Bound Souls

Disclaimer: I own nothing

A/N: Because I ended up semi-spoiling this chapter as a result of some confusion, and because this chapter is short, I'm posting it now before I head off to class.

Chapter 14 (Doubt and Uncertainty)

"I can't believe you're making me do this." Jade leaned into Beck, placing her head on his shoulder. Four white walls surrounded them. "What's the doctor going to say, Beck? It's just a stomach sickness." He looked down as her hand wrapped around his. He gave her a gentle squeeze and kissed the top of her head.

"How long have you felt the sickness, Jade?" He had to know how long this had been going on, because it could give them clues on how far along she was. "If you are pregnant, we need to hurry up and get Trina away from Ahriman." Jade released his hold and folded her hands on her stomach.

"We're both dead, how the hell would a baby be alive in here? You would need living sperm, or I'd need living eggs. There's no way, I'm telling you."

"But against all odds, even if there's the tiniest chance…" He put an arm around her shoulders and she pulled her gaze up into his, whimpering once. "Then that small sliver of a chance can still come up."

"I know, I just…I'm scared." She put her head to his chest and wrapped her arms around his waist. He moved his arms around her and felt a tiny shiver run through her body. He desperately wanted to give her some words of encouragement, but he didn't know what to say.

"I'm scared too. If it's true, then this is just more reason to fight." It was hell coming to the doctor in the first place. They needed to use fake names, but even then the doctor didn't sound convinced. "I don't know what we'll tell the doctor, either." She kissed his jawline and he looked down into her worried and fearful gaze. He lowered his voice to a whisper, hoping his calm voice could reassure her. "It's going to be okay, Jade."

"How? Why?" The door slid open and he felt Jade's body tense up. Beck looked over to see a tall, sharp-nosed man in a white coat holding a clipboard. Jade lifted her head and mustered up a vague smile. "Dr. Williamson. What's the um…" The doctor scratched at his bald head and looked up at her.

"I want to perform an ultrasound right now. The results came back positive." Jade clutched her chest and looked up at Beck, letting out a sharp whine. He closed his eyes and his nostrils opened as a slow, calming breath descended from them. "There were some oddities that I detected in your urine as well, I'm not sure if the abnormalities are a sign of trouble."

Beck stood and helped Jade to her feet, placing his hand to her back to keep her steady. She was grasping his left hand so tightly that he thought she was trying to tear it off. "Okay Dr. Williamson." He looked at the man and took a deep breath. "Where do we go to do the ultrasound."

"Yes, well, follow me." He led them into a nearby testing room and Beck had to help his nervous girlfriend up on the examination table after changing into her gown. The minute her back touched the steel, she complained about the cold.

He sat beside her, clutching her hand and grooming her hair as the doctor and his nurses prepared the jelly and machine. "Beck?" He wiped her tears with his thumb and smiled at her. She was breathing heavily, trembling out her frightened gasps. "I-I'm pregnant? I can't be-what about…"

"Shh." He caressed her cheek and leaned over, kissing her on the forehead. "We're going to figure this out." He couldn't let her see the terror he felt, not with her in the state she was in. "We'll be okay."

"Beck, who's going to watch our baby?"

"We'll figure it out." He shifted his eyes up as the doctor rolled over with the tools. Jade turned her head to the computer and swallowed as the man placed the jelly on her stomach.

When the image of a fetus appeared on the screen, he was struck with awe. His eyes widened and a smile turned up on his face. "That's rather odd," Dr. Williamson stated, "Have you experienced no signs of pregnancy?" Jade's body relaxed and Beck saw her gaze fixated on the child. "You are in the later stages of pregnancy, and your child is incredibly small."

"Is that bad?" Jade whined and continued to crush Beck's hand once more as she looked wildly at the doctor. "What does that mean?" Dr. Williamson chuckled and flashed a reassuring smile.

"It's okay, the baby shows signs of development. Albeit slower development, I would say you're easily in your twenty-eighth week." Beck's heart stalled momentarily and he brought his free hand up to his mouth. It was around that time that they'd been stressed out with a variety of things, and sex was calming, so they had been more active than usual. Now he understood, but it was a scary thought that Jade was so close to when she could give birth. "Still, I have absolutely no idea how you could have gone this far without experiencing any signs."

"I experienced some symptoms," Jade admitted, "But I didn't think they were in relation to a pregnancy. I didn't know that I could get pregnant. A lot of times I thought it was just sickness." Jade looked at the screen with a smile and fresh tears fell along her cheeks. "But, a baby? I'm going to be a mama, and I-" She fell silent and started to sob.

The doctor decided to give them a moment alone, taking his nurses out to discuss their next move. Jade placed her fingers on the screen and curled her left hand over her chest.

Beck moved a hand over hers and gazed at the subtle movements of the baby inside. "What's the matter, baby?" Jade pulled her hand away and looked up at him.

