A/N: I've said it previously, but I have zero medical knowledge, so any procedures, examinations, diagnoses etc. have no basis in fact.
The following morning, Amanda found herself sitting warily on the edge of an examination table, wearing only her underwear and a thin hospital gown. Her heart was pounding, she tucked her hands under her legs to stop herself from biting her nails as she swung her feet slightly, staring wide-eyed around the room, taking in the posters on the walls and the various medical equipment scattered about.
Olivia watched the blonde in mild amusement for a few minutes before standing from her stool and stepping in front of Amanda. "Hey," she said in a low soothing voice as she cupped Amanda's face in her hands. "You need to relax, honey." She stroked her thumbs over the blonde's cheekbones. "I know you are nervous, but stress and worry are not gonna be good for you or the baby."
Amanda gave a deep sigh, her blue eyes meeting the lieutenant's kind brown ones. "I know, I just… I can't help feeling like somethin' bad is gonna happen. I dunno why…" she trailed off.
"Tell me what you think might happen," Olivia inquired, gently weaving her fingers into corn silk tresses, stepping closer still as Amanda parted her knees slightly to accommodate her.
Amanda took another shuddering breath, inhaling Olivia's familiar and comforting scent. "What if…" she swallowed, "what if I caused some damage when I tackled Handley?" Her eyes shone with unshed tears as she looked imploringly at the older woman for answers.
Liv pressed her forehead gently to Amanda's, "sweetheart, that was two weeks ago. I think if there were going to be repercussions from that, you would have showed some sign of it by now," she soothed the younger woman.
Amanda fidgeted with the hem of Olivia's blazer, her eyes focusing on the fabric as she considered the logic. She knew Liv was making sense, but her conditioning meant that she automatically went to worst case scenario. Olivia crooked her forefinger under the blonde's chin, pulling her gaze up to meet Liv's own. "Trust me, Manda," and she pressed her lips chastely to Amanda's.
Now Amanda's heart was pounding for a completely different reason. Her eyes snapped shut and her hands dropped from Olivia's blazer to grasp her hips, holding her in place as she responded to the kiss. She felt the brunette's lips curve up into a smile against hers before the lieutenant gently pulled back, again meeting Amanda's gaze which now shimmered with desire rather than apprehension. "Better?" Liv asked with a knowing smirk.
Amanda nodded dumbly, sucking her lips between her teeth as she tried to come up with a coherent response. She was saved the necessity however, as the door to the exam room opened, admitting a tall slender young woman in a white coat. She had elbow-length brown hair, startling grey-green eyes and a wide friendly smile.
"Oh sorry, am I interrupting?" She asked as she paused in the doorway, spotting the two women's proximity.
"Not at all," Liv stepped away from Amanda and offered a smile to the young brunette, who took that as an invitation to come in.
"Hi, I'm Dr Lucas," she smiled warmly as she shook first Amanda's then Olivia's hand. "So, I understand you are here for your first prenatal exam, Miss…" she checked the patient file in her hand, "Rollins?"
"It's detective," Amanda corrected automatically, "but, you can call me Amanda."
"A detective, huh? Very cool," the young doctor replied, slipping on a pair of glasses and making a note in her file. "I assume your commanding officer is aware of your situation?" She asked, peering at the blonde over her specs.
Amanda glanced over at Liv, who chimed in, "yes, I'm aware." When the doctor focused her attention on Olivia, she introduced herself. "Lieutenant Olivia Benson," she gave a small wave, "call me Olivia."
"My apologies, I thought you were Amanda's, um, partner," the doctor blushed slightly, obviously alluding to the display she had seen upon entering the room.
"Oh, I am," Liv smiled, "but I'm also her boss."
"Oh, okay." If the doctor thought this was irregular, she did not pass comment. "So, Amanda," she turned to face the blonde with a friendly smile, "do you know how far along you are?"
"Um, I think about twelve weeks?" She phrased the answer as a question, even though she knew exactly what date she had conceived.
"Okay, how about the first day of the last period you had, do you know what date that was?" The doctor probed further.
"Oh, yeah," Amanda had worked this out, having researched the sort of questions she would be asked at the appointment. "January 24th."
"Alright," Dr Lucas did some quick calculations, before looking back to the women, Liv standing by Amanda's side holding her hand. "It appears your calculations are slightly off," the doctor smiled, you are actually in your fourteenth week of pregnancy, which means you are officially into your second trimester."
Amanda stared blankly at the young physician for a few seconds, before turning to look at Olivia for confirmation. Olivia looked just as stunned, but she at least was still able to use her words. "But," Liv managed to stammer, "Dr Mills said three weeks ago that she was only nine weeks. Three plus nine is twelve, or at least it was last time I checked!"
Amanda released a single, incredulous note of laughter at the lieutenant's statement, and Dr Lucas smiled patiently. "Dr Mills is an excellent physician; however she is not an OB-GYN. Weeks of pregnancy are counted from the first day of the last menstrual period, not the conception date. Did she ask you about your period?"
