Chapter Text
“What do you mean?” You looked at the doctor sitting across from you on the other side of the desk.
The doctor sighed, shaking his head. “Well, this clinic doubles as a sperm bank and egg donation facility. There was a mistake.”
You leaned forward. “What kind of mistake?”
Silence rang through the room until the doctor cleared his throat and looked at you directly. “When we prepared for your routine exam, we misplaced a vial from one of our recent donors and…well, I’d like to run a pregnancy test and possibly an ultrasound.”
You felt your heart fall into your stomach. There was no way that you could possibly be pregnant. In other words, you would be about four months along by now. It certainly didn’t look like you were. Everything felt the same as normal.
For the sake of your own anxiety, you agreed to the test. Sitting on the chair felt like hours when in reality it was only about five minutes.
All you wished was for your mom to be here with you, or at least, someone else that could hold your hand along the way. Your family was across the country in Texas while you were in Gotham City, regretting your decision to move so far away for college.
It was a good idea for your career and it still is. The big city was a hub for accounting and Gotham State had a fantastic program. You’ve even been at an internship with KTMJ ever since the Fall of last year. It’s been great. You were sure that you were guaranteed a spot once you graduated in the Spring.
Positive. 13 weeks Along.
The doctor held an apologetic look. You shook your head. “I’ve never even had sex. This can’t be happening. Who’s the donor?”
He looked at his clipboard again. “Edward Nashton. He’s a-”
As if your heart couldn’t drop any lower, it sure did. “Forensic Accountant?”
“Yes. Do you know him?” The doctor raised a brow.
Things couldn’t possibly get worse than this. “I do. He’s my boss.”
~~~
Edward had so much on his plate with work and his little streaming business on the side. Of course, he would get a call from the sperm bank that he donated to a few months ago for just a few extra bucks asking to come in.
He had much more to do with his life than waste his time at this small office. A pregnant woman sat next to him on her phone while her toddler ran around the small waiting room. Exactly why he chose to donate. So that he could have the chance to possibly extend his bloodline without actually having to deal with pesky children all over the place.
Once he was called in, the doctor was eerily quiet. He typed away on his computer, barely looking at Edward.
“Why exactly am I here?” Edward impatiently asked. There was only a half hour until he promised his viewers that he would go on another stream. If he started ditching or starting late, they would lose faith in him. The worst possible thing to happen.
The doctor cleared his throat. “There’s been a mistake with your donation. Well, less of a mistake and more of a mix-up.”
Edward resisted scoffing. He was trying to be polite as he could to make this meeting go as fast as it possibly could. “Mix-up? What could you have possibly mixed up?”
“This place doubles as an OBGYN. The day that you donated, one of our nurses misplaced the tray with your vial in it. Long story short, one of our patients getting a routine check-up was artificially inseminated.” The doctor spoke quickly to avoid any interjection or questions from Edward.
“Using my sperm?”
“Yes.”
“And they’re keeping it?” He was sure that if anyone was going to take The Riddler seriously, they wouldn’t if there was a baby strapped to his chest. The last thing he wanted was to deal with some stranger begging him for child support.
“I’m afraid it’s too late to make that decision. There is always adoption, but that is something that you would need to discuss with her.”
“What’s her name?”
Edward’s stream afterward was much angrier than usual. The stress from the earlier meeting only made his feelings toward the city worse. At least his viewers appreciated the extra energy that he was giving out. There was a record amount of viewers.
His mind was all over the place for the first time in a long time. How could so many people with enough education to become doctors be so incredibly stupid?
He would be happier knowing that he had unknowingly impregnated a stranger through a third party, but of course, it had to be one of the happy-go-lucky interns that he was stuck with for the past few months. It was the most annoying one, in his opinion.
You came straight from the middle of nowhere (a ranch in Texas) to the big and terrifying city of Gotham when you were eighteen years old. The first thing that people noticed about you, and something that Edward had been painstakingly dealing with since you started your internship, was the thick southern accent you had.
While you were a decently intelligent person and better at your job than most of the employed people that Edward worked with, it didn’t mean that he would willingly want to spend time with you, let alone co-parent.
Knowing that it’s been months since you initially became pregnant with his child was strange. It was worse that you’ve been working together and neither of you knew about it. It made him feel strange. He barely wanted to go to work tomorrow with the knowledge that you would be there. The interns worked on Tuesdays and Thursdays and today was Wednesday.
Realistically, the building was exactly the same as it was every day. Edward felt the tension enter his body the minute that he passed through the doors.
It only got worse when he spotted you in his peripheral vision by the coffee machine. You were talking to one of the other interns with a coffee cup in your hand. He wondered if you were aware, or if you knew that he was aware. He felt like a schoolgirl with a crush, overthinking everything he did.
He tried to push that whole ordeal to the back of his head while he worked for the day. It wasn’t entirely successful, though. By lunch, the interns would be heading out for the day. He was about to leave his desk when you caught up with him, asking to talk.
The two of you stood together in the break room. It was empty, thank god.
“I don’t really want to beat around the bush here. I’m still real confused about everything, but I-” You fiddled with your hands and refused to look him in the eye, a sharp contrast from your usual bubbly self. If the circumstances were different, Edward would smile at the sight at your obvious misery.
“I’m aware. You’re pregnant.” He spoke curtly and somewhat professionally. He didn’t want you to think that this was bothering him in the slightest.
You nodded, surprised. “And it’s…yours. Somehow.”
He pinched the bridge of his nose with his fingers. “Are you sure that it’s mine?”
You raised a brow, crossing your arms. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Are you sure it’s not one of the other little interns? Someone in your economics class that you study with?” He made sure to use air quotes around the word study .
“Are you insinuating that I get around? I’ll have you know that I got here entirely on my own merit and intelligence. I’ve never even-” You stopped yourself from continuing and announcing your sexual status in the middle of the public breakroom. Especially to your boss, who clearly didn’t like you in the first place.
“Okay, okay. What do you want me to do about it?”
You shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m going back home for winter break in two weeks and I’ll talk to my parents about everything. And what I’m gonna do about it all.”