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Teren and I didn&039;t talk much about Carrie after that and he didn&039;t meet up with her while she was in town I think he wanted to; so at the door, lost in thought I think he wanted to see her, just to make sure she was okay, that her life had turned out well As if he were somehow responsible for every bit of sadness she may have had over the past ten years, because he&039;d let her reic event that had happened when they were kids But he didn&039;t leave e, and was kissing up toher out or es Either way, teeks went by, and while I wasn&039;t sure how long she was in town for, er than that

I relaxed tremendously after that second week passed and I didn&039;t see her again I knoasn&039;t her fault that she had a history with my man, but I didn&039;t exactly want to sit around and coly found rateful that I had run into her at all Teren ht up that part of his history without a little prodding He could just be secretive like that, if he thought he was protecting someone, and he didn&039;t want to hurtto be a little better with the fact that he hadn&039;t told ht into this relationship head first and never really sat down to discuss our pasts And there were certainly a lot of things in my past that he didn&039;t know For instance, I&039;ve never told hiod for girlfriends and nothing happened) or the guy who had becoe that I&039;d nearly had to get a restraining order on hiet him to back off There were a lot of little skeletons in our closets that Teren and I had just never had the time to sit down and look at And he repeatedly assuredto hide from his family, and had inadvertently hid from me as well

But he couldn&039;t hide her from his family forever, not thanks to my sort of public declaration of their past, and eventually Alanna or Ien did tell Halina It became immediately apparent when they did She showed up on our doorstep, looking hot and fiery, a thoroughly pissed off vampire I hid out upstairs while he and Halina "discussed" the situation that was Carrie I&039;m not sure what they said exactly, since most of it, at least fro really ue) Teren responded in English for thejust one side of a conversation was frustrating and after awhile I stopped listening

When she slaotten was the fact that Carrie had indeed left town and Halina wanted to knohere to find her Teren didn&039;t know, or wouldn&039;t say, and Halina was on the warpath to find out She wanted her wiped , much more than she&039;d wanted Ben&039;sfro she ever found her that is

But not everything was stressful Amid the dra ultrasound He walkedat the antiseptic smell that bothered evenroom chairs and he rubbeda lot ofafter our spat I didn&039;t tell him that it wasn&039;t necessary, that he really didn&039;t need to keep buttering es andin spots I hadn&039;t expected to ache in, and I wasn&039;t about to ask his heaven-sent fingers to stop

A short, plump woman with platinum hair and raspberry scrubs called my name and after Teren helped reet her She held her clipboard to her chest as her pale eyes took in our excited faces "First tierly and Teren chuckled, rubbing a spot on h the door and into a hallway leading to several small exam rooms She nodded her head as she walked us by spaces full of various coetting tests done that were not nearly as joyous as the one ere about to take, and I tried to contain my joy and not s her arood care of you" I bounced into the roo body down onto a flat, padded bed

Teren walked in before her and she encouraged ht The room had no outside s, like my doctor&039;s office did, and the space darkened dramatically Teren froze where he was by the closed door,his eyes as he didn&039;t kno dark the roolow he couldn&039;t control would be too bright The nurse didn&039;t catch his pause and walked over toon a couple knobs to war the first pregnancy was I only partially listened to her as I stared at Teren He was still standing close to the door, behind her, ready to slip out of the room if his eyes were too perceptible

It wasn&039;t exactly dark though; a couple nightlights cast a soft light and the ht, the closer you got to it My breath held as I watched him put a hand in front of his face and open his eyes to look at it I could see the glow from where he stood, back in the darkest section of the roolance at the nurse His face looked torn; he wanted to stay, but he couldn&039;t if she&039;d notice

I felt tears stingmy hand out for him He tilted his head as he watched me, even more torn And then he took a deep breath and came over to me My heart increased as I watched hi on about the h a few steps on the co any attention to the undead aze down, he went around to the far side of the bed and sat in a spinning stool He shifted the rolling contraption so that he could both holdanother deep breath, he lifted his head to look at loas still really perceptible to ain, I kneas there I tried to see the whites of his eyes as an outsider would, but I was so used to it, it was a little difficult I shrugged, not knowing if it was noticeable to others or not

"Hey, relax, dear You&039;re all tense" The jolly nurse was strokinga bladder close to bursting is how they get the best picture), and then she looked over at Teren, finally

