"High levels of hCG indicate pregnancy. Congratulations, Erin."
Erin heard the words, she watched them leave Meredith's lips, but she didn't understand them. Pregnant? Not possible.
"I think you may have switched my sample with someone else's. It's not possible for me to be pregnant." Erin spoke in low, breathy spurts. Her heart hammered against her chest and the ringing in her ears was almost deafening. She felt the blood drain from her face and the energy leave her body as Meredith's words replayed over and over again in her head. No matter how many times she replayed them in her head, they never made sense. She couldn't be pregnant.
Meredith watched Erin with a worried eye. "Erin?" She spoke, trying to gather the young detective's attention. "Erin, it's a lot to take in. Why don't we take a seat?"
Erin looked over at Meredith and nodded slowly, allowing the laboratory technician lead her over to a nearby bench. She sat down and let her head rest against the wall, taking deep breaths to calm herself. She needed to pull herself together. This isn't you, Erin. She told herself.
"It's not possible." She choked out after a long moment of silence.
"Have you been sexually active?" Meredith questioned.
"I'm on the pill." Erin explained. "Everybody uses what they need to use."
Meredith gave Erin a sympathetic look, reaching over and rubbing her arm gently. "Sometimes contraceptives aren't enough, unfortunately. You may have encountered defective products."
"Oh my God." Erin sobbed. "This isn't happening."
"Have you and your boyfriend talked about kids or your future?" Meredith inquired.
Erin shook her head. "I don't have a boyfriend." She admitted.
Meredith raised her eyebrows. "I thought..." She trailed off but Erin knew what she was getting at.
"Jay and I aren't together." Erin answered Meredith's unasked question.
Her mind wandered off to thoughts of her partner. How she hadn't been by to see him since the incident. Erin felt guilty about it, but she couldn't face him yet. Seeing him like that, so bruised and battered...she couldn't take it.
Suddenly, not wanting to see Jay seemed childish. Everything seemed so stupid and immature now. Nothing was going to be the same because she couldn't handle Nadia's death like a big girl and went off on a sabbatical. A three week sabbatical that possibly changed her life forever.
So much for "maybe one day."
"I can give you a referral for ob OB/GYN. The sooner you go, the better."
Erin silently nodded, looking up at the kind lab tech and giving her a weak smile. "Thank you, Meredith."
Meredith smiled back at the detective. "I'm just doing my job. But I'm always here to talk if you need to."
Erin reached over and wrapped an arm around Meredith, squeezing her gently. "I guess I should get to work now."
<><><><><>
<three days later; Thursday May 7, 2015>
Erin had never felt so exposed before in her life and she was pretty sure it didn't have anything to do with the fact that she was naked under her examination gown. She picked at the hem of the light pink gown and glanced around the examination room. Instead of a typical cot, she sat in a chair that resembled a recliner. The walls were decorated with various pictures of happy mothers holding their newborn baby, posters of the uterus and miscellaneous pregnancy statistics, clear shelves holding numerous pamphlets, and diagrams showing the different stages of cervical dilation.
