The Rogue Tribe - Ranger's Apprentice

Chapter 19 - The Most Beautiful We'd Have Ever Seen

A few weeks later...

"Are you... quite certain?"

"Yes. It happened early enough that everything should fix itself, in fact, according to the symptoms you've reported, you should already be finished with the worst of it."

"But I was? I was actually..."

"Yes, for just a few weeks, you were." The doctor wrung his fingers, not meeting Alyss's eyes. I'm so sorry, my lady. You have my condolences." He put a gentle hand on hers, which lay limply on the table. "I'll show you out shortly... Or perhaps I'd better call for Ranger Will. Stay here for just a moment."

Alyss could see her hands lying on the desk, but they wouldn't move. She tried with all her might to move her pinky, but it just laid there, like it was dead. She couldn't make her lips move to answer the doctor, to tell him that she was perfectly alright, that it had just been a little extra blood, and that she hadn't even realized she had been pregnant, not until now.

She had been pregnant.

For about 4 weeks.

She had never known. She had never been able to realize it and love her baby and tell her husband. She had never been able to even feel her own belly and know that her little child was in there, safe and growing. She had never realized. And now, that was all ripped away from her in the same moment that it was given.

Her hands still wouldn't move. Neither would her face. Or her legs. She was just stuck, rooted to this chair facing the doctor's desk in his office in the medical wing of Castle Araluen. She wasn't crying, she wasn't sad or disappointed. She was just confused. Confused and numb. She wanted to throw up and faint all at once, but she also couldn't seem to do those either. So she sat there, unmoving, expressionless, emotionless, painless.

Child-less.

She heard the faint sounds of movement behind her and felt a strong hand on her shoulder. This hand she knew, this hand she loved. Will's worried eyes came into her line of sight, his face leaning down to meet hers. "Alyss, the doctor says something happened? What's wrong? Are you alright?" He looked confused and terrified all at the same time. Alyss heard his voice through a pipe submerged underwater, like the water pipes that filled the moat with river water. Or like she was deep, deep underwater, and Will was above trying to pull her up. "Alyss? I'm really worried about you. Tell me what's wrong." Will's blurred face in front of her was set in hard lines now, desperate to get an answer out of her. Say something. Say something right now. You don't want the doctor breaking this news to him.

Alyss sucked in a breath and some of the blurriness in her vision dispersed. Her pinky moved.

"I was pregnant."

Will froze. "You were? What about now? Did she..." He turned to the doctor and raised his eyebrows.
Miscarriage? Alyss saw him mouth the dreaded word to the doctor, who nodded faintly, his eyes filled with kind pity. Will swallowed hard, once, and Alyss couldn't see his face. "We're going to go. Thank you so much for helping us and helping Alyss." His voice shook a little. She felt him take her hand tightly, and his other hand brushed gently against her cheek, forcing her eyes to meet his. "Alyss, come on, we can't do this here, not in his office. We need to get out of here. Come with me, alright?"

Alyss nodded faintly, the only answer she could muster, her mind still sealed shut and her limbs only somewhat responsive. She put her arms on the armrests of the chair to push herself up, but they shook so badly that they almost gave out and Will held out his hands. She grabbed them, and he pulled her up and wrapped an arm around her waist to hold her up. "Alyss, you're so strong, I know you can do this, come on, let's go to the garden, let's go anywhere but here, just stay with me, alright? I'm not going anywhere."