Chapter Text
Overall, Grace was pleased with Eva’s proposition. It felt good to be able to help her take care of her own body while she focused her mind on the project.
As instructions, his first order of operations was to visit the med bay. He badged himself in, smiling at the nurse to his left before remembering that Eva didn’t smile at strangers. Well, maybe she should start.
The bustling room stilled as all heads turned to look at him. Grace nervously cleared his throat.
“I need to speak with Dr. Lamai,” he stated, then felt very uncomfortable until he added, “please.”
One of the nurses broke the stillness and hastened to fetch the head doctor. Slowly, movement resumed as the med bay went back to its business. Dr. Lamai emerged a moment later. She wore her glossy black hair swept back in a bun, and black wire frames that contrasted fashionably against her tailored white coat were perched on her head.
“Director Stratt,” she nodded and motioned to follow her. Lamai took wove him through the gurneys to her office. It was small and windowless with a utilitarian desk pushed against the back wall. The doctor obviously tried to keep her space organized, though it was difficult to keep the room from feeling cramped. Still, Dr. Lamai made the office her own. A framed picture of three children sat lovingly in the center of her desk. Children’s drawings in bright colors decorated the otherwise bare walls, making the small space more homey.
Lamai offered her own desk chair for Grace to sit, then disappeared a moment as she sought out a folding chair from another room for herself. When the two were situated, Lamai turned to Grace with a startlingly direct expression, like he was the only person in that moment who mattered. It wasn’t just Eva that garnered that reaction from the esteemed doctor, Grace knew. Lamai made everyone feel important. Worth helping. It was part of what endeared her to her fiercely loyal patients.
“How can I help you today?” She asked warmly.
“I think I’m coming down with something,” Grace said.
“What has been bothering you?”
Grace grimaced internally. He should have pressed Eva for more symptoms. As it was, all he knew was what he was feeling now in her body.
“I have tum- abdominal pain.”
“Mhm. Tell me more.”
“It feels… crampy? Achy?”
“Is it similar to a menstrual period?”
The voice in Grace’s mind unhelpfully went: uhhh… Eva had passed him a pad, though.
“Yes. I think.”
Lamai asked a series of questions to which Grace first equivocated, then outright squirmed, before finally announcing that bloodwork was in order. The doctor walked him to one of the private exam rooms where she lay him down on the exam table, took vitals, listened to Eva’s heart, and pushed down around the abdomen, making him twitch. Grace stored away the now unobjectionable fact that Eva was ticklish for future blackmail.
The doctor helped him back up to a sitting position.
“I’ll run some tests, but your exam is reassuring. Try to get some sleep.”
Grace couldn't help but laugh a little at that, and Lamai smiled back. Eva might have found it amusing as well.
“You're no good to the project sick, Director.”
“I’ll take that under advisement,” Grace grinned.
“We should get the first results back within a few hours. I will email you. In the meanwhile, paracetamol, advil, and plenty of fluids. I won’t insult myself by asking you to rest.”
“Thanks, doctor.”
“Of course.”
As Lamai left, a phlebotomist entered and had Grace roll up his sleeves. She prodded at both, then selected his right for the needle. It took every ounce of self control he had in his body (and some he borrowed from Eva’s) not to squeeze his eyes shut. Instead, he nonchalantly looked at the eye chart behind the phlebotomist’s shoulder while his internal organs knotted themselves up. Eva knew he hated needles. She so owed him for this.
Finally, after a great amount of restraint and a celebratory band-aid, his first task was done. He moved on to the far more enjoyable ones - food and rest. Grace took a large lunch (with a treat to reward himself for surviving the blood tests) before making his way back to Eva’s room. He took her instructions very seriously, and by the time he woke up, the sun was down. He stretched, leisurely rolled over, and checked his phone. A message from Eva was at the top of the list titled “Fwd: Confidential: Test Results.” He opened it to find a note from Dr. Lamai, which Eva immediately forwarded with no additional notes. Apparently, some of the labs didn’t run properly and she needed another blood sample.
“Fiddlesticks,” Grace groaned, but got himself out of bed nonetheless.
The clinic was empty at his second visit. Lamai emerged at the sound of the door.
“Director,” she motioned for Grace to follow, just like she had earlier. She probably did that routine a hundred times a day, he thought. They sat in her office again, so cramped their knees almost touched. Grace started to roll up his sleeve again, but Lamai gently put a hand on his forearm.
“I apologize for the pretense in the email, but I wanted to protect your privacy. The labs ran. Your tests have started to return. I will give you the results in person.”
Grace exhaled.
“You’re making me nervous, Doctor,” Grace grinned hesitantly before kicking himself. Eva would never have admitted that.
“You do not have any signs of infection or inflammation.”
Grace visibly relaxed.
However,” Lamai continued, clear, brown eyes laser focused on Grace’s, “One test did come back positive. You are pregnant.”
Grace choked on his own throat as his heart dropped straight through his chest. He pictured it hitting the floor and bouncing once or twice for good measure.
“Are you sure?”
“The test has a false positive rate of 0.96% and a sensitivity of nearly 100%.”
Grace was already rolling up his sleeve.
“Run it again.”
“Director-”
Grace pushed his forearm toward her. He was a scientist, he rationalized. He would not believe it until the results were repeated.
“Very well.”
Grace waited in Lamai’s office studying Eva’s fingernails while the repeat tests ran. Eva wouldn't have had time to stay. Ryland said fuck it. In the end, it took less than an hour. The second test was positive. As was the third, using a sample from his other arm. And then the fourth, collected for good measure.
"The machine could be mis-calibrated,” he reasoned.
"The machine is not."
"The blood tubes could be contaminated."
"They are not."
Lamai took his hand with the patience of a saint as she observed the Director. From her perspective, Eva made series of uncharacteristically expressive faces, but unexpected medical news could do that to a person. Nothing the doctor hadn’t seen before.
“Would you like to talk about next steps?” She offered softly. And Eva would have. Eva would have wanted a plan before she ever left the med bay. But Eva wasn’t really there, and Grace was still processing.
“If you would like to talk -”
Grace stood suddenly, speech stumbling over Eva’s tongue.
"I need to go now."
“We will need to do an ultrasound to ensure the fetus is not implanted outside the uterus,” Lamai said gently, “for your own safety.”
Grace shook his head vehemently. The idea of doing that now, alone… Of all the unwanted secrets he already held from Eva, the idea of seeing inside of her body, invading her skin on an even deeper level, suffocated him.
“I trust your risk assessment, as always, Director Stratt. But know that my medical recommendation is to confirm your safety as soon as possible.”
Grace nodded. At least, he thought he nodded. Tears pooled in his eyes, and his number one priority became keeping them from spilling over Eva’s face. Despite the evening’s events, learning far more than he ever should have about her, letting someone see her cry felt like the ultimate betrayal.
The walk back to Eva’s office took much longer than usual as he thought long and hard about what to do next. There was only a day or so before they would be able to switch back. Could he wait it out? Could he act like everything was normal (or normal for two people keeping their unwitting body swap under the strictest confidence) until Eva was back in her own body and figured it out for herself? The problem was that she would eventually end up at Dr. Lamai’s door. He couldn’t make Eva look a fool when she tried to tell the doctor news Lamai had already broken. Not to mention, Eva needed an ultrasound soon. If the pregnancy were ectopic, the risk of rupturing an internal organ was too high to countenance.
Grace trudged his feet, but eventually, he landed in front of Eva’s door with no better plan than to tell her. No way to couch his unwitting betrayal of her privacy. He caught himself before he knocked on the door to what was ostensibly his own office. His own face looked up at him and ushered him inside.