Two Weeks In

"She's awake!"

That was the first thing that Zoe heard - Queenie's voice.

Zoe cracked her eyes open. Her body felt so tense, like she'd been in the same position for hours.

"What happened?" She asked, sitting up. She cracked her back as she did so.

By now, Queenie had returned with Cordelia.

"I'm so glad that you're awake," Cordelia said, the relief evident in her voice.

"I feel like I've slept for weeks," Zoe replied. "Feels like more than four days."

Now Cordelia was frowning.

"It was more than four days," she said, softly. "You've actually been asleep for two weeks."

"What?!" Now Zoe was angry. How come no one had woken her up? And where was Kyle? He needed someone to care for him - who'd been helping him while she'd been out? Had anyone been helping him?

"Where's Kyle?" She demanded, throwing her legs over the side of the bed. She moved to get up, only then noticing that she was attached to an IV.

"Gemma…she's a licensed EMT, she put it in so you wouldn't, you know. Die," Queenie said, referring to one of the new girls at the academy.

Zoe sighed loudly.

"Where's Kyle?" She asked again, this time, angrily.

"He's… indisposed," Cordelia answered.

Right then, there came the sound of retching from the bathroom.

"Is that him?!" Zoe frantically pulled the IV out, not even wincing at the pain of it, and made her way over. Her legs were tired, felt heavy, but she ignored it. She opened the door to see that she had been correct - Kyle was kneeling in front of the toilet, vomiting.

"Oh, baby," she whispered, getting down on her knees next to him. She held his hair back while he was sick.

After a few minutes Kyle began to dry heave, then the sickness finally stopped. He leaned back against the wall, breathless and sweating while Zoe flushed the toilet and went to get him some water.

"Here you go," she said, handing the glass over. Kyle's hands were shaking, so she had to help him bring it to his lips.

"There you go," she said, watching him drink. "That's good. It's okay."

Kyle got down about half the glass before pushing it away. Zoe put it down on the floor and looked him over.

He looked so tired. Stressed. The bags under his eyes were pronounced. He was shirtless and sweat dripped from his body. Then something else caught her eye.

Kyle had had a small belly before, but it looked bigger now. Not by much, just slightly more rounded.

Zoe brushed it off, wondering if maybe he had been stress eating while she slept or something. Did men even do that? It didn't matter. He was sick and she had to help him get better.

The sound of footsteps made Zoe look up. Queenie and Cordelia were standing in the bathroom doorway.

"Zoe," Cordelia said, "I think we need to talk."

00

"You have GOT to be fucking kidding me!" Zoe yelled, throwing a glass from the bedside table to the ground in frustration. "How the fuck did this happen?!"

She, Queenie, Cordelia and Kyle were gathered in Cordelia's room. Kyle sat on the floor, knees pulled up to his chest, looking absolutely miserable.

"It was a mistake with one of the incantations and we used the wrong pepper. A Chilean pepper. We needed a Guinea pepper."

"So what? Now he's… he's…" Zoe could barely bring herself to say it, "Now he's a freak? Because of this? He's got your baby inside him?! His life wasn't hard enough already?!"

"Zoe, please calm down, it was a mistake - and he's going to be fine, he's just had morning sickness is all and -"

"How can you tell me to calm down?! My boyfriend is pregnant! My male boyfriend, who doesn't have a uterus or a vagina or any goddamn girl parts, now has a baby inside of him!"

"Stop…" Came a weak voice. "...Please," it added.

The three witches looked over to see Kyle, who had tears running down his face.

"Kyle," Zoe replied, softly, "I'm sorry for yelling." She was still angry, but clearly, the argument was upsetting him so she did her best to force her anger down.

Kyle shut his eyes and began to rock back and forth.

Queenie frowned.

"Now you got him all upset again. We gotta talk this over calmly," she glared at Zoe.

"...Fine." Zoe got down on the floor, sat next to Kyle and pulled him into her arms. The action calmed him almost instantly.

"Let's talk details."

00

Later that evening, Kyle and Zoe were huddled together in their bed, Zoe again holding her lover close. He seemed to crave physical contact even more so than usual.

"Nine weeks… it isn't so bad," she told him, running a hand through his hair.

"I'm scared," Kyle admitted.

"You won't have to do any work at all. You can just stay here, relax. Everything will be fine."

Zoe reached down and gently touched his stomach.

According to Cordelia, Kyle was not only carrying the baby, but he was going through a faster pregnancy than usual. While a woman would carry a child for nine months, Kyle would carry it for nine weeks. Currently, he was at the equivalent of about two months along.

She wondered what he would look like in another two weeks, but brushed the thought aside when she noticed that he was crying again.

Hormones. That's what Cordelia said it was. Hormones. They made him get upset more easily. That could be dangerous, they all knew, so they planned to do their best to keep him happy.

"Hey, it's alright. Cordelia even says she'll have the cook make whatever you want, whenever you want. You won't have to lift a finger. You just ask and whatever you need will be given to you. You can think of it as a vacation of sorts."

This just made Kyle cry even harder, so Zoe decided to give up on talking. She held Kyle closer and planted kisses on his forehead.