Page 250 of G.O.D.S Omnibus

“I don’t want to put my pants back on.”

We stand quietly in a stare off for a second. Chester looks me up and down, but he finally relents and pulls his shirt over his head before he takes off my shirt and replaces it with his. He steps back and nods before dropping to his knees, then helps slip my underwear back on.

I refuse to let him carry me again, and I walk back into the room with Chester by my side. Now everyone is here, with worry on their faces. “I’m fine guys, relax. The doctor is here.”

Chapter Twenty-Four

Jolie

My words don’t seem to relax them at all; instead, the room is filled with tension. The doctor has gone into the bathroom to test my urine, and when he walks back out, everyone turns to face him.

“I think you may have preeclampsia. Have you had any swelling recently, or anything new since we spoke last?”

“I have had some swelling over the last twenty-four hours. And today, I keep peeing myself.”

He walks closer to the bed. “Do you mind if I look at your feet?”

I nod as I pull the covers back to show him my feet.

“And that has happened only in the last day?”

I nod my head again.

“I will need to do an internal exam,” he concludes.

“Like fuck you will!” Chester roars. Creed instantly moves in and wraps his arm around Chester’s back, pulling him into his body.

“Let’s go for a walk,” Creed quietly tells Chester. “We need to let this happen.”

“I’ll kill him,” Chester growls, and Creed grabs his face and makes him focus solely on him.

“Just breathe, and let’s go for a walk. The doctor needs to check on the babies and make sure they’re alright.”

Chester nods curtly, and Creed leads him out of the room.

“If anyone else has an issue with this, leave now,” Brennan demands.

“Are you okay with everyone staying?” the doctor asks me, and I nod. He opens his briefcase and pulls out a pair of gloves. “First, I’m going to check your cervix, and then I will do a swab test to make sure your membranes haven’t ruptured.”

“What the fuck is a membrane, and why would it rupture?” Laughn asks.

“It’s the fluid around the baby. It sounds worse than it is, but we really don’t want that at this stage in pregnancy. We were hoping to keep these little guys in there until at least thirty-seven weeks. Jolie is only thirty-two plus three right now.”

The room grows quiet when the doctor explains what he is doing. He inserts two fingers, and it’s an extremely weird feeling to have a strange man feeling around inside, but in a non-sexual way. I lock eyes with Trace, who hasn’t said a word since he arrived. He doesn’t look away, and I use him for comfort and to ground me.

Once the doctor has finished all his tests and removes his gloves, we all look at him. “So, doc, what’s the verdict?”

“Jolie has preeclampsia. I’m not overly concerned about that, as we have been monitoring this for a couple of weeks. Right now, my test indicates her membranes are leaking. Jolie, I wouldlike to transport you to the hospital so we can monitor the babies and check your membranes again in case this test isn’t accurate. If it is, we need to be careful with how we progress. If you were further along, I would induce you, but we need to make sure the babies’ lungs are ready for birth.”

“We don’t have a NICU,” Brennan says to the doctor.

“No, we don’t, so we will need to go to a private hospital that has a good team set up. In this case, I’m happy to recommend somewhere or you can pick yourselves.”

“We didn’t plan for this outcome, as we expected her to give birth at Olympia,” Brennan replies, and the doctor nods.

“I actually have a friend who lives with a guy who is a doctor,” Marlow interjects.

“Do you trust him?” Brennan asks.

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