Chapter Eight
Blossom nervously eyed the medical clinic in the Terran station. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been to a doctor. Probably when RaeLynn was born, and since she couldn’t pay her bill, they’d shoved her out the door as fast as possible. Her babies had been to the free clinic a few times when they were sick, but Blossom wasn’t sure how good those doctors were. It seemed like they helped there just to give themselves a pat on the back or brag they were helping those less fortunate, but often they seemed cold and unfeeling.
Brexton gave her hand a squeeze and led her inside the clinic. There wasn’t another person in sight, so Blossom took a seat and anxiously waited, hoping that maybe a doctor wasn’t available and she could put it off a little bit longer. When a Zelthranite with shoulder-length hair came in wearing a lab coat, she knew her luck had run out.
“Brexton,” the alien said, smiling broadly. “I hear you have a new mate.”
“Yes, this is Blossom.”
She stood and shook the doctor’s hand.
“I’m Doctor Yvis, and it’s a pleasure to meet you.”
She tried to smile, but knew it fell flat.
“There’s nothing to worry about,” Yvis assured her. “The only thing that might hurt even a little will be the blood samples I’ll need to take, but that’s just the prick of a needle. You can handle that, can’t you?”
“Yes,” she said. “I didn’t know what to expect.”
His lips twitched. “Anal probing like in your humorous Earth movies?”
Her cheeks burned. “No,” she mumbled. Well, maybe she’d worried a little.
“Come on back. Brexton can come with you, if you’d like.”
She nodded and Brexton squeezed her hand. They followed Yvis to an empty exam room and she climbed onto the padded table. He did all the things a human doctor would do. Listened to her heart, checked her eyes and ears, and drew far too much blood for her liking. When he had her recline on a chair across the room, her nerves came back.
“It’s just a bio scan,” Yvis said. “You won’t feel anything, but it will give me a complete readout on what’s going on with your body. Any current or previous broken bones, if there are any abnormalities with your organs or bone structure, and if you’re pregnant I can even see that.”
Her eyes went a little wide. “But we’ve only slept together a few times, and that was last night!”
Yvis smiled. “Our technology is advanced enough that I could tell you on the day of conception.”
Well, if she wasn’t nervous before, she was now. What would happen if she were already pregnant? Her periods had never been regular, so she had no idea if this was her fertile time or not. Not that she’d ever been able to track that kind of thing. She should have learned since she couldn’t afford birth control. Even though she’d had people urge her to sign up for the insurance through the government, she’d always hesitated. There had been too many horror stories from people in her building about how they’d been screwed over on medical care, so she’d decided to stick with the free clinic.
Brexton sank to his haunches next to her. “It’s all right, Blossom. If you’re pregnant, I promise to be there every step of the way. You won’t be alone this time.”
He always seemed to know exactly what she needed to hear.
“You need to let go so I can scan all of her, Brexton,” Yvis said.
Brexton let go and she laid her hands flat next to her on the chair. Her heart felt like it might pound right out of her chest as the machine hummed and a bright light scanned her from head to toe, twice. Yvis was reading something on a small screen, tapping every now and then. He pushed a few more buttons on the machine that had scanned her, and another scan started with a different colored light. She didn’t know if that was normal, or if he’d found something bad.
“Just let me review the blood samples and then we’ll talk,” Yvis said, smiling at her.
His smile didn’t do anything to make her less anxious though. Brexton helped her up and she sat on the padded table again. While they wanted, Brexton tried to distract her, playing with her hair, or stealing a kiss here and there. He didn’t seem the least bit worried, but Blossom felt like she might come unglued at any moment. What if they found something that meant she couldn’t be Brexton’s mate? What if she couldn’t have more children and they voided the mating between them?
“Calm your mate,” Yvis said as he peered into a microscope. “I can hear her heart racing all the way over here.”
Brexton glanced at Yvis, then down at Blossom. A grin spread across his face.
“You’ll be a little bit, right?” he asked Yvis.
“Why?” The doctor peered over at them.
“I’m just going to take Blossom to another room for a moment. See if I can ease her fears,” Brexton said.
Yvis snorted but waved a hand at the door. “Be my guest. Just don’t get too loud.”
