Caroline and the Sperm Donor

By: Jana~

Chapter 13

XXX

--Caroline’s apartment had never seemed so inviting. After the hours-long trip to the airport, Richard’s body and mind was completely drained of energy. But as exhausted as he was, Caroline appeared worse.

“You look beat, Caroline,” Richard told her as he helped her off with her coat and hung it on the hook by the door. “Why don’t you go lie down, and I’ll make you some tea.”

Sighing, she shook her head, taking a weak step towards her desk. “I have too much to do today.”

“The strip can wait,” he insisted, catching her hand before she could take a second step away. “You look like death.”

She laughed tiredly. “Thanks. But, no, I can’t. I’m too far behind as it is-”

As she started to pull away, he held tighter, then turned her to face him. “You need to rest,” he scolded her gently. “Go to your room and get into bed,” he ordered her, physically aiming her towards the stairs. “I’ll be up in a few minutes to tuck you in.”

She laughed again, then begrudgingly took the first step up. “Yes, sir,” she joked, smiling back at him. “Could I get a little lemon and honey in my tea?”

Nodding, he then pointed at the ceiling. “Go!” he demanded, his grin fading as she turned away to comply.

There was no way her looking that worn was a good thing, he thought to himself, then hung his coat on the hook before heading for the kitchen.

X

--Offering him a quiet thank you as he entered the room, she took the cup and sipped the hot liquid carefully before setting it and the saucer down on her bedside table.

“I guess you and my dad had a good talk today,” she said to him, seemingly out of nowhere, and he shrugged in response after joining her on the bed, taking a seat at the edge.

“We talked,” he told her, “But I don’t know how good it was.”

“My dad seemed to think it was,” she said, asking, “What did you guys talk about?”

“Your mom, mostly,” he answered.

“What did she whisper to you,” she asked him, “Before they left up the boarding ramp?”

Sighing, he said, “She asked me not to hurt you.”

There was a slight shake of her head before she moved to retrieve her cup. “Thanks for not killing her,” she muttered, a hint of humor in her tone, then she took another cautious sip of her tea to hide her smile when he chuckled.

“You’re welcome,” he said, but then his expression seemed grew serious. Pausing a moment, he eventually asked her, “Did it hurt you, when I left for Paris?”

The steaming liquid became her focal point, in that moment, and then she tipped the cup to her lips once again, trying to decide how best to answer his question.

“You’re stalling,” he realized, bringing it to her attention that he did.

“I was sad,” she told him, choosing her words carefully, “And confused, but I wasn’t devastated.”

“I wasn’t trying to hurt you,” he explained his past actions. “I didn’t think it would matter.”

“It mattered,” she admitted, “And not just because you were my assistant.”

Dropping his gaze to the floor, he shook his head. “If I could go back and make different choices, I would.”

“I know that,” she whispered.

“I never would have left, had I known…” When he trailed off, she nodded in understanding.

“I know that, too,” she assured him, setting her cup back on its saucer. “Lay down with me,” she requested of him, patting the bed beside her. “You look like you could use some rest, too.”

Shoes still on, he climbed in beside her, snuggling up to her and kissing her temple. “I love you so much,” he whispered in her ear, and she sighed contentedly.

“I love you, too,” she whispered back, adding, “Have I ever thanked you, for how well you take care of me?”

“No,” he quipped, smiling against her cheek. “And you’re welcome.”

XXX

--Over a week had passed, and Caroline was still showing the effects from the Thanksgiving holiday. Pale, moody, tired; there was a permanent scowl of exhaustion on her usually happy face, all of which lending to Richard’s state of worry.

The simple joy of life she exhibited each day was all but missing, and whereas before, she was almost insatiable, now, she seemed to lack the energy to do even the simplest of tasks. Even her strip was starting to suffer.

Deadlines were barely met, if at all, and the late night hours kept in the attempt to catch up was beginning to take its toll on both Caroline and Richard.

Glancing up at Caroline from his side of the desk, Richard could see the strain she was feeling etched into her expression as she tapped her pen in slow motion against her empty sketch pad. She needed to rest, but he knew if he suggested it, she would refuse.

Careful not to give away his concern, he asked simply, “Blocked?”

“A little,” she admitted with a sigh.

