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brianana 2009-05-19 02:19 am UTC (link)

Brianna looked up as Eliza all but stumbled her way into the room, looking like nothing better than death. Actually, death was probably an overstatement. She fought the urge to cringe as her friend slumped into the chair across the room, and took an opposite place on top of the examination table. A little backwards, but her patient had taken the only chair, and she didn't look like she was about to get up to switch her places. She set the clipboard and quill on her lap, forms empty. They didn't have enough time at the moment to fill out paperwork, just to figure out what was going on with Eliza... and that could take a while. Brianna had been trying to figure out what could be making her react badly to the potions ever since she'd heard of her problem, and nothing had come to her. Which either meant that this was one of those medical mysteries, or she hadn't studied as hard as she thought she had before getting this job. "So... okay," Brianna began, "When exactly did the potions start to make you sick? How many had you taken before then?" Oy, she didn't even know what she was asking--she had no idea what to ask. But then again, referring Eliza to an older healer would get Dedalus notified, so she was going to try her best. "And are you sure that it's the potions making you sick? That's the only time you throw up, is after you take them?" (Reply to this)(Thread)

elizaddled 2009-05-19 03:15 am UTC (link)

Eliza's hand on her face pulled itself down slowly, and she felt like it was stretching her cheeks and lips far past their natural state. Everything ached, and she'd been doing so well! Her body had hurt like hell the first few days after the attack, but the potions had worked quickly, and she was just tired, really. But this past week? She felt like she couldn't move, and maybe it was being back on full-time for her internship, but Eliza had to be sure. "I was fine until this week," she said, thinking back to Thursday, when she'd thrown up all of their Indian take out. Eliza smirked as the memory of regurgitated curry came to mind, and she put her hand to her stomach, "Thursday---and, well---" Eliza thought for a moment, "I haven't done anything different, outside of the potions, but I've been taking them for weeks now! Well---" Eliza bit her tongue, "I didn't take them this morning, and I just---" she nodded her head, trying to silently explain that she'd just been sick. Definitely didn't need to mention it was in a broom closet. She felt her eyes well up, and she blinked up at Brianna. Holy hell, she was crying! She never cried! Not unless someone was near death! Was she near death?! "I've got some incurable disease, don't I?" she squeaked, hands going to her mouth. When did she ever squeak? She didn't squeak! She was squeaking! (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

brianana 2009-05-19 07:40 am UTC (link)

Brianna worried on her bottom lip and leaned back on both hands on the table, tilting her head back to the ceiling in thought. It was a rather casual position that she'd normally get chastised for, but who was to know now? And she needed to think, because there was no time and Eliza was counting on her for an answer and oh for Christ's sake, why was all of her knowledge failing her? Because---just, everything she had thought of either didn't fit or was highly improbable to the point of being stupid to even ask. Like, one of the very first things that had popped into Brianna's mind was that her friend might be pregnant because so many women came in with the symptom of seemingly random vomiting that it was just second nature to guess. But that was silly when she thought about Eliza, because---well, she didn't know, but she seemed like she wasn't the sort of irresponsible girl who would go around not using birth control. Unplanned pregnancies happened nine times out of ten to total idiots who made drunken or otherwise influenced mistakes. So even though when Brianna finally turned back to Eliza, her friend was crying----wait, crying?---her eyes out for seemingly no reason at all, she found it impossible to believe that Eliza could be pregnant. Except... "Oh my God, Eliza," Brianna gasped finally, her eyes finally widening in the realization. "Are you pregnant!?" (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

elizaddled 2009-05-19 10:51 pm UTC (link)

"Pregnant!" Just saying the word made her jump slightly in her seat, and Eliza's hands flew up, "I can't be pregnant! I take the potions brewed by Mungo's every week!" Eliza shook her head as she mulled over the suggestion. Brianna seemed pretty surprised by it herself, so maybe it was just---throw that idea out there, to get it out of the way? Eliminate all the possibilities until you got your answer, that was one way to solve a situation. Pregnant! It would certainly explain the nausea, and she did eat a rather strange concoction of food the other day--that didn't mean she was pregnant, though. Maybe she was just in a mood. Like a---mood swing? Her eyes rolled to the ceiling as she tried to figure out her cycle, and her jaw dropped at her calculations. If she was correct, of course, but the numbers were too close to think she was wrong, and she had just done that lecture in the maternity ward. Pregnant! "Should I take a test?" she breathed quickly, her face burning red with embarrassment at the prospect. Oh, she felt like some sort of tart, unsure if she was pregnant or not! (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

brianana 2009-05-20 05:34 am UTC (link)

Brianna blinked, looking taken aback in the slightest that Eliza thought she could be. Somehow---she hadn't been expecting that, but now----oh, this was so unprofessional, she was supposed to be being her healer right now! But it was so much more difficult when the person who you were helping was one of your best friends since basically forever and it was quite possible that they were going to have a baby. Oh god. Oh---oh, now she was freaking out, wasn't she? No no no, she couldn't freak out because that was only going to freak Eliza out more and Eliza was freaked out enough for the both of them, so---deep breath. Deeeeep breath. And get down from the table and walk over to the counter. And stop, because she needed another breath before she pulled out a vial with clear liquid and---oh Merlin, just keep breathing. It wasn't even her test, this shouldn't be difficult! But---but Eliza was like a sister to her, so maybe it was just that she knew that she wouldn't want to be in this situation either and she felt for her because she was such a good friend and--- Okay right. She could give her this test. And it would probably be negative, right? If she had been taking the potions, it would be negative and she had been taking the potions so it was just a precaution. "It's just a precaution," Brianna repeated aloud, extending the vial towards her friend as she finally regained her own composure. "It'll almost definitely be negative, but you should probably do it anyway." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

elizaddled 2009-05-20 08:39 pm UTC (link)

