Kath barely spoke during the drive to the fertility clinic, fighting back tears and she barely looked up in the waiting room - there were at least a dozen other couples in the room looking as nervous as she felt and she could barely look at those that were staring at her. They'd either noticed her eyes, recognized her from the internet or were judging her because of her age.
"People probably think we're gay," Arisse whispered to her, smiling when that got a laugh out of her.
"Any girl would be lucky to have you." She whispered and Arisse shrugged her shoulders.
"You should tell her that sometime." Arisse teased and Kath cracked a small smile.
"You have a girlfriend?"
"Yeah, she's just qualified as a tattoo artist - she may have even tattooed you, you never know." Arisse teased and Kath laughed breathlessly, slowly shaking her head.
"What's her name?" She asked and Arisse pulled out her phone, showing Kath her lock screen.
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"Pamu," Arisse said, just her name making Arisse smile. "We've been together for nearly three years... she's twenty-two."
"And you're DJ's age?"
"Yeah - I got held back along with him because of I just... ditched a lot so he wouldn't be alone at the hospital," Arisse admitted, putting her phone away.
"He's lucky to have you."
"Yeah, and now he has you too. You're all he talks about now." Arisse said teasingly, Kath looking down at her fingers, playing with them in an absentminded way. "Hey, don't be so nervous... we don't know anything yet. I'm certain that someday he'll be delivering your baby. How cool would that be?" Arisse smiled, nudging her and Kath cracked a small smile.
"It's a good dream."
"Exactly! Then hold onto that, okay?" Arisse urged, tucking a lock of hair behind Kath's ear, kissing her cheek in a friendly way before giving her a sideways hug and Kath hugged her back.
"Kathryn Bernardo?" A nurse called, giving the young women a comforting smile as they stood up. "Hi, if you'll follow me?" The older woman said professionally and calmly before leading them into a private examination room. "Who do you have with you?"
"I'm Arisse de Santos - Kath's friend."
"Best friend." Kath corrected, making Arisse bite back a grin.
"Okay, so I understand you're here to run some tests on your fertility because of a condition called Alexandria's Genesis?" She asked and Kath slowly nodded her head. "I've called the doctor you're in contact with in London, just to ask a few questions about what information he already has and he seems rather confident that you'll be fine because a male with the same condition has fathered children - but as I'm sure you know, women work a little differently." The nurse said, a comforting smile on her face and she laid a hand on Kath's arm as she finally started to cry. "Oh, sweetheart... I can imagine how scary this is, but it's going to be okay."
"I just... I haven't exactly had a real family unit since I was a kid, so I... I just want the chance to have that someday." Kath said, sniffling and the nurse nodded her head, letting Arisse take over comforting Kath.
"I'm just going to ask a few questions - they can get a little personal, so if you'd want your friend to wait outside, that's your choice." The nurse warned, but Kath refused to let go of Arisse, silently saying that she wanted her to stay. "Have you ever had a period before, Kathryn? And if so, can you describe them to me?"
"Never," Kath admitted and the nurse wrote that down in Kath's notes - but not before Arisse and Kath saw the look of doubt cross her face for the briefest of moments and that was enough to make Kath's tears fall a little faster - even the nurse doubted she'd be fertile.
"Okay, so I'm going to perform an ultrasound now. It'll let me see what everything looks like inside. I've just done one from the outside, as you know and I got some good pictures of that to send off to your doctor and our specialists here... I'm afraid this ultrasound isn't going to be very fun for you because we're actually going to go 'up' instead of through." The nurse said and Kath tensed but nodded her head in agreement. She gripped onto Arisse's hand tighter, whimpering as the examination started.
"You're doing so good, K." Arisse whispered, wiping away Kath's tears but more kept falling anyway - it took a lot for Arisse to not let herself cry along with her. Their eyes were instantly on the nurse when she made a small noise of surprise.
"I'd say you're definitely fertile, Kathryn." The nurse said and Kath's eyes widened.
"What...?" Kath choked out, but her gaze locked on the monitor.
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"The black dot you're seeing right now... you're around four weeks pregnant, Kathryn, congratulations." The nurse said and Kath suddenly forgot how to breathe as she stared at the screen.
Arisse was snapped out of her own shock as Kath fell unconscious.
