WHO: Naija Patil & a patient
WHAT: Surprise!
WHEN: Nao.
WHERE: St. Mungo's!

"Now, Miss Harrison, I've got several other patients sitting out in the lobby that need help. I'm going to ask you one more time and then I'm going to have to ask you to leave--are you going to take this pregnancy test or not?"

The girl--Naija almost felt bad for her, she couldn't have been more than ninteen or twenty--watched the healer with wide eyes, wet with the promise of tears. She looked scared out of her mind, and Naija had seen a million girls like her before, but still she couldn't help but sigh after a long moment of silence, her hands dropping from her hips in defeat. She stepped forward and knelt down in front of her, placing her hands on the girl's knees and catching her gaze.

"Look at it this way," she began, putting on her most maternal, sympathetic voice. "Wouldn't you rather know than keep wondering?"

The girl suddenly threw her face into her hands and shook her head back and forth. Still, the movement looked more confused and frantic than negative, and Naija didn't take it as a strict 'no.' She frowned. Of course she didn't know anything for sure, but when you had been running around the St. Mungo's maternity ward for nearly a decade, you learned some things. Like what it meant when young, unmarried girls like this came in for a pregnancy test without a boyfriend by their side.

"Not finding out isn't going to make this go away, Anna." She slipped into the girl's first name, and softened her tone just a little more, struggling to regain eye contact with her. "You're going to have to deal with this at some point or another, and the sooner you know for sure what's going on, the better off you are."

In a movement so quick that it startled Naija, Anna threw her face up and stared at her again like a deer in the headlights. A light rose tinted her cheeks and the healer knew that she had been right on the money.

"Are you kidding me!? I want to be pregnant!"

Alright, or maybe not.

Naija tried to recover quickly, but she was quite certain that she looked just as wide-eyed as the girl had been just a moment ago. "Then---what is it?"

Anna crossed her arms in front of her chest and looked away, blushing even hotter now. "My friends said---well---I hear it's embarrassing."

Naija had to cover up a laugh, standing up and turning away for a second. Well, everyone had their off days, and apparently this was one for her instincts. She walked over to the counter as she composed herself, and grabbed two boxes out of a cupboard. Turning around, she extended one to the girl, not finding it difficult in the least to put on a smile.

"How about I take one with you, then? We can be embarrassed together."

It was an old trick she and Adelaide had come up with years ago after dealing with numerous patients like this one. Taking the test with them seemed to make the girls feel more comfortable about the situation, and no harm was done but for a wasted test.

Naija watched Anna expectantly as she gave a suspicious eye to the box. A few seconds passed and then finally she reached out her hand tentatively and took it with a nod.

Worked like a charm, every time.

"Alright then, if you'll open the box and take out the vial..."





"Is it time yet? I mean--it's been fifteen minutes, right? Or has it been longer, I think it feels like longer--can you check your watch again?"

Naija glanced at her wrist to humor the girl. It hadn't been, actually, and they were both aware of that fact, but it didn't stop Anna from continuing to ask every ten seconds or so. "No, it's been only fourteen."

"Well, that's close enough, right? Just one minute, I mean maybe you started watching a bit late."

"I'm pretty sure I'm right on the mark."

Ten more seconds.

"Now?"

Looking weary, Naija glanced down at her watch again. She had never thought she'd be happier to see fifteen minutes go. "Yes, go on."

Before she could even finish her words, Anna was past her and into the small adjoining bathroom. Naija did not follow, uninterested in the calm, clear potion that would sit in hers, and instead just listened. It was always better to keep a good five feet away from the mothers-to-be (or not to be) when they found out their fate; that, she'd learned the hard way.

As if on cue, a high pitched squeal sounded from the bathroom, and Anna rushed out, two vials in her hand. She held one out proudly, which sparked bright blue.

"LOOK! I'm having a boy!"

Naija did not hear her. Her heart stopped dead in her chest as her eyes locked onto the vial in the girl's other hand. A vial which bubbled twice as furiously as the first, this one's color a vivid, neon pink.

Oh.