Sting woke up to a cold bed, but didn't have time to figure out where Rogue disappeared to. He could hear Archer calling for Mama and Papa, and since he wanted both of them Rogue couldn't be in the nursery, which meant Sting had to scramble to their precious little boy's side.
Archer was sitting upright in his dinosaur shaped kiddy bed when Sting came in, teary eyed. He saw Sting, but didn't stand up and down like he normally did when his parents answered his summons.
"What's wrong, Tiger?" Sting asked.
"Bed's wet."
Sure enough, Sting could see the wet patch as easily as he could smell urine. They'd made sure to have Archer sit on the toilet before going to bed—he was getting better at using it without being told—but getting him through the night was still a struggle. Still, a glance at the gaudily colored clock hanging over the door told Sting that Archer made it almost until sunrise. He was getting better.
"Don't worry about it. Let's get you washed up. I'll change the sheets before Mama sees anything."
Archer held up a suspiciously wet hand for his papa to high-five, and Sting went for it. Bathing Archer was always a messy affair that required one bathe themselves afterwards anyway.
He scooped Archer up, carried him to the tub, dumped bubble bath in while the water filled, and wiped the little squirt down. Lector, woken up by Sting's racing down the hall to Archer's room, pitched in by throwing Archer's sheets and pajamas into the wash while Sting was occupied.
Since Archer insisted he was a big boy and big boys were able to dress themselves, Sting left him to it while he went to see what Rogue might be working on for breakfast. To his surprise, Rogue wasn't in the kitchen. The next person to come downstairs wasn't the family's best cook, but little Archer, with his shirt on backwards, no pants, and only one shoe.
"What happened to the other shoe?"
"Monsters eated it."
"Monsters?"
"Mama didn' look in the c'oset for bedtime. Monsters eated my shoe."
Sting looked past Archer to the stairs, now worried. Rogue loved that their boy took his mama's dark magic as something that monsters and not small children should be scared of, and looked forward to making a show of checking Archer's closet every night. Skipping out on that task was more disturbing than giving Sting a chance to make everyone breakfast.
Rogue's scent was weaker downstairs than up, too. Had he not come down yet?
Since Sting didn't want Archer to end up with food poisoning any more than Rogue did, he handed Lector an egg carton and said, "You're in charge. Archer, behave for Lector, okay?" before going back upstairs to see what was up with Rogue.
It wasn't so much that Sting found Rogue as it was that Rogue stumbled out of their bedroom just as Sting reached the top step. He was too disheveled to have been busy prepping himself and would never have ignored Archer's cry for help over something so self-absorbed anyway, but Sting didn't ask what he'd been doing. One look at the pinched expression on Rogue's face told Sting that he would regret asking.
"Archer wet the bed again."
"I heard."
"He almost made it to morning."
"Hopefully he'll be able to make it the whole night soon." Rogue rubbed absentmindedly at his chin with the back of his hand. "Where is he?"
"Kitchen. With Lector. Do you want me to go and tell them that you're handling breakfast?"
"No. I'm really not hungry."
Rogue skipping breakfast wasn't unheard of, but it had never been a reason before for him not to make sure that Archer started the day off with the right meal.
Now just trying to get a feel for what was going on, Sting asked, "Is that permission for me to make omelets?"
"No. It sounds like Lector's on it, and his aren't runny." Rogue sniffed the air and grimaced. "I'm… going to be at the guild. You get Archer dressed properly and meet me there, alright?"
"We can all head there now."
"No. I have some errands to run first."
"Oh." Sting cocked his head as if the change in angle would help him see something he was missing. "Yeah. Okay. We'll be there in a bit. You take care, okay?"
"Yeah." Rogue pushed past Sting. "See you."
Sting stood at the top of the stairs, watching Rogue descend, and didn't move until he heard the front door close. Not sense Rogue found out he was pregnant with Archer had he acted so distant, and that unsettled Sting. He didn't love Rogue any less for running, but the possibility that Rogue might vanish in the dead of night again always lingered in the back of Sting's mind.
If Rogue left, would Sting be all on his own to raise Archer while trying to piece together what happened? How would he explain to Archer that sometimes his mama just needed a lot of space and alone time and hopefully would be back in six months, and that he still loved Archer a lot despite leaving without him? The thought scared Sting almost as much as the idea that Rogue might take Archer with him.
He shook himself, laughing nervously, and went back downstairs. Rogue wouldn't really do that. Probably. Sting would have said the same thing right before Rogue ran away before, but there was no reason now. It was just one rough morning, not weeks of Rogue acting weird and secretive. One morning. And they were a family now. Rogue knew Sting loved him, and he wouldn't put Archer in a situation where he had to say goodbye to one parent or the other, much less a situation where Archer didn't get the chance to say goodbye.
Rogue wouldn't even consider taking a job when Archer was mad at him because if anything happened, that would be Archer's last memory of them together. He wasn't going to tear the family apart.
Still, Sting fretted all through breakfast. He did his best to smile and laugh for Archer and Frosch—who Rogue alarmingly forgot in his haste—but worry knotted in his stomach and made his insides do cartwheels. He should have pressed Rogue right then and there. The last time he sensed something was off and gave Rogue his space, it ended in disaster. They were spiraling towards another disaster, and Sting was so nauseas from his worry that he thought he would throw his breakfast up before they made it to the guild.
-o-
They arrived without Sting getting sick, but the first thing Yukino told Sting when they stepped through the door was, "Rogue threw up."
