Chess
Chapter Nine
Chess
Steve, Sam, Thor, Natasha and Clint were seated at the large glass conference table. It was already nine fifteen and so far, Bruce, Rhodes and Tony were a ‘no show’ to the meeting. It didn’t faze anyone that Bruce wasn’t there, he really didn’t have a part to play in this mission yet. If Nat and Clint came back after recon and told them that the team needed to ‘remove’ the HYDRA cell, and that a ‘code green’ was in order, his role could change. Tony was always late, so it wasn’t anything new and shocking. Rhodes however was critical, he was needed to run between the team and the UN committee.
The room’s occupants were conducting small talk about how it was amazing what Tony’s construction and repair staff could do. A person would have no idea that the Hulk went crazy in the area just yesterday. Tony appeared in the doorway and beckoned the seated archer, “Hey Clint, come on over here for a minute will ya?” Clint exchanged a questionable look with the group and got up to meet the man. He left the room and followed Tony down the hall that led to his private office. Shutting the door behind him, Tony pointed to a woman who was sitting in one of the two chairs in front of the desk. “Clint Barton, this is Jade Conner. Miss. Conner, Agent Clint Barton.” Clint scanned the room and found Bruce Banner sitting on the couch against the wall with a tablet in his lap.
The woman stood up and extended her hand, “Agent Barton, a pleasure.”
Clint shook the offered hand and threw Tony a puzzled expression. Then it hit him who she was. “You’re the nurse Tony hired for my wife?”
The tall, brunette haired, paled skinned woman who had to be roughly the same age as Kate smiled at him. “That would be me.”
Tony passed by the pair and stood behind his desk and set about filling Clint in on why the person was hired. “Miss. Conner has impeccable experience in this area and outstanding references.”
“Experience?” Clint questioned the woman, thinking who possibly could have experience in this type of thing. There was a small nagging feeling that the woman looked familiar to him. Clint prided himself on being able to recall names and faces but drew a blank of where if ever he had seen the woman before. There wasn’t anything extra ordinary about the lady, in fact she looked pretty generic which could be the cause to the familiar feeling.
“I am an oncology nurse sir.” Jade responded with clear pride in her vocation.
Clint was speechless at that and spoke to Tony of the potential lethal error he made. “A nurse who works with cancer patients?”
“It’s the closest someone is going to get to being experienced in this field Clint.” Bruce spoke up as he stood. “Tony spoke to me last night after you two talked.”
Stark followed up on Bruce’s recount of yesterday evening. “Then we had a little conference call with Dr. McCoy and he sent over Kate’s latest records.” Begrudgingly Tony added as he motioned for the nurse to sit back down, “Minus the baby’s gender of course and I know that big blue bastard knows.”
Clint did ask Tony last night after Kate had what he liked to call ‘an episode’. An Episode to him was when he was scared beyond words that Kate would work herself up too much and the gamma radiation side effects would surface, causing her to pass out or worse. He was even more weary of that situation with Vee involved. Last night was a close call and he believed Kate knew that as well. Which was why he suspected she walked away from him and went straight to bed. She was stubborn, not stupid, she wouldn’t do anything that could have a negative impact on or hurt the baby. Maybe that was what scared him the most and pushed him to call Tony about the nurse, Kate recognized that something damaging to herself was going to happen if she didn’t stop. That meant to Clint that she was feeling the poison coming to life within her and reacted before she couldn’t. Now Bruce was involved and reading her file, without Kate’s authority. He must have seen something in there that caused him to tell Tony to get a specific type of nurse. “Hank sent you Kate’s medical file? Without speaking to her?”
“Kate already authorized me to have access to it. Hank sent it to me, and I just handed it to Bruce.” Tony gestured to the tablet Bruce was holding that told Clint that on the screen was Kate’s medical file.
Proving Clint’s assumption of what the tablet held to be true, Bruce glanced down and swiped downward on it. “She is an amazing case study. I would love to speak to her about her experiences with the drug protocols.”
