Undecisive
1462 Words
So they got married the next day, not wearing formal wedding clothes, with Mary, Josh, Stuart, Isabella and Caroline over the phone.
"Great, now what?" Cara said after they got out of City Hall.
"Now we celebrate!" Stuart said
"Stue. You know this wasn't a real wedding" Mary told him
"So?"
So they went to a bar and had some fun before going home.
The following shift, there was a huge fire in a building so several houses were there and they had to time their time inside to avoid smoke inhalations.
When her team got out, Cara stayed to show the way.
"Cara" Doug called on the walkie.
"Chief" she replied before showing the exist to a group of people
"Time's up get out"
"There's none to replace me chief"
"Get out right now"
"I'm still waiting for"
"It's an order."
She stayed a few seconds before walking out.
As she joined him, he gave her a stare.
"Just doing my job" she told him
"There are rules for your safety. Why do you always have to ignore them"
She shrugged.
"Hey where's Cook?"
Doug looked around and called in the walkie "Stuart where are you"
"Stuck on first floor, chief"
The team stood up to go inside but Doug stopped them.
He called the chief from firehouse 50 and told him.
"I gotta go help him" Cara said
"No you won't."
"Chief. It's Stuart. Let me help"
"Cara. It's an order. To all of you. Stand down"
A few minutes later, Stuart was still stuck and they were trying to get him out.
"Let me go" Cara said
He ignored her.
She stood up and walked past him.
"Cara. Stand. Down"
"No"
Then she ran inside and up the stairs to get to him.
They finally got his feet out and dragged him outside.
And as they rode silently in the firetruck, they got out, took their suits off and put on the other ones. Except for Cara who got dressed up.
Then she walked towards Doug and handed him her badge and her suit in front of everyone.
"What are you doing?" He asked
"I disobeyed a direct order twice and know the consequences chief"
He walked to his office as she followed and closed the door behind her.
"You helped save Cook. You don't have to give up your job"
"But…"
"There are consequences, but you were just doing your best. We all wanted to get in. You're off for the next two weeks"
"Wait, I broke the rules and got vacation time?"
"Unpaid" he added
She smiled. Makes sense.
"Thank you"
"You better not do that again"
"Can't promise that"
So she left to the hospital to see how he was doing.
"Cara?" Dr Athab called her as he saw her in Stuart's room.
"Yes?"
"Can I talk to you outside?"
She left the team standing there and followed him to an empty exam room.
"I got the result of the compulsory tests"
"Okay"
"I need to check something"
"Sure, what's wrong?"
"I just need to make sure. You might be pregnant"
She could swear her heart missed a beat.
She sat and let him draw blood.
"Are you staying with Stuart?"
She nodded
"I should get the results by the evening if you're still here."
She nodded again before joining her team back in Stuart's room, the latter had just woken up.
Nathan ran inside and said "sorry, I came as soon as I landed, what happened?"
Cara explained to him after he shook everyone's hand.
In the evening, Cara and Nathan were the only ones left as she told him she was waiting for some results. They sat on the chair and talked about his business trip in Tokyo.
Dr Athab came to see her at around 7 p.m so she left Nathan and Stuart to keep talking.
He handed her the results and told her she is pregnant.
"How long have I been"
"Gotta do an ultrasound"
"What about smoke inhalations? You know what I did just today"
"It shouldn't affect the baby. But they will check that during the ultrasound."
"Can I terminate it?"
He seemed startled, as he thought she wanted the baby.
"I don't know for sure, but I don't think you're that far along so yeah"
"Thanks"
"Sure" he replied, not sure about what to say
As they took an Uber, Cara told Nathan that she was pregnant
"What that's cool! It's not?" He said as he saw her not smiling.
"Not planned is what it is"
"Hey, at least we're married"
She looked at him, not understanding.
"What does that do?" She asked
"Well, people won't say we had a child out of wedlock"
She raised her eyebrows.
"What?"
"Who says there's gonna be a child" she said, getting out of the car.
"What?"
She went up and closed her apartment door.
"Hey" Mary said "what's up?"
"I'll tell you later" Cara said
"What do you mean who says?" Nathan asked
She still ignored him
As she closed the door of her room, he asked "you don't… it's both our baby you can't just…"
"I can do whatever I want. When you get a baby inside your body, you can decide for yourself" she cut him, taking a pyjama out of her drawers to get changed.
Then she went to the bathroom.
When she got out, Nathan was walking in circles in the living room with Mary as a spectator.
"Do you guys want me to leave you alone?" Mary asked
"You can stay" Cara told her "there's nothing more to say"
"Cara" Nathan started "don't you think we should talk about it before making the decision?"
"Can I talk about it with myself first? I don't even know what I wanna do and I don't need you criticizing my decision"
He was about to reply but Mary told him it'd probably be better if he left. This was the first time she saw Cara angry.
"I need my mom" she told Mary.
She lay on Mary's lap.
Nathan had heard her say that through the door, so he had an idea.
"Why don't you tell me?"
So she told her what's going on.
The following morning, Mary went with her for her ultrasound.
"I still have a month to decide" she said
"That’s good. You can think about it" Mary told her
"Yeah"
The following morning, Nathan came back to see Cara.
"I still haven't made a decision" she said, opening the door and throwing herself back on the couch.
"I wasn't expecting you to" he replied "I have a surprise for you. Can you come?"
"Where?"
"It's a surprise"
She followed him outside and he drove for a few minutes before asking her to close her eyes.
"Don't peak" he told her
And when she opened them, she felt weird. And then she looked around : she was on the jet.
"What the hell"
"I know you would've said no if I told you so… we're going to Perth" he said, smiling.
And Cara was not smiling at all.
"Why do you always have to do things you wanna do without asking?" She asked
"I heard you say you wanted to see your mom so.."
"So nothing" she shouted "you don't make decisions for other people without their knowledge. First the baby and now this, then what? Turn it around"
"That's gonna be difficult since we've already cleared the way and"
"I don't care. Take me back."
"Cara"
"Do I look like I'm kidding?"
"No. But we can't turn it around.."
She rushed into the cockpit.
"THERE'S NO PILOT?" She asked, louder than before
"That's what I was trying to tell you…"
"Are you crazy? We're going to Australia in an automated airplane WITH NO PILOT?"
She sat on the seat and covered her face with her hands.
"I wish I drank alcohol"
"You couldn't even… nevermind" Nathan said.
And so they spent 6 hours in a silent jet. Then they arrived at Saudi Arabia where they recharged and a pilot came in. Given the ride is 2 hours, Cara didn't bother asking to get back to New York.
When they arrived, and took an uber, none had said anything. And once she saw her mom, she just ran into her arms as Nathan took the suitcases out of the car.
"Hey Cara" Caroline said
And after long minutes, she let go and walked to the house as her mom greeted Nathan.
The latter went to her room while she explained what was going on.
"You came all the way here to tell me?"
"I didn't know." She replied "I don't know anything about anything anymore"
- Writer
