capture [camren]

thirty one.

lauren.

"I'm nervous." I said as Camila and I waited for the doctor to come. The nurse came in to take Camila's blood for a blood test a while ago. "Why are you nervous? I'm the one carrying the baby." Camila asked. "I don't know, I just am." I said. "It's fine Lo, relax." She replied and the doctor came in. "Hello Miss Estrabao, this is...?" The doctor asked. "Lauren Jauregui." I introduced and shook her hand. "So girlfriend? Friend? Family?" She asked and I hesitated to answer.

Should I say father or what?

"She's a friend of mine, she's very excited about the baby so she tagged along." Camila answered for me. "A little too excited I guess." I added and the doctor chuckled. "I can tell, the baby is merely a few weeks old." She prepared her tools.

"We're going to start with a pap smear then take an ultrasound." The doctor said and Camila nodded. "I'll need you to remove your bottoms." She said and Camila got up. "I'll give you a minute to undress." The doctor said and left the room. "I'll look away." I told Camila. "It's not like you've never seen anything." She said, unbuttoning her jeans. I looked away, trying to not look at her.

She got undressed and sat down on the chair then the doctor walked in. "This is going to be slightly uncomfortable." The doctor said and did something under the blue sheet covering Camila. "I'm going to perform a transvaginal scan on you." The doctor said. I got up and stood beside Camila, eyes glued to the screen, waiting for the doctor to stick the probe into Camila to see the baby.

"And if you look closely, that little spot is the baby." The doctor said. "Oh my gosh, Camz, it's so cute. It's like a nugget." I squealed, grabbing Camila's hand. "Not really a nugget but it's about the size of a seed." The doctor corrected. "Take two bites of a nugget and it's still a nugget." I sassed. "I'll print out a picture for you." The doctor said, not wanting to continue the conversation. "Actually can you make it two copies?" I asked. "Erm...sure." She gave me a weird look but still printed two pictures out. "I'll let you redress." The doctor said, passing me the pictures and left the room.

I smiled, looking at the photo. "Erm, Lauren?" Camila called and I looked up.
"Can you help me get my pants?" She asked. I pulled my hand out of hers and passed her her clothes. "I'm sorry." I said, sitting down on the chair. "For what?" She asked. "Holding your hand." I said, looking at her and she was pulling her underwear up her legs which made me blush and look away. "It's fine." She replied.

The doctor came back in and Camila was sitting beside me. "We'll know about your blood test and pap smear results on the next appointment but I'll send you an email as soon as I get it. Any questions?" The doctor asked. "I have one." I said, looking at Camila then back at the doctor.

"So erm...the father of the baby is me..." I said. "I don't think that's possible." The doctor laughed. "No, I have Hermaphroditism which is the medical term for Intersex." I said. "And?" She asked. "I'm just asking about the chances the baby would have the same condition as me." I replied.

"Since there is an equal amount of DNA that the foetus shares from both parents, there is a 50-50 chance that your child might have inherit the same condition. However, we will only know once the mother has reached twelve weeks when we can determine the sex of the baby. If you want to, we can get Miss Estrabao a MRI scan to get more accurate results. There are medication and surgeries out there that you can get your child if they happen to get the condition." She explained and I nodded.

We left the doctor's office and made our way to the carpark. "Where are you going next?" I asked. "I don't have any plans, I'll just head home, what about you?" She asked. "I'm heading home." I replied. "Can I go over to your place? I'm really bored." She asked. "Oh, sure." I replied and she passed me the car keys and I opened the passenger door for her and she said thanks before climbing in. I walked over and got in the driver's seat.

We walked down the hallway to my apartment and I pulled out my keys. "Wait, does pregnancy make you like hate animals or something?" I asked. "Erm...no." Camila replied. "Well, I got a dog so I wanted to make sure." I said and unlocked the door. I opened it and my dog just went zooming out of the apartment. "Leo, come here." I called and Leo ran back to me, clawing at my leg. "Hi baby." I cooed, picking him up.

