With a deep breath, Adriam moves forward with my evaluation, I pass Xaiver back to Steffan. The poor child was so used to it by now, though something felt like a shock to my system the minute he left my grasp. An instinct that made me want to clutch him impossibly close. Fidgeting uncomfortably, I lift my shirt as Adriam connects the device to his phone, taps a few quick buttons, and slathers the cold cream over my stomach.
"How far along would you be? 9 weeks?" He looks at me cautiously, as if he was already preparing for the worst. "Any bleeding? Obviously, this hasn't stopped you from being active..."
"It was my fault," I tell him with a sigh.
"Your body doesn't care whose fault it is, we are in uncharted territory." My French doctor had stepped out of my family circle and into his role as my care provider.
"No bleeding," I tell him quietly, watching his phone screen as he searches only to suggest we go into the living space to lie down on the couch to allow him to see better. My heart pounds, Steffan holds my hand as he sits on the floor beside me, and Adriam kneels, focusing on the screen in silence.
"It'd be easier with an actual machine, this isn't the most high-tech piece of equipment." Adriam mumurs, only to sigh in relief as the little dot appears. I hear the gentle reverberation, a pounding heartbeat that makes me inhale sharply as I quickly wipe at my eyes. "Don't get excited yet, we have 30 more weeks to go."
Grumbling to himself over the logistics of using a hand-held machine, I can only focus on the flickering of the tiny heart. Steffan seems just as moved as I am, "What a world we live in." He marvels, making me smile with an airy sigh. "Congrats, Nic. I'm so happy for you."
He was really the first one to have said something like that, to treat it like it was more than a curse.
As Adriam takes measurements and curses, fighting with the small screen on the phone, I can only focus on reality. I was going to be a parent to a child of my own blood, sired by the love of my life, but born out of the most unusual circumstances.
It'd be easy to dwell on the things I'm sure my husband focused on, if Fenrir's genes were mixed in and if the pairing of the three 'types' would somehow infect this child as well. Were we praying for white hair? Would this baby be a magic user or a lycan? What if they were mortal?
My heart rate starts to climb and Steffan runs a hand through my hair, catching my eyes with his own. "It's going to be alright,b nm" he reassures me.
Adriam glances back and forth between the two of us before turning off his phone to sit cross-legged. "Of course, it is, why wouldn't it be? Yes, we must be prepared for the worst but we can also be thankful for what has been given to us here. How Verando managed to get a man pregnant... well, I suppose he is quite fertile. Regardless, sit up, let me look at your cuff."
Slipping his finger under the rim, Adriam runs the digit the length of the cuff's connection with my arm, plucking at the material and twisting my arm from side to side as he attempts to rotate it. "It's been welded to your skin. This isn't coming off."
With a sigh of relief, I notice that he's not thrilled about it.
"This came with a contract."
"I know," I tell him, standing from the couch, holding out my hands to gather Xaiver as the boy starts to stir. "We've talked about this all before, Adam. It is what it is." My words are final, I'd gotten the info I'd wanted and that was that this baby was still alive. Even after all the abuse, my body had taken the last two months, this child was still managing to possibly even thrive.
"Before you run from me, I need to take more blood. We've got to continue to monitor your levels, your body has to maintain a certain amount of hormone to maintain this pregnancy, I wouldn't be surprised if it made you emotional or caused tenderness. Though, I truly don't imagine your body will try and produce milk-"
I flush darkly, I hadn't even considered that.
With a giggle, Adriam rolls his eyes, following me into the kitchen as Tonic enters with a bag. I offer him a quick glance but say nothing, sitting back down to pick at Verando's breakfast and offer a few bites to Xaiver who seems on the border of deciding if he wants to cry or not.
"Stop." he whimpers, waving a hand toward Adriam.
I blink, "Xaiver, you're talking." I manage, heartbroken all the same as I marvel at him.
"oh, he says whatever he wants when he wants. He also is not a morning person, so we're currently being told to be quiet."
"Stop." He tells Adriam firmly, poking out his lower lip before taking the bit of muffin out of my hand and casting it on the floor. Eve casually strolls over to lick it off the tile, I can only gape at the boy who snuggles firmly into my grasp with a pout.
"Oh my." I exhale, catching Steffan's giggle.
"Alright, but he's so cute... he's a little rotten," Steffan admits.
"A little?" Adriam scoffs but smiles all the same. "Sorry... there aren't very many rules at my house and everyone just loves them both so much."
Stroking the tangle of off-black and gray hair, his touseled curls had been teased to perfection, and the light, smokey eyes drift up towards me as he wrinkles his nose with a boyish grin. "We're in so much trouble," I murmur, sighing heavily as I squeeze the child a little closer to me.
"He looks almost exactly like his father, but wild like Tempy and crafty like Marisol. Yes, dear, you are in a heap of trouble." Adriam reassures me, collecting his tools out of his bag and taking my arm to put the strap around my bicep. I'd been poked and prodded so much, it really didn't bother me anymore. Pain was something that I hardly considered, it was a necessary evil to most parts of my life.
