Artificial Insemination

Chapter Four

The woman sighed, "taking you to the hospital, of course." She pulled out of the parking space and starting driving. "We already talked about this."

Layla nodded and buckled herself in. "Right."

She had been planning to go to the hospital anyway, needing to let the doctors know about her decision so they could prepare accordingly. She was incredibly curious about how far along she was too, hoping that she was on the last legs of dealing with the terrible morning sickness.

Before she knew it, the two of them were at the hospital and walking through the front entrance.

It was cold, stark-white and lifeless, the smell of antiseptic strong even though they were only in the lobby. Even the few potted plants did nothing to raise the general morale of the area as everybody still looked utterly depressed.

"I hate this hospital." She mumbled to herself.

It gave Layla a strange sense of déjà vu- walking to the reception desk and watching the lady call for the doctor without so much as a hello.

"I'll wait out here." Her mum said, sitting down on one of the hard, plastic chairs and adjusting the sunglasses on her nose.

Layla frowned but didn't complain. "Okay, I'll be back in a bit then."

When the doctor saw her, he gave her a friendly smile that only somewhat qualmed her fears.

"What's your decision, Miss Martis?" Tom asked her, taking a seat. "Have you decided to go through with the pregnancy?"

Her head jutted down in a nervous nod. "Yeah."

"Does Mr Evans know?"

"You mean Dale?"She creased her eyebrows together. "Yeah, he knows. I sent him a message but he hasn't replied."

She told herself that she wasn't bitter about it. She wasn't. Part of her wished that he was there with her.

The kind smile didn't leave Tom's face. "Okay, well we'll do some testing to check on the baby and then we can talk about how to go forward. Is that okay?"

She nodded again, pressing her lips into a thin line.

"If you just jump up here." He said, patting the medical bed with his fingers, "I'm sure you'd like to know how far along you are."

Layla did as she was told.

Thankfully, the following tests were fast and noninvasive. She didn't think she'd be able to handle anything else being stuck inside her, especially not by Tom.

"Everything looks on track for being eight to nine weeks along." He chirped, the jelly on her stomach spreading when he moved his hand. "If you look over here, you can see the outline of a head." He pointed to the screen, "and here's the body and umbilical chord. You can see the baby is very small."

Layla's breath was caught in her chest, the lump in her throat refusing to budge.

"That's my baby?" She whispered, blinking away tears.

She could hardly believe her eyes, the moment so utterly surreal. It was almost like she had been disconnected from reality for a split-second before snapping back.

The image looked like nothing more than a oddly shaped blob, only vaguely resembling anything human.

But it was her kid.

Her baby.

"It sure is."

She tried to clear her throat. "Can you tell if it's a shifter yet?"