Growing Up, Growing Out

[Irene Finch]

After her most recent bout of nausea had been dealt with, Irene sent a message to Eric asking him to please meet her at St. Mungo's as soon as he could. He was her best friend after all and if she was going to be stuck in a hospital waiting to be seen, having him for company would make it all the more bareable. Leaving the bathroom, Irene entered back into her room and slowly got dressed. She stopped in front of the mirror and stared at her face. All of the color was seemingly gone from it and she had dark circles under her eyes as if she was sick.

As she settled herself on her bed to place her shoes on, Irene had to lay back as another wave of nausea rolled through her. She was convinced that she was suffering from some form of flu and that some potion from the healers at the wizard's hospital would help her. It had to. She couldn't keep dealing with this. Over the past two or three weeks, she couldn't remember anymore, she had spent the mornings in the same manner- running to the bathroom to throw up and dizzy for no apparent reason. And by the time she got home at night, regardless of whether she'd spent the day at the Dinette or at the Ministry, her ankles looked and felt swollen. She put it down to the fact that she spent much of her time on her feet.

When the wave of nausea had subsided, Irene moved as quickly as she could towards the front door. Exiting her home, the cool breeze made her feel slightly better and she took a deep breath before spinning on her heel and apparating to the front of the hospital. Bad idea. She immediately clutched her head, the dizziness hitting her instantly and making her feel as if she were going to pass out. Irene brushed a stray strand of hair behind her ear and tugged the zipper of her hoodie back down because it felt overly snug. She looked around to see if Eric had received her note and arrived yet because she really didn't want to enter on her own. She wasn't very fond of hospitals or doctors or any of that medical stuff, which was why she'd never even considered becoming a healer.

 

[Eric Evans]

Eric arrived at the hospital in no time choosing to travel via appartion rather than by driving which was by far his favorite means of travel, there was just something intoxicating about being behind the wheel of a fine tuned italian machine that got his blodd pumping. Yet when Corvin had brought him home the other night on his motorcycle there was something almost as thrilling and dangerous about going 70 mile an hour with the wind in your hair. Eric was not going to get his hopes up with Corvin because one night did not mean anything or did it? Eric would worry about his woes another day but now was all about Irene. The second most important woman in his life and only second to his mother. Eric had got a message from Irene asking him to come to the hospital that she was really sick and so like a good friend Eric dapparated to the hospital lobby.

Walking to the front counter and after a small discussion with the receptionist Eric found his way to Irenes room in no time. Eric was no fan of hospitals there was something about the over top cleanliness and ominous air about them that turned him off from the whole idea. He knew at a young age that he would be bad in medicen since he got woosie from the sight and smell of blood. Eric opened the door to the small room and felt his heart almost drop as he looked at his friend. Irene was a creature of beauty and class like himself and that was why they just clicked from day one, but Irene now seemed so vulnerable and out of place with a pained and almost scared look in her eyes as they caught each others look.

"Hey babe I got your message and let me be the first to say that this look your pulling off right now is so not your color." Eric said as he walked over and gave his bestfriend a kiss on the forehead before walking into the minibathroom to get a warm rag and a clean bucket for irene to throw up in so she did not have to get up every five minutes. Eric could almost smell the sickness in the room but he pushed it aside as his nuturing side stepped in almost at once. Eric returned with the rag and bucket and then pulled Irene to a small chair and sat her on his lap. " What is wrong with you darlin you look like death in heels?" Eric said in his deep southern tone as he wiped the young womans forehead with the rag.

 

[Irene Finch]

Irene had been ushered into a room fairly quickly, but then had been left alone to wait for a healer. When she heard the doorknob turning, Irene looked up and felt relieved. It was Eric, her confidante. Just having him in the room with her calmed Irene down a bit and as he moved around the room quickly, bringing her a bucket and then wetting a rag to place on her head, she couldn't help the smile that crossed her face. As she settled onto his lap and opened her mouth to answer him, the doorknob turned once again and she looked up to see a healer enter the room with a clipboard hovering beside her.

"I've just got a few questions for you Ms...Finch" she began as she consulted the clipboard. "What have you been feeling and how long has it lasted?"she asked.

Irene sat up slightly to answer. "Um...well, I wake up nearly every morning for the past few weeks feeling sick to my stomach even if I don't eat a thing. My ankles are always hurting especially at night when I get home from work. And, I've been having the worst headaches ever."

