A/N: Lethargic should be a pretty easy word to figure out the definition of, but I'll add it here anyway. To be lethargic means to be slow and sluggish, like how one would be while fighting off a particularly nasty infection, such as a chest cold or other respritory tract infection.

The brachial artery (pronounced brake-E-uhl) is the artery that runs through the forearm. It's the pulse point used when having one's blood pressure measured at the doctor's office, or in the hospital. It's also the most common artery to be used when giving intravenous (IV) fluids, medications, and blood transfusions, along with the most common site to draw blood from for testing.

Having been through part of a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) course at a local community college, which is where I learned about the different pulse points and arteries used in them, I figured I'd be nice and explain it since I know not everyone has taken those kinds of classes and gained that kind of knowledge.

Anywhore, time to end this Author's Note and get on with the story. Enjoy, guys!
~Cyn


Every day for the next two weeks started out the same way. Regardless of how tired he was, Ash would wake with the sun and, shortly thereafter, have to make a run for the bathroom before he got sick in bed. He’d all but moved in with the Biersacks after graduation, as he didn’t feel well enough to be riding his bike back to the cabin, not that Andy would let him, anyway. He’d figured out within three days that it wasn’t just nerves causing his illness, but he’d put off going to the doctor just yet to see if it was just a stomach virus or something. He now knew that the cause was far more serious than either of those things, separately or combined.

Since Miss Amy couldn’t be left alone for too long and they had no idea how long this doctor’s appointment was going to take, he’d decided to come alone. He’d assured his lover that, although he really wanted him there for the support, he’d rather he stayed home with his mother since none of the other guys could come over to keep an eye on her. He’d agreed, although quite reluctantly, and they parted ways after a quick goodbye kiss.

“Ashley Purdy?” a nurse called.

With lethargic movements, he rose from the chair he occupied in the waiting room of his doctor’s office and began to follow her.

“Step on the scale for me,” she instructed.

He somehow managed a small smile, despite his stomach roiling like a hurricane-tossed sea, and did as he was told. Once she’d recorded the weight that popped up after a few seconds, which actually wasn’t as bad as he’d been expecting, she had him stand still to measure his height. It’d been a while since he’d bothered coming to the doctor, and he was pretty sure he’d had a growth spurt since the last time, so it wouldn’t be surprising to find out he’d gained a few inches.

“All right. If you’ll get up here on the exam table, I’ll get your vitals real quick,” she told him, giving him a reassuring smile.

Nodding, Ash climbed up on the table, his movements still lethargic from being tired and sick, which she finally noticed.

“Are your movements always this lethargic?” she asked, wrapping the blood pressure cuff around his arm.

“No. I’ve just been really sick lately, and I haven’t been able to sleep much,” he answered softly, trying to suppress a distressed burp.

“If you need a minute, I can come back to finish getting your vitals.”

“That might be for the best. Can you show me where the bathroom is?”

“Uh huh. Just follow me.”

The nurse, whose nametag read Sierra, led him down a maze of hallways until they came to a bathroom to be used by staff only. Before he stepped in, she told him she’d be waiting right outside the door so he wouldn’t get lost on his way back to the exam room, and to let her know if he needed anything. Ash gave her yet another small smile, his stomach roiling ferociously once again, and stepped into the bathroom. Since he wasn’t sure if he’d be able to get up and walk on his own, he left the door unlocked so she could get to him if he called out to her, but wasted no time in hitting his knees in front of the toilet.

He barely had time to get his shirt over his head to avoid soiling it before he started retching, his stomach heaving violently as it rejected the bagel he’d tried eating for breakfast before he left. If it weren’t for the fact that he obviously looked sick, he knew the nurse would be questioning his mental health as well, thinking that he might have an eating disorder, rather than a physical illness.

A few minutes later, when he was finally able to stop retching, he used the steel bars on the walls the haul himself to his feet and make his way to the sink after flushing the toilet. He rinsed his mouth out before splashing his face with water, having never been one to enjoy the acidic taste left in his mouth after having to vomit. The cool water on his face was because he felt like he was burning up, and even though he knew it wasn’t a fever, it still felt good to his flushed skin.

Somehow, he managed to get to the bathroom door and open it, but had to lean against the doorjamb until Sierra turned around to face him. She took one look at his complexion, which was now pale, and helped him sit on the floor for a moment. He sat against the wall, his legs stretched out in front of him and his arms hanging limply by his sides, his hands in his lap, as she went to get someone else to help her get him back to the exam room. He recognized the other person as being the doctor he’d come here to see almost as soon as he saw his face, and he knew that the man was concerned for his health now. The two of them managed to get him back to his feet, one arm slung over each of their shoulders, and back to the exam room he’d been in before.

