"Should you even be going to prom? I mean is it really a good idea to have you there and whatever when you're like, a century pregnant?" Adrian asked Charlie, who narrowed her eyes at him.
"Thank you for the exaggeration. Besides, it'll be fine. I highly doubt they'll suddenly decide to pop out on the night of prom. You just don't want to go."
River was content to walk between them as they made their way to lunch. Charlie had been getting weird looks from girls all day, but he couldn't really blame them. Her belly was huge. Well, if he thought about it, she'd been getting weird looks ever since Christmas Break had ended back in January. It was March now. And not even the beginning, the 18th.
"You're absolutely right I don't wanna go, but I'm just trying to look out for your safety here." Adrian said, trying to sound as sincere as possible.
"Adrian, sometimes you just have to do things you don't want to do. Like going to prom. Two out of three, you're outvoted here," she told him, making him sigh at that and roll his eyes a little.
"Two?" River asked.
She looked at him.
"You weren't arguing with him, so I was on the assumption that you were on my side. Or at least indifferent," she said with a small shrug.
"But I'm a Sophomore. Prom's for upperclassmen."
"Underclassmen can still come. They just have to be brought in with Juniors or Seniors."
"Well I still can't go, now can I?" River asked, smiling at Charlie.
She frowned slightly.
"Why not? Junior. Senior," she said, pointing to herself and Adrian.
"You have to be asked, don't you? I can't go unless I'm asked."
Charlie paused at that, then smiled a little and shook her head.
"That is a fair point. In that case, River, would you like to go to prom with us?"
"You can't ask me for Adrian."
She sighed at that and looked over to Adrian, giving him a pointed look. He ignored her for a second before he rolled his eyes and huffed.
"River, will you go to prom with me? Us? Something?"
Narrowing his eyes at Adrian, River reached over and pushed him. That wasn't done very well and he wasn't going to accept that. Adrian was supposed to mean it, and that hadn't sounded very certain at all. He wasn't sure how proms worked really, besides they were a dance and you had to be asked, but he was sure the asking should be better than that.
"Not when you ask me like that, no."
Adrian snorted and moved to be out of touching range from River.
"Damn, alright. No need to shove," he said. "Fine. River, do you want to go to prom with me and Charlie?"
"I would like that," he answered, smiling.
"Good luck finding a dress big enough for the cow."
Snapping his head to the source of the voice, River blinked when he saw it was just one of the girls that'd been eying Charlie the whole time. Why couldn't they just leave them alone? They weren't hurting anybody. It drew Charlie's attention, because she looked over at her too, and Adrian paused before narrowing his eyes a little.
"I don't see why you care. We weren't talking to you." River stated.
"Talking loud enough for it to be to the whole school," the girl answered, tossing her hair over her shoulder. "Fat-ass kind of makes you stick out."
"She's pregnant, not fat." River snapped. "And even if she were, she's a million times prettier and smarter than you."
Apparently what he'd said took her aback, because she just huffed and glared at him before turning sharply to walk away.
"Sticking a bow on a cow doesn't make her any less a cow."
"Calling people names doesn't make you any less stupid either," he shot back, turning around to face her. "You need to get your priorities straight if you think harassing someone better than you is a good way to pass the time. We're going to get lunch now, and I'd suggest you do the same, but I don't think you even know what food is."
She left them then, storming off down the hall and leaving the three of them standing in the hallway together, onlookers slowly starting to go off about their business. River turned back around and found both Charlie and Adrian staring at him in surprise, and his face got hot very quickly, making him duck his head.
"Well." Adrian started, nodding a little. "Alright then. Don't insult Charlie. Noted," he said, sounding a little impressed.
Charlie just smiled and reached over to grab River's hand, and he held hers back tightly. Insulting anybody wasn't okay, it wasn't very nice. He didn't know why people wanted to cause problems all the time, but it was times like these where he wasn't so sure he minded. In the end, Charlie was Charlie, and she carried their babies inside of her. He'd defend her for as long as it took to make sure she was okay, because stress for any pregnant female was bad.
"Is it wrong to call that the highlight of my day?" Adrian asked as they made their way to lunch, Charlie rolling her eyes a little at him.
"It's only half over." River pointed out.
"Yeah but I'm pretty sure that's gonna be the highlight. If something better happens I'll be shocked."
Charlie liked lunch. She got to sit with Adrian and River, and eat, and just relax away from classes for half an hour.
She didn't like what that girl had said in the hallway, earlier, but she knew better than to get frustrated or angry over it. All she'd do is hurt herself and the babies. So it was better to just ignore all the staring and occasional things being said. Charlie wasn't expecting River to go off though, and apparently neither was Adrian, both of them being pretty surprised.
