Page 95 of Lay Me Down
“The fetus is fine,” Amber tries to say with a straight face, almost robotically. It's probably the worst attempt at ‘staying cool' I've ever seen, and of course, Serena sees right through it. She puts her hands on her hips and scowls at Amber.
“Amber? What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
“You’re not good under pressure, are you?” I ask Amber.
“No. No, I'm not,” she says to me quietly and cowers a little, like Ser is going to lash out at her.
“And you two obviously know each other?” I give Serena an annoyed tone.
“Obviously!” she yells. “Is someone going to tell me what the fuck is going on, or do I have to start screaming? How's the baby?”
I reach out and grab her hand, feeling the small tremors in her fingers. Her concern is sweet, and it only makes me feel even better and worse at the same time. I really shouldn’t get so upset with her.
“The baby is fine, Ser. There's nothing wrong. She accidentally told me the gender.”
Her jaw drops and her face flushes with fury. While I wasn’t sure how she would react to that, this anger is not what I expected.
“Jesus Christ, Amber! That’s an intern mistake!” she yells, and Amber looks down at the floor like she’s about to cry. Daisy looksaround at us all until she looks at the floor too, giving me ‘not my circus’ vibes. I go to tell Ser to calm down and leave her alone, but she walks over to Amber and leans in close before I have a chance. “So, what is it? Is it a boy?”
“Serena Marie Anderson!” I yell at her.
“I'm joking! Mostly…” She tries to shrug it off. I roll my eyes at her as Amber turns off the machine and wipes the jelly off of my stomach.
“The doctor should be back in a few minutes to go over what you need to do for the next few days,” she shyly tells me.
“I’m really sorry. My family is nuts.” I try to lighten the mood, but she just nods in a forced response.
“Thanks,” she says quietly and then glares at Ser before walking out. I turn back to my left side, like I was advised, and stare at Serena hatefully.
“You did not have to yell at that girl,” I scold her.
“Oh, she’ll be fine. This line of work will toughen her up some.” She swats her hand in my direction, brushing off Amber’s feelings, and sits in the chair next to me as she straps the fetal monitor around my stomach. Daisy lays her chin on the bed, and I scratch behind her ears, so she knows she did a good job of staying out of the way. “So, what’d she say?” She’s trying to be nonchalant, but I know what she really wants to know.
“Thatitwas moving around a lot,” I say smirking at her.
"Ugh! Bitch.” She rolls her eyes but then smirks back at me.
“Are Zeke and Alex still outside?”
“Yeah. They wanted to give you some privacy, and suggested I do the same, but you know me better than that.” Her smirk only grows, and I giggle a little as I rest my head against the pillows. As I sink into the bed, the little glimpse of humor sinks with me.
“I wonder how long I'll be on bed rest this time.”
“Well, let’s look. Shall we?” She pulls her work tablet from her purse, and the smile on her face turns into a mischievous grin.
“You’re not supposed to have that are you?”
“Nope, and I don’t give a shit.” She taps away, and I just shake my head at her. “Oh! They’re only putting you on bed rest for two days! But, you'll be on limited mobility for two weeks.” She grimaces. My own heart monitor picks up slightly, giving away my anxiety over the answer. They might as well shoot me in the leg with that time frame.
This was supposed to go so differently. I was supposed to walk out of my appointment today with a green light, and I could’ve convinced Zeke to let me start working again. I’m doing everything I can to find any lead possible, and I was supposed to be able to check them out myself. Now, they’ll never let me.
“Two weeks?! I can’t walk around like a normal person for two fucking weeks?! I can’t wait that long!” I feel my eyes begin to burn with tears again as Ser grabs my hand.
“Ash, it’s okay. It’s just to make sure the integrity of the pregnancy holds. Zeke, Alex, and Carter can handle the Attic until you can move around more.” My lips quiver again as my best friend holds my hand, and now that it's just us, I finally let go. All of the fear and excitement from today is catching up with me and colliding with the past month.
“What if he’s dead?” I squeak out as tears start to spill from my eyes. Her face falls, and she squeezes my hand so tightly that I just instinctively squeeze back. “It’s been a month, Ser! It's been an entire month, and we haven’t found anything. There’s no trace of him! The only sign I've had is a fingerprint at a murder scene, and nothing else! What if it’s because he’s dead?” I shake as I sob, and she climbs into the bed beside me. Daisy walks around the bed and hops up here anyway, laying by my legs this time so she doesn’t mess with any of the cords. Ser’s arms snake around me, and she rests her head on top of mine. Both of their warmth seeps into my body, but it does little to help right now.
“He’s not dead, Ashia. You can’t think like that, okay? You really think he’d let anyone, or anything, take him away from you? I mean, come on. He's like a fucking cockroach. You can't kill those.” I know she's trying to lighten the mood, but it's not working.
