Alex
The private clinic to which we were taking Chasity brought back a few awful memories for me. Although it wasn’t the same hospital to which Dad had taken her back when she had almost drowned because of my brothers and me, it had a similar interior. White walls, white tiles, doctors in white coats and nurses in white uniforms. There were no varying shades anywhere. Nothing that was faded, stained or yellowing. It was all the same gleaming immaculate white, and every surface faintly smelled of lemon or pine. The cleanliness of the clinic put me at ease somewhat. I distinctly remembered my parents taking Chasity to dingy hole-in-the-wall healthcare facilities as a child. The first time they had taken her to an upscale establishment had been after the near-drowning incident. I squirmed in my seat as the guilt began to plague me. The guilt threatened to consume me every now and then. I focused on the angel fish in the tank nearby. We were in a waiting room with a colossal fish tank that completely covered the opposite wall. The ethereal moments of the silvery angel fish took my mind off of Chasity’s messed up childhood momentarily.
“We shouldn’t have to wait. We’re Alphas,” hissed Felix.
Chasity put her hand on his shoulder in an effort to calm him down.
“We’re early,” I said with a shrug. “The doctor’s not even in yet.”
The security guard had only let us in before the official opening time because we were Alphas.
“Then why the fuck are we here,” grumbled Felix.
“Because a certain Alpha was overeager…” began Calix.
“Doctor Casper just arrived,” said a stout nurse with a stern face.
She was sitting behind a huge desk that dwarfed her to the point that it looked comically large.
“Luna Chasity Thorn,” called a feminine voice from the next room.
We headed into the doctor’s office. The room was designed to resemble a baby’s nursery with pastel colours everywhere. It was a welcome change from the colourless waiting room we had come from.
“Good Morning Doc,” said Calix brightly, stepping forward to shake her hand as she stood up.
“Good Morning, Doctor,” I said, shaking her hand too.
“Morning,” mumbled Felix, folding his arms and fixing her with a grumpy glare.
“Oh my goodness, I’m so sorry about the wait, Alphas,” said the doctor apologetically.
“That’s fine. We were early,” I said quickly.
Felix happily decided to shake her hand after she had apologised for the wait though she should not have had to do so.
“Good Morning,” said my Luna, nervously playing with her fingers as she looked around at some of the equipment.
The doctor followed Chasity’s gaze and reassuringly said, “All we’re doing today is a first trimester ultrasound which will help us estimate your due date. We’ll also do a doppler ultrasound so you can hear the heartbeat. That’s always a favourite, especially with excited Dads.”
Felix grinned in anticipation. He and Calix exchanged an eager look.
“What about blood work?” I asked as we sat down.
Chasity kicked my ankle.
Hey! I said indignantly over mind-link.
I don’t want blood drawn, she said, her grumpy little voice echoing in my mind.
It’s necessary, I said.
All the books I had been reading stressed the importance of routine blood tests for expecting mothers.
“Of course, we’ll be taking some blood for routine tests,” said Doctor Casper so cheerfully you would think she were announcing the winner of a sweepstakes or something.
Chasity glared at me.
It’s not because of me, I said defensively. It’s routine.
Chasity held Calix’s hand, squeezing it. She was sitting between Calix and me. Felix was on the end this time, on Calix’s left, but we were all huddled close together.
“It’s not scary at all,” Calix murmured in Chasity’s ear. “It’s quick and almost painless, trust me.”
“Then how come you always cry afterwards?” Asked Felix.
It was Calix’s turn to kick Felix’s ankle.
Hey! Yelped Felix over mind-link sans Chasity.
She’s already scared! Don’t make it worse, snapped Calix.
Calix is right, I said.
Felix huffed but he didn’t protest any further.
Besides, I haven’t cried over having my blood drawn in like four years, boasted Calix.
Felix snorted with laughter. Doctor Casper looked up from her notes and Felix tried to stifle his snickering.
Four years ago, we were seventeen, I said to Calix.
Yeah, so? he said.
Um, nothing, never mind, I said, dropping the issue.
The doctor interviewed Chasity, asking her questions about the early days of her pregnancy.
“Do you remember when you last had your period?” Asked Doctor Casper.
Chasity shook her head.
“January 4th,” answered Felix without hesitation.
We all looked at him in surprise.
“Unless she had another period while she was gone?” He said, looking at Chasity expectantly.
She shook her head.
How did you remember that? Asked Calix. Are you turning into Alex?
Even I don’t remember that, I said.
I wondered if I should start keeping a menstrual diary for Chasity.
We don’t get laid when she’s surfing the crimson wave as they say, responded Felix promptly. So of course I’m gonna remember that.
We had all learnt our fair share of lingo from Chasity’s favourite girly human movies so we knew what the euphemism “surfing the crimson wave” meant. Calix stifled a chuckle and Felix zeroed in on my notebook as I jotted down this new information.
What’s LMP? Felix asked, still eavesdropping on what I was writing.
