Chapter 66 – Intertwined

Nef’s POV


Can I take a few minutes to have a really really girlie moment? Yes? Thanks.
OMFG I LOVE MY BOYFRIEND!!!!!! *jumps around squealing*

Okay, I’m done. I apologize for that but it was necessary to convey how much I love Sasha. For the past few weeks I’d noticed how stressed Sasha was becoming about our anniversary. A month and a half before our anniversary I told him I’d already gotten his gift and he had a mild panic attack. He had been so worried about getting me a ‘good’ present that he’s completely missed the point on celebrating an anniversary. It wasn’t about the presents or the shiny things we could get each other. It was about the two of us celebrating how much we love each other and the accomplishment of our first year together.

It wasn’t until after he had dinner with my twin brother that he settled. Im had told me that Sasha had called him to ask for help on getting me a present. They’d talked over dinner and after a trip to the mall had come up with an idea that I was sure to love – at least that’s what Im told me.

He was right. I loved it. Sasha had hand written a letter to me and framed it. In the letter he poured his heart out to me and told me exactly how he felt and what he hoped this anniversary represented. It was the most romantic, thoughtful, and loving thing he has ever done. After letting me read the letter he gave me a promise ring as a symbol of all the things he said in his letter.

After that we went out for drinks, dinner, and dancing with friends. It was a wonderful evening that was capped off with us making passionate love. It was like a story book evening and I couldn’t keep the smile off of my face.

I’d gotten in the habit of spending at least two nights a week at Sasha house, when he was home. He tried to spend at least one night a week at my place when he had the time. The nights when he was on the road or I was away visiting my family, or hanging out with friends, or whatever reason we couldn’t be together we texted. On weekends with home games or evenings when I didn’t have class I cooked his pregame meals, I helped him buy groceries, I cleaned, and I helped him with laundry and even suckered him into doing mine. Our lives had become so intertwined it was hard to think back to the time when we weren’t together.

His friends were my friends and my friends were his friends. Speaking of friends, Val is coming back to the US for a visit. She and I had gotten along and we’d stayed in touch when she went back to Russia. The boys were on a 5 day road trip and I had been talking to Sasha on the phone when Ovi told him that Val was coming back for a visit. Of course I immediately went off on a tangent of planning her trip while she was here. The boys would be gone for three days, Val and I would roadtrip up to the New Jersey game. After that the boys were going to North Carolina before coming home.

“Pay attention,” Sasha said to me.

We’d been talking about me going to the doctors for a physical. I hadn’t been feeling well, I was always nauseous, headaches were more and more frequent, and I didn’t have any type of appetite.

“It’s just stress,” I told him. It was almost Thanksgiving and my semester was on the verge of wrapping up. There was a flurry of final projects, papers, and those last minute exams before finals. Work was picking up as well. My internship had been going so well that they had given me extra responsibilities. I was managing to balance everything…mostly, but it wasn’t easy.

“I still want you to go to doctor.”

“Okay, fine. I’ll make an appointment to go for a checkup.”

I really hate going to the doctor’s office unless it’s absolutely necessary. I just don’t like them. Never have, and probably never will. I was able to get an appointment scheduled for the day before Sasha came back from his road trip, that way he could be there for the follow up appointment where the doctor would tell me that everything was fine, that my “symptoms” as Sasha called them were just from stress. Can you tell I was setting him up for the big I told you so moment?

“I gotta go babe, roommate dinner is tonight.”

We said our goodbyes and I headed to the dining room to set the table. We were having a roommate dinner. We tried to have them every other week or so. It was just girl time, time for us to catch up or plan hangouts, or even air the dirty laundry. It made living with each other easier and more comfortable.

“Come on slow ass,” Jesse said. “It took you forever to get off of the phone!”

“Shut it, you!” I said to her. “Or I’ll tell Chris how you really got that bruise on your thigh.”

She threw a grape at my head. She and Chris were now officially together and she got a bruise from falling off a bar she’d been dancing on one night when she was drunk. I loved my roommates. They were like the sisters I never had.

“It’s so nice to actually see you!” Jackie said her voice falsely cheery.

“Oh stuff it. You guys see me all the time.” I’m only gone a few nights a week.

