A Revelation
Christian
Lissa's been sick for a week, stomach flu, and its hell on both of us. She keeps throwing up and I keep having to answer queen type questions which I am not cut to do. I may be the queen's husband but politics are not my thing and the people harassing me really aren't my thing.
For now, we both have a moment of peace while eating breakfast. Lissa can only manage to eat toast with a little butter, but I take full advantage of having our own chef and have an entire spread in front of me. I'm in the middle of a very large omelet when one of the attendants walks in and sets the mail on the table in front of us.
"Thank you," Lissa says quietly. Her voice has been hoarse for days but it hasn't stopped her from being polite to everyone. She reaches for the letters, throwing most of them aside for later, but one catches her eye and she opens it quickly.
"It's from Sydney and Adrian," she says before reading the letter over. "She says they're all moved into their new house and that Declan loves having his own room. They're both loving work, especially Adrian, and the baby took her first steps last week! That's exciting.
"It also says they want to plan a vacation in about a month to come see all of us here at court; that would be nice, wouldn't it?" Lissa looks up at me with a small smile on her face.
"Yeah, that would be nice, we haven't seen them in ages," I respond. I look up at Lissa and notice she's looking at a picture of the Ivashkov kids but the look on her face isn't one I'd expect. The color was drained from her face and there was a crease in the middle of her forehead that I knew meant she was troubled by something.
"Lis, are you…" I don't get to finish because she stands up abruptly and walks toward the door.
"I'll be back later, there's something I need to do," she yells at me while almost running into the hallway.
I usually have some idea of what's going on in her head, but I'm puzzled now. I do know, however, that whatever is going on with her will be resolved by the time we go to bed tonight – Lissa isn't one to stew over things anymore.
I go back to finishing my breakfast and wait for her to return.
Lissa
I thought I just had the stomach flu, but after looking at that picture I have a feeling I have something else entirely. I run through the palace to Rose and Dimitri's suite, hoping at least one of them is there.
When I knock on the door, luck is on my side because Rose answers almost immediately and invites me in.
"No time, Rose. I do need you to come with me now, it's important."
The look on my face alerts her to how serious the situation is and she runs to grab shoes before we're out in the hallway.
"Lissa, what's wrong, did something happen? Are you in trouble, in danger? Can you slow down a little bit, my short legs can't match your Moroi stride."
I decide not to sugarcoat anything and just blurt out what's on my mind, "I think I might be pregnant." Rose stops short grabbing my arm in the process and swinging me to look at her.
"Are you serious, Lis? I didn't even know you were trying to get pregnant." There's no hint of admonition in her voice at me not telling her I was trying, instead there's open excitement covering her entire face.
"That's the thing, we only decided to try about a month ago, but I've been sick for the whole week. I didn't think anything of it until I got a letter from Adrian and Sydney this morning with a picture of their kids. As soon as I suspected I ran to get you, gosh, Christian's probably so confused right now, I just left him sitting at the table." I cover my face with my hands, knowing I shouldn't have reacted the way I did.
"Lis, look at me." I do. "This is a good thing. You guys have talked about having kids for forever and you'll be great parents, but let's just figure out if you're actually going to be parents before freaking out, ok?" Rose isn't usually this sane or wise and I know I must be a little bit of a mess for her to be acting, well, like Dimitri.
"It is a good thing and I am excited, it just caught me a little off guard." I take a deep breath and secure my thoughts before speaking again. "Will you go get me a pregnancy test? I'd go myself but I don't want any rumors flying around." And I knew Rose could be discreet enough to get one without ever being noticed.
Rose smiles at me, "Of course I will. Go wait for me in the game room; I'll be back in 20 minutes." She races away leaving me staring at her retreating form.
I make my way to the game room in a daze. The thought of actually being pregnant is kind of freaking me out. I'm elated, of course, but having a real growing baby in my stomach is a little scary. I'm already in charge of an entire race, now there's one more person to take care of, and this person is the most important of all – mine and Christian's baby.
I sit down in a plush green armchair next to the pool table and wait for Rose to come back. The wait takes forever, or at least it feels that way. I'm just thankful no one else has come looking for me, I am the Queen after all and I do have duties to uphold.
When Rose finally enters the room, I jolt upright and meet her halfway to me. "Did you get it?" I ask nervously.
"Of course I did, what kind of best friend would I be if I couldn't get you illicit things?" Rose says accusingly, but we both know she's just trying to distract me. She pulls the small box out of her jacket and hands it to me. "The bathroom's right over there."
With the test in hand I walk toward the small room. It takes me a few minutes to work up the nerve to pee on the stick, but I do and then it's time to wait. I wash my hands and walk back out to Rose, leaving the test on the counter.
"Well, what's it say?" Rose asks as soon as I open the door.
"I don't know yet, we have to wait a couple minutes." My heart is hammering in my chest and it amazes me that Rose can't hear it, can't see it. I almost feel like I could pass out but I know I won't.
Rose takes my hands in hers and we stay like that, not saying anything, until the two minutes are up.
"Come and look with me?" Rose nods and just like that both of us are in the bathroom looking at the two little blue lines on the test.