“Sierra, get his vitals real quick,” Dr. Morgan instructed.

“Yes, sir,” she answered, wrapping the blood pressure cuff around his arm once again.

“Ashley, I’m gonna go grab your file real quick while she’s doing that, okay?” he asked.

He weakly flashed a thumbs-up, as he didn’t feel like talking any more than he had to.

Nodding, the doctor left the exam room while the nurse quickly took his vitals, frowning as she did so.

“Your BP is one-thirty-eight over ninety, and your pulse is eighty-nine,” she said, taking the cuff off his arm for the second time. “Has it ever been this high before?”

“Not that I can recall,” he answered weakly. “But considering that I just left my guts in the bathroom, I’d say that might have something to do with it.”

“I’ve never heard of someone’s BP and pulse still being that high a good ten minutes later, though. Hmm…”

“Well, that’s pretty much been my routine for the last two weeks or so. Maybe the length of time has something to do with it.”

“That’s true. You hadn’t told me that tidbit before, so I didn’t calculate it in.”

Moments later, Dr. Morgan knocked on the door to alert them to his presence and came back in. “So, what brings you here, Ashley?” he asked, taking a seat on his little stool.

“I’ve been waking up sick for the past two weeks. Every morning, I wake up at sunrise for no apparent reason, then have to make a mad dash for the bathroom a short while later,” Ash answered. “I think I’ve nearly hurt my boyfriend trying to get out of his arms because of that.”

“And when did this start, exactly?” he asked, typing something into his computerized file.

“The morning of my high school graduation, June eighth,” he answered. “I didn’t think anything of it that morning because I’ve been known to get sick like that when I was too nervous.”

“So why did you wait another two weeks to come and see me?”

“Because, as I said, at first, I thought it was from anxiety over graduating high school. Then I wondered if it might be a stomach virus, which doesn’t really require a doctor’s appointment or treatment unless I’m at Death’s door from dehydration.” He paused for a moment to take a deep breath. “But since whatever it is hasn’t gone away, I’m pretty sure it’s neither of those things.”

“This may be a bit personal, but Sierra’s the only other one in this office who knows about your…biological gift, if you will,” Dr. Morgan said, finally looking up at him. “You mentioned having a boyfriend. Am I to assume that the two of you have been sexually active recently?”

“If by recently, you mean nearly two months ago, then yes,” he confirmed. “Ever since then, I’ve been too sick and he’s been too tired after long days of caring for his deaf-mute mother.”

“And when was the last time you remember having a cycle?”

If the nurse standing there hadn’t already known about his perplexing condition, he would’ve strangled his doctor for asking that. “Uh, I wanna say sometime around April twenty-seventh.”

“I’m guessing you’ve been pretty busy lately?” the doctor asked, smiling.

“A bit. I mean, most of April and May were used for practically cramming for the last round of exams I’ll ever take if I don’t go to college, and early June was strictly for graduation,” Ash answered. “I tried to keep the dates written down on my calendar, but apparently I didn’t do a good enough job.”

“Well, in that case, I think I may know what’s wrong with you,” Dr. Morgan told him. “However, let’s run a few tests just to be sure. I don’t wanna scare you or get your hopes up if it’s unnecessary.”

Nodding, he allowed himself to be led to the same bathroom he’d been in a short while ago, where he had to piss in a little cup. As degrading as it felt to him, he knew that testing his urine might give them a clue as to what was wrong with him, so he went through with it anyway. After the second trip to the bathroom, he was led to the blood lab to have his blood drawn. Had he not had IVs in the past, he’d be deathly afraid of needles and wouldn’t want to go through with this, but he surprised the technicians by just holding his arm out and barely wincing as they pushed the needle into his brachial artery.

Once they’d drawn the blood they needed for whatever tests Dr. Morgan ordered, one technician pressed a piece of folded gauze to his arm and pulled the needle back out while the other wrote his name on the vials before running out the door with them. The technician still working on him made sure to tape the gauze down tightly to avoid him bleeding out, then helped him back to the exam room once again.

