The Princess and the Plague Part 30 By Anistasia Allread Edited by Edeyn & Karen J. "I've been going through some testing to find out." "Find out what?" "I'd... I'd rather not say just yet," Erika looked away.

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Erika was exhausted when she got home from self-defense classes. Seems the muscles that she used in the exercises with Lawrence were different than the ones she used in Rally.

"I've got dinner almost ready," her father called out from the kitchen.

"I need a bath and a bed," Erika moaned in reply.

"How was Lawrence?" her father asked.

"Brutal," Erika told him, "he thought you were sending your son."

"Oops. Sorry," Mr. Martin apologized, "I told him my kid was coming, but in previous conversations I might have mentioned you being my son. Sorry about that."

Erika sighed and whined, "I am so sore."

"I'll bet."

"I just hope I'm not going to have any bruises for homecoming."

"If there are, we can always use a bit of cover up," Mrs. Martin added.

Erika trudged upstairs to her bedroom and dropped her duffel on her bed. "Ugh. I have Chemistry to finish, too."

After a dinner of grilled chicken, some rice pilaf and salad, Erika returned to her room and went to work on her chemistry.

She woke up to her father coming into the room asking, "How's your homework coming?"

"I fell asleep," Erika blushed, chagrined.

"It's getting late, why don't you get ready for bed? You have a long day tomorrow."

"I do?" she asked.

"Your mother is taking you to get your CAT scan and MRI tomorrow."

"When?"

"In the morning. You should be back before lunch."

"Thanks," Erika murmured as she closed her book. Chemistry was a morning class. She'd be missing it, but would be excused. She could do her Chemistry while waiting for her tests.

Erika stripped out of her clothes and took a shower before slipping into her nightgown and crawling into her bed. She would have sworn she was asleep before her head hit the pillow.

--o0o--

Erika made her way downstairs to the smell of peanut butter toast. She entered the kitchen and greeted her mom.

"Smells good."

"Sorry, you can't have any, Eric," Her mother said without looking up.

Realizing her mistake, she met Erika's gaze., "Oops, sorry... Erika."

Erika ignored the mistake and asked, "Why can't I have any?"

"You are to be NPO until after your tests."

"Huh?"

"NPO. It means you can't eat anything and only drink water before your tests."

"I'm going to die of hunger," Erika protested.

"Stop being so melodramatic. You can wait until lunch, it won't kill you."

"What can I have?" she asked.

"Water. Jell-o. Popsicle."

"Oh goody, water," Erika said sarcastically. She poured herself a glass and drank.

"We need to be leaving in about twenty minutes, you ready?"

"Almost," Erika finished her water and went back up to her bedroom. She pulled on her boots and added a cardigan over the blouse she was wearing.

"Okay, lets get going," her mother called from the foot of the stairs, as she was finishing up her makeup.

Erika finished stroking mascara on her lashes, grabbed her duffel and headed downstairs.

--o--
If she had known that they were going to make her strip naked for the tests, she would have just worn her sweats.

Erika sat in a chair in the dressing room, wearing one of the embarrassing hospital gowns that tie up the back with a lightweight robe over it that tied up in the front. All of her clothes and belongings were in a locker on the wall behind her. The attendant who brought her in handed her a warm, soft blanket.

"Oh, this is wonderful," Erika commented.

"It is the only good thing about hospitals," she nodded.

Erika pulled her robe tighter over her chest. This was the first time she had been in public without her breast forms in place. Her chest felt naked, cool. She felt exposed, as if everyone would know that she was hiding. She stood up and wrapped the flannel blanket around her while she basked in the heat that it radiated.

"Okay, Erika," the attendant said as she came back with a file -- presumably Erika's hospital chart.

"We're going to do the MRI first. Are you wearing any metal?"

Erika shook her head. Her earrings were with everything else in the locker.

"Any prosthetics? False teeth? Retainers?"

"No."

"Tattoos?"

"No."

The attendant took her into a room that held a large machine that had a large tube cut into it and a bed of sorts sticking out of it.

"Are you claustrophobic?"

"No," Erika didn't think so. At least, she had never had problems before.

"Go ahead and lay down here, with your head facing the machine."

Erika did.

"This will get pretty noisy. So here are some earphones," the MRI technician said as he handed them to her.

"Just lay back and relax, listen to the music. The scan will take about twenty minutes."

Erika nodded.

He then used some straps and strapped Erika's head, abdomen and legs to the table. "Okay, just smile pretty and hold still."

Erika waited for a few moments and then the table that she was laying on shifted, drawing her into the tube.

"You doing okay, Erika?" a voice came over the music in the earphones.

"Yes," Erika answered.

"Here we go. There will be some loud clicking noises. Just relax."

