Congratulations, you're pregnant!

Congratulations, you're pregnant! A Deleted Scene from the Unexpected Inlander

Franchesca had just arrived at work and was sitting at her desk when the message on her phone alerted her that the embryo was ready.

The message read: "Congratulations! Your conception has been confirmed! An appointment for genotyping and in utero modification surgery has been scheduled with your physician today at 3:00 PM. If you need to reschedule, reply to this message. An appointment must be made within the next 36 hours or gestation will need to be terminated."

Franchesca let out a short squeal and started dialing as she leapt up from her chair and walked to the break room.

"Hello?"

"Mom?"

"Franchesca! How are--"

"I'M PREGNANT!!!!!"

Franchesca's mother screamed with excitement on the other end of the line.

"My appointment is not until three. How am I supposed to get any work done before then? Okay, I should get back to work, now, but I just had to tell you!"

Her mother thanked her for calling to tell her before they hung up. Franchesca knew her mother was probably pressing the "purchase and send" button on some shopping app at that second. She had no doubt already gone shopping for a baby gift when Franchesca told her she and her husband had passed all the exams and had earned the Child License last week.

Franchesca looked at the medical bracelet monitor on her wrist. The little plus sign that had been there that morning--and which she had obsessively glanced at every second in the last two hours since she had woken up and seen it--was now replaced with a check mark. She was beaming.

Her phone rang, and when she looked down at the screen, she saw that her husband was calling.

"Did you get the message?" he asked with excitement when she answered.

"Yes!" she exclaimed.

"The appointment is six hours away! How are we supposed to get any work done?"

"I know, right?" Franchesca was laughing as she said it. She was positively elated.

It wasn't that surprising that she was pregnant, and she felt like she should not have felt this giddy. Over the past two months, since she and her husband had met and married, they had filled out the application, gone through the interview process, and taken the exams to get approved for the Child License. And once they had been approved, they had been assigned a physician and had gone to two appointments to go over all the genetic modifications that would be applied to their child, both the mandatory health modifications and the optional cosmetic modifications. With everything that was involved, she thought she would have been more prepared for this moment. But this was it. She and her husband were having a baby.

"Should we reschedule the appointment so it's sooner?" he asked.

His suggestion was tempting, but she said, "No. This way we can just take the rest of the day off and go celebrate afterward."

"Good point," he said, and she could tell by the tone of his voice that he was even more excited than she was.

After they hung up, she went to her boss's office and told her about the appointment. Upon hearing the news, her boss sprang to her feet and immediately gave her a hug to congratulate her. Then, she looked at the clock on the wall and said, "Six hours. How will you get any work done?" And they both laughed.

- - -

The six hours did pass, and Franchesca's husband was already in the waiting room when she arrived.