Chapter 1
Danny obligingly held Mindy's hair back as she moaned into the toilet bowl. "I told you not to go to that food truck, didn't I?" He handed her a glass of water as she sat up and glared at him. "Never buy food from a truck here you can't see what their up to. Stick to the guys with the little carts. They can't hide crap."
Mindy closed her eyes and tried to ignore the gentle way he tucked her hair behind her ears. "Danny?"
"Yeah, babe?"
"Shut up. Shut up. Shut up. Shut up," she whispered miserably.
He knew better than to laugh, so he petted her hair and kissed her sweaty forehead instead. "I'm sorry." She gagged and he jerked back as she once again assumed the position. "I'm going to get you a ginger ale. We'll see if that helps."
A pitiful whimper was his only response as he headed towards the kitchen.
Danny rummaged in the fridge and muttered out his worry about Mindy dealing with food poisoning.
Then he winced and thought about himself dealing with a Mindy who had food poisoning.
His wife of two years was not the best patient in the world. The whining, the endless movie marathons, the whining, the mandatory get-well daisies, the whining.
But still, he hated her being sick. As a doctor he always felt the need to fix whatever ailed his patient, and with Mindy there was none of that impartiality crap, so he always keenly felt the need to kiss the ouchie and make it all better.
Danny was pouring the soda into a glass and reviewing her symptoms in his mind when a thought occurred. Mindy had only eaten two hours ago, having missed lunch due to a complicated delivery. Most food-borne illnesses took 3 or more hours to create the kind of symptoms Mindy was showing. Also, he'd had his hand somewhere on her for the past half hour since they'd been home and she wasn't feverish. She also wasn't showing any indication of abdominal cramps or the runs.
So, he conceded to himself with a shrug, maybe it wasn't the food trucks fault. Maybe she just picked up a virulent virus from the subway or from the hospital. He picked up the glass and grinned. He'd just told one of the couples in his office today that ginger-anything would help with morning sickness.
He stopped so suddenly that the ginger ale sloshed over the rim of the glass and onto his shirt.
Mindy came out of the restroom at that moment, toothbrush in her hand, and snorted at the splotch on his shirt. "Very graceful, sir. Those dance lessons really paid off." She shrugged her shoulders and resumed brushing her teeth. "It's weird, but I feel fine now," she said as she stepped back into the restroom to spit and rinse. "I mean, on the elevator it was like BAM! And my insides were like, "time to get rid everything you've ever eaten, bitch!" Even though I was like, "No, no! Leave me the pistachio cookie dough ice cream that I discovered in grad school", and my stomach was like, "No! Everything goes."
She gargled and spit into the sink. "And now my guts are all like, "What? What are you talking about? We didn't say anything". You know?" She turned and found Danny in the same position, glass in his hand. She took it and sipped it gratefully. "What's the matter, babe?" She asked as he stared at her.
Mindy gasped. "Oh no! Do you feel sick too?" She pushed him towards the restroom as she patted his back. "We probably both caught a short term bug. You'll be fine."
He got all the way into the restroom before his brain caught up with the rest of him. He spun around and Mindy gasped, putting her hands up. "Not the face! Not the face! Aim for the toilet!"
"Mindy."
Realizing he wasn't about to hurl, even if he did look a little green, and frankly, a lot sweaty, Mindy put a hand on his forehead. "What? What's the matter?"
"You stopped taking your birth control, right?"
"Yeah," she said with a smile, remembering their decision to forego all birth control two months ago so they could 'see what happens'. She gasped and put her hand over her mouth. "Do you think I could be having a reaction to suddenly coming off the meds?" She put her hands on her hips as she listed the cessation side effects of her birth control pills.
Danny watched her with a mixture of frustration and dazzled awe.
He took her face in his hands, which effectively stopped her pharmacology monologue. "Min." He leaned forward and kissed her slowly, holding her close until her hands clutched at his shirt. He broke the kiss and leaned his forehead against hers.
"Whoa there, buddy," she smiled. "Brushed my teeth just in time, huh?"
"Hey. Dr. Castellano," he drawled at his fellow ob-gyn. "What is one of the other common side effects of stopping birth control?"
"Well, let's see, Dr. Castellano." More interested in him now then their conversation; she wrapped her arms around his waist as she answered in her best clinical voice. "Fluid retention. Acne. Increased risk of pregnancy...holy shit." She finished on a whisper.
They stared at each other for several more seconds, and then they both looked down at her tummy.
"Do you think...?"
"Are we...?"
Mindy jumped back and put her hands to her stomach. "Holy crap! Holy crap!" She squealed with glee as she jumped up and down.
"Uh, okay. Okay." Danny shoved his fingers through his hair as he started pacing. "Calm down! We should take a test, right? I mean, it could be still be food poisoning, right?"
"Oh my god, Danny!" She hugged him and felt tears coming as he held her tightly, raining kisses on the top of her head. "Yes! We have to take a test right now."
