Persephone's Angel

Doctor Day

Chapter Forty Three: Doctor Day

--* Erik wouldn't hear of me going anywhere alone now. So, wherever he went, I went, and wherever I went, he went. This included the physician's office to decide whether I was pregnant or not.

Often times Pierre would come with me to the physician's office so he and the physician grew to be friends and Pierre would always tell the physician how his life was going. The physician, apparently, had been out of the country for Pierre's demise, so, when my physician waltzed into the waiting room and asked where Pierre was; I lost what sanity I had regained. I fell to my knees and sobbed; Erik by my side. There were new mothers and expecting mothers sitting in that room, and they walked over to me and hugged me; telling me everything would be alright. The physician stood dumbfounded before all of us; he had to, finally, ask Erik what happened.

"What happened to Pierre?" My physician asked urgently to Erik; Erik gave a shaking sigh.

"P-Pierre was...shot by Christine and uh....he uh...he didn't make it" Erik explained as the new/expecting mothers cuddled me ever closer. The miraculous thing I found in this experience was that I knew not one of them and yet they helped comfort me and support me (literally, I couldn't stand up for a few moments and they helped me up), a complete stranger, I guess that was the motherly instinct kicking in. After calming and thanking the women Erik led me to the physician's room where I sat upon his lap and smiled as he cuddled me and kissed my neck.

The physician did the usual checking and then began to feel my stomach; that's when he smiled and asked both Erik and I to follow him into a bathroom where he handed Erik two plants. "One of these is wheat and the other is barley; a pregnant woman must urinate on both and whichever one lives, will determine the gender of the baby. If wheat grows it means the child is female, if barley grows it means the child is male. We'll need at least two weeks to tell which is growing more than the other, though." My physician explained; Erik nodded.

"What if both grow?" Erik asked, the physician sighed.

"That means she's got twins of both genders" the physician explained; Erik nodded again.

"And, what if neither one of them grows?"

"Then...it means she wasn't pregnant at all to begin with." The physician said; I grasped onto Erik's arm and cuddled close to him. "I'll leave you two to do that; when you're finished hand both plants to Mademoiselle Layla and come back to my room where we can discuss symptoms and things of that sort" the physician said; Erik and I both nodded and the physician shut the door after himself. It was a strange process, to say the least; I won't dive into details for your own sake, but, peeing on a plant, as you can imagine, was a little messy. Sure I had done it before, a few times before, but, there was something odd about this time (as if peeing on a plant isn't odd enough on its own); Erik and I weren't as happy as we were the other times, and, losing Pierre can more than likely account for this, but, I just felt hollow; especially when Erik and I returned to the physician's office.

Apparently, my hollowness showed, for, the physician patted my knee and gave a smile. "Do you believe you're pregnant again?" He asked and I sighed.

"I think so; it feels like all the other times." I answered; the physician nodded and called a nurse in the room and whispered something in her ear. She walked away, only to, moments later return bearing a grape lollipop which she gave to me. I smiled and Erik opened it for me; popping it into my mouth and kissing my cheek. I smiled again and intertwined my own fingers with Erik's; Erik was the one who held the key to my sanity, I didn't know what I would do without him.

 The three of us spoke sparsely about my symptoms and the physician ruled that I was pregnant once more, but, he said to check in with the office in two weeks; to be sure if I was and what I would supposedly be having.