I'm the Last One That You'll Ever Remember
Chapter 36: Constitutional Rights
“Your son, Frank, is four weeks pregnant.”
The Iero’s heart stopped all at once. They couldn’t believe what the doctor had just said to them, and the doctor could see it. He watched as calmly as he could as the room erupted into pandemonium in 1.5 seconds.
“Excuse me? What the hell did you just say?” Frank Sr. asked him incredulously.
“Oh my god!” Margo cried as she draped herself over her sobbing child hiding beneath his hospital blanket.
“Did you just say my son is pregnant? Are you fucking serious?” Frank Sr. demanded to know, finding the whole thing unbelievable.
Doctor Garner checked the information on his clipboard again, just to make sure he was telling the truth, before standing up. “Mr. and Mrs. Iero, I was informed that you were both aware that your son has a perfectly functioning womb. Was I misinformed about that information?”
Mr. and Mrs. Iero hesitated. They had both known since Frank was very small that he had SOME female parts. Of course, it was difficult for them to believe at the time and it took a while for them to eventually accept it, at least for Margo. Frank Sr. had looked over the medical information several times that day, and still couldn’t seem to come to terms with it, even with the evidence in his hands staring right back at him in black ink. Learning his son had a fully functioning womb didn’t change his feelings towards his son, he stilled loved him, but that didn’t mean he was going to accept that he could possibly become pregnant one day. Even now, being told all of this, he was still having trouble wrapping his mind around the whole idea. His wife, on the other hand, felt it was important that Frank was given a sex talk at the age of thirteen, just in case he decided on participating in the activity during his young age. From what she read in the newspapers, it seemed the coming generations of the youth were having sex younger than they were supposed to, and there was a chance her son could one day be a part of that statistic. The Ieros agreed that the subject of sex wouldn’t ever be one of those embarrassing conversations that parents were afraid to have with their child. Sex was going to be something Frank would be made aware of at a young age and can speak comfortably with his parents anytime he wanted to, and he has done so quite often in the past. The last time they saw their son, he had made it known to them that he wasn’t interested in having sex at that time in his life, and they believed him. Now that they finally got their son back in their arms safe and sound, he was now pregnant.
“Yes Doctor Garner, we already know about our son’s condition. It’s just…this is still very hard for us to take in, even now.” Margo managed to say through her tears.
Doctor Garner nodded understandably. “I can only imagine how difficult this must be for you two to go through right now, truly. If you’d like, we can give you all some time to figure out what steps you would like to take with the pregn-“
“NO! There is nothing we need to figure out, not a damn thing! That thing is coming out of my son and you have our full permission to perform the abortion.” Frank Sr. ordered with vengeance in his eyes as his wife nodded in the background as a sign that she also approved.
Doctor Garner took a deep breath. “Doctor Iero, I’m sorry to say this, but you can’t just decide on an abortion and expect it to happen just like that. Yes, you are his parents, and I can clearly see that neither of you want this pregnancy to go any further than it already has, but that isn’t your decision to make.”
Margo frowned at the doctor. “What does that mean, are you saying HE has a decision to make? He’s practically a baby, Doctor Garner, how can you say he has ANY decision to make in this kind of situation?”
“Well, Mrs. Iero, Frank has a constitutional right to decide on whether or not he wants to go through with an abortion or not.”
“I thought that was only for adults to decide on whether or not they want to get rid of their baby.” Margo argued with concern.
Frank Sr. frowned and rubbed his forehead. Being a doctor himself, of course, he would of all people understand what another fellow doctor was trying to explain to the both of them. He was stupid to think that demanding for an abortion for his son would work especially when he already knew it wouldn’t. “No, no honey he’s right. Pregnant minors have the right to decide that as well.”
Okay, then we’ll just tell him that he has to get an abortion, right? We’ll tell him it’s for the best.” Margo planned out with a confident nod.
“Unfortunately it doesn’t work that way either, honey. Frank can’t be forced to make this decision by us in any way, it must be an independent and voluntary decision of his own. If we do end up forcing him to kill his baby then we will have to face the legal charges for child abuse or even battery in the court of law.” Frank Sr. clarified with the agreeing nod from their son’s doctor.
Margo closed her eyes and held her son closer to her, trying to gently shush his occasionally whimpers. “Then what do we do, Franklin? We finally have our son back after all those weeks of searching and putting up those endless piles of missing posters all over town. When everyone else was looking for his corpse, you and I never gave up hope that he was alive. Now that we have him back in our arms, does the nightmare have to continue on afterwards? How can we end it if we don’t have any saying in what happens now? How can we protect him?”
Frank Sr. came over to sit on the end of his son’s hospital bed and put his arm around and his wife’s shoulders and a hand over his quivering son. “Shh, it’s going to be okay, Margo. We just need to calm down and just be there for Frank when he makes his decision.”
Frank, who still beneath his blanket, merely shook his head to himself. He had heard some of the things his parents and doctor were discussing while he was cradle safe underneath the blanket on his bed. Most of those things he didn’t have strength to bring himself to acknowledge when all he could think about was going back home where, in his opinion, he should’ve already been this entire time. “Not now…not now.”
