They wouldn't let her stay at the hotel

They wouldn't let her stay at the hotel. She'd taken the assignment to work during the New York nurses strike at a hospital near her husband's family. They understood she would be working 12 hours a day until the strike was over, but they still wanted her at the house instead of the hotel. Sleeping in her husband's boyhood room.

She took the subway home for the first week. But when she fell asleep before her stop once that got ended as well. Either her mother-in-law, Nancy, or sister-in-law, Alice, usually picked her up from the hospital. She would eat with them, go to bed, get up, eat and someone would drive her back to work. She had liked her in-laws before this, but being there everyday gave her a new perspective. And her mother-in-law took over mothering duties. Not in a "mother knows best" way that her own mother did, but in a "sweetie I'll do this you just rest" way. She took over laundering scrubs since after 87 hours a week of working for 2 weeks straight tended to make you forget clothes in the dryer or washer or whether you actually had any clean. The only important things in life become eating and sleeping. Which was a large reason why she allowed her mother-in-law to take over. But she found that she did not mind it so much. Nancy would give her choice instead of insisting on the "right" way of doing things. Also being here with his family let her stay a little close emotionally to her husband although physically he was on the other side of the continent in California. When she'd call and talk to him, he'd mention if his mother had mentioned her looking tired or crying after losing a patient. If he called her mobile and she didn't answer he'd call the house. He'd tried to talk her out of working so much. As a cast member on a popular TV show, he made enough money that she didn't have to work, but he did understand that she loved critical care nursing. When she was home she only worked 3 days of 12-hour shifts per week, which meshed perfectly with his busy schedule, but she had made up her mind that she was going to work this strike. She stated she was going as a "mercenary nurse." As a nurse that cost the hospital as much money that they would eventually cave in to the nursing union's demands.

He missed her being there. He had had 7 weeks left to wrap up shooting for the season. Then he would head to New York to spend time with his family and sleep with his wife when she rolled in from work in the mornings. He found himself surprised that he didn't miss the sex as much as he missed just sleeping beside her. His bed was empty without her in it.

She was having a countdown until the day he arrived. When it was 5 days prior to him arriving something occurred to her. She had been there 6 weeks and she hadn't had her period. When Alice picked her up from the hospital that morning she requested a stop by the drug store on the way home. Alice walked in with her and she didn't have the energy or the tact to try and deflect Alice from what she was there to buy. She walked up to the home pregnancy test kits and selected one. Alice's eyes went wide.

"Do you think you are...?" she asked.

Amanda shuffled to the drugstore checkout line. "It's a possibility, or it could be stress causing me to skip a cycle."

"Oh," Alice said clearly very curious, but not wanting to interrogate her sister-in-law. Alice had been impressed that Amanda had worked 42 days of 12-hour nights straight. Granted she was so exhausted she practically went straight to bed until time to go back to the hospital. She had to be driven back and forth to work after she fell asleep on the subway, but Alice was sure she'd do the same if she put in as many hours.

When they got to the house Amanda headed straight for the bathroom with her sack. Nancy immediately picked up on the curious vibes between her daughter and daughter-in-law.

"What's up?" Nancy asked her daughter.

"Her period's late. We had to stop at the drug store on the way home for a pregnancy test kit." Nancy's face split at a wide grin at the thought of a grandbaby that Alice was hinting at. "She said it could just be the stress cause her to skip," Alice interjected to try to waylay her mother.

"Oh, no," Nancy's face almost couldn't contain her huge grin. "Only one thing makes a woman that exhausted and that's a bay. I was so exhausted with you and Johnny that I slept for 31 hours once."

"Mom, I'm sure that if she is pregnant, that she'd like to tell Johnny first."

"Nancy's face fell. "True, but I'm going to go crazy waiting to find out.

Amanda wandered into the room and handed the capped stick to Alice. "Tell me if I am reading this right. I kept transposing numbers last night so I want to make sure I'm reading it correctly." Alice and Nancy stared at the digital readout on the stick. Alice found her voice first. "All I am seeing is the word pregnant."

Amanda closed her eyes. "Okay, I was just wanting to make sure I wasn't hallucinating it." She pulled up the sleeve of the scrub top she still had on and ripped off the birth control patch that was on her bicep. Her face was just a little too bland.

Nancy quickly went over to her daughter-in-law and put her arm around her. "I'm sorry your birth control didn't work."

Amanda smiled an ironic smile. "I was exposed to meningitis at work about 2 weeks before I flew out. I had to be put on prophylactic antibiotics that made my birth control ineffective. We were using condoms as a backup, but one broke. I can almost guarantee you that was when I got pregnant."

"How are you?" Nancy insisted on knowing.

Amanda blinked several times. "Mama G., I'm so tired. And I don't know how I'm going to tell him. We were going to wait a few years, but can't change that now."

Nancy smiled. "Well if he's anything like his father was, just be prepared to repeat yourself several times."

Amanda hugged her mother-in-law. "Thank you... for everything."

"No, honey. Thank you. I couldn't imagine someone that would suit my Johnny better than you and now, a grandbaby."

"Mama G.," Amanda grinned, "You're going to spoil this one rotten. I can see it now."

"But of course. It's a grandmother's prerogative."

Five days later she told him. And like her mother-in-law predicted she had to repeat herself seven times.

A week after that the nurses' union settled contract negotiations and Amanda reported off to the hospital's regular staff.