***Chapter 38***

**Aria's POV**

"Miss Montgomery?" I heard a voice call my name from the door back into the exam complex.

"Yes." I responded, grabbing my bag before looking up to see a very familiar nurse standing with a clipboard waiting for me. "Annie, I wasn't expecting you to be here today."

"I do work days too." She told me with a smile as she began leading me towards the exam room that I would be placed in. "I got your card, by the way. I didn't know people still sent those in the mail."

"I wanted you to know how grateful I was for all you had done for me." I told her as she ushered me into the exam room.

"Of course, Aria." She reached out and squeezed my shoulder, thankfully moving slowly so I didn't even flinch. "Dr. Edmonds wants me to get your vital signs before she comes in. So go ahead and take a seat."

I complied, pulling off my jacket and placing it with my purse on the chair that would normally be occupied by a family member. Annie was the nurse who had seen to me when I had first been brought to the hospital, the one who had gone out of her way to get me hair dye on her break. She had also been the one who helped me with my discharge. And Annie had been the first unfortunate nurse to startle me by moving around my room while I was asleep and had comforted me while I sobbed in terror. She had learned my startle responses were the worst when I first woke up and had worked around it trying to get me a restful night. She pulled over the vitals cart, wrapping the blood pressure cuff around my bicep. The cuff inflated, tightening uncomfortably around my arm before slowly releasing. She made a note on the computer which sat on a small swivel desk.

"How have you been feeling, Aria?" she questioned, fingers poised over the keyboard. "Still sore?"

"Yeah, though my bruises have been healing pretty well." I hesitated for a moment, knowing that I needed to tell her about how I'd been so sick lately. "I've been really nauseous the last few days, mainly in the morning but also when I smell certain foods."

"Just nauseous or have you been vomiting?" she clarified, typing away as she spoke.

"I've been vomiting." I admitted slightly uncomfortable to admit it despite the light tone that Annie had used. They had been so insistent that I needed to eat more since I was malnourished when I first came to the hospital. It felt like a failure on my part, that one of the things they really wanted me to work on was gaining back some of the weight and getting enough nutrients. Eating was such a little thing and I couldn't even manage that.

"I'll need to get your weight as well." She said, once she had finished typing in the computer, heading over toward where the scale was against the wall.

I was grateful when Annie had finally finished with her questioning and note-taking, though waiting for the doctor still made me anxious. I almost wished that my mom or one of the girls had come with me, but I was too afraid what I would have to talk about with the doctor. What I still didn't want them to know about. It was maybe five minutes later, though you can never tell the time in a doctors office waiting, when Annie came back through the door, this time there were vials and a syringe in her hand.

"Dr. Edmonds wanted me to get a blood sample as well, since you weren't feeling well. Just to make sure that there is nothing going on that we need to worry about." She explained, taking a seat on the stool and maneuvering the short table.

I gave only a nod before turning my face away from the sight of her preparing the needle to go into my arm. It was strange, though I had been through so much physical pain and torment in the past few months, there was still something incredibly disconcerting about watching a needle penetrate my skin and the blood come out into the vial. Maybe it was because I was just letting it happen. Sitting idly while watching someone hurt me.

"How have you been sleeping?" she asked, trying to distract me from what she was doing.

"Not too great, I've been having nightmares."

"Have the anti-anxiety meds been helping at all? I know that they're supposed to effect them?"

"I stopped taking them; they were giving me a terrible headache and weren't even really helping the nightmares." Another basic thing that I had been failing at. My nights had been mostly sleepless and I couldn't tell if it was because I was trying to make up for it during the day or if I just couldn't sleep deep enough to get actual rest.

"Hmm, maybe Dr. Edmonds will be able to suggest something else for you to try." She paused for a second, focused on her task before continuing. "Have you thought about talking to someone about what happened?"

"I don't think I'm ready for that, Annie. Not yet anyway." I looked back as she pressed the gauze against the crook of my elbow and grabbed a piece of medical tape to hold it fast.

"The doctor should be in in a few minutes." She told me, making a couple small notes on the vial containing my blood before heading out of the exam room.

I went back to the anxious waiting with nothing to do. Absentmindedly, my fingers traced over the bump on the back of my neck, desperately wanting to tell the doctor or Annie that it was there so they could take the wretched thing out from under my skin. I dropped my hand as soon as the thought struck me, knowing if I kept fidgeting with it then I would break and tell them about it. That wasn't something we could afford, I rationalised to myself for what had to be the fifth time since I learned about the damn thing the night before. I twisted my fingers anxiously in the hem of my shirt, needing something to keep me from rubbing the back of my neck again. Then there was a quick knock at the door, a moment later it swung open to reveal a slim middle aged woman in a long white coat.