"I see...Have you been more tired than usual?"
"Yea, but I own a diner and work for the ministry, so that's nothing new." After thanking Irene, the healer left saying she would be back in a moment to perform a test.

Irene turned to face Eric. He was one of the smartest people she knew and perhaps he would be able to help her more than the healer who had left before she'd even offered an explanation about what might have been causing all of her symptoms."What do you think it is? Maybe I've got Dragon Pox or the flu?" she said, biting her lip. "Eric, I'm so sorry...you shouldn't be here. You'll probably catch whatever this is." She went to get up from his lip, to put as much distance as she could between them even though it was probably too late.

 

[Eric Evans]

Eric smiled at Irene and was so glad that his mom was a healer and taught him a few things that would come in handy. Eric was about to ask Irene how she was feeling awhen a young healer walked into the room and asked all the questions he was about to ask and as Irene answered Eric began to frown a little at what he heard for her symptoms were not usual and seemed to match the very same as some one who was... Eric. Could hear the alarms in his head as answer came to him almost instantly. Eric would not dare say anything to Irene but Erics mom had decided the best way to prepare him for the world of adulthood was to sit him down and make him watch a film about what Irene would more than likely be going through, Eric like to joke with others saying that the movies had ruined any chance of him living a striaght life.

Eric came back from his thoughts as Irene got up from his lap and put some distance in between her and him. Eric wanted to laugh when the girl said something about catching what she got but managed to fight it off with a smile. " I have a strong immune system darlin whatever you got I promise you I won't get what you got and even if by some miracle I do than we will just go to my place and watch chick flicks until we can no longer cry." Eric said as he got and walked over to Irene and pulled her over to the bed so she could lay back down. " So where is boy wonder?" Eric said trying to figure out more info on the situation.

 

[Irene Finch]

Irene shook her head at Eric, but smiled anyway. He really was the best friend a girl could ever ask for, and she wished that she would have known him back when she'd been a Durmstrang student. He would have been good for her back then and they would have had some fun times instead of Irene always being into her books. Her brother probably wouldn't have liked Eric though, and back then if Ioan told her she couldn't hang out with someone, she didn't. Ioan was the kind of guy who made other people's lives miserable when he didn't get his way. "If you're sure" she said as she let Eric pull her towards the bed where she lay back once again. It was a good thing too because her head was beginning to spin again. "I liked that movie we saw last time" she smiled, closing her eyes to rest them and stop the room from going round and round.

She grimaced as she heard Eric's question. Of course, she'd told Eric about Lukyan almost the day after he'd spent the night with her. She told Eric everything. "Who the hell knows. Russia, I guess" she mumbled as the healer came back in. Sitting up on her elbows, Irene looked over to the young healer began to speak again. "Ms. Finch, how has your cycle been?"

Irene gave her a confused look and then thought hard about the question. Now that the woman was mentioning it, she hadn't had one in...nearly three months. With how busy she normally was, it wasn't something she paid close attention to. Feeling as if someone had thrown a bucket of ice over her, Irene shook her head, her hands beginning to shake nervously. The healer continued to speak, telling Irene that she wanted to take some blood so she could test it, and Irene nodded numb from shock and still unable to speak. Her eyes flooded with tears when the woman had taken a vial of her blood and left the room to have the tests run. "Nonononono...this cannot be happening to me, Eric. Please tell me this is nightmare." Her tears spilled over and she wiped them away angrily, looking to her friend for some reassurance.

 

[Eric Evans]

Damn Eric thought as the healer came in and confirmed his own diagnosis of Irene, who now was on the verge of falling apart. eric had to get things under control in order to help his friend and so Eric quickly stood from where he was resting and pointed to the door that the young healer had just came through and in a rather nasty tone shouted "GET OUT!! You can do your test in a little bit we are not going anywhere and you have a hospital full of patients that need attention so OUT!" The young healer seemed shaken at first but then she became angered at the tone Eric had used with her. "How dare you ta---" the young woman began but Eric was ready for this as he drew his wand and pointed at the young woman "OUT before I turn you into a toad you ole... toad you!!" and with that the woman huffed and stormed out of the room.

