So Damn Domestic

Three Hours Later. BPOV


“Sorry but this is going to be a little cold,” Dr. Montgomery says and squeezes some of the jelly stuff onto my stomach. And she’s right, it’s cold. I shiver and shift around a little bit. After Dr. Simmons wheeled me to an examining room he took some blood and ran some tests and nothing was wrong. But just to make sure he paged Dr. Montgomery, a really tall redhead with the brightest green eyes I’ve ever seen. Once we made some small introductions she had me move to a different table, one with stirrups and I knew I was in for it. If I hadn’t winced, if I had just bit back that little bit of pain I wouldn’t have gone through what I did.


So here’s what happened. I was already in a gown because Dr. Simmons made me change into one ‘just in case’. So when Dr. Montgomery had me get up on the table with stirrups I got a little nervous. See she isn’t just a normal doctor. Nope, she’s a specialist. And what does she specialize in you may be asking? I’ll tell you. She’s an ob/gyn. Apparently she’s one of the best in the country and she specializes in neonatal surgery. And what does that mean? It means she’s the best when it comes to operating on little babies and examining pregnant women. Wanna take a guess at what she examined?


I was so embarrassed when she pulled those stirrups apart just a little further and then locked them in place. See, I’m a mother of two and pregnant with the third, as you already know. My wife is practically a thirty-two year old teenager and I spend a lot of time cleaning and doing housework and taking care of my kids so by the end of the day I’m too tired to really take care of myself. And by taking care of myself I mean trimming certain areas. See, when I know that I’m going to be examined in my very private area I’ll trim everything up but since this was a forced exam I didn’t get to do that. So everything was a lot...poofier then I wanted it to be.


But she didn’t say anything expect that everything looked normal. And you wanna guess where her fingers went? I bad mood got so much worst because those gloves were really cold. And you wanna know why I’m so embarrassed now? Because the cold doesn’t really bother me, especially now that I’m pregnant and everything is a lot more sensitive to another person’s touch. So while she was being really professional and trying to find out if anything was wrong I was trying my hardest not to moan because it felt really good. And even though I know I didn’t I feel like I cheated on Faith. But yeah, she’s the one who wanted this to happen to me, so I’ll just blame her.


“Ok, try to hold really still.” I just nod my head. I haven’t made eye contact with her since the end of the last examination. I’m way too embarrassed. See, it wasn’t just that I was trying not to moan, but my toes were curling up and I got really wet. So wet she had to get some paper towels and wipe it up. But she said that ‘it happens more then you’d think’ and went back to examining me. “Everything looks normal.” Good, now I can get back to Addison and my wife and son. “But I’d like you to stay under observation for at least twenty-four hours to make sure.” What? I shake my head no.


“I can’t. I need to be with my daughter.” She gives me a curious look, kind of cocks her head to the side and raises and eyebrow so I explain. “She’s here, she has a brain tumor. I need to be with her and my wife and son.” She sighs and shuts off the ultra sound machine and sits down in the chair next to the table. She takes off her gloves and tosses them into a trash can.


“Mrs. Lehane, what’s going on with you can be life-threatening to you and your baby. Now I’m not going to pretend to understand what you’re going through. I have a daughter myself but she’s never had something as serious as a tumor, but I understand the need to be with her when she’s sick. But right now you have another baby that could be sick and I don’t know how bad it is. I can have you and your daughter moved into one large room so you can be with her but I strongly advise that you be observed.” I sigh and she hands me some paper towels and I clean the jelly off my stomach.


“Fine,” I say and she gets up out of the chair and starts to walk towards the phone. “But only if we’re put in a room together.” She nods her head, writes something down in my chart and picks up the phone. A few minutes later a nurse comes into the room and she helps me into a wheelchair, apparently I’m not allowed to anymore or something, and she takes me into a large room and helps me into the bed and gets me all hooked up to the machines and I.V. drips. Then she pulls the covers down so they’re only up to my abdomen and she hooks my stomach up to this machine so they can monitor the baby’s heart beat. Fifteen minutes later Addison is wheeled into the room and put in a separate bed and Faith and Matthew walk into the room. Both of them look exhausted.


“Hey,” Faith says and holds onto my hand and she smiles when she hears Addison start to tell off the nurse for trying to take away a glove that Dr. Simmons gave her to play with. “So, is everything fine?” she asks and looks at the little monitor thing for the baby. It isn’t like the one I’m hooked up to. It isn’t a screen with a little beeping noise and a line that jumps up and down. Nope, all of it is coming out on a line graph. So there’s the up and down lines but they’re on paper.


“Fine so far. But if one more person pokes me I’m not going to hold myself responsible for my actions.” She laughs a little and sits down on the bed next to me. She leans forward and gives me a kiss on the lips. I’m still a little worked up from that exam, and this growing need to be close to her. I put my arms on the back of her neck to hold her where I want her. I run my tongue along her bottom lip but she doesn’t open her mouth. She pulls back a little and I let her go because I’m not going make her be somewhere she doesn’t want to be. She gives me a look like ‘later, ok?’ and I nod my head. I look over at my little girl and she’s talking with Matthew about something but they’re whispering so I can’t hear what they’re saying. They’re slayers too so they know how low their voices have to be so we can’t hear them. Faith looks over too and smiles.


