The Child's Father

Chapter Two

Chapter 2: Author's note - I really like hearing from people, so please leave a comment. And vote, please! Also: if anyone has any good cover art for this, please show me. Thanks for reading!

Anne thought her legs might not hold her up as she walked into Dr. Graeme's office. The first thing she noticed about it was how light it was - one whole wall was comprised entirely of windows, so the sun shot through the glass, illuminating the room.

The second thing she noticed was the man standing up to greet them from behind the desk. Her eyes met his and they locked together and Anne had problems looking away as she and Aaron made their way towards the two chairs seated in front of the desk.

"Ah, you must be the Harringtons," he said in a pleasant tenor voice. He was smiling very genuinely and pleasantly. Anne liked the way his eyes crinkled with laugh lines, and how white his teeth were when he smiled. It sent little shivers of warmth all the way from her cheeks to the tips of her toes.

"Yes," said Aaron. "I'm Aaron Harrington." By this time, they'd reached the desk and Aaron had stretched out his hand to shake Dr. Graeme's.

There was a little pause as Anne stared at Dr. Graeme. He was really quite attractive, though he was probably in his mid to late forties. After seeing both Aaron and Dr. Graeme look at her expectantly, Anne said in a flustered voice:

"Oh. I'm Anne Harrington. Pleased to meet you, Dr. Graeme." She shook his hand. He had a warm, firm grip. In an attempt to redeem herself for her nervous blunder, she smiled at him.

"You know, Dr. Graeme, I'm glad you have warm hands. That's always a good thing in a doctor," she said as the three of them sat down.

"Oh?" said Dr. Graeme, smiling at her. Anne was shocked to feel a tiny flutter in her chest. Frowning internally, she chalked it up to nervousness.

Aaron chuckled and looked at Dr. Graeme.

"Really, Anne doesn't behave like this all the time, I assure you," he said, his voice mockingly reassuring as he looked at the smiling Dr. Graeme. "She's just very nervous." His voice transitioned from mocking to affectionate at the end of his sentence. It caused the withering glance Anne shot at him to mellow a little.

"Don't let Aaron badmouth me, Dr. Graeme," said Anne flatly. "He's the one terrified of medical procedures, especially needles. He nearly fainted when he had his flu shot."

Now it was Aaron's turn to glare at her.

"Okay. If you're both nervous, let's just get this over with," said Dr. Graeme. "But I can assure both of you that there will be nothing too scary today. Just blood tests for the two of you. And, of course, I'll have to take a detailed history."

Aaron and Anne nodded in perfect unison.

"Let's start with the history. Who wants to go first?" said Dr. Graeme, taking out a clipboard and clicking a ballpoint pen. As he donned his reading glasses, Aaron spoke up.

"Anne does," he said. "Can't you just see that she's itching to answer personal questions about her health?"

"Alright then," said Dr. Graeme, smiling again. Anne decided that she really liked it when he smiled. "I have your file from your GP, so I won't need to go over anything in there. But since Dr. Feldspar obviously hasn't asked you any questions about your - ah - problems having a child, I'll have to cover that area."

"Okay," said Anne.

Dr. Graeme began firing questions at her. The first several were about her health and the treatment she'd had - or lack thereof - for her possibly fertility issues. Anne answered no to Dr. Graeme's queries on whether there was a history of infertility in her family, whether she'd ever been pregnant, whether she'd ever had IVF treatments, whether she had a history of endometriosis, high FSH, or miscarriage.