“Well you know my feelings about it, the more eyes on this, the better.” Addressing Tony as Clint sat down in the available chair next to Jade. “I thought you were just going to grab someone from medical here for her? She doesn’t need something this severe.” Looking to the nurse, Clint apologized if he had offended her, “No offense ma’am, but I just need someone to make sure she is following her bed rest instructions and to take her blood pressure every once and a while.”
Tony tilted his head and let out a sigh as he held his hand out to Bruce to take over. “This,” Banner started pointing to Jade, “is the type of nurse you need for Kate. I have been up all night reading her file. In the simplest of terms, she has a grave case of radiation sickness also known as acute radiation syndrome. If I didn’t split into ‘the other guy’ during my exposure I would probably be in the same boat as Kate. The fact that she is even still alive is nothing short of a miracle, and as a scientist, I don’t believe in miracles.”
“I know all of this thank you.” Clint answered in a cynical tone to the scientist. “I also really enjoy it when people point out to me that my wife should have died a decade ago. You going somewhere with this Bruce?”
“I’m sorry. It’s just very interesting to me.” Bruce apologized once he thought about the comment and realized it was slightly too honest with the husband and father of the patient in the room. His strong suit was never talking to people. Walking over to stand beside Tony as he continued with his justification of why this specific course was taken. “Cancer patients sometimes receive radiation therapy as a treatment. In some cases, very rare, patients experience a degree of radiation sickness from their treatments.”
“My clinic specialized in those rare cases Agent Barton.” Jade offered to explain why she was the best person for the job and not some technician Tony pulled down from the medical wing.
Bruce moved around the desk to get closer to Clint and explained the significance of the woman hire to care for his wife. “Miss. Conner here has seen this sickness up close and personal. She knows what it can do to a person. You don’t need someone to just make sure she takes her pills and has her feet up Clint. You need someone to gauge her stress levels and look to the symptoms of the disease. Someone who knows when it’s an emergency and when it’s not.”
Clint looked to Tony, Bruce was a hundred percent correct. What he was stating this lady could do almost sounded too good to be true. Everyone in the room was in agreement that Nurse Conner was what Kate needed, but that didn’t mean Kate would just accept the extremes Clint authorized on her behalf. “She is going to kill me for sending over a nurse, I am not sure what will happen to me when she finds out that Miss. Conner is an oncology nurse.”
Tony sat down on the corner of his desk. “Unfortunately Barton, I feel that will be my fight with her since you will be God knows where for the next day or so.”
“And you just found Miss. Conner overnight?” It was a little too convenient for Clint. Even with all the resources Stark had at his disposal, someone so ‘specialized’ should have taken time to obtain.
Getting back up, Tony reached for a file folder and handed it to Clint. “Yup overnight. Don’t look so paranoid there Barton.” He called out in response to the raised eyebrow Clint had thrown at him. “Anyone would sell their own mother to work for the Avengers or SI. We have all the best toys and practically unlimited research and development resources. There are even people out there who are willing to work unpaid just for the opportunity to be in one of these labs. Her name has apparently been in the system for a while looking for employment here or at Stark Industries. I have no idea why we never interviewed her. I gave her a call this morning, and she was here within the hour and accepted the job as soon as I offered it to her.”
Clint took the file and opened it, quick inspection told him it was her application and references for him to look over. Satisfied in the fact that Tony wouldn’t just hire anyone to oversee the medical care of his daughter and future grandchild, he closed the file without reading and addressed the woman again. “You know that she is pregnant, correct?”
Jade nodded at the question. “Yes sir, that point was very clear.” She held up a tablet of her own. “Mr. Stark has already provided me with the names and numbers of Dr. Honeycutt and Dr. McCoy to establish communication with. If I have any questions or concerns, I am to immediately contact them.”