Eric nodded his head as he stuck his wand back into his robes and walked over to a now crying Irene and sat behind the woman as he wrapped his arms around her and allowed her a few minutes to simply cry. He knew how hard it was going to be for Irene to handle the news since the dead beat father was off somewhere living free as a bird and she was left to raise a baby by herself as well as juggle a demanding work schedule. Eric began to hum the girls favorite song into her ear as he waited a little longer for her to simply get out all of those pent up emotions.

"Darlin I dont want to say it but this is no nightmare, this is the real truth and it is not a pretty one but dont you worry I am here now and we will get you through this no matter what!" Eric said in a small voice.

 

[Irene Finch]

Had Irene not been in the middle of a breakdown, she would have applauded her best friend's actions. He'd told the healer off and sent her on her way before she'd even known what hit her. Instead, Irene gripped the seat she was on even more tightly as if doing so would help her to remain in control a bit more. It was still much too soon in the pregnancy for Irene to feel any motion from the baby but that didn't prevent her stomach from doing somersaults. With Eric's arms wrapped around her and his kind, comforting words in her ear, it helped. It didn't feel like things were all better, but Eric was doing wonders for her sanity. This wasn't something that magic could fix unfortunately.

She sighed heavily at Eric's words and then took out her own wand and summoned a box of tissues which she used to sop up the tears on her face. She let out another deep breath. "Eric, you don't know how much I appreciate you" she began, turning and putting a kiss on his cheek. "I don't even like kids" she added in a disgusted tone. She really didn't. Her brother's kids were merely tolerable, Lorin more so than Alana who was like a banshee when she didn't get her way. And her cousin's son was cute but again only tolerable. "My brother is going to kill Lukyan when he finds out" she whispered, remembering what he'd done to Link when he merely found out they were dating. "And me too" she moaned, feeling a whole new set of tears coming on. At least she was no longer in contact with her father. He'd probably do what her uncle had done to Leah and disown her. That wouldn't matter as much to her as what Ioan might do. He was unpredictable, a fuse that could blow at any time.

 

[Eric Evans]

"Well we all know how Ioan can be when it comes to you , you told me a thousand times how hard he was on you and anyone who got close to you. As for liking kids we all no how obnoxious they can be but you will make an awesome mommy and I will make an awesome god father! If that sleeze bag ex shows his face and gives you a hard time he will not only have Lukyan to deal with but also me!" Eric said as he rocked alittle left to right as he tried to get the woman out of her slump. Irene was too awesome to be said and was not one to let others walk all over her and with his help she would be the best mommy in the world.

"So stop crying wipe those tears away and keep that head up, it is too pretty to be all tear stained and looking down!" Eric said as he kissed the girl on the crown of her head."Guess what I have met a few wonderful guys but I am having a few problems trying to figure out what to do!?" Eric said as he tried to change the subject for a little bit before the healer went and got a male healer to come in and look Irene over.

 

[Irene Finch]

Out of Character:

Lukyan is the father; Ioan is her brother

Irene was grateful to have a friend who really got her and could speak to her about the things that were bothering her. If it weren't for Eric being with her today, Irene was fairly certain that she would be in the midst of some sort of breakdown. "You will be an awesome god father" she admitted, a smile flickering on and off her face very quickly. It was the most she'd smiled in the past few days though. As Eric continued to hold on to her and lend her some of his strength, Irene began to consider how she was behaving. She was not usually the type of woman to cry or be helpless. So, being in this position was totally new to her, yet she was still determined to not be helpless any longer. "You're right. Ioan will just have to deal with hearing about it, and I guess Lukyan will have to be told soon as well" she sighed, not looking forward to either of those conversations.

As she continued to listen to Eric, Irene nodded, wiping the tears from her eyes with the tissue she'd summoned moments earlier. Her eyes widened and another smile crossed her face as she listened to Eric speak about a guy he'd met. She knew that he was trying to get her mind off of her troubles and she was grateful for the change in subject. The smile on her face remained,and with watery eyes she began to ask him about his new friend. "Really? A few? We have to figure out which one is good enough for you, Eric" she stated matter of factly just as the healer knocked on the door once more. She sighed and then looked to her friend, "I suppose we should let them in."

