All of Me ~ #Wattys2015

Disappearing Acts

The next day, Regina and Robin woke up earlier than they had been throughout the week to prepare for their visit to the doctor. She never imagined he would let her go alone and she was happy he was joining her. Truth be told, she was incredibly nervous. She wanted to be cleared to go back to work, but most of all she wanted to know what was happening to her body.

Robin cooked breakfast and Regina slowly made her way down the stairs. She was wearing a pair of jeans and a nice blouse. Her makeup and hair was done for the first time all week which made Robin smile. That's how he knew Regina was recovering. She almost never would leave the house without looking somewhat presentable. It was her royal nature.

"Good morning, beautiful," he said and leaned over the table to kiss her as he placed her plate down.

"Good morning, thief," she said, playfully.

"You know, I don't think that title really fits any longer. I haven't stolen anything since your heart," he chuckled hearing how lame he sounded. It made Regina laugh as she bit into her breakfast.

Soon enough, they were on their way to visit Regina's gynecologist. They sat in the waiting room and Robin took it upon himself to read the pamphlets on ectopic pregnancies.

"It says here that having an ectopic pregnancy doesn't guarantee the others will be like it. It says it's usually a rare occurrence," he said hopefully.

"Yes Robin, but not everyone is recovering from an infertility potion. I basically burned my insides. I need to make sure that won't affect any other babies," she responded. He nodded, realizing their situation was very different.

"Regina Mills?"

"Yes," she said and Robin helped her stand up.

"You can follow me. Your husband is welcome to follow or he can wait here. Whichever you prefer," the nurse said.

"Oh I'm not," Robin began to say, but Regina took his hand.

"My husband would love to join us," she said and looked at him with a smile. He shook his head, going along with it. Maybe putting the idea into her head was just the push she needed to warm up to marriage.

They followed the nurse into a room and Regina sat on the examination table. Robin sat in the chair in the corner of the room.

"Any complications with your incision?"

"None at all. Robin has been taking great care of me," she said with a smile.

"Excellent. Any pain?"

"Not really anymore. Sometimes at night, but I find that elevating my feet and using a heating pad have been helping," she said.

"Oh good. Any changes in appetite or daily routine?"

"None in appetite and I've been on bedrest for a week so my routine has shifted for that. Otherwise no."

"Understandable. It seems like you're doing well. The doctor will be in soon to check on your incision and answer any questions you may have," the nurse said and left the room.

"So I'm your husband now," Robin asked, not wasting any time teasing her. She laughed and felt her face grow red.

"I don't know. It sounded nice. Don't make a big deal about it," she retorted.

The doctor entered looking through Regina's file. He stepped forward and shook her hand and then Robin's.

"Hello, good to see you again Regina. And a pleasure to finally meet the infamous Robin Hood," he said. "So I was able to get your initial ultrasound from the day of your surgery and I want to talk through those before we do another one today to see what's going on. But first, I want to check that incision and see how you're healing up."

Regina leaned back on the table and pulled her jeans down and pulled her shirt up just enough so he could get to the incision. He looked for a moment and pressed down gently on her pelvis.

"How does that feel," he asked.

"A bit uncomfortable, but no pain," she said.

"Great. The swelling has really gone down, which is excellent. Things are healing nicely on the outside. Now I want us to talk about the inside," he said.

She looked at Robin, her expression clearly worrisome. He walked over and stood next to her, taking her hand. The doctor pulled out the images and held them up so the couple could see.

"The surgeon sent these over to me and I noticed a few things that perhaps he didn't. First, here's where the baby was growing, in the Fallopian tubes. Those seem to have some scarring on them, but have healed over time. As for your uterus, I noticed something interesting that I'd like to check today. See these markings around the uterine walls? It's similar to the scarring on the Fallopian tubes, but not quite the same. It's almost like the scarring seen on victims of acid burns."

Tears were forming in her eyes as she looked at the images. The damage was far worse than she ever imagined. Robin felt her pain. It killed him to know she would ever do this to herself, but that was then and this was now. They were going to fix this.

"I know you drank an infertility potion years ago, but what I wanted to show you was not the damage it caused, but rather the healing I was able to catch in these images. See the difference in the color here? That's healthy tissue. Your uterus seems to be repairing itself on its own. I've never seen anything like it. So when I do the ultrasound today, I want to see if this is continuing to progress toward a full recovery or if there's something else going on."

The couple nodded, but wasn't able to speak just yet. They wanted all the information they could get before asking their questions. The doctor rolled forward on his chair and squirted gel onto the wand.

"This will be a little cold," he warned and pressed it down on her pelvis. He turned on the screen and the couple stared at it as he examined her. Silence filled the room. The only sound that could be heard was Regina's heartbeat racing through the machine.

"Huh," the doctor let out finally, pressing a button on the monitor to freeze the image. He removed the wand from her pelvis and wiped her off with a towel.

"What's going on," Robin asked with slight panic in his voice.

"No need to worry. I've just never seen this before. See here in the uterus where that discoloration was? It's gone. As far as I can see, you have a healthy reproductive system. We know your eggs are fine because you were able to conceive and from what I can see in these images, all the scarring on your major reproductive organs has disappeared."

"So what does this mean," Regina sat up on her elbows.

"Should you choose to conceive again, you should have a healthy pregnancy with no complications. I can't promise there won't be any. We need to consider your age and the history of your reproductive health now with your miscarriage, but we would keep a close eye on you and make sure you're well taken care of."

Regina and Robin exchanged glances, their hands so tight they were going numb.

"It's like you never drank that potion, Regina."