Chapter 16
Chapter Sixteen
Duncan
I knew Clay wanted kids. It was something we had discussed, and I was happy he did because I was most certainly pregnant.
The scent of the aquarium was apparently only the beginning of my sensitive stomach.
If I moved, I was nauseous. If I ate anything—nauseous.
Stood up—nauseous. It didn’t seem to matter what I did. Everything made me miserably sick.
My manager at the restaurant had been happy to give me extended time off work, but I had decided to take the rest of my vacation days and leave the position.
It wasn’t that I didn’t like working at the zoo.
I did. It was a safe place, and the coworkers, for the most part, were great.
But I felt bad about them holding the position open for me.
And I would have felt different about missing the last few weeks of work if not for the fact that every time I did anything, I was reaching for a trash can.
“Okay, sweetie,” Clay said as he came into our room where I was lying as still as possible with a damp cloth across my eyes. The ceiling fan was blowing a gentle breeze down on me, and I went through waves of it being perfect to feeling utterly wrecked.
“I would talk, but I think it would make me sick.”
“I know. And I hate to do it, but I’m going to have to move you,” Clay said.
“I don’t want to.”
“I understand. I need you to take a tiny sip of this.”
I felt the straw on my lips and opened enough that he could get it into my mouth, and I could get a drink. The cool water felt amazing on my tongue and throat, but I wanted to cry when it hit my stomach and that familiar pain hit.
“Now, open,” Clay said.
I did without a thought and then closed my mouth. I felt a tiny something on my tongue, and it immediately started to dissolve. “What’s that?”
“It’s an anti-nausea pill. I called in to the clinic and explained the situation. The doctor called in a prescription for you for these. I’m to give you two, wait a bit for them to kick in, and then get you to the hospital for a checkup.”
“But I don’t want to go to the hospital. I’ll get sick along the way.”
“That’s what the pills are for.” I felt the straw against my lips again. “One more tiny sip,” Clay said.
I obliged and then tried to take a deep, calming breath through my nose. “What if I get sick on the way?”
“Then you do,” Clay said. I felt his fingers in my hair. “You need to get checked out. You came home from work three weeks ago, and you’ve been sick on and off since. The doctor is worried you’re dehydrated, which will make the nausea even worse.”
Wonderful. The last thing I really wanted was to go spend time at the hospital. “I don’t have a choice here, do I?”
Clay’s fingers continued to run through my hair. “I’m sorry, sweetie. I’m really concerned for you. So is the doctor.”
“I don’t have a doctor, Clay.”
“You do now. I’ve been in contact with Charlie’s doctor. He’s amazing and an omega himself. He understands firsthand what you’re going through.”
The fingers running through my hair were soothing, and suddenly, I felt myself falling asleep. I became drowsy and couldn’t help but wonder if there was something else in those pills or that water.
“Did you give me something?” I asked, but I was super tired, and it seemed to take a lot of effort.
“Just the pills for your stomach. One of the side effects was drowsiness though, so it might be that.”
“I’ll say this. I finally feel like I could actually sleep.”
“Then you should certainly do that,” Clay told me.
I felt myself being lifted, and then we were moving.
I was just going with it, because what else could I do?
Clay had been so loving and attentive since we found out I was pregnant.
Unfortunately, we’d not really been able to enjoy the news because it seemed that as soon as I found out I was pregnant, I was sick.
I had days where the nausea wasn’t too terrible, but on those days, I usually ended up sleeping through most of it.
“Here you go,” Clay said as he lifted me into a seat.
I reached up and pulled the washcloth off my eyes and looked around. “We’re in your truck.”
“We are. You’re going to the hospital. You need fluids and to be looked at.” Clay stepped up onto the running board and buckled my seat belt. He gave me a quick kiss on the forehead, then took the washcloth from me. “Relax,” he said.
I felt the seat behind me reclining and sighed when it finally reached the almost flat position. The washcloth was back, and I tried my best to relax and not think about my stomach or what it wanted to do.
The truck started, and then we were moving. I didn’t know when exactly I dozed off, but I woke up to Clay carefully picking me up and carrying me out of the truck. “We’re here?”
“Yep. Let’s get you looked at. Fluids, at a minimum, will help you. But I’m quite worried about you, sweetie. Severe pregnancy sickness isn’t necessarily common in shifters, and it could really hurt you.”
