Lose It

III

MONTH TWO OF PREGNANCY

JUNE 6, 2028

Nina's agitation was as visible as the deceased body on the floor.

It was noon on a Tuesday, Nina currently leaning against one of the house walls to support herself. While bending over to take pictures, her dizziness came in a massive wave and almost caused her to projectile vomit over the dead man. Thankfully, she pushed it away and excused herself for a couple of minutes.

The only people at work who knew about her pregnancy was her boss and her partner, Lukas Muller. It would become obvious soon enough, so Nina didn't bother telling anyone else. Besides, she wasn't that close to any of them anyways.

"You got everything, Brandis?" Detective Muller asked, walking over to the now sweating woman.

Nina nodded, pushing herself off of the wall as she followed her partner out of the crime scene.

Since Nina was a foresnic scientist and not an actual detective, she didn't have a partner. But, whenever she had to travel to the locations to gather evidence, she usually road with Lukas. He himself was more of an independent worker and has tried to avoid all partner work as possible. Nina couldn't blame him, though. She found it more productive to work alone in the lab rather than have help.

As Lukas pulled out of the driveway and down the street, Nina caught him looking over at her at least three times. Not wanting to deal with this for the next twenty minutes, she sighed before opening her mouth.

"What is it? Do I have something on my face?"

"Besides exhaustion? No, you're good."

Nina rolled her eyes, "My symptoms have been horrible, and it's only the second month. The smell of everything makes me want to puke and the only thing I can eat are donuts. Which isn't a surprise, really, since I ate them religiously before I was pregnant."

"I get it, my wife was the same way too. She felt better with our second child, though. Maybe that'll happen to you, too." Lukas noticed the panic that crossed her face, "Unless you only plan on having one, which is perfectly okay!"

"I'm not sure, to be honest." Nina said, fiddling with her wedding ring. "There's some... personal stuff that's going on and I'm not sure if a second child will be possible. I hope so, though."

"If you ever need to get away from that 'personal stuff', my wife would be happy to give you some baby advice. She stays home with the kids most days and gets bored once they fall asleep."

"I'll think about it, thanks."

Ten minutes passed, the only sounds being the soft music coming from the radio and the surrounding cars driving. Coming out of a daydream, Nina furrowed her eyebrows.

"Where are we? The station is the other way."

"You said you were craving donuts so," Lukas pulled into a bakery parking lot. "I'll run in and grab some, there's some extra water in the glove box if you feel naseous."

Before Nina could reply, he was already out of the door. As she reached into the glove box and pulled out a water bottle, a picture fell out. Leaning forward, Nina picked up the paper and scanned it, a small smile appearing on her face.