When We Were Young

A New Reality

I was woken up by a slight shake to my shoulders. I was face down on the bed, Skylar's hands still clenched in mine. It felt like I had been asleep for hours but it hadn't been more than fifteen minutes.

Rachel was helping me up, and shuffling me out of the room.

"The doctor just wants to talk to you," she said. She was more composed than earlier. Her arm was around me, moving me through the hallway.

"Dr. Stein, this is AJ, Skylar's boyfriend."

He was very tall, with a gray mustache and hair, and was wearing green scrubs. His expression matched mine.

"AJ," he said and extended his hand. "I'm sorry for what happened."
I only nodded as he continued. Conversation wasn't really at the forefront of my mind. "I'm not sure how much you and Skylar were able to talk?" he motioned toward her room.

I cleared my throat. "She's sleeping."

Dr. Stein nodded and glanced down at his chart. "Well, she signed off on allowing me to talk to you about any procedures that need to be done."

I glanced at Rachel who only smiled reassuringly.

"Well, she'll have to have the D&C and I want to make sure there are no other problems." When he saw my face, Dr. Stein clearly understood that I had no idea what he was talking about. "We'll have to clean out the embryonic tissue that didn't pass. Typically, we let the body take care of it, but given Skylar's issues and that this is her second..." he stopped seeing my reaction.

I stiffened and Rachel's arm around me tightened.

"Jesus," she muttered and cleared her throat. Dr. Stein glanced quickly to Rachel, who shook her head, and then to me.

"Listen," his tone changed to sympathy. He let out a slow breath. "I'm sure you know that Skylar has issues..." he started and I nodded. I knew that Skylar never had normal cycles and she was often in a lot of pain when she did. She said it was mild endometriosis. She'd skip months at a time but was never concerned that she was pregnant, so neither was I. We stopped using condoms a long time ago, and she was on the pill. She had mentioned having cysts before but didn't elaborate. It felt like an intrusion to push her to tell me more when she obviously didn't want to talk about it.

"Skylar indicated that this wasn't a planned pregnancy." I nodded, just waiting for him to get to the point. The emotional exhaustion was starting to weigh on me. Second miscarriage. My mind flashed to the picture she used to have on her shelf, the one I saw on the first night I was at her place. Skylar was engaged, and I could see the small bulge under her shirt. She was pregnant, as was my first impression. "Well, you should have a conversation about not getting pregnant again. I know this is a lot to take in but I advised her not to, but after fifteen years of treating her, I know how stubborn she can be. But now that she's older..."

I couldn't think about it and cut him off. "When will the procedure be?"

"We'll let her rest at least a day. See if her body can't pass some tissue on it's own. On Wednesday?" And I nodded after get affirmation from Rachel.

"How far along?" I asked when he went to walk away. I caught his arm and he turned back with brows raised.

He frowned and sighed, debating whether or not he should tell me. "We're estimating around eleven weeks but the fetus had probably stopped growing at nine."

I blinked, shell-shocked. I tried to rack my brain over the past months. She was pregnant? I didn't understand. Sure, she had skipped a couple of spinning classes, and a few times she wanted to stay in rather than go out. Skylar's stomach was flat, not a small bump or bulge to be seen.