Chapter Thirteen
Take A Look At Me Now
(Playlist – We'll Be the Stars by Sabrina Carpenter)
Kota's POV:
Six a.m. I look over at Sang's sleeping form curled into me. I am going to miss this. I had already done the mathematical calculations of how long we were going to be gone at the absolute minimum. I exhaled audibly. Sang curled in even tighter, "five more minutes." I smiled. I was definitely going to miss that.
All of a sudden she shot up and headed straight for the bathroom. She must have been half asleep though. She went right instead of left. She looked at me, panicking. I grabbed the wastebasket and held it up for her while she emptied her stomach. When she finished up, I helped her sit. I tied up the trash bag, double-bagged it, and took it out; I would have Sean put a biohazard label on it later. I went back up and washed my hands after I re-bagged the trash can, then grabbed a cool wet wash cloth.
"You ok?" She nodded. "10, baby. I know you quit taking your pills. Do you think, just by chance, that you could be, you know?"
"I am just a little bit late, but we have been through this before. It's just stress." She was laughing it off. She didn't want to worry any of us.
"I'm going to call Sean. We have a little time before ... before we need to take a little drive." I slid my thumb across the cell phone and tapped on his picture. "Hey Sean, it might be a code pink, but I am not sure." Pause. "OK. I will meet you down there. Yes my stuff is all ready. No I'm not. Ten minutes max." I hung the phone up. "Sean wants to run a couple tests, just in case."
"I feel fine now." She said flopping back on the bed. "I just want to brush my teeth and eat. I am starving."
I gave her a skeptical look, and shook my head. "Go brush your teeth. We need to leave shortly." I started to get dressed as she went to brush her teeth. We both walked downstairs to a busy dining room.
The Tomas had come over to help with breakfast as well. Raven looked at me and shifted his eyes to pull me in the other room. I followed him. "Did she get sick again?"
"Yes, she did. She says it's just nerves."
"Yesterday. In the morning. Kayli did that with twins. She looks... blednyy. Uh, pale."
I looked at him for a moment before replying. "I don't know whether to throw her over my knee and spank her, or punch you for not telling me sooner." I pushed my glasses up my nose to drive the point home.
"Anytime Kota. I didn't talk because she asks. It was wedding day. New day today."
Deep breath in through the nose, and out through the mouth. It wasn't even seven in the morning and I was stressed. Where was North? Wasn't it his job to do this to me? Or at the very least Sean's. Oh yeah. "We are going to see Sean after breakfast, then we have to take a quick road trip to... "
"Air Frost Base?" he finished my sentence for me.
"Air Force Base," I corrected him.
"Where I go, same thing." Then he turned and headed in to eat.
"How did you know? Never mind." I slid my thumb over my phone again to call Sean.
"Kota, don't call. I'm a doctor. I need to keep my line open," he answered, quite chipper.
"Says the one who has been blowing up my phone asking questions about Sang. Be patient. We will be there. Just act like it's a normal day. For all of us."
"You got it buddy." We hung up.
We finished breakfast and had the dishes cleaned up quickly. "Load up. We're going to see Dr. Green!"
"We'll stay here and clean up. See you later." Kayli waved at us as we left. Celia, Roxy, and Vivi each gave their Aunt Si-Si hugs and kisses and then we were finally off. It was nothing but a hop, skip, and a jump to the hospital. We were out of the vehicles and standing outside waiting.
"Oy, why the fu*k are we here to see Sean again?"
I never did tell all of them. Well we would just keep them guessing. I quickly texted Sean not to tell the boys why we were here, just to keep it quiet so that if it were positive it would surprise them even more. He replied with a Cheshire cat emoji.
We walked up to his office. He had everything ready. Silas turned to Sang in surprise.
"Aggele Mou? Are you sure this time?"
"Kota just wants to make sure. I got sick yesterday morning and this morning. I think it is just nerves. Mr. Overprotective thinks otherwise."
"Don't just stand there. Hook her up, Doc!" Luke grabbed the bottle of gel and was rolling it between his hands trying to warm it up for Sang. "Where does it need to go, Doc?"
"Hang on, Luke." And he turned back to Sang. "So possible morning sickness huh? How late are you?"
"About two weeks." You could see everyone doing the math in their heads. It was actually quite funny if you thought about it. I already knew who the probable fathers were. Yup, they just figured it out too.
"Ok, vaginal ultrasound it is." Sang didn't even think twice. She stood up and shimmied her panties off. She already had a dress on. She knew where we were going. Then she hopped back on the table, and placed the sheet over her. "Luke, the gel goes here." Luke put some gel on the end of the transducer, and Doc went from being husband to serious. "Ok Sang, this might be uncomfortable for a moment.