The three of us really enjoyed roommate dinner. It was a time for us to be together, away from school, away from boyfriends, away from work. It was just a time for us to be us. We had homemade burritos and then vegged out to a marathon of Keeping with the Kardashians and Kim and Khloe take Miami….or whatever that show was called.



Sasha’s POV


Nef and I were in her doctor’s office. She’d had an appointment a few days ago to get a check up and some blood work done. We came back today to pick up the results. She hadn’t been feeling well for the last few weeks. She said that it was stress related. Her school and work had picked up for her and she found herself working and studying longer hours. After this she only had one more semester until graduation.

I had to harass her to go to the doctor’s office. She avoided that place like the plague. She wasn’t comfortable there. I really hoped that nothing was wrong and that it was stress related.

“Congratulations Ms. Hassan,” the doctor began.

“See I told you there’s nothing wrong with me. It was stress related,” Nef said to me.

I nodded my head but the doctor interrupted us.

“There’s nothing wrong but your symptoms aren’t stress related. You’re pregnant.”

“What?” Nef and I both said.

“You’re pregnant, about 3 weeks along. I’d like for you to see a -”

“That’s impossible! I’m on the pill, we use condoms, hell I had my period two weeks ago.”

What? Pregnant? How? We were careful. She took birth control every day. We used condoms…most of the time. We’d had sex without a condom for the first time on our anniversary…shit. But even so the pill should prevent pregnancy. I could see Nef growing more and more agitated as the doctor explained how this could have happened. Apparently women can bleed during their first trimester, a flow heavy enough to seem like a regular period. We used condoms most of the time but Nef had never been on regular birth control until we started having sex regularly. The one she had been on wasn’t the best for her and it happened. Not every pill was right for every woman. She once told me about a brand that she had started taking when she was 16 that caused her to have seizures. Maybe if she had been going to the doctor regularly they would have been able to find a better match for her.

“But – no – I don’t understand,” she repeated, “How could it just not work?”

I could tell that she was on the verge of either tears or a break down. I had been quiet. I was trying to understand, to take it all in, but Nef was about to lose it. I grabbed her hand and pulled her into my lap. Her arms wrapped around my neck and she buried her face in my shoulder and started crying.

“It’s okay. I here,” I said.

I wrapped my arms around her and rubbed her back soothingly. I was really freaked out but I couldn’t fall apart the way Nef was. It wouldn’t do us any good.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t know, I didn’t mean-“

I put my fingers to her lips to quiet her.

“I know. We both make mistake but it okay. I here with you – for you.”

I started talking directly to the doctor, finding out what we needed to do to take care of Nef. Keeping her healthy was my primary concern. We set up an appointment for a prenatal check up and the doctor told Nef to stop taking her birth control pill and prescribed prenatal vitamins for her to take.

I drove her back to my place. I didn’t want to leave her alone, not like this. She wasn’t panicking anymore; instead she wasn’t reacting at all. She was too quiet, she was unresponsive. I pulled her in bed with me and held her tightly.

“It okay,” I repeated. ”We’re okay. I promise it’ll be okay.”

She cried for a long time, apologizing, saying she didn’t mean for this to happen. I told her that I’m as much to blame as she is. It was an accident. It happens sometime but we’ll get through this together. She slept for a bit. It was restless and fitful but she did manage to get some sleep. I ran out while she was napping to grab something for dinner and when I returned she was sitting at the head of the bed staring out the window. She was curled in on herself, her head resting on her knees and arms wrapped tightly around her legs.

While I was out I had been thinking. It was almost Thanksgiving. Nef had about 4 weeks of school left for the semester, if that. Her graduation was scheduled for May – six months away. She was 3 weeks along – so the baby would be born sometime in July. She could finish school on time. Because I had signed a one year deal I couldn’t begin negotiations until January 1, 2011. I couldn’t tell her where I’d be. I hoped I’d still be in DC and that’s what I was planning for. I sat down on the bed beside her.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean –“ enough with the apologizing.

”Nef, I love you, but please stop apologizing.”

I told her exactly what I had been thinking about. The plan I came up with would work. I’m not leaving her. I’m not running away. I knew that’s what she was afraid of. When I gave her that promise ring I meant every single word that was attached to it. I’m not going anywhere and if I do I’m taking Nefertiti Hassan with me.