"Um," Amanda thought back, "no. I don't think so. She just guessed from the sonogram…"
"Well my calculations are a little more accurate than that, and I can tell you your due date is November 14th." She made further notes on the chart. "I see here, that Dr Mills gave you anti-emetics and iron supplements as well as the usual prenatal regimen. Are you still taking those?"
Amanda nodded, still trying to wrap her head around being two weeks further along than she'd thought.
"Okay, then," Dr Lucas smiled brightly, "let's take a little blood from you Amanda, so I can run some routine tests, then how about we take a look at your baby?"
Swiftly and efficiently, the doctor extracted three vials of blood from the crook of Amanda's left arm, and before she knew it the blonde was being asked to lay back on the bed and open the front of her gown. Dr Lucas pulled a sheet up over Amanda's legs as the detective revealed her stomach.
As the doctor prepared the ultrasound machine, Liv moved her stool closer to Amanda's head, and murmured to the blonde, "you doing okay?"
In the quiet of the room, Dr Lucas heard and looked up, smiling at the blonde as she nodded. "Nervous?" The doctor asked, kindly.
Amanda smiled sheepishly, "I'm not a big fan of doctors, no offence." She felt Olivia nudge her and looked at the brunette. Liv gave her a pointed look and nodded towards Dr Lucas, as if to say 'tell her or I will'. Amanda swallowed and turned back to the doctor. "I, um, I'm also a little worried, uh, about the baby."
The doctor stopped what she was doing, giving her full focus to her patient. Amanda shifted awkwardly on the bed. "I, uh, there was an incident at work a couple of weeks ago. A perp got physical and I had to tackle and restrain him." She glanced back at her girlfriend, "I'm just a little scared that I might have caused some damage during the struggle."
Dr Lucas frowned with concern. "Have you had any bleeding or spotting since the incident?" She asked, moving closer and beginning to gently palpate the blonde detective's abdomen. Amanda shook her head no, flinching when the cold hands touched her skin. "Does that hurt?" The doctor inquired.
"N-no," Amanda stuttered, "just cold."
"Oh, sorry," Dr Lucas smiled apologetically, continuing her examination. She asked a few more questions and after a few more moments, she sat back, seemingly satisfied. "I cannot find anything to concern me, Detective. You haven't experienced any pain or discomfort, nor any bleeding. I'm confident that the incident did not cause any damage, but let's take a look just to be sure, shall we?"
She smiled, reaching to pick up the bottle of gel in one hand and the transducer in the other. "This will be cold," she warned as she upended the squeezy bottle over the blonde's lower belly. She applied a liberal amount, making the blonde shudder, and then turned back to the screen as she touched the sensor in her hand to the gel covered surface.
Amanda glanced anxiously at her girlfriend, immediately reassured by the calm serenity in the lieutenant's expression. Liv brushed a soothing hand through blonde locks and took Amanda's hand in hers as they both turned expectantly to the sonogram machine.
In less than a minute, they were once again looking at a grainy image of Amanda's baby on the black and white screen. Amanda's eyes instantly filled with tears of both joy and relief as she saw real life proof that the child was alive and well inside her. They could see movement, arms and legs wriggling ceaselessly and Amanda let out a relieved laugh. Liv squeezed the blonde's hand tightly as she gasped, "Oh wow, he's so much bigger than last time!"
Dr Lucas smiled at the comment. "Yep, they grow pretty quickly at this stage," she continued manipulating the wand, and the image cleared slightly. The doctor began taking screenshots. "Okay, I need to take some measurements here, just to make sure everything is on track, but before I do…" she trailed off as she twiddled a dial on the machine, "here."
The baby's heartbeat thrummed loud and clear from the speakers, and the two expectant women turned to grin at one another. Amanda felt a tightness in her chest loosen as she relaxed upon hearing the vital sound. It was strong and steady, just like the brunette sat beside her, and she finally felt reassured that the baby really was okay.
They remained there, listening. Amanda laying quite still, with Liv scooted as close to the blonde as she could on her stool. The brunette carefully lifted their joined hands, pressing her lips to the paler one. "I told you it would all be okay." She murmured, chocolate eyes shimmering with joy as they looked into relieved cobalt ones.
Amanda did not reply, but scrunched up her face and stuck her tongue out at the lieutenant, who let out a quiet huff of amusement through her nose, rolling her eyes at the adorable blonde.
The doctor finally took the transducer from Amanda's belly and wiped the instrument clean. Looking away from the machine, she smiled at the two women. "Amanda, everything is looking great in there from what I can see," she handed the blonde some paper towel to clean the gel from her abdomen. "The baby is a little on the smaller side than I would expect at this stage…" Amanda's head snapped up in alarm and the doctor held up a placating hand, continuing quickly. "but it is within an acceptable range and I think we can attribute it to your severe early pregnancy symptoms."
They discussed Amanda's medication next, Dr Lucas felt that the blonde should be able to come off the anti-sickness pills, as she was now into her second trimester, and, depending on the results of her latest blood tests, maybe the iron tablets could be stopped too. They scheduled another appointment for in a month's time, and then the couple were on their way, managing to get to work a little after 9am.