“Did they make anything else clear for you?” Clint timidly asked Jade with a sideways glance to Tony.
“Are you referring to the fact that I was informed that your wife will refuse my services. Try to get me to leave your home, and make my life a living hell?” Jade enquired with a smile.
Shocked by the honesty that Tony had shared with the stranger about his daughter, Clint confirmed the description of what would happen. “That was where I was going with it, yep.” Clint couldn’t help it, he was suspicious that this woman knew what she was walking into and was smiling about it. Perhaps he needed to read through the file before allowing her in his home and life.
Sensing Clint’s apprehension about the new hire, Tony attempted to put Clint’s suspicion to rest. “Miss Conner knows she works for me. You gave me permission to assign her to your residence. The Secret Service already has been given her information and she has been approved for entrance into the home, thank you Rhodey and Diana. Kate does not have the authority to dismiss my staff who has been approved by you, even in her own home. Let’s say she did find a way to remove her, Diana and Rhodey will not permit it. I don’t see Kate fighting them, us yes, but not Diana and Rhodes. I think she respects them too much to waste her time arguing with them. You know, when it is you or me, it is her favorite pastime, but not with them. Miss Conner works for me but reports to you. She will periodically during the day be sending you texts about Kate. Once Steve’s meeting is over, Rhodey will drive Miss. Conner over to the house for proper introductions.”
Clint bobbed his head along to each of Tony’s comments, seeing nothing left untouched. He covered it all but one thing. “It seems you have thought of everything. That still doesn’t mean Kate will be nice to her.”
“Agent Barton, I can assure you, I have dealt with worse.”
Clint thought to himself that Tony did a pretty good job with this. While he would like to spend some more time with the woman who would be in his home for a while, time was fleeting. They still had a mission briefing to attend, not to mention the mission itself. He had asked Tony for help, and this was the help offered. Clint had to accept that Tony and Bruce vouched for the woman, and that was good enough. If anything bothered Clint about Miss. Conner it was that she seemed a little bit too confident in her duty. “We will speak again about that theory of yours when I get back. Welcome aboard Miss Conner, I look forward to receiving your updates.” Looking to Tony and Bruce, “We have a meeting to get to.”
~~~
“Good morning Charlotte.” Welcomed the Professor from behind the computer on his desk as the child entered his office. “Are we having a better day today?”
Leaving her backpack against the wall by the door, Charlie started walking towards him. “Yes sir, a much better day.” Stopping suddenly, she did a faceplant and exclaimed, “I almost forgot!” She turned and ran back to her bag.
Xavier didn’t even try to conceal the amusement that Charlotte’s actions gave him. Sitting up straight, he stopped in his composing of an email he was typing. “My goodness child, I would say you are in high sprits today. Tell me, what on earth is so important that you are acting this way?”
Unzipping the backpack, Charlie reached in to search for what she wanted, “Can we play chess?”
Xavier folded his hands and placed them onto the surface of his desk. “We need to talk about yesterday and a few other vital items first.”
Charlotte stopped going through her bag and looked up, “I know you want to talk about what happened at home yesterday. Can we play and talk at the same time? Please?”
Professor Xavier debated for a moment. Perhaps the distraction of a game would allow the child to express herself more rather than sitting across the desk from him answering questions fired at her. “Alright, go ahead, set up the board. Scott and I started a game this morning and didn’t put it back afterwards.”
Finally finding in the bag what she was looking for, Charlotte pulled the purple cashmere bag out. Without zipping the bag back up, she carelessly threw it again towards the wall. With energetic speed, she raced back up to the desk. “Can we play with my new set? They are really pretty. They aren’t black and white stones like yours, they are gold and silver and really, really heavy. Can we use mine please? I’ve haven’t played with them yet and this would be my first time.”
Laughing at the excitement the child was showing regarding her newly inquired items Charles observed, “Charlotte my dear, I’ve never seen you this excited before.”
