Chapter 11
Catherine bolted upright in bed. She looked around her, that old mixture of confusion and fear kicking in again. She looked to her side to see Vincent sitting, wide-awake beside her, looking just as baffled as she felt. They both looked around the chamber, it was their chamber! Catherine noted the clothes tossed carelessly on the floor from the night before, she checked what she was wearing; Vincent's shirt, just what she remembered putting on.
"Vincent?" she turned to him uncertainly.
Vincent looked at her with the same uncertainty, he felt through the bond her confusion, and her dismay. "I...did you?"
Catherine nodded. "So we both..."
Vincent nodded too. "Yes, I suppose so."
Catherine looked around the chamber again, as if needed to make sure she saw what she saw. "So, it was all just a dream?"
"A dream we both had," he said dazedly.
"Even still," Catherine said, eyes filling with tears. "It was just a dream."
"But it was a remarkable dream!" Vincent declared. "One we shared! That's amazing! Why are you crying?"
"Because it wasn't real!" she sobbed.
Vincent finally saw why she was so upset, and suddenly felt just as disappointed. "Perhaps in a way it was," he wrapped his arm around her and pulling her to him. "For us, anyway. It sure seemed real. Darling, we had to wake up eventually!"
"I know," Catherine said, her voice slightly muffled in his chest. "But...but we never even got to say goodbye to..." Even though she knew now it was never real, she couldn't stop herself from imagining herself suddenly gone, and never telling Lil' Vincent goodbye, after the heartbreaking conversation they had about missing one another. How could none of that been real?
"Oh," he hadn't really thought of that until now. He already missed little Cathy, badly.
"And what about..." she placed a hand on her stomach, and looked up at Vincent pleadingly.
"I don't know, but even if not now, Catherine, soon! I want to have a baby now, I'm not afraid anymore!"
Catherine smiled sadly and nodded, then gasped suddenly.
"What? What is it? What's wrong?"
"I remember!" she exclaimed, her eyes lighting up in a certain way he had never noticed before, but now he did, he saw that little girl in them.
"Remember what?"
"Running away!" she squealed, getting up on her knees and nearly dancing with excitment. "Before, I swear Vincent, I had never run away, but now it's like...I don't know, it's like I've remembered something I forgot, but now I can remember it all so vividly! I ran away because I couldn't take all the sadness anymore, I hopped on a bus, I meant to go to Connecticut, where my Grandma lived, but I had never ridden a bus before, and didn't understand the bus schedule, I got off in Brooklyn, I was so scared!"
"That's where I found her!" Vincent gasped. "What happened?"
She smiled. "I called my Daddy and he came and got me, I never left the bus station."
"Oh."
"But it happened! It wasn't real before, but now it is! Vincent, maybe that means..."
She didn't have to say it. "When can you know?" he asked anxiously.
"As soon as I go to Peter's office!" she exclaimed, jumping out of bed.
"Hurry!" he yelled, laughing as she fumbled around to get dressed, throwing discarded clothes over her shoulders. She tore off his shirt to put on her own. "Backwards!" he informed her between gasping laughs.
She corrected her shirt, and turned around to stick her tongue out at him.
Vincent sat in Father's study, playing a game of chess. He couldn't bring himself to tell Father about the dream, it was just way too unbelievable, although he decided he must tell him, someday.
Father had noticed his son's restlessness. "Vincent, is everything okay?"
"Fine," came the quick reply.
"Fine?" Father asked. "Look at you, you can barely sit still, and you've hardly said a word all day. Where is Catherine? I thought today was her day off."
"She went to see Peter," Vincent said, never taking his eyes off the chessboard.
"Peter? Why? Is everything okay?"
"Fine!" Vincent said, with a bit of a growl. He could feel Catherine returning, and he knew she had gotten news, but had promptly shut down on the bond so he couldn't tell if she was happy or sad, so he was indeed, restless.
Just then, Catherine turned the corner into Father's study and walked casually down the steps. Vincent stood up fast, knocking the chair over in the process. He couldn't make himself ask the question he was burning to ask, too afraid of the answer. Catherine's expression was calm, neutral, not a hint of emotion, and the bond was giving him nothing. His heart sank. "Well?" he asked, barely able to croak the word.
As the brightest smile he had ever seen lit up Catherine's face, the bond flew open and Vincent was nearly knocked over by the rush of love and joy.
"Yes!" Vincent shouted to the top of his lungs, making Father jump out of his seat. Vincent flew over to Catherine and was met halfway. He picked her up and swung her around, then roared happily.
Catherine laughed as the tears she'd been choking back, along with her emotions, since Peter had given her the good news, fell unheeded down her cheeks. "Deja Vu!" she giggled, as Vincent continued to spin.
"You want Deja Vu?" Vincent asked playfully, and leaned in to kiss Catherine with all the love and passion he felt for her.
"Would someone care to tell me what on earth is going on?" Father asked, standing beside the table with one hand braced on his hip.
Vincent and Catherine looked at Father as if until then, they hadn't known he was there. Vincent, smile permanently glued to his face and eyes, turned toward Father and wrapped his arm snuggly around his beloved wife. "Father," he said, glanced at Catherine, then back again. "Catherine and I are going to have a baby!"
Father gasped. "A baby! Catherine are you sure?"
"Peter ran the test today," Catherine said and looked adoringly into her husband's eyes. "But I already knew for sure."
"This is spectacular!" Father yelled. "Wonderful! I'm going to be a grandfather!"
Vincent and Catherine rushed to him and allowed themselves to each be wrapped up in a bearhug.
Father kissed his daughter-in-law's cheek. "What news! We must announce it to the community tonight at dinner!"
Vincent chuckled. "We will, but somehow I don't think it will come as much of a surprise."
At Catherine and Father's puzzled expressions, Vincent pointed upward, indicating the pipes. All three listened to them clang and clack, louder and faster than usual, someone apparently heard the not-so-quiet conversation:
A baby? Yes! Are you sure? Who said Catherine and Vincent are having a baby? Yes I'm sure! Mouse told me! Are you sure you can trust Mouse? Jamie heard too! What is going on? What about a baby?
As they continued to listen to circling conversations over the pipes about what seemed to be the news of the year, Catherine and Vincent looked into each other's eyes, lost in their love, their dreams coming true. They looked forward to relieving their friends and family of the rumor at dinner, but for now allowed them to gossip, and anticipated many, many more wonderful things to come.