She liked it though. She liked the fact that River stuck up for her against what people said. It was a nice feeling. So she was content to sit at the edge of the bench at the booth beside River, both of them eating as Adrian settled for warping the spoon he'd grabbed off Charlie's tray. Now that he'd been sleeping better, his telekinesis seemed to be under better control, and he was back to using it as random times whenever he needed.
Charlie's thoughts were cut short though when a blonde girl slid into the seat across from all of them, glancing at River and Adrian before she focused her attention on Charlie and smiled a little. The girl was clearly a Nether, but Charlie had no idea why she was just there, all of a sudden.
"Hi," the girl said, shifting a little in her spot and leaning forward a little. "Sorry, if this is weird, but I just wanted to ask you, about...." She trailed off, gesturing toward Charlie's stomach instead as Charlie caught on and nodded.
"Oh, right. Yeah, that's fine. What about it?"
"Well, I mean, what's it like? It's pretty much common knowledge that we don't usually find our mates this young, so how's the whole thing been going?" the girl asked.
Charlie paused at that, thinking to herself for a second as she tilted her head a little.
"It's been alright. Really uncomfortable, for the most part," she said with a small shrug. The girl nodded, seemingly in an understanding way.
"Right. Did you know, like, as soon as it happened?"
"Yeah, basically. It was kind of like a pinching sensation, and then a really warm feeling. And then you vomit immediately afterward."
"Because everyone wants to hear about you throwing up while they're eating." Adrian chipped in sarcastically.
The girl glanced to him again, but Charlie just rolled her eyes a little in response.
"How's the morning sickness? How long does that last?"
Charlie wasn't unaccustomed to all the questions, but it was still odd to have someone just randomly walk up to her and start asking about her pregnancy.
"It was horrible. It lasted the first couple months, and it just seemed like all I was doing was throwing up, constantly," she answered, shaking her head.
That had not been fun. The whole pregnancy wasn't really fun, but that was the worst part, in her opinion. That and the tearing. The other Nether nodded again, looking back down at Charlie's belly.
"So can you feel it move?"
"They."
"Pardon?"
"They, not it. There's two. A boy and a girl."
The girl seemed surprised by that, her eyes widening a little.
"Two? Well—how did you know the genders?"
"I didn't, actually." Charlie answered with a small smile. "Someone else did. She said that she could sense their personalities and souls. And yes they move. Not too much, but enough to be noticeable."
"Personalities and souls," the girl repeated. "That's interesting. Are you excited to see them?"
"Honestly? I just want them out. It's been seven months of torture."
The girl laughed a little at that.
"Good point, alright. Well what about home birth, you're doing that, right?"
Charlie actually hadn't thought about that part. But considering home birthing was traditional to do, she didn't see any reason to go against it.
"I believe so, yes."
"How do you think that'll go?"
"Wait, wait a second, hang on." Adrian cut in, leaning over the table to look at Charlie. "You're having these at home?"
"It's traditional," the other Nether said, making Adrian look over at her with an incredulous expression. "Nethers give birth at home. It's just how it's done."
Charlie nodded in agreement to that, and Adrian grimaced slightly.
"Okay, that's gross," he mumbled, Charlie just shaking her head at him, turning back to the girl.
"I'm hoping it'll go well. I really don't want any complications with it, especially since it's been going pretty smooth so far," she said.
"Right. Complications wouldn't be good. Do you know who's going to help you with it?"
Charlie hesitated at that. She really didn't, actually. Of the two adults in the house, one of them was apparently fairly squeamish, and the other was a Changed vampire, and she wasn't sure how Varian would do with that. Her parents would probably be helpful to some degree, but it wasn't like her mother was a doctor or anything. None of them were, really. That should probably be brought up later, when they got home, she supposed.
"Um, not yet, no," she answered, the girl seeming a little surprised by that.
"This late into the pregnancy?"
"Well, we've all been pretty busy with other things, and I guess I just didn't really think about it." Charlie said with a shrug. "Worst comes to worst, there's always Adrian."
That last bit hadn't been said seriously, and the girl seemed to pick up on that as she laughed again, but Adrian frowned.
"Nowhere in this whole 'friends' agreement thing did it mention helping you through birth," he mentioned.
"It's somewhere in the fine print."
"Bullshit."
Charlie smiled a little at that, before the Nether got her attention again.
"Is there anything else that goes on, worth mentioning?" she asked, Charlie thinking for a second and narrowing her eyes a little.