Jumping up and down a few times returning she giggled back to the man, “I’m excited because I want to play with you. You know, I’ve never played with or even had my own chess set before. This would be the first time.”
“Yes Charlotte, you have told me this already.” Xavier said enjoying seeing her happy. He hadn’t seen her at all yesterday and could only imagine from how Wanda and Clint described it. She had to be the polar opposite then as to how she is now. With a smile that reached his eyes as it always did when he was with the child he granted her request. “Well? What are you waiting for? Go on, set up your pieces. Allow me to finish this correspondence with a parent then I will meet you at the table.”
Charlie put the bag down on the desk, which made a weighty sound on impact, the girl was correct, her pieces where heavy. She placed both hands on the desk and used it as leverage to jump into the air in delight of getting her way. “Thank you Professor Xavier, thank you so much!” Once again grabbing the bag, Charlie jetted off to the table that the board was on to do as instructed.
Xavier could hear Charlotte placing the pieces on the board as he finished his email. When a piece fell, the older man looked up at the sound. He couldn’t see the pieces in detail, but from what he could see, they did look to be high quality. “Did your grandfather give you the set?”
“No, some guy at the park did.” Charlie replied nonchalantly righting the piece and moving it to its proper place on the board.
That got his attention, and quickly. Moving away from his desk, he went to the other side of the table she was at. “Some guy?”
“Yeah, he dropped one down the hill while I was riding my bike.” Charlie explained and met the Professor’s gaze, “I picked it up because it was the nice thing to do, right?”
Sending her a reassuring small smile, this time not reaching his eyes, he confirmed her actions, “It is always right to help others.”
Continuing with her story, not seeing the possible harm in it as Charles did, “I gave it back to him and he said since I was polite and liked to play chess that I could keep the whole set.”
“Because you were polite and a fellow chess player he let you keep this set?” Xavier repeated looking more closely at the pieces. There was something familiar about them that he couldn’t place. It was not a common feeling for him and he didn’t enjoy the emotion at all. Picking up the silver queen he examined it in detail demanding his mind to recall why he felt he had held the exact same item before.
“That’s what he said. The guy said maybe if I had my own set, I could beat you. He told my dad that I was a ‘unicorn among my peers’ and giving me the pieces made him feel that he did his part for the cause.” It felt as if all the oxygen was extracted out of the room as Xavier dropped the queen onto the board at Charlotte’s recount of yesterday’s innocent events. The chess set, the word spoken of her beating Xavier and her being a unicorn. Then the famous one, ‘the cause’.
“Be careful Professor.” Charlie pleaded as she bent over to retrieve the piece that hit the board and rolled off onto the rug the table was in the center of. Sitting back up she found Xavier staring at her, all the color drained from his face. “Professor are you alright?”
Attempting to recover from the sudden shock, Xavier pushed forward with his questions, not being able to stop the quick pace he asked them in. “Your father was with you when this man spoke to you? What about your guard?”
The manner in which she was asked wasn’t normal for the Professor. Thinking back to yesterday she wondered if she had done something wrong. Clint already yelled at her for not following the rules and talking to strangers, but it seemed the Professor was going to do it too. “First I just gave him the piece back and walked away. He called me back to talk to him, that’s when dad and Debbie came running up the hill.”
“And your father allowed this gift?” It seemed odd to him that any parent would allow a stranger to hand their child something, it sort of went against the whole ‘taking candy from strangers’ scenario that children are taught early on. Clint was an Avenger and former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. Xavier would assume that he would know better.
“Eventually.” The girl said hesitantly not certain who if anyone was in trouble. The conversation had quickly turned to focus on her dad. Did he do something wrong? Then quickly added because she didn’t want to get her father in trouble with the Professor, “The guy was nice, and I begged my dad to let me have it.”