His attention divided between the panel he was working on and her, he watched as she brushed her bangs off her forehead before leaning it against her palm.

“Maybe you should make some of those, allspice rice krispie things,” he said, trying to sound casual. “That usually helps you.”

“No,” she muttered shortly, dropping her arm to the desk, her eyes downcast.

It was obvious to him that she was fighting to stay conscious. “Why don’t you take a nap,” he finally suggested, knowing what her answer would be before he even said it.

“I don’t want to sleep,” she muttered defensively. “I want to draw.”

“You’re creatively stymied because you’re exhausted, Caroline! Getting some rest would be beneficial for you and your strip!”

“I’m not exhausted,” she sighed, sounding somewhat irritated, “I’m just a little tired.”

“A little tired?” he scoffed. “By your demeanor, I’d guess that you haven’t slept at all in over a week!”

“I’ve slept!” she shot back weakly. “Surprisingly, since I’m as big as a house and carrying a thirty-four week old acrobat inside of me!”

His stance and tone softening, he asked, “Is the baby keeping you up nights?”

“No,” she insisted. “I told you, I’ve been sleeping.”

“All the more reason why you being tired all of the time is a concern,” he told her, moving off his stool and cornering the desk. “Maybe we should take you to the doctor.”

“I don’t need to see the doctor,” she argued, capping her pen and slamming it down on the desk. “I told you, I’m fine!”

Helplessly, he watched her slide off her stool and waddle towards the bathroom, flinging the door closed loudly once inside.

It wasn’t the first time she had refused to listen to reason. Just short of dragging her, he doubted seriously that he would be getting Caroline to the doctor before her next scheduled appointment.

XXX

--The shopping cart was annoying Richard, with its wobbly wheel and inability to make right turns without struggling, but with as frustrating as that was, Annie’s behavior was more so. In every aisle they went down, she would grab things off of shelves and throw it in the basket, acting like a kid in a candy store who had never seen sweets before in her life.

Richard groaned as a carton of ice cream hit the bread. It was the last straw. “Annie!” he snipped, “I’m not paying for that!”

“It’s not your money,” she returned without flinching. “It’s Caroline’s.”

“Then Caroline’s not paying for that!” he corrected, grabbing the item off the now-squished loaf and handing it back to her. “Get your own cart!”

Rolling her eyes, she asked, “What’s gotten into you?” She placed the ice cream in a different location within the same basket and started walking once again. “You’re bitchier than usual.”

“Nothing,” he grumbled, pushing hard on the defective cart and following her.

Annie just scoffed. “Nothing my ass!”

The crass words and tone she used made him want to share with her that much less. “Just drop it,” he muttered, his gaze back on the shopping list Caroline had given him.

A heaviness seemed to take him over, and Annie winced as she witnessed it. “Richard,” she asked softly, “Do you need to talk?”

Glancing over at her, he saw the genuine expression her face held and sighed. “I think something is wrong with Caroline,” he confided in her.

“What do you mean?” she asked with a slight scowl.

“She’s so pale!” he answered, his inflection indicating just how concerned he was. “She’s tired, all the time! She’s not- She’s not herself.”

“Well,” she offered, “She is thirty-five weeks pregnant.”

“It goes beyond that,” he told her, frustrated. “She says she’s been sleeping, but she doesn’t look or act like she has.”

“You sleep next to her every night,” Annie reminded, then asked, “Does she sleep? Is she tossing and turning a lot?”

“No more than usual,” he answered. “She seems to be sleeping ok, which just makes no sense! If she’s getting enough rest, why does she look and act like she’s not?”

“Well, what does her doctor say?” she asked, stopping his forward movement by standing in front of the cart.

“Her scheduled appointment isn’t until next week,” he said to her, “And she refuses to go before it.”

“And you’ve talked to her about this already, I’m assuming,” she asked, and he nodded as he slumped against the push handle of the basket. “How long has she been like this?”

“Two weeks,” he answered. “Since the day after Thanksgiving,” he added.

“You really think something might be wrong?” He nodded in answer to her question. “Well, then,” she suggested, taking charge and giving the cart a tug, prompting Richard to follow her up and out of the aisle, “Let’s hurry up here so we can drag her ass to the doctor!”