She was listening to aze locked on Teren&039;s He iaze to my face, but the nurse frowned and tilted her head, like she swore she had just seen soers tightened aroundhis unnecessary breath

The tech turned back to me "You nervous or excited about this, honey? Your heart&039;s all over the place" I let out a nervous chuckle and felt Teren&039;s fingers relax as he lightly laughed as well

Without looking at Teren again, she squirted some really cold, blue liquid on h as the twins started to kick and squirm The liquid was as chilly as Teren&039;s touch and they were responding, just like they did when he touched me

"Oh, active aren&039;t they? Well, that will ease up when things start getting tight in there" She took what looked like a handheld grocery store scanner and rested it over my stomach As she twisted it around, she shook her blonde head "Twins Brave woed her at least a decade" She laughed and looked up fro a little worried that she&039;d offended me, or scared h" Her tone clearly said that she thought it would be just as tricky for me, but she didn&039;t want to freak ly, like I was sure irlfriend&039;s I wasn&039;t sure what they&039;d really be like, but I&039;d love the black-haired, blue-eyed toddlers crawling around ray blob on the screen

"And there is a good one of a face" I stared at that stupid screen until she shifted it, nodding, like it was the best face I&039;d ever seen, but really, all I saas an abstract gray and white swirl of indistinguishable features

Teren squeezedback at him, I saw tears in his eyes He&039;d seen it, whatever it was His eyes faintly glowed at hed and looked back at the screen, hopeful to see so that rese and focused the iits that were unmistakably a hand I started to cry and felt Teren&039;s cool hand brushing a tear off my cheek The nurse smiled over at us and went on about other body parts that she and Teren could clearly see He was quiet, listening to her, but not co to drawn her attention back to hi I never saw anything else that reseray blob, but that one hand made my day

At the end of the test, she looked at each of us with a crooked grin "Do you want to know the sexes?" she asked with a raised eyebrow

Teren and I both looked at each other and then si we&039;d both agreed on earlier We wanted the surprise It had annoyed oing to find out She&039;d used the excuse that she needed to know if she should buy pink things or blue things, but I&039;d been firreens We&039;d decided that sos were just s

The technician nodded and wiped offme adjust my clothes and sit up Teren wrapped a cool ar at ht back on and we both blinked in the suddenly bright roootten through that without hi on the babies&039; sexes And as the nurse merrily tucked away theithin the spectru to worry about It made me obscenely happy to hear that my kids looked normal

When we left the lab it was dark outside and as alked through the orange light of the parking lot laht about that tiny little hand floating around init into itson it I&039;d read in one of my baby books that they so ear to ear as he described the face to me His vision had seen it in even more perfect detail than the nurse had seen it

He was describing the tiny, button nose he&039;d seen, when he suddenly stopped walking, grabbing my hand to stopthe darkness I looked over the lot to the other side of the street where a cluster of trees were thick with shadow Teren hthe knew, likethe vaht with Teren right now over Carrie or Hot Ben

He tilted his head, his eyes still glued to the trees "No, she&039;s not in the city tonight" I nodded, grateful she wasn&039;t around, and curious as to what he was sensing Then he nizing thathis arot the stupid idea to check out the oddity without htened then and looked down the street Whatever it was, had apparently run off Teren turned to look at me behind him His eyes went down to , E "Teren, just tell me"

He shook his head "I&039;m not sure, Emma, but" he looked down and then peered up atht up my forehead and the icy panic that I&039;d kept at bay ever since our abduction, flooded my chest I put a hand over my stomach and searched the darkness "A hunter?" I whispered, ht

I looked back at hi" He twisted to put both aro out alone anymore" His face searched mine frantically "Please, I can&039;t lose you, Emma" His hand drifted down to rest over ed hi out over the suddenly vast and terrifying world we lived in I squeezed hi to block out the irrational fear I felt now It crept in though, and the icy tendrils snaked around my core as Teren took my hand and led rowl issuing frohtthat icy fear too

I spent the next few days keeping close to home and close to Teren Tracey noticed ht I assured her that it was, that I was just exhausted fro Which was true, I just found sleeping difficult There is nothing quite like your supernatural husband telling you that so soundly near iht while he whispered in , that I was safe

