A/N: My FIRST Tamora Pierce fanfic, and it's for my recent obsession, which is the Beka Cooper series. I love all her books, but this one is just such fun. And I love Rosto and Beka. Oh my god, not even kidding. But yeah, this idea just came to me while I was listening to Regina Spektor's 'Braille'. Now, the song lyrics I posted are what inspired me; the song and the story aren't completely intertwined. Just...similar-ish. I'm really, really sorry if anyone's out of character. I need to learn more about them. (smiles) Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Beka Cooper Characters and Places belong to Tamora Pierce.
She was lying on the floor counting stretch marks
She hadn't been a virgin and he hadn't been a god
She laid out on her back, sitting in just a loincloth and a breast band. Her dark blonde hair was out of its usual braid, fanning around her head like some sort of halo. Her skin, pale, riddled in scars and rough from working with a baton and knives for so many years, glowed in the soft sunlight that gleamed in through her window. Her agile hands were now tracing the dark, almost red lines that darted jaggedly across the skin of her stomach, quietly counting them. Rebekah Cooper, a proud Dog for four years and currently on maternity leave, could not believe the situation she was in. She was pregnant. She was seven months pregnant.
"I'm a looby," she muttered darkly to herself, placing her hand on top of her stomach. She felt a slight bit of pressure there, and her eerily glowing gray eyes softened when her child acknowledged her. "I can't believe I let this happen to me…"
And from then on it was turpentine and patches
From then on it was cold Campbell's from the can
And they were just two jerks playing with matches
'Cause that's all they knew how to play
Quietly, she rose to her feet and pulled on a loose cotton dress—muted green, which she had been told repeatedly that she looked good in. She braided her hair loosely so that it was out of the way, glancing over to see her Constellation cat Pounce sitting on her dresser, napping. Smiling, she scratched him behind the ears—he loved that—before picking her basket up off of the floor and slipping on a pair of simple shoes. She then made her way out of her room, locking her door and turning to the stairs.
It was remarkably quiet in the boarding house; it had been quiet ever since everyone had moved across the street into the Dancing Dove. That had been years ago, and no one dared move into the boarding house when they learned that the Court of the Rogue took place in the inn just across the way. Mistress Trout didn't mind, though, saying that she couldn't look after the place as well as she used to as she got older. Beka didn't mind either; it kept things peaceful and she could live her life with little troubles.
Peeking in through some of the spy holes Rosto the Piper—Rogue, King of the Rats and her old friend—had put in while he had lived there, checking to make sure no one unwelcome was waiting. Seeing not a soul, she opened the door from the kitchen and started to make her way towards the Day Market.
She walked slowly, afraid that she would lose her balance if she tried to walk at a faster pace. She didn't want to fall down and end up hurting or killing her baby, after all. A hand immediately jumped to her bloated stomach at the thought, and her eyes immediately shot towards the Dove. Her baby's father, the King Rat himself, had as of recent made himself scarce. For almost five and a half months now he had been gone, mysteriously missing on some sort of important outing whenever Beka came in to call. Kora could only shrug and apologize for his behaviour; Aniki would offer to tie him up so that Beka could talk to him.
It was troubling, though. He'd been so sweet to her when they had finally, finally started courting almost a year ago. Why did he suddenly vanish when she was expecting his own child?
And she knew they were destined to become sacred road kill on the way
Oh, she knew that he was probably a little wary of the entire thing. After all, they hadn't really gone public with their courtship. She was a Dog—a very famous Dog, known for bagging any and all Rats she could catch—and he was the Rogue, king of the Rats she chased. Yes, she knew they were horribly star-crossed and indefinitely doomed to failure because one day they'd have to choose between their job and their loved ones, yet she also knew he wasn't the type to abandon a mot in need. After all, he had saved Aniki from certain death, hadn't he? He had nursed Kora back to health after she had been abused by her own father, hadn't he? He did that for two complete strangers who would become his dearest friends. Yet he suddenly disappeared when the mot he claimed to have fallen head-over-heels-for became pregnant with his owned cursed offspring?
It confused her, and upset her.
Stopping for a breather, she placed a hand on the wall beside her. Suddenly, she felt a gut wrenching pain shoot through her entire body, causing her to gasp and drop the basket like it was the cause of the sudden pain. She wrapped her arms around her pregnant belly, Leaning harshly against the wall as she slid down, trying to wrap into the fetal position. She felt something wet trailing down her inner thigh and became horribly confused.
Someone walking by noticed her then and, recognizing all the signs from the time his own mot had been pregnant, knew she was going through labour. He started to yell for help as he ran over. Beka watched him with bleary eyes before she passed out.
Elvis never could carry a tune
And she thought about this irony as she stared back at the moon
Pepper Cooper cried with an ear piercing, brain bleeding shriek, causing Beka to tumble out of her bed in shock and half fright.
Picking herself up, she untangled herself from the blankets, muttering darkly to herself about her two-week-old child. Finally managing to escape the blankets, she noticed that Pepper had fallen silent, which was odd for him. She blinked, looking up to see a tall, shadowed man holding her child, tickling his stomach as he sang soft and low.
Cold fear gripped her then, and slowly, she moved towards her bedside dresser to grab the knife Rosto had given to her two years ago for her birthday, so that she could easily protect herself at night in case anyone ever came calling without her approval. When she got to the dresser, she was angled in such a way that the moon shone on the man instead of behind him, highlighting white-blonde hair and pale skin as soft looking as snow, with knife scars across his knuckles.
Just sitting here trying to decipher
What's written in Braille on my skin…
Rosto stopped singing then, looking up at Beka with dark, dark eyes filled with so much: apology, love, hesitation, fear. She watched him back with eerily glowing gray eyes, before slowly walking over to him. He turned towards her, walking the two paces left between them. Mutely, she took hold of Pepper, rocking him to her chest as he calmed and started to go back to sleep. She watched his face as he fell into a land of dreams, before looking back up at the Piper, unsure of what to make of his sudden presence.
"Beka, I…"
"Shhh," Beka murmured softly then, lifting a hand to place over his lips, quickly silencing him. "I know what you're gonna say, laddybuck. Now stop acting like a looby and take a look at your baby." Rosto smiled at her thankfully, wrapping one arm around her and pulling her close to his chest. His other hand moved to brush fine blonde hair from Pepper's forehead, watching the sleeping babe in quiet contemplation.
"…He'll be in danger almost any day of the week."
"Look at who he's got for parents. I think the wee thing will be fine." Beka glanced up at him, smiling. "I know that look, Master the Piper. You're worrying your silly white-haired head over things we cannot control."
"It's blonde," Rosto said immediately, making Beka snort. He smirked, before sighing. "I don't like being in the dark like this."
"We'll figure sommat out together when it comes time to." She leaned back against the Rogue then, happy. "S'all we can do now."
She was lying on the floor counting stretch…