Mending the Soul (28 page)

"Ok, I know you were just sitting next to me watching me get sick, you can't seriously want a kiss right now."  Jenna said when she saw his look of confusion.

"Sorry, I got lost in the moment.  How about you brush your teeth and we'll pick up where we left off?"  Nicholas suggested.

"How about I brush my teeth then hurry through the shower to get the kids up and ready for school?"  She told him as she walked over to the sink and got her toothbrush.  As soon as her mouth was full of foam, Nicholas spun her around and kissed her hard.

He backed away from her after the toothpaste kiss, satisfied, and said, "Thank you, that's all I wanted.  I'll leave you alone now."  Then he left the bathroom with a smirk, to go to the closet and pick out his suit for the day, leaving Jenna standing in the bathroom shaking her head at his crazy antics.

*****

Jenna and Nicholas sat in the waiting room at the doctor's office, waiting to be called for Jenna's blood work.  The longer they waited, the more nervous Jenna got.  Seeing her tense visibly, Nicholas tried to get her to relax.  He knew that the more worked up she got, the worse it was going to be once she was around the needle.  "It's going to be ok, I'll be right there with you."  He said, trying to reassure her.

"I know, I just hate getting my blood drawn.  I always have, I always will."  Jenna told him.  When the nurse came out the door and called her name, Jenna's face went pale.  Nicholas stood up and started to walk towards the nurse, only to see Jenna still sitting in her chair.  He turned around and grabbed her hand, and only then did she stand up and follow him and the nurse.

As soon as Jenna walked through the door to the small room where they drew blood, she smelled the alcohol and sterile odor that got her every time.  It was the scent that she associated with the agony of what was about to happen.  The nurse told her where to sit, and as soon as she was in the chair, a swinging arm was brought around to the front of her to 'lock' her in.  Panic began to rise in Jenna as she looked up into Nicholas's eyes.

Nicholas reached down and held onto Jenna's hand.  His eyes were telling her to calm down and that everything would be ok, but Jenna was still nervous.  She gripped onto his hand tighter, wishing the moment to pass fast.

The nurse grabbed Jenna's free arm and extended it out in front of her, wrapping the right elastic band around her bicep.  She took the small alcohol wipe and ran it over the spot inside Jenna's left elbow, then dried the area with a cotton ball.  As Nicholas watched the nurse pick up the needle, he turned Jenna's head to look at him.  He started talking to her about his morning at work, hoping to keep her mind off the prick of the needle.

As soon as the nurse jabbed the needle into Jenna's arm, Nicholas could see her tolerance waning.  He watched as the nurse was trying to find Jenna's vein, but wasn't having much success.  The more the nurse dug the needle around inside Jenna's arm, the more blood rushed out of Jenna's face.

Jenna felt the first prick, and while it hurt, she thought she'd be ok to deal with it.  She was trying to concentrate on what Nicholas was saying to her, but when she felt the needle fishing around in her arm for the vein, she started to get warm.  The beads of sweat were building up on her upper lip, then the rest of her face.  Finally, the hot feeling spread throughout her body and stuck in her stomach.  Her head felt very light, and she couldn't hear Nicholas's words anymore.  She saw his mouth move in slow motion, but couldn't make out a single word.  Before she knew it, everything went dark and she saw a merry-go-round and could hear circus music.  Riding on the merry-go-round was Nicholas, Leslie, and Emma.  Leslie smiled at her and pulled her up on the merry-go-round, joining Jenna’s' hands with Nicholas' and Emma's.  Leslie gave Nicholas and Emma a kiss, then hugged Jenna and left.  Jenna looked over to Nicholas and heard him calling her name, but his mouth wasn't moving.

Nicholas was getting worried.  Jenna had passed out and he couldn't get her to wake up.  The nurse finished drawing the blood, then went to get some smelling salts to wake her up.  While she was taking her time at the cupboard searching for the little packet, Nicholas kept calling Jenna's name and shaking her shoulder.