"This is Leo, I got him about a few weeks ago at an adoption drive." I said. "Aw, he's so cute." Camila replied, stroking his head. I placed Leo back on the ground and he ran into the apartment. I opened the door wider to Camila to walked in. "It's smaller than the first apartment but I don't really mind." I said, walking in and closing the door behind me. "Looks really spacious though." She replied, looking around. Leo ran to me and I picked him up again.

"Can I hold him?" She asked. "Sure." I replied, passing the puppy to her. "He's so cute." She smiled, looking at the puppy she was cradling in her arms. "He's usually sleeping but I'm surprised he's awake." I said, sitting down on the couch. Camila sat down beside me and placed Leo down who climbed over my lap to get to his toy on the end of the couch. He walked over to Camila and dropped the toy in front of her. "He wants you to play with him." I told her and Camila smiled, grabbing the toy and tossing it for Leo to fetch.

"So you smoke weed now?" She asked, referring to the bong I had left out on the coffee table. "Occasionally..." I replied. I started smoking to distract myself from the break up and it became a recreational thing. "So what have you been up to?" I asked, grabbing the toy Leo brought back and tossing it again for him to fetch. "Nothing much, since the pregnancy, I'm trying to make sure I don't draw too much attention on media but I have a few things to do before I go on my break." She answered. "Do you want to tell everyone about the pregnancy?" I asked. "I don't know, they are going to know somehow." She replied and the room fell silence except for the shaking of Leo's toy.

"So why did you ask about the baby?" She asked. "I wanted to know." I replied. "Know?" She wanted me to continued. "I want to make sure the baby doesn't experience the same thing I had to go through." I said, looking down. "I just realised you've never told me about your life in school and stuff." She replied. "It wasn't fun, I don't want to talk about it." I said and she didn't push. "Look, even if the baby has the same condition as you, the baby will have you to talk to." She placed her hand over mine to comfort me.

"Yea but still, I don't want the baby to go through whatever I went through." I said. "We can give the baby surgery if you want to." She replied. "No. No surgery." I said, feeling chills running down my spine, thinking about it. "Why not?" She asked. "How about we let the kid decide if they want surgery in the future?" I asked. "Alright, that sounds good." She nodded.

"Hey, I didn't notice you got a new tattoo." She said, looking at the roman numbers on my forearm. "Yea, got it a week ago." I replied. "Looks good." She complimented. "Thanks." I replied. "Do you want some water?" I asked, getting up. "Sure." She replied. I went to the kitchen, grabbing two cups and poured some water then took out the strawberries I bought and pinned up the photo of the scan on the fridge door. I walked out and Camila perked up at the fruit in my hand.

"I was having craving for them in the doctor's office." She said, taking it from me. I placed the cups on the table and Leo jumped onto the couch and fell asleep on my lap. I slowly stroked his fur and took a strawberry from Camila. "How has work been for you?" She asked. "It's good, I have a big shoot next week." I replied and she nodded, taking a sip out of her water. "I heard from Mani." She said and I waited for her to continue. "You and Ally." She said, implying that we're dating. "Oh no, we're not dating. Don't listen to Mani." I replied. "Alright." She said. "Are you seeing anyone?" I asked, out of curiosity. "No and the pregnancy doesn't help." She said. "Okay." I replied.

I looked down at Leo and smiled. "So why did you choose Leo?" Camila asked. "I was playing with the pups at the drive and I saw Leo and he got my attention so I adopted him." I replied and she nodded. "He's so adorable when he sleeps." She said. "I know, the number of photos I have taken of him is ridiculous." I replied, pulling out my phone from my pocket.

---

IT'S 7/27 TODAY. IT'S BEEN FIVE YEARS SINCE FIFTH HARMONY WAS A THING. I AM PROUD AND HAPPY FOR MY GIRLS, INCLUDING CAMILA. I AM SHOOK.

have a nice day.