I'm taking a little break from “A Triangle with Three Sides”. I didn't mean to, but I'm having a little bit of a hard time right now and am having trouble concentrating on it. In fact, I had done absolutely no writing at all for over a week (when before that I had easily been cranking out two chapters a week). But then yesterday morning, I had an idea to write something new to help me sort of work out some of my current feelings towards things going on in RL. This was intended to be a sort of sad piece since I'm feeling depressed, but at least thus far it hasn't turned out that way. It also was intended to be a one shot, and that didn't seem to happen either.
Still, I don't think it will be all that long, but I am for whatever reason finding it easier to write this than “A Triangle with Three Sides” right now. So, I thought I'd post the first chapter and see if there's any interest in my continuing it. I have no idea where it's going to go from here since it's already so different than I imagined, and if there's little or no interest, it may go no where.
Also, as you can tell, I haven't figured out a title for this yet, although that's likely related to not knowing where this is going. But any suggestions are welcome.
It shouldn't have surprised me. I mean, we had been doing all the right things for this to happen. I had been taking my temperature every morning before I got out of bed, tracking my cycle, and determining when I was most likely to ovulate with ovulation tests. It was just that we knew we were just fooling ourselves. Dr. Klein had always been completely honest with Superman and he had told Clark that he was not compatible with a human woman in that way.
So, the first day I was late, I did not think much of it. I have always been very regular, but you know, maybe I had been under more stress than normal. I assumed the same the next day.
By the third day, though, I felt the need to take a test. I knew it was going to be negative – I mean, I had not had sex with anyone but Clark in many years, but still, in the same way we stupidly purchased and used the ovulation tests, we had purchased pregnancy tests and now seemed like the right time to use one.
Knowing that it was going to be negative, I decided to wait for Clark to leave for work in the morning. I told him I was not feeling quite right and would come in a bit later. I didn't want him around; I didn't want to get his hopes up for something that I knew wasn't going to happen.
So, while you'd think someone who had already owned the test would not be surprised at the result, the truth is that I was. I was so sure that I could not be pregnant that I just stared at the plus sign for a full minute before I realized what I was seeing.
I got into the car and called Clark from my cell phone. “Can you meet me at Star Labs?” I asked him.
His warm, full laugh sounded in my ear. “Feeling better already, I see,” he teased. “What is it you are on the trail of?”
I laughed back at him. I loved how well my husband could read me, even if he was wrong in this case. “Just meet me there in a few minutes,” I instructed before hanging up the phone.
I guess Clark waited to leave, leaving time for me to arrive and miscalculated, as I beat him there. Not surprisingly, Dr. Klein looked surprised to see me, but stranger than that he seemed concerned.
“Is everything okay with Superman?” he asked me and I felt myself smile. I knew coming to Dr. Klein for this meant telling him Clark's secret, but as there was no other way to deal with it, I had decided it was a risk I was sure Clark would be willing to take. Seeing his concern for Superman, I knew it was the right decision. This man could be trusted with this secret, just as Clark had trusted him with countless other secrets about his alter-ego.
“He's fine, Dr. Klein. I just had a question for you.”
His relief was immediately obvious when his quirky smile crossed his face. “Well, then come right in,” he said, leading me into his lab.
“Lois,” Clark called just before I entered the door. I turned around and held out my hand to him. In just a few short strides, he had reached me and linked his fingers with mine.
“What's going on?” he asked.
“Dr. Klein, can I have a moment with my husband?” I asked. Dr. Klein nodded somewhat absently as he stirred something in the Petri dish in front of him.
I pulled Clark to a corner of the lab, and spoke in the softest of whispers so only someone with super hearing would be able to hear me. “I think it's time to tell Dr. Klein who you are.”
Clark's eyes got big and round as he moved even closer to me to whisper in my ear, “Why?”
“Is it a problem?” I asked in reply.
“Of course not,” Clark said with intensity. “Dr. Klein knows more secrets about Superman than I do, but why tell him now?”
I stopped for a moment. I had considered coming here and just talking to Dr. Klein without Clark. I was so worried about getting his hopes up. But I did not want to possibly blemish Superman's reputation by admitting I had had sex with him, even if I knew Dr. Klein would not tell anyone.
I took a deep breath, trying to find the right tonality for telling Clark my secret. Finally, trying to keep my excitement restrained, I whispered, “I think I'm pregnant.”
“What?” Clark nearly shouted. To my amusement, Dr. Klein was too enthralled in his Petri dish to even look over at Clark's outburst.
“I think I'm pregnant,” I whispered again.
This time Clark's response was a bit more in line with the private conversation we were having. “For real?” he asked me, stepping back to look me over.
“Are you looking for a baby?” I teased. “I don't think you'd see one yet.”