He knew he was causing the girl some anxiety with his questions, but he couldn’t focus on that right now. Charles Xavier had a good theory of who this ‘nice chess player’ was that Charlotte had encountered. “Charlotte was this an older man, like my age?”
Nodding her head with apprehension clear in her eyes, “Yes sir.”
“Charlotte, I would like to see this man. Would you mind remembering yesterday at the park and letting me into your head to watch?”
“Am I in trouble again?”
The Professor saw that she was about to cry. Softening his facial features, he understood that he had pushed too far without an explanation. “Oh no dear, of course not. I believe the gentleman you met yesterday is an old friend of mine, and I would like to see if that is correct. Do you mind?”
“No sir.” Charlie answered, then laxed her body and asked, “But then can we play?”
Xavier dissolved his fears from his face with great effort. “My dear, I have a strong feeling you are already involved in a chess game being played by expert players.”
~~~
Once again Natasha, Clint, Sam, and Steve were sitting around the conference table waiting for the meeting to start. The difference now was that Tony was sitting among them. They were just waiting for Rhodes to appear. Bruce had politely declined the invitation to attend the meeting, not seeing his place in it. He preferred instead to play tour guide to Miss. Conner in the medical wing in case she ever had to bring Kate there. Vision spent most of his time at the Xavier school nowadays. When he was needed at the compound, he was easy enough to get a hold of. He just mainly was wherever Wanda was. It wasn’t all bad, Clint got his lawn mowed last weekend by the android since Wanda was helping Lila in her garden. Thor was asked to attend, but he just plain didn’t want to. He said if it wasn’t preparation for a battle and just ‘talk’, then he would find a better use of his time until he was needed in a fight.
Glancing at his watch, Clint observed silently to himself that it was five minutes after ten o’clock. Kate would be with McCoy and Honeycutt now. Reaching into his jacket, he pulled out his cell phone and placed it directly in front of him. Steve had strict rules about briefing and debriefing meetings, all electronics not pertaining to the meeting were to be turned off and out of sight. Catching that the Captain was watching him, Clint explained, “Kate had an appointment at ten. They are picking the inducement date and checking her gamma levels.” Glancing down at the phone, he added, knowing that Steve would understand, “Just in case.”
The mention of his daughter brought Tony into the conversation. Up until then he was just sitting there deep in his own thoughts of how he could improve the iron bubble since yesterday was technically his first trial run with the device. “With Dr. Honeycutt or McCoy?”
“Both, she is going to Hank’s office at the school. Kate will be seeing them together weekly from here on out until the baby is born. They both have to be in the delivery room and finding a hospital where they both have privileges is taking some time, but I believe they found one.” He searched hard in his memory for the hospital’s name since Kate only brought it up in passing. “St. Michael’s, I think.”
“That place is a shithole.” Tony loudly proclaimed. “Give me three days and I can build a maternity ward here with better equipment then even the best hospital has. The doctors wouldn’t need privileges.”
“I don’t care where it happens Tony. Talk to the doctors and Kate about it. As long as the result is a healthy mother and child, its all good to me.” That was all Clint cared about, the actual place of birth meant nothing to him as long as a few days later he could drive his wife and newborn home.
Any additional discussion stopped with the arrival of the Deputy Secretary. “Good morning everyone, I hope I haven’t kept you waiting too long.”
“We said nine o’clock.” Steve commented. It was well known that a pet peeve of his was tardiness. Especially when it regarded the potential take down of HYDRA agents.
“I’m sorry. It couldn’t be avoided. Since I have already delayed this meeting long enough, how about you give me the cliff notes and we can get this moving?”
Steve didn’t understand the reference. “Cliff notes?”
“It means ‘summary’ in a sense.” Natasha offered as an description on the concept.
Nodding that he understood the meaning, Steve gestured for Sam to start the briefing. “Sam.”
“Reliable sources from within the area have reported a lone group of former HYDRA associates hiding out in the southwestern area of Pazin, Croatia.” Sam started the meeting with by lifting a remote and pressing a button. From the middle of the conference table a projection appeared of the geographical location in discussion.
