Can You Find A Way To Love Me?

-Surprise, Surprise-

Harper walked into work the next morning completely emotionless. She was in shock. Everything that happened over the last twelve hours was becoming a blur. Today as she walked into work she did not greet Rami with a friendly smile, nor did she stop to talk to Abe on her way to her desk. When she arrived she went straight to her desk. However, she did not begin working, but rather, she replayed the events of the last twelve hours in her head.

Flashback

The workday ended at 19:00 and Harper was ready to go home and go to bed. She planned to quickly stop off at the clinic to get some sort of medication for her nausea and then get some takeout before heading home. She didn't think that she needed to go to the clinic for a little case of food poisoning, but she wanted to prove a point to Captain Dobbins.

Lieutenant Li arrived at the clinic at around 19:15 and was left to wait for the next available doctor. She waited for about forty-five minutes before a doctor was finally ready to see her.

"What seems to be going on today, Lieutenant?" The doctor asked upon walking into the room.

"I've had some nausea. I've been really tired. I'm assuming that I just have a mild case of food poisoning from something I ate at SERE."

"When was your last menstrual cycle, Lieutenant?"

"Before I left for SERE," she began, "I've been under a lot of stress so I just assumed that's why it stopped," She admitted. 

"I'm going to need to get a urine sample. I also want to run a blood test. Just to make sure that everything is in order."

Harper nodded as the doctor handed her the small cup. She watched as he left the room and she was once again left with her own thoughts.

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The tests were done, now all she could do was wait. An hour had passed and she still had no answers. Her mind was beginning to wander once again. How was Bard doing? Did he miss her as much as she missed him? Was he happy without her? Did he lay in bed and cry at night just like she did?

She was pulled from her thoughts as the doctor finally walked back into the room, her test results in his hand. She felt nervous as she stared at the manilla folder in his hand.

"Ready for your results, Lietenant?"

She nodded, unable to get any words out. Why was she so nervous to get told she has food poisoning? She watched the doctor as he slowly opened the folder.

"Good news," the doctor began, "It's not food posioning."

"If it's not food posioning," Harper started, now confused, "What is it?"

"Lieutenant, we ran a pregnancy test through both your blood and your urine, both coming back positive."

"T-That's not possible," she stated, stumbling over her words, "I broke things off with my fiancé eight weeks ago. Two weeks before I went to SERE."  

The doctor handed Harper a piece of paper. She stared down at it, not wanting to believe the words that just left his mouth.

"What I just handed you is a referral to an OB/GYN that is off the military base. I suggest that you make an appointment with her as soon as you can. You also need to tell your commanding officer of your condition. I'm sure that you know, Lieutenant, a pregnant marine is supposed to be strictly on desk duty. I can contact your CO if you'd like..."

"N-No," Harper cut him off, "I will inform her of my condition first thing tomorrow morning."

The last thing that she wanted was for Colonel Turnbull to find out her current state. She got caught in crossfire in Syria, she achieved the Bronze Star Medal, she was a badass lawyer. She didn't want to give all that up. Not yet.

With that the doctor left the room and Harper began her walk back to her apartment on base. She decided  to skip getting take-out, heading straight home. She crawled into bed that night, not getting much sleep. Instead, her head was swimming with thoughts. The thought that weighed the heaviest  on her mind was this: Was she a fool to break off her engagement with Bard?

End of Flashback

"Harper? Lieutenant Li?" Captain Dobbins waved her hand in front of Harper's face. Harper looked up at her, finally coming back to reality.

"Yeah?" Harper responded, unsure of how long Maya had been standing there.

"Are you okay? You've been staring off into space for the last fifteen minutes."

She nodded, assuming that was what the Captain wanted to hear. Instead, she was pulled from her chair and into and empty conference room. Maya shut and locked the door behind them and turned her attention back to the Lieutenant.

"What's going on, Harper?"

"I-Uh," the lieutenant began, "It's not food posioning...," she trailed off, not wanting to share the actual prognosis with her co-worker.

"What is it then? You know you can talk to me."

Harper looked down at her hands, fidgeting with her fingers, before finally responding, "I'm pregnant..."

The young lieutenant found her eyes filling up with tears as she realized it was the first time that she had actually said it out loud. Maya stood there in complete shock. She was just teasing Harper in good fun, she assumed that she actually had food posioning. This was life changing. Maybe even career changing.

"I-It's Bard's," Harper began, the tears now rolling down her cheeks, "I b-broke off the engagment. F-Four years of dating and loving him and I threw it all away. I still love him. I don't k-know what I'm going to do..."

Harper found herself wrapped in a tight hug. It's times like these that made her appreciate that she had a friend like Maya. She always gave the best advice. She was Harper's shoulder to cry on after she broke off the engagement. One might even say that she was the lieutenant's best friend.

"Harper, if you still feel that strongly about him, reach out and tell him. He won't know that you still love him unless you tell him."

Harper nodded, knowing that the captain was right as usual. If she wanted Bard back she needs to tell him how she feels plain and simple.

"You need to tell Colonel Turnbull."

With that Harper's face fell to floor, not liking where this conversation was heading.

(1064 words)