Charlotte

Charlotte walked down the hall at the clinic, whistling. Things were very right in her world. Baby Dalinda was thriving and Jillian was recovering nicely. Mrs. Agarwal was due any minute now. And Leonard was celebrating his newfound grace in lots of interesting ways. They hadn’t quite worked up to the most interesting and bendy experiments, but they were getting there.

Jessica was not pleased by this development. Leonard being less cautious in the office meant his work performance was even better. But Leonard’s family was planning a sort of reunion in the Bayou so Charlotte could try to administer the “curse bath” for them as well. She was trying to determine whether she wanted to invite her parents down at the same time and just get all of the “getting to know you” awkwardness out of the way at once. That seemed like a lot to try to accomplish over one weekend.

Will had an early morning house call involving Emily McAinsley, so it was up to Charlotte to open the clinic that morning. She passed through the clinic waiting room to turn the “open” sign on the front door. She jumped at the sight of Dani sitting in the lobby, looking pale and somewhat miserable. Zed was standing over her, wringing his hands as he tried to get her to drink a bottle of water.

“Do I even want to know how you got in?” Charlotte asked.

Zed didn’t even look sorry. “I broke your door. Where the hell is Will? We have an appointment with him in forty minutes and he’s nowhere in sight.”

“I’m fine,” Dani objected. “I just can’t keep anything down.”

Charlotte crossed her arms. It appeared that the day of reckoning had come.

“Hey, Dani. How you doing, hon?”

“I just can’t seem to shake this bug I’ve picked up. I thought it was food poisoning, but it’s lasted for weeks,” Dani said softly, rubbing at her stomach.

“I think it’s something else,” Zed insisted. “Like ‘I can’t believe I didn’t pick up on the signs when Jillian just gave birth in a cave’ something else. But Dani refuses to pee on the stick.”

“Because I’m not pregnant, Zed, so keep your pee sticks to yourself!” she told him, much more firmly.

“Um, Dani, I’m pretty sure you are pregnant. I don’t need you to pee on the sticks. I just know. It’s a fairy thing,” Charlotte said.

“But we used birth control, so much birth control.” Dani’s face went white, then red. She smiled broadly as tears rolled down her cheeks.

“Sometimes shifter biology likes to make a mockery of modern contraceptives,” Charlotte told her.

“It’s not going to come out in a big metal egg, is it?” Zed asked, rubbing Dani’s back.