Send someone else

                                    

                                          
10 Months later...
The end of June had always seemed to be the warmest time of the year. The air was thick from the humidity aided by the lakes that ran through Wyomings vast landscape. The only relief being the cool breeze being carried through by the natural air current... that was unless you were nine months pregnant and had been working in the kitchens. Then there was no relief. It happened much, much quicker than they both expected with her falling pregnant within a month of them actively trying to conceive. Obviously, it was just meant to be...
Ava let out a deep sigh of relief as she slumped down into the kitchen chair, using the adjacent stool to prop her feet onto. The weight being moved off from her swollen ankles could be compared to euphoria. Now she was down, she wasn't entirely sure if she had the strength to get back up. She should have thought to grab that glass of water before succumbing to her bodies demands.
"Ells?!" She called out, projecting her voice as loud as she could.
Within a few seconds the back door creaked open and the teenager popped her head around, "What?"
The blonde dramatically rolled her head back as she attempted to shift the weight of her parturient middle "Can you grab me a glass of water?" 
Ellie eyed up the short space between the woman and the kitchen sink before giving her an incredulous look, "Seriously? Why can't you get it?"
The girl had become more and more distant as time went on. It was rare that she would join them for dinner or movie nights and her attitude towards the two adults had become less than desirable. There had now been multiple occasions where she had pressed for more details about what had happened at the hospital and with each time Joel had shut the topic down, she became more distrusting.
Ava mimicked the teens cynical look as she sarcastically gestured towards her extended abdomen. 
Ellie scoffed before making her derisive remark, "Shit, I don't remember voting for Joel to knock you up."
The blonde rubbed a hand over her forehead exhaling heavily, "Just...Please..."
With an exaggerated sigh, the teen reluctantly edged into the kitchen with the back door slamming shut behind her. She reached up to the cupboard in order to claim one of the clean glasses before filling it with crisp cool water that had been bottled and stored in the fridge.
Ellie strode over to the heavily pregnant woman residing in the kitchen chair, harshly thumping the glass down in front of her, the water within slopping over the rim and puddling onto the surface.
Ava instantly reached out for the vessel before consuming its cool contents within a few gulps. The chilly liquid refreshed her throat as it trickled down and extinguished the seemingly constant heart burn she seemed to have.
Another sigh of relief left her lips, "Thank you."
She then watched as the teen pulled out one of the other chairs and sat down opposite. Her elbows firmly on the table as her eyes bore into the older woman, "Are you going to tell me the fucking truth?" 
The blonde exhaled a deep breath. Not this again. The teens latest altercation with her husband had only been the day previous whilst again they were left on patrol with one another. Ava hated lying to the girl but she couldn't break Joel's trust, "Ellie, I wasn't there so I don't know. If Joel's told you that the place got raided and the tests were inconclusive then I'm sure that's what happened..."
"So why does he shut me down every time I bring it up?" Ellie retorted with a shrug.
The inner corners of Ava's brows drew upwards as she subtly shook her head, "I don't know... You know what he's like."