Brick glared down at the triangle made from a piece of folded paper, tucked in his hand. Sweat prickled his brow, tickling as it made its way to his temple down along his cheek. It never occurred to him before about how much ambient sounds there were in the war room of the Crimson Raider headquarters. The soft hum of the ceiling fan above sounded like a Buzzer's engine thrumming outside. Patricia Tannis riflled through several stacks of papers on her quest to keep everything neat and tidy, sounding more like an army of old people flipping through the sports sections of their preferred newspapers. Tiny Tina sat across the table from him. The soft whistling coming from her nose sounded like a train whistle as it tore down the line. Mordecai was quietly toking on his cigarette, a sound that would have usually not been a distraction, but under the current circumstance sounded like a vacuum chocking on a rather large hair ball. The stress made Brick's ears sensitive.
There was a tight feeling in his chest. A churning in his stomach pushed him to fight back the dwelling bile that tickled the base of his esophagus. Brick tightened his fingers to a white knuckled state. Everything hinged on this one single flick, he reminded himself. Lingering there was the thought; it was now or never. The muscles tensed in his finger launching it forwards at blinding speed.
"Who has two thumbs and is pregnant, bitches!" Lilith burst through the door.
Brick jolted from the sudden noise. His finger caught the paper football at an angle. It flew off sharply to the left, slamming into the wall before falling dead on the floor in the corner. Brick's greyish blue eyes locked hard on Tina's blue eyes, then fell down to the double L's she made facing one another with her hand. Mordecai rolled his head back and let out a slow rolling laugh, smoke pluming out with each huff.
Tina was up from her seat, both of her arms stretched towards the ceiling. "Boom mutha suckas! I can't believe you blew it, Brickolicious. Now ya gotta take me shootin', blam!"
"Ah damnit!." Brick grunted. The chair creaked under his weight as he leaned back.
"Are none of you assholes even the least bit curious about what I just said?" Lilith thrust her hands onto her hips.
"Sorry, Lil, we were so focused on the on-in-a-million shot that Brick just blew." Mordecai was still chuckling. "What did you say?"
"You guys could fuck up a wet dream, you know that?" Lilith said as she flopped down on the couch. "I was trying to tell you, that...I'm pregnant, but you messed it up."
"Wait...what?" Mordecai sat forward in his chair, putting his cigarette out on the table.
"I dunno, Lil, I think I might have had a little crazy in my ear, but did you just say you're preggers?" Tina gripped the table tightly, looking over at Lilith.
"Yep! I gonna have a baby." There was a definite warm glow to her cheeks.
Mordecai pulled Lilith up from the couch, pulling her into a great big hug. "That's incredible news, Lil. I'm so happy."
"That's awesome, Lil. Who's the proud daddy?" Brick got up from his chair and stretched, cracking his back.
"What's it matter, Brick? We should just be happy for Lilith." Mordecai said, an irritated tone in his voice.
Lilith glared at him and shook her head. "No, Mordy, it's alright. It's perfectly natural to want to know who the dad is. He was an old friend of mine from the Firehawk encampment. Of course, by old friend, I mean we fooled around a few times and didn't want it to become too serious."
Brick didn't make it a point to pry into other peoples business, but he was sure that if Lilith had a friend like that, he would have met him. At the very least seen him around town. It also didn't escape his notice that Lilith had called Mordecai, Mordy. He couldn't recall her ever doing that before. Something swirled in the pit of his stomach, like the fluttering of butterfly wings. No matter how much Brick wanted to think this bad feeling through, he found himself lacking the energy to do so.
"So, I take it he won't be hanging around to see the baby." The words were dry and coarse coming out of Brick's mouth.
"Nah, I'm not even going to tell him." Lilith glanced from Brick back to Mordecai.
"Damn gurl! Gotcherself a dead beat dad, needing a dead beat dad beat down." Tina squealed, throwing up some nonsensical gang signs.
Lilith giggled, the warm glow of her pregnancy threatening to throw out sparks. "No, nothing like that. I just know that he wouldn't be good dad material. Besides, he's kind of a dick. The thought of him hanging around all the time trying to raise my baby is more terrifying than me trying to raise the kid alone."
"Except you won't be raising the kid alone," Mordecai interjected, resting one wiry hand against her bicep.
Brick winced as the fluttering in his stomach grew more wild. "Yeah, Lil..." he forced out. "We got yours and the baby's back. You can count on us."
"Ahem." A pert tone brought everyone's attention around to Tannis.
The beautiful woman was paler than usual. The news must have been more shocking to her than first suspected. Although Brick was well aware of Tannis' lingering fear of social interaction, and her emotional processing disposition, there was something odd about her demeanor now. Patricia Tannis almost seemed happy. At least, the half smile that dwell on her face was sending that type of signal.
"You alright, Patty?" Lilith asked.
"You do realize what this means, don't you?" Tannis' voice was as cold and calculated as it always was, but backed by the smile gave off a psychedelic feeling.
Everyone remained quiet, passing glances between one another, and then, all at once, as if choreographed to do so, they leaned closer to Tannis. Tina even cocked an ear in an animated style as if it would help her hear better.
