The Big Test

	Ami’s hand shook as she reached into the non-descript paper 
bag she had set down on the counter and pulled out a small, 
rectangular box. She almost dropped it, her nerves were so bad, and 
she felt her already upset stomach knot up again as she stared down 
at the words printed across the front of the box:

	E-Z Early Pregnancy Test.

	Six months ago, if somebody had told her that she would be 
standing in her kitchen today, holding a home pregnancy test in her 
hand, she would have thought they were insane. Ami wanted children, 
of course -- in a theoretical-future-kind-of-way when she was married 
to the man she loved and preferably out of med school -- but this had 
not been a part of her carefully laid plans.

	She was only twenty years old, not even finished with her 
undergraduate degree. She was in no position to become a mother yet. 

	This shouldn’t have happened. Ami thought she had taken all 
the proper precautions. When she and her boyfriend Ryo had made the 
decision to take their relationship to the next level, the first 
thing she did was discuss it with her gynecologist, who put her on 
birth control pills. Ami was very careful to take her pills at the 
same time every day, and for added protection, Ryo almost always had 
a condom on hand.

	Almost, except for that night five weeks ago.

	Ami frowned, thinking back to the night that might have 
changed everything. After a late-night study date, they had started 
making out on the couch. Things had then progressed to Ryo’s bedroom, 
but when he checked his nightstand, he found his box of condoms 
empty. They had briefly considered stopping, but by then, they were 
both so aroused that Ami decided it was worth the risk. It wasn’t as 
if they needed to worry about STDs since they were in an exclusive 
relationship, and even without the condom, the pills had a 99% 
success rate of preventing pregnancy.

	She should have remembered that also meant there was a 1% 
chance of failure.

	Sighing, Ami tore off the end of the package and headed to 
the bathroom. There was no point in postponing the inevitable any 
longer. She followed the directions provided, and setting the timer 
she had stolen from the kitchen for two minutes, Ami sat down on the 
toilet to wait for the results, her head in her hands.

	About a minute into the wait, there was a loud knock on the 
door to her apartment. Ami, startled by the sudden sound in the 
quiet, jumped from her seat.

	“Oh, who can that be?” she asked aloud as she walked over to 
answer it, annoyed by the interruption. “Whoever it is, I’m very 
sorry, but this really isn’t a good ti--”

	“Ami?”

	Ami’s stomach lurched as she stared up into the warm brown 
eyes of the last person she wanted to see at that moment. “Oh, 
R-Ryo,” she stuttered. “I didn’t realize you were coming over.”

	“That’s why they call it a surprise.” Ryo gave her a light 
kiss on the cheek, then came in, not waiting for an invitation. “I 
thought you might want to go see a movie or something tonight. You’ve 
seemed a little stressed the last couple of days. Big test?”

	“You could say that.” Ami closed the door just as the timer 
dinged in the bathroom.

	“What was that?” Ryo asked, looking around the room for the 
source of the sound.

	With a brief glance over at the closed bathroom door, Ami 
sighed. She was hoping she wouldn’t need to tell Ryo about her 
pregnancy scare until she had proof, but since he was there…

	“The timer,” she said. “I’m late, Ryo.”

	“Late? For what?”

	Ami paused for a moment before replying in a soft voice, “My 
period.”

	Ryo’s mouth rounded into a “O” shape, though no sound came 
out. He looked a little pale, and as he reached for the back of the 
armchair behind him, Ami noticed that he was visibly shaking. Though 
he still had some weak psychic power left over from when he was one 
of the carrier of one of the Rainbow Crystals, evidently this was one 
thing he never predicted. “Y-Y-You’re p-p-pregnant?” he managed to 
sputter.

	“I don’t know yet for sure,” she said, trying to sound 
hopeful despite all the signs pointing that she was. “It could be a 
false alarm. Maybe there’s some other reason I’m late…”

	“But that one time…”

	Unable to look him in the eye, Ami looked down at her 
favorite pair of blue slippers. “Hai.”

	“Oh, man…” Ami could hear Ryo take a few deep breaths, but 
finally, he walked over and lightly touched her arm. “Ami, go check 
the test. We can worry about this from here to tomorrow, but that 
won’t change those results. There might not be anything to worry 
about for all we know, so go see.”

	Ami nodded, and feeling as if she had a pair of cement blocks 
on the bottom of her feet, she headed back to the bathroom, where she 
somehow found the courage to look down at the stick sitting on the 
counter.

	One pink line.

	She took one last look at the back of the box to make sure 
she had interpreted the symbol correctly, then Ami returned to the 
living room and cried in her boyfriend’s arms.


DISCLAIMER: Sailor Moon is the property of Takeuchi Naoko.

AUTHOR'S NOTES: I hope you enjoyed this little ficlet, which I wrote
for the sm_monthly challenge community on LiveJournal. Any comments
and criticisms can be sent to me at ElysionDream@aol.com.