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Relief, exhaustion and stress finally took its toll, and we fell into a deep sleep after our celebratory reunion A sleep that I&039;m sure would have lasted for a solid twenty-four hours Would have, if just before dawn, the door to our bedroo into the rooled bodies, barley covered in loose quilts Ignoring rabbed him around the throat, and lifted hiain," she snarled

She was holding hi the floor She glared at his face, ignoring that he wasn&039;t wearing anything She also ignored ainst her, looking ers away froer a child, Halina, and I don&039;t need your permission"

Her eyes narrowed at the use of her naher He squirain, then added, "Emma couldn&039;t wait She needed the shot"

Halina seelanced over at me and I clutched the sheets around nored randson&039;s She tilted her head as she listened to my heartbeat "It worked?"

Her head twisted back to Teren and he nodded, or tried to anyway, she was still clenching his throat Loosening her fingers, he squeaked out, "Can I get dressed now?"

She looked down, finally noticing that he was buck-naked She sing your diapers since the day you were born It&039;s nothing I haven&039;t seen before" Teren rolled his eyes before blurring away to the closet

While he dressed, Halina came around to me A soft smile on her lips, she reached out and placed a cool palm on my sto e face full of wonder I ignoredman, that Gabriel He assured me it would work on you" Her eyes flicked up toat e pants and a basic white tee She glanced at hi, she said to Teren, "Interesting house of vampires down there" She raised one corner of her lip "I ain"

Teren slid his ar my bare bodywell"

She grinned and sat back on a hip "Repeatedly"

I groaned and lowered my head to o back to bed now, Halina?" I peeked up at her through ht, okay?"

She smirked at me, then frowned and raised an eyebrow "Don&039;t think I won&039;t" Abruptly her frown shifted to a soft slad you are okay, Emma" Then she blurred frohter&039;s roo started as she relayed her trip to the woman that seemed more a best friend to Halina, than her flesh and blood Both of theraphic details of her encounter with Gabriel They had apparently spent several hours of the dawn in a lightproof roothat I hadn&039;t inherited Teren&039;s super sense of hearing

Teren chuckled again and whispered into my hair, "Welcousto Mom and my sister, Hot Ben and Tracey, all canant, bed-ridden wohed and talked around ifts, h, Teren did surprise me with a beautiful, antique heart locket The intricately detailed gold pendant folded out into four small pictures, and he&039;d already placed tiny ones of him and myself inside He&039;d left the other two blank andhiraised by three strong woedto hear the beats I could hear ht us so enjoyed the rich, chocolate dessert

As Moe forkful of cake in her , and asked how Teren&039;s allergies were going I, we&039;d convinced ic reaction to certain foods, and, until we could narrohich foods were toxic to hi to a strict home-based diet But he&039;d joined us for reat husband points with my mo my hand while he watched me eat, Moht be causing the problehtful and insightful answers It had rin every time I&039;d listened to theave her was correct - every food was toxic to him

That cover story had played off better than we&039;d hoped and Moht it odd whenever he didn&039;t shareat her concern, even after all this ti it down, but she shouldn&039;t worry, he was getting enough to eat Hot Ben laughed when he said that, earning hie look from Tracey

Halina and my sister went over Russian baby na really was going to be okay I wasn&039;t sure how I felt about not entirely being human anymore, but at theto have a shot atit full term, that&039;s all that mattered Of course, I still wasn&039;t excited over the whole "exiting" process, but I pushed it out of ly left me, the vampires broke out some fresh blood and we had a celebratory toast toolder than Teren I reminded them that technically he would always be older, even if he had stopped "aging" They all thought that was funny, and we all laughed away the last fewby,I went past the cute, &039;obviously pregnant&039; stage, straight to the &039;I sed a house&039; stage Teren told me I was adorable, and I tried to feel that way, but mainly, I felt stretched My vaht skin But I relished the life inside of ure Teren could help et that back anyway

He injected ht before bed, and he watched me anxiously for a few ht week, I tried to ease hisandto suddenly stop, but he worried anyway Worry was a big part of love

Gabriel checked ontothat he&039;d adapted to technology; I couldn&039;t even getmachine when she&039;d been alive But he had a va supply of brain cell enriching blood I suppose he&039;d always have his mental faculties, and he&039;d already proven he was s alive, proved that

He was always interested in the state of the then he called I had a feeling he was keeping notes onstudied discreetly I hoped his inquisitiveness didn&039;t become a problem after they were born Teren didn&039;t want them treated as science experiments Neither did I

After a ain Feeling assured that I wouldn&039;t convert during dinner, he tooka plate for hi me snack off it We stayed out of San Francisco, just in case we ran into someone that we&039;d told my cover story to - I shouldn&039;t exactly be out and about if I was on bed rest He took me to a small town nearby the ranch and we ate, went for a short stroll, talked about trivial things, and seeain

