"We should send them pictures." Lyla suggested one day almost a month after the men had been dragged off in handcuffs.
"I think Jax has pictures already. I bring him one of Abel almost every time we see them" Tara said
Lyla and Charlotte exchanged bemused looks at Tara's obliviousness. "No, Tara." Charlotte chuckled, shaking her head. "Like sexy pictures."
"Oh...no!" Tara said, making a face. "God! Do you know how many people would see those?"
"What if they were ones we didn't really mind other people seeing?" Lyla said with a sly smile
"What, like boudoir photos?" Charlotte asked
"Yeah, something like that." Lyla said smiling at the two women hopefully
"No way." Tara said firmly.
While Lyla tried to convince Tara that it wouldn't be as bad as she thought, Charlotte had opened the laptop that was sitting on the bar and looked up boudoir photographers in the area to show Tara some examples of the work. "Look." she said, turning the screen to face Tara. "That's not so bad, right?" she looked at Tara's stomach, "Besides, you should probably get some pictures like this anyway before that watermelon you're growing in there comes out your peashooter."
"Ugh" Tara rolled her eyes at Charlotte's vulgarity and pulled the computer closer to her, flipping through the pictures. She sighed and looked at the hopeful eyes of Charlotte and Lyla then gave in. "Fine" she huffed, causing the girls to applaud jubilantly, "But I'm not getting naked."
"Trust me, no one's asking your to." Charlotte teased.
"Well, where should we do it?" Lyla asked, excited to start planning.
"How about here?" Charlotte said, looking around at the clubhouse. "Out on the lot in front of garage...we could use the guys' bikes as props."
"Oh my god" Lyla said in amazement, "Such a good idea!"
"They'll love that." Tara said, a small smile creeping onto her face when she thought about Jax's reaction when he saw a picture of her posing seductively on the back of his Harley. "What about Gemma?" she asked suddenly.
"We should tell her too!" Lyla said
"Yeah but she's going to have to do it at home" Charlotte said disappointedly
"Oh right" Lyla said, deflating
"Yeah and I'm sure that ankle bracelet will make for some real sexy pictures" Tara added
"Well" Charlotte said, shrugging, "we'll tell her anyway"
A week later the women were sitting in the clubhouse having their hair and makeup done by some of Lyla's friends while the photographer they had hired was setting up lights and equipment. While Tara was giving explicit instructions to the poor girl doing her makeup to try and keep her looking as natural as possible Charlotte was talking to Lyla about what she should wear.
"I wanted to wear this." she said holding up a matching see-through black lace bra and thong set. The bra was a longline contour had small pearls sewn into the neckline, underwire and straps to frame her breasts while the waist of the thong had thin white ribbon woven through it to match the white in the bra from the pearls. She lowered her voice "But I've been so backed up lately that I feel like a complete whale." she spread her silk robe to show Lyla her stomach.
Lyla ran her hand over Charlotte's abdomen and tilted her head then shrugged, "It's probably just the stress of Tig being inside and starting a business while trying to help at the garage and...everything else." she smiled at Charlotte, "You still look great, I say take a laxative and go for the two piece." Charlotte chuckled and rolled her eyes. "You're starting in the flyaway babydoll anyway, right?"
"Yeah" Charlotte said, plucking the red gossamer babydoll from the rack in front of her and looking at it.
"So if you really feel that self conscious just keep it on" Lyla advised, shrugging her shoulders.
"You're right" Charlotte agreed, nodding her head then turning toward the bathroom to change.
"I feel like we should have feather boas or something" Tara was saying when Charlotte came out of the bathroom.
"It's going to turn out way classier than that" Lyla assured her, adjusting the pink ruffle panties over her ass cheeks.
"Can you…?" Tara asked, gesturing at the back of the merrywidow corset she was wearing for Charlotte to tie it shut for her. When she was laced up the three of them walked out onto the lot to meet the photographer and take turns posing in front of the closed garage doors on their significant others' bikes, cheering each other on as they did.
After their session at the garage was done and night had fallen, they were dressed again and driving over to Gemma's in Tara's Cutlass; feeling the effects of the inescapable high of the enjoyment they had taking pictures with each other. The three of them walked into Gemma's house for dinner, full of laughter when trying to tell Gemma about the session they had.
Gemma couldn't help but smile at the three young women sitting at her table getting along so well; rejoicing in the sound of laughter filling her house again despite her husband and son being in prison. "So when are these pictures going to be ready?" Gemma asked, passing a tray of biscuits to her left.