"Well, there's the tearing," she started, then backtracked when the girl's eyes widened again. "Nothing bad, just the really sudden expansion makes the skin around the stomach kind of split a little. It heals pretty fast though. There's also bruising and a lot of stretch marks. And by about four months in I was already done with it. Of course, you know, there's two of them versus one. So it might've made it a less pleasant experience."
The girl hummed a little.
"Sounds like it's not the best feeling in the world. It'll be worth it though I think, when they're born."
Charlie thought so too. She was just tired of waiting eight months for it, and she was tired of being uncomfortable all the time about three months ago. Basically, she was just very happy that she was almost due.
After school Charlie had decided that it was important to bring up the home birth to River's parents, who immediately decided it was a discussion for the whole family to have. So they now all crowded into the kitchen and occupied all eight of the spaces at the table. Charlie and Adrian sat on his sides, leaving him in the middle like he usually was.
His dads sat next to each other across from them, and his brothers and Vanessa filled the rest. It was a full table, and everyone looked like they always did for family discussions. A mixture of curiosity, apprehension, repulsion, boredom, interest, and neutrality in some cases. For River, he took the opportunity to shove more food in his mouth, in the process of devouring the last of the ham that was in the fridge.
"So." Nathan started, his voice startling River and making him cough at the piece of ham that got lodged in his throat for a moment, as he tapped his fingers against the top of the table. "Family discussion. For the uh. Nether. Traditional. Home birthing thing. Right...how are we doing this?"
"Well, I think the first thing to do would be to ask Charlie how these things typically work for her species. Jecklynn had River at the hospital, so his unusual birth isn't really helpful in this situation," his dad spoke up, turning to Charlie. "So how does it work for your kind? Has your mother told you anything about her experience with you?"
Charlie looked over at his dad and shrugged slightly.
"Not really, no. I never asked about it. I just figured, home birth. I didn't think there'd be too much to it, I suppose."
His dad smiled and shook his head a little. River couldn't really blame him, birthing was a big thing, and it took a lot out of everyone that was there. Especially the mother. He'd seen enough horses, cows, and puppies born to know that a lot more preparation went into it than just pushing things out.
"Have you ever seen an animal give birth, Charlie?" his dad asked.
She frowned slightly.
"In person or on Animal Planet?"
"National Geographic does some animal stuff too." Adrian added.
"Person."
Swallowing the last major chunk of his ham, River glanced down sadly at his nearly empty plate. They were out of ham, they were out of steak, and they were out of sausage. Maybe there was some turkey in the fridge somewhere. If he looked hard enough.
"No, I have not."
"Would you like to?"
Charlie raised an eyebrow.
"Is it...necessary?"
"Dad I don't know where this is going." Corin mentioned to their other dad who just shrugged back in response.
"For where I'm going with this Corin," their dad said, training his attention on him. "A lot of new mothers find it helpful to witness a birth to sort of get an idea of what to expect. An animal birth is easier to see both physically and mentally, and since it's spring, the cows are calving at work, and C.J.'s got his hands full."
"Oh, okay." Corin replied with a nod.
Charlie, however, didn't entirely seem comfortable at that and frowned slightly at the idea of it, then sighed.
"I suppose, if it'll be helpful, then it'd probably be a good idea, wouldn't it?"
"It's not so bad as long as you aren't squeamish," his dad said gently. "Though I personally look forward to foaling season, calving is a good substitute. Since I'm on call, I'll alert you to when it's a good time to see. And now back to the preparations. Nathan?"
"Yeah?"
"We'll need someone trained. A midwife or a nurse willing to make a house call. They'll need to get to know Charlie, if this is going to work out okay."
"You know that is such a coincidence because I happen to know a nurse who probably owes me for something over the last thirty years," their other dad said with a thoughtful nod.
"So Aunt Andrea's going to come visit for a while then?" River asked, smiling.
"Yeah, because I don't actually know any other nurses," their other dad said with a sigh, and Lex frowned.
"You work at the hospital. How do you not know any other nurses besides Aunt Andrea?"
"Because I work with researchers. In labs."
The conversation caught the attention of both River and their dad, who waved off Lex's and Nathan's conversation.
"Well, the fact of the matter is, your dad has a very important phone call to make. Aside from that though, Charlie, any particular place you'd like to do it?"
She thought for a second before she shrugged a little.
"I'd like to be as comfortable as possible, but I don't have much of a preference. Wherever is easiest for you guys, is fine with me."
