Lion and Lace [Tom Hiddleston]

Episode 38

Becca

Tom squeezes and releases my hand when Dr Wendy calls my name, and I wince as I stand up and another cramp takes hold. She walks toward me and then he's right there with an arm around my waist helping me up onto the bed in her office.

"Stay, Tom. Please?" He smiles and sits down in the chair while I sit on the bed as instructed. "Wendy, this is Tom. My um-"

"Boyfriend," he finishes, shaking her hand.

"Why do you get all the gorgeous ones?" She says to me. Tom blushes and gives me a sympathetic look. "What's going on, honey?"

"I have period cramps, I think. But they're really really bad this time. I almost passed out on the way here."

"Have you taken anything?"

"The usual stuff, but it hasn't worked."

"Heavy bleeding?"

"No, just spotting. That's all I get now."

"Lie down, let me have a look. How long ago was the pregnancy?"

"A year."

"Jeez, that's gone fast. When did you stop bleeding?"

"Once I started the pill it just tapered back to nothing."

She presses down right where the bump on my stomach is and I cry out.

"If you're going to do that I'm going to need a bucket."

She hands me a plastic container but promises not to do it again, instead asking me to stand up and drawing up a syringe of painkillers.

"Do we trust Tom to look after you this afternoon?"

"Yeah, we do." I smile over at him, willing him to stop wringing his hands with worry and trying not to flinch when she jabs the syringe into my bum.

Why is it that injections to take away pain hurt so bloody much?!

She opens my file on her computer and I can see she's scrolling through the records from the hospital.

"You'll need to see a specialist, but I would say the pain is caused by the scarring in your uterus, that's certainly where the tenderness is located. You're living in London, now?"

"Yep."

"I'll print you out a list of people to see over there if you like. Unfortunately I doubt you'll get in to one here before you have to go, but I'll call the hospital and see what I can do. I'll give you some better meds as well. How often is it happening?"

"I only have a period every four or five months, you said it was OK to do that."

"It is, that's not the problem. In fact when it's this bad that's probably a good thing. The scarring shouldn't cause you any health concerns, but if you want to fall pregnant again-"

"I don't." I interject.

"I meant in the future. I understand you don't right now, but it's better to know what's going on now than let it get worse."

"OK."

As soon as I get down off the bed a stabbing pain doubles me over and it's all I can do not to scream. I barely get the bucket to my mouth before emptying my stomach into it with more force that I thought possible, and Wendy pushes the chair behind me so I have no choice but to sit while everything sort of spins. Tom rubs my back until the vomiting and cramps subside and I wipe my tear-soaked face. Only then I notice Wendy talking to someone on the phone with a hand on my shoulder.