Jenna finally realized that she was dreaming and woke up.  She looked around hazily and saw Nicholas and the nurse standing in front of her.  She blinked hard a few times, trying to clear her eyes and get her bearings back.  The nurse handed her a small cup of orange juice and told her to sip it slowly.  Jenna took a few sips, finally starting to feel better.

"Take her to get something to eat, her blood sugar must be low."  She snapped at Nicholas.  "You know, you should eat more, being pregnant and all, then you wouldn't pass out."  The nurse said, snottily.

"Well, if you knew how to do your job and draw blood then I would have been fine!"  Jenna bit back.  "You will NEVER come near me with a needle again, mark my words!"

Jenna slowly stood up with the help of Nicholas and walked out of the room.  She went up to the appointment desk and scheduled her next appointment for a few weeks later.  They told her that they would call her later with the results of the blood work.  Jenna requested that the doctor call her back personally, as there were a few matters that she needed to discuss with her.  The receptionist noted it and Jenna and Nicholas left.

Nicholas kept his arm around Jenna the whole way out to his SUV.  He kept asking her if she was ok, and she would say yes, but she seemed more shaken up than she was admitting to.  "Well, let's go pick Zoey up so that we can get some food into your body."

"Nicholas, you know that's not the reason I passed out.  Yes, I'm hungry, but you saw for yourself what that dimwitted bitch did in there.  Couple that with my fear of needles, and there you go, out like a light!"  Jenna said warily.

"I know, I'm sorry.  I wasn't trying to say that she did nothing wrong, because I've never hit a girl, but when I saw her fishing that needle around, I seriously contemplated it.  I saw how much pain and stress it was causing you, and I wanted to do something to stop it.  But, I think it'll be good for us to get some food into your body.  You are eating for two after all."  Nicholas told her with a smile.

"Ok, sorry.  I know you weren't on her side.  Passing out just doesn't put me in the best of moods, though I should be on cloud nine right now."  Jenna said, thinking back to her dream, where Leslie handed her family over to Jenna.

"That's right, you get to have lunch with the best boyfriend in the world, how could you not be on cloud nine after that?"  Nicholas teased.

Jenna knew that wasn't what she was referring to, but she didn't want to tell him about her dream.  Jenna finally got the sign that she needed to let Nicholas's relationship with Leslie rest, and that was what she fully intended on doing, starting with not telling Nicholas about the dream.  Instead she just smiled.

Nicholas called ahead to his office and told Zoey to wait in the lobby for them, that he would pull up to the front of the building in about five minutes.  He didn't want to have to walk to his office and risk Jenna passing out again, and he didn't want to leave her in the car either, while he walked up to get Zoey.  The easiest solution was for Zoey to head out, and wait for them to pick her up.

After picking Zoey up, her and Jenna chatted non-stop until they got to the restaurant.  Nicholas couldn't get a single word in as the girls took some time to get to know one another.  Nicholas was really happy that they had clicked because it would have been horrible for Jenna to not like his assistant…especially one as capable as Zoey.

Nicholas parked his SUV in the parking lot of the steakhouse and got out of the vehicle.  Neither girl paid much attention to the fact that they had stopped, it was only when Nicholas had opened the passenger side doors that they realized they were at the restaurant.  Zoey slipped out of the vehicle easily, while Nicholas helped Jenna out carefully.  She was still a little light headed, and Nicholas was worried that she was going to pass out again before they had a chance to sit down in the restaurant.

To an innocent observer, it just looked like Nicholas wanted to be as close to Jenna as possible.  No one would have realized that he was clinging to her to support her.  They both breathed a sigh of relief when they were seated quickly in the restaurant.

The waitress came over and took their drink orders.  All three ordered Pepsis, then as an afterthought, Jenna ordered a water too.  As much as she needed the sugar from the soda, she was also trying to cut back.  Her compromise was half a soda, to a full glass of water.  When the waitress returned with their drinks, they placed their orders for the food, finally getting rid of the waitress for a while so they could talk.

"So boss-man, where were you this morning?  Big top-secret meeting?"  Zoey teased.  "Nothing major happened, I took care of everything that came up."

