the results were without even looking at it, she got up quickly, ran and embraced Claire, comforting her, "It-it's all positive Rebecca.", she said with a low shaky voice, breathing heavily, "What am I going to do?", the smaller woman, breaks the hug to look at the troubled one, still keeping her hands on her shoulders, she leads her to a nearby seat and lets her at least calm down for a minute by giving her water before continuing to talk this through. "What do you want to do?", she asks.
Claire sniffs and tears up again, "I don't know, I really don't. All I know is that I can't have a baby.", she answers, but her heart was not entirely convinced that she wants that, opposite from her mind that was set to aborting immediately after she saw all of the test results, she can't bring an innocent life into this cursed world, but she can't make that decision by herself either, since she's only half the reason why this baby was made.
"Are you sure you really can't?", the scientist asks again, "Maybe the father can help you make up a solution.", she suggests, despite not knowing who or where he was, only the one who had the affair can answer that.
Claire scoffs, thinking of Leon, "How is he going to deal with this when he can't even fix his drinking problems?", she revealed unintentionally before covering her mouth when she realized, and Rebecca got the idea, "Claire...is it- Leon's?", she looks at her expectantly, and she slowly nods, surprised by the sudden revelation, Rebecca didn't expect this at all, she has always seen the two as just close friends and partners in missions whenever she needed them, nothing more, at least that's what she saw from Leon, but she noticed that Claire's eyes always seem to light up whenever she looks at the man, something that she couldn't explain before now all made sense.
"We had a one night stand, I picked him up from a bar, he was so drunk so I took him back to his home- where we...did it, but I swear-, he pulled me to him Rebecca, I wouldn't have if he didn't do it.", she explains, somehow panicking again, she's never been this anxious before, but understandable since she's unintentionally said such details and now she has to reveal more.
Rebecca, still shocked, kept a little calm to ask again, "But are you two on good terms?", this time, Claire slowly shakes her head, "No. I actually- ended my friendship with him after, thinking it was best that we didn't see each other anymore to not complicate things even more."
The scientist felt sad after this, she didn't know that such a great duo like them could have such complicated problems, but she can't blame them, after all, they're only human, "But why?, you've known him for more than 20 years, and now you're having a baby with him."
"That's the problem, 23 years of loving him that he can't see, I got tired of seeing him every now and then knowing that he only sees me as a friend, as a colleague, and I've cut ties because I didn't expect to get pregnant.", Claire states quickly, everything was all over the place in her head and it is making her dizzy.
"You should've when you know you didn't use protection.", Rebecca was right, that even she can't argue with that, it was her fault as much as it is Leon's, "And know that you can't run away from your problems, you must face them. You're strong enough to do that Claire."
"I-I know, I just, my life was going all so well before that night, and now here I am, all just because I let my emotions take over me.", she somehow smirks while saying that, but sarcastically.
Rebecca doesn't know how to handle such personal discussions like this, but she tries her best, "If I got anything to say, I want you to be aware that this is your body, and you have the right to do what you want to do with it, you can even do the decision with or without Leon, but it is all completely up to you.", she sits beside Claire and hugs her, "Also know that I'll be here to support you."
Claire felt somehow lighter about the situation knowing at least someone was here for her, "Thank you so much Rebecca.", she says as she hugs the woman back.