Page 46 of One Night with the Doctor

‘No.’ Callie roused herself. ‘You have your private session with Frank Jessop in five minutes. I’ll be fine.’

Callie left soon after, unusually heavy traffic due to an accident making the drive feel like an eternity. Long enough for her thoughts to turn back to Geri’s preposterous intimation.

Preposterous!

Geri, better than anyone, knew Callie’s stance on children and how she’d spent her entire fertile life trying to avoid just such a situation. Why on earth would she even put forward such an absurd idea?

But that night in the shower replayed in her mind. Her insistence that they have no barriers between them setting off a little niggle of doubt.

Surely not…?

Of course it was possible. She was a nurse, for crying out loud, she knew how babies were made and that one time was all that it required.

But… surely she couldn’t be that unlucky?

No. She’d had a period. Just last week. A little late but her cycle was getting longer as she moved towards her forties. And, okay, it had been quite light but it had happened in the middle of the whole gastro/food poisoning incident and she’d figured that her body was giving her a break.

She refused to give Geri’s Damon anecdote any thought as she swung into her drive and switched off the engine, wishing she could switch the thoughts off as easily. The prospect of going into an empty house with only Geri’s insinuations for company was daunting.

But her shower and her bed beckoned and within twenty minutes, despite the churn of her thoughts over the idea of a pregnancy, Callie was sound asleep.

She awoke the next morning feeling much better. Rested and ready to face a new day. It was odd, though, to wake up without Sebastian next to her and she slid her hand over the cold sheets beside her. It felt discombobulating to wake alone.

Callie had woken alone in her bed more often then she’d woken with company so that shouldn’t be the case. And yet, it did feel strange.

How had that happened so quickly?

Her stomach still felt a little delicate and the coffee she’d started to make was soon abandoned, but a piece of toast and a cup of tea seemed to settle things down and she left the house with a spring in her step.

‘Morning,’ Geraldine greeted her. ‘And how are we feeling today?’

Callie ignored the probing gaze, breezing past her boss. ‘Fantastic. Slept like a baby. Ready and raring to go.’ She entered the staffroom and stashed her bag in her locker.

Geraldine followed. ‘Now, some would say that was a Freudian slip.’

Callie frowned. What on earth was Geri on at the moment? ‘What?’

Geri raised an eyebrow. ‘Slept like a baby?’

Callie turned and smiled sweetly at her colleague. ‘I’m officially ignoring you.’

Rodney breezed past them with a bakery bag. ‘Morning, ladies. Hot cinnamon rolls, baked fresh.’ He plonked the paper bag on the table and ripped it down the centre decanting them onto a plate.

The room filled with a warm yeasty fragrance that, on any other day, Callie would have inhaled with pleasure and immediately scooped up one of the rolls and devoured in record time. But not today. Today a surge of nausea hit as Rodney offered her the plate, the sweet, sugary aroma repugnant in every way.

Recoiling, Callie dared not look at Geraldine as she excused herself to walk rapidly to the toilet. She just made it in time as her stomach revolted and discharged its paltry contents in great heaving spasms that seemed to go on forever.

Afterwards she pulled the lid down and sat on it, elbows on knees, cradling her head in her hands. Her legs were shaking. So were her hands which were also sweaty. She wiped them on her jeans as her brain rejected the potential mounting evidence.

It couldn’t be. Surely?

A knock pulled her out of her misery. ‘Just a moment,’ she said, taking a couple of deep breaths and standing gingerly. She reached for the lock and opened the door.

Geraldine was there, holding up a pregnancy test kit. ‘I think you should do this.’

Callie looked at the packaged item they always had in stock in their storeroom. Then she looked at her friend and shook her head. ‘No way.’

‘Humour me,’ Geri insisted thrusting it in her direction. ‘If you’re so sure it’s negative, what have you got to lose?’