Echoing J.A.C.I.E. (All Time Low Fanfiction | Jack Barakat)

Chapter 9

"If you could fill out this form while you wait, and give us a urine sample, that would be great," the receptionist said from behind the desk as she handed me a clipboard, pen, and cup.

"Will do," I smiled back, taking the items from her.

Jack and I turned around and glanced over the waiting room to find a place to sit. We both started walking towards two empty chairs that were next to each other. The room was full of expectant mothers at different stages in their journey. Some looked ready to give birth at any moment while others were more like me, still very early on in their pregnancy. Jack sat down first while I stayed on my feet.

"Can you start filling it out while I..." I handed him the clipboard with the form and shook the cup to mean the other task that had been laid upon me.

He took the form from me, but still commented, "my handwriting is bad."

"So what?" I shrugged.

He shrugged back and picked up the pen, starting to read the form. In the meantime, I made my way to the bathroom to pee in the cup. I was actually a little nervous. This was my first prenatal appointment. I was lucky enough that Jack happened to be visiting this week, so he got to be here with me. But I still had a fear in the back of my mind. What if the – what was by now – five pregnancy tests I'd taken had all been false positives? Were Jack and I getting excited for no reason?

Once I was finished, I put the cup down on a designated table they had in the bathroom and washed my hands. Jack was still filling things in on the form when I came back. I sat down next to him and he stopped reading whatever question he was on.

"I started filling out your medical history, but I figured it's best if you do that in case there's anything you haven't mentioned before." He looked up to me and flicked back to the first page.

I took the clipboard back from him. "That's okay, thanks."

I looked over what he'd already filled in for me. My full name and date of birth were correct, as was my phone number that I still had as my U.S. number. The address just missed the postcode, which I quickly added. He'd skipped over filling in any doctor's information, but I also needed to look it up on my phone. Hazel and I had registered somewhere, but had never had to visit yet.

Fortunately, he had been able to fill out all his own information. As he'd warned, some of the questions asking about my medical history were already filled out, but most were left blank. I went through them all myself, ticking no for everything (Jack had already filled out the allergy question), and giving them permission to give me a blood transfusion if ever needed. There was a page I could skip that asked me about previous pregnancies and then came the questions about my period, medication, and alcohol habits.

It was a long list that took a while to fill out. When I finally finished, I brought it back to the receptionist who thanked me and had a quick look over it. After she confirmed it all looked good, I went back to sit next to Jack. He slipped my hand into his and I leaned my head against his shoulder.

"How are you feeling?" He asked me softly.

"A little nervous," I responded and looked up at him. "And hungry. Mainly hungry."

He laughed. "That's what you get for skipping breakfast."

"Well, I wasn't exactly hungry then."

I'd spent yet another morning on the cold bathroom floor. At least the bathmat we had repositioned made the experience a little less traumatic. This time, Hazel wasn't the one who checked up on me. Jack had easily taken it upon himself to hold back my hair, rub my back, and mumble comforting words to me.