I was pretty impressed that Felix kept a mental note of Chasity’s cycle but a physical note was always superior so I had written the date down, noting it as the LMP.
Last Menstrual Period. Doctors abbreviate that to LMP sometimes in their notes, I responded.
Are you trying to outdo the actual doctor note-wise? Laughed Felix.
The palest ink is better than the best memory, I said, repeating one of my favourite old sayings.
Chasity was asked to pass some urine for the doctor after this. Of course, the urine dipstick pregnancy test was positive and I was happy to hear she had no blood or other abnormalities in her urine.
“Your urine is totally normal,” said the doc, smiling at Chasity and the nurse assisting her.
The nurse took Chasity’s vitals which were also normal then the doctor drew some blood and sent it for a stat test.
“I’ll call later with the results that aren’t stat,” said Doctor Casper. “You won’t have to wait around.”
Chasity nodded. I could tell my Luna was eager to leave even though the visit was going well. Visiting the doctor was probably triggering for her. I felt a pang of guilt at that, again remembering the time Chasity spent in the hospital after the ice-fishing hole incident. I wished I could erase that memory. I wished I could go back and not let it happen in the first place. My wolf reminded me that it was impossible to change the past without affecting the future. Our future was bright and contained a happy healthy pregnant Chasity. She was pregnant with our pups. Everything had worked out well.
“The stat test is normal. Your blood count is great,” said the doctor cheerfully.
She patted the examination bed, indicating that Chasity should lie on it. We all rushed to pick our Luna up but Felix, being the pushiest, ended up getting to lift her onto the bed. I watched as the doctor palpated Chasity’s belly. Although my Luna wasn’t showing yet it was routine to do so. The doctor squirted some gel onto Chasity’s belly and put the doppler on it. We got to hear the heartbeat which sounded a bit like the gallop of a horse. The doctor explained that this was normal but she seemed a little intrigued by something.
“That’s a very strong heartbeat,” she murmured, more to herself than to us.
“That’s good right?” I asked anxiously.
“One moment,” said the doctor, reaching for the probe from her ultrasound machine. A huge smile spread across her face. She pointed to the screen. Chasity sat up a little. I could tell my Luna had been anticipating this part of the visit: seeing our baby growing inside of her. I looked at screen and was surprised to see three individual little figures, each with a pulsating structure within them. My eyes widened. Were those three hearts beating in unison?
“Congratulations!” Squealed the doctor. “Three future alphas in the making.”
My brothers and I looked at each other in shock.
“What?!” Asked Chasity, propping herself up on her elbows and scrutinising the screen where three hearts expanded and contracted in perfect synchronisation. No wonder it had sounded like one loud heartbeat. My little guys were harmonising in there. The joy I felt was indescribable. My brothers and I had our ups and downs but the bond we had as triplets was unbreakable. At our earliest moment, we had been a single cell, one entity. My pups would have started out the same way before they split into three. I couldn’t wait to meet them. I was so happy they would have each other to grow up with. There was nothing else quite like it.
“You’re having triplets! Three pups. If you were human, it’d be too early to tell but as they’re werewolves and their momma is a she-wolf, I can see the three of them quite clearly though you’re early so they’re tiny,” explained the doctor patiently.
“They’ll be as big as their Daddy, give them time!” Said Felix somewhat defensive.
“Their Daddies!” I specified, correcting him.
Calix fixed Felix with a glare. I could tell my littlest brother was tired of Felix claiming to be the sole father.
“Is it possible to tell who is the father?” Asked Calix, looking at our babies in wonder.
I highly doubted it was possible. We were identical so our DNA should be indistinguishable.
“Probably not because your DNA is identical. Identical triplets. Identical DNA. I can try to make an educated guess based on sexual history like who last had sex with Chasity and how that coincides with her last menstrual period to see when she might have conceived…” suggested the doctor.
“No, that’s ok,” said Chasity, cutting across the doctor.
My Luna was blushing. She clearly didn’t want to give details of our escapades and entanglements especially since they often involved all of us so what would be the point? A review of Chasity’s sexual history probably still wouldn’t indicate which of us grown triplets had fathered the baby triplets.
Baby triplets. The reality of having three babies to raise instead of one was beginning to dawn on me. I had been nervous (albeit excited) enough about one baby. Now, we had three little bundles of joy to contend with. I observed Chasity’s expression closely, hoping she was as happy as we were. I could practically feel the sheer joy radiating off Calix along with the bursting pride Felix was exuding. I was sure Felix was giving himself all the credit for the triplet babies, thinking he was three times the stud now.
I’m a baby-making machine, Felix informed us.
No comment. My attention was still on my Luna. My brothers looked to her also. She was smiling serenely and we all grinned back. I was relieved she wasn’t stressed about the situation. She had every right to be. She was a first-time Mom pregnant with triplets. Luckily, there were three devoted Dads involved. This would be a piece of cake…right?
