[For Magnus] Hope is always fear for the pain it may cost

[girlsolo]

In the waiting room of the vet clinic, Lilo gives Bonny a pep talk. It's okay, she tells the puppy. She doesn't have to be scared about going to the doctor. It won't hurt and if it does she and Kate will be right there. Doctor Magnus is Kate's ohana, too, and was Declan's ohana too, so they can trust her. Even if she doesn't have lollipops. Bonny's sprawled across Kate and Lilo, and if she's scared you wouldn't know it from how she's panting and licking at Lilo's face. She might be thirsty, though.

It's not like Magnus to keep anyone waiting like this. Kate can hear she doesn't have any other patients. She knows Magnus doesn't have any other patients because Kate made her appointments yesterday. This is the only one on the books. Kate frowns and ruffles Bonny's ears. She ruffles Lilo's hair, too, and grins at her. "Hey, Lilo, watch Bonny for a few. I'm gonna get Bonny some water and see if Magnus needs us to come back later."

Lilo nods. "I'll teach him to be a model citizen."

"Good luck with that." Bonny's idea of being a model citizen is doing her business outside and not chewing on shoes. Kate's not sure how she feels about Elvis, but she howls along happily enough.

After she puts the bowl down for Bonny, Kate heads into the back and peers around the door into the first treatment room. Magnus isn't in there. She goes to the second one and the door's closed. There's noise and at first Kate's rolling her eyes because seriously she and Will can't do this shit at home? But then Magnus's whimper dissolves to retching and Kate reaches for her knife. She pushes open the door--

And doesn't see anything.

Scowling, she plasters herself against the wall to clear behind the door. Nothing. So she goes the rest of the way in and it's just Magnus. Kneeling over a basket. Puking. Uhh...

"Magnus?" Kate crouches down next to her. "Helen... are you...can I get you some water or something?"

Comments

[notsocommon]

"Water would not go remiss," Helen managed, taking in a few short, sharp breaths and hoping that her stomach had settled for the time being. It was never this bad with Ashley. Never. She would have remembered that and not been so eager to sign up for round two if it had been.

"I'm sorry to have kept you waiting, I'll be ready in a moment."

[girlsolo]

"It's okay. Bonny's fine. The appointment can wait. Stay here."

Kate's... mostly trying not to think about why Magnus is puking early in the morning, kneeling on the floor. She's trying not to think about her puking at all (because, yeah, she doesn't have a quick gag reflex but watching someone else yark always does it for her), when she comes back out into the main office.

She pastes a well-practiced smile on her face. "Lilo, Magnus and I need a few minutes. If Bonny needs to go out, you take her out and stay within ten steps of the clinic." She also doesn't wait for an answer because Lilo will either do what Kate asks or she won't and no amount of getting agreement is going to change it. Hopefully, she won't run off because Kate's not looking forward to explaining to anyone how she "lost" the dog and the kid she's supposed to be raising.

When she returns to the treatment room, it's with a glass of water, a damp cool towel, and a dry one. "Here," she says as she kneels again and tries not to breathe the fumes from the vomit.

[notsocommon]

Helen was grateful that Kate, at least, didn't seem to have the gag reflex that Will had. It was nice not to have to worry about controlling her stomach in order to keep someone else from being sick, even if she was more than willing to do that for Will's sake. She took the water, small sips, and sponged off her face.

"Thank you. It will pass, I'm sure of it, it's just unpleasant at the moment."

[girlsolo]

"Uh-huh." Kate takes the damp rag from Magnus and presses it to Magnus's wrists and forehead. She's breathing through her mouth so she doesn't get sick and it's working so far.

Magnus seems pretty chill about it, which means she probably doesn't have a flu. "You eat something that disagreed with you or...?" Or.

[notsocommon]

"It would be the or," Helen said, giving Kate an awkward smile. "I've only just told Will, so you're the second to know and I haven't been keeping it from you all that long."

Rambling, of course, because it was still hard to come out and say it even though she knew Will wasn't upset and, it seemed, was a bit hopeful in spite of his fear.

"Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that I don't have a stomach virus. I've morning sickness."

[girlsolo]

Morning sickness. There was the or. Kate's stomach tightens and for a second she thinks she is going to be sick, really sick, but it passes or she forces it to pass or it was just an illusion to start with.

Kate smiles. There's way too many things to worry about and way too many people who won't be happy for her and Kate's just not going to be one of them. She slides an arm around Magnus's shoulders and hugs her gently.

"Yeah. I guessed that part. C'mon, let's get you up." From someone else, that would probably be sort of a 'fuck off', but from Kate that was I love you and congratulations. "Then I'll see if we can find something you can keep down."