 

[Eric Evans]

"I suppose I can let the old toad and her croonies back in here but if she glares at me once I will so curse her into next week.' Eric tteased as he placed a kiss on Irene forehead as he pulled over his chair over and took a seat before opening the door with his wand but leaving it out as a reminder that he was not one to go back on his promise. The healers seemed annoyed but none made eye contact with Eric what so ever which put a smile on his face. He sat back and listened to see what they would say to Irene now that the hard part was done.

Eric took the brief moment that he had to himself and thought about the rather eventful night, and his heart went out to his BFF Irene. She had found out she was going to be a mom which was the worse thing in the world to happen to her since she despised childern. She then figure out who the father was and by the sound of it he was not dependable and that is what Irene need the most in her life. Last but not least she was left with the grueling task of talking to her overbearing and hot head brother about the pregnacy which he was going to blow a fuse about when he found out. Eric had been lucky not to have been introduce to Ioan which was the currnetly a good thing since by what Irene had told him niether he nor Ioan would get along to well but maybe with a common enemy.... Eric pushed the thought from his mind as he returned his attention to the healers.

 

[Irene Finch]

Irene was growing weary of being in the hospital. She simply wanted to go home and cry and throw a tantrum in the confines of her home. Her parents had always told her to never put less than her best face forward when she was out in public. Any dirty laundry that they had was to remain within their home. Nodding at Eric, the healers walked in and she was comforted to see that he was so protective of her that he would be willing to curse one of them. It was the sweetest thing anyone had done for her in a while.

"Just tell me the news" she said with a heavy sigh. And the healers did. The one who'd taken her blood spoke and it seemed that the other healer was merely there for protection. She obviously had been quite frightened by Eric. ' You'll have to come in regularly for check-ups and I'm assuming you and your boyfriend here will want to know what the baby's gender is. We can tell you in a few months.' Irene listened to it all and nodded. She would have refuted Eric being the father but she didn't owe anything to these people so what they thought didn't matter to her. "Fine. Can I go now?" she sighed.

 

[Eric Evans]

Eric found it a little funny that the woman had brought a few thugs with her this time, the men did not look at all intemidating and eric would have to test that before he left with Irene. The female nurse looked at Eric when she said boyfriend he laughed a little bit out loud before speaking, "Healer Toad and the Uber Ikes, lets get one thing clear I am no boyfriend I am in fact the fiance now that we got that taken care of I will be taking the mother of my child home! You have five minutes to get us the discharge papers and the date of the follow up visit before I decide to re decorate this room and I am so not talking about Marth stewarts Make over, but more along the lines of Steven Tyler now move it!" Eric said with a snarl as the three healers rushed from the room with a huff, the men puffing out there chest as they left and closed the door behind them.

 

[Irene Finch]

When the healers had left the room and she and Eric were alone once more, Irene giggled at what he had said and that quickly erupted into outright laughter. The stress of the day and finding out she truly was pregnant combined with the horrible healer had finally caused her to go insane she realized. It was good to just let it out and laughing was certainly a much better way of relieving her stress than crying. "Oh dear! Did you see her face Eric?" she laughed. She pressed a hand to her stomach as she fought to reclaim her breath. "I can't believe she assumed we were together" she shook her head.


Quickly enough the woman returned and with barely a glance placed the discharge papers in Irene's hands and left, leaving the door open as she did. "Well Mr. Evans should we go now?" she asked a smirk on her face in case the woman was still in listening distance. She thoroughly hoped that this woman wouldn't be assigned to be her healer throughout her pregnancy because based on how Irene and Eric had treated her, she figured if the woman ever saw them again she would find a way to take revenge on them.

 

[Eric Evans]

Eric almost fell out of his chair with laughter it felt so good to see that Irene was laughing as well, he hated to see her sad and so he knew as the best friend he was responsible for the womans all around mental well being and was kind of excited about the idea of the new baby but he would never say it out loud. Eric would be there everyday of the kids life at least until Irene found aman to call husband or until the child no longer wanted him around in there life. eric only hoped that Ioan would go easy on Irene when he found out, Ioan loved his sister and Eric felt that he would at the end of the day come around and become an amazing uncle. As for the father of the baby... well that was for another day and a darker ally...

"Come on Mrs. Evans I think we have over stayed our visit, we need to get you home and in bed and off those feet of yours." Eric said as he locked arms with Irene and helped the woman gather her things, and as the two left eric that he heard the healer Toad cheer a little which made Eric's night. Now tommorow when reality sank in it would be the beginning of a long nine months.