While they were waiting on the results of whatever tests his doctor wanted to run, he was asked to strip down to his underwear and put on the backless gown that he despised. Knowing this could be one of many ways to figure out what was wrong with him, and feeling too lethargic to bother arguing, Ash stripped down and put on the offending garment as he’d been asked to do. Once he was dressed the way his doctor apparently wanted him, he climbed back onto the exam table, his clothes laying in a spare chair to the side, and laid back to endure the physical exam. He couldn’t help the slight wince he gave when Dr. Morgan pressed on his chest, and he knew such tenderness wasn’t normal for a man.

By the time he’d gotten down to his belly, Sierra returned with the results of his blood and urine tests, though she stood aside until the doctor’d finished the physical exam. He’d had a confused, yet thoughtful, expression on his face for the last few minutes, but it turned into one of enlightenment as he read the lab results. Ash was really starting to wonder what was going on, but knew that his doctor would tell him in due time and wouldn’t lie to him since he’d never done so in the past.

“Okay, Ashley. I’m gonna go get an ultrasound scanner real quick because, if these test results are right, we’re gonna need one,” Dr. Morgan said, exiting the exam room.

“Ugh. That man and his secretive nature,” he groaned. “Think you can help me roll onto my side till he gets back, Sierra? I’m too nauseous to be laying on my back right now.”

“Yeah, I can help you with that,” the nurse answered, moving to his side. “Although, once he comes back, he’s gonna want you on your back again.”

“That’s fine. I just don’t wanna lay on it for too long while he’s gathering his supplies,” Ash told her.

“I’ll raise the back of the exam table a bit to help prop you up, so long as it’s not gonna interfere with his work, once he comes back,” Sierra told him, standing close to make sure he didn’t fall off. “Think that’ll help with your nausea?”

“It should. I mean, I get the feeling I’m gonna stay nauseous for quite a while, but laying on my side or being propped up seems to help a bit.”

“I can understand that. I prefer laying on my right side when I’m nauseous.”

KNOCK KNOCK! “All right, guys. I’m back,” Dr. Morgan announced. Sierra went over to hold the door open for him as he wheeled a cart through it, her eyes locked on their patient. “You need to roll over on your back again, Ashley.”

Grumbling since he was still nauseous, he did as he was told. Sierra kept her word and raised the back of the exam table a bit, which helped with his nausea a bit. He was able to take deep breaths without feeling like the bile in his stomach was going to rise into his throat and choke him, which made him happy. While he laid there breathing deeply to try and calm his stomach, the doctor began setting up the ultrasound scanner he’d brought into the room and fired it up.

He soon had Ash take off the backless gown, as there was really no need to cover his torso for modesty’s sake since he wasn’t a woman. He also had him lower the waistband of his boxers a bit more, although not so much that his crotch was on display for anyone who cared to look. Dr. Morgan explained what he was going to do and warned him that the gel he had to use was going to be cold, but that didn’t stop the gasp he gave when it actually touched his belly, just beneath his navel. He’d been wondering what was going on, but considering the placement of the gel, what he’d been told at twelve years old, and the tests, he was beginning to figure it out.

Sierra stood off to the side as his doctor’s second opinion, ready to grab the small trash can for him if he needed it. It didn’t seem like she cared that she had a nearly naked man in the exam room, not that it would’ve mattered since he was gay and had openly admitted it already. Her eyes were locked onto the screen, which showed a grainy, black-and-white image of the interior of his abdominal cavity.

“Ah-ha!” Dr. Morgan said triumphantly a few minutes later. “That explains it!”

“Yeah, I’d say it does, doc,” Sierra agreed, smiling.

“What’s going on?” he asked weakly, ready to go home and try to get some sleep.

“Remember the tests we ran earlier?” the doctor asked, turning his attention to him. “And remember what you were told when you were twelve?”

“Yeah. I have the reproductive systems of both a male and a female,” he answered flatly.

“Well, after thinking about your answers earlier, combined with that knowledge, I decided it would be a good idea to give you a pregnancy test,” he began. “We did both a blood and urine pregnancy test, as blood tests are usually far more accurate. The lab results were positive, which was why I wanted to do the ultrasound just to be absolutely sure.”

“And?” Ash asked curiously, drawing out the word.

“Turns out that you are, in fact, pregnant, Ashley,” he answered. “Even Sierra’s seeing what I am, so either we’re both hallucinating, or you’re really pregnant.”

With a gasp, he looked at his doctor with wide eyes, like a deer caught in the headlights. Dr. Morgan turned the screen of the ultrasound scanner around so he could see for himself and pointed out what looked like white grain of rice in a bubble of black, which was surrounded by even more white. He pointed out what he said was the baby’s head, although it didn’t look like much more than an indescript blob to him at the moment, and said that, based on size and development, he was probably no more than six weeks along.