We were lucky to have them, Adriam and Victor, Tomas and Rowan, all returned to our lives at the time when we needed them most. Feeling myself tearing up, I decided to take another bite of muffin instead, only to flinch as Xaiver crams the pastry into my mouth with a devious giggle. This wasn't going to settle well with my dictator husband.
"Honey, your Daddy is going to lose his mind if he sees you acting this way," I warn the toddler, who giggles with a grin as he scrambles out of my arms to stabilize himself and get to work on seeing which cabinet doors he could open. "Oh god, what am I going to do?"
Pursing his lips, Adriam shrugs one shoulder as he sticks me, drawing tube after tube of blood from my arm. "Cry? Surrender? Laugh?" Tilting his head towards Tonic, Adriam manages a small smirk. "They grow to be assholes if you don't parent them right. So good luck with that."
The Verando look-alike grimaces though I really can't say he looks like his father much anymore. When I lacked comparison, I couldn't help but see resemblances but now they differed in many ways. Tonic wasn't nearly as fit as Verando was, though he appeared to be a hair or two taller.
Secondly, the jaw was not right, especially after seeing Legardo who was a mirror image in many ways. The hair color was identical but not in texture, Tonic lacked the tangles, though he did have some wave to his natural hair. No, I couldn't keep calling him the mini me for my husband. He didn't deserve that title anymore.
"Give it to me straight, how are we fairing, Adriam? Me and Randy." I needed to know before I devoted another ounce of energy to anything else, I needed the honest truth.
"The baby looks good, as we said, I've got to test your blood and check your levels. Your body seems to be trying to adjust, the cuff is worrisome but I don't foresee it coming off unless another God took it off or cut it off, which is something I'd be concerned about with the value of an item like that. I'd keep it hidden or maybe get another one to match it. You'd do well to accessorize, while it'd be gorgeous with your skin tone, it'd also be a lot more difficult to pinpoint which is a gods item."
Steffan seems to agree with this, pointing out that a choker and maybe an earring wouldn't go a miss. I'm reminded of Verando's pierced nipples and try to focus on the topic at hand with a nod.
Packing away each vile into the ice box with great care, Adriam bags up the needles as he considers this. "All and all, everything is going alright with you. We're going to have to be careful, so careful, and plan everything. You're going to need a c-section, but that's very routine. I feel optimistic, but you should prepare yourself for the worst. All of this you've heard before."
"And Randy?"
Pulling off his gloves, Adriam moves to throw them away, pulling a wooden spoon off the wall as Xaiver demands it and haing it over. The little boy takes off to swing it around wildly like a sword. "You're well aware of what the doctors have said. I agree with them, he's worse than he's ever been, another fight and we are looking at damage that not even a Lycan's body can repair. I'm going to put him in a rehab program, Legardo has agreed to help, he's stronger than what his injuries can tolerate so we have to make sure he doesn't hurt himself worse while trying to get better. All and all, we are extremely lucky."
Considering this, he crosses his arms over his chest, watching Xaiver play and run laps around the kitchen. "Fenrir needs to eat and seems to be able to heal the body with blood. The hospital cleaned out its supply of donor blood, it was like Verando's body just consumed it, but the more blood we gave him the better he got. We can't ignore that this side of him needs to be catered to, it's going to be trial and error. I've brought some blood with me, Tiberius feels confident he can get a supply if necessary and if not him, then Leo has said he can provide us with some."
Steffan frowns, "I get all mine from Tonic or I'd help." He sighs, I find myself relieved that Tonic was keeping to himself because I don't think I could take one more ounce of stress with this topic.
"I'm guessing it's human blood?"
Adriam nods, "Only mortal blood seems to help. Every time Fenrir gets out, he consumes humans most of all. Lore hasn't given us much hope as to why that is or if it's just a preference. While the Fenrir of Legend eats Gods, it feels like a personal quest rather than this which seems to be a necessity. I've got Landon and K looking into-"
I stop him, lifting my hand. "We aren't allowed to use any resources. We are out of it, remember?"
Pulling his lips into a thin line, Adriam nods once. "Right. We all really are supposed to be, I guess I just thought-" Sighing, he shakes his head. "I'll look into it as safely as I can manage. Tomas will be back later tonight for a perimeter check, I think Rowan mostly wants an excuse to see you both... you'd do well to invite her over. I know you just moved in here but she's wanted this for a long time so I think she's feeling a little anxious that you're both no longer seeing a use for her."
It was all too much, I nod once, offering a smile as I finish my breakfast. It felt like we were teenagers being left on our own with a newborn. While we were more broken now than we had been, everyone's reluctance to leave was wearing on me and I found myself wanting to hide away with my family. We needed time to figure things out, without the outside 'help'.
Steffan touches my arm, "Let me go get Randy and Victor, I think we have a couple of errands to run in town so we should probably get out of your hair. Is there anything we can bring you?"
My best friend for centuries. I squeeze his hand, thanking him with my gaze. "I'm fine, really," I reassure him, all of them, that I could actually do this. Were they all truly that worried about us?
