Okay, that was a bad idea.

We walked down the hall to Dr. Stuart's office and I was a little surprised when Anthony walked in without knocking, he seemed to be the type to follow all the rules. We walked in and again I was surprised to find that Dr. Stuart looked a little older than me, a brunette with dark eyes, she must have been in her early thirties at the most, she smiled at us and motioned for us to sit down.

- Anthony, glad you could make it - she said, smiling. - So this is the girl you told me about? - she asked looking at me.

Anthony nodded.

- This is the same Dr. Stuart, her name is Elisa Banks, Miss Banks this is Dr. Marina Stuart.

- It's a pleasure Elisa - she said smiling and held out her hand, I shook it smiling too, she turned to Anthony when she released my hand. - I told you to call me by my name Anthony, it's Marina, you know? Are we friends or not?

Anthony sighed and I held back my laugh, does he have a problem with people and intimacy?

- Now is not the time, are you going to help me or not?

- Okay," she shrugged. - I'll need a blood sample from Elisa, a few hours for the result and for her to answer a questionnaire, okay?

They both looked at me for an answer and I nodded.

- All right, whatever you need.

- Okay," she smiled and stood up. - Please lie down over there," she pointed to the stretcher at the back of the room.

I went over there and lay down, she attached a rubber band a little above my right elbow and cleaned the place where she intended to draw blood, took a needle, but stopped with it inches from my arm.

- I forgot to tell you, but you had to fast Elisa," she said, looking at me apologetically. - Have you eaten anything today?

I said with my head.

- I woke up late, so I didn't have time to eat.

- This is great! - she smiled and stuck the needle in me, I grimaced, but didn't move.

The blood draw didn't last long, just a few minutes, and she had three tubes full of my blood, I had returned to my seat beside Anthony while the doctor handed the blood to a nurse.

- Bring the results to me as soon as you can Anna," she asked and the nurse nodded. - And also bring a snack for Elisa, she needs to eat.

- I'm fine," I assured her and the doctor sighed, sending the nurse away and sitting back in her chair.

- You just took blood and it wasn't little Elisa, you need to eat.

- All right," I agreed, "because I really was hungry.

- Okay, let's start with the questionnaire," she said with a smile and took some papers from her desk drawer. She wrote something on the top of the first sheet and looked at me. - Things like blood type and your health condition the blood test will show, here I just want some quick answers, OK?

I nodded.

- You can start.

- All right then, when was the last time you drank?

- It must be over a year ago," I said, remembering Helena's bad idea of drinking herself into a stupor when she failed the entrance exam for the agronomy course. 

- Is this an exception or do you not usually drink? - she asked after writing something down on her papers.

- I don't usually drink, nor do I like to drink much," I clarified.

- Okay," she wrote something else down. - That's great, and as for cigarettes, do you smoke? Not that it seems like it, but I have to ask.

- I don't smoke," I assured her, "nor have I ever smoked.

- Great - she smiled. - Are you allergic to anything?

- Pepper - I answered and they both stared at me. - What? Is it a problem that I'm allergic to pepper?

- No - the doctor assured me smiling - It's just unusual, but let's continue - she said and I nodded. She continued asking me various questions about my eating habits and how many hours of sleep I got, and in between the nurse actually came back with a snack that I happily ate, I was starving. As I ate and continued to answer questions, Anthony just watched. - Okay, I think that's all," she said, checking the questionnaire. - Wait, there is one more thing, when was your last sexual intercourse?

I choked on the bagel I was eating.

- What? - I asked just to make sure I had heard correctly.

- When was your last intercourse? - she repeated and I blushed.

- Do I need to answer? 

- Yes," she assured me and I sighed.

- It's been over a year ago," I muttered, "It was with drinking, all my friend's fault.

- Great, that's all, let's go... - two knocks on the door interrupted whatever the doctor was about to say.

- Doctor, sorry to interrupt - the same nurse who had brought me my snack and taken my blood appeared at the door with an envelope in her hand. - These are the results of Ms. Banks' tests.

The doctor smiled and motioned for the nurse to leave them on her desk. I was about to ask something like, "Already?", but when I looked at the clock on the wall I was surprised to see that it was already eleven thirty, when had it gotten so late?

The doctor checked the papers inside the envelope and smiled.

- This is great, your health is very good Elisa, maybe you should consume a little more vitamins, but otherwise you look great. Maybe with two or three tries you will be able to have the baby.

His comment made me feel a little uncomfortable, even though we were there for it, it was still weird to think that I would have a baby with a stranger.

- Can we proceed? - she asked, "That is of course if it's okay with you Anthony.

- You may proceed," he agreed.

- Now? - I asked in surprise.

- Of course - the doctor smiled - The sooner we make the first attempt, the sooner we will know if it worked or if we will have to try again, and the procedure is very quick and simple.

- Alright - I sighed - Let's do it.

As the doctor promised the procedure was incredibly fast, about an hour later Anthony and I were getting ready to leave, the doctor had asked us to come back tomorrow to do the test and see if I really was pregnant or if we would need a second attempt, tomorrow would be the day of truth.

