The Gatekeeper (LGBT+)

Deja-High School

Charlotte nods, "Still not leaving."

"Bitch."

"Whore."

"Butthead."

"You win."

                                                                                                      -

Thank God for old style Manors.

It seems like every one is built with fireplaces. David convinces me to cuddle by it. It's something we do often but doing it here feels like it's the first time. It's like being calm in this place if foreign. I love how peaceful we are now.

He makes what little pain I still feel manageable.

As we watch the fire, I begin to wonder if, like the fire, I made a mistake in coming back. I wonder if this town will consume is, send us into a tailspin. I wonder if the emotions I felt will come back. And I won't be able to stop it.

I don't want to become that anymore.

I pull myself into an upright position. David stares at me with worry.

"Hey, you okay? Is it the nausea?"

I look to him, "I'm afraid." I say with unease. I take a deep breath, "I need you to tell me that this wasn't the hugest mistake in the world. I don't want to lose this. You."

"You're not going to lose me. I couldn't leave you if I tried."

"Because you marked me?" I look down at the floor.

I wonder if us being together is all because of that mark. I've gone through all the worry in my mind a thousand times and I keep hoping that's not the case. I keep hoping that our relationship isn't based on that.

On something supernatural.

"Because I love you, Marked or not." David says pulling chin up to meet his gaze, "I wasn't a werewolf then. I had it in me but I wasn't a werewolf. I have loved you since the first day I saw you."

"Don't get all sappy." I joke.

"I'm scared as Hell that this was a mistake. But the one thing I know about you is that you fight for us. For all of us. And if you can fight for us, still, after all this time. The least I can do is fight for you."

"I love you, you know."

David smirks, "I know. But who's sappy now." He puts his arm around my shoulders and puts me in, "I love you, too. We're in this together, like we always have been."

"Good because ours Moms want to throw us a baby shower."

"That's so much scarier than any demon, you know."

I nod as I lay across his lap, "I know." I nod.

"So...have you hit the horny part of pregnancy yet?"

"Shut up."

"On the good side, you get to go to back to high school."

I lift my head and scowl at him, "Mood ruined." I say as I promptly rise to my feet and leave him on the couch.

                                                                                                 -

The next day, I'm officially a teacher at Thebas High School.

I feel extremely nauseous and surprisingly nervous. I write the former off as pregnancy and the later as reliving the worst part of my childhood. The principal, no longer the one I grew up with, is Charlotte's mother. She tries to quell my nervousness.