Clark blushed as he smiled. “Sorry, I couldn't help it.”
Then taking my hand again, he turned back to Dr. Klein. “Sorry about that,” he said to the doctor, but of course, Dr. Klein did not even notice our attention on him.
“Dr. Klein,” Clark said gently and when that also got no reply, he walked a little closer. “Dr. Klein,” he said more loudly.
“Oh,” Dr. Klein looked up and seemed surprised to see us. “I'm sorry. This is most fascinating. See I took a larva from your average housefly and… never mind. Sorry. What was it you wanted?”
I stifled a laugh. I liked Dr. Klein and he was definitely brilliant, but he was also weird.
Clark took one look at me, his face lit up in a smile, but I was surprised when he nodded at me. He wanted me to speak first? Okay. “Well, Dr. Klein. We may need your help with something. I think I'm pregnant.”
Dr. Klein smiled, “Well, congratulations, Lois. That's wonderful news. You, too, Clark. But wouldn't you be better off directing your questions to your obstetrician? They can do a blood test to confirm the pregnancy.”
I sighed, surprised Clark was not picking up the conversation from here, but then again I had sort of dragged him here without any warning. “The problem is, Dr. Klein, that the baby is Superman's.”
Dr. Klein's eyes widened slightly, but he did not say anything. He glanced at Clark worriedly for a moment and thankfully, Clark finally decided to join the conversation.
“Dr. Klein,” he began and I could hear the nervousness in his voice. Even though we knew Dr. Klein to be completely trustworthy, this was a hard secret for Clark to share. Certainly the way I had found out made that clear. “The thing is… I'm Superman.” Clark said.
Dr. Klein reached behind him for a chair, and not finding one, placed his hands heavily on the countertop in front of him.
“I… I mean… I guess I shouldn't be surprised,” he finally said weakly. “It's not surprising that Superman has a secret identity. And you look alike. And Lois is clearly friends with Superman. But I never considered… it never occurred to me.” Dr. Klein shook his head. “Thank you,” he said softly and off of the quizzical look that I gave him, and I suspect Clark did, too, he clarified, “for trusting me with such an important secret.”
Clark smiled, “If it weren't so hard for me to share this, I would have done it sooner. You have always been a great friend and confidante for Superman. If you were out to get me, you have more than enough information to do so.”
Dr. Klein smiled slightly, “Well, yes, I guess I do, don't I? Anyway, so, Lois you think you're pregnant?”
I felt flustered for a moment, but was not sure why. I felt Clark squeeze my hand and it brought my attention back to whatever random place I had been. “Yes,” I said. “I know you told Clark that he was not compatible with human women, but we decided to try anyway. I'm not sure why. Anyway, my periods are typically like clockwork every thirty days, but I'm three days late today. I took a pregnancy test this morning and it came out positive.” I opened my purse to remove the pregnancy test which I had placed in a plastic bag. I handed it to the doctor.
Dr. Klein looked at it in surprise. “Well, this does indeed seem to suggest… I mean, I might have been wrong.” He looked up at us for a moment, but from his eyes it was clear he was working through something.
“You should probably have an ultrasound and a blood test,” he said to me.
“Isn't it too early for an ultrasound?” I asked.
“Well, normally, yes, but who knows how Superman's baby may grow. We have no data on the gestational period for Kryptonians. It probably makes sense to check,” he explained.
“Is that something you can do?” Clark asked.
Dr. Klein blushed and it suddenly occurred to me that I was not 100% comfortable with the idea either. Somehow it is okay with your gynecologist, but Dr. Klein was something close to a family friend. I was not so sure I would ever be able to have a normal conversation with him again if he gave me an internal exam.
So, I was actually a bit relieved when he said, “Well, I could, but I'm not really very skilled in that area. But, Dr. Stipples could help if you'd prefer not to go to a normal doctor. Still, I have to remind you, we're all scientists here, not medical doctors. Dr. Stipples has been to medical school, she was an MD/PhD student, but she has not practiced since her residency which was at least ten or fifteen years ago by now.”
“That's okay,” I said. “I'd rather have someone we can trust with this secret than someone who has good bedside manner.”
Dr. Klein smiled, “Yes, Dr. Stipples is trustworthy. But if you are pregnant, we'll need to determine what to do about the delivery. Normally you would go to whatever hospital your obstetrician is associated with, but of course, Dr. Stipples is not associated with a hospital.”
“Can she deliver?” Clark asked.
“Oh, yes, I'm sure she can. Delivering babies is not that difficult unless there is a complication. As long as you are in a hospital, there shouldn't be a problem.”
“Okay, then,” Clark said. “When can we meet her?”
“Let me give her a call now,” Dr. Klein said moving over to the phone.
“Are we okay with telling her your secret?” I asked Clark.
