Anne gripped her husband's arm closely. Her eyes stung as she struggled not to cry. She forced herself to stand up straight, maintaining some semblance of dignity as she left the doctor's office. She took a short, sharp breath and opened her mouth as if to speak.
"Don't," said Tom.
"Don't what?" Anne replied.
"I know what you're going to say."
"Maybe if you hadn't waited so long."
"It's not my fault you're--" Tom cut himself off.
"Say it," Anne said. Her throat was getting sore and her nose was getting stuffy.
Tom held his tongue, Anne sniffed and the tears began to run more freely. "Maybe we should get your swimmers checked too."
"What difference would that make?"
"Then you'd know how it felt."
"I know what it feels like to not be able to have kids. I was just there with you when we found out."
"I mean what it feels to not be a man."
"So you're saying I'm not a man?"
Anne opened her mouth but was cut off by an approaching physician. "Anne?"
"Juliet?"
"Is this a bad time," Juliet asked?
"No, no, it's just been so long."
"Who is this?" asked Tom.
"We went to the same college. How have you been?" asked Juliet.
"Well..." Anne started.
"Listen," Juliet interrupted. "I couldn't help but overhear. Would you mind stepping into my office and we can talk about it there?"
"Of course," Anne said rubbing tears away from her eyes.
The couple followed Juliet down the twisting hospital hallways and into her office.
"I'll cut right to the chase," Juliet said, sitting down. "I'm going to assume you two are having fertility problems?"
"It's complicated, I wouldn't exactly--" Tom started.
"Yes," Anne said firmly, cutting off her husband.
"I'm involved in a trial that might be able to help you," Juliet said. She opened a drawer in her desk and began shuffling through the papers in it.
"You don't know about our specific situation, how do you know you'd be able to fix it?"
"Before we continue," Juliet said, sliding two pieces of paper across her desk, "I'd like you to sign these NDAs. They're pretty standard and limited only to the trial itself. I'll explain more once you've signed them."
Anne scribbled her name on it. Tom lifted the sheet off the desk and checked the back. He put it back down on the table. He removed his glasses and cleaned them with his shirt, and began reading the document. "Well let me see--"
Anne kicked his foot with her own. "Just sign the document," she hissed quietly. Juliet's chair creaked as she leaned back in it.
"I just want to know what I'm signing."
"For the love of God, just sign the fucking document."
"Alright, alright, jeez," Tom said as he signed it.
"Thank you," Juliet said as she slid the pages back across the desk and filed them in her cabinet.
"What I'm about to say remains between us. You can't tell your neighbors, friends, co-workers, parents, siblings, etc. One day this guy made an appointment with me. He was having a problem."
"Excuse me," Tom said. "I don't think you're allowed to talk about your patients like that."
Juliet stared at Tom, "That's what the NDAs are for."
"Those don't absolve you from the HIPPA act."
"Tom, I know you're not a lawyer. Are you sure you want to test that little theory of yours about what I can and can't do?"
"No, sorry, sorry," Tom mumbled.
"Smart choice. Anyway, this guy was complaining that even with a condom on, every woman he had sex with got pregnant."
"So you're saying his sperm can get through a condom?" Tom asked.
"That's not what I said, Tom. And that isn't even my leading theory. May I continue or are you going to keep interrupting me?"
"Sorry, sorry," Tom mumbled.
"So I had a thought. I asked if he'd be willing to have sex with one of my friends who was having similar problems to you. He agreed, and long story short, she's now pregnant. Twins. And not only that, fertility testing shows her vagina and womb are now hospitable again. She could probably have another child with a different man if she so chose."
"Are you suggesting I let another man fuck my wife?"
"That's not how I'd put it, but essentially yes. If my theory is correct, your wife can have an abortion, and then you can have a child of your own. Assuming you don't have any fertility problems of your own Tom. Now it's too late to get you added to the official trial, but I can give you his phone number, and you can set something up independently if you want.
"Okay, give us his number," Anne said.
"Wait, Anne, you're not seriously considering this are you?"
"No, of course not. But it couldn't hurt to just have the phone number. Just in case."
Juliet scribbled the number on a piece of paper and slid it over. Anne grabbed it and copied it into her phone.
"Thank you so much, Juliet," Anne said.
"My pleasure. And if you do decide to call him, let me know how it goes. We can't include your data in the trial, but it would help my curiosity."
Anne and Tom stepped out of Juliet's office and headed to the elevator.
"Anne, you actually want to do this?"
"It couldn't hurt to try. And I can still get an abortion. We can have kids like we've always wanted."
"Okay," Tom sighed, "just let me think about it."
---
"He's coming tonight?"
"In a few hours actually," Anne said, wiping down the counter.
"I thought it was next week."
"Well, you thought wrong. Help me put these dishes away."
Tom grunted as he lifted the pile of dishes off the counter.
"Don't be such a baby, they're just dishes."
"They're still heavy," Tom said, "And why do we have to keep them so high up, out of reach."
"Not my fault you're short."
"Did you do your makeup?" Tom asked. "Are you trying to impress him?"
"I always look this good. You just never notice."
There was a loud banging on the front door. Anne practically bounced her way over to answer it.
"Does he know we have a doorbell?" Tom asked.
Anne ignored the question, adjusted her hair, took a deep breath, and opened the door. Outside was the largest man Tom had ever seen. He was young and clean-shaven. He wore a white tank top. His bulging arms were almost as big as Tom's scrawny torso. His shelf-like pecs cast a shadow over the rest of his body.
"You Anne?" he grunted, his voice like gravel.
"Yeah," Anne bit her lip and she craned her neck back to look up at him. "Welcome, welcome, come on in."
"Name's Curt," he said pushing past her. "Nice place."
He glanced at Tom who barely came up to his chest. Then Curt nodded to him, "Hey squirt."
Tom nodded back.
"Got beer?" Curt asked.
"In the refrigerator," Anne replied.
Curt reached into the refrigerator and pulled out a beer which looked small in his giant hand. He pried off the top with his hand. "Where's the bed?"
"First door on the right," Anne said.
Curt lumbered off towards the bedroom chugging his beer.
"Did you see his pants?" Anne whispered to Tom.