Mixed Feelings of Elation

The waiting room was nearly empty. A few adults were scattered around the beige colored room. A set of children played with the toys laid out in one corner. Neon watched them, clutching Alex's hand in hers. She couldn't wait to have a child of her own. The test had to come out positive.

Alex smiled, watching Neon's eyes follow the children's movements. Her fascination was obvious in the way her eyes sparkled. He knew she was excited for this; he was too.

He squeezed Neon's hand. Her eyes tore away from the playing children to look up at him.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah," Neon breathed, "I just can't wait to take these tests."

"I never thought I would be excited for a test in my life."

Neon laughed. She never thought she would either. She never thought this would happen. She had been in this waiting room before, many times, but never for a pregnancy test.

Alex sighed and snuggled his face into Neon's neck.

"Why does this have to take so long?" he whined.

It felt like they had been sitting there for hours. In reality, it had been thirty minutes at most. Neon had waited for longer periods of time to see the doctor before but she was never this anxious. Even when she came here and she was first diagnosed with anorexia, she wasn't this nervous.

Actually, she remembered being very angry during the waiting process.

"She has other patients, Alex. I'm lucky she could schedule me in on such short notice," Neon replied.

"What was her name again?"

"Doctor Cart. Well, Doctor Daniels to you. Doctor Cart to me."

"Why do you call her Cart?"

"Her first name is Carter. I started seeing her when she first started actual practice three years ago. She introduced herself as Cart."

"Special treatment."

"It's because of my eating disorder."

Alex removed his head from the crook of Neon's neck to look her in the eyes, "We're going to work together to get over that, okay? If you really are pregnant, you can't keep doing this to yourself."

Neon nodded. She had no reason to starve herself anymore. Well, she did if the tests came back negative. She wasn't going to put on weight to attract Alex, or any man for that matter. If she couldn't have kids, she didn't want them to want to touch her.

Though weight didn't seem to affect Alex's opinion of her.

The door to the back area opened, revealing a blonde woman in a doctor's coat. Neon was shocked to see the doctor standing there. The nurses were the ones who normally called people to the back.

"Neon," the woman called.

Neon stood and walked to meet the doctor at the door, Alex close behind her.

"Follow me," she instructed.

The couple did as told, following after her through the set of hallways. She pushed the door to one of the rooms open and let Alex and Neon walk in. Neon sat on the examination table; Alex stood awkwardly near the wall. The woman closed the door and placed the file she was holding on the counter. She turned to Alex and stuck out a hand.

"Carter Daniels. I don't recognize you as one of Neon's friends," she said.

Alex took her hand and shook it, "Alex Gaskarth. I'm her boyfriend."

"Well, it's very nice to meet you," Carter turned to Neon, "I have your full file with me. After you called, I came back here to pick it up and I've been reviewing it all night."

"Is that good?" Neon asked.

"I was trying to find holes in their reasoning for diagnosing you barren. Besides the technology being older than what we have now, there are none."

"So you don't think I'm pregnant."

"Oh, I'm pretty much positive you're pregnant. I remember how I was during my pregnancy and I had the same symptoms. Your's are just a bit exaggerated because you're anorexic. You have a terrible immune system, by the way; you always have. That's something I did not know until I analyzed this file."

"But if they were right, how would I be pregnant?"

"Maybe he has super sperm," she motioned to Alex.

Alex's face lit up at the comment.

"Don't fuel his ego," Neon said.

"I'm sure you did that enough the night you were impregnated," Carter retaliated.

Alex coughed to cover up his laughter. Doctor Cart was definitely more laid back than his doctor.

"Anyway," Carter continued, "We're going to run a blood and urine test on you. If those come out positive, I want you to go through an ultrasound to make sure your womb is developing the way it needs to. The nurses are the ones who do these but I want to be the one conducting the tests on you. I know you better than they do; I don't want you to have to explain yourself to anyone."

"Sounds good to me."

"Okay, we'll do the blood test first. Then, I'll give you a cup and send you into the bathroom."

"You have to do the worst one first, don't you?"

Neon hated blood tests. She could deal with needles when they were handled by a tattoo artist. But she couldn't handle them for things like shots or blood tests. She wasn't afraid of needles; shots and blood tests fucking hurt.

"May as well get the worst part out of the way," Cater said, standing at the counter preparing for the blood test, "Alex, if you wouldn't mind, could you hold her left hand so she can squeeze it. I'll be taking blood from her right arm and I need her to focus on something else so she doesn't squirm."

"Sure," Alex replied.

He left the wall where he was leaning to stand on Neon's left, holding out a hand for her to hold. Neon took it and laced their fingers together.

"Alright, Neon, I want you to look at Alex," Doctor Cart said, walking to Neon's right side, "I'm not telling you when I stick the needle in so make googly eyes with your boyfriend to ignore what I'm doing."

Neon nodded, turning her face to look at Alex. He smiled at her to assure she would be fine. A sharp pain ran up Neon's right arm; she gasped and moved her head to find the source. Alex grabbed her chin before she could see the needle, forcing her head to face him.

"You heard the doctor, stay looking at me," Alex said.

"It hurts," Neon mumbled.

"It'll be okay, I promise," Alex pecked Neon's lips.

"Says you, you're not the one getting stuck by a needle."

"You've gotten a tattoo before. That requires more needle-skin interaction."

"That doesn't hurt."

"Done, you big baby," Carter said, taping Neon's arm.

She walked to the counter and placed the small vial of Neon's blood in a holder. She grabbed the clear cup with Neon's name and information on it, handing it to her.

"You know where the bathroom is. Leave it on the sink when you're done and come back to wait in here. I'm going to get them to get the results as a fast as possible. It shouldn't take more than thirty minutes if I get them to check everything as soon as I get down there," Carter said.

"How are you going to get them to put a pregnancy test on top priority?" Neon asked.

"You have an eating disorder. If you don't find out soon, you could hurt the baby. I know you've been starving yourself again just by looking at you."

"That obvious?"

"I saw you last about six weeks ago. You weren't this thin. But you were right about your breasts getting bigger. Have you stepped on a scale recently?"

"Not since I read that I gained two pounds. I couldn't step on the scale again."

"I want to get your weight after you get your urine sample done. I'm a little surprised you're gaining weight so soon; I want to check for myself."

"Okay," Neon hopped off the examination table and walked out of the room.