XXX

--Caroline sighed as she stepped through the double glass doors, her exasperation somewhat hiding her exhaustion.

“I told you guys,” she complained, “I’m fine!”

“Then this shouldn’t take long,” Annie returned sharply, pointing at a waiting room chair, silently ordering her friend to take a seat in it. “Here,” she added, handing her a parent minded magazine from off a nearby table, “Read this and chill.”

Richard acknowledged Annie with a brief glance when she approached the front counter where he stood, as he added Caroline’s name to the list of walk-in patients. “Thank you,” he whispered, receiving a nudge from her in response.

“You were right about her being pale,” she whispered back, leaning into him. “I don’t know why I didn’t see it before.”

He nodded. “I think she’s in denial, because she doesn’t want to think something could be wrong.”

“Let’s just hope that if something is wrong, it isn’t too serious.”

He nodded again, adding, “Or that we didn’t wait too long to bring her in.”

--In spite of her insistence that she wasn’t tired, sleep enveloped Caroline quickly. The exam table was far from comfortable, but even so, it was a brief journey from lying down, to closing her eyes, to drifting off.

Richard shifted in his hard plastic chair, arms folded across his chest, head bowed, eyes shut. He only stirred slightly and glanced briefly in Annie’s direction when she moved in the seat she occupied beside him to grab a magazine off the counter near the sink.

“For someone who isn’t tired,” Annie whispered to him, “She sure did fall asleep, no problem.”

“She’s always on the verge, lately,” he whispered back, peeking over at Caroline before closing his eyes again. “It’s like she’s Narcoleptic.”

The word was completely foreign to her. “What’s Narcoleptic?” she asked.

“A condition that causes you to fall asleep at any time, in any place, for no discernable reason.”

“You think that’s what she has?” she asked with concern.

“No,” he answered, unmoving, eyes still closed, “She would have shown symptoms way before now. I think this has to do with the pregnancy.”

Annie nodded as she began thumbing through her magazine. It was several minutes later when she asked, “What’s taking so long, anyway?”

Richard startled at the sound of her voice. “Lab work takes time,” he muttered, allowing his gaze to land on the white cotton ball taped just below the crook of Caroline’s elbow, before closing his eyes once again.

“She didn’t even want them to draw her blood,” Annie said in amazement. “She even argued with the doctor!”

“She’s scared,” he surmised, fidgeting in his uncomfortable position. “She thinks if she ignores the elephant in the room, it will go away on its own.”

“I would want to know, if something was wrong,” Annie muttered, her attention back on the pages in front of her.

Nodding, and without thinking it through to the inevitable conversation that would come from such a comment, Richard mumbled, “I just hope it wasn’t anything I did.”

Confused, her attention back on him, she asked, “What do you mean by that?”

Realization hit him, and he groaned as it did. He should not have even broached the subject, but it was too late to take it back. It was already said.

“Nothing,” he answered, trying to dodge her inquiry. “Forget about it.”

Annie scoffed. “Doubtful!” she exclaimed in a whisper. “What did you mean by that?” she asked again, a little more pointedly.

“I didn’t mean anything by it,” he grumbled. “Just, drop it!”

Annie wasn’t about to do that. “Not until you tell me what this is about! I know you would never hurt her-” Richard glaring at her in response caused her to stop the sentence abruptly. “Ok, so, then, what could you possibly have done to cause this?”

Exhaling sharply as he realized he was going to have to give her at least some information before she would even consider leaving him alone about it, he muttered, “Leading up to Thanksgiving, we were, intimate, a lot. Let’s just leave it at that.”

“Let’s don’t,” she shot back, then dropped her magazine back on the counter and glanced at Caroline before pressing further. “How could getting your jollies lead to this?” she asked, gesturing to the woman who continued to snore lightly.

He rolled his eyes. “I don’t know.”

“You guys have been, intimate, for a while now,” she pointed out, using his word for the act to keep him from reacting negatively and shutting her out. “It was never a problem before. Unless,” she added, pausing before asking, “Did you guys finally start having actual sex?”

He glared at her again before whispering sternly, “Not that it’s any of your business, but no, we haven’t.”

“Then, what’s changed?” she asked, honestly curious.

