first_in_time | I Will Always Love You, Baby

I Will Always Love You, Baby

After she was dressed and ready for the day, Barbara Chesterton watched her reflection as she washed up the breakfast things. Alfie was late to help her but for once she didn't mind since it gave her time to think. They had celebrated Ian's running for council the night before and she felt awful to be the bearer of bad news, particularly she'd had chances before.

Once she had finished, she found Ian in the back garden with some of the boys, constructing another hammock.

"May I talk to you for a moment?" she asked once he looked free enough. Some of the boys made noises to suggest that Ian was in trouble.

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"I'm sure it'll be taken into consideration," he said, laughing.

They turned toward the doctor's office and Barbara let Ian take his arm away so that they could get through the door and look somewhat professional.

"Mr and Mrs Chesteron!" the doctor's wine greeted them as they walked in, "I thought we were only seeing Mrs. Chesterton today?"

"We thought we might spend a little time together afterwards, so rather than going back home and coming out again, we thought it best if he came along."

"All right," she said, amiably. "If you'd like to wait, the doctor will be ready for you in a few minutes."

Ian led Barbara over to the row of seats along one wall. "Would you like me to go in there with you, or wait out here?" he asked her quietly.

"He's only going to listen to me and then ask for a urine sample," Barbara told Ian, "very dull but it's up to you.you can wait here and read something or you can make conversation with the doctor while I excuse myself."

"I'll come in," he decided. "It'll be less dull than sitting out here on my own." Or being asked awkward questions by the doctor's wife making conversation.

Barbara nodded and smiled. "If you stay out here she might try and invite you to another dinner," Barbara whispered with a grin, given that thelasst dinner they were invited to was disasterous for a number of reasons.

Ian made a face. He was all for not going to dinner with the doctor and his wife again. It wouldn't be so bad if his wife was as good a cook as she thought she was.

Dr Taylor saw a patient out and then beckoned to the Chestertons to come into his room.

Barbara led the way and sat down on a chair in the office, leaving a spare for Ian.

"What appears to be the problem, Mrs Chesterton?" The doctor asked after greeting were given.

"My cycle is roughly three weeks late, doctor. We haven't changed our diet or routine. I simply can't see why else I'd be late unless..."

"Unless you're pregnant? We can certainly test for that." He handed her a cup since she knew what to do, and Barbara left.

"She can't be pregnant," Ian told the doctor while Barbara was gone. "We've been... careful." He wasn't too sure about mentioning the pills, since they weren't officially supposed to have them.

"There are other reasons we could look at," Dr Taylor replied. "But let's rule out pregnancy first."

Ian nodded, sure they'd be ruling it out.

"Mrs Chesterton is getting older and while she might not be of the right age to generally reach menopause, it could happen early," the doctor explained patiently.

"I know," he said, and then reminded himself not to get irritable. It wasn't the doctor's fault they were here.

The doctor sighed in an annoyed fashion. "Don't shoot the messenger, Mr Chesterton," he said and looked up as Barbara returned.

She handed him the cup and sat back by Ian, taking up his hand with both of her own.

"That was quick, I'm impressed," their doctor told her as he pulled on gloves. He had found in the past that it helped to have a little joke with nervous patients.

He pulled out another tube from a drawer and took it over to a small sink in the room where he ever so carefully poured a small amount of Barbara's sample into the tube.

"I'd like to send the rest off for testing if this turns up negative," he explained casually as he shook the little, skinny tube gently. After a short moment the outside of the plastic tube changed from white to pink. It grew stronger the longer the doctor shook.

"I believe that a congratulations are in order," the doctor told the Chestertons with a smile.

Ian went pale and shook his head. "It can't be."

"That's a definite positive result," Dr Taylor said, sitting back down at his desk.

"No, I mean..." Ian paused, trying to think how to phrase it. "We had pills. We were within the six to eighteen hour limit." He was beginning to have the horrible realisation that they could be placebos. They hadn't got them from official sources, so they could have been sold anything and he hadn't thought to test any of them to check.

Barbara sat in shocked silence.

"If you happened to have taken a pill subscribed," he began with hesitation since he had hinted that they try to attain the pill via another source, "then there's roughly a half of a percent chance of pregnancy for the general populace. Since tests were not performed on the effectiveness of the pill and your testicles."

"We can't have a baby. We can't deal with a baby," Barbara finally said.

So they got unlucky. Perhaps. he was definitely going to read the instructions with the pills again, and take one to school to test it in the lab.

"Abortion is only available in a few specific cases. Not wanting a baby at this time will not qualify."

That didn't come as a surprise, and Ian wasn't sure he liked the idea, even if they did qualify. He squeezed Barbara's hand, although he was feeling just as shocked as she was.

"Have you considered adoption?" Dr Taylor asked. "There are couples living in the dome who can't have children and would welcome the opportunity to bring up a baby, even if it's not biologically theirs."

"We haven't because we didn't expect to have another child," Barbara said with a frown. "But since we have nine months to consider our options, we can discuss it. I'm sorry, doctor Taylor, but I need some air. I'll book in for a check up later on in the week."

Barbara got up from the chair. Panic was setting in. The office was musty and too warm. She was struggling to breathe. She needed to get outside into the fresh air as quickly as possible.

Dr Taylor raised his eyebrows. Ian managed a "Thank you" and followed Barbara out.

In the waiting room, the doctor's wife said a cheery, "Goodbye." Ian smiled at her, but he was more worried about Barbara.

Outside, he took her hand again. "Barbara?" He hoped she would tell him what she was thinking - what she was worried about.

Barbara was outside, sucking in large breaths of fresh air and slowly calming down.

"Sorry," she said eventually and turned to face Ian when she felt more in control, "I just panicked."

Edited 2014-05-10 21:19 (UTC)

If Barbara was panicking then he had to be calm. He squeezed her hand. "We'll be all right. We'll find a way to fit a baby in."

"We already struggle to cope some days. How are we going to handle another little being demanding all of our attention, time and energy?" Barbara let go of Ian's hand to hug him to her. She buried her face into his chest.

"We'll find a way," he said, putting his arms around her. He didn't know how yet, but they'd need time to get over the shock and think.

Barbara sighed heavily into Ian's jacket, feeling more calm by the minute.

"I feel like an awful person," she said, "I should want this child and be excited about caring for it, particularly as others would love to be in my position but can't."

"I know." He sighed. "I wish we could be excited about having a baby, like anyone else would."

"Maybe we will in a little while," Barbara told him and pulled back a little ways. She wasn't crying but a single tear was sitting in the corner of her eye. She caught it with the tip of a finger before it could roll down her cheek. "If we find the energy somewhere to reorganise and start training for a brand new baby, we might look more forward to it."

"Maybe we will." They had ended up being excited about John before he was born, after all. He kissed her cheek and took her hand again, so they could start walking, albeit taking the long way home. "If I can convince the council to stop cloning children whose parents aren't here, at least we'll end up with fewer children to look after once the current lot have grown up and moved out."

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