provincialbelle | (no subject)

After several days, Belle could no longer ignore the signs. She had been so tired that she had barely made it out of bed and her muscles ached fiercely with a sort of fatigue that seemed to be warring with the swelling of her ankles for the most distracting symptom. Once she factored in the irritation and the headaches, she didn't want to do anything, let alone get out of bed.

Maybe, she reflected, it was a good thing that she was still at the Homestead. She couldn't imagine this would go over very well if she had left it. For one, no one would have found her for some time and wasn't that just a scary thought? As it was, she struggled with her bedsheets -- her body a decent temperature, but her limbs sore and she wanted to warm them -- and curled up on her side, making herself as small as she could be.

She just wanted to sleep. Maybe it wasn't right that after three days, she had spent more time asleep than awake, but she didn't care. She felt like she deserved a small break. It would all go away, she told herself. It would all fade.

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"What is it, Belle?"

Jacob had a sinking feeling that maybe this being sick had something to do with, well, that and while he wasn't prepared for it, he would support her all the way.

She tensed her jaw, trying to find the courage to say what she had to. "Jacob, in all of this, in what I've been feeling -- so tired, so worn." She was unsure about all of this, but felt as though she needed to tell him. "I'm late, too."

Oh. That just complicated the hell out of things, didn't it?

"Okay, then we definitely need to get you to a doctor so we can get a test run. I'm sure Dr. McCoy can do it."

Dr. McCoy was the only clinic doctor he'd even really met; Jacob was just too healthy otherwise.

She looked at him with such anxiety about her eyes that she wasn't even sure how to put her fears into words. She didn't want to be pregnant, not now. She was too young and this wasn't supposed to be how their lives went. "And what if I am?" she asked, quietly. At the same time, she wanted to be able to prepare herself.

"Then we get ready to have a baby," Jacob said, wanting it firmly known that he wasn't walking out on her for something like that. "If you want to get married, we'll get married, but I kind of think it's not a good idea just to get married because we're having a kid."

All this talk about marriage and children was setting her on edge. She took in a forceful deep breath and wished that it was enough to spark her to be more than this lethargic shadow of herself, but it never came. Instead, she felt the same lackadaisical exhaustion. "I just want to sleep, right now," she confessed. "I don't want to think about babies or marriage. Je m'excuse, petit," she finished tiredly.

"How about this? We take a nap for a little while and then we go to the clinic? I really, really want to be sure you're okay," Jacob said, stroking her hair lightly just to try and comfort her a little bit. "And I would rather know what it is then have to wonder. No matter what it is."

"If you'll come with me, I'll go," she negotiated, because she didn't want to go, but she also didn't want to deny his requests to be ignored. "And I'm sure it's nothing," she said, but was unable to stop from being afraid. After all, what if it was something?

"Of course I'll go with you," Jacob said, voice low and soft. "I wouldn't ever let you go alone. That's not even going to be an option, I promise.

She smiled and though it was weary, she was happier than she'd been only moments ago. After all, it was a positive step forward and he was going to be there with her through all of it. "I'd like that. Very much."