As quick as he could leave, Tonic seemed like he had something he wanted to say though I avoid eye contact with him as I work on packing up the plates and washing the dishes. "I really am trying to make amends." he finally manages, making Adriam groan at the attempt.
"Tonic, I really couldn't give to shits what you're trying to do-"
"shit!" Xaiver giggles, making me sigh heavily.
"Yeah, he does that." Adriam mumbles, shrugging one shoulder.
"Come, go, stay, leave, I really don't care. Just think about Steffan in the mix of all of this and leave your father out of it. Randy's about ready to have your head, I think you'd do best to give him space-"
Verando scoffs, only to grunt as Xaiver runs into his leg with an excited squeal. "I come back to threats of violence? I thought we were retired?" he teases me, it seems his time with Victor had lightened his mood. Carefully lifting Xaiver, he releases Darrius's hand who runs over to me to wrap his arms around my waist. I hug my sweet boy, squeezing him as tightly as I dared while he grips onto my shorts.
"Nic was just reminding me of my place." Tonic sighs.
"Nic's good at that. How long before you run off this time?" The comment causes Victor to punch the gray-haired mans arm, making him flinch as Adriam gasps and rushes over as if somehow his distress would ease any discomfort.
"Victor! He's hurt!" The French man punches the Russian, much good it would do for the size of him.
Xaiver growls, "Bad!" he threatens, grabbing Verando's phone out of his pocket and throwing it across the room. We all fall silent, gauging the reaction of my warlord who seems to have somehow short-circuited from the shock. With his near-vacant expression staring after the phone and seeing the determined face of the toddler glaring up at him.
"In what world?" he demands of the toddler. Quickly, I rush to snatch the child up, making reluctant eye contact with my husband as I sigh heavily from the stress of it all.
Maybe we shouldn't be on our own? Maybe we weren't ready with how sick I'd been and how hurt he still was, I wasn't expecting to get back a tyrant on top of what we were already dealing with. But, Xaiver had been through a lot and had had so little consistency, it was unfair to expect him to remain a timid little boy. The truth was, this was uncharted territory.
Darrius could be reasoned with, he was 2 when he was 'born'.
I had never seen my husband parent a small child, I had to be honest with myself to say I was afraid. My parents had never raised a hand to me, I did as a pleased with little remorse and commanded the servants to do my bidding. As long as I respected my brothers and my father, my options were limitless and it was my brothers who would lash me if I got out of hand. I'd always gotten along with my mother for the most part.
Verando was raised so differently, I feared what would unearthed. Would he hit him? Hurt him? Punish him too harshly? It was a rush of new emotions that nearly made me choke on how I could even imagine such things from a man who loved me so much, but it might be easier to shove those thoughts down if I didn't ask him to take out those same frustrations on me.
I'd been punished by him, in a different way, but I knew of his cruelty and temper.
Yet, I also knew him to be reasonable. "I..." What could I even say?
Verando's gaze meets mine as we search each other's expression, he goes through the shades of different emotions, from pain at my reaction to anger and frustration, to sadness that this was my conclusion. "You're not wrong in your reaction, my father would have taken the lash to me for that. Marcus Senior as well, my hands were bloody when I was Darrius's age for behavior like that."
Darrius tugs at my shirt. "Are you sad?" he frowns, before moving to put his arms around Verando's waist. "Please don't leave again."
"We're not going anywhere darling, your Tata and I just have some discussing to do tonight. It's alright."
The tension in the air dissipates, though I note that Tonic and Steffan have left and Adriam seems to have relaxed out of his posture to intervene. Verando was dangerous beyond his raising, we all had seemed worried about how he would respond, Adriam more so in fear that God would reveal himself.
The truth was, we weren't ready to be alone, not yet. But I didn't want Tomas here to encourage my warlord into mischief. "Adriam.. could you possibly stay for a few days?" I ask, "Maybe Steffan would-"
The french man nods quickly, gesturing to Victor. "I've already got my stuff in my car.. I mean, I've got plans and all but.. you know.. family and what have you. Of course, I can only stay for a week at most.. maybe more if you need me, but please, it's not trouble at all. Victor come on, let's put our stuff in the guest room."
Verando tracks the pair as Adriam ushers the Russian to the car. "Are you that afraid of me?"
Xaiver fights his way out of my arms as I set him down, Darrius trots over to gather up the phone, holding it over Xaiver's head as the little boy screams for him to give it back. I can only flinch, crossing my arms over my chest. "I need help. I need to be able to worry about you and get used to this again. I love you too much to take this out on you, and I've never done this before. Frankly, it seems like being on the front lines might be a touch easier than creating functioning people."
With a soft chuckle, Verando nears me, inviting me into his arms and kissing the top of my head. "Did Adriam tell you neither of them nap anymore?"
Nearly crossing my eyes at the thought of managing the two for the entire day, for the rest of my life, I could almost cry again as I bury my face into his chest with a groan.
"We're going to need battle tactics. I'm requesting your audience tonight to talk strategy."