"Well, most of us aren't going to be present for the birth," their dad said. "I can handle animal ones, but people are perceived as prey. Best not to push it. And the younger kids don't need to see it, so Nathan and I will take them somewhere. Everyone else can make the choice on their own. I think we should probably ask Andrea and see what she says, so unless you have other concerns about the birth, or another topic, you're all free to go."
"Don't need to see it, don't want to see it." Corin agreed with a nod, Charlie smiling a little at him, then shook her head to Varian.
"I don't have any other concerns. I just hope Andrea won't mind helping."
Swallowing the last of his food, River pushed his plate aside and looked at his dads. They might be free to go, but he had a question of his own. He'd been invited to prom after all, by both of his mates. Shouldn't they figure that out too?
"I have a topic," he declared. "What about prom?"
"Prom?" Nathan asked, frowning slightly. "What about it?"
"Charlie and Adrian asked me to go with them."
"Okay. So, you guys are going to prom then, I'm guessing?"
"Can we?" River asked, smiling.
"Yeah? Why not? I don't have a problem with it. Do you have a problem with it?" their other dad replied, looking over to Varian.
"Well, it is a formal event isn't it? I never went to mine. Did you go to prom Nathan?"
He paused and thought for a second.
"I think I went junior year. Or was that homecoming? I did something junior year, I know that much."
"Well, as you can see, it was never really a concern of ours. However, if that's something you want to do, it's fine with us. I'm sure Andrea would be more than happy to help come up with ideas."
River watched his other dad just shrug a little, and Charlie smiled.
"I figured we should go to prom this year, at least, since it'll be the last year we're all in school. So it'd just be something nice to do together."
"Yeah." River agreed.
Their dad smiled back at that.
"Alright. Nathan, you should call Andrea. I'll see if C.J. knows of any heifers that are going to calve soon so we can arrange a time for Charlie to go see."
"I know exactly how this conversation's going to go already," their other dad mumbled, shaking his head a little. "Meeting over I guess then. Go, disperse, do what you will."
By the time the weekend rolled around, Nathan had called Andrea and set up a time for her to come down, and Charlie got the joy of watching a live birth that Adrian had no interest in seeing. As it was he didn't really want to be around for when Lyla and Reed popped out, but Charlie told him there was no way he was leaving the house.
Which was unfair. How come he got stuck there? According to Charlie, it went along with the whole "friend" thing, and Adrian was sincerely rethinking considering her a friend.
River was with the Bowmans for the weekend, and Varian was at work, leaving Adrian with Charlie, Nathan, and Andrea in the kitchen, both of the adults with coffee while Charlie had a sandwich.
"How's Curran?" Nathan asked.
"He's good." Andrea replied, smiling a little. "I thought about bringing him with me, but I'm gonna be here for a while, and he'd be missing school then. So he's staying with a friend of his until I get back."
"He graduates this year, right?"
"He does, yeah. Feels like he grew up too fast." Andrea said with a heavy sigh, shaking her head a little. "Doesn't feel like it's been that long, you know?"
"Yeah, I know. At least you're not expecting to be a grandmother anytime soon though."
Andrea laughed at that.
"God no. Curran, a father? Hard to see. Between track and school I'd be surprised if he even had a girlfriend," she said, then turned to Adrian and Charlie. "Curran's my son, as you've probably figured out. You'll meet him eventually, he's a nice kid."
"Sounds like it." Charlie replied, pausing to swallow the bite in her mouth. "He does track?"
"Yeah, he does. When he was younger he learned that his...." Andrea paused, narrowing her eyes a little and tilting her head. "Father figure? It wasn't his biological father, but he helped raise him, anyway. When he learned his dad used to run, he just kind of picked it up. I think when he was younger it was kind of a coping method, and it just stuck with him."
"Coping method?" Charlie asked, frowning a little while Andrea shrugged slightly.
"Curran's dad passed away, some time ago. He was also my brother's boyfriend, so I guess he was kind of like his uncle too, in a weird way."
"I'm sorry that happened. How'd he die, if you don't mind me asking?"
"He had HIV." Andrea answered. "And he fought with it for a long time, actually, before he just got too tired. We were all hit pretty hard by it, when he went, but. It had to happen eventually, unfortunately."
"Evan?" Adrian couldn't help but ask, both Nathan and Andrea looking over at him as she smiled slightly and nodded.
"How'd you know?" Nathan asked.
Adrian shrugged a little.
"A while back me and Varian were talking about it a little bit, when I asked about that Endorphizyme stuff you made. He said you came up with the HIV treatment because of Evan."
Nathan nodded to that, humming quietly as Andrea sighed.
