Chapter 2-Family Dinner

Following the holidays, when I had one happy three-year-old with more toys than he could possibly play with (but that was what he got for being the only grandchild in either family) Sophia and I resumed our discussion of adding to our family and how to go about it.

It was I that brought out the entire discussion about in vitro or surrogacy, but neither was cheap and I wasn't sure if Sophia and our parents would go for all that. So once again I was left browsing the Internet for options, as I had been taken to doing lately when I wasn't working or in school. Surrogacy seemed to be the cheaper option, but then there was fees for this and fees for that and more often than not I was left scratching my head wondering where to turn next.

Sophia and I were having such a discussion one night after Byron had gone to bed, it was one of the few times we could actually talk and have conversations that didn't revolve around dinosaurs, superheroes or children's cartoons.

As I was, once again hunched over my laptop, which was really nothing more than a glass tablet (old-school laptops had been discontinued sometime in 2030) the living room was dark except for the light coming from the device, I stared at the screen, flipping through windows with Sophia reading over my shoulder.

"How can you be sure they would even consider us, Taylor? There were problems with same-sex couples even ten or twenty years ago before we even arrived." Sophia's comment broke me out of my thoughts.

"Same-sex couples have had babies before," I assured her, "check the library archives, it's happened."

Sophia didn't answer, she only nodded and I knew she was thinking, choosing at the moment not to voice her thoughts.

"The in vitro is expenses… We don't have that kind of money even with our salaries put together." Sophia murmured.

Now it was my turn to nod, only making a small "hm" noise in the back of my throat.

"I did some reading though," I added, "we could buy sperm ourselves and we could bypass the doctor\hospital thing… It would be cheaper, only a few hundred dollars versus a few thousand."

"So we would need to find a donor then?" Sophia asked.

"Yeah." I replied, "we could pretty much pick anything we wanted hair color, eye color height, interests etc. just as so long as the guy's healthy, which I guess they would already screen for."

"Well it's something to consider," Sophia murmured as she rested a hand on my shoulder, "we're still going to need a guy for this regardless, even with all the medical advances since we've been alive they still haven't managed to allow solo reproduction in humans... it still doesn't work that way." She chuckled quietly.

I smirked.

"Yeah, no kidding."

Among other discussions was who would be the carrier for our child. Sophia and I had pretty much decided she would be the one to get pregnant, even though it had been a few years since my pregnancy with Byron, I wasn't eager to repeat the experience (at least not yet). Having come up with a game plan, (if not the exact specifics) of what we were going to do over the next few months Sophia and I both knew it was time to break the news to the people that really mattered-our mothers.

Our next opportunity to voice our thoughts on expanding our family was arose some time in the second week of January when my mother invited us over for dinner. This was a regular occurrence and had been since Byron was about a year old. It was an excuse for Sophia and I to get out of the Atrian housing project and get back to "average" human civilization, which given where we had gone to school and been around for most of our teenage lives was what we both preferred. It was also an opportunity for my mother to see Byron who she only saw a few times a week since she didn't care to come down to the Atrian housing block; which I had always found too pristine with the manicured lawns and the evenly spaced yellow houses. As soon as legislation went through for the Atrians to live elsewhere Sophia and I intended to do so, even if that only meant moving a few miles away in the other direction.

Currently, Sophia and I were sitting outside my mother's house while Byron babbled away in Atrian from his car seat in the back, but I knew he was getting restless singing the little song Sophia had taught him only kept him occupied for so long. He had a bag of toys to play with, but he was currently banging on the back window impatiently.

"Grandma, grandma!" He sang and Sophia and I looked at each other and smiled.

"You ready for this?" I asked.

Sophia shrugged.

"Why you so nervous?" She asked, "it's not like we haven't had dinner with your mother before."

"Because the entire rest of our lives hinges on this impending conversation. I would hate to do something and have my mother hate me for the rest of my life for making what she thought was a bad decision."

Sophia smiled again, and gave me an encouraging peck on the lips.

"She can't be looking out for you forever she has to trust you sometime."

I nodded and opened the driver side door knowing she was right. I had rearranged my face into a suitable expression by the time I had gotten Byron out of the car and the three of us were walking up the drive to the door.

Well here goes nothing, I thought, as the door opened.

The scene was like any other family dinner. My mother at the end of the table (where I have a vague memory of my father sitting) and Sophia, Byron and I sitting on the other side, Byron sitting in a chair with a booster seat between us. Tonight it was chicken fried steak, collard greens, and mashed potatoes; Byron had eaten everything except his greens which he was picking at and pretending they were long dribbles of monster snot.

For the moment, providing he wasn't flinging the collards across the table I ignored my son; I had other things on my mind.

It was after dinner, when Byron was otherwise occupied I broached the topic I had been waiting all evening to discuss with my mother.

"Mom, you know Sophia and I are thinking about having another baby…" I came right out and set it, it was the most effective way to get the conversation started.

My mother sighed.

"Oh Taylor, are you sure? You two are so young, you have plenty of your life ahead of you to have a baby particularly after you both have full-time jobs."

This time it was Sophia that came to my defense, as she always had a habit of doing.

"Mrs. Holland, Colleen," it was only the second or third time I had heard Sophia use my mother's first name, "I have a full-time job, I run Lollies."

"I mean a real job," my mother stated emphatically, "none of these flights of fancy you girls have had going on since you met."

Sophia's eyes flashed and I knew she was pissed.

"To me, this is a real job, AND I support my family; I'm sorry, but this is what I want to do and I enjoy it."

"And certainly you running around with all your political agendas isn't helping," my mother fussed, "your home so late Sophia."

"No later than you are!" Sophia flared, in a rare display of anger. "And the only home late if the stuff in the local offices runs late, and even then I could have Roman or Drake cover for me if absolutely necessary, their schedules are a little bit more flexible than ours."

My mother nodded begrudgingly, finally conceding the point.

"So what do you plan to do?"

"A sperm donor." Sophia interjected, "we're probably going to try to do the insemination ourselves, just to save on money."

My mother looked skeptical but she didn't say anything.

"What about money?" My mother asked bluntly.

"I've had some set aside since last summer." I offered, "when Sophia and I start putting our money together in the next few months we should have enough… At least for the initial cost of the sperm."

My mother sighed.

"Okay, just let me know if you need any help." She leaned over and kissed me on the temple… "Whatever makes you happy."