Little Pink Plus Sign

Unexpected News

Stupid. Little. Pink. Plus sign. When the doctor told me I was pregnant, I’d eloquently called him “a fucking lunatic who doesn’t deserve the medical degree that Daddy bought you.”

I’d been having problems with my period, or rather lack thereof, so I visited the doctor hoping I didn’t have cancer or something equally as awful. What I didn’t expect were the words, “You’re pregnant,” coming out of his stupid mouth.

After I explained that was impossible as my husband was a dhampir like myself, he’d said that it was okay and that Dimitri would forgive me. Then, I may have accidentally slapped the laptop out of his hands resulting in it shattering on the floor. Maybe.

Long story short, I was kicked out of that office…for good. So here I was in a shitty convenience store bathroom staring at this stupid little pink plus sign. It impossibly taunted me as I blinked incessantly wondering if I needed to see an optometrist next.

Tossing the test in the trash, I cursed in Russian and stormed out to my car. Upon slamming the door, I began beating the shit out of my steering wheel and screaming. It wasn’t possible. It couldn’t be. And if word got out about it…I could only imagine the terrible things people would say about me. After the reputation I’d built up as a royal guardian, I did not need this floating around.

I couldn’t deal with all this quiet, so grabbing the wheel, I sped off for a second opinion. The only office I knew for sure was better than that one was the one back at court, and though it was the last place I wanted to be right now, with no other options, I headed that direction.

It only took them a few minutes to get me in as I claimed I was dying and needed medical attention immediately. A few of them recognized me and immediately took me back to my own room.

Equally as instantly, the doctor came into my room. “What seems to be the problem, Guardian Belikov?”

“I’m dying,” I responded simply.

Sighing, he took a seat. “You’re going to need to be more specific.”

Biting my lip, I wondered if I could trust him. “I…my period is a month late.”

He nodded and jotted something down on his tablet. “That certainly doesn’t mean you’re dying. Are you experiencing any other symptoms?” Giving him my best, just-fucking-do-something face, I shrugged. “Are you feeling any nausea, back pain, fatigue?”

“I guess, but I mean, I’m a guardian so back pain and fatigue are kinda in the job description.” That’s when I realized. Pregnancy. He was describing pregnancy. “Look,” I said, leaning towards him, “there’s no way I could be pregnant. Dimitri is the only one I have ever had sex with, and he’s a dhampir.”

Nodding, he stood up. “We’ll still need to test it to rule it out.” Handing me a tiny plastic jar, he guided me to the bathroom and gave me the same spiel the other doctor had.

After like fifteen minutes of trying to force myself to pee, I finally pushed the jar through the door in the wall and emerged from the bathroom. I was promptly led back to my room and left to wait. And wait. And wait.

I was playing with the tongue depressors when he finally returned. The look on his face was definitely not promising. “Mrs. Belikov, your results came back positive.” I stared at him open-mouthed. “You’re sure that you haven’t —”

“I haven’t cheated on my husband!” I practically shouted at him. The lump in my throat twisted once and my vision blurred.

He nodded. “Well then what we’re dealing with is extremely rare, but not unheard of.” My eyes shot up to meet his. “There are three documented cases of pregnancies resulting from dhampir couples. All three were miscarried as the chromosomes don’t match up well. We’ll need to monitor this pretty closely.”

My head shook involuntarily. This wasn’t happening. “Do you realize what people will say about me?” I’d never been one to worry about what others thought of me, but honestly, it wasn’t just my reputation at stake. Dimitri’s was on the line, and hell even Lissa would suffer from this. I could imagine it already.

Don’t worry guys. I didn’t cheat on my husband. This is just a really rare thing that can happen. Sure.

“I’m afraid you aren’t going to have time for worrying about that, Rose. All of your time would be better invested in prenatal care so that this child has a chance of survival.”

Was he stupid? “I can’t. I’m Lissa’s guardian. I can’t be worrying about myself and this child all the time. They come first. This isn’t —”

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Belikov, but guardianship is behind you.” He patted my shoulder. “At least for the next nine months.”

I really didn’t listen to much of the information he was spouting out. All I knew was that my approximate due date was December 20th and that my next appointment was in two weeks. He’d also given me some prenatal vitamins that I’d forget to take daily.

And with that, he sent me away. Not sure how I’d gotten there, I flopped down on the bed in Dimitri and I’s private suite and began poking at my stomach. So many emotions cycled through my mind. There was joy of course, extreme joy that Dimitri and I could have the child we always thought was impossible. But underneath that, an array of negative emotions threatened to come spilling out. Confusion, frustration, worry, all ate at me, and I wondered how I’d possibly make it through this pregnancy.

Ironically, I had to imagine this is how my mom felt. Suddenly, I sat straight up and fumbled for my phone. It took me three tries to finally calm down enough to type her number in correctly.

“Rose?”

I felt tears well up in my eyes. “I know you and Dad are on vacation, but I really need to talk to you.”

“Sweetie, are you alright?” Worry flooded her voice.

“Mom, I just —” Click. I heard the front door open and anxiety coursed through me. “I just miss you and I hope you guys are having a good trip. I’ll call you back okay?” Cutting off anything else she might’ve said, I hung up and glanced up to see who had come in.

Dimitri.