Sickness

Part 10

~ Part 10 ~ Valas P.O.V ~

"Baby?!" I shoot up to look at the plate. "There's no baby!"

"Oh yes there is." she points to a black blob on the screen. "That's your baby. It's still searching the gender of it... but that's definitely your baby."

Gale looks at me shocked and dissapointed. I grib his arm. "Gale! I haven't been with anyone! I swear!" he rips his arm out of my grip.

"Then how the hell is there a baby in there?!" he yells as he stomps out of the room slamming the door behind him.

"How is this possible?" I look at her in fear. "Are these ever wrong?"

"No honey... its not a stick you pee on. This is what's actually in you. That's a baby."

"That's not possible." I grab her shoulders. "Listen to me. I lied to get here. I'm a virgin. This has to be wrong. This is not possible!"

She takes my hands off her shoulders. "Listen kid, I don't know if mommy taught you about the birds and the bees, but it's not my job. OBVIOUSLY you aren't a virgin."

"Yes I am!'' I jumped out of the bed and ran out into the hallway to find Gale. I saw him sitting at the end of the hall with his head in his hands. I walk over and slide down the wall next to him.

"Gale you have to believe me. I don't know how this happened. That thing is wrong! You know how I feel about these things!" I grab his face and face me. "You're the only guy in my life. Period.''

''Vala. There is no way that is wrong. It can't just make up a fake image." he runs his fingers through his hair. "Who is it?"

"What do you mean?"

"Who is the father, Vala?!" he screams.

"There is no father! This has to be wrong somehow! You know I'm only 17 and I don't believe in what the government encourages Gale! You know that! You know me!'' I grab his arms and pull them away from his face. "Look at me Gale."

He drops his arms. "What?" he says bluntly.

"I will prove it to you. There has to be a test or something." I say intently. "You just have to believe me. I can't lose you." I feel a tear run down my face.

Gale stands up fast. "Fine. Go talk to the woman who took the baby pictures and videos. She said it can tell who the father is."

"Fine." I stand and stomp off back to the room.

I bust in to the woman closely examining the photos. "Who's the father?"

She looks closely at the clear tablet. She taps it a couple times then speaks. "It doesn't look like it picked up that information. You left too early. You'll have to lay back down and continue with the internal examination."

"Fine. Whatever it takes." I lay back down right as Gale joins me in the room.

The woman lays the tablet back on my stomach and starts pressing buttons. We sat in silence for about 5 minutes until she spoke. "Alright, well the date of it being conceived was longer ago than I originally thought. The father and the gender will take a little bit to configure. Not much longer though."

Gale looks at me in disgust. "Alright." the woman says blandly. "It can't see how long it's been in there... sometimes they can't. It's really no big deal. It'll be able to tell the father once you have a blood test done."

~ ~ ~ GALES POINT OF VIEW (P.O.V) ~ ~ ~

"A blood test?" I ask.

"Yeah." the nurse says as she pulls a needle out of the drawer.

I stick my arm out to let her take the blood. She jams the needle in and pulls the blood out fast. "Um, ow." I mumble.

The nurse goes over to where Vala lays on the hospital bed and inserts the needle into a small hole in the side of the glass plate taking the ultrasound. She pushes the blood out of the needle slowly as the words 'configuring' appears across the screen. I watch eagerly and wait for the words 'negative' to appear on the screen, but they don't. Instead the words 'positive' appear in large green letters.

"Yep. You're the father." the nurse says harshly as she pulls the needle out of the clear rectangle.

Vala's jaw drops open as she quickly picks up the ultrasound tablet. She studies the picture and video. There was definitely something in there. But how was this possible? I... we haven't done anything! I don't think Vala has either! She looks at me angrily and throws the tablet down on the bed. She stands and gets in my face. "How long was I out after the swipe! How long was I loopy with memory loss? How long did you have my lost mind playing along with the fact that we were together?!" she screams.

I grab her shoulders. "Vala nothing happened! You had just woken up the night before you remembered everything!"

She looks around confused. "Is there any other time I was... unaware or unalert?''

I grab her and hug her. "We will find out, but I promise you... nothing happened." I bend down to her ear and whisper. "We need to get out of here."

She nods and turns to the woman. "When will it start to show?" she asks cautiously.

"You're super skinny so maybe not even until the beginning of your 2nd trimester or at the longest... your 3rd. It seems impossible, but it has happened. It changes with each body type and at the rate at which your child grows. But I was your size when I had my first child, and I didn't start to show until right before my second." she says blandly as she scribbles on some papers. "But I'm not sure how far along you are, so there's no telling."

"Okay. Then we will be going." Vala says as she quickly walks out the door.

I rush for the door right as the nurse slams her hand on my chest. ''Keep an eye on that one. She's restless. Don't let her do something she'll regret." I nod and push past her to where I find Vala screaming at a gaurd.

"What do you mean we can't leave?!" she protests.

''You have to wait for everyone to leave ma'am." he says.

"No I don't! I'm going to sit in the train." she pushes past him to where another man stops her. Her face gets blood red and she starts clenching her jaw.

Uh oh. Someones gunna get it.

She takes a deep breath. "Listen. I've had a pretty crappy day. Can I just go lay down in the train? Please." she asks blandly.

"NO ma'am!" he yells at her.

"Fine." she brings her knee up and hits him in the groin.

The man hits the ground fast clutching himself. I laugh a little and hop over him. I find Vala stomping out of the clinic leaving the door open behind her. I run over and grab her arm. "A little feisty today are we?" I joke.

"How can you joke right now? I'm having a terrible day! I always swore I would never have a child in this city! Now there is all of a sudden this magic baby? We need to get out of here.'' she snaps.

I let go of her arm and throw my arms in the air in confusion. "And where do you suppose we go Vala? Back to the base? Where you can train and act like our city isn't crumbling around us, while a human being grows inside of you? There isn't anything we can do! We can't go out there now! You get sick from a loose sick person and you AND your baby die!" I yell.

"MY baby? According to that ultrasound you need to be taking some responsibility here too!" she screams.

Our ranting is interrupted by the line of girls leaving the clinic. The guard roughly grabs Vala's arm on his way by. "Time to go back to the city." he says harshly. I run over and rip her arm from his iron grip, revealing red marks from his sausage fingers.

"I can't go back to the city." she says quietly as a tear runs down her face. "I just can't."