Chapter 2: the ob
One thing that Fallon loved about Tom, he was a calm person, calmer than her at least. He thought through situations and came up with viable solutions.
They had met in their freshman year of college when both took a creative writing class and had connected instantly. They had been dating ever since. Fallon had never imagined that they will ever have to sit in his tiny apartment and discuss the issue they were about to discuss, ever. Both of them had plans, Fallon was planning to move to LA with Berin and try to make a name as a celebrity reporter whereas Tom had already gotten a songwriting job with a recording artist based in London. They had promised to try and work out a long distance relationship, but a baby just wasn't in their plans.
"What do you want to do?" Tom asked, cautious, "I mean, it is your body and..."
"Don't," Fallon cut him off sharply, "Don't give me the stupid it's my body crap. We made this baby together; if we choose to end it, we choose it together. You are not going to wiggle out of this and leave me with the guilt on my conscience alone. Together Tom, together."
"What do you want me to say? I wore a freaking condom, isn't that clear that I had no intention of having a baby?"
"And I took a freaking pill. So it is clear that neither of us wanted a baby but..."
"Your are catholic."
"Correction, I was raised by a Catholic mom."
"Same difference. Abortion is murder in your eyes, so you can go ahead and have the baby, I really don't get a say, do I?" he said bitterly.
Fallon put her arms around him and he immediately relaxed, pulling her into him and placing his chin on top of her head. Both his hands gripped her waist tightly.
"Let's think this through, okay? Let's analyse it logically, you and me," he said gently.
Fallon nodded in his chest. She knew what Tom meant by thinking through it logically, it meant listing all the pros and cons and then coming up with a solution they both agreed on. It was the best method they used to solve their conflicts.
"We are both twenty two, which is quite young for anyone to be having a baby," Fallon started them off.
"We both don't have any money, which is bad for the baby," Tom said.
"We are moving to different cities in a few months' time. We are going to need childcare which we cannot afford."
"Both our parents are dead so there is no hope for free childcare from that quarter."
"I work three jobs and there is no way I am going to manage that while I am pregnant."
Tom's grip on Fallon tightened, "But I love you to the end of the world and you having my baby will mean the world to me."
"It is going to look perfect."
"Especially if it is a girl and it comes out with your exotic looks."
Fallon rolled her eyes at the last statement. She was half Persian and Tom always insisted she looked exotic. Honestly she didn't see it. She was standard, not overly beautiful but not bad to look at either. She was short, 5'4,with brunette locks and dark eyes and the mixture of features that made it difficult to identify her race. Unlike Berin, she didn't have the gymnastics toned physique to give her extra confidence whenever she felt ugly. A lot of girls said she could be a pretty good lesbian, a lot of boys said she looked good enough to shag but not to indulge long-term.
They both sighed in unison after a few minutes and loosened their hold on each other. Then, as it was the routine, they made the decision together.
"One, two, three, abort,"Both said.
Tom smiled sadly at her and tugged her towards his computer, "Come on, let's look up a clinic, shall we? When do you want to go in?"
"As soon as possible?" Fallon replied as she adjusted herself behind him to look at the computer.
"Let me see, let me see, huh... Planned Parenthood here says you can book an appointment for tomorrow."
Fallon nodded, "Do it.Make sure it is a female doctor though.I want a female doctor. Oh, and you are paying."
"I thought we are both paying?"
"I am paying too, just not in money. I am paying in blood which is far worse than money so don't even argue with me."
Tom chuckled, "There. Done. Tomorrow, eight a.m. doctor Taylor Cahill."
Fallon winced a little bit at the indifferent way they were discussing the abortion, but that is how it was with them. Once they made a decision, it was made. No feelings, just going through the motions. They had one time made a decision to skinny dip in the campus swimming pool and had gone through with it,despite the fact that there had been a few spectators.
