Marked

“Now Lydia, you don’t need to worry about anything, you just get some rest tonight, and we will discuss everything in the morning,” Henry assured her.

“Alright”, Lydia replied with a yawn, as she drifted back to sleep. John and Henry took turns staying with Lydia throughout the remainder of the night, incase she miscarried. Also, so both of them could get some rest and be prepared to examine the fetus, when if finally aborted. The fetus did not abort that first night.

“I just don’t understand it,” John said as he stood before Henry, running his fingers through his hair. “What could have gone wrong?”

“Maybe we didn’t introduce enough DNA into the embryo,” Henry offered, in an attempt to calm John.

“We have to explain to Lydia that we’re going to have to redo the experiment,” John explained to Henry.

“We will prepare the lab for the procedure and do it again today. We have more DNA, all right, John? I’ll go to Lydia now.”

“Great, you do that, and I’ll prepare the lab.”

Henry explained to Lydia that the procedure had not been completed yet, and they would have to give her another injection to bring about the abortion.

“Is there anything wrong?” Lydia asked, looking worried.

“Oh no, dear, everything is fine. These things take time, you know. We are taking no chances with your health. We don’t want to rush things, you know. We may have to give you small injections over a period of a few days to complete the procedure.”

Henry hoped he was of some comfort to Lydia, but he realized he sounded like a babbling idiot. He headed for the lab to help John.

Lydia felt quite uneasy. Henry had not been very comforting in his explanation, and neither he nor John had mentioned prior to this that the procedure might take more than one day. Lydia felt that there was more to it than she was being told. Her mind started to feed on her fears, suppose she had some terrible disease, and they didn’t want to tell her. Or suppose the baby was dead inside her and they couldn’t get it out without surgery. Oh Lydia, stop this torture of yourself. John and Henry would not allow any harm to her that was in their power to prevent, Lydia knew this beyond any doubt.

Everything was prepared a second time, and the procedure went as it first had, with the same results, and again on the third day. The fetus still held on to life stubbornly.

“What shall we do now John?” Henry asked.

“We can’t make any rash decisions. We’ll have to discuss future processes with Lydia, without letting her know fully our plans,” John said. “We have several options to choose from. The final decision will be Lydia’s,” John continued.

“Go on,” Henry urged.

“We could continue the DNA injections until they brought about abortion of the fetus, however I must say that the monitor does not show any type of distress in the embryo, or we could offer surgical removal of the fetus, perform a C-section, or give a traditional abortion, which might interfere with the test results thus far,” John concluded.

“Umm, huh, I see,” Henry sighed, deep in thought.

“Do you have any better suggestions?” John asked.