Kids from One Alpha

Chapter 51: Lab Results

Serena received an envelope at the hospital from the human lab she’d sent Logan’s bloodwork to. It was addressed to her directly, but she’d had the result sent to the hospital because her house was still being repaired. She debated tearing the envelope open right at the nurse’s station and checking the results, but she had a feeling that it was going to be an emotional read, so she stuffed the envelope into her lab coat and decided to read it later. All day, Serena’s mind kept wandering back to the envelope in her pocket. “Are you okay Serena?” Adriana asked her while they were rebandaging the wounds of a patient from the recent Moonshine attack. Serena nodded absently. “Yea, I’m fine,” she said. “You seem a little distracted,” Adriana commented. “And you’re re-wrapping that leg with sport’s tape, not a bandage.” Snapping out of her daze, Serena groaned and stopped what she was doing. “Oh, I’m sorry!” she gently began to peel the sport’s tape off. Adriana chuckled and shook her head. “Don’t apologize to me, at least the patient is still out and you don’t have to explain to him,” she said, going to the cabinet and getting the right bandaging. “Okay, I’m distracted,” Serena admitted. She tossed the used sport’s tape in the trash as Adriana put the proper bandaging into place. “What’s on your mind?” the other doctor asked. Serena shrugged. She couldn’t tell Adriana the truth, despite how close they were getting. She also couldn’t avoid answering, because Adriana was her boss and had the right to know if her judgement in the workplace was compromised, especially in their line of work. “I just got some news today,” she explained. “I’m not sure I’m prepared for the answer.” “You mean, you received news, but you don’t know what the news is?” Adriana clarified. Serena nodded. “I have the letter in my pocket, and I don’t want to read it here,” she said. “It is weight heavily on my mind, though.” “Well, I can send you off to do rounds, something less focus driven than bandaging wounds,” Adriana offered. “I can work,” Serena assured. Adriana gave her a concerned look. “I know you can” she assured, finishing her wrapping and grabbing Serena’s hand across the patient. “We all have off days now and then. Take it easy, focus on rounds and catching up on reports. Tomorrow, I’ll expect you back at one hundred percent.” Serena smiled gratefully.

16:08

“Thank you,” she said. She took a deep breath and left the room. She did her rounds first, making sure all the rooms were stocked and checking vitals, noting them in charts. Nothing was off, so Serena returned to the nurse’s station and began her reporting Ever couple hours, she would do her rounds again. The day seemed to fly by, despite the repetitiveness. The letter burning a hole in her pocket the whole day! She periodically reached into her pocket just to touch it. The weight of the envelope felt like she was carrying an anvil around. When she returned to Logan’s house, she was happy to see that he wasn’t there. Neither was Holly. Dana had brought the kids back from daycare, but she departed shortly after Serena got back. After checking on the kids, Serena went to the room she was staying in. She sat down, taking a deep breath and smoothing the envelope out on her lap. This was the moment of truth. Numb, shaking fingers peeled through the seal on the envelope. Serena held her breath as she pulled the lab results out. The paper was folded in thirds. She hesitated in opening it. As much as she wanted to know, she was suddenly plagued by all the thoughts of what it would mean if the test had come back negative! Shaking away those thoughts, Serena opened the envelope. She ignored all the technical terminology and just looked for the line that said ‘Results.’ Next to it, in all capitol letters and green ink, the word ‘Positive’ flashed at her like a giant neon sign. Tears sprang into her eyes, and Serena couldn’t hold them back. She burst into tears, bowing her head and holding it in her hands. Suspecting something and having full confirmation were entirely different. Sobbing into her hands, Serena’s whole body shook. She shook her head back and forth, trying to change the results with the power of her mind. Everything was going to get more complicated now, especially with Holly being pregnant! Olivia and Oliver ran into the room, alerted to their mother’s tears. “Mommy, mommy, what’s wrong?” Olivia asked, tugging at Serena’s leg. “Are you hurt?” Oliver asked. Serena sniffled, wiping her eyes quickly. She grabbed the lab results and folded the paper up again, shoving it into her scrub pockets. She hadn’t even changed out of her hospital clothes. “I’m okay, babies,” she said, wrapping her arms around each of their heads and hugging them to her. “I miss my parents.” It wasn’t that far off from the truth. She wanted to talk to her mother, tell her everything. She was a grown woman, and she still needed her own mother!

She ran her fingers through her hair, thinking about what to do next. She’d intended to tell Logan

16.09

wasn’t like her kids had any

was too numb to make her own decisions. After she was showered and changed into casual clothes, Serena went to check on the twins. They’d built a fort out of out of their blankets. It covered almost all of their bedroom “You two are going to clean this up, right?” Serena asked. Olivia shrugged and Oliver crawled into the fort where she couldn’t see him. She chuckled and sat down on the floor. “Are we going to see Grammy and Grandpa soon?” Olivia asked, standing next to her mother. They were close to eye level while Serena sat on the floor. “I’d like to,” Serena said. There was a knock on the doorframe of the twins’ room. Serena twisted around to see Logan standing there with a broad smile. Serena cringed at the sight of his happiness. She couldn’t look at him the same way now. His presence felt more invasive than welcome, and she wanted to be far away from his line of sight. “Good, you’re all here together,” the Alpha said, stepping into the room. Serena stood up, moving as far from him as she could with the blanket fort in the room. Logan’s smile faltered as she put distance between them. “I’m sorry about the mess,” Serena said, waving her arm over the fort. “I’ll make sure it gets cleaned up.” Logan scoffed, waving his hand at her dismissively. “Not a problem,” he assured. “I’m actually here about something else, something think the three of you will appreciate.” “What is it, what is it?” Olivia asked running over to Logan and jumping up and down. “It is presents?” Oliver asked, emerging from the fort. “Oliver, that’s rude,” Serena chastised. Logan chuckled. “It is a present, of sorts,” he said, winking at Serena. “A very large present, in fact.” “Really, what is it!?” Olivia asked, getting more and more excited. Serena sighed and rolled her eyes. Logan did know how to appeal to their five–year-old hearts. It made her happy, just as much as it filled her stomach with a pit of dread. “I just got the news today, but your house is ready to be moved back into,” he said. Olivia and Oliver stopped jumping around. “Our house?” Olivia asked with a sneer. Serena

16:09

2/4