The next day, Fallon said goodbye to Tom and headed to the clinic in her car while Tom headed to work. She had texted her boss the previous night and requested to be moved to an afternoon shift for that Monday. She would have wished for Berin to accompany her, but her sister had a gymnastics training that morning which she could not miss.
She parked in front of the clinic and took in a deep breath to calm her nerves. She took out her phone and texted Tom whom she knew must have been freaking out.
Just arrived. Here goes nothing.
His reply came a few seconds later, confirming her suspicion that he was totally freaking out.
Good luck. Love you.
She put her phone back in her pocket and approached the hospital.
The receptionist gave her a friendly smile and checked the computer to verify her appointment.
"Doctor Cahill will see you now. I am really glad you chose him.Most people are usually reluctant to choose a volunteer but he is as good as everyone else. Go on, room G4."
Fallon's mind was too preoccupied to pay attention to what she was being told. Despite her resolve to get rid of this pregnancy and move on with her life, she was totally freaking out. What if it led to future complications? Like not being able to have kids? Was it going to hurt? Did she even want to get rid of her baby? What will her mom say if she were still alive? Was she watching Fallon now as she went to kill her grandchild? Was she shaking her head in disapproval like she always did whenever Fallon did something wrong?
She passed the door to room G4 twice without noticing it and went back to the reception. Sympathetically, the receptionist took her hand and led her to the door, knocked and ushered her inside.
"Morning doctor Cahill, miss Eftekhari here, for your 8.00 a.m appointment."
It wasn't until she was seated in the patient's chair and the receptionist had left them that she realized that the doctor was a man. It was actually a bit hard to notice at first because he had long black hair that grew past his shoulders and was arranged on his head in an elaborate system of curls.
He was quite handsome for a doctor, he looked like a mixture of Harry Styles and Timothee Chalamet, but with a slightly tanner skin tone. He had a set of dark blue eyes that looked like they were going on for miles behind the irises and a delicate jaw that gave him a teenager like vibe. Well, Fallon had never been attracted to masculine 'I can suffocate you with my arm guys', and she could not deny that he ticked a lot of her boxes by not being so.
The fact that he was as hot as hell didn't prevent her from being angry that they had assigned her a male doctor when she had specifically requested for a female one.
"What kind of name is Eftekhari?" He asked. To his credit, he did not sound racist or mocking, just curious.
"It's Persian."
He lifted up his eyes and studied her for a second or two, "You are Persian?"
"Half Persian. Persian dad, American white mom."
"Well, it sounds like a game of thrones character."
In spite of her nerves, Fallon smiled. She had been told in the past her surname sounded many things; one guy had even commented it sounded terrorist, but a game of thrones character? That was new and inoffensive for a change.
"Forgive me doctor Cahill but I requested for a female doctor," she blurted out.
He did not look offended, "My apologies. A lot of people may confuse me for a female doctor, it's the hair, and the name."
"But I requested specifically for a female doctor, I would really prefer to deal with a fellow woman."
"Understandably so, however, when booking your appointment, your only parameter was that you wanted the cheapest doctor."
Tom! She was going to kill him when she got back. He actually had the nerve to request for the cheapest doctor? Okay, he didn't make a lot of money to afford the most expensive one but couldn't he have settled for the middle? Doctor Cahill's insanely good looks began to make sense now, there was no way a person could be that goodlooking and smart too.
"The bastard!" Fallon exclaimed in a whisper.
"I am assuming you didn't book this appointment yourself?"
She shook her head, "My boyfriend did."
He leaned down to get a closer look at the computer on his desk, "Would that be Mr Thomas Emmens? He is the person paying so I would assume he would be the one to book it."
"Yes."
"Don't worry though. I am not the cheapest because I am incompetent or something, I am just the cheapest because I am volunteering, so I don't charge for consultation."
"Oh. Why?" The journalist in her reared her ugly head.
"Why what?"
"Why volunteer? It is not exactly easy becoming a doctor so I would assume that you will want to be compensated well for your time."
"It's just for a few days. Let's just say I like doing it."