Sting paused, not noticing Archer reach for Yukino and plead for his papa to hand him over to her. She was the one who looked after him when Sting and Rogue were both busy with guild work or left together on a job.
"Is he alright?"
"He swore he was, but he seemed… Not. He was distressed over something. W-well… he was sick, so I suppose that's normal."
"Mm." Sting hoisted Archer up and passed him to Yukino. "Where is he now?"
Yukino tried not to look concerned, but didn't quite manage as she said, "Holed up in the office."
Rogue hadn't done that since Archer was born. They kept it clean now, since it had proven to be a good place to hold meetings whenever some official or another came to visit. When it came to the daily grind, however, both Sting and Rogue still preferred working in the guild commons. It was easier to keep an eye on Archer as he played with others, and it was just more sociable than hiding in a back room.
Rogue hiding in the back was wrong. Very wrong. Sting almost forgot to tell Archer to have fun with Auntie Yukino before rushing to the office door and throwing it open.
"What are you hiding?" he demanded.
Two seconds later Sting felt guilty for being so harsh with his tone. Rogue looked up from the office chair, eyes red and puffy, as if Sting had burst in to announce their divorce.
"I…"
"Crap. Sorry. Are you okay?"
Rogue shook his head.
Hearing murmurs behind him, Sting shut the office door and asked softly, "What's wrong Rogue."
"I feel terrible."
"What for?"
Rogue shook his head. "Not for anything. I just don't feel good. I started feeling off a few days ago, and I barely made it to the bathroom this morning before I threw up. I thought… I mean… I knew I wasn't done, but I waited and nothing more came up, so I gave up on waiting for it. But when I got here the smell of last night's booze hit me and I just… dear lord I feel sick."
"Do you need to know to the hospital?"
"Yeah…" Rogue's eyes widened as he caught on to the fact that Sting meant immediately. "Not yet! It isn't urgent. It's that… here."
He bent down and picked a paper cup with a stick in it up from the floor, which smelled similar to how Archer's bed smelled earlier. Sting gave Rogue an odd look before accepting the cup and giving it another test sniff. It was Rogue's for sure, but the scent wasn't quite right, and it took Sting a moment to recognize the exact change. His eyes went to the stick, and he knew what it was and what it said before the saw the two pink lines.
"Another one?" Sting asked.
"You know, I half expected that you already smelled it on me and were waiting for me to catch on. I hate you, by the way. I swear I hate you so much. You would put me through this twice."
Rogue was glaring with all his puffy eyed might, so Sting did his best not to laugh when he said, "What are you? A girl? How did you manage this twice?"
"I don't know. The doctor said it's supposed to be some sort of weird mishap that you see sometimes when two people's magic mix. We must have the right mix. You're on the bottom from now on."
"You're pregnant." Sting couldn't help it. He started laughing. "We're gonna have another kid."
"Laugh it up. This time I'm making you wait on me hand and foot."
"What do we tell Archer?"
"I'm in favor of not telling him until he asks why I'm fat."
"Be reasonable."
"I am being reasonable. Part of me's hopping I miscarry. What are we going to tell him if we say he's going to be a big brother and then that never happens?"
"Fine. Fine. We'll wait. What do we tell everyone else?"
Rogue's face was dead serious as he said, "We don't tell them at all."
"They're gonna notice, Rogue. What do you want to do, run away and hide until this new one is born?"
"It worked last time."
"Yukino and I knew."
"And no one else needs to know this time. Yukino can come with us so Archer won't cry for her."
"We're not running away together, Rogue. It would be too much of a pain to find work that would support a kid, a pregnancy, a future baby, and whatever dingy apartment we can get on short notice."
"Fine." Rogue crossed his arms and sat back in the chair, refusing to look at Sting. "They can find out when Archer tells everyone that he's going to be a big brother."
Still laughing, Sting dropped down beside Rogue into the chair that was large enough to fit the former guildmaster, slinging an arm around his beloved. "We're going to have another kid."
"Funny how the one who isn't pregnant is happier about it."
"I'll buy condoms after this one. Or we can trade places in bed and try for a third. I can't wait to meet them. Thanks for letting me in right away this time."
"What?" Rogue scowled. "You didn't think I'd run away again did you?"
"Of course not." Sting managed to say that without missing a beat, so Rogue would never spot the lie. "Besides, I know you wouldn't ever consider doing that to Archer. He'll be so excited. Or do you think he'll be upset that he has to share us?"
"I guess we'll find out… Do you think he'll take it hard?"
Sting leaned over and kissed Rogue, tugging lightly at his beloved's lip with his teeth as he pulled away. "We'll get to that when we get to that. No sense in worrying until then. We're together all the way through this time, you know. I'm sure we can handle anything."
-x-
STA: Fin.
An no sequels. I mean it this time. I know I said I wasn't even going to write this fic, but the last time I made a sequel of something that wasn't meant as a series, it ended badly.
...I don't really have anything deeper than that to say. I had a fun time with this one. I'm glad so many people liked it.
MaxenTheDemonicCookieMonster: *rubs defibrilator pads together* CLEAR!
Cinder Fall 39: Now move outta the way. Your younger sibling is next in line.
Silver Sterling: Don't be sad the fic ended. Be happy it had a propper ending! A lot of fics don't get those.
Nymus: Oh, Rogue wouldn't have had to wait three days to get to the hospital. If he had to put it off that long, he would have ended up giving birth in the office.
lazyfangirl: I didn't put too much thought into Archer's magic. Mashima never clariffied on if it has to be a dragon who teaches someone to be a slayer without a lacrima, so idk.