Miracles Never Cease
Quinn chokes and begins coughing and the words pregnant. Iain moves quickly to her side and begins patting her back. Quinn sputters, “Pregnant?”
“Pregnant,” the doctor reiterates. “We are not sure how far along.” He looks at Quinn and makes a mark in her chart. “I’ll have an ultrasound tech come in and then we can determine how far you are in the gestation cycle.”
Quinn thanks the doctor as he hangs up her chart and leaves the room. Iain holds Quinn’s hand. He smoothes her tangled hair, then says, “So my big sister is pregnant.” A devious smile crosses his face, “I wonder who the father is.” Iain laughs and Quinn reaches over to smack his chest. Iain covers himself and Quinn hits his arm instead.
The ultrasound tech wheels a compact machine into Quinn’s room and catches the siblings squabbling. She smiles as they banter back and forth. The tech then clears her throat to get their attention. “I’m guessing the one in the bed is getting the ultrasound?”
Iain steps away from the bed and allows the tech to move closer to Quinn, The tech then lowers the bed and drops the side rail. She pulls up Quinn’s hospital gown and squinches her face and the bandaging wrapped around her waist. She then moves lower to Quinn’s nether regions. Before pulling the blanket from Quinn’s legs, the tech turns to Iain and asks, “Are you her husband?”
Iain shakes his head no. “Why do people keep asking me that?” He replies, “I’m her brother.”
The tech gives Iain a half smile, “You may want to leave for this next part then?”
Iain asks, “Why?” with a confused look on his face.
“You can stay if you want to see your sister’s private parts,” the tech says as she begins to pull down the blanket.
Iain throws his hands in the air then winces and drops them back down at his sides. “Nope! Nope, I’m good!” he exclaims. “Catch you later. Sis. I think I will go find some coffee.” He says as he backs out of the room.
“Your brother’s funny,” the tech remarks as she finishes pulling down Quinn’s blanket. “I’m going to have to take an ultrasound from inside.” She returns to her machine and holds up a wand. “Are you comfortable with that?”
Quinn frowns, “Do I have a choice?”
“You can say no,” the tech replies.
“Go ahead,” Quinn shakes her head and closes her eyes, trying to get comfortable.
The tech instructs Quinn to scoot to the bottom of the bed. She pulls stirrups from under the bed and asks Quinn to place her feet inside. Quinn obliges, feeling even more uncomfortable with the situation. When the tech is sure that Quinn is settled, she applies lubricant to the wand and pulls the rolling chair in the room closer to her. She takes a seat and rolls toward the bottom of the bed, pulling the machine along with her. She then inserts the wand into Quinn. Quinn winces and fidgets at the insertion. The tech tries to comfort her and warns her not to move. Once the wand is in position, the tech starts punching keys on the screen and staring at the monitor as she moves the wand around.
After a few minutes, that feel like an eternity to Quinn, the tech withdraws the wand and wipes it clean. She then gives Quinn a wipe so she can clean the lubrication of her. Quinn accepts and wipes herself before pushing back up the bed. When Quinn is settled at the top of the bed, the tech drops the stirrups and tucks them back under the bed.
The tech then places the rolling chair back into the corner of the room and collects her machine. She pushes it towards the door and tells Quinn, “I’ll give the pictures to the doctor. He should be in soon to go over what he sees.” She then leaves the room, pushing the machine to the next patient.
Iain catches a glimpse of the ultrasound tech ducking into another hospital room. He takes his coffee and heads to Quinn’s room. He finds her blushing, disheveled, and trying desperately to get comfortable.
“Is the awkward shit over with?” He asks Quinn as he swigs his coffee.
“It wasn’t awkward for you, but yes it is over with,” she says.
“Good!” Iain states and drags the rolling chair to beside Quinn’s bed. He sits in the chair and rolls the length of her bed repeatedly.
Quinn finally catches him, “Can you just stay still?”
Iain slumps his shoulders but halts his rolling. He then looks at Quinn and asks, “So can we go?”
Quinn smoothes her hospital gown and tugs the blanket up to her chin. She tries to ignore the anxious Iain. Iain begins to spin around in the chair like a small child trying to make themselves dizzy. Quinn cries out, “Stop, okay! Stop!” She glares at Iain’s wounded puppy face. “We can go as soon as the doctor gets back with the results of the ultrasound. Until then, can you sit still and be quiet?” Quinn takes in a long breath and tries to calm her frazzling nerves.
“God, Quinn, what the fuck is up with you?” Iain stops spinning. He glares back at Quinn and exclaims, “I just saved your life and you haven’t even said thank you. Ungrateful much?” He crosses his arms across his chest then remembers the stitches over his ribs. He holds the arm cross out of stubbornness, but eventually relinquishes it to the pain.
“Thank you! Thank you Iain for getting me into a mess where I would get shot in the first place. Thank you for letting me work years and years of multiple jobs to pay off your debt. Thank you for letting me house you, feed you, and worry sick about you everyday. Thank you for taking years off my life. Is that grateful enough, Iain?” The monitoring machine beside Quinn starts to beep erratically. Her pulse is racing. Her face flush with frustration and anger. A nurse rushes in from the hall to check Quinn and the machine.