Mary, Mary .05

Oh, sweet Mary, child of confusion, she runs the hills to cry
Past the willows or an illusion, Lord, tell me the reason why.
Tell me why, why is it all so hard ?
Breathing in the air Breathe in the air
Anyone to care."

- "Oh Sweet Mary", Janis Joplin

**

A lot of things can happen in two and a half weeks.

...and for Tom and Mary, this was exceptionally true. In two and a half weeks they became more than friends and then became boyfriend and girlfriend and became even more inseparable than they had already been.

But a lot can happen in two and a half weeks.

**

Mary rolled over in bed, feeling sick to her stomach. She laid down on her stomach, her normal cure for nausea and looked at the alarm clock that was sitting on her bedside table through squinted eyes. The red blaring numbers glared at her: 4:57.

"God damn it." She muttered to herself, putting her hands under her stomach, pressing hard into the stomach. She reached over and pulled her cell phone off of the bedside table. She flipped it open and pressed the number two and the "TALK" button. She held it to her ear as she breathed deeply in an attempt to calm her nausea as the phone rang.

"Hello?" A groggy voice answered on the other end.

"I feel like I'm going to throw up" She mumbled into the phone.

"Are you laying on your stomach? Putting pressure against the stomach?" He asked, suddenly awake and knowing exactly what usually made her nausea pass.

"Yeah but it's not working." She mumbled again, tears welling up in her eyes. "I don't want to throw up Tom." She whispered.

"I know babe." He whispered back, trying to calm her down, knowing her fear of throwing up. "Just breathe and try to come down. Maybe if you throw up, then you won't feel sick anymore."

"No! That's not an option. No, no."

"Mare, go sit in the bathroom, just in case. Just sit there and the cool tile should calm you down and just breathe."

She nodded, even though she knew he couldn't see her. She rolled out of her bed and walked into the en suite bathroom and sat down on the cool tile in front of the toilet. "I'm sorry I woke you up Tommy Boy. Go back to sleep, I'll talk to you in the morning."

"All right Mare Bear. Feel better and don't hesitate to call me back."

"Good night"

"Night beautiful." He said and then hung up and Mary placed the phone beside the toilet and then rested her head on the rim, ignoring the fact that it was less than sanitary. Her stomach gurgled and the nausea rose and rose until she emptied the contents of her stomach into the toilet, flushing it immediately after so she wouldn't have to look at it.

Hope that throwing up would make the nausea stop faded as she emptied her stomach over and over again. As she began crying, the vomiting didn't stop. And she remained there in the bathroom until eight o'clock the next morning. As soon as there was a calm she picked up the phone and quickly called Tom.

"Feeling better?" He asked immediately.

"I've been throwing up non stop since we hung up. I need to go to a doctor. It hurts." She said, near tears.

"Okay, I'll be there in ten minutes. Get ready to go, okay babe?"

"Hurry" was all she was able to say before she leaned over the toilet again and vomited. The tears began again. She was throwing up when Tom made it into her bathroom and helped her into his car without her needing to throw up again.

"Mare, what do you think is wrong?" He asked as he sped to the emergency room.

"I don't know. No new food, nothing at all. I'm just...sick, and I don't know why."

They pulled into the emergency room parking lot and as soon as the car came to a halt, Mary got out and promptly threw up beside the car before Tom picked her up and carried her into the ER.

He placed her in a chair before checking her in and walking back over to her while they waited for her to be admitted. She managed to keep everything down until she was called into the back area.

"Mary?" The nurse called and Mary and Tom began to walk over to the door, the nurse looked at Mary and then frowned when she got to Tom. "I'm sorry, you can't come back. Please wait out here until she has seen the doctor."

"No, I have to come with her. She needs me."

"I'm sorry, there's nothing I can do, standard procedure. She will see a doctor shortly."

"But-"

"Tom...it's fine. Just please wait." Mary said softly in a pained voice. Tom simply nodded and returned to his seat as the nurse led Mary into the back to wait for a doctor.

Tom sat and waited for Mary in the stuffy waiting room for an hour before a sullen looking Mary walked back through the doors. She walked to the receptionist and paid for the visit before walking back over to Tom.

"So...what's wrong?" He asked.

"She said that nausea is completely normal for what I have, and unfortunately because of what I have, the nausea will last a little while longer." She said softly, clutching a white bag in one hand.

"So what do you have Mare? What's in the bag?" He asked, worry heavy in her voice.

"Prenatal vitamins. I'm...pregnant Tom."