"Miss Montgomery, how are you doing today?" Dr. Edmonds asked as she walked into the exam room, clipboard tucked under her arm.

"I'm doing alright." I responded with a slight smile.

I was glad that Dr. Edmonds was the one assigned to me, since she had been working the night that I was brought in, just like Annie. She had been the only female doctor on staff that night, but after I had asked for a female nurse, the original doctor assigned to me had been removed in exchange for Dr. Edmonds. She smiled in response, taking a seat on the stool near the bed. Her short black hair was tucked behind her ears, cut slightly shorter than my own but at an angle so it was longer at the sides of her face.

"Annie told me that you've been experiencing some nausea in the past few days. How are you feeling right now?"

"I'm good at the moment, I was a little nauseous this morning, but not bad." I told her, feeling awkward about how sick I've been feeling.

"How are your bruises healing? Your face and neck look better, but I can't tell if that is just make-up or not?"

"Still a little yellow, but otherwise I've mostly healed up."

"And your ribs?" she asked, moving closer to me so that she could feel around my ribs where they had been bruised with a couple of cracked bones when I had been brought in.

"Still sore." I replied when she hit a few sensitive points around my sides. "But it doesn't hurt as much when I breathe."

"That's really good. We'll hold off on an x-ray today, since it probably wouldn't show much of a change." She said, moving her clipboard so that she could take some notes. "Have you been sleeping alright? Annie noted you stopped taking the anti-anxiety meds."

"It's been kinda hard sleeping, but the pills weren't helping at all. They just made me feel sick, gave me a really terrible headache."

"I can give you something else to try, but I would really suggest finding someone to talk to. A therapist can help a lot, especially given all that you've been through and a psychiatrist would be able to prescribe you a better medication based on your needs."

"I'll think about it." It was the best answer that I could give at the moment.

"We ran some tests on your blood, so I want you to hang around for a bit more, we should get those results back in the next half hour. You can wait out in the waiting room, and then when we get the results back we'll go over everything and I'll get you set up with your prescriptions."

"Thank you."

She led me back out to the waiting room, before heading back to her office. I grabbed a seat before pulling out my phone. I was almost disappointed that I hadn't gotten any messages while I was in the exam room. I hadn't heard from Jason at all, I guess he was busy with work. It still made me sad, that there wasn't a message from him, he had been such a constant in my life that not hearing from him made my heart sink down into my stomach. I shook my head, not wanting to think about how dependent on Jason I was becoming. It did make sense that he hadn't reached out yet today, when I looked at it logically. I had already seen him for a little bit this morning, plus the impromptu late night visit yesterday. It was just that I missed him. Missed setting up plans to meet up and get something to eat during the day. His presence was soothing enough that my stomach settled and I could keep my food down for a few more hours. It was also becoming a habit that helped the day go by faster. A needed break from the tedium of schoolwork and the constant anxiety of looking for Charles. Not to mention that he was about the only person other than the girls that I could be honest with and talk about the search, there hadn't been any repercussions so far for sharing info with Ali and Jason. I stared at my phone for another moment, contemplating sending him a message, just to see how he was doing.

There was a sketchbook in my purse, which I decided to work on, rather than stare glumly at my phone. I needed to figure out something to draw that didn't have to do with dolls or my imprisonment. I needed to make a change and have something different to focus on. I started sketching a few flowers, figuring that was a safe subject not tied to anything recently. Not to mention something to distract me from the anxiety of waiting for whatever test they were running.

"Miss Montgomery?" Annie called for me once more, waving from the entrance back to the exam room area.

I got up and followed after her, slightly anxious about what tests they had run on my blood, hoping that there wouldn't be anything too bad in them. Maybe I just had a little bug and that's what they were testing for, that would explain my nausea. Annie left me in the same exam room from before and I barely had time to sit down before Dr. Edmonds came in. Her facial expression far more solemn than it had been the last time that I had spoken with her. I could feel my heart racing suddenly. That was not the expression of someone about to give good news.

"Aria, I had the lab run a few tests on your blood, since you've been feeling so sick lately. And I got the results back."

The fact that she wasn't telling me what was wrong with me was freaking me out. My heart raced a mile a minute through my chest and I could feel myself trembling with the fear of what she was going to say. Everything started to feel distant, like it was coming at me through a tunnel. When Dr. Edmonds next spoke it sounded like it was filtering through water.

"I'm sorry, Aria. But… You're pregnant."

***End Chapter***

So congrats to all the folks who guessed that Aria was pregnant, some dating back to chapter 8. Also posted this a few days early since I had it ready and am gonna be distracted with a game releasing this tomorrow. So next chapter will likely be next Saturday or Sunday.

Hope y'all enjoy.