Damon's first reaction was to greet Abby kindly, of course, while internally he was freaking out.

Jun's aunt is about to look up my hoo-haa, he thought in a daze. That's not awkward at all.

"You can come on back," Abby said, gesturing behind her at a door that led, presumably, to the examination room. Damon froze, suddenly unsure.

Did she...know why they were here? And if so, how? If not, was she going to tell someone - i.e., Jun's parents?

Jun seemed to read Damon's concerns from his face and bent slightly to whisper in his ear.

"I called her yesterday," he explained calmly. "She won't tell anyone."

Damon was still frozen in place, but he felt something tight loosen in his chest at Jun's preparedness and thoughtfulness. Perhaps if the pack doctor here were anyone else, they would be obligated to report Damon's pregnancy to the higher ups. Which, again, wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing because the 'higher ups' were Jun's parents, who were so far pretty chill.

But this was the kind of thing that both Damon and Jun would prefer to be revealed on their terms. Partially it was so that they could get used to the idea first. He and Jun had talked about the possibility of pregnancy way back when, after their first time having sex, and so Damon knew both he and Jun were okay with this outcome, but Jun was making sure, by having someone who could be trusted to keep it secret, that if Damon changed his mind about having kids, no one else would be able to barge in and stop him. Damon had told Mark already, sure, but Mark knew better than to go blabbing to anyone else.

Thankfully, in this case, while scared, Damon was still looking forward to having a child of his own, with someone he loved, so it didn't matter either way, but Damon still appreciated that Jun was thinking two steps ahead for his sake.

So, shaking himself out of it, Damon followed Abby's gesture and went into the back. Jun squeezed Damon's hand once before letting him go. Jun probably could have come along for the examination, but as it was the kind where Jun's aunt would be getting up close and personal with Damon's private parts, he was giving Damon some much needed space.

Abby led Damon down a long hall to a spacious exam room where he quickly went behind the privacy screen to change into a soft blue hospital gown. Abby busied herself with something on the counter and smiled at Damon when he emerged and got up on the table.

Damon was still pretty nervous, not going to lie. This was Jun's aunt. A family member. Now every time they met outside of the clinic Damon would be reminded of how this woman knew what his genitals looked like.

Actually, now that he thought about it, would she even need to look at his unmentionables? Damon was used to it from all his visits to Doctor Yang throughout adolescence, but maybe it was different when you were actually pregnant. It's not like she could see the baby from that end, so maybe Damon's privates would stay private. For now. Obviously the baby would eventually have to come out so maybe it was better to get the awkwardness out of the way now.

Thankfully, Abby seemed like the type who knew how to separate a patient-doctor relationship from a potentially familial one. She wheeled her rolly-chair closer to Damon and quickly got down to business.

"Before we start, I'd like to ask a few questions," Abby started, pen poised to write on her little clipboard. "Jun mentioned that you were experiencing some distressing symptoms recently – and he said that you were in heat just a few days ago, which, obviously, isn't possible if you're pregnant. So to figure out exactly what's going on, could you tell me what your heat was like? I understand you've been in Ganymede pack up until recently, so this would have been your first heat, correct?"

Damon nodded. "Yes, it was the first. And uh, the heat itself started okay. It was normal. Jun noticed that I was giving off preheat pheromones and pretty quickly after that I went into full heat. I also became somewhat aggressive after about a week. Oh – and Jun said my scent changed when I went into heat. Which is weird, right?"

Abby 'hmm-ed,' a small furrow between her brows as she thought. "It is a bit odd; however, given what I think happened, it's most likely normal."

Damon perked up. "What do you think it was?"

"Well, I won't know for sure how far along you are until I've done an ultrasound, but I suspect you became pregnant before transferring to Venus pack. Does that seem possible?"

Damon nodded, a blush spreading over his cheeks as his mind flashed with images of himself and Jun fucking like rabbits through the bars of Jun's prison cell. Yes. Yes it was possible. If Damon were a religious man, he might worry if there was any hope of saving his heathen soul. Someone get him some holy water, stat.

"In that case, I think it was a false heat."

Damon paused, embarrassment disregarded in the face of curiosity and relief that whatever was going on with him was at least diagnosable. "False heat? What's that?"

Abby smiled. "I think it'll help to explain it if I go over the timeline first. So, you became pregnant while you were still in Ganymede pack. I suspect it was probably only a few days to a week before you left. Then, once you did leave, the magic protecting you from having heats was taken away too. Shortly after, you went into a heat-like state. I think that because you've never experienced a heat before and you were suddenly put in a position to have one, your hormones went a bit haywire. Because it was so early in your pregnancy, and because you were suddenly faced with all these heat hormones, your body essentially gave way to the influence that was stronger at the time – meaning the heat. It gave you the symptoms of a heat, but because you're no longer ovulating, you couldn't actually be in heat. I think this may be the source of the changing pheromones you were presenting, and likely also the source of your aggression."

That made sense. Having a centuries-old curse suddenly lifted from you was bound to cause problems. Damon was just a victim of circumstance. He shifted uneasily on the hard exam table, a cold drop taking root and spreading in his chest as he thought of something.

"That – I meant the false heat didn't...affect the baby or anything. Right?"

Abby's smile this time was softer, understanding. She rolled to the side of the table to start preparing for the ultrasound. "Most likely, no, but I'll give you a checkup, see exactly how far along you are, and make sure baby's looking okay. Sound good?"

Damon lay back on the table and nodded, swallowing hard. Sure, Damon had only learned he was going to be a parent a short while ago, but the thought of something going wrong with the baby was making his chest hurt like someone was taking a hammer to his heart.

As long as nothing was really wrong, Damon supposed he was going to have many years of this heart-strangling feeling in his future. And surprisingly, Damon was okay with that.

No, Damon didn't expect that he would have his first kid under these circumstances – unmated, in a foreign pack, far away from most of his friends and family. But he thought of Jun, who got up early in the morning to make Damon breakfast, washed Damon's clothes with the detergent Damon liked instead of the one Jun normally used, and would accept any decision Damon made about this, no questions asked. And Damon decided that he could do this. Not because Jun wanted kids (all Jun really wanted was Damon, kids were just a bonus) but because Damon did. At least, this one. Future kids would be another conversation for another day, if Damon felt like it after experiencing the pain of labor for the first time. Jun and his virile fucking dick were on thin ice.

Now, Damon just had to make it through the next nine months with his sanity relatively intact. Although Damon had a feeling, given that everyone and their uncle seemed to be trying to weigh in on his and Jun's relationship recently, that things were not going to be as smooth as he wanted them to be.