AN: Fair warning, the next chapter is a medically accurate description of a surgical abortion. Discussion is tentatively welcome; abuse and bullying by anyone in the comments is not.

The surgery was scheduled for the morning. The invasions came fast and gently. First, came the speculum, and then it was time for the anesthetic injections. These injections felt exactly as you imagined: sharp, edgy, painful pressure. It was a temporary discomfort you wanted to get away from. A four on a pain scale from 1-10. It wasn't completely unbearable, but it was painfully uncomfortable. The doctor injected the anesthetic in four different places. The first and second injections weren't as bad as the third. The third was the most intense so much that you unexpectedly reached up and grabbed Gouhin's arm-- you had asked him to come for this reason. He held your hand in a fatherly manner, but it was hard for the father of a girl to watch. It easily could have been his own daughter going through this. Hell, maybe she had and hadn't told him. The fourth shot was a breeze, because it wasn't near as bad as that third one. You figured the third had probably been on your cervix, but regardless of the placement, the needles hurt. You had experienced similar things during your yearly check-ups; pap smears, pelvic exams... but this procedure is definitely a step or two up from anything experienced during a general routine pap smear.

Surprisingly, the injections were the worst part, by far, but it only took the doctor about a minute to complete, if that. Next came the dilators, a series of rods designed to slowly and gradually dilate the cervix. During this step, you just felt the sharp pressure; like one of the worst menstrual cramps you'd ever had, plus some. You supposed however, it was nothing compared to dilating ten centimeters for a birth and you sucked in your breath to control your pain. It took her about the same amount of time to dilate the cervix as it did for the doctor to inject the anesthetic. After the dilation process was complete, in came the vacuum, which felt exactly like it sounds. A medical vacuum, although much more adequately sized for its job, was still a vacuum. If you hadn't been so nervous and queasy, you might have laughed at the sound coming from the curtain that separated you and Gouhin from the procedure.

The next part felt a little aggressive and random as the doctor stirred it around from all angles and depths. It took about another 30 seconds, if that. Total time spent on the table was less than four minutes. Once it was done you laid there, processing what just happened and the fact that it's over now. You felt a lot of different things physically and mentally. But ultimately, you felt such a relief that it was done and over with for the moment, perhaps later you might regret it, perhaps you'd been even more relieved. The future was unsure. You needed a minute to catch up and absorb that it was already over. Your nerves were on high alert, racing making you shaky and unstable. Your fight or flight system wanted you to get up and run, as Gouhin helped you up, you continued holding this back with everything that you'd had just focusing on; the fact that it was over and that you'd be on my way.

As you rode back in the car with Gouhin a strange feeling washed over you. Instant gratification! You felt such a weight come off mentally, even though physically, you were experiencing cramps that hurt about half as bad as the injections. From the car you walked over to your room to recuparate and reflect. Gouhin had given you a journal, in case you wanted to write down what you were feeling. You decided to write a letter. Then two, and finally three letters. One for each of the men you had loved thus far.