Closing his eyes, as if it pained him to tell her, he admitted reluctantly, “I figured out how to give her multiple orgasms.”

“You stud!” Annie praised him, smiling broadly, and Richard shot her a dirty look to express his disgust with her.

“It’s not a good thing, Annie!” he told her sharply, “If it’s causing her to be ill!”

She shook her head, her smile remaining. “It’s not.”

“How would you know?” he asked irately.

“Because,” Annie explained, “Pregnant or not, an orgasm wouldn’t cause this level of exhaustion. You might be happily sleepy for a few hours, but it sure wouldn’t drag on for weeks!”

“How could you possibly know that?” he challenged her.

Laughing, she told him, “If you want to know about sirloin steak, you see a butcher. If you want to know about orgasms--” She then gestured to herself, which caused even rigidly uptight Richard to crack a smile. “Don’t worry, Studly Dooright,” she teased, “You could hit the joy button a hundred times and it wouldn’t cause a problem.”

“Thanks,” he muttered, embarrassed, but still he took a small amount of comfort in her crude but informative words.

“So,” she asked with a smirk, “Just how many we talkin about?”

His scowl returned. “That’s none of your business,” he snipped.

“Aww, c’mon Richie,” she sang, “Nothing to be embarrassed about! I’m proud of ya! I’m sure Caroline is too,” she added. “No one else has ever been able to do that for her!”

Surprised by the admission, he asked, “And you know this, how?”

Annie’s smile grew. “Cause she told me!”

“She told you about me?” he asked, sounding horrified by the thought of it.

“No,” she answered, “She told me about the others. She won’t tell me much about you,” she added, “Cause of your weird privacy issues.”

“It’s not weird to want to keep some things private from some people,” he defended himself.

“Whatever,” she dismissed with a wave of her hand. “How many, Studly?”

He shook his head in answer, then asked hesitantly, “Even Del couldn’t give her multiples?”

Annie grinned, hearing the underlying pride in his tone. “Del sometimes didn’t even give her one!” she told him, noticing a slight smile creep across his face. Nudging him, she asked again, “How many?”

He gave her a sideways glance before finally admitting, “Three.”

Annie nodded appreciatively. “Nice.”

With only a brief knock to announce his presence, the doctor entered abruptly, startling Caroline awake and immediately gaining Richard’s and Annie’s attention.

“We got the test results back,” he told them as he scanned the contents of his patient’s chart. “Everything is progressing well,” he said, and Caroline was all set to gloat, until he spoke again. “But,” he added, “You are Anemic.”

The smile dropped from Caroline’s face.

“What does that mean?” Annie asked, her brow furrowed.

“Low iron,” Richard answered softly, relieved, and the doctor smiled back.

“Bingo!” he exclaimed, pulling a prescription pad out of his lab coat pocket. “I’m going to prescribe you an iron supplement, and I want you to take it with your prenatal vitamin each morning.”

“Ok,” Caroline agreed sheepishly, avoiding eye contact with Richard.

“In a few days,” the doctor informed them, “She’ll be right as rain.”

Richard thanked him as he took the slip of paper from his hand, waiting for him to exit before stepping over to help Caroline off the exam table.

“I’m sorry,” Caroline apologized in a whisper, and Annie took that as her cue to leave.

“I’m gonna go back to the waiting room,” she said as she headed for the door, then without hesitation, left through it.

Richard sighed, staring at Caroline, though her gaze was firmly planted on the ground. “We’re in this together, Caroline, aren’t we?”

“Of course we are,” she answered remorsefully. “I wasn’t trying to exclude you.”

“Then you need to at least consider my opinions!” he shot back. “I could tell something was wrong, but you refused to listen to me! This is my baby too!” he added sternly.

“Why are you snapping at me?” she asked, hurt by his tone. “I just didn’t think anything was wrong!”

“Didn’t think, or didn’t want to think?” he asked, almost as if accusing her of something.

“Both. Maybe. I don’t know,” she answered, turning away from him.

He spun her back around, gently but firmly, with an almost forceful encouragement that she look him in the eye. “You can’t just pretend problems don’t exist!” he scolded her.

She shook her head. “It’s not like anemia is all that serious!”

“We got lucky that it wasn’t something serious, Caroline! This time! What about next time?”