With no uessed what sexes we thought they&039;d be We discussed e thought they&039;d look like, Teren assuring me that they wouldn&039;t necessarily be carbon copies of hiht It was disgustingly ro able to see doctors anymore, I relied on the women of the house, who had all successfully carried children before They listened and feltjust as it should I s their abilities and experience, but still wishing I could have another ultrasound, just so I could see forone of theh

Mid-May, I was done with being pregnant I was done with being huger than really see I was done with not being able to get truly co arain I was tired of aching, swollen feet I was tired of not being able to go home I was anxious to see our creations and I was ready to be a et a little snippy I really don&039;t think I could have been faulted for that, I had soen for waking ht, when she and Halina were laughing downstairs about another rendezvous Halina had had with Gabriel, I cried afterwards, I felt so bad And of course, Halina found s hilarious

By the end of May, I started cursing Teren and his defying the odds super sperm I let him know on several occasions that my physical torture was coly, a look of pride on his face He only once replied with, "It takes two, you know" I pelted him with every object I could find after he said that, so he never said it again

He started appeasing usting, but trust me, it&039;s unbelievable It workedback doith the cold, crea to be pregnant forever It was the second week in, when I started to think that nant forever was okay Because, in the second week of June, I started having contractions At first it was mild, just an ache in my low back, notfor the last feeeks,into painful throbs that had h my mouth It first happened when Teren was at work I&039;d wanted to call him, to have him rush home so he wouldn&039;t miss it, but Alanna waived her hand at h to be the real thing

With my blank look, she explained that when I was truly in labor, the pain would be longer, stronger and closer together With a smile, she patted my belly and assured me that I would have no doubt when those started I was not in the least happy that I was being treated to fake labor pains The universe has a twisted sense of huht They lasted on and off for a few iven anything to have felt the, one week before my due date, when the first true contraction hit oodbye for work, when the pain wrapped around h it while Teren askedso thatthe by my side today I tried to convince him that that wasn&039;t necessary, but then another one hit ht, he should stay

Those unco At first I thought it was just another false alar The vampires could sense it to, and before I had htshirt, propped up inevent than my modesty, she assured ht position Trusting her, I laid back in the bed, Teren&039;s cool arm around my shoulders, and waited for the next round of pain

Alanna gave me a cup of small cubes of blood that she&039;d frozen I sucked on those, grateful for the way htly relieved, like blood was a natural vampiric endorphin releaser; even the tiniest a nored it, another burst of pain taking ether, and even my inexperienced mind kneas really, really close, I asked Teren to call my mother and sister He looked over my pained face, my forehead already slick with sweat, and nodded I was a little surprised; I thought he&039;d argue

I heard hi them in the hallway, heard my mom&039;s excited reaction and her oath that I&039;d better wait until she got there I laughed at that, untilon breathing through the pain condensing ininto bed withhis knees on either side I clutched theht kiss on the back ofmy lower back His cool hands coodsend I nearly ith relief

My water broke about twentylike that feeling, to let you know that this is absolutely happening - there is no going back Alanna assuredtheir bed all messy, but none of the va for the delivery Halina and I up an area for the newborns, to clean and examine them The smell of antiseptic hit me

I dropped my head back on Teren&039;s shoulder behinddeep in my body, just as I heard the tires of my mother&039;s car in the driveway Every vampire turned to look at the door My s were out; I was too distracted to keep them in I just couldn&039;t do it and she&039;d see

Alanna swished to my side "Jack will let them in, dear You focus on the babies That&039;s all you need to care about right now"

She stroked her hand down ain as I heard excited excla led with the new sensation in my body Under en&039;s cool hands, checking internally to see ifback, she smiled up at me "Go ahead, Emma If you want to, you&039;re ready"

Teren squeezed e the building sensation I could hear ; I could hear her fast footsteps I didn&039;t knohat to do, but the choice wasn&039;t really up toto push, whether I wanted it to or not

Leaning back into Teren, a contraction hitevery muscle in my core, I pushed down as hard as I could I could feel the movement, and I could feel the pain Babies weren&039;t exactly the same size as the area they came out of I squeezed Teren&039;s ared ht as my mom walked into the room

I was tired, but fear made me look over at her Her eyes ide and shiny, excited for her daughter birthing her first grandchild Then her eyes locked onto my mouth They widened as she took in the new, unnatural elee to push hit ain and I bared down Ashley went to wait patiently in the corner, being respectfully quiet Mywith her?" As I ignored her, focusing on pushing, I heard her address Teren "What&039;s going on? Why are her teeth like that?"

Teren sputtered and could only say, "We&039;ll explain later"

A cry escaped en called for another push and I ignoredfor more details As the baby was squeezed farther down, the head nearly ready to come out, the pain intensified I contained a screa could possibly hurt this bad I&039;d rather be knocked out again I&039;d rather haveal ht his arms around me in an atte, and I needed relief