I looked at Clay. “What about the baby?”
“I’m of course worried about the baby as well, but you are my main concern. I want you to get better. To feel like you can do things again.”
I tried to smile. “I want that too.” I leaned my head against Clay’s shoulder and held it there, relaxing against him. The doors opened, and then I was inside under harsh lights. That definitely wasn’t better than outside.
“We’re here for Dr. Birch. I’m Clay, and this is Duncan. He’s expecting us,” Clay said.
“Give me a moment, and I’ll ask,” someone said. “Have a seat.”
Clay walked around slowly, but even I could tell he didn’t have a seat. It didn’t take long before a new voice was heard.
“Clay? Come this way.”
Clay started moving again, and then suddenly, the lights weren’t so painful.
“I appreciate you seeing us here, Dr. Birch.” I felt myself lowered to cool sheets on a somewhat hard surface.
“I’m glad you brought him in. But from the sound of things on the phone, he should have come in a couple weeks ago.”
I opened my eyes and smiled up at Clay. “He takes good care of me,” I whispered.
“Yes, I can see that.” I turned my head and looked at the other voice. There was a man with red hair, staring down at me. “But you should have been brought in after the first three days. Not three weeks.”
I sighed and nodded. “That was me. I didn’t wanna.”
I closed my eyes and definitely nodded off again because when I opened my eyes who knows how long later, there was a rhythmic beeping in the room, and I was incredibly cold. And I really had to pee.
“Clay?”
Immediately, he was at my side, a look of concern on his face. “I’m right here. How are you feeling?”
“Cold. Need to pee.”
Clay nodded. “Hang on.” He kissed my forehead and then was gone again. I didn’t know how long until he returned, but it couldn’t have been too long.
“Hello, Duncan. I hear you need to use the bathroom.”
I blinked up at the man, who looked familiar. “Do I know you?”
He offered a kind smile. “I’m Dr. Birch. You were incredibly dehydrated and needed quite a bit of fluids. Which makes perfect sense why it is that you need to relieve your bladder.” As he was talking, he was moving the blanket that was on me, and then I realized that I was in a hospital gown.
“Am I admitted?” I asked as I looked over at Clay.
“Yeah, sweetie. You needed to be monitored. You were dangerously dehydrated.”
I felt terrible. I hadn’t let him bring me before now, because I didn’t want to cause any issues.
I didn’t want to be a bother because he’d already done so much for me.
I had already quit both of my jobs, and I absolutely didn’t want Clay to be the one to have to take care of me on top of completely supporting me and our baby.
“All right, Duncan. We can get you up, and you can go over to the bathroom,” Dr. Birch said.
I looked around but still didn’t know where the bathroom was, but Clay was there, and he helped me sit up.
I was surprised that I didn’t feel the immediate need to grab a bin and empty my stomach.
He pulled me to my feet and then held my arms while he started walking toward a door in the room.
When we were halfway to it, I could see inside and realized it was a bathroom. Yes. A toilet.
Clay helped me with the gown and getting my briefs down, and then I stood there and sighed as I finally got relief. It seemed to take longer than normal, but I was sure that was because of the IV fluids.
“Finished?” Clay asked when things went quiet.
“Yeah.” He helped me pull up my briefs, and the gown just dropped.
Clay took my arm and helped me back into the room, where the doctor was still waiting.
Clay helped me back into the bed, and I had so many questions.
They had to wait, though, because the doctor was putting the IV back into the thing that was still on my arm.
“All right, Duncan,” Dr. Birch said. “It’s time to go over a treatment plan with you.
We’ll be doing an ultrasound scan here in just a bit, but for the moment, we need to discuss what’s been going on.
” I could only stare up at him like a frozen statue.
Dr. Birch seemed to catch on and smiled.
That alone helped me relax. “Going forward, and I mean for any future pregnancies as well as this one, if you are throwing up for more than three days in a row, you come into the clinic.”
I nodded. “Okay. I didn’t know. I just…” I glanced at Clay before I looked down at my hands.
“Is there something going on that I need to know about?” Dr. Birch asked. He moved closer to me, effectively putting himself in my line of sight, even just a little. “Duncan?”
“I didn’t want more to be put on Clay. He’s given me so much already. And then I had to quit my second job after getting fired from the first. Now it’s all on him, and I don’t want to be such a burden.” I looked back down at my hands.