[notsocommon]

"Doubtful. Will's child apparently doesn't want to eat anything," Helen said, smiling weakly.

"Which is funny, considering Will himself has quite the appetite for all sorts of things I wouldn't dream of touching. Pizza, beer, hot dogs - all I'm really asking is to let me eat something solid. We don't even have to go out on a limb."

[girlsolo]

"I'm pretty sure the not eating part comes from you, doc." Kate eases Magnus up from the ground and helps her to one of the chairs while she's saying, "You're the one who thinks every calorie you eat gets applied straight to your hips. Maybe Little Baby Zimmerman--" LBZ. Yep, that's what Kate's calling that kid until it gets born and probably after. "Is already watching his or her figure."

She smiles a little, but she's already worried. Druitt and Tesla aren't going to take this well. Tesla won't hurt Magnus but Druitt... Kate shakes her head at herself. He probably won't hurt Magnus or Will but he's going to want to.

"Maybe LBZ is trying to help you keep it secret a little while longer."

[notsocommon]

"LBZ? I suppose that's better than sprog. I might use that," Helen said, laughing a bit and leaning on Kate more than she normally would. It made her a bit lightheaded when she couldn't get anything down early in the morning.

"And, well, I'm going to have to get used to gaining weight. I'm supposed to. I still plan to take yoga or something and not be a lump, if I can help it."

[girlsolo]

Kate rolls her eyes and has to resist nudging Magnus with her elbow. She reaches up and tugs the back of her hair instead. "You don't eat and I'll find a way to force-feed you and I'll get Will to help," she says, but she's grinning.

"I'm taking a cooking class so I don't poison Lilo. Maybe I'll test recipes on you." It's weird, saying that, like Lilo's her kid and this is something she and Magnus are kind of doing together. But she already went and told the Island Council that she'd be taking care of Lilo, so she guesses she kind of is.

[notsocommon]

"Will would be in full support of anything that makes me eat," Helen said, rolling her eyes, but it was fond. Will being supportive had been a good thing and she didn't want that support to stop at all.

"Will's surprisingly not upset about this turn of events. That makes a marked change from the last go-round."

[girlsolo]

"You mean when you were pregnant with Ashley?" Because neither she nor Will has mentioned a miscarriage or an abortion and Kate kind of feels like one of them would have by now. Even if it's not the kind of thing you just talk about.

She gets Magnus settled in a chair and gives her the glass again. "I'm glad he's good with it. Family's...kind of a big deal for him and me both."

[notsocommon]

"Yes, with Ashley. But Will didn't exactly want this with me, Kate, so I had some very real apprehension and I kept it from him for a bit before coming out with it."

Helen took a drink from the glass to steal a moment or two before speaking again.

"Or, rather, he guessed it. Apparently it's hard to keep such things from someone you're married to when they were once an incredibly talented criminal profiler."

[girlsolo]

Kate knows Will didn't want a kid. They'd talked about it when they talked about the alternate world where they'd had one. Well, she knows he said he didn't want a kid, but she said she didn't want one either and now they're everywhere.

"It's hard to keep things from criminal profilers, con artists, and anyone who pays attention to things like normally healthy women puking their guts up in the morning." Also ex-fiances who might be interested in things like, oh, the love of their life being pregnant, and ex-vampires who made everything their business. "It's okay, though. If he said he's happy about it, he is. You know Will hates lies. And he's going to be a great dad."

[notsocommon]

"Will is going to be a fantastic father," Helen agreed. Much better than John would have been in the height of his madness, certainly, though she couldn't speak to what sort of father John might be now. He could be a wonderful one - but she wasn't terribly interested in knowing.

"Can we keep this to just the three of us for now?"

[girlsolo]

Kate almost rolls her eyes for that, but she realizes Magnus really isn't used to trusting her with personal stuff, and she doesn't take it personally. Magnus isn't really used to trusting anyone. So Kate keeps the eye roll to a Look, quirks a grin, and says, "Holy shit, you're pregnant? Congratulations!" like this is first she's heard of it.

"In case you need a translation, that's, this is your baby, your story. I don't know anything until you tell me I do."

[notsocommon]

"Thank God you're better at lying than Will," Helen said, laughing a bit in relief before reaching for Kate's hand and squeezing it lightly. It was good to have people she could trust now after so many years of keeping the important things to herself or, possibly, telling James.

"I'll come out with it after elections, I think. I'll need to tell Nikola before anyone else."

[girlsolo]

Kate frowns and then nods. After giving Magnus's hand a squeeze, Kate pulls hers away and busies both with separating Magnus's hair into three sections, to braid it back out of her face. "He'll sulk, but he'll get over it. Druitt...maybe not so much. Just let me know when you're going to tell them and I'll keep an eye on them."