Erika could hear the clicking noise even over the music in her ears. She opened her eyes and stared at the roof of the tube which seemed only an inch or two away from her nose. She wasn't claustrophobic, but this was pretty tight, even for her. She closed her eyes and listened to the music and tried to ignore her surroundings.

She opened her eyes as the table began pulling her out of the tube.

"That wasn't so bad was it?" the MRI technician asked.

Erika shook her head.

Her attendant returned and said, "Okay, now, before we do the CAT scan, I need you to drink these two," she held up two one-pint containers.

"What is it?" Erika asked taking them.

"It's called contrast. It helps us see your digestive system in the CAT scan. It's kind of chalky, but they say they flavored it with orange flavoring."

She led Erika back to the waiting area inside the changing rooms.

"I'll be back in about twenty minutes."

Erika unscrewed the cap of the first bottle and took a sip, "Ech. This stuff is nasty."

"Drink as much as you can," the woman handed her another warm blanket and left her alone with the gastric torture drinks.

As hungry as she was, she had a horrible time getting the chalky, viscous drinks down.

"How did you do?" the attendant asked when she came back for her.

"I was only able to drink the one," Erika told her apologetically, "My stomach told me if I attempted the other that I'd be vomiting. Sorry."

"One is better than none. Come on, let's get this over with," she smiled.

She led Erika into a side room. I just need to get an IV started real quick."

"What for?" Erika was starting to panic.

"We have to inject your blood stream with a different kind of contrast so that we can see all of your blood vessels in the CAT scan."

Erika took a deep breath, nodded and sat in a chair and nervously waited as the attendant got her tape, needles and whatever vampire-ish things she needed.

Erika saw the attendant grasp the needle and point it at her skin. She turned her head and tried not to think about the small sliver of steel being shoved through her skin and into her vein. She felt a little prick just below her elbow and turned back to to see her tape some tubing down and then twist a syringe into it and push the plunger.

"You might taste some saltiness," she explained.

Erika felt a bit of cool inside her arm, and then she tasted a metallic, almost iodine, taste.

The attendant led her into a room with what looked to be a large white dough-nut with a familiar looking table sticking out of it. The attendant assisted her onto the table and covered her with another warm blanket. She hooked a long tube up to the one sticking out of her arm and placed it under the blanket.

"This won't take too long. Just hold still. There will be a point in which the machine will ask you to hold your breath. If you need to breathe, just do it very slowly. Okay?"

She smiled as Erika nodded, and left her alone with the CAT scan technician. The tech pushed a few buttons and made a few adjustments.

"We'll be right on the other side of that glass."

A few moments later, the machine began to make a whirling noise. The table that Erika was laying on then shifted, dragging her into the machine.

"Okay, we're going to inject the contrast. You might feel some warmth or get a metallic taste in your mouth," a voice said over a speaker.

Erika licked her lips as she tasted the stuff that they were talking about.

"Okay, hold still, here we go," the voice instructed.

Erika lay on the table as it slowly shifted back out of the circle of plastic with parts whirling around inside.

A few minutes later the attendant came back in, "You're done here," she said, disconnecting the IV from Erika's arm.

She assisted Erika into a sitting position, "They want to do another MRI."

"Another one? Is there something wrong?" Erika asked.

"They just want to get some better pictures," The lady smiled.

The smile, however, looked forced and she also averted her gaze from Erika.

She took Erika a few doors down the hall, back to the first room she had gone into. In a few moments, Erika was again laying on her back being drawn into the narrow tube.

They found something, Erika thought, What did they find? Oh, God, I hope I'm not sick! I don't feel sick. I haven't felt sick. Please don't let it be anything.

--o0o--

Erika was a nervous wreck as she got dressed in the changing room. She had questioned the attendant several times, but she kept saying that she didn't know anything and that her doctor would contact her if they felt it was necessary.

"How did it go?" her mother greeted her in the waiting area.

"I don't know," Erika confessed, "I think they found something. They did the MRI again."

"Sometimes a slight movement will cause a shadow or some blurring," Her mother soothed her, "I'm sure it's all right."

"They made me drink some nasty stuff," Erika admitted, "I almost vomited. It was disgusting."

"Should we get some lunch to get that taste out of your mouth?" she asked.

Erika shrugged, "I'm not sure how much I can eat, but something to get rid of that nasty orange taste."

--o0o--

"So, I guess you won't be eating lunch at school today?" Erika's mother inquired, sitting across from her at a Mexican restaurant.

"This beats cafeteria lunches any day," Erika grinned.

Her stomach felt a little better once she put some tortilla chips into it to help soak up the chalky substance forced upon her. Her nerves however, were almost as bad as they had been in the dressing room.

"What if something IS wrong with me?" she asked.