Both of his parents moved away to stare down at their son’s form in question. Doctor Garner stepped closer to stand at the end of the bed to listen in too. “What is it baby? What are you trying to tell us?”
Frank hesitantly lifted the blanket off of his head and was thankful that his hair had grown out long enough to shield his face. He didn’t want to face the aftermath of his reality. He just wanted to go home and pretend it never happened. “I-I don’t want to talk about this…any of this. Please, I just want to go home. I just want to go back home. C-Can’t we just go home?”
“But, son, we need to know about your decision on what to do about this ba-“
Frank cut his father off with a defiant shout. “NO! No…I can’t…I just…please, just let it go. Let this all go. I can’t….I just can’t.”
Frank broke down again, prompting his family to re-gather again and comfort him. The doctor merely stood watching them with sympathy. When Frank finally seemed to have calmed himself down again, the doctor placed a gentle hand on Frank Sr. shoulder to get his attention. “Doctor Iero, if you don’t mind me suggesting, I think you should discharge your son and take him back home where he wants to be. We don’t need to keep him overnight unless you think we should. When he’s more calmed and settled maybe then he can come to a decision and as soon as he does you can give me a call any time of the day to set up an appointment for him whenever you’d like.”
Both of Frank’s parents nodded in agreement.
“Good. I also don’t believe your son is in any shape to talk to the investigators waiting outside so I will send them off for you and give you their card when I return. We have only a few small tests we want Frank to take before he goes, if you don’t mind.”
The Iero’s nodded silently again, since all their focus was on their fragile traumatized child. The doctor left them alone for a few minutes before sending in the nurses to go run the last of the tests on Frank while he went to go talk to the investigators. “Good morning detectives, I’m Frank’s doctor. How are you doing?”
“We’re doing fine, Doctor Garner. I’m Detective Drebin and this is my partner Detective Frost, obviously we’re here to question the victim Frank Iero Jr. How is he doing?” Drebin asked the doctor with sympathy.
The doctor shook his head. “Personally, I think he’s gonna need a day or two to take in everything that’s has happen to him. Physically he’s fine, but emotionally everything is too much for him at the moment, especially on what the family had just learned about his pregnancy.”
“Excuse us Doctor, but did you just say that the kid was pregnant? The victim is a boy, isn’t he?” Detective Frost interjected.
Doctor Garner nodded a confirmation. “Yes, he is and he is in fact pregnant. We can only assume the man who had kidnapped Frank Jr. is the potential father of the unborn child.”
The Iero’s heart stopped all at once. They couldn’t believe what the doctor had just said to them, and the doctor could see it. He watched as calmly as he could as the room erupted into pandemonium in 1.5 seconds.
“Excuse me? What the hell did you just say?” Frank Sr. asked him incredulously.
“Oh my god!” Margo cried as she draped herself over her sobbing child hiding beneath his hospital blanket.
“Did you just say my son is pregnant? Are you fucking serious?” Frank Sr. demanded to know, finding the whole thing unbelievable.
Doctor Garner checked the information on his clipboard again, just to make sure he was telling the truth, before standing up. “Mr. and Mrs. Iero, I was informed that you were both aware that your son has a perfectly functioning womb. Was I misinformed about that information?”
Mr. and Mrs. Iero hesitated. They had both known since Frank was very small that he had SOME female parts. Of course, it was difficult for them to believe at the time and it took a while for them to eventually accept it, at least for Margo. Frank Sr. had looked over the medical information several times that day, and still couldn’t seem to come to terms with it, even with the evidence in his hands staring right back at him in black ink. Learning his son had a fully functioning womb didn’t change his feelings towards his son, he stilled loved him, but that didn’t mean he was going to accept that he could possibly become pregnant one day. Even now, being told all of this, he was still having trouble wrapping his mind around the whole idea. His wife, on the other hand, felt it was important that Frank was given a sex talk at the age of thirteen, just in case he decided on participating in the activity during his young age. From what she read in the newspapers, it seemed the coming generations of the youth were having sex younger than they were supposed to, and there was a chance her son could one day be a part of that statistic. The Ieros agreed that the subject of sex wouldn’t ever be one of those embarrassing conversations that parents were afraid to have with their child. Sex was going to be something Frank would be made aware of at a young age and can speak comfortably with his parents anytime he wanted to, and he has done so quite often in the past. The last time they saw their son, he had made it known to them that he wasn’t interested in having sex at that time in his life, and they believed him. Now that they finally got their son back in their arms safe and sound, he was now pregnant.
“Yes Doctor Garner, we already know about our son’s condition. It’s just…this is still very hard for us to take in, even now.” Margo managed to say through her tears.
Doctor Garner nodded understandably. “I can only imagine how difficult this must be for you two to go through right now, truly. If you’d like, we can give you all some time to figure out what steps you would like to take with the pregn-“
“NO! There is nothing we need to figure out, not a damn thing! That thing is coming out of my son and you have our full permission to perform the abortion.” Frank Sr. ordered with vengeance in his eyes as his wife nodded in the background as a sign that she also approved.