“Hey, what’re you two whispering about?” she asks and stands up. She sits on Addison’s bed and gives Matthew a kiss on the side of his head. “Go see your mom,” she tells him and I roll my eyes a little. He hops off Addison’s bed and sits down on mine. I give him a big hug and a little kiss on his temple. “So how’s my favorite girl doing?” I smile a little when I see Addison glance over me and she has this look on her face like she’s afraid I’m going to get mad or something. Faith usually calls me her favorite girl but I’m willing to share the title.


“I’m ok. But this itches,” she says and tries to scratch at the I.V. needle in her hand but Faith stops her. “Mama, how are they gonna make me better?” I guess Faith told Addison what’s going on with her. I wish I was there, but nooo, I had to get an exam and be embarrassed in front of a total stranger. “If the tumor thingy’s in my head, how’re they gonna get it out?” I watch Faith sigh and shift around like she’s uncomfortable. I really wish I could go over there but I can’t, not with all these machines hooked up to me.


“Well, they’re going to make a little hole in your head right about here,” she points to a spot on Addison’s head. I guess one of the doctor’s went over this with Faith while I was being moles...examined, while I was being examined. “And they’re going to carefully reach in with a little do-dad or hoo-ha or something.” I have to bite back a laugh. Hearing Faith say that is pretty funny despite all this badness that we’re going through. “And they’re going to take it out and fix the little hole and you’ll be all better.” Addison is quiet for a few seconds and she touches the spot on her head that Faith touched earlier.


“So the doctors are gonna touch my brain?” Faith nods her head yes and I’m expecting Addison to get scared or grossed out. Wanna know what my precious little baby girl says? “Wow...that’s so cool. Too bad I’m gonna be sleepin, I wanna touch it too.” Yeah, what a little princess. But I’m glad she’s not scared. I think I’d be worrying about ten times more then I already am if she were scared. I’d be trying to protect her more. I probably wouldn’t let any of the doctors touch her, slayer instinct and all that.


“Oh my God, what happened to you?” I look over at the door just in time to see a flash of brown hair running at me and Dawn practically jumps on me and wraps her arms around me. “Giles called and said something happened to Addison, he didn’t tell me you were hurt. So, what’s wrong? What happened?” She sits back and starts to look me up and down, she even tries to pull the covers off me but I won’t let her.


“I’m fine. My stubborn wife thought I was getting too stressed out so they’re observing me and the baby until this is all over. But I’m fine really.” I see a bright light hit my eyes, well a reflection of the overhead light. I look down at Dawn’s hand and on her left ring finger is a ring...a large diamond ring...a large diamond engagement ring. I gently grab onto her hand and hold it up a little so I can get a better look. It’s really pretty, a the rock is huge. “Oh, Dawnie,” I whisper and look into her eyes. She looks a little guilty. Why does she look guilty?


“Sorry, I forgot to take it off,” she says and tries to take her hand from mine but I don’t let her. I give her a questioning look and she sighs. “It’s just...with what’s happening with Addison I didn’t want to rub your face in it or anything ‘cause you have more important things to think about right now.” I lean forward and wrap my arms around her and give her a kiss on the cheek. “But I guess that isn’t going to be a problem.” I laugh a little and pull back and shake my head no.


“No, it’s not. I’m happy for you. I needed that little bit of good news. So there’s no face rubbing whatsoever. Really.” She smiles and I look at the doorway and see Kyle standing there, looking a little uncomfortable. And there he is. I can lie to Dawn and make it believable, I’m a big sister, it’s what we do. But on the inside I’m a little less then happy about this. I’m glad that my sister’s happy, don’t get me wrong I just don’t like Kyle. Even after all these years I don’t like the guy that’s sleeping with my sister. Dawn gives me one more hug and then walks over and sits down on Addison’s bed and starts to fuss over her. She’s great with kids and she’s going to make a great mom one day, I’m actually a little surprised she hasn’t had a baby already.


“Giles, Willow and Xander are on their way but we were sorta already on our way here so it didn’t take us as long.” I give her a weird look. Already on their way here? But why? “We were going to surprise you with a visit, ya know, tell you about the engagement in person and all that. And we never get to see each other anymore so I figured it was a good excuse.” I smile at her and nod my head.


“I’m going to, uh, to get some food. Does anybody want anything?” Kyle asks. Hospitals make him very uncomfortable and so do I. What? I can’t help it if I’m protective of my younger sister. Matthew practically jumps off my bed and walks over to the door.


“I’ll go with you.” What is it about Kyle that is so fucking great that he’d rather be with him then his potentially sick mother? I gave birth to him for God sakes, what did Kyle do? Nothing, that’s what. He just exists and it’s a pain in my ass. But I smile and nod my head a little bit because I don’t want to say anything to get him to stay because it’ll just freak him out.


“I want some ice cream,” Addison says and Kyle nods his head. Everyone else turns down his offer and he starts to walk away and Addison starts screaming after him in hopes of him hearing her. “With peanuts, and cherries and whip cream!” But he doesn’t hear her and she knows it. So instead she flops down onto the bed and puts her head on the pillows and closes her eyes and puts her hand over her forehead like she has a headache. Is something wrong? Why is she doing that? She’s never done anything like that before. “No one ever listens ta me when I really need ‘em to.” My daughter ladies and gentle, the drama queen of Lincoln, Nevada.