“How can you be so sure there will be a next time?” she shot back, matching his tone.

“How can you be so sure there won’t?” he asked, then gestured with his hands that they should call a truce. “I don’t necessarily think there will be a next time,” he told her, his voice softer. “I just don’t want you to ignore what your body is trying to tell you. In the future.”

“I wasn’t ignoring what my body was saying,” she muttered, defeated. “I just figured, it would turn out to be nothing. Like when the baby had the hiccups.”

He nodded, ready to end and move on from the argument. “Just promise me you won’t assume anymore,” he requested of her. “Promise me, if something seems off, you’ll be honest with me, and talk to me about it.”

Though her reaction was slight, it surprised Richard. She smiled.

“Why are you smiling?” he asked her.

With a light touch, she slid her hands up his chest to meet and clasp behind his neck. “You really do like me, don’t you?” she whispered, then reached for his lips with her own, a soft, brief kiss following.

“Of course I like you, Caroline,” he whispered back, wrapping his arms around her. “I love you!”

“I love you, too,” she told him, her gaze lingering for a few moments longer, before moving away from him and heading towards the door. “Let’s go home,” she suggested, a sly smile inching onto her face.

“As soon as we fill this,” he said as he waved the small paper in his hand, following her out into the hall.

When Annie saw them on the approach, and saw the expressions they were both wearing, she knew everything had been resolved between them.

“Everything ok?” she asked Caroline, standing to meet her.

“Yeah,” Caroline said, adding, “Richard loves me.”

Annie had to laugh. “Well, duh!”

Richard rolled his eyes at her less than eloquent response. “Well put.”

“Aww, cheer up, Richie!” Annie exclaimed as she ruffled his hair; he immediately ducked away from her touch. “All’s well that ends well, right?”

“Yeah, well,” he muttered, talking more to himself, staring down at the prescription still clutched in his hand, “It isn’t over yet.”

XXX

--With a newfound energy, Caroline decorated every inch of the small apartment to a nauseating degree. And while Richard despised every bunt and bow, if it made Caroline happy to decorate like she was trying to impress Santa Claus himself, he would grunt and bear it.

It was hard though, not to at least smile over her enthusiasm for the Christmas holiday.

“Those iron pills sure did the trick,” Annie mused, whispering to Richard as she thread popcorn onto a string, per Caroline’s request, to be used as garland on the tree.

“They did,” he admitted, “But that’s not all this is,” he added, referring to Caroline’s extreme vivacity. “She’s thirty seven and a half weeks pregnant now. This,” he told her, “Is the nesting period.”

“What’s a nesting period?” Annie asked with furrowed brow.

“Closer to the end of pregnancy,” Richard explained, “Most women get this incredible burst of energy. They become obsessed with cleaning, and making things just right for the baby’s arrival.”

“C’mon, Annie,” Caroline unknowingly interrupted, “That popcorn isn’t going to string itself!” She clapped her hands together a few times in rapid succession, then quickly grabbed a box marked ‘Christmas decorations’ and pulled out a tangled string of lights, starting to work on unknotting it.

Annie rolled her eyes. “Nesting or not, does she have to drag us along with her?”

Smirking, Richard said sotto, “It won’t be for much longer.”

“You think she’s close to delivering?” Annie asked, and Richard nodded in response. “How can you tell?”

“Besides how many weeks she is, and the nesting thing,” he told her, “She’s dropping. The baby is lower than before.”

“And that means what?” Annie questioned him quietly, sneaking a peek at Caroline, who was still struggling with the knotted lights.

“The baby is getting into position for delivery,” he answered, then hopped off his stool and approached Caroline. “Alright, I finished coloring the gift tags you made,” he muttered as he thrust the stack of papers towards her. “Can I get back to my crappy job now?”

Smiling at his annoyance, she pointed to the coffee table, requesting he place the finished tags down, then said to him, “Right after you give me a kiss.”

After setting the homemade gift tags down where she’d asked him to, he glanced at Annie out of his peripheral vision before leaning in and kissing her lips softly and affectionately, but conservatively.

“I love you,” she whispered, grinning up at him, and Richard forgot all about the brunette stringing popcorn for the moment as he smiled in return.