"I-I don't know. The thought that I'm going to have a baby, but knowing that I won't be able to raise her. Will your dad take her?"

"I don't think he has any plans to raise another child." Nor was Kyle in the position to do so. He did wonder if Henry could, but Jade's dad had failing health.

Before they could talk any further, the door flew open, startling them both. His eyes flew over and froze on Trina, now panting in the doorway and glaring with narrow eyes. "Is this some sort of joke?" Trina asked. He furrowed his brow and kept silent as she approached them. "My birth mother, your sister? How in the hell are you sixteen or seventeen."

"This really isn't the time, Trina."

"I know it's not the time, but strange shit keeps happening, and somehow you're at the center of it all!" Beck looked past her to see a line of hospital ghosts standing outside the door. "You want to know how I found you? Ask the things following me, if you see them."

"I see them." He kissed Jade's forehead, then turned around to face Trina. Despite the poor timing, he knew this moment had to be due to David taking her to meet her grandfather. She needed answers, so screw whatever anyone else was doing. "And you can see our decay, I presume."

"I don't know what this is about, and I don't think I can even attempt to understand what the hell is going on." Trina looked at the monitor next to Jade and the tension in her body faded. She frowned and raised her eyebrows up. "Jade? You're pregnant?" Jade looked over and sniffled.

"Yeah, I'm scared."

"Why?" Trina walked over to the bed and looked at the screen. "It looks like a beautiful baby. Jason showed me the yearbook, and…if that's all true, and somehow you're dead-I don't understand at all-how do you have a baby?"

"That is a very good question."

Trina swept her fingers through her hair and closed her eyes. "I can't understand. I looked at that picture at my grandfather's house for so long, studying for what seemed to be an eternity." Trina looked at Beck and her brow furrowed. "There's no mistaking it, but those pictures are old."

"It is a lot to take in," Beck muttered, "And there's no easy way to explain it. You kind of have to be ready to hear it though, or else you won't actually believe it."

Jade put her hand to her belly and closed her eyes. "He's right." Trina glanced back at the woman and crossed her arms. "You were born in a very similar way, and because of that, you can see things that others can't." Jade looked at the screen and pressed her lips together. "This baby is going to grow up the same way, but I don't know if she'll survive childbirth."

"Are you saying that my mother was one of you?" Trina looked distressed and glanced back to the ghosts in the hallway. "Is that the reason I can see things? Or is all of this just my imagination?" Trina sniffed the air and closed her eyes, groaning lightly. "Because Sinjin tells me it is." Beck started to protest, but bit his tongue.

To his shock, it was Jade that spoke up, first scoffing. "Sinjin tells you it's your imagination? Funny, because Sinjin died before we did." Trina's eyes widened and she took a small step back. Beck whistled under his breath and shook his head.

"Poor timing," he whispered, "Very poor timing."

"What are you saying? That he's one of you too?"

"Not exactly." He sighed and crossed his arms. This was not how he envisioned the conversation going at all, but he had no choice. "You're being deceived if you think that's Sinjin passed away in February of 1991. Months before Damian killed us."

"No." Trina began to tremble. She took a step back, stumbling over a cord on the ground. "That's not possible. He doesn't even look like you-there's no decay on his body, no odor. He's not dead."

"It's not him." He narrowed his eyes and stepped forward. "His corpse is possessed by the reaper that cursed us."

"Reaper? What's a reaper?" She stumbled over her words and wrapped her arms around her stomach. "I don't understand." Beck rolled his head to the right and exhaled loudly.

"Good ones guide your soul over to the spirit realm. Bad ones, like Ahriman, will make contract deals with the dead. The dead that makes a deal usually ends up with their soul devoured by the reaper." Trina's eyes flickered with fear and recognition, but of what he didn't know. "The Sinjin I know was a good man, a good friend. He was one of my best friends, along with Damian, but when he died…I guess we grieved differently. I avoided Damian and he thought I wanted nothing more to do with him, throw into combination all the shit he was dealing with and well, you might know the tale…"

"And you expect me to believe that a grim reaper is possessing him?"

"I don't expect you to believe anything." He shrugged and looked over to Jade momentarily. "Believe what you will, Trina." He was well aware she needed time to process, so there was nothing more he could say to her on the subject. "Just be careful around him, because mark my words, that is not Sinjin."

She left without another word and he closed his eyes, listening as Jade questioned why he was just letting her leave. After a few seconds he opened his eyelids partially and shrugged.

"She has to see it on her own, Jade."

And see she will, she is heading out to see for herself, but what she encounters and experiences is truly something supernatural. Well, what about this chapter? It looks like Jade hit the proverbial rare bucket, so do you think that child will survive? What do you think will or should happen for the child, knowing what both parents' fate will be. What do you think Trina's going to encounter when she reaches-I shouldn't say Sinjin's house-but Ahriman's lair, haha.