I don't know what to say, I woke up this morning with the stomach flu but I'd be going to be tonight with a baby growing inside me – it was unbelievable.
Rose finally finds her voice, but instead of saying anything coherent she lifts me up, spins me around, and shrieks excitedly.
"You're going to have a baby, Lis! How amazing is that!"
I'm not sure spinning is the best thing for me, but I let her do it because, let's face it, I'm just as excited.
"I'm going to have a baby," I repeat in a stunned voice, "Christian's baby." And just like that all I can see is a little blue eyed black haired baby smiling up at me and I want it more than anything in the world. "Oh my god, I have to go tell him!" I start to walk toward the door to do just that when Rose blocks my path.
"Are you sure Lissa? Shouldn't you go to the doctor or something just to be positive, I wouldn't want to get his hopes up, or scare him, for nothing." I know she's right, I should go to the doctor first, but my hopes are already up and if this is a false alarm I'd rather we both go through it together.
"I'm sure and besides, I just have a feeling this is real, why else would I have been throwing up all week." I link Rose's arm with mine and we walk back towards Christian and I's suite. We stop outside the door and hug once more before she tells me 'good luck' and walks away. I take another deep breath and go inside the room.
Christian
I look up when the door opens, hoping its Lissa. I smile when I see that it is, but she still looks a little peculiar and it makes my stomach knot up. "Lissa, is something wrong? You kind of ran out of here like a bat out of hell earlier."
She comes to stand in front of me, takes my hands, and takes a deep breath. If I didn't know any better I'd say it's almost like she's about to break up with me.
"I have something really big to tell you and I don't know how you're going to take it, it's not bad news but it is important news." I'm honestly a little freaked out now, Lissa is a serious person by nature, but she's not usually like this with me.
"Lis, can you just tell me what's going on, you're scaring me a little." I brace myself for whatever news she has to tell me.
"Well, when I left earlier it was to go take a test." I wasn't expecting that, but I don't interrupt her to ask about it and she goes on, "and the test ending up being positive." She stops for a moment and I'm about to ask her about this 'test' when she starts speaking again.
"It was a pregnancy test." She looks into my eyes intently and waits for me to respond.
It takes me a minute to truly understand her words and when I do it takes me even longer to actually wrap my head around them. I'm rarely rendered speechless but I'm having a really hard time finding my voice right now.
Lissa's face starts to fall which I don't mean for it to do. I quickly lean forward and kiss her – it's the only thing I can think of doing – because I don't want her to walk away or think I'm upset. I put everything into that kiss, everything I can't say with words and luckily she responds to it, wrapping her arms around my neck and standing on her toes.
We're literally making out in the middle of our living room and I want to take it further (like to the bedroom further) and I know Lissa does too because she just bit my bottom lip which her telltale 'take me to bed' sign but I know I actually need to say something about the fact that we're going to have a baby; that I'm going to be a dad.
I gently pull away from her lips but keep my forehead pressed against hers. "So, we're going to be someone's parents huh?" I can't help the sarcastic tone in my voice, it's who I am. "How do you feel about that?"
"What am I not feeling is the better question." We may have just been kissing but her mind now is solely on this pregnancy. "There are so many thoughts swirling around in my head I can't think straight. I'm excited and nervous and bewildered and amazed. I just never expected this to happen so fast, we just started trying!" With how fast and loud she's speaking I know she really is in a frenzy.
I cup her cheek in my hand to calm her. "Hey, everything is going to be fine, Lis. We can do this; it's what we wanted to happen after all. And while I'm not so sure of myself, I know you're going to make the best mom. So, what should our first step be with all this because I have no idea." I know she'll want to jump into action as soon as possible – it helps her get her thoughts in order.
"Christian, you're going to be wonderful father. I know yours didn't leave you with the best example, but from what I can tell of your stories he was a good man before everything happened. I'm not saying we're not going to make mistakes, we will but we have each other and we have friends that would do anything for us, we're going to be fine." Lissa's speaks in a no-nonsense tone and her words comfort me. I know she's right, my parents may have chosen to become Strigoi but they had been good parents, loving parents, before that. With that thought I let the worry fade from my mind – it won't do me any good anyway – and focus all my attention on Lissa. I know nothing about pregnant women and I'm a little worried that she's been standing too long.
"I know you're right, but aside from that, how are you feeling? Do you need water or sleep or anything? I'll get whatever you want me to."
She gives me a mischievous smile. "I'm fine, Christian. I'll have to make a doctor appointment later today but other than that I kind of just want you. We should be celebrating this you know." Her eyebrows lift and she kinds of motions toward our room. I can't believe what I'm seeing.
"Are you serious? You don't want to go shopping or plan out a trust fund or anything because this isn't…" She kisses me before I finish my sentence. Before I know it she's managed to get us into our room, shut the door, and unbutton my shirt. And even though I want this I decide to question her one more time. "Lis, are you sure you want to do this, it's not gonna hurt the baby or anything right?"
She looks bewildered at my question and all she says is, "shut up and take me." Lissa almost never makes demands like this but, boy, do I wish she would more often. I immediately reach to pull her shirt off and forget about everything except for the feel of her lips kissing my neck. I, gently, push her against the wall and we proceed to celebrate our good news for the rest of the day.