Where Are We Now? (Marina)

Quarantasei.

I rolled my eyes. One of the last things I needed to deal with was Clarke while I was in the middle of an angry head spin. She was by all accounts harmless, but I more than anyone knew how easily harmless can become harmful.

Clarke was a flirt, but not enough for me to be uncomfortable. The wedding ring usually kept her at bay, and I was glad to know she had her limits. Which is why I slid my wedding band back on my hand as I went up the elevator to meet her.

I found her leaning against the wall looking at something on her tablet. Messy blonde bun, white coat rolled at the sleeves and dark blue scrubs neatly tucked into her pants. "Clarke."

"DeLuca, bet you didn't expect to see me today." Her smile was bright and she probably knew it worked for her most of the time.

"I don't usually get paged to the pediatric floor since you know the kids are already out of their mamma's." I winked as I spoke and she laughed with a nod of her head and finger.

"This is true, well I think one of my 16-year-old patients has something deeper going on and her mom is convinced she's pregnant." She handed me the tablet and I rolled my eyes because anyone can diagnose a pregnancy.

"If you paged me here just to confirm a teen pregnancy—"

"No DeLuca, I know better than to try and piss you off by wasting your time just because I enjoy working with you. I don't think she's pregnant. Something else is going on and I need the best because her mom is horrible and I need someone to keep me in line." She crossed her arms and I looked up at her sincere face, she genuinely looked concerned and for the first time I felt like I might have misjudged her.

I looked over the results and the labs confirm she wasn't pregnant. Symptoms: heavy non-stop bleeding, abdominal distention and tenderness to palpation, started after intercourse a week ago. Jesus, she's a baby... Okay maybe I am becoming a mother. "Okay, let's go." I handed her back the tablet and we walked a few rooms down. "How bad is this mother?"

"She keeps trying to take her daughter against her will, the girl keeps insisting she's in pain and isn't pregnant. So that was more than enough to already have three red flags up," Clarke mentioned just before knocking and walking into the young girl crying and her mother trying to get her into some jeans. "Ms. Santos, I told you I'd be right back and I have a friend. Maci, this is Dr. DeLuca. She's an OB/GYN and would like to look at your stomach."

"Great! So you finally believe that my promiscuous 16 year old is pregnant." The mom flared her arms and then brought them harshly against the sides of her thighs as I frowned.

"Ms. Santos, that's not why I am here. The labs show that your daughter is not pregnant. So unless she is the first case ever to sustain a pregnancy on such non-existent levels of HCG then I will ask your permission to examine your daughter."

She smacked the jeans down against her thigh, "I can't believe this, I have a very important meeting for my foundation and this is messing up my prep time Maci, come on. Not every period is the same, sometimes they're worse. It's life! Or maybe she's having a miscarriage."

"There would still be evidence of the pregnancy and I will make sure to be quick," I smiled sarcastically while Clarke grabbed me a pair of gloves as I approached this young girl who seemed scared of her own shadow. "Hi Maci, I'm Carina. Can I take a look at your stomach while you tell me what you've been feeling?"

"I umm," she looked at her mom.

"Just tell the doctor or we will never get out! Now it's time for your big show and you're acting skittish, but you weren't a few days ago with your legs in the air were you!? You're getting that door removed as soon as I get home," the mom threatened and I felt like I was already on the verge of crying or yelling, whichever came first. Please be calm little prunes.