Little Warrior

3. Parents

On such a warm summer day, the warring scents of all the food trucks wafted into Lucy's nose unpleasantly, and she thought she might get sick just from all the smells.

Tim saw her face screw up in pain, and put a hand on her back as he asked, "You alright, babe?"

"I can't be here," she replied and started walking away from the collection of food trucks towards the station across the street.

He followed her, still keeping his hand on her, and wondered, "What's wrong?"

"I don't know I just got this weird...I can't eat at the food trucks today."

"Are you sick?"

"Maybe? Are you feeling okay after we tried that new Thai place last night?"

"Yeah. I thought you said you liked it. I know Trixie sure did."

She shook her head, "I'm sure it's nothing. I think I'll just skip lunch."

"No chance. Let's go somewhere to get you something to eat, and maybe something bubbly to settle your stomach?"

"That's a great idea. I'll go to the vending machine in the station and grab some ginger ale."

"How about you take a seat, and I'll get you the ginger ale?" Tim suggested and lead her to the planters in front of the station where he watched her lower herself to sit at the edge of one. He rushed inside to reach the vending machine as quickly as possible and swore under his breath when that was the only drink that was unavailable, so when he returned to her empty handed, he said, "I gotta go to the convenience store down the street, because of COURSE the station is out of ginger ale right now."

On shaky legs, Lucy stood up as she felt a bout of nausea bubble up from her stomach. "I'm coming with you. I can't sit here anymore...the flowers...it's too much."

"Alright." It was only a block, so surely Lucy would be fine for the walk; still, he put an arm around her waist and kept her close as they moved in lock step.

They walked down the aisles to the refrigerated section. Just touching the chilled bottle of ginger ale helped some of the nausea subside, and Lucy could breathe deeper for a moment. She walked back towards the register when something caught her eye in the middle of the shelves.

He saw her stop, so he did, too, and followed her eye line. "You don't think..."

She shrugged, "It couldn't hurt to check." Lucy took a pregnancy test off the shelf and purchased it along with her ginger ale.

Tim shoved the pregnancy test in one of the innumerable pockets of his Metro cargo pants and returned to the station with Lucy. She brought him into the women's locker room, and though he would usually be opposed to entering, it was the middle of shift, and so they would probably be alone and have access to a toilet.

Lucy snickered when Tim followed her into the large stall at the end of the row, because she anticipated that he would. "I'm just gonna pee on the stick. You don't have to be in here for this part."

"I've been with you every other time you've done this. I'm not missing it. We do this together like everything else."

"It would be easier for a dude to pee on a stick, actually. Why isn't there an easier way for women to check if they're pregnant?"

"I'll take you to the hospital right now to get a blood test."

"Woah, we agreed only if we get a positive result on an at home test should we resort to needles. Otherwise, no thank you," she winced and unwrapped the pregnancy test.

When she was done, Lucy set the test down at the edge of one of the sinks and kept her eyes locked on the little indicator window as if the results would show up earlier than the waiting time noted on the box. Tim wanted to get her to stop staring, but he was doing the same.