“How reliable are these reliable sources?” Tony inquired, not trusting any information that he didn’t collect himself.
Clint leaned forward onto the table to see and speak to Tony who was on the same side as he was, but Natasha was between them and blocking his view. “Reliable enough that they handed us a name that checked out as a person of interest who has gone underground ever since we took out the Tarantula HYDRA base last fall.”
Crossing his arms at the information, Steve questioned, “Who’s that?”
“Fredrich Schulz.” Sam reported pressing another button and a picture of the man in question replaced the map. “As pure blooded as someone can be within HYDRA. Both his father and grandfather were high ranking officials in the organization.”
“Heir to the throne?” Natasha remarked after hearing that the suspect in question could believe the terrorist organization was his birthright to control.
Sitting back in his seat Clint observed, “Possibly if he can get enough backing, personnel wise and financially.”
In a stern and strict forceful voice, Steve declared, “We can’t let that happen.”
“Really Steve? Why?” Tony requested with thick sarcasm which only got him an eyeroll from the Captain.
Steve Rogers stood up and addressed the entire group, “Barton and Romanoff, I need your eyes on their location as soon as possible. Watch them, collect as much intel as you can, but do not engage.”
“We good for this?” Clint asked looking across the table to James Rhodes.
Rhodes knew that Clint was asking about the Sokovia Accords United Nations committee’s approval to enter foreign land. “I don’t see any reason why not. It is only for the purpose of reconnaissance, and you are being instructed not to engage. I can make a phone call and get you formal approval. Can you keep the whole thing, landing to departure in the country to within sixty hours, two and a half days? Anything more than that and I will have to have the Secretary make contact with the State Department and the Croatian UN ambassador.”
Natasha nodded to the limits placed on her and Clint. “We can do that.”
Rhodes stood up and buttoned his suit jacket. “Give me an hour, and I will get your approval.” Directing his next comment to Clint and Natasha. The committee may come back with stricter guidelines for the mission, so don’t suit up just yet.”
~~~
“Alright Kate, if you still don’t want to know the sex, turn your head away from the screen now please.” Dr. Matthew Honeycutt warned with eyes still trained on the machine’s screen showing the images of the ultrasound he was performing.
Kate did as she was instructed and saw Hank McCoy watching the screen. “Hank, no hints or giveaways.”
Dr. Hank McCoy glanced away from the screen and down to were Kate was laying in front of him. “I’m not even paying attention to that factor Kate, and even if I was, I wouldn’t tell you.”
“Looking for mutations?” She questioned with a bit of humor in her voice. She knew if it was anything physical that they could pick up through the sonogram or blood tests, then they would have already been made aware of it by now.
“Among other things.” McCoy admitted returning his gaze to the images on the screen. “Once Dr. Honeycutt sends me the data I will look with more precision”
“Anything noticeable right now?” Kate did this at every appointment, asking if anything was wrong with the baby. The child was being developed within a body that was consumed by gamma radiation. It was a blessing they had made it to eight months, and she knew her luck would eventually run out.
“Nothing.” Matthew said taking the device off of Kate’s stomach and grabbing a hand towel. He did a quick wipe off of the area and handed the towel to Kate to do a better job of it. “Perfectly healthy baby. Everything is where it should be. Actually, the kid is coming in a little big. Approximations right now have it currently being around six pounds plus. Add another few weeks, and we could be coming in around nine if not more.”
Cleaning off her stomach and pulling down her top, Hank offered his hands to help Kate into a sitting position. “If that’s true then this one would be my biggest baby. Thank God he or she is my last one.”
“Are we performing a Tubal Ligation following delivery?” Honeycutt asked. If that was something she wanted, then he needed to add the surgical order to her induction.
