The Oddities of Grand Marquis - Book 3: Elegant Armageddon 🪼✔️

Nineteenth

"Thank you." I said, trying not to sound like I was crying.

"No sweat... You're going to have to get up in a minute. Dr. Bluewater wants to do another sonogram on you as well as vitals. You have a really high fever though..."

"I don't want to get up."

"You have to."

"I don't want you to see me like this."

"Like what? A pregnant blob of hormones that shouldn't be existing?" I looked behind me. "Nothing new, dude."

I sighed. I guess he was right... I turned over onto my back and breathed in heavily, my stomach weighing me down. I looked at myself and tried to pull my shirt down over my massive mound but it was to no avail. Tyler refused to get me new clothing, choosing to deny my issue... I looked at Max as he watched me calmly, no judgment in his eyes. Fuck, he was too nice...

"No wonder Kole hated you sometimes."

"Huh?"

"You're too nice."

Max smiled, a real one. "Maybe if you weren't so cynical about the world, you'd realize that there are plenty of people like me... just not as messed up. Come on..."

He stood up and held out his arms to me. I sighed and let him help me up and onto my feet. My head was foggy and I felt nauseous as I tried to steady myself. I looked down at my stomach again and made a face.

"I'm hideous..."

Max looked at my stomach for longer than I would have liked. It was big, almost matching Max in size when he was at full term. I was only three months along... I think.... He looked back at me and sighed.

"You'll be fine."

**************************

Max led me down the hallway to another room, coughing a little into his arm.

"How's your other arm?"

"It finally healed up. I still have limited motion and I can't hold heavy things for a long time, but it's not unusable. Unlike the first time, I am not mixed with Elbaskin so... when it tore my muscle, it actually did the job."

"Mixed with Elbaskin?"

"India did a comparison of my bloodwork from before and now. There was a weird enzyme that they kept finding last time that isn't there now. When she isolated the enzyme, she found that it was actually Elbaskin, going off of Kasai's blood. Since a clone was sent the first time, it was slightly mixed with Elbaskin so that it could harbor Kasai better. I mean, I was the first trial."

"Right..."

"Anyway, because Elbaskins are made of gelatinous material, any physical wounds were immediately healed but since I'm not a clone, I am left to the sad human capacities of healing."

"Ah, I see..."

Max opened the door and a man with graying hair looked up from writing in a chart. Seeing us, he got up and smiled.

"How are you feeling, Dawaen?"

"Like I was beaten within an inch of my life... oh, wait, I was." I said dryly.

Max made a face as the doctor looked at me like he was very uncomfortable. I sighed.

"It's just some gallows humor, guys. It's not that big of a deal; I've dealt with it since I was able to handle a blow."

"And... when was that?" the doctor asked.

I rubbed the back of my neck. "I dunno... eight or ten?"