"Well, we have the results of your fertility tests."
Adam and Amy both looked up as Dr. Smith returned to the office, some papers in his hand as he came to sit behind his desk. He faced the anticipating couple and folded his hands. He eyed Adam first.
"Everything seems to be functioning perfectly normal with you," he said. He picked up one of the papers and recited all of the laboratory's findings. And then, this was the part he hated to do. He turned to the wife.
"Amy, I'm afraid you have an inhospitable uterus."
The redhead's expression darkened. She glanced from the doctor to her husband and then back again.
"Wh-what does that mean?" she questioned, unable to rid her voice of the quaver. She felt Adam's hand tighten as he held onto her own.
"It means," the physician elaborated, "that you have a very slim chance of ever conceiving." He explained things a bit more in detail, and the woman's expression grew full of horror.
"All in all, I would give you about a fifteen percent chance of ever conceiving."
What?! The word screamed in Amy's head as she stared at the man. She had to have heard him wrong. She had to! She cast another glance her husband's way to see that his head was bowed as he too absorbed everything the doctor had just told them. This was quite possibly the worst news they had ever gotten.
"Is there... anything we can do?" Adam asked, swallowing hard. He lifted his head to meet the physician's eyes, and Amy was glad he'd asked the question, as it seemed she herself was still incapable of even speaking.
The older man nodded.
"My recommendation is that you undergo in-vitro immediately," he said, fixing his blue eyes on the redheaded woman. "I think that will be the only way you will be able to have a child."
Amy could only nod. Even when she parted her lips to say something in response, she still came up silent.
"We'll definitely look into that. Thank you, Dr. Smith." The blond man rose, outstretching one hand to his wife to help her up, and they left.
Their drive home was a silent one. Adam searched his mind for the words to say - anything that would cheer the redhead up and put her mind at ease. But he knew there were none. He hated feeling so helpless, and hated her feeling so down even more than that.
The moment they arrived home, Amy ran straight to the bedroom. She threw herself onto the bed and sobbed her heart out. It was the worst feeling in the world to know that you could probably never have the one thing you wanted more than anything. And what she desired so badly she could almost taste it, was Adam's child. How could biology be so unfair? It seemed like a cruel joke.
She kept her face buried in a pillow as she wept, not even looking up as she suddenly felt Adam sit on the edge of the bed and lay a hand on her back. She felt as though the entire world were collapsing around her.
"Ames... Ames, it's going to be okay."
Finally, the redhead sat up, her eyes red and moist as she stared at her husband. She shook her head, her voice finally returning to her for the first time since Dr. Smith had given them the news.
"How can you sit there and say that?" She stared at him through slightly slitted eyes.
The blond man felt perhaps more useless than he ever had in all his life. It seemed even more apparent that he was suddenly incapable of making her feel better. At a loss, he shrugged.
"Is that-" She mocked him by shrugging her own shoulders. "-all you can say?" she demanded. She knew she was behaving so unreasonably and taking out her frustrations on him unfairly, but she wasn't exactly thinking clearly at that moment. "That's really gonna help, Adam!"
He sighed sadly, his large hand still pressed gently to her back. He caressed her, his gaze meeting hers.
"The doctor said we can go with in-vitro," he reminded her. "It's not the end of the world."
The redhead pulled away from him, her facial expression upset.
"That's easy for you to say - you're not the one with the problem!" she cried. "You're perfectly normal! I'm the one who's messed up!" She began to cry again and buried her face in her hands.
Adam gathered the weeping woman into his arms. He was relieved when she didn't pull back, instead sinking into his embrace and pressing her face into his chest. He allowed her to sob against him as he rocked her slightly, his voice soft as he spoke again.
"Baby... Listen to me," he said soothingly. "When you have a problem, so do I... We're in this thing together." He held her back just a bit and stared down into her sad face. She was sniffling, tears still drenching her cheeks.
"You hear me, Ames? We're in this together. And I promise that we'll get through it." He ran one hand up the side of her face, drying away the tears. "We'll go ahead with the in-vitro, and with a little time and patience... Not to mention, love - we'll have our baby."
Amy sniffled lightly but somehow managed to nod. She raised one hand and wiped at her face. She wondered how it had been that she'd gotten so lucky so as to get him.
"I love you."
"I love you, too, Ames." Adam hugged her against him and tenderly kissed her.