19. Brett

Chapter 19

Brett

To say I was exhausted was an understatement. I still had two hours left in my shift, and I was dragging. I came to work already tired and that was after sleeping ten hours straight. No matter how much I slept lately, I couldn't get enough.

It was a slow night, which didn't help. I learned early on that the fewer patients we had, the slower time ticked by. On nights when we were overworked and filled to the brim, it was almost as if we started our shift only to be done. That was very much not tonight.

I went to grab a cup of coffee from the nurses' station, hoping it would help me wake up. I'd poured three already today, but kept forgetting about them until they were chilled and yuck. Three steps before I reached it, my stomach started to lurch, and I froze, hoping it would settle, but realizing very quickly that wasn't going to happen. I bolted for the bathroom, barely reaching the toilet in time to empty my entire stomach.

Great.

I'd caught whatever was going around the ER, which had apparently been full of people needing to be rehydrated thanks to some sort of GI bug going around. It wasn't as serious as some viruses and most of the people were sent home with some medication, and so far, none had ended up on my unit. Those poor doctors and nurses down there tonight. If they avoided catching it, it would be a miracle.

Grabbing some paper towels, I cleaned myself up, not loving the face that was looking back at me in the mirror. My eyes were sunken in and my skin wasn't quite the right color. Not awful, but anyone looking would know that I was unwell.

Feeling oddly better just from being sick and a quick wash, I went back out to see who was next for medication. I nearly knocked over the doctor on the floor for the night, Dr. Lawson. He was a nice older doctor and didn't deserve to be pushed over by my sorry butt.

"You don't look good," he said.

"Nah, I'm okay. I just think I caught what's going around the ER." Which was probably not the best thing to say.

He flinched. He'd been there the night before and knew how bad it was. Rumor had it, today was worse.

"Well, let's get you checked out, then, because you might need to leave." Most shifts I wouldn't be able to leave without a replacement, but given how late into the shift it was and how slow we were, it would be easy enough to get coverage from the floor. It was far better than spreading the stomach bug around.

"Okay."

He led me back to the nurses' station.

"You don't have a temperature," he said after zapping my forehead with the thermometer.

"No, I didn't think I did." He didn't know I was a unicorn or he wouldn't have been surprised by that. Shifters could get sick, sure. But as a rule, we rarely did.

"Everybody who has this bug runs a high one." He set the thermometer down.

"Maybe I just don't run a fever?" I wasn't exactly going to tell him I was a unicorn, but if I could get him to take the fever out of the equation, that would be great.

"Which end is it coming out?" It was one thing to go to the doctor and have these kinds of questions, but when it was a colleague—doctor or not—it was a little awkward.

"I threw up once, that's all."

He gave me some serious side-eye.

"And I'm tired, just so, so tired."

"Oh." He turned around and grabbed a pee cup from the ledge. "Do me a favor, go fill this up."

"I don't do drugs." Which I thought was a given.

"It's not for that, it's for something else." He could ask me what end I was sick at, but telling me why he wanted me to pee in a cup was his frustration?

"Protein?"

"No, more like a little parasite." On my list of things he might be testing me for, that one didn't even make the top 100.

"A what?" Parasites were gross.

"Don't worry, it'll be out of your system in—I don't know, about nine months." He looked straight to my belly.

"I see." Not really, but I snatched the cup anyway, and then he handed me a test strip, one I recognized. "Wait, you think I'm pregnant?" Which made sense based on the hints he'd just given, and somehow, I still missed it.

"You're exhausted. You threw up for no reason. You're moving in with a hot alpha. Yeah, kind of checks out."

"Then I'm mad at you." I was teasing. I wasn't mad, I was more trying to buy a few seconds to process this.

"Why? I'm a ray of sunshine." And truly, he was.

"Because you think I'm pregnant, and you called my baby a parasite." I rested my hands on my middle, the truth of the word "baby" resonating so clearly. I was pregnant, suddenly I was sure of it.

"Fair." He eyed the cup. "Now into the bathroom you go."

I shook my head.

"Not now. I want to wait. I need to take the test with Anders." It wouldn't feel right doing it without him. Coming home to tell him I was pregnant and the first person who knew wasn't him—yeah, I didn't want to be that guy.

"Okay." He shrugged. "It's up to you, but congratulations."

"We don't even know if it's positive." Although I did. I might not have figured it out on my own, but now that I did, I felt it in my bones.

"Correction, you don't even know if it's positive."

Before I could sass back, he was being called by the pharmacy, something about not having enough of a med he ordered. Good times.

I spent the next hour-ish of my shift planning out how I was going to tell Anders. First, I needed a rapid test from the pharmacy, so I'd be a little late getting home—not by much but enough that Anders would know. Would I pick up flowers to go with it? Or chocolate? Or maybe a little stuffed animal for a new one or something? And, yeah, I was getting ahead of myself, but also, this was important. Possibly the most important thing I'd ever done.

When it was finally time for me to leave, sitting in my locker with the keys was a small bag with my name on it. When I opened it up, inside was a pee cup with a couple of test strips. I didn't need to go to the store after all.

I owed him all the thanks.

Once home, I dumped my clothes in the washer and headed to the shower, putting the little cup on the back of the toilet, waiting for me.

We were gonna do this.

We were gonna be dads.

Probably.

Maybe.

Anders needed to wake up soon, the suspense was killing me. I could wake him up, sure, but I didn't want to, not when he could have an hour's more sleep.

When I came out of the shower, the smell of his coffee was already filling the air, making me wish I had woken him up and asked him not to make the coffee. As much as I wanted him to have his sleep, I very much did not want that scent attacking my senses. At least not today.

My mate came in and wrapped his arms around me.

"You're a sight for sore eyes." He kissed my cheek and walked around me. "I'll be right back," and into the bathroom he went.

I'd forgotten that I left the cup on the back of the toilet until he called me.

"Yeah?" I poked my head in the door.

"Is there something you need to tell me?" He pointed to the cup. Oops.

"That's a pregnancy test." Which I wasn't sure he'd pick up on without my hint because they didn't look like the kind you bought in the store.

"I was guessing. But why is it here?" He was hesitant, and it gave me a slight pause.

"The doctor on duty thought maybe I might be pregnant."

"And what does my sexy mate think?" He was already getting excited. Please don't let me disappoint him by failing the pee test.

"That I might be pregnant?"

He grabbed the cup and placed it in my hand. "Only one way to find out."

I took the test, and we waited and waited. Unlike those sticks, it didn't take long, and we watched as one line, then two, appeared.

"I'm pregnant. We're gonna have a baby." I squealed, wrapping my arms around him, the towel falling to the floor. "We're gonna be dads."

He kissed my mating mark. "We're gonna be dads."