Anthony dropped me off at home and after changing I lay in bed staring at the ceiling, beginning to really wonder if this had all been a good idea. Because it didn't matter where I looked anymore, this all seemed so crazy, I spent the rest of Saturday locked in my apartment burning out my neurons thinking about the mess I had gotten myself into. When the alarm clock went off the next day I got up wishing that my "plan" would work out, I didn't care about the money anymore, I just wanted to get out of this mess before my friends arrived in the late afternoon.

Anthony and I didn't exchange a single word on the way, today when he arrived I was ready so there was no shouting or intrusion. When we arrived at the clinic I was already sweating cold, we went to the same counter as last time and the attendant said in the same honeyed voice that the doctor would see us, today there was no one here but us, that didn't make me feel any better.

When we arrived at the doctor's office she was smiling.

- It's good to see you again," she said excitedly, but as neither of us answered anything she sighed and asked me to sit on the stretcher in her room again. 

She took my blood and like last time gave it to a nurse to take it, but as today we had nothing else to do in her room, so she asked us to wait in the cafeteria on the first floor where I could eat something, we went there and I ordered a turkey breast sandwich and juice and Anthony just a coffee, we hadn't exchanged any words yet, I sighed, I needed to tell him what I wanted.

- I changed my mind," I said out of nowhere and he stared at me.

- How? - he asked without understanding.

- I said that I changed my mind about this arrangement of ours.

- Changed your mind, eh?

- I'm sorry, but I've come to the conclusion that this is all very crazy and I hope you won't be upset with me, I just think I'd better get a more normal job.

- I see," Anthony said calmly, taking another sip of coffee. - You're basically quitting, and I can't even say anything since we haven't signed any contracts or anything, but what if you're pregnant? What are you going to do?

- If I am pregnant, we will continue, after all this baby will be yours, but if I'm not, please understand that I don't intend to try a second time.

- All right," he said with a sigh. - I thought maybe you'd come to some conclusion that way. Let's do it your way, then.

- Are you really okay with this? - I wanted to know.

- Honestly no, but I can't force you to help me, so let's wait and see what happens now.

I nodded, smiling.

- Let's go," I agreed.

By the time we took the elevator back to the doctor's office I was breaking into a cold sweat.

- Calm down - Anthony asked. - Didn't I tell you that women hardly ever get pregnant on the first try?

- Yes, but there's still a chance and since I'm unlucky it might just happen, it's not your fault, I accepted it and...

- Just calm down OK? - Anthony asked interrupting me. - We haven't signed any contracts and you're certainly not pregnant, so after the doctor gives us the results we can go our separate ways. Simple as that.

I took a deep breath.

- Fine," I agreed, and we made our way to the doctor's office.

When we got there she was already holding two envelopes.

- Sit down," she asked and we did so. - Here are the results of Miss Elisa's blood test," she said, handing each of us an envelope.

I opened the envelope almost trembling, Anthony had managed to calm me down a little, but a small part of me still thought I might be pregnant. With my luck, I wasn't doubting anything.

When I finally plucked up courage and took the sheet from the envelope Anthony was already staring at the result at the bottom of the sheet, I ran my eyes through the various medical terms that I didn't understand at all and came to the end where there was a single word in capital letters: NEGATIVE.

I sighed with such relief that I almost fell off my chair.

- So that's it," he sighed.

- As expected," the doctor assured me. - We can schedule the next attempt.

- There won't be a next one," Anthony replied, and the doctor looked at him with confusion.

- What do you mean there won't be a next time?

- Miss Banks changed her mind, there won't be a next attempt. I guess I'll have to find someone else or some other way to do it.

- There is no other way to do this Anthony." Dr. Stuart sighed and turned to me.

- Why is that? - I asked.

- Because when Anthony came up with this crazy idea I really considered not helping him, but then he came up with you and I thought "Maybe this will work out after all", you really seemed like the kind of person who could make this work.

Your words took me by surprise, because I had the slight impression that "this" didn't just refer to the baby.

- I'm sorry," I said sincerely. - I just realized that this might be a really bad idea.

- It's okay," Anthony assured him, standing up. - Come on, I'll take you home.

- But...

- Come on Miss Banks," he called out, interrupting me.

- Right," I sighed, standing up. - Bye doctor, it was a pleasure to meet you.

- It was my pleasure, Elisa," she said smiling and we headed for the door.

Neither of us said a single word on the way to the car and when we sat down in the seats Anthony sighed.

- Don't worry I'll pay you," he said and I looked at him without understanding.

- What do you mean pay me?

- You came all this way, so I owe you," he said seriously and I closed my face.

 - Not at all, I didn't do anything, in fact in the end I gave up going on, so don't even start saying you're going to pay me.

- But...

- I even won some nice exams," it was my turn to interrupt. - So, please, don't bring this up again.

He made a pretense of me saying something, but changed his mind and smiled and nodded.

- As you wish.

I smiled too, and the rest of the way we walked in silence, each of us trapped in our own thoughts, and when the car finally stopped in front of my building I didn't know what to say.

- I guess this is goodbye - Anthony solved the dilemma for me and was the first to speak.

- I guess so," I agreed, "It was nice to meet you Anthony and try not to run people over.

- I didn't run you over," he said with a half smile. - But you bet, I'll do my best not to run anyone over. And it was a pleasure too Ms. Banks," he said as I got out of the car, I turned around immediately and gave him a look.

- It's Elisa! - I said indignantly and he laughed, closing the door.

As I watched the car drive away I had the feeling that this was not going to be the last time.