Clark nodded, “We have to tell someone if we want you to get the proper care and Dr. Klein trusts her. You're much more important than this secret. Do you have a different idea?”
I nodded my head no and hoped that this woman would be as trustworthy as Dr. Klein said feeling strangely tingly at Clark's words. Obviously, I knew how important I was to him. But I guess given how I found out about him being Superman, even though I had long ago forgiven him, it was a bit of a sore spot for me. Hearing him say that I was more important than the secret put a little more salve on the wound.
“She's free right now,” he told us as he hung up the phone. “Let me take you to her.”
He led us down the hall to a different lab. While similar to his, this lab had a nice living room type area off to one side, with a couple of chairs and a couch all facing each other. “Hi,” Dr. Stipples said as we walked in. While I could not know for sure how trustworthy she was, I immediately liked her. She was younger than Dr. Klein, maybe in her early forties, with long blonde hair that she had swept up into a clip on the back of her head. The look was casual, but worked for her. Her blue eyes were friendly and reflected the bright smile on her face.
“Hi,” I said in reply, taking her proffered hand. Clark followed suit and then the doctor led us all over to the couch area.
“So, what can I do for you?” she asked us.
Neither of us said anything for a moment, but thankfully, Dr. Klein spoke up. “Lois here is pregnant, or at least she has a positive pregnancy test and the Kents were hoping you would be their doctor.”
Dr. Stipples looked confused. “Don't you have an obstetrician?” she asked me.
“No, not yet. This pregnancy is a bit unusual,” I started not sure how to explain. It was so hard to completely trust someone we did not know even though we knew we needed to.
“Clark has been my patient for some time now,” Dr. Klein explained. “And I had thought I'd determined that he was unable to have children.”
“I didn't realize you had any patients besides Superman,” Dr. Stipple said in surprise.
“He doesn't,” Clark said softly.
For a moment, Dr. Stipple looked confused, but then understanding crossed her lovely features. “Oh. Oh!” she said in surprise.
“Dr. Stipple,” Clark said softly, “we're hoping…”
“Evelyn, please,” Dr. Stipple interrupted softly. “You've just told me your most private secret. It doesn't feel right for you to call me "doctor'.”
Clark smiled at her and I could feel myself smile as well. This woman did inspire trust and confidence with her easy going manner. And I had a feeling that despite her years away from patient care, she would have a great bedside manner.
“Evelyn, we were hoping that you could be Lois doctor. Dr. Klein suggested that Lois have an ultrasound,” Clark said.
“Bernard, Clark,” Dr. Klein said before turning back to Evelyn. “It's still very early, but I have no idea how long a Kryptonian gestates for and so I thought it might be good to check.”
Evelyn smiled, “Certainly,” she paused in mid thought. “I need a few minutes. I have all the equipment for an ultrasound next door, but at this stage of your pregnancy you'll likely need a transvaginal ultrasound.”
“What's that?” Clark asked, as he squeezed my hand tightly in reassurance.
“Well, later on, we will likely be able to do an ultrasound over Lois' abdomen. An ultrasound uses sound waves to create on image. But for the first trimester of a human pregnancy, if anything can be seen you need to get closer to the uterus and we do that by inserting a wand like device into Lois' vagina.”
“Does it hurt?” Clark asked, sounding nervous.
“Is it dangerous for the baby?” I asked.
“No, on both counts,” Evelyn assured us. “You might feel a little bit of pressure when I insert the wand, but it won't hurt and ultrasounds are not at all dangerous for the baby. How far along are you?”
“I'm three days late for my period,” I told her.
“Well, okay. That makes you about four weeks along,” she said. Then taking in my look, I'm guessing, as I was trying to figure out how she got to four weeks, she explained, “I know it seems weird, but we typically calculate gestational age from the date of the first day of your last period, not the date of conception. And I will tell you that it's rare for a human baby to be visible at four weeks. Typically it has just implanted into the wall of the uterus and is too small to be visible.”
I nodded at her as she got up. “Just give me a minute or so to try to find a wand and some lubricant,” she said to us.
Bernard turned to us, “Well, I'll leave you alone with Evelyn now. I'll come by a little later, though.”
“That would be great,” I said in response and Clark nodded beside me.
“You know more about Kryptonian biology than anyone else,” Clark reminded him, “so we certainly would like you to be involved in this.”
Bernard smiled. “Yes, I am excited to be as well. There's still so much we don't know about you and it's fascinating to think about how much more we can learn from this process.” He flushed as he finished and sheepishly added, “But, of course, more important than that, I'm thrilled to be part of such an exciting time in your lives.”
I smiled wide to hide my laugh. I knew Dr. Klein was more interested in the scientific knowledge than in the baby per se. But somehow, that was part of his charm.