"You are a boy who wants to be a girl, Erika. Something already is wrong with you."

"I mean wrong with me," Erika swept a hand over her body.

"Well, IF there is something wrong with you, then... we'll just have to take care of it," she answered as she looked in Erika's eyes, "Waiting is the hard part. Once we know what is going on, then it's easier. We just go through the steps that need to be taken."

She reached out and took Erika's hand in hers across the table, "Just because I don't agree with this decision of yours doesn't mean that I don't love you. I do. I love you very much."

She squeezed Erika's hand.

Erika's eyes glistened. She blinked back tears and smiled at her mother.

"Do you have anything important going on at school today?"

"Not really, but I have to show up for Rally. I have already missed too much."

"Okay. How about we play hooky?" her mother asked.

"What did you have in mind?" Erika asked.

"Homecoming is in just a couple of days. You think we should go and get a mani-pedi?"

"Huh?"

"You should get some acrylic nails so that your hands look nice for Homecoming. While we are there you may as well get a pedicure so that your toes look great in your new shoes. You haven't had your nails done have you?"

"Actually, I did at camp." Erika informed her.

The two finished their food and climbed back into the car.

"Feeling better?" her mother asked.

"Yes, a bit," Erika tried to give her mother a reassuring smile.

But she hadn't seen the lie in the attendant's eyes, or the stiffer attitude, or more rigid posture.

--o0o--

Erika sat next to her mother in a deep, leather chair with her feet in a hot water bath. A device of some sort rolled and vibrated up and down her back as a nail tech worked on one foot and then the next. Erika opened her eyes and smiled at her mother who was watching her then glanced down at the long, acrylic nails adorning her fingers. She had to admit that their addition made her fingers look much more feminine.

"Whenever I'm feeling stressed, I get my feet done," her mother murmured to her.

"I can see why," Erika moaned as the tech massaged her feet and calves.

--o0o--

"I'll be back to pick you up in two hours," Mrs. Martin promised, signing Erika into school.

Erika hoisted her duffel onto her shoulder and walked out of the office. Her feet felt light and tingly after being pampered. She found a private bathroom and changed into her work out clothes before heading down to the gym.

It was still just a few minutes before the school's bell rang the end of the school day. The last gym class was already in the locker room changing out their gym clothes. The gym seemed larger and more eerie without loud voices. She set her duffel down, and went to the storage closet and began pulling mats out and setting them up for practice. She found the chore a little harder now that she had longer finger nails.

"Oh, good, you made it," Taylor greeted her.

"Hi, Taylor. I had to get some medical tests done. But I made it."

"What's going on?" Taylor asked.

"I'm not sure. I had to get an MRI done as well as a CAT scan."

"Are you hurt?"

"No," Erika shook her head.

"Sick?"

"Not sure," she admitted to the older girl, "I've been going through some testing to find out."

"Find out what?"

"I'd... I'd rather not say just yet," Erika looked away.

"Okay. Just let me know when you feel you can," Taylor said, grabbing a mat and setting it.

"Taylor?"

"Yeah?" the dark skinned girl looked up.

"This Friday's game is Homecoming. If I'm picked for the court, I'm supposed to be presented at half time, right? What do I do? If I'm picked, I'm supposed to wear a dress and stuff."

"You and me both," Taylor smiled, "They announced the winners of the court today."

"You didn't win Homecoming queen?" Erika asked.

Taylor scoffed, "I was never going to win, I just wanted to be on the court. You won, too."

"Who is the Queen?"

"Who else, but Melinda?" Taylor smiled again.

"So what do we do?" Erika asked.

"We sit this game out until after half time. Then we change and cheer the last half."

Erika nodded, understanding.

Jordon, Jorge and Krystal joined them. Samantha came in through another door, pulling an ice chest behind her full of ice cold bottled water.

"Let's start stretching," Taylor took on a more authoritative tone.

"You got your nails done," Samantha exclaimed, "they look good!"

"Thanks." Erika grinned.

--o0o--

Erika's mother entered the gym just before practice was over.

"Excuse me," she called with a serious look on her face.

"Mom, we're almost done," Erika turned red. How could her mother embarrass her like this?

"I'm sorry girls. I need to take Erika now," her mother insisted.

"Now?" Erika asked, "We're almost done."

"Go ahead, Erika," Taylor nodded, "See you tomorrow."

Erika with a bewildered look grabbed a bottle of cold water and her duffel.

"What is it?" she asked her mother as they left the gym.

"Dr. Bob called and said he needs to see us in his office as soon as possible."

Erika's heart stopped. Not just skipped a beat, full-on stopped for two seconds before it raced.

"What is it?"

"He wouldn't say over the phone. He just asked that your father and I bring you into see him."

Oh God! Erika's brain screamed.

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To Be Continued...