With a very serious face, Kate denied the offer of surgical means of birth control for herself. “Hell no if I’m getting my tubes tied, I’ve done enough. Clint will be getting the ‘snip’.”
“Well since in an odd way, surgery has been brought up.” Dr. Honeycutt carefully started with rolling the stool that he was seated in for the scan over to the end of the table, so he was facing Kate who perched there with her legs dangling off. “I would like to again, especially with the weight now coming in higher then anticipated talk about the possibility of a…”
Kate cut him off. This debate had been going on for over six months now, ever since she found out she was pregnant. “No c-section.”
Hank moved to stand by the other doctor. “Kate, I know your concerns.”
“I don’t have any concerns.” She countered. “Concerns are feelings you have when you are debating options and have uncertainty towards one or more of them. There are no other options here then me just delivering my baby. I don’t want to be cut open again.”
“It wouldn’t be like last time I can assure you.” Dr. McCoy promised. He was the doctor who cared for her following what HYDRA had done to Kate. To believe the scars were only contained to Kate’s stomach from the birth of Charlie were a fool’s dream. “You have to at least consider the cesarean section. It’s the safest option for you and the baby.”
“No I don’t.” Kate defended against being told what she did and didn’t have to do. “And if I did have concerns, going back to your earlier comment, it would be that my doctors are not listening to my preferences.”
“Kate…” They were interrupted by the beeping indicator of the blood pressure monitor Kate had wrapped around her upper left arm. Checking the numbers and seeing them more then elevated, the doctors had no choice but to let it go, despite their better medical judgment. Hank glanced to Matthew and shook his head. “Ok, no c-section.” Hank moved on to the next problem, “Kate I am not liking these numbers. I expected at this point in the pregnancy they would be high, but this is unacceptable. Are you following your bedrest protocol?”
Kate never lied, she just never told the full truth. “For the most part.”
Hank sighed deeply. If there was any solace to take in this it was that when she went home, a nurse would be waiting for her. Revealing that information to Kate was way above his pay grade. Tony said he would handle it, and Hank was beyond appreciative for Stark accepting the wrath of his daughter. “I am going to be flexible this one time because I know Clint is out of town and you want to be with the kids at home. Even though I know you could arrange child care in five minutes. Next week however, if these numbers are the same, you are either be staying in the hospital, here or at the Avengers compound in the medical wing until delivery. Understand?”
“You’re in the last leg of the race now Kate, don’t give up, you can see the finish line.” Dr. Honeycutt consulted, deciding the two doctors would play ‘good cop versus bad cop’ with their patient. “In fact, how about we decide when you can cross that line?”
“Clint wants an even day.” Kate supplied, thankful that she was going to be able to go home and not sent to medical for a month.
Exchanging a comical look with Hank, Honeycutt scooted on his stool to his laptop and brought it to life with a tap on his keyboard. “Ok, even number date is a preference from the daddy, let’s see what the hospital has open.” The phone in the examination room started to ring and Hank excused himself to answer it. Once Dr. Honeycutt brought up the hospital’s schedule he factored in the variables needed to select the correct date. “You are thirty-four weeks and four days along, congratulations. If everything goes as it has been we can schedule you at thirty-nine weeks.” Looking to Kate, “That’s only four more weeks and 5 days Kate, you got this.” Typing some more information into the system, “Add Clint’s wish for an even day. How do you feel about the twenty-second? It’s a Monday, you will be thirty-nine weeks and two days at that point.”
“I’ll have my assistant Diana put it on the calendar.” Kate joked. Like she wouldn’t be counting the minutes until the twenty-second and need someone to remind her of the date.
Hank entered the conversation. “Did I hear correctly we are doing this four Mondays from now?” Honeycutt nodded in confirmation and Hank spoke to Kate, “That was Charles, he would like you to report to his office as soon as possible please.”
“Are we done here?” Kate asked the men and received a bob of the head from both as an answer. “Then I will see you two next Wednesday. Thank you very much.”