After quickly examining both patients, the doctor on duty in emergency had a different idea than Jack about who he should treat first. So, Jack ended up on the table under the amused gaze of his wife who was allowed to stay with him. An obstetrician, busy delivering a baby at the moment, would come and give Sue a thorough exam as soon as possible. In the meantime, the doctor ordered a full series of blood test for the expecting mother.
The bullet missed the bone and the major arteries, doing only minimal damage to the soft tissue. While the doctor sewed his wound, Jack kept his gaze on Sue. She had one hand over her belly and she was clenching her jaw, despite the repeated attempt of the tech to get her to relax. Jack smiled encouragingly to her.
He didn't know his courageous little wife was afraid of needle. 'Want to trade places,' he mouthed for her as their eyes locked.
She shook her head, but a smile found its way to the corner of her mouth.
'I love you,' he continued for her eyes only. 'And tonight, I will kiss every inch of skin they pricked and probed, and make it better. I promise.'
Red crept to her cheeks as she reviewed in her mind all the tests they would probably subject her to. She never realized the tech girl was done and gone, and she was left with a purple dinosaur bandage. He distracted her on purpose, she realised.
'Thank you,' she signed to him.
He nodded, but his wink got lost in the contortion of his face. "THAT wasn't frozen," he complained, taking a deep breath. And the next stitch wasn't either, but it was the last one.
His shirt was gone, and to Sue's amusement, a male nurse helped Jack get all cleaned up.
'He is cute,' signed Sue, who couldn't stop giggling as Jack rolled his eyes at her.
His wife was having too much fun at his expense and that guy was rubbing him a bit too...too...
Jack grabbed the facecloth and decided to finish himself.
"Sorry," she told the nurse. "My hubby gets grumpy after being shot."
"Who wouldn't?" the nurse responded, smiling kindly. He was a young nurse in his mid-twenty. "I am to transfer both of you one floor up. I will go get a wheelchair for you, you still look pale from the blood test."
"Thank you," she said after him as he left the room. Jack slowly moved toward her. "Are you all right, Jack?"
"I am and I am not leaving your sight," he said, taking her hand into his good one and kissing her fingers.
Sue was lying on the table in a blue hospital gown pulled up under her breasts and a sheet covering her lower body. The doctor listened to the baby's heart, and frowned, alarming Jack and Sue instantly.
"Something wrong?" asked Jack, an invisible cold hand gripping his heart.
"No, nothing wrong," reassured the doctor. "Only a bit unusual."
"Unusual?" repeated Sue, her hand firmly holding to Jack's hand.
"Unusual doesn't mean bad, Mrs Hudson," the doctor smiled. "The baby's heartbeat echoes. Are you sure your last period was not prior to mid-June?"
She was. She had just finished a few days before they took that trip to North Carolina.
"And this is your first pregnancy?" he continued.
She nodded again.
"Well, the test results and that little belly seem to indicate a more advanced pregnancy than seventeen weeks, but..." He lifted his hand before the anxious parents could interrupt him. "But it doesn't mean it's not normal for you. I would like to do an ultrasound."
