Fleurs Captives (Joshler)

42. Iris

Iris:
meaning- good news

***Trigger warnings for prolonged trauma and PTSD.***

Start the song. It's The Seer's Tower by Sufjan Stevens.

They were putting a weird gel on Jenna's belly when Josh was led into the room. She looked relieved when she saw him, holding her hand out to him immediately. She'd been crying, and he knew she was terrified.

"He shouldn't be in here," the doctor told the nurse sternly as she watched Josh drag a chair over to sit beside his trembling sister.

"He's the father," the nurse whispered to the doctor, making the room fall silent.

It wasn't until the only man in the room left suddenly that Josh remembered his real father was supposed to be in here with Jenna. That must have been him. His mother touched his shoulder softly before following the man out quickly.

Josh couldn't focus on them right now though. He needed to focus on Jenna, who was trembling and confused. He pushed her bangs off of her forehead gently as the doctor picked up an instrument and started to rub it against Jenna's stomach as she watched a little screen.

"Do you understand what's happening right now?" Josh asked Jenna quietly.

She sniffled, shaking her head slightly. "They said it's an ultrasound. I don't know what that is."

Josh nodded. "That thing the doctor is holding can see through your belly and stuff so they can see the baby. It lets them hear the baby's heartbeat and make sure the baby's doing okay."

Jenna nodded, looking nervously at the screen before looking back to Josh. "I don't want to see it," she whimpered out.

The doctor looked up worriedly, taking the instrument off of Jenna's stomach immediately. "Jenna, do you know how far along you are?"

"About two months," she said quietly, clinging to Josh's hand fearfully.

"And Joshua is the father of the baby?" The doctor asked carefully, looking to Josh, who nodded. His parents came back in as the doctor carefully asked, "Was the baby conceived consensually?"

Jenna looked nervously at Josh before whispering, "What does that mean?"

"She's asking if we had sex because we both wanted to," Josh explained shakily.

The doctor looked at the two teenagers worriedly when neither of them responded. "Was it consensual?"

Josh and Jenna looked at each other nervously, Both silently pleading with the other to be the one who betrayed Papa. It was Jenna who gave in first.

"Papa said we had to have a baby because I was too old to keep in the house. He was only keeping me alive so he could have a granddaughter. Josh and I didn't want to do anything. He's my brother. It was weird and gross, and we both hated it, but we did it so Papa wouldn't bury me in the garden," she said quickly, breaking eye contact with the doctor as soon as the words were past her lips.

The doctor turned the ultrasound screen away from Jenna's view. "I need to make sure this baby is still alive, but you don't have to look, okay? Neither of you have to look."

When Jenna nodded nervously, the doctor put the instrument back on Jenna's belly. She moved it around a bit, still looking at that screen. After a moment, she glanced at one of her nurses, who wrote something down on the clipboard she was holding.

"Jenna, honey, do you know how old you are?" The doctor asked carefully.

"Papa said I was a year older than Josh, so we think I'm eighteen," Jenna replied nervously.