Unity

Chapter Eighteen

"How are you guys doing?" Hanji came and greeted us from their office and led us in. "Congrats on three months pregnant and four months on T, Armin!" I thanked them and sat down on the table like I always did.

"We're doing really well, but I've been pretty anxious about the test today, haha," Hanji smiled at me.

"Don't worry, too much. We've just gotta make sure the baby in there's heart's pumping. The chance that it's not alive is very slim. Since you've hit three months, it is almost guaranteed that the baby will live on." Hanji got some cream out of her droor and told me to lie down on the table. "Your voice is really starting to change! You sound like a boy who's just hit puberty!" I laughed a bit.

"Haha, thanks," Hanji gave me one of the hospital dresses that they put on patients when they're doing stuff to them. I put it on over my clothes.

"Actually, Armin, I'm going to have you take off your shirt. You can keep your binder on as long as I can lift it up where your stomach is." 

"Okay," I took the hospital dress off and took my t-shirt off. I put the hospital dress back on and lied down on the table again. Hanji brought a screen by me and put some cream on her fingers. She opened the dress where my stomach was and lifted up my binder so my stomach was showing.

"You barely, barely have a baby bump which is weird considering you're so skinny," Hanji put the cream on my stomach and looked up at the screen. It displayed an image of the inside of my stomach, and I saw a tiny little baby about the size of an orange. "There's your baby, so I have to find it. I'm sorry, I'll be touched you a lot, tell me if you feel uncomfortable," I nodded as they began to feel around my stomach. Eren sat next to the table that I was laying on and stared at the screen. He was looking at the baby in awe.

"Do you feel it?" Hanji shook their head, but then they smiled.

"Found it!" Hanji focused on one place in my stomach and felt around it. "Yes, this is it," Hanji kept their hand on that one spot and reached for their stephoscope. Hanji put the stephoscope on my stomach where the baby was and pushed it down further so they could hear the baby's heartbeat. Hanji kept moving around the stephoscope and kept pushing it down farther. It kind of hurt, but I knew that they had to keep doing it until they heard the heartbeat. "Armin, come with me, we have to run a stronger test." I nodded and followed them into another room. "Lie down here," they pointed to a bed and I obeyed.

Hanji brought out a large thing and put it over my stomach. They turned on a screen which was connected to the device they layed out on my stomach and looked at it closeley. I heard them mutter something that was definitely not something I wanted to hear.

"No heartbeat..." they said it in a way in which they didn't want me to hear, but I did hear it. I know that I didn't mishear them, too.

"Wait, is it okay?" I tried to get up, forgetting that there was a gigantic thing on my stomach. Hanji turned around and faced me.

"Have you been feeling weird the last couple of days?" I nodded my head.

"I've been having a lot of cramps and my stomach has been hurting a lot," Hanji looked back up at the screen and turned it off. They looked at me quite sympathetically.

"I'm going to go get Eren. Stay here." I nodded and watched as they left the room. They came back just thirty seconds later with Eren following them.

Hanji closed the door and sat down in their chair. Eren sat down next to me and stared at them hopefully.

"I'm really sorry," I wished with all my heart that those words didn't lead to what I thought they would. I peered over at Eren, and tears were already starting to form in his eyes. "But your baby didn't make it." I could tell that Eren was trying as hard as he could not to cry, but it wasn't working. Tears fell down his face and he pulled me into a hug. I, on the other hand, stayed completely still. I stayed faced forward and didn't move nor cry. I didn't really feel anything but shock... we got so far and when it was least likely for the baby to die it... did.