Seven mates for seven brothers

38 - huffed and puffed

The lady on the phone told them to come in earlier to fill in some forms because they had not been there before.  Their rooms were part of the new hospital complex, so Alex took care to remember the directions she gave him.  An uptight Alex insisted on carrying Cassy out to the van and into the doctor’s waiting rooms, completely ignoring any stares he got.  Even Dennis’s cheeky remarks ran off of his back like water off a duck.

And no matter how much Cassy huffed and puffed, she could not blow down Alex’s resolve to go carry her around.  He looked worse than she did; goodness; he even looked worse than she felt when she was at her worst.  He took this much too serious.  It was only morning sickness, a bit severe; but certainly not terminal.  If she hadn’t secretly thought that it was sweet the way he worried about her, she would have been very annoyed with him and his insisting on carrying her around all the time when she wanted to go somewhere.

They eventually got to the right rooms and Alex started filling in the forms with Dennis giving comment as fast as he could write.  After a whole lot exasperation on his side, Cassy took the pen from his hand and started filling in the simple form.  It took her less than a minute to complete it and put it back into his hands.  Then they waited and waited until it was almost an hour after the scheduled time for their appointment.  At last they were shown in to the doctor’s room that apart from the size and equipment; almost looked like a photo copy of the boring reception area.

Cassy took a seat in front of the desk while Alex hovered until she glared at him.  He was quick to take the other seat and shuffle it closer to Cassy, tenderly wrapping his arm around her.

The doctor was still writing in a file that was open in front of him when the telephone rang.  Absentmindedly he picked it up.  “Yep?”  He asked mouthing the words he was writing down.  He listened with one ear until something the person was saying got through to him.  He slammed the phone down hard and leapt up from behind the desk glancing at them apologetically.  “I am sorry, one of my patients is in labour and she is having some trouble.  The baby is in distress and I will most likely have to do a Caesar now.  Would you please reschedule at the desk?”

Without waiting for a reply he rushed out of the room and they could both hear his footsteps rushing down the passage.

Cassy sighed and got up slowly; when she saw the expression on Alex’s face she winced.  He was livid!  Doing her best to send soothing thoughts his way, she took his hand as they stepped back into the reception area.

Dennis stood up and walked towards them.  “That went quick.”

Alex nearly exploded.  It was only Cassy’s hand on his arm keeping the barest control over his concern for her.  She moved him over to the circular desk that housed the four receptionists.

“We would like to make another appointment for as soon as possible please?”  She asked the elderly lady that had helped them before.

“Certainly my dear, let me have a look for you.  Hmm; the soonest we have an opening is at five thirty...”  She mumbled, her hand reaching for a pencil and her pad of sticky notes.

“That’s great!  We will wait until then.”  Alex said in relief.

”Sorry dears;” the lady said, scribbling on the sticky note.  “Five thirty, day after tomorrow. We haven’t had this much of a baby boom in ages.  He’s very busy right now with mothers going onto labour at all hours.  Without making appointments.”  She added the last bit and all the ladies behind the desk snickered at their old joke.

Alex could not believe his ears; yet with the added benefit of is wolf hearing he was not sure he had heard correctly; so he had to ask to make sure.  “Day after tomorrow only?”