“Thanks, love. I wish you were here,” he said with a smile on his face.

“Me too, I love you so much,” she said and he could tell she was smiling too.

“I love you more, bye, baby.”

“Bye.”

Hanging up the phone, Tate laid his face back down into the bed feeling loved and complete. It was so great to have someone who was always there for you. He still missed his family a lot, but he felt like he was starting to cope with their death. It was a good feeling to know he could think of them without wanting to die. He had something to live for now, and he would do just about anything for Audrey.

Closing his eyes as he settled into his bed, his phone rang. Looking down he saw a number, he hadn’t expected to see ever again.

Picking it up, he said, “Hey, Elsa, to what do I owe this call?”

***

“What brings you in?”

Audrey looked up from her phone to the cute little nurse named, Tara. It was Monday and she was still puking her brains out, and since she had promised Tate she would go to the doctor, she went. Taking a deep breath in, Audrey said, “I’m puking like crazy. I think I still have a stomach bug, and I need some nausea medicine. They gave it to my boyfriend for his nausea and I need it now, or I’m pretty sure I’m gonna die. I can’t keep anything down.”

“Okay, you fell victim to the Nashville crud,” Tara asked with a grin.

Audrey nodded, “Yes, and it’s lingering, I need something to knock it out. I’ve been like this for almost a week and a half.”

“Wow, alright, let’s get these questions out of the way. You said you’ve been like this for a week and a half?”

“Yup,” Audrey said with a nod, “It started with the fever, puking, and diarrhea, and now only the puking, it’s horrible.”

“Okay, when was your last menstrual cycle?”

Audrey shrugged her shoulders, “I don’t know, my cooter is weird, it doesn’t bleed like other cooters. I’m very irregular.”

Tara giggled before going on, “Do you have sex?”

Audrey smiled, “Why, yes I do.”

“Okay, you use protection right?” she asked with a matter of fact tone.

Audrey narrowed her eyes as she shook her head, “Why does that matter?”

“It is part of the questionnaire for women,” she said looking up at Audrey.

Audrey shook her head before she said, “No, we are both clean, we’ve been tested.” She didn’t know why she added that last part, probably because she didn’t want the nurse to think she was a nasty hoe. It was different with Tate, she never had used protection and she probably never would. She trusted him, and it wasn’t like she could get pregnant, so why did it matter?

“Do your br**sts hurt?”

Audrey took a hold of her boob and before she could even squeeze it, pain ripped through her chest, “Ow, yeah.”

The nurse marked a spot and then shook her head, moving around to gather things. When she turned she had a cup in her hand.

“Okay, here is a cup, pee in that please.”

Audrey looked at the cup she held and then back up at the nurse, “I just want something for the nausea, why am I peeing in a cup?”

“It’s protocol, Ms. Parker.”

“Okay then,” she said, taking the cup and following the nurse to the bathroom. After pulling down her panties, she did her business and then laid it where they asked her to. Audrey padded through the office in her black stockings, back to her room, and sat back up on the foam bench. Pulling her phone out, Audrey saw a text from Tate.

Call me when you leave, I need to talk to you about something. I hope they give you the good stuff they gave me.

Audrey giggled as she typed back, I will, but I am a mere girl, you are hockey star Tate Oooooooooder, they want you better, me, they don’t care.

Well I care, tell them your big scary boyfriend will cut a bitch if you don’t get the good shit.

She had to cover her mouth from laughing out loud. Scary?

Hey, we are trying to scare people here.

True that.

Fo sho.

You are such a dork.

And you love me.

I do, very much so, even if you gave me the sickness.

No, I didn’t give it to you, the nasty germ filled little girl who stood beside me did. We should blame BTR or her mother.

That’s true. What do you need to talk about? I’m bored, tell me now.

As soon as Audrey hit send, a doctor walked in with her chart and a grin on his face. Audrey dropped her phone into her lap, and sent him a grin.

“Hello, Ms. Parker, I’m Dr. Mann,” he said holding out his hand. He was a young doctor, good looking, mid thirties. He had nice eyes too, kind ones, Audrey thought as he went on, “I see that you have been suffering from some nasty nausea lately. Unfortunately, I don’t feel that medication would make it better. I would rather you try some natural home remedies first. And we are also going to need to do some further blood work to confirm some tests.”

He was an evil son of a bitch.

Audrey glared at him, “What do you mean more test. I just have a stupid stomach flu that won’t go away.

“Your dipstick came back showing elevated levels of HCG. It appears that you are pregnant. We will need a blood test to confirm and in the mean time I am referring you to an OB/GYN. Because of your irregularity, we are unable to determine how far along you are, but-”

Audrey had stopped listening; surely, she had heard him wrong. Putting her hand up, she said, “Excuse me? What did you say?”