"At the moment, nothing Mr McLean. We are monitoring her, but she needs rear."
"What's wrong with her? She hasn't said much."
"I'm afraid I can't go into too much detail, as she will be having more tests done tomorrow. I'm sure Felicity will talk whenever she's ready and when she knows more herself. I need to collect the pain relief for your girlfriend so I will be back shortly."
"Oh, okay. Thanks anyway."
He steps back inside the room and both the girls look up to him wondering what he was doing. He sits back down and then fidgetd in his trouser pocket, looking for his cigarettes.
"Why don't you go outside for a smoke, Alex? Fifi will be okay with me here."
"You sure? Is that alright with you sweetheart? I won't be long."
"Yes."
Both girls chime in when they said 'yes' to him. Alex then leaves the room. He suddenly remembers that Nick is still in the waiting room and goes to see him. Nick is engrossed on his phone when Alex opens the door, startling Nick.
"Hey bro, wanna go out for one of these?"
He points to his cigarettes out to which Nick stands up quickly. They go out to the smoking area. At first, Alex is quiet, slightly aggitated perhaps...
You doing okay?"
"Yeah man! Just needed one of these."
"How's she doing?"
"Unusually quiet, not quite herself. She's not so bad with Maddie though."
"Ah okay, well I'm here if you need a mate, dude."
"Cheers Nick."
After finishing a few cigs, they go back to the ward where Nick goes back to the waiting room leaving Alex going to Fifi's room. Laura comes back with a stand and connects it to Fifi's IV drip. She explains that when pain starts to come, that she needs to press the release button where the pain relief drips through. It's not long before Alex and Maddie both doze off in their seats; leaving Fifi staring at the wall. She could feel this was going to be a long night for her.
At the crack of dawn, Fifi, Maddie and Alex are abruptly awoken by the nurse wheeling the blood pressure pump stand into the room, hitting the bed on her way to Fifi. This made Alex and Maddie laugh out at Laura being clumsy whereas Fifi is feeling slightly infuriated.
"Did you manage to get much sleep, every time I came to check on you, you were still awake. The doctor will be doing his rounds soon."
"Okay."
Laura finishes doing her observation checks and leaves the room without banging into anything. Together; Maddie and Alex help to re-position Fifi with her pillows trying to make her feel more comfortable. They keep trying to make small talk with her but she is too lost in her silent grief. She so badly wants to tell them the truth but she doesn't feel strong enough, mentally to cope. A little while later and Laura comes back to see Fifi.
"The doctor will be in a minute, honey. Are you okay?"
"Okay."
Fifi is twiddling her thumb as Laura must have sensed her nervousness so she thinks on her feet to help Fifi...
"May I request that you two go and get a drink or something, while the doctor sees Felicity? Visitors are usually not here when they do their rounds and it tends to get a bit crowded with the students shadowing as well."
Alex and Maddie sit there looking at one another, obviously surprised at the nurses request. They both want to be there for her but just quietly stood up and walked to the door. They tell Fifi that they'll be back soon and that they're getting some breakfast in the refectory. The same doctor who was looking after Fifi the day before, had now come into the room. He looks through the files and ask how she is feeling.
"How are you feeling this morning, Felicity?"
"Physically, not as bad but mentally, I feel numb and distraught."
"Okay, for the physical, I'd like to do another ultrasound just to check the lump.. And we can offer you counselling. How would you feel about that?"
"I don't know, I'm sure once I've processed everything and got to grips with myself, I'll be fine."
As she tries to manoeuvre herself, she winces and cries out. Laura rushes to assist her and props the pillows. The radiographer today is an older lady and she smiles as she pushed the scanning machine into the room. The old lady explains to her about the scan. Fifi nods and wants them to get on with it. The lady placed it on her abdomen and they began to explain what was on the screen.
"This is the uterus, from what we can see, the foetus is right there but it has no heartbeat which I'm very sorry to say. Now we will check the lump for you."
Laura holds Fifi's hand as the investigation continues.
"Good news that the lump is very minuscule. As for the foetus, we will have to do a procedure to remove it."
"Will it hurt?"
"It should be more uncomfortable than pain and we will administer local anaesthetic to the area. This will numb and then we will be able to proceed. I will leave Laura with you while I attend to some matters and I will be back as soon as I can. I am very sorry that you are having to go through this, Felicity."
Fifi shakes the doctor's hand and stared as he walks out after the radiographer lady. She then looks at Laura with sadness and fear in her eyes.
"We will look after you the best we can, honey. I know you are strong and we will make the procedure as comfortable as possible for you. Until the doctor comes back, I think you should try and rest in the meantime."
"What do I tell people, Laura?"
"What do you want them to know?"
"I don't know, I don't feel ready to talk about the pregnancy but they will ask what's wrong. The truth is, can I be honest with you?"
"Of course you can, Felcity. What is it?"
"The pregnancy... It's complicated. I was spending a lot of time with this friend, he's a great guy and has always been there for me, especially during difficult times. Then one night, we ended up, you know... One thing led to another. To which I don't regret. Then the last few weeks, me and Alex have started getting close in our friendship again. We had a relationship when we were kids and then he just disppeared as his career took off. What if all this pushes Alex to the brink of drinking again and it breaks up their career? He's been doing so well lately and I can't bear to see him go backwards because of me. I feel so selfish saying this."
"From what I can make out, honey. You never did anything wrong and have nothing to feel guilty about. Right now, I think it's important on looking after you. I can just explain that we are taking extra precaution to make sure you are well enough before we discharge you. Do you want me to get them in here for a short while?"
"I need to be alone right now, but please can you tell them I'm resting?"
"Sure do. Call me if you need anything."
"Yep, thank you for listening and for not judging me."
A few moments later, Fifi could hear familiar voices of Alex and Maddie with Laura. She rolled herself over to face the window. Outside; Laura is explaining what's going on with Fifi and that she really needs some rest. When they both acknowledged this, they said 'okay' to Laura who then went to see to other patients. They were both confused at how distant Fifi is being with them and it isn't sitting comfortably with either of them. Nick is still waiting around.
"What do we do? I know she needs rest while she's poorly but the staff keeping us away from her, it's not right."
"Guess well just have to be patient. She did look worn out, bless her."
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