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Chapter Four

Cath stayed overnight in the hospital. She was severely dehydrated and the doctors pumped her full of fluids during the night. She made Levi go home. She didn't want to look at him.

But there was no avoiding Levi after that. He was everywhere. Did she need another pillow? Was the room warm enough? He heard ginger helped keep morning sickness at bay.

He was really too perfect sometimes.

"Why am I not surprised you have a list?" Levi asked when she told him having a baby was not a good idea.

"Because facts are facts. You can't disprove them," Cath said, crossing her arms over her chest.

Levi leaned (always leaning) against the dresser next to the closet and crossed his own arms. "Go ahead," he encouraged her, the corners of his mouth curling upward.

"I'm crazy," Cath said to him.

Levi rolled his eyes. "You're not crazy," he said.

"No fair interrupting," Cath replied. "And I am crazy. And look at my family…there's probably whole sections in psychology textbooks dedicated to our brand of crazy."

"Next reason," he prompted her, his smile growing bigger (and infuriating her more).

"I don't have a mother," Cath said.

"I didn't have a pig and I still like bacon," Levi replied.

Cath knitted her brows. "That's the most ridiculous thing you've ever said," she replied (and the corner of her mouth tugged up against her will). "How can I be a mother if I've never had an example?" she clarified.

"Wren's in the same boat as you and she seems to be doing fine," Levi said.

"No fair comparing me to her," Cath replied.

"Next reason," Levi asked, making a go on motion with his hand.

"I'm not good at creating things," Cath retorted, recalling something Professor Piper had once said (okay, not exactly like that…she was paraphrasing).

Levi's mouth was upward in a shit eating grin now. "Oh, no…I was there during the creation. You're plenty good at it," he said.

"You're impossible," Cath said, covering her face with her hand.

Levi come off the wall and settled next to Cath in bed, wrapping his arm securely around her shoulders. "Okay, I listened to your reasons. Can I tell you my reasons now?" he asked.

She moved her hand away from her face. "Fair is fair," she relented.

"One," he started. "We're both ridiculously good looking so the baby is going to be adorable."

"Dumb," Cath replied.

"Tough crowd," Levi said with a shake of his head. "We're a good team and that means we'll balance the kid out nicely."

"You're the nice one, I'm the mean one?" Cath asked.

"Stop putting words in my mouth," Levi said with a chuckle.

"I'm just interpreting what you're implying," Cath said.

"Cather," his said, his face turning serious. "I love you more than anything on this earth. You make me happier than I ever thought I could be in my life. I want to share everything with you, including a family. I know it's scary, but at one point you thought I was scary too, and I think that worked out pretty well. So please just try to see this for the blessing it is."

"You could have been a poet," Cath said after a beat of silence.

"Does that mean you'll try?" Levi asked her, a smile back on his face.

"I love you, Levi," Cath said (her way of agreeing).

"I love you too, sweetheart," he replied.

"Now move," Cath said and scooted towards the edge of the bed. "I'm gonna throw up again."

xxx

"Isn't that the thing Kate Middleton had?" Wren asked into the receiver.

"Yeah, I Googled it," Cath replied.

"Of course you did," Wren said with a laugh.

"Hyper" means excessive, "emesis" means vomiting, and "gravid" means pregnant," Cath recited.

"You're such a nerd," Wren said (Cath could almost see her shaking her head).

They were telling people now. Rather Levi was making her tell people. They told his parents first (who proceeded to tell everyone in the tri county area). There was even a special dinner in their honor (that had made Cath nauseous for different reasons). Marlisse had already started working on designing the nursery (still nauseous) and suddenly Levi's older sisters found they had lots in common with Cath. Cath's dad was excited, though quickly insisted that he was far too young to be called grandpa. Wren understood a lot of Cath's hang ups (she had had them herself) so it was nice to talk to someone who was being sane about the whole matter.

"Let's talk about something else," Cath said to her sister.

"How's work?" Wren asked.

"Nah, too grown up…try again," Cath said.

"You are a grown up," Wren pointed out.

"I know," Cath said with a pained sigh.

"Are you working on any fic?" Wren tried again.

"No. I miss you. I wished you lived closer," Cath said to her.

"I miss you too, but I'm kind of glad I'm missing this vommy thing," Wren said with a laugh.

"Don't be mean. It's awful," Cath pouted.

"I'm sure it is. I don't know why they call it morning sickness…it's like all hours of the day sickness," Wren said.

"How's Lou?" Cath asked, referring to Wren's son.

"Busy. Busy," Wren said. "He's into everything. I made him watch The Mage's Heir the other night."

Cath chuckled. "How did that go?" she asked.

"He fell asleep about ten minutes in," Wren said with a laugh.

"A non believer…just like his dad," Cath tsked.

"Yeah," Wren said, her tone slightly clipped. "Look, I better go. We'll talk again soon. Hang in there. Love you."

"Love you too," Cath echoed as the call ended. She set her cell phone on the nightstand and rolled over onto her side. She was too queasy to do any actual work. She thought about her chubby faced nephew watching Simon and Baz and chuckled to herself. She grabbed the remote and called up The Mage's Heir on demand.

Simon Snow. The cure for what ails you.