"Well, he was a good guy. Helped me out a lot with Curran. Kind of saved my brother's life. Kind of saved Curran's life too, actually," she said thoughtfully. "But, that's not the reason why I'm here. We are supposed to be talking about Charlie, not my son and his father."
Charlie shook her head at that, swallowing down another bite and wiping at her mouth.
"Yeah, but it's nice to hear about them. They both sound like nice people."
"They are. Were, in Evan's case, but I'll probably be here for a while. So there's plenty of time to talk about them. For now though, I have some questions for you." Andrea said, finishing her coffee and passing the cup over to Nathan, who just rolled his eyes a little before he went to get up and get her some more. "First off, you need to pick where you want this to happen. Would you be more comfortable in a bedroom, or on the floor, or hell, the tub even? What would make you feel better?"
"A tub? You can do that?" Charlie asked, Andrea shrugging a little.
"Good way to contain the blood. Possibly not the most comfortable though."
Charlie hummed at that, thinking for a second as she tilted her head a little.
"Well, I'd assume a bed would be the most comfortable. And I would like to be comfortable."
"I'd assume so, after about six months of being pregnant. Good thing Nether pregnancies are shorter. Even if it's just a little." Andrea said with a smile, Charlie nodding to that.
"Yeah. So, I'd like a bed, if that's alright."
"Perfectly fine, it's up to you. Bed it is. How comfortable are you with exposure? Would you want privacy curtains, or are you good with being all out in the open?"
"I don't think exposure is something she has a problem with." Adrian mentioned.
Charlie rolled her eyes a little at him, and Nathan gave them a weird look, but otherwise didn't comment.
"I don't have a problem with it. Curtains aren't really necessary. I don't think I'll really be considering the fact that people are seeing me half-naked, at the time."
"Probably not, no, but it's good to ask." Andrea said. "What about a hospital, where would you like to go if we have to do an emergency caesarian?"
"The local hospital is fine." Charlie answered with a small shrug. "Hopefully that won't be necessary though."
"Hopefully not, but shit happens." Andrea said as Nathan came back with a new cup of coffee, handing it to her as she smiled at him before returning her attention to Charlie. "Okay, how do you feel about an epidural? Want the drugs, or would you prefer a natural birth?"
Charlie frowned slightly at that.
"Epidural please. I am not against drug usage for this procedure."
"Neither was I. Shit's painful." Andrea sighed.
Her tone was kind of interesting, because it wasn't entirely professional, but it wasn't completely casual either. The swearing was amusing though, in Adrian's opinion.
"Alright, so we've got a bed, no privacy curtains necessary, Tillamook's hospital if things go wrong, and drugs. Going back to the bed, you have two options. You can either have the mattress covered to keep it from getting absolutely disgusting, because it will, or you can leave it as is."
"Covered would probably be good." Charlie answered. "I don't really want to ruin a whole mattress."
Andrea nodded to that.
"Mattress covered then, okay. That's all the basics, for preparation and placement and whatnot. Now we have to talk about how you're going to contact me. My plan is to stay around here until the babies come, but obviously I won't be here for the whole time, I'll be staying in a hotel. Because I love Nathan to death but I don't want to live with him for a month. So I'll be here pretty often, but if you need something when I'm not, Nathan has my number. If you call and I don't answer, just leave a message and I'll get back to you as soon as possible. That sound good to you?"
Charlie paused at that before she shrugged a little.
"That's fine. I'm just worried about you missing work or something."
"Don't even worry about it." Andrea said, waving Charlie's comment off. "Missing work isn't a problem. Besides, I'm one of the best nurses that hospital has, they wouldn't dream of firing me."
"I'm having trouble imagining you as one of their best nurses." Nathan mumbled, Andrea turning to him at that, pointing a finger at him warningly.
"Watch it," she said.
Nathan held his hands up in response, opting not to say anything else as Andrea narrowed her eyes, then looked back to Charlie.
"Okay. One last question then, while we're at it. After the babies are born, do you want to see them immediately, or would you rather them get cleaned up and checked out first, make sure they're healthy?"
"I'd rather have them checked out, before anything else. I know one of them is technically younger than the other, and I want to know that that one's okay first. Plus I don't know how willingly I'll let go of them, if I see them first." Charlie said with a small shrug.
Andrea smiled, chuckling a little at that.
"Not very. I know I didn't, when Curran was born. Okay, that's all for right now then. We've got this figured out," she said, then turned to Nathan. "You're gonna be missing out on a lot of fun. So much blood and bodily fluids, doesn't that just sound lovely?"
"It sounds fucking disgusting and I hate you." Nathan mumbled in response, making Andrea laugh.