All of us were looking at the screen, and waiting.
North was the first to speak up. "What's that?" Pointing to the screen.
"That is just the screen. I haven't even inserted anything yet."
Nathan started laughing.
"Ah, there we go. Alright, looking, looki..."
Doc stopped moving, and the look on his face said it all. We looked at the screen. There was a tiny little peanut.
"My Peanut has a peanut!"
Owen looked at her. "Sang, we're having a baby."
As Doc got his bearings back, he pushed a couple buttons and then a heartbeat could be heard. Sang looked at the screen and then each of us, and started crying. Doc pushed more buttons, doing measurements. "Sang, you look to be about seven weeks along."
"That's impossible. I didn't stop taking my pill until five, no six, weeks ago."
"Question. When you were sick, and Dr. Roberts put you on that antibiotic, did you refrain from activities, or at least double up on protection? You do remember that talk, right?"
"Oh...um..."
"That's what I thought. I love you, Pookie." He removed the transducer, replaced its cover and set it aside. Sang was cleaned and she stood and put her panties back on.
"I'm going to be a mom...I'm going to be a mom!" Between the excitement and tears, she looked absolutely beautiful. I couldn't wait to see her tummy grow and our child being born. Except, I wouldn't be here for any of that.
(Playlist – Take A Look At Me Now by The Postal Service)
Gabriel's POV:
Omg! I'm going to be a daddy! I am so fu*king excited. "Oy, Trouble! We can go shopping and she will be the best dressed little lady, besides you."
I was so excited to see Trouble's tummy grow and our child being born. Except, I wouldn't be be here for any of that. "Fu*k!!"
"What's wrong Meanie?"
"Nothing, we just need to hurry; we're going to be late."
Doc came over to Kota and I and hugged us so tightly. I could feel the tears soaking into my shirt. I knew Kota had to feel it too. "I'm gonna miss you too, you fu*ker. No funny business while we're away either."
"Would I do that? Come on, I run a serious business here." We had a good little laugh. "You two had better save the world. Got it?"
"Why wouldn't we? We're Academy," Kota said.
Next thing I knew, we were off. While in the car, we talked about the baby and the due date. March 27th. Hell, we would still be in training probably. About an hour or so later, we reached our destination.
So many people were there also saying good-bye to their loved ones. We piled out of the cars. Sang slowly stepped out. She had an uneasy look on her face, and rightfully so. We had kept this from her for over a week. Now though, even after all the time I had practiced what I was going to say to her, I didn't think I could. I felt like running away. Entering the Air Force was easier than telling Sang good-bye.
My brothers lined up on either side of Sang while Kota and I faced them. She was breathing faster now and tears were already falling down her cheeks. She had figured it out. She wasn't a fu*king idiot; why wouldn't she?
"Trouble, we don't have much time to say good-bye. What happened at Doc's; I have just had the best send-off I could have hoped for. Now I have to go re-design a whole base full of fu*ktards who can't dress themselves. I love you with every part of my being. I just want you to know that."
Kota looked up. "10, from the moment I first laid eyes on you, I knew you were something special. It's because of you that I know that the both of us can go in, and do what we need to in order to help end this war. We will see you again after training for a short while. I love you.
Sang's POV:
What was happening? I have had the best week in my life. I had been proposed to, married, and found out I was having a baby. And now I was being abandoned? No, not abandoned. "How long have you known?"
"Nine days," Kota said quietly.
"Nine days? Nine fu*king days?! And you didn't think about telling me until now? Did you think that this would be letting me down easy? It would be easier on poor Sang to not know." I dropped down to my knees and cried big sobbing tears. This was too much. I wanted to just turn and walk away, but I couldn't do that. I stood up and ran to them, hoping one or both would catch me. I was embraced by four arms. I whispered to them, "Don't either of you dare die, do you understand me? Family first. We are one unit." I loosened myself from Kota and wrapped my body around Gabriel, and kissed him deep. I know my body was shaking like a leaf, but I needed this.
I then went to Kota. He easily picked me up and kissed me deep, which I reciprocated.
The kisses I shared with them, both Gabriel and Kota, were receiving looks from the throngs of people that passed by. I didn't care though. These were two of my husbands. They would be gone for a long time.
They each looked at me, saluted, and turned around to walk into the gates. They never turned back around. It was too painful for me keep watching but I couldn't turn away. Somehow I ended up back on the ground with my seven remaining husbands surrounding me.
z:y/