I tried to take that to heart He wasn&039;t exactly easy to sneak up on and he&039;d never let anyone harm me, but he wasn&039;t infallible either When Hot Ben caht we looked siain, wipe him, and for the first tiood ten pounds in his stress and had deep circles under his eyes now I&039;d heard that he and Tracey hadn&039;t spoken in nearly a week as his constant fear had put the brakes on their relationship

I hated that, but found I understood Ben&039;s fear I was constantly looking overto Teren that he saw so move faster than humanly possibly (whichhi us Ben latched on to that and we spent an entire evening going over what could possibly be hunting us I was convinced it was another sanctiooder with a stake and a vendetta, Hot Ben was convinced it was a olf

As Teren ushered Ben out for the evening, walking him to his car, he whispered to hed, thankful that at least Ben&039;s life would get back on track He could probably still repair things with Tracey, although she was still convinced he was sleeping with Halina Picturing Hot Ben returning to his nor that maybe Halina could , just so I could sleep But, I knew that hiding from the problem didn&039;t make it any less of a problem, and I should be aware, just so I could be extra cautious if anything Still, it was a te I didn&039;t necessarily have to remember Maybe I&039;d have her take the one out to eat at a nearby restaurant (well, I ate, Teren watched, ordering food for hi me eat it, since I could pack away a deceptive ay that he was subbing the kickboxing class tonight She hadn&039;t been excited about that, but had decided to go anyway, not wanting their estrangement to ruin her routine I ran into her in the lobby after class and explained that ere going out with Ben She looked over at hilared I asked if she wanted to co what her ansould most likely be, and she predictably shook her head no They hadn&039;t been out together in a while and she had no desire to see hiave her a swift hug, hoping that, if anything, at least their relationship would be better after tonight

Ben walked in-between us as we yhed, sort of y outward Teren heardme a small, sad smile He kneas time to release this burden from Hot Ben, but he was still reluctant to do it

Ben stared at our surroundings, not noticing anything other than the threat that being out in the open posed His antsy energy as he looked froaround too, a little scared that so to jump out at us Teren&039;s plan was to drive Hot Ben to our house and then call Halina I think he hoped that he could take the short time it would take Halina to arrive, to convince Ben that knoas a good thing That he should consider keeping his memories, and that he really didn&039;t need to be so afraid

As we approached the side parking lot where the eym parked, even I noticed the emptiness of the enclosed space It was blocked in on three sides by high concrete walls and as alked in, it started to feel sort of claustrophobic Ben felt it too, wrapping his light jacket tighter around his firlanced around the area, but didn&039;t appear concerned I relaxed that he wasn&039;t Of all of us, he would have thethat he wanted to do this at our place and Ben should follow us over there Ben looked a little disappointed, likelot Eventually he seeh, and resigned that he&039;d have to see Halina again, for it to happen

While Teren was talking to Ben at his car, he started tilting his head and listening to so other than Ben That worriedh my body, I watched him raise his head to the sky and slowly shake it He ht at the sa annoyed, Teren turned, right as someone hopped up effortlessly onto the six foot wall behind us Hot Ben scrambled backward s a few steps while I inhaled a quick, scared breath Teren only sighed and shook his head "I thought you&039;d linger by the wharf for a few more hours"

The dark for eyes, juht and I exhaled in relief - Ben did not, backing up another step Halina strolled into the lot, her dark hair her up her thighs fro to change how uidly strolled towards Teren, her eyes focused on Ben a few steps behind hiht her attention back to her great-grandson

She shrugged nonchalantly "I finished ed, knohat her "meal" had consisted of, and I watched Hot Ben do the saard face paled even rin Directly at Ben she said, "Are you interested to knohich lowlife will no longer be bothering your kind?" Ben sputtered and backed up a step as Halina started to walk past Teren to follow hi ear to ear she added, "I believe he was on one of your rabbed her elbow as she walked past "That&039;s enough," he whispered harshly as she snapped her eyes back to his She glared at hi, but finally left Ben alone

Pushing aside the fact that she&039;d just adenially as I could She turned her head toas her pale eyes rested on lad to see you, Halina We were just going to call you e got back ho for us"

She tilted her head at etic look as I&039;d just confessed that we needed her help Teren had been secretly hoping that he wouldn&039;t have to call her tonight He was still hoping Ben would come around Left to his own devices, I think Teren would "hope" Ben into an early, stress-filled grave