2007
Lavender looked at the little stick with the plus sign and didn't know what to think. She had purchased three of them after the first one had told her the same thing and used all three just hoping the results would change. The other three were lined up along the bathroom counter glaring at her with their betraying answer. She threw the little stick down and swiped the others onto the floor angrily.
"How can I do this?" she asked her reflection. "What if it's like me?"
Her reflection had no answer. The ravaged, sunken eyes just stared back at her, tears brimming, ready to fall. Her hair, once a lustrous blonde now hung limply on her shoulders. She looked down at her hands and saw that they were scarred and rough from years of working in the factory. Her face had lines that made her look older than her twenty-nine years. The last eleven years hadn't been kind to her. Or maybe it was just that she hadn't been kind to herself.
She jumped as her man knocked on the door. "Darlin'? You've been in there for a while. You alright?"
Was she alright? Would she ever be? How could she ever be? The scars on her shoulder and back pulled at her every day and told her she'd never be alright. And now she had a tiny little life to worry about?
"Darlin'?"
She looked at the door and sighed. She reached out and unlocked it, letting Tommy in. When he entered the tiny bathroom hesitantly, he found her slumped over the sink, her hair shielding her face. He took a step in and trod on something. Looking down he saw four pregnancy tests. He paused, then reached down to pick one up. When he saw what it showed he couldn't help but smile even as his heart clenched at the shock.
He looked up at the woman he loved. "But this is amazin'." He reached for her shoulder, not thinking as he put his hand on the one place he knew not to touch. The second his hand touched her scars she turned.
"How is this amazing? How can I be a mother? How can I inflict this on a child?" She slapped the scars she hated.
He smiled gently, the smile that was the reason she had first started to love him. "You'll be a wonderful mum." He reached out to smooth her hair and ran the back of his fingers over her cheek. "You control it. You always do."
"But a child?" She gripped his hand hard, "What if the monster comes out in him?"
"It won't, I'm sure."
"But if it does?"
He lifted her hand up to his lips. "If it does, we'll handle it." He kissed her fingers. "We'll just make sure we stock up on red meat like we do for you." He smiled, "Hope the little one will like steak and potatoes like his da does."
Her lips quivered. "What if he's a she?"
"Na, it'll be a boy. My family only has boys." He grinned. "There hasna been a girl born in my family in three generations." He pulled her hand and tugged her into his arms, spinning her in a dizzy waltz in their tiny bathroom. "We're havin' a baby!"
She giggled at his silliness, caught up in his excitement. No, they may not have much money and maybe he was a little too fond of the drink now and then and she had an unfortunate tendency to get snappish and grumpy on the Full Moon due to the pain, but they would handle it.
As they danced through the tiny flat to music they heard only in their heads she caught a glimpse of the old school trunk they used for a table. It hadn't been opened in the five years they had been together. She sent a quick prayer up to whatever deity might be listening, "Please let my child be safe and sound and don't let him be a wizard or a werewolf."