Scene One

The cold and sterile environment was far from the comforting setting she would have preferred.  The air smelled of antiseptic, the cleansing scent filling her her nose to fill her lungs.  It was an entirely new experience for her, half-expecting the OBGYN examination room to be at least somewhat soothing and child friendly.  Some awestruck bear trying to grab a balloon before it sprung itself into the air would have been nice, but no, she had to content herself with staring at a tiled wall as she sat on the hospital bed awaiting the results of the exam from days before.

Her legs hung over the side, bent at the knees, her feet dangling an easy foot above the linoleum floor below.  Her palms released their grip from around the edge of the plastic pad on which she sat, pulling her hair behind her ears to rest her hands on the side of her neck, an anxious sigh passing between her lips.  She was pregnant, or so the home pregnancy test had said.  Xavier was the only man she had been with sexually in years, and that is where here problem lay, he was without a doubt the father.

How was she going to tell him?  Overcoming her fear that he would not take the news well, the memories of Riley's failed pregnancy resurfacing, causing him to foresee the worst of possibilities.  He did not like to be reminded of such painful memories, the history he so wanted to forget, burying it away within the deepest part of his heart.  It would cripple their love, turning them into yet another failure of his life.

Yet that was the least of her worries right now.  Even if it had worked out the way she had hoped and thrilled by the news, with the closeness of the genetics involved, the risks of the child being born deformed or mentally crippled were extremely high as compared to "normal" couples.  What right did they have to play roulette with another life when the risks and stakes were so high?  It was something, no, someone so innocent and pure, they had not had the chance yet to screw someone else over and deserve such a cruel fate.  Who were they to play god?  Perhaps it would be best to keep Dr. Frankenstein locked away in the closet instead of having it rear it's ugly head in the form of them attempting to be a normal family with the inbred fruit of their loins.

The door swung open, the nurse's gown a grotesque form of teal over the woman's body as she entered the room with Melissa waiting.  The latch clicked shut as she gently closed the door behind her.  "I have good news Miss Michaels," she said, not even bothering to pry her gaze from the cheap clipboard in her hand to look Melissa in the eyes, "Results from your exam are finished and you are in fact pregnant."

Her heart dropped down into the pit of her stomach, yes, they had talked about it once before, but now it was damn serious and unavoidable.  "Great," she muttered under her breath, her hands against the edge of the padded bed and pushed herself off to stand on her own two feet, "How long?"  "Not very long," answered the nurse with a shake of her head, finally making eye contact with her, "Three weeks."

Just lovely.  At least the cold weather was starting to return with the onset of winter, giving her an obvious reason to wear bulkier clothes in order to try to hide it as long as she possibly could.  That was going to be simple, hiding it when fully clothed, but somehow convincing Xavier that they shouldn't have sex, that was going to be the hard part.  Who the hell was she going to ask about how to turn off a man without sounding completely off the wall and strange?  The only person that knew about this was Emma, and she knew about making men not interesting in her like Jerry Seinfeld knew about a funny comedy routine.

"Miss Michaels?," asked the nursed, concern in her tone as she noticed the torn expression on Melissa's face, "If you're uncomfortable with the idea of carrying this full term, I can set up an appointment for you with Planned Parenthood."  "No," answered Melissa immediately, a knee-jerk reaction to anything that was absolutely impossible and absurd, "I want this, I just have to figure out how to tell the father now."