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McCoy’s stomach flip flops and his mind does as well, going between anger and pity. “Callie,” he half breathes, half huffs. “You promised to tell me if you started having-"
“I haven’t.”
His eyes flashed over to her. “Did someone do this to you?” His voice, as hard as steel, bites out.
She shrugs. “Guess so.”
“You don’t… you don’t know?”
She shakes her head, still staring at the water, from her position fully clothed in the tub.
He sighs. “Cmon, kid, let's get you outta there…”
She doesn’t put up a fight, in fact she reaches out for a hand up, then squeezes it after she stands, looking dizzy. She grabs onto her stomach, “I think I’m gonna be sick,” she moans, squeezing her eyes shut.
He helps her out of the tub and settles her on the floor against it, reaches an arm in to pull the plug. “Be right back with something to help,” he mutters.
True to his word, he’s back in 30 seconds with a glass bottle and a sleeve of crackers. “Saltines and ginger beer,” he explains, handing them to her.
She scoffs derisively as she takes them. “Guess I really am pregnant, huh?” She mumbles, slowly unpeeling the crackers from their sleeve.
Running the tricorder over her, he confirms it. “Yeah, yeah, kiddo, you are.” He says sadly.
She sighs, closing her eyes.
“You wanna tell me how it happened?” He asks softly, moving to sit across from her.
“I wish I knew.”
His eyebrows shoot up. “You really have no idea?”
She shakes her head. “I didn’t have sex. I wasn’t raped. I wasn’t drugged. Never blacked out. Haven’t visited any planets…”
“So what made you think you were pregnant?”
She looks down at her hands in her lap. “I was late. Boobs hurt. Nauseous. Bloated. Crying. I knew something hormonal was off but didn’t know what.”
“And you didn’t come to me, why?”
She looks up at him. “Why do you think?”
“Stubborn Kirks…” McCoy mutters. He gives her a once over glance. “Kiddo, we gotta get you outta those wet clothes. Dry off and meet me in the living room. I can run a few scans with the tricorder to see if we can figure this out.”
He turns to leave, but stops, turns back. “Why a pregnancy test?”
She hasn’t moved from the floor, eyes still downcast. “I don’t know. I guess it was just a feeling.”
He looked at her from the doorway with pity. “Dry off, Cal. We’ll figure this out. I promise.”
•
“Based on your HCG levels, you’re about 6 weeks along. That means you probably conceived about 4 weeks ago. I know, I know, timing calculation is weird.”
She scoffs, “I grew up in Iowa, Bones. All anyone does there is pop out kids. I know how it’s calculated.”
He says nothing about the sharp bite in her voice. “Sip your ginger, kid.” He says, nodding at the bottle in her hand.
She obliges wordlessly. Uncharacteristic of her.
He stifles a sigh, looks her over with a clinical eye. She’s in one of Jim’s academy T-shirts that she absolutely swims in but refuses to return. Her eyes are red rimmed and downcast, her expression a million miles away.
“Is it…” she bites a lip. “It is possible it’s not even mine?” She asks, eyes glassy, looking to him with hope. “Like… like maybe someone… beamed a kid into me?”
McCoy hems and haws. “I can run some genetic tests to find out. But it’ll involve a biopsy straight from the embryo,” he looks sympathetic.
She nods silently. ‘Embryo’. She has an embryo inside her.
“The psych meds I’m on,” she says, suddenly. “You told me I could never get pregnant on them because it’d cause birth defects. Whether or not the kid is mine, is it gonna be messed up?”
“Callie,” McCoy says gently, laying a hand on her arm. “We don’t even know if it’s viable. It could be some alien kid your body wants to reject. I’ll know more once we do some exams, run some scans and ultrasounds.”
She involuntarily shivers. Exams and scans and ultrasounds… Her gray-ace mind was sounding off alarms at the thought of being touched and examined. She didn’t even want kids. Ever. She was old enough to know that. What if she got stuck being the next Virgin Mary except with some green or blue or purple alien kid! What if it’s not alien? What if it’s human? That could even be worse.
“CALLIE!”
She jumps as Bones grabs her shoulders. “Listen to me, we’re gonna figure this out, okay? I promise you.”
She sniffles. “Do you believe me?”
His brow furrows as he leaves his hands on her biceps. “Do I believe you about what?”
“That I didn’t do this,” she says in a small voice. “That I didn’t start having sex or go somewhere where I coulda been roofied.”
He sighs. “Darlin, even if either of those things were true, it wouldn’t change anything. But to answer your question, yes. Yes, I believe you. You promised to never lie to me, and I trust you’ve kept that promise.”
She nods to her lap again.
He pats her knee, “Cmon, kiddo. Let’s go do some scans.”
•
To be continued…