At the clinic the attendant told Eri, "I scheduled you with a female doctor that you haven't seen before, since Rioko-sensei is out on leave for a few weeks."

Eri nodded and said "Okay."

The attendant turned his attention to Takumi and asked them both, "Are you here for STD testing too? This just says birth control."

He looked at their embarrassed faces and then firmly advocated that they add the testing to their visit since they were both there. Eventually they gave in, and both of them had their blood sampled and peed into a testing cup before it was time for Eri to be called in to talk to the doctor.

Takumi laughed at Eri's blushes, but he also hugged her comfortingly and told her, "It's not a big deal. Don't worry everyone goes through this stuff, it's just that no one likes to talk about it."

When they called her in, she clung to his hand for a moment and he asked quietly, "Want me to come with you or wait for you?"

She replied shyly, "Come with me?"

He nodded and they followed the doctor's assistant into the consultation room.

After a few minutes the doctor came in, and flipped through the waiting notes. Then she looked up and asked, "You came in to choose a birth control method according to the appointment notes?"

They both nodded.

"Both of you are clear on the STD tests, but I can't put you on birth control," the doctor replied.

Eri protested, "Why not?"

The woman frowned at her and said, "You're already pregnant according to your tests."

Takumi froze in surprise, and Eri stared at her in disbelieving shock. After a minute she squeaked, "That's impossible!"

The doctor looked at them with a sardonic expression and asked, "You've never had sex?"

Eri just stared at her. Takumi was the one who replied calmly, "We have, but it seems very unlikely, and it hasn't been long enough that it should necessarily show."

"It's from a previous partner then," the doctor said with a disgusted tone to her voice.

"It is not!" Eri wailed with distress.

The doctor looked at Takumi and suggested, "Maybe you should let me talk to her alone for a few minutes."

Takumi looked at Eri's white face and said, "No, you can talk to both of us." He scooped Eri up into his lap and hugged her tightly. Then he looked at the doctor and said, "I think you should run the test again."

The doctor glared at him and insisted, "The test is very accurate."

Calmly he asked, "Accurate enough to be certain after only three days? When condoms were used?"

The doctor snapped, "That's really unlikely, so let me talk to her about her other partners."

Eri shook her head violently and stared up at Takumi and protested, "No one else!"

He kissed her forehead and told her, "I know that."

The doctor gazed at them with exasperation.

Takumi looked back at her and said firmly, "Please run the test again, or I'll just take her to a different doctor."

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Angrily, the doctor called her assistant back in, and ran the blood test on Eri herself. She showed Takumi the result with a sneer. He paled a little but Eri burst into tears, and he cuddled her gently.

The doctor rolled her eyes, and Takumi stood abruptly with Eri in his arms and walked out of her office.

Halfway down the hall another doctor stepped out of an examining room and halted in shock. "Eri-chan?" he questioned. "What happened?"

Eri looked up and gasped, "Wei-sensei!" Tears were still pouring down her face.

Takumi jerked his head in the direction of the room they'd just left and said angrily, "That doctor doesn't believe Eri, and was looking down on both of us!"

Wei looked at the doctor who'd just exited the room behind them, and said calmly, "I'm just a pediatrician, but why don't you come into my office and tell me what's going on."

Takumi shrugged and followed him when Eri nodded.

The doctor led them into a tiny room that was obviously an administrative office, rather than one set up for patients. Takumi sat gingerly and rebalanced Eri in his lap.

Eri tried to speak, but she was crying too hard to be understandable, and after a moment Takumi asked, "Do you want me to tell him everything Eri?"

She nodded and he explained the situation. When he finished Eri had mostly stopped crying, and Wei said gently, "It sounds like you're very lucky."

They both stared at the man incredulously. And he grinned at them and said, "From what you've told me, you seem to have hit a 1 in 10,000 chance."

Eri protested unhappily, "I don't want to be pregnant."

Wei told her reluctantly, "If it really has been only three days, you might be able to use a morning after pill. But since you're already testing positive, it's not very likely to work."

Eri asked shakily, "Are there any bad effects if it doesn't work?"

Takumi tensed and looked at her with alarm.

Wei replied, "No, if it doesn't work it won't have any effect on the baby."

Eri desperately wanted to unhear his words. 'The baby.' He said it so calmly. But she only nodded and said, "I'll try it."

Takumi's expression tightened, but he didn't say anything, he just held her and watched her take it when the assistant brought it in. They scheduled another test for Friday, to see if it would be successful, and then they left.

--

When they reached his bike Takumi asked, "What should I do, are you going to be okay if I go back to work?" Eri looked up at him and he hugged her again and said, "I want to spend more time holding you and talk about it."

She shook her head and he loosened his hold a little. "I don't want to talk about it. I don't want to think about it. I don't want this," she told him plaintively.

He hugged her tighter and asked a little desperately, "What do you want? What can I do?"

She clung to him and said anxiously, "I just want to date you normally. Go to dinner with you tomorrow. Not think about it."

He bit his lip and after a moment he agreed, "Okay Eri, I'll try."

She looked up at him anxiously, and he kissed her gently. He cupped her cheek in his hand and she leaned into it. "Is it okay to forget about it until after the test on Friday?" she whispered.

"Yes," he agreed. "Want to go get a cup of tea before I take you home?"

Eri sighed and said, "Takumi, I'm sorry, I don't want to look at you right now. Can I just meet you tomorrow?" She looked at his expression and repeated, "I'm sorry."

He took a deep breath and said, "It's okay." Nothing was okay, and they both knew it, but she needed him to tell her that it was okay.

He kissed her again gently, then fastened her up and took her home.

Before she walked away he asked hesitantly, "Can I call you later?"

She just shrugged and stared at him wordlessly.

"I'll call," he told her. "But you don't have to answer."

After a moment, she nodded, and then walked away.

He went back to work, and Eri went up to the roof and sat beside the little sand garden until sunset. Her parents noticed that she was subdued, but they didn't pester her about it, other than asking if she were okay.

Takumi called her after dinner and after staring at her phone for a minute, she answered, "Hi."

"Hi," he replied gently. "Do you want to go somewhere fancy, or keep it low key tomorrow? Any preference on type of food or anything?"

Eri stared blankly out the window for a moment then replied, "I don't know. I don't like fish very much, except for shellfish."

"Alright," he replied after a minute.

He suggested several restaurants and Eri hesitated for a while before asking, "Can you just pick one? I'm sorry, I have no idea."

He laughed a little and replied, "Sure."

They talked for a while longer and then Eri crawled into bed. She stared blindly at the ceiling in her sleeping space and thought about how strangely numb she felt. She hadn't really thought about anything while staring at the sky, and she wasn't really thinking about anything as she lay staring at the ceiling. Finally she closed her eyes and slept.