This was supposed to be Miranda! Eliza blinked as the thought rushed through her mind, but it was true! Eliza wasn't the one that got herself into messes like this! That was for the other girls in her dorm! Of course, of course no one ever planned to get into these messes, and it wasn't as if they had all voted and decided that it would be Miranda who had the next unexpected pregnancy, but it was logic! Gillian, Ingrid, Miranda, and then either Greta or herself would actually plan it because they were the two that planned things and why was she thinking like this? It was so easy to make up reasons why she wasn't pregnant, especially ridiculous ones. She wasn't pregnant because Dedalus was smart, she wasn't pregnant because she ate all her vegetables, she wasn't pregnant because she and Dedalus were nerds and nerds don't get pregnant like this and---and she couldn't be pregnant because the only memories of her mother were terrible and that meant she couldn't be a good mother and--- Eliza's hand was shaking terribly as she reached out to grab the vial. She couldn't do this, she couldn't be pregnant, she couldn't be a mother! She and Dedalus were just figuring out how to take care of a dog, how were they supposed to take care of a baby! Elliot was going to kill her! Her father was going to pass out! She didn't even know if she was pregnant and she was ready to wail from all the imminent ramifications. "I can't, I can't take it--I can't!" Eliza squeaked, trying to put the potion down and making it clatter against the tile of the table. "I'm not pregnant, I can't be--because---only stupid girls get pregnant and---and I am not---pregnant!" (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

brianana 2009-05-21 01:06 am UTC (link)

Oh god oh god, now that Brianna had almost stopped freaking out it was like Eliza had taken on all of her freak-out and made it her own in double, and that just made Brianna lose her cool again because THERE WAS NO WAY ELIZA COULD BE PREGNANT!! But she still had to take it, what what was she doing giving the potion back to her!? She couldn't do that, if she was pregnant she had to know, and not when her stomach was huge and she was going into labor! "You have to, Eliza, you can't just not!" Brianna exclaimed, picking up the vial from where it had been dropped and attempting to shove it into her friend's hands. "You're not stupid, you just--it'd be stupid not to and---OH! I'LL TAKE ONE WITH YOU!" Why everything she had learned from the healers down in maternity had suddenly come rushing back to her, she didn't know. But it was wonderful timing to suddenly remember being told that one of the ways they calmed possibly pregnant women down was by offering to take a test with them so they wouldn't feel like it was all the pressure on them or---or something! Whatever it was, it seemed like a plan. Even if the idea of taking a test made her face hot because she clearly didn't need it, it would be okay, right? If it got Eliza to do it? "Look, look!" she exclaimed hurriedly, digging around in the drawer and producing an identical vial. "I'll do it too, you don't have to do it alone, see!" (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

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brianana 2009-05-21 03:11 am UTC (link)

Brianna had jumped at the sparks as well, but they weren't the sparks that were coming out of Eliza's vial that she had been shocked by. Instead, she found herself looking at the vial to the left, the other vial, the one that was hers, which had taken to exploding in white less than a second after the other one had. Which meant---well no, no she didn't know what it meant. Unless that it meant that she had gotten a faulty potion, because---because she was not pregnant! How could she be? She hadn't had any symptoms at all, she was always careful, she and Zach had never-- ---but neither had Eliza and Dedalus, and the evidence was right in front of her that being careful had nothing to do with this. Oh god. Brianna had not been prepared for this. She stared dumbly at the vials on the counter for a long time. Or maybe it wasn't a long time, because she was pretty sure her heart had stopped dead in her chest and if that was true she wouldn't still be sitting up, so maybe just a couple of seconds, but it felt like a century with the realization echoing through her head that she was going to have a baby. It didn't seem real, or possible, or right at all. This was supposed to be Eliza, not her---and certainly not both of them! Brianna finally turned to meet Eliza's teary face and realized suddenly that she was crying too and she quickly grasped onto the other girl as if for dear life. How had this happened? (Reply to this)(Parent)

elizaddled 2009-05-21 01:58 am UTC (link)

She knew this trick, but holy hell was she happy Brianna had suggested it. All the nurses giggled and kept tally of how many negative pregnancy tests they had to take, and Eliza had never been able to understand how it could help the patient. But as she nodded quickly, not giving Brianna a second to take back her offer, Eliza was now sure that this was the way to calm a person down. Brianna wasn't pregnant, but she was still willing to go through the tests to 'make sure,' like Eliza should be doing. Right. Right! There was no need to worry about a test. If she was pregnant, the test wasn't going to stop that. Okay. Oh God. They administered the tests quickly, and Eliza dropped back into her chair. Her elbows dug into her thighs as her hands covered her eyes, and she was silently praying for a negative result. Negative because--they were too young for this. They were both just finishing their internships, Dedalus was not only going to be a healer but was an Order member as well, so just---if the death eaters were attacking her, they would attack their baby, too! Oh, oh no, she couldn't bring a baby into this world, not when their flat was still being repaired from the last attack, not when it was just getting worse and worse! The sound of sparks made her jump, and her hands slipped down to her lap. There it was. Bright white sparks, indicating that she was indeed pregnant. Eliza hadn't even felt the tears come pouring out of her eyes, and only noticed them when she turned to Brianna and couldn't see her because of her blurred vision. She was pregnant. (Reply to this)(Parent)