"Can you sit up?" Doc Jane asked.
Xhex groaned a curse as she tried to push her torso off the bed and failed. Doc Jane ended up having to help her, and when the doctor got a load of her back, she hissed a little.
"It doesn't hurt that bad," Xhex bit out.
"Somehow I doubt that. " Again with the metal disk going around. "Breath as deep as you can without hurting yourself. "
Xhex gave it a shot and was relieved when the doc's kind hand urged her back against the pillows and the sheet was floated into place once more.
"May I check your arms and legs for injury?" When Xhex shrugged, Doc Jane put her stethoscope aside and moved down the bed. There was another draft as the sheet was drawn back. . . and then the other female hesitated.
"Very deep ligation marks around your ankles," the doctor murmured, almost to herself.
Well, that was because Lash had tied her up with wire sometimes.
"Lot of bruising. . . "
Xhex stopped the inspection when the sheet was pushed up to her hips. "Let's just say they go all the way north, 'kay?"
Doc Jane resettled the sheet where it had been. "Can I palpate your belly?"
"Knock yourself out. "
Xhex stiffened at the idea of being uncovered again, but Doc Jane just stretched the sheet flat and pushed and prodded. Unfortunately, there was no hiding the winces, especially as things headed to her lower stomach.
The doc settled back and stared straight into Xhex's eyes. "Any chance you'll let me do an internal exam on you?"
"Internal as in. . . " As she got the meaning, Xhex shook her head. "Nope. Not going to happen. "
"Were you sexually assaulted?"
"No. "
Doc Jane nodded once. "Is there anything I need to know that you haven't told me? Pain in any particular place?"
"I'm fine. "
"You're bleeding. I'm not sure you're aware of it. But you're bleeding. "
Xhex frowned and looked at her trembling arms.
"There's fresh blood on the insides of your thighs. Which is why I asked if I could do the internal exam. "
Xhex felt a wash of dread come over her.
"I'll ask you one more time. Were you sexually assaulted. " There was no emotion behind the clinical words, and the doctor had guessed right. Xhex wouldn't have been interested in any hysteria or drippy, over-the-top pity.
When she didn't reply, Doc Jane read into the silence correctly and said, "Any chance you could be pregnant. "
Oh. . . God.
Symphath cycles were weird and unpredictable, and she'd been so caught up in the drama of the capture and captivity, she hadn't even thought about the repercussions.
At that moment, she despised being a female. She truly did.
"I don't know. "
Doc Jane nodded once. "How can you tell if you are?"