Ash realized that, if he was six weeks pregnant right now, he’d gotten pregnant around May eleventh, which was when the pressure was just starting to be piled on before the end of the year and graduation. If it’d taken him till the morning of graduation to actually start having morning sickness, it was no wonder he’d completely overlooked having missed a period till now. Sure, he was in shock since he hadn’t expected to get pregnant with Andy’s baby less than a year after they started dating, but he knew they’d make it through it. He just hoped that his lover wouldn’t go berserk when he told him.

Dr. Morgan printed out copies of his ultrasound images, that way he’d have more than just the lab results to use as proof when telling his lover what was wrong. He thanked him as he wiped the gel off his abdomen, hating how sticky it felt, before grabbing his clothes from Sierra. She handed him each article of clothing one-by-one and squatted down to put his cowboy boots on for him, which he thanked her for.

Once he was dressed again, he put the pictures and lab results in a manilla envelope to put in his saddlebag, given that he’d somehow managed to ride his bike today. Sierra led him out to the front counter, where they scheduled his next appointment for five weeks from now, when he’d be around eleven weeks pregnant. He waved to his doctor and the nurse who’d helped out, grinning like a fool now that he knew why he was so sick, and that it was more than worth it. Ash thought about how he’d better enjoy riding his bike for the next ten weeks or so, as well as horses, since he wouldn’t be able to once he started showing. Not only would it be too hard to mount either one of them, but it would be dangerous for him and the baby as well.

“How’d it go, mio deviante?” Andy asked as he walked through the front door. He gently pulled him in for a kiss, trying not to upset his iffy stomach.

“Well, I found out why I’ve been so sick, mio profeta,” he answered, grinning. “You might wanna sit down for this, though. I’d rather not have to call an ambulance because you fainted and hit your head.”

“O…kay.” His basement-deep voice dropped a few notes as he said the word uncertainly, but still did as he was told.

“After weighing my answers to a few basic questions with my physical symptoms and what I was told when I was twelve…I found out I’m pregnant!” Ash told him.

“What? Oh, wow, sweetheart,” he said, his eyes widening.

“If you’re not happy, just tell me.” He was trying not to growl, but found it somewhat hard to keep his emotions in check, now that he knew his hormones were haywire.

“No, no, no! I’m happy about it!” Andy swore, wrapping his arms around him. “I just didn’t expect it!”

“Neither did I,” he admitted sheepishly. “Although, considering that the last time I had a period was around April twenty-seventh and we’ve gone at it several times since then…yeah, I should’ve known what was wrong when I didn’t stop getting sick every morning after a few days.”

“Well, you were stressed out from the last month of school, which I’ve heard girls say will cause a period to be late sometimes,” he said sympathetically. “And you waking up sick on the morning of graduation…hell, even Mama thought it was just from nerves, and obviously, she’s already had a baby before. If anyone should’ve suspected something else besides you, it would’ve been her.”

“That’s true enough, I suppose,” Ash agreed. “And thankfully, I’ve sold my grandparents’ house, so there’s plenty of money to make an addition to this one, if we choose not to move.”

“Yeah. I know Mama doesn’t wanna give up her office, although she probably would if that was the only way we could have a nursery.”

“Hey, I don’t mind paying for an addition.” He looked thoughtful for a moment. “Hell, we can add a room downstairs to use as an entertainment or guest room, then one directly on top of it upstairs to use as the nursery.”

“You should go to school to be an architect once the baby’s born,” Andy said softly. “I think you’d be good at it.”

“Nah. I think I’d rather be a graphic or interior designer, if our plans for the band fall through.”

“Those are still good choices. Regardless of which one, you’ve got an artistic mind that can picture things a lot of other people can’t.”

“Well, for now, let’s just worry about telling your mom, Sammi, and the guys about the baby.”

“Sounds like a plan to me. The rest can wait until later. E ti amo molto, mio deviante.” Andy gently kissed him after he shut his mouth.

“Anch’io ti amo molto, mio profeta.” Ash returned the gentle kiss, then rose to go put his proof upstairs in what was now their room.

They hadn’t expected for him to actually get pregnant, although he’d been warned as a pubescent boy that it was possible. Either way, they couldn’t believe that they were actually going to have a baby together and couldn’t wait to tell their friends and family. Andy grinned as he thought about that, and the possibility of taking their relationship to the next level, while watching Ash trudge up the stairs to their room.

Notes