Doctor Garner took a deep breath. “Doctor Iero, I’m sorry to say this, but you can’t just decide on an abortion and expect it to happen just like that. Yes, you are his parents, and I can clearly see that neither of you want this pregnancy to go any further than it already has, but that isn’t your decision to make.”
Margo frowned at the doctor. “What does that mean, are you saying HE has a decision to make? He’s practically a baby, Doctor Garner, how can you say he has ANY decision to make in this kind of situation?”
“Well, Mrs. Iero, Frank has a constitutional right to decide on whether or not he wants to go through with an abortion or not.”
“I thought that was only for adults to decide on whether or not they want to get rid of their baby.” Margo argued with concern.
Frank Sr. frowned and rubbed his forehead. Being a doctor himself, of course, he would of all people understand what another fellow doctor was trying to explain to the both of them. He was stupid to think that demanding for an abortion for his son would work especially when he already knew it wouldn’t. “No, no honey he’s right. Pregnant minors have the right to decide that as well.”
Okay, then we’ll just tell him that he has to get an abortion, right? We’ll tell him it’s for the best.” Margo planned out with a confident nod.
“Unfortunately it doesn’t work that way either, honey. Frank can’t be forced to make this decision by us in any way, it must be an independent and voluntary decision of his own. If we do end up forcing him to kill his baby then we will have to face the legal charges for child abuse or even battery in the court of law.” Frank Sr. clarified with the agreeing nod from their son’s doctor.
Margo closed her eyes and held her son closer to her, trying to gently shush his occasionally whimpers. “Then what do we do, Franklin? We finally have our son back after all those weeks of searching and putting up those endless piles of missing posters all over town. When everyone else was looking for his corpse, you and I never gave up hope that he was alive. Now that we have him back in our arms, does the nightmare have to continue on afterwards? How can we end it if we don’t have any saying in what happens now? How can we protect him?”
Frank Sr. came over to sit on the end of his son’s hospital bed and put his arm around and his wife’s shoulders and a hand over his quivering son. “Shh, it’s going to be okay, Margo. We just need to calm down and just be there for Frank when he makes his decision.”
Frank, who still beneath his blanket, merely shook his head to himself. He had heard some of the things his parents and doctor were discussing while he was cradle safe underneath the blanket on his bed. Most of those things he didn’t have strength to bring himself to acknowledge when all he could think about was going back home where, in his opinion, he should’ve already been this entire time. “Not now…not now.”
Both of his parents moved away to stare down at their son’s form in question. Doctor Garner stepped closer to stand at the end of the bed to listen in too. “What is it baby? What are you trying to tell us?”
Frank hesitantly lifted the blanket off of his head and was thankful that his hair had grown out long enough to shield his face. He didn’t want to face the aftermath of his reality. He just wanted to go home and pretend it never happened. “I-I don’t want to talk about this…any of this. Please, I just want to go home. I just want to go back home. C-Can’t we just go home?”
“But, son, we need to know about your decision on what to do about this ba-“
Frank cut his father off with a defiant shout. “NO! No…I can’t…I just…please, just let it go. Let this all go. I can’t….I just can’t.”
Frank broke down again, prompting his family to re-gather again and comfort him. The doctor merely stood watching them with sympathy. When Frank finally seemed to have calmed himself down again, the doctor placed a gentle hand on Frank Sr. shoulder to get his attention. “Doctor Iero, if you don’t mind me suggesting, I think you should discharge your son and take him back home where he wants to be. We don’t need to keep him overnight unless you think we should. When he’s more calmed and settled maybe then he can come to a decision and as soon as he does you can give me a call any time of the day to set up an appointment for him whenever you’d like.”
Both of Frank’s parents nodded in agreement.
“Good. I also don’t believe your son is in any shape to talk to the investigators waiting outside so I will send them off for you and give you their card when I return. We have only a few small tests we want Frank to take before he goes, if you don’t mind.”
The Iero’s nodded silently again, since all their focus was on their fragile traumatized child. The doctor left them alone for a few minutes before sending in the nurses to go run the last of the tests on Frank while he went to go talk to the investigators. “Good morning detectives, I’m Frank’s doctor. How are you doing?”
“We’re doing fine, Doctor Garner. I’m Detective Drebin and this is my partner Detective Frost, obviously we’re here to question the victim Frank Iero Jr. How is he doing?” Drebin asked the doctor with sympathy.
The doctor shook his head. “Personally, I think he’s gonna need a day or two to take in everything that’s has happen to him. Physically he’s fine, but emotionally everything is too much for him at the moment, especially on what the family had just learned about his pregnancy.”
“Excuse us Doctor, but did you just say that the kid was pregnant? The victim is a boy, isn’t he?” Detective Frost interjected.
Doctor Garner nodded a confirmation. “Yes, he is and he is in fact pregnant. We can only assume the man who had kidnapped Frank Jr. is the potential father of the unborn child.”