I love you, too,” he whispered back, tucking a few stray hairs behind her ear. “Can I get back to my crappy job now?” he asked again, jokingly, and she rolled her eyes as she dismissed him with a wave of her hand.

“Go ahead, Mr. Scrooge,” she quipped, returning her attention to her task.

“When will your parents be here?” Annie asked Caroline as Richard walked away from her, smirking at him as he stepped up to the desk. He only glared at her in response.

“Not for a few more hours,” Caroline answered. “Del’s picking them up for me.” Richard smiled imperceptibly, pleased that he wouldn’t have to fight the airport, traffic, or with Caroline’s mother till later in the afternoon.

“How long are they staying for?” Annie then asked, but it was Richard who answered.

“Through New Years,” he grumbled, obviously unhappy about that fact, his previous happiness slipping.

“It’ll be better this time,” Caroline promised him, catching the displeasure in his tone. “Dad says Mom’s coming around.”

Richard would’ve liked to have come back with a sarcastic comment, but instead, he simply nodded.

“Do you know how sexy you are when you pout?” Caroline teased him, fighting to keep from joining Annie in laughter.

Scowling, he avoided eye contact as he returned to his work, a cross between embarrassed and irritated. He didn’t mind it so much, when Caroline played with him like that, unless Annie was present.

Even though they had something closely resembling a friendship, Annie still teased him when it came to such things. He supposed she always would, since she seemed so fond of doing so.

“Happy holidays!” Del exclaimed as he walked through the door unannounced, obliviously chipper.

“Or, unhappy holidays,” Charlie added, fast on Del’s heels, “If you choose to be miserable during this time of year!”

Annie chortled. “That describes Richie to a T!”

“Where’s the little butter cookies shaped like little sheep?” Del immediately asked, sniffing at the air like a blood hound, causing Caroline to laugh.

“Is that all I am to you?” she questioned him, giving him and Charlie both a quick friendly hug. “Butter cookies and comic strips?”

“No!” Del answered defensively.

“You’re also cards and calendars!” Charlie added exuberantly, receiving a prompt yet light smack upside the head from Del for the comment.

Caroline smirked at their antics as she headed for the kitchen. Handing a plastic container over to Del, she asked Charlie, “You bring that Christmas album I asked to borrow?”

“Yep!” Reaching into his messenger bag, he produced a CD from it, giving it over to Caroline before helping himself to a cookie from the container Del was hovering and near drooling over.

“What Christmas album?” Richard asked cautiously, knowing any answer she gave would be a bad one.

“Jingle Kitties,” Caroline told him with a widening smile. “Salty loves this CD!”

“Oh, God,” Richard groaned, slumping in his seat, “I feel a migraine coming on.”

“Well, ya’know,” Annie suggested, “If the idea of Christmas carols is so appalling to you, you could always go with Del to pick up Caroline’s parents!”

Richard instantly recoiled at the thought of it. “It can’t be any worse than listening to Annie warble on stage in her flea infested costume,” he muttered sarcastically, then returned his attention to his work, as if indifferent, ignoring the glare Annie was throwing at him.

“The term is Merry Christmas, guys,” Caroline scolded, “Not Bitchy Christmas! Annie,” she ordered her friend, “Leave Richard alone. Richard,” she said to him, her tone softening slightly, “We’ll try to keep the merriment on the other side of the room while you work. Ok?”

He nodded in acceptance, then watched discreetly as Caroline unplugged her CD player and waddled towards the livingroom with it. With as big as she was and as low as she was carrying, he doubted she would last until New Years. Any day now, they would officially be parents.

He smiled.

To be continued

Author’s notes:

I know it’s been a while since I’ve updated… ten months, to be exact, but, my muse kinda left me on this story, and I ended up back over in the ‘Friends’ fandom. Sorry about that.

There will be two more chapters, the second one being an epilogue chapter, but I can’t promise how fast those will be coming. My muse just isn’t working with me on this story. I think part of it might be, because this fandom sees few visitors, and even fewer reviews. I live for them (reviews), and when I don’t get them, I tend to lose interest in what I’m writing.

But in the interest of not leaving this story hanging, which is a pet peeve of mine, I am trying really hard to finish it. Hope it doesn’t suck, LOL.

Please review!

MTLBYAKY