The smile grew larger across Tannis' face. "This will be the first child born in Sanctuary, ever. Roland's dream of us becoming a free town is finally coming true."
She spoke Roland's name fondly. It was so emotional and uncharacteristic for Tannis to speak that way. It was such a melodious tone that it brought tears to Lilith's eyes. Brick suddenly felt guilty for the uncomfortable feeling that was seeping in. It had been almost a year since Roland died. They had all been too busy to really think about him much. The guilt he was feeling was mirrored in Lilith's face. It seemed that she hadn't been thinking about him, either. Because she's too busy banging Mordecai! A familiar voice echoed in the back of Brick's mind. The giant black dog that lived in the depths of his mind was poking now, as it always did when it was restless for some attention. Brick shook the thought from his head, trying to focus on what everyone was talking about.
"That's awesome. This is some really exciting news. If everything goes well with the baby, then other towns people might start having children too. We can actually work on colonizing this hunk of shit." Lilith's voice seemed to hang in limbo, before she slowly backed towards the door.
"You alright, Lil?" Mordecai followed her closely.
"Yeah, I, ah...just need to lay down. I'm a little wound up." Lilith retreated from the room with Mordecai close behind her.
Brick was already in tow, but Mordecai stopped him. "Nah, man, you stay here. I'm gonna get Lilith home and tucked in. I'll be right back."
Brick stood in the doorway as Lilith and Mordecai disappeared around the corner and down the stairs. By the time he heard the front door close, the fluttering in his stomach had become a raging torrent. The animal inside was bounding around, like a dog that was overexcited to go for a walk. Something was wrong, and Brick could feel it. The way Mordecai had been looking at Lilith...The new concern for her heavy on his face, almost doting. Then Lilith kept looking at him while she talked about the father. Even there at the end, when Brick wanted to follow, Mordecai urged him to stay behind. There had been no malice in his tone, but it still hit Brick hard, like a punch to the gut. Brick always followed Mordecai, that was just how it had been since the beginning. Why, after this new revelation, was he cast aside? Perhaps so they could share a tender moment in celebration for the coming of their baby. The animal growled so hard it vibrated Bricks skull.
No, Brick shouted inwardly. There was a sick feeling deep inside causing him to quake. His knuckles were white, fingernails digging into the worn leather of his gloves. The animal inside urged him to go confront them now, before they had a chance to do anything else together. Just out Mordecai's infidelity. Tell Lilith that her betrayal of his trust was death worthy. Love should not be suffered so harshly. Brick sighed shallowly and closed his eyes.
"Well, shit, dudes. Looks like we gonna have to start workin' this shit harder." Tina's voice broke through the haze in the back of his mind.
"I agree. We're also going to have to keep an emotionally stable environment for Lilith's offspring to thrive in." Tannis was almost glowing by this point, it was a good look for her, but one that Brick was almost certain wasn't going to last.
"Whatcha talkin' about?" Tina sat back down in her chair, grabbing a fistful of pretzels from the bowl. "We got, like, nine months or somethin 'til we gotta worry about that."
"Not entirely true. The baby is developing even as we speak. Too much stress on Lilith will put too much stress on the baby. That kind of stress could lead to her having a miscarriage. If that happens...I don't think I need to say more than that." Tannis tapped a pile of papers on the edge of her desk before filing them away.
"Look at you, being all knowledgeable about babies, Pattybofatty. I always pegged you for the type who prefer children being born in their teens." Tina teased through a mouthful of pretzels, crumbs raining down over her chest and belly.
"I assure you, I hate the little varmints as much I hate rednecks, but I would be lying if I myself hadn't thought of spawning a child. I think all women do once in awhile, before common sense kicks in and sets them straight." Even as she spoke, Tannis smoothed down her long red overcoat like a ruffled bird petting down their plume.
"I dunno, sounds like ya got babies on the brain. Now all we need to do is get some baby batter to put a bun in that oven of yours, gurl. Am I right, Brick?" Tina cackled maniacally, chunks of pretzel flying out of her mouth.
Brick didn't respond. He was still standing in the doorway, a lost puppy waiting to be claimed. The torrent in his stomach subsided some, the animal's romping subdued once again. How could he think that Mordecai and Lilith were anything other than friends? Guilt replaced the concern, but it still rumbled in his stomach, making him feel sick. Right now Lilith needed him to be a friend, not a selfish pansy.
"You all right, tall glass of muscles?" Tina used her flirty voice, it was odd and misplaced coming from her young face.
"Oh, yeah. I was just thinking about something." Brick lied, the red tint in his face giving him away.
"I bet! That news musta hit you like a ton of bricks." Tina grabbed another handful of pretzels, tossing a misshapen one at Brick.
"Yeah, you could say that. I didn't even think Lil could get pregnant." Brick mumbled before sitting back down at the table across from Tina.
Tannis made a thoughtful noise, but didn't say anything in response. Instead she continued stacking papers and straightening them. The soft clacking of the papers on the metal desk filled the room. Tina quietly suggested that they resume their game, and Brick agreed. Anything to get his mind of the nagging guilt in his stomach. The last words he spoke lingered in his mind for a long moment, and were gone with a roaring cackle from Tina.