I blinked up at the man, who looked familiar. “Do I know you?”
He offered a kind smile. “I’m Dr. Birch. You were incredibly dehydrated and needed quite a bit of fluids. Which makes perfect sense why it is that you need to relieve your bladder.” As he was talking, he was moving the blanket that was on me, and then I realized that I was in a hospital gown.
“Am I admitted?” I asked as I looked over at Clay.
“Yeah, sweetie. You needed to be monitored. You were dangerously dehydrated.”
I felt terrible. I hadn’t let him bring me before now, because I didn’t want to cause any issues. I didn’t want to be a bother because he’d already done so much for me. I had already quit both of my jobs, and I absolutely didn’t want Clay to be the one to have to take care of me on top of completely supporting me and our baby.
“All right, Duncan. We can get you up, and you can go over to the bathroom,” Dr. Birch said.
I looked around but still didn’t know where the bathroom was, but Clay was there, and he helped me sit up. I was surprised that I didn’t feel the immediate need to grab a bin and empty my stomach. He pulled me to my feet and then held my arms while he started walking toward a door in the room. When we were halfway to it, I could see inside and realized it was a bathroom. Yes. A toilet.
Clay helped me with the gown and getting my briefs down, and then I stood there and sighed as I finally got relief. It seemed to take longer than normal, but I was sure that was because of the IV fluids.
“Finished?” Clay asked when things went quiet.
“Yeah.” He helped me pull up my briefs, and the gown just dropped. Clay took my arm and helped me back into the room, where the doctor was still waiting. Clay helped me back into the bed, and I had so many questions. They had to wait, though, because the doctor was putting the IV back into the thing that was still on my arm.
“All right, Duncan,” Dr. Birch said. “It’s time to go over a treatment plan with you. We’ll be doing an ultrasound scan here in just a bit, but for the moment, we need to discuss what’s been going on.” I could only stare up at him like a frozen statue. Dr. Birch seemed to catch on and smiled. That alone helped me relax. “Going forward, and I mean for any future pregnancies as well as this one, if you are throwing up for more than three days in a row, you come into the clinic.”
I nodded. “Okay. I didn’t know. I just…” I glanced at Clay before I looked down at my hands.
“Is there something going on that I need to know about?” Dr. Birch asked. He moved closer to me, effectively putting himself in my line of sight, even just a little. “Duncan?”
“I didn’t want more to be put on Clay. He’s given me so much already. And then I had to quit my second job after getting firedfrom the first. Now it’s all on him, and I don’t want to be such a burden.” I looked back down at my hands.
“I see,” Dr. Birch said quietly. There was a long silence, and then he and Clay left the room. I stared at the door, suddenly worried that I’d somehow gotten my mate in trouble with the doctor.
“Clay?”
“Just a few. Dr. Birch has a couple of questions, and then I’ll be back in. He’s going to get a portable ultrasound machine.”
I wasn’t sure what to do or say, so I stared at the port that was in my arm. That was why I was so cold. I followed the clear tube that was filled with liquid and saw it hanging on a hook. There were two bags hanging there. I knew one was obviously the fluids. But what was the other?
As he’d said, Clay returned quickly enough, and he had a smile on his face. I took that to mean that I’d not gotten him into too much trouble with the doctor. “Hey, sweetie.”
I held out my hand, and Clay hurried over to me and took it. “Are we in trouble?”
“What? Why would we be in trouble?”
“Because apparently, I’m terrible when it comes to taking care of myself and our baby I’m carrying.”
“No, sweetie. The doctor had some questions about our mating and a bit of background.”
I winced. “About me?”
“Yeah. He needed to know if you came from a background of abuse.”
It took a moment for that to click. “Oh!” Then it really hit me. “Oh no. Did I get you in trouble? He doesn’t think that you’re abusing me, does he?”
Clay chuckled at that. “No, sweetie. He did pick up on the fact that you seem to be overly concerned about certain things. Specifically, financial things.”
I cringed. “Sorry. I just?—”
Clay stopped whatever I was going to say with a hand on my cheek. He gently tilted my face to where I was forced to look directly at him. “I love you. You are my entire world, Duncan. I love that you are mine and I get to take care of you. I also really want you to stay home with our children because I want you to know what it’s like to not have to struggle for every single thing. I know it’ll take time, but hopefully, you soon learn that I really, really want you to be home and not working at a job that you don’t necessarily like.”
I took a deep breath and let it out. It was a bit shaky on the way out, but I was able to relax a little. Anything I was going to say, though, was halted by the knock and then the opening of the door.