"Another two weeks or something" Lyla answered.
"Well, I can't wait to see them." Gemma smiled lovingly at the girls
"When do we get to see yours, Gem?" Charlotte asked, smiling mischievously. A week ago, when they had asked Gemma if she wanted to join in the boudoir photo shoot for the men, she had revealed that she had already had such pictures taken years ago when Clay went away the first time.
"Don't get fresh" Gemma warned jokingly until she dropped her fork quickly and ran to get a paper napkin from the counter for Charlotte, whose nose had started bleeding.
"What's-?" Charlotte began in confusion until Gemma held the napkin to her nose. "Oh man, is it bleeding again?" she asked, standing up quickly and going to stand over the sink.
"Again?" Tara asked, her voice full of concern as she got up to help Charlotte
"Yeah, in the last couple of weeks I've started getting them." she turned her eyes to see the worried look on Tara's face. "I don't think it's a big deal, they're not even that heavy when they do happen."
Tara looked at Charlotte in silence for a while before looking intently over her shoulder at Gemma and Lyla while Charlotte continued to dab her nose with the napkin. "Um...Charlotte..." she said tentatively, "Has anything else been bothering you?"
She shrugged, and stood up when she was sure the bleeding had stopped, "My back and feet but that's not exactly surprising considering all the work I've been doing at the club to get it ready."
Gemma paid no attention to this information but Lyla stood up quickly from her seat and exclaimed, "Oh my god you're pregnant!"
After a moment's silence Charlotte burst into laughed and held her stomach as it shook with the hysterics that moved through her body. "Are you insane?" she asked when she caught her breath, "There's, like, less than a five percent chance of that happening with a hormonal IUD."
"Two percent, actually" Tara said, looking Charlotte up and down. "When was the last time you got your period?"
"They stopped when I got the IUD." Charlotte admitted, hugging her body as she began to feel uncomfortable.
Gemma's hands went to her mouth to conceal the smile breaking across it.
"You need to come with me to the hospital right now." Tara said urgently, grabbing her coat and keys and dragging Charlotte toward the door.
"Stop!" Charlotte demanded, wrenching her hand from Tara's grip. "You all are acting insane. There's no way I can be fucking pregnant."
"Then there's no harm in letting the good doctor check you out, then, is there?" Gemma said, pushing Charlotte toward the door after Tara and following them to the hospital despite Charlotte's protests.
The three of them loaded into Gemma's Caddy, leaving Lyla behind to watch Abel and clean up after the dinner they had very abruptly left, and Charlotte continued to point out how ridiculous they were all being.
"Charlotte!" Tara said loudly, "If you are pregnant then we don't know where the IUD falls into it. It could have resulted in an ectopic pregnancy or the IUD could harm you or the baby depending on where is landed after it shook free." Charlotte fell quiet.
"C'mon now" Gemma said, looking at Charlotte in the rearview mirror "A baby wouldn't be so bad."
"Then I'll give it to you" Charlotte snapped
"Oh, Charlotte…" Gemma began with a roll of her eyes.
"No, no" Charlotte said aggressively, moving closer to the two in the front seats. "Please tell me that the idea of a felonious psychopath and a cold-hearted bitch raising a baby doesn't make your stomach turn."
"Only half that statement is even true." Tara said, shaking her head.
"Yeah, which half?" Charlotte asked cynically
"The felony part and the bitch part." Tara said, bursting into laughter with Gemma as they pulled into the parking lot at the hospital.
Once in the examination room Charlotte stared, stone-faced, at the ceiling with the paper gown balled up in her clasped hands. When Tara squeezed the cold jelly onto her stomach Charlotte shivered and held her breath when Tara ran the wand over her abdomen. She didn't have to hold it long, though, because - after a few seconds - she heard the wuvmp wuvmp wuvmp wuvmp of a heartbeat coming from the monitor next to her. Her face got instantly hot at the overwhelming dread she felt rush through her body.
"It looks like...it looks like you're about twenty weeks along." Tara informed her as they both stared at the Ultrasound screen.
With this information Charlotte grabbed the speculum off the tray next to her and threw it at the wall, causing Tara to jump. "Five months?! I'M GUNNA FUCKING KILL HIM!" she screamed, loud enough for Gemma - who was standing outside the door - to hear, along with the unsuspecting nurses walking by in the hallway.
Despite understanding that Charