Growth (Ryan Blaney and Chase Elliott fanfic)

Chapter 5

"RC, come on, you slept through your alarm again," Alex shakes me softly.

My eyes open slowly and I stretch as I sit up. I feel guilt start to build up inside me as Alex scurries around the bus, getting ready for the interviews before the race today.

He wanted to hang out with some of the other drivers last night and I told him he should go and catch up with Chase, Bubba, Ryan, and some other young drivers but he elected to stay in the bus with me instead. He was concerned about me staying by myself because of how tired and sick I've been lately, and I was not going to go hang out with other drivers in that condition.

Plus, I'm still doing my best to avoid Chase and Ryan. We're plenty of races into the season and I'm doing pretty good so far.

"Sorry for making you stay back with me last night, Alex," I say as he picks up a granola bar.

He scoffs. "You didn't make me, I stayed because I wanted to. And you know what else I want you to do."

I roll my eyes, leaning back against the wall. "I'm not going to the track doctor, I have an appointment scheduled with my doctor on Monday."

He gives me a skeptical look, pulling out another granola bar and passing it to me. "Are you sure you can wait that long? You run off during every interview I have to go to the bathroom, either to throw up or to piss."

I give him a look, biting into the granola bar and instantly gagging. "Ew, what the hell is this?"

"I gave that to you a week ago and you loved it then," the brunette points out.

"Well it sucks now," I murmur, standing up to throw the rest in the trash can. "I'm going to get ready for the day."

"I can't wait until you go to the doctor," I hear him say under his breath as I leave the room.

"I heard that," I call out.

"You were supposed to!"

~

I walk into a conference room at Hendrick's Motorsports, feeling much better than I have in a long time. I took some TUMS so my nausea is settled and I even had enough energy to pull on a pair of jeans this morning.

I sit in the rolling chair next to Alex, smiling at Chase and his PR representative across the table. We have to wait for a couple of other people to get here before this meeting starts but I hope it's soon, since I have my doctor's appointment right after this meeting.

Since I feel better, I feel like I don't even have to go, but I know Alex would kick my ass if I didn't go. Then he would tell Christopher and Morgan and Morgan would physically drag me to the doctor's office, so it would just be better to go by myself.

"How are you this morning?" Alex questions, pushing the pen resting on my notepad teasingly.

"Pretty good," I confess, happy to even hear the words leave my mouth.

"You have your doctor's appointment after this?"

I see Chase's head lift up at the question but immediately drop back down. It's clear that he's trying to come across as if he's not listening but he really is.

I nod at the question and Alex asks, "Do you want me to come with you?"

"Alex, you have practice today," I remind him.

He rolls his eyes and nods. "I know that, but it's the thought that I even asked, right?"

I can't help but laugh at that. William Byron walks into the room, instantly going into a tirade about the traffic this morning so we talk about that, forgetting our previous conversation almost immediately.

~

"When you get nauseous do you actually throw up or do you just feel like you have to?" The nurse asks, getting ready to type on her computer.

"Um, most of the time I actually throw up. I'd say like sixty percent of the time I actually throw up and forty percent of the time I just feel like it," I answer, biting my lip in anxiety.

This  is why I hate going to the doctors. They ask so many questions and half of the time I don't know the answer and the other half of the time I feel like my answer is stupid.

"Okay, the doctor will be with you shortly," the nurse gives me a tightlipped smile, leaving the room.

This is another part I hate about going to the doctors. The doctor is almost always late, leaving you to sit in a room by yourself for fifteen minutes to stew about the reasons that you're there. It consumes you until you're convinced that you have the worst possible outcome and the doctor comes in and suddenly all that happens is that you need to be on antibiotics for ten days.

"Hello River," Dr. Foster greets as she enters the room. "How are you doing today?"

"I'm doing okay, how are you?" I return, watching as she types to get into the computer.

"I'm good. So some nausea and fatigue is what brings you in today?" She looks at my chart.

"Yup."

She turns her full attention to me, leaning forward. "Are you feeling any differences with your body? Maybe some cramping, tender breasts, increased urination?"

I think about Alex's comment about me leaving to go to the bathroom more. "Um, yeah, increased urination. And my boobs have been kind of sore lately but I just thought that it was because of my period-"I stop myself in my track.

My period. How the hell could I forget about my period?

"Do you remember the last time you got your menstrual cycle?" Dr. Foster questions gently, watching my face fill with horror at the thought of what this could mean.

"I was supposed to get it two weeks ago," I breathe out.

"Okay. I'll send you to do a urination test to detect a possible pregnancy and if it comes back positive we can discuss your options," she informs me.

I numbly go through the motions of doing the test and waiting in the small doctors office for the results. I feel my phone buzz in my pocket and know that it's Alex- I told him I would call him after my appointment to tell him what's wrong but I can't.

This isn't something to tell someone over the phone and besides, I don't even know the results yet. These symptoms could all point to something else, right? Like a  UTI? I could just have a UTI, not a fetus growing inside of me.

"So I have the results of your pregnancy test," Dr. Foster starts, sitting back down across from me. I can already tell by the pile of pamphlets in her hand what the answer is. "And it came back positive. Congratulations, we detected that you are roughly nine weeks along. Here are some pamphlets discussing your options. If you do decide to keep the fetus, just call and I can give you a number to a gynecologist that you should see within the next month. If you choose not to keep the fetus, you have a limited amount of time to make that decision."

I numbly take the pamphlets. I'm not sure what I say to the doctor, or if I even say anything. I don't even remember getting in my car and driving home.

All I can think of is two words.

I'm pregnant.

EDITED: Yes

B