When they returned Sia excused herself and went to the restroom. There she leaned against the door and began to cry.
How could this be happening? How could any of it be real? It made no sense and yet it made all the sense in the world knowing this was all, in someway meant to be.
She hated her situation and the worst part was how much she hated Rogelio. He loved her at some point that much was true and she loved him. That's what made this even harder. Now it's as if that love didn't matter. Now he was using her in some twisted plan to save humanity. Why her she kept asking herself? There were still six others out there, seven if she included herself. Then it dawned on her. It was because of her special connection to Rogelio, to one of them, that made her situation different than the others. She now wished she hadn't fallen for him in the first place.
More tears began to fall. She looked down at her twenty-three week old belly which like she said felt like thirty-five. She hesitated, her hands trembling, as she slowly placed her hands around it and over it. Now she realized she wasn't caressing three babies inside her but six. The only way she could describe it was like bowling pins as they waited for the next set to drop.
She hadn't even had sex with Joel but once or twice and now, with her second set, they were at twelve weeks and waiting.
Tears continued.
She was startled by a knock on the door. She was having a moment and had suddenly been disturbed.
"Sia," Joel said softly, "are you okay?"
Reluctantly she opened the door. Seeing the tears Joel walked towards her.
"Hey, it's okay. You're okay."
Sia wanted to hug him but her belly was in the way. Joel brought her over to the wall and helped her take a seat. She sat between his legs. both of them had their hands on her belly. His on the sides and hers on top.
"You don't have to do this you know."
"You're wrong. I do. Whether I want them to be or not they are all apart of me. Besides they're apart of you too. I couldn't hurt you like that."
"It would be okay," he reassured her. "We could try again if that's what you wanted."
"Of course I do. I want to have a baby with you I just never thought it would be this soon. That's why I can't terminate them. They're yours. Besides they're technically already twelve weeks. They're eleven weeks behind the others. I probably couldn't have an abortion even if I wanted to." Sia looked up at Joel. "That's why they did it this way. By upping the time table on the pregnancy so it would be too late to have an abortion. They designed it to happen."
"But why?"
"Does it matter? Even if we asked it's likely we wouldn't get an answer. Rogelio made that pretty clear."
"Can I ask what happened between you two?"
Sia turned away and looked straight.
"I loved him."
She then began to tell Joel the whole story.
"I never knew what or who he was. That's part of what makes this all so hard. I want these babies to be yours but they're also his. I used to think I wanted his baby and when I found out I was pregnant I was a little thrilled, you know, it was like he left apart of himself after the special moment we had. How could I have imagined something like this? And then I feel like I'm hurting you now."
"Hey, you could never hurt me, not ever. I love you no matter what. You having another man's babies doesn't change that even if it is unconventional. Hon look at me." Sia did so. "It's going to be okay. We're going to get through this. I'm not going anywhere, I promise."
Sia nodded knowing he was telling the truth. She leaned against him and closed her eyes.