"Well, that's one of the things we needed to talk to you about."  Nicholas said slowly.  He looked over to Jenna and smiled.  "I'll probably be missing a little more work than usual, at least for the next 9 months."  His smile broadened when he thought about the pregnancy.  "Jenna is pregnant, and I plan to be at all of her appointments with the doctor."

"What?"  Zoey asked, kind of in shock.  "You're really pregnant?"  She asked Jenna.

"Yup.  Sure am.  We find out later this afternoon exactly how far along I am."  Jenna beamed.  She was really getting used to the idea that they were having a baby together.

"Well, congratulations!  I'm a little surprised though."  Zoey said.

"Tell me about it!"  Jenna exclaimed, laughing.

"We were too.  But we're happy about it.  Not many people know though, so we'd appreciate it if you'd keep this quiet for now.  We're going to wait for a while to tell everyone, especially with the threat of a custody battle from Linda."  Nicholas told her.  "Oh, and while I'm thinking about it, I moved in with Jenna over the weekend too, so I'll give you my new phone number when we get back to the office, in case you need to get ahold of me."

"Wow, you guys move fast!"  Zoey joked.  "But it's obvious that you two were meant to be together, and I guess in that case, there is no such thing as too fast."

"It's fast, but it's right."  Jenna said as she looked into Nicholas' eyes.

The rest of the lunch was spent with light-hearted chit-chat as they ate their meals.  Jenna was finally feeling better, even indulging in some dessert, much to Nicholas's enjoyment.  After lunch, Nicholas and Zoey dropped Jenna off at home, then they headed back to the office to get some work done.

Jenna made her way through the house, cleaning each room, even though she was supposed to be resting.  She just couldn't sit still though, waiting for the doctor to call her with her test results.  Each time the phone rang, Jenna jumped to answer it as fast as possible, hoping it was the doctor, but each time it was Nicholas checking up on her.

Finally, when she didn't think she could stand it anymore, the phone rang again.  Looking at the caller ID, she saw that it was her doctor's office.  Jenna gave a sigh of relief before picking up the phone.

"Good afternoon Jenna.  I understand that you wanted to speak to me personally?"  The doctor asked.

"Yes, I had a little problem in your office this morning, and I thought you needed to be aware of it.  You have been my doctor for a long time, and I have never had an experience such as the one I had this morning.  I think you need to be aware of the problems that I am having with one of your nurses."  Jenna said as she went on to describe the ordeal from her appointment and how rude the nurse was to her when it was her own incompetence that caused her to pass out, not her lack of eating.  She also made it clear that she didn't want to have any further interaction with that particular nurse.  "You know that I don't like to make waves, and I am not trying to be rude.  I just felt that you needed to know how she was treating your patients."

"Well, thank you for telling me Jenna.  I really do appreciate it.  I've had a few complaints about her since we hired her, just nothing to this extent.  It kind of makes me wonder though, how many other patients is she treating the same way and they just aren't coming forward and saying anything?  This is supposed to be one of the happiest times in a woman's life, when she is pregnant, and being treated like that in my office is absolutely inexcusable.  I do apologize for her behavior, and I know it's no consolation, but she won't be around any longer."  The doctor paused.  "Well, now, onto your test results, unless there is something else you need to discuss with me?"

"No, I think I've said more than my fair share.  Thank you for letting me discuss that with you."  Jenna told her.

"Anytime.  I'm glad you told me.  Now, onto some good news.  Your beta levels came back with strong numbers, so according to your last menstrual cycle, it appears that you are about 7 ½ weeks along.  The numbers that you have are indicative of a strong and healthy pregnancy.  Congratulations.  I'll see you in a few weeks for your first ultrasound."

"Thank you doctor!"  Jenna said, then as she hung up the phone, she let out a yelp of happiness.  As she went to pick the phone back up to call Nicholas, it began ringing again.  She looked at the caller ID and laughed.

"Do you get any work done at all during the day?"  She asked as soon as she picked it up.

"Hi honey.  I was just wondering if you heard from the doctor yet."  Nicholas told her.