"Where do you work when you are not volunteering?"
Fallon knew she was being intrusive but she would be damned if she let herself consult some quack who didn't know the difference between his asshole and a hole in the ground.
Once again, he did not look offended at her offensive question, "I trust you have heard of Newlife hospital?"
As a reporter who had set her sights on one day reporting celebrity news, she knew all about Newlife hospital. It was the hospital where all the people with money went. Its doctors were reputed to be able to literally give new life to patients. She was already sensing a story, a doctor who charged an arm and a leg for his time giving a free consultation session in a low end reproduction hospital? Unheard of.
"Newlife is trying to give back to society and it decided to give out free consultation in hospitals where patients may not be able to afford our consultation fee."
"So basically, you are trying to tell me that I am getting a 1000 dollars an hour consultation for free?"
His eyes widened a little in surprise, "I see you are a little bit familiar with Newlife. Considering the Miami branch is less than five years old, I am impressed."
"I am an aspiring celebrity journalist," Fallon said proudly.
His face suddenly took on a professional mask and Fallon nearly kicked herself. What sort of journalist went around advertising that she was a journalist? A stupid one. He now probably thought she was chatting him up to get gossip on Celebrities' most recent plastic surgery procedures.
"Not that I mean to write anything soon," she tried to correct her mistake.
"No problem Miss Eftekhari. No need to apologize for what you are. Onto business, what ails you today?"
She knew she had closed the door to the man who had joked with her about Game of Thrones, forever. She was now dealing with hard cold doctor Cahill.
"I am pregnant," Fallon decided to go straight to the point, "Okay, obviously I have to be pregnant to be here, right? It is a reproduction hospital," she rambled and let out a slight laugh, "Yeah. I am pregnant and I don't think I want to keep the baby."
There was no judgement on his face as he nodded and typed on his computer, "That's understandable."
He picked up a few forms on his desk and handed them to her, "Kindly fill those out for me, as honestly as you can. If you will like to see a female doctor as you have stated, kindly say so and your appointment can be rescheduled, if you will like to proceed with me, then proceed and fill out the forms."
Fallon read through the forms, most required basic information like name, address, and the last time she had her period. There were a few questions on family planning and the last pages contained a contract which she knew was important to read through before signing but did not bother. She finished filling out the forms within fifteen minutes and handed them back to him.
"Very well," he said giving a quick glance at the forms. For some weird reason, she felt ashamed having him go through her private information like that, especially the sexual history part.
He opened a drawer and handed her a test tube, "Bring me a urine sample, bathroom is at the end of the hall."
"What for? I am pregnant, I tested yesterday. Fifteen times."
"Just to be sure miss Eftekhari. Humor me."
She headed to the bathroom and a few minutes later, she went back to room G4 with the test tube containing her urine and tried to act as if she had not peed on her hand a little while filling the test tube. A nurse, also male, was waiting for her in the office with a rack, she gingerly placed the urine sample on it and sat back down. The nurse also took a blood sample before leaving.
"As we wait for the results," said doctor Cahill thumping through her forms, "let me tell you a little about the terBerintion options available to you. Basically there are two methods we can use. The first one is medical. If choose this method, I will give you a pill, you take it right now and then take another pill with you home and take it a few hours later. You will experience some contractions a few hours later, then intense bleeding that may go on for days and that is that. The second method is surgical and can be performed right here after we get the results, so this method,a device is inserted to your uterus and it sucks out the embryo, takes ten minutes or less and you are done."
"What do you mean by insert? How do you insert?"
He raised his eyebrows at her and Fallon blushed as realization dawned. She would be dead before she let him to do that to her.
The nurse came back at that moment with a piece of paper and handed it to doctor Cahill. The doctor read the paper for a few seconds then nodded, "Everything looks good miss Eftekhari. Kindly step on the bed for the final step before you decide on the method you want."
"Final step? What final step?"
"The ultrasound."
Fallon let out a gasp, "The ultrasound?!"
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