Partners

Max POV

I watched Chloe as her expression went through several emotions. Confusion, concern, anger, sadness, love, the works. She opened and closed her mouth several times to say something, but nothing came out. 

"Are you sure it isn't food poisoning?" She said, finally finding her voice. 

I pulled the paper I got from the clinic out of my pocket and handed it to her, simply saying, "Ten weeks."

She scanned the paper, eyes widening. Looking back at me, she asked the one question I had no answer for. "Do you know what you're gonna do?"

"No." I sobbed. Funny how the weight of the situation didn't really register in my mind until I told Chloe. I began to cry hysterically, and Chloe hugged me tightly.

"Hey, now. We'll get through this, Max. I'm here for you, regardless of what you choose to do, understand? Whether you want to raise this baby, or...." She trailed off.I knew what she meant. 

"I have another appointment tomorrow at the women's clinic. I haven't made any decision yet." I told her.

"Okay. I'm calling off work tomorrow and we're going together." She held up her hand after she saw that I was about to protest. "I don't care what you say, Max. It's happening."

I threw my arms around her, barely choking out my sobbed words, "I'm so lucky to have you. I love you so much, Chloe."

"I love you, too, Max. Come on, let's go lay down for a bit."

We went in the room and cuddled up in bed, both enjoying each others' company and processing the new situation.

"Chloe?" I said after about an hour of comfortable silence.

"Mm?" 

"What would you do in my position?"

"Well, I would keep my options open, but wait until you see the ultrasound and don't make a decision in the same day as said ultrasound."

"Why wait?" I asked.

"You might regret your decision." Her voice was thick with emotion.

"You sound like you have experience with this." I said. Was she in the same situation when Nathan had violated her?

"Only second hand. I had a scare after Nathan did what he did, but it was a false positive. Rachel, though, she had gotten pregnant once. It was about 2 years after we met. She got pregnant, realized she was too young to take care of a baby, so she decided to get an abortion." Chloe sighed, "I went with her so she wasn't alone. I saw the ultrasound. Got attached immediately. I was so hurt when she looked right at the screen and told the doctor to go ahead with the procedure. Don't get me wrong, it was one hundred percent her choice, I just didn't approve of it because she chose to have unprotected sex, you know? In my opinion, if you're gonna have sex with someone of the opposite gender and you're too young to understand that there's a chance of pregnancy regardless of whether there's protection or not, then you're too young to have sex at all, period. It's different in certain situations, I know. But I feel like abortion shouldn't be treated as backup birth control."

She makes a fair point. "Okay. So, we'll go to this appointment, see the ultrasound, and discuss it together when we get home. Sound good?" I said. "But we tell no one until after we decide."

"Sounds good, Super Max." She kissed my head, as I began to fall asleep.

We'll get through this together.

//////\\\\\\

We walked into the clinic, checked in, and sat in the waiting room. The walls were pink, the floor was an unflattering brownish ceramic tile, and there were magazines and pamphlets everywhere, with one half of the clinic giving you advice on pregnancy and the other half giving advice on how to prevent it.

"How are you feeling, sweetie?" Chloe asked me, stroking my hair.

"Well, not bad, but not good either." I told her. "I guess I'm just nervous, scared. I don't know. What about you? How are you taking all of this?"

She scrunched her lips to the side, trying to figure out an answer to my question. "I don't know. I guess the same as you? Tack on a little worry there, of course."

"Maxine Caulfield?" One of the nurses called. Chloe and I stood up and followed the nurse to the back. She weighed me and checked my blood pressure then told me to strip from the waist down and cover myself with something that looked like a giant napkin.

"Chloe, I'm scared." I whisper. Chloe got up from the black chair in the corner, and hugged me.

"I already told you, Max. We're in this together. No matter what you choose, I'm here for you. Forever. You're stuck with me. And this," she lifted up my left hand where the engagement ring sat, "is a physical representation of that." I smile at her, but before I could answer, the doctor came in.

"Good morning, Maxine, I'm Doctor Gord, you may call me Nelly." She extended her hand for a shake. She's older, maybe around my mom's age. She had auburn hair, just past her shoulders, and a genuine smile on her lips.

"Hello, Nelly. You can call me Max, and this is my girlfriend, Chloe." I shook her hand. She turned right to Chloe as I introduced her, extended her hand and smiled just as warmly. Well, at least I know she won't judge me on that note.

"So, Max, it says here that you're reason for your visit is a positive pregnancy test, right?" I nodded. "Okay, so I also read your medical records, and there was a, um, sensitive situation that happened approximately 3 months back, correct?" I nodded again, squeezing Chloe's hand tighter. "Okay," she says again, "so, I want to do an ultrasound to confirm for sure that you're pregnant, and then we can go from there, how does that sound?" I nodded for a third time, laying back on the bed and allowing her to do her job.

She began the ultrasound by covering a wand like thing in some blue goop and placing what looks like a condom on it. Chloe opened her mouth, no doubt to ask what it was, but Nelly confirmed it was indeed a condom. And with that statement hanging in the air, the ultrasound began.

All I saw at first was just a blur of black and white, but as she looked around more, she found a small movement. There on the screen, a something about the size of a peanut jumped back and forth repeatedly. "Do you see that?" Nelly pointed to it. I nodded. "That would be the heartbeat, my dear. That means you are, in fact, pregnant. Let me get some measurements to confirm how far along you are."

She moved around, pausing the screen every so often. I couldn't take my eyes off the screen. Chloe squeezed my hand encouragingly. I squeezed back. Then Nelly asked if we wanted to hear the heartbeat. I looked at Chloe, very much wanting to. She nodded, and a minute later, a thumping sound filled the room. 

I started tearing up, and looked at Chloe. She also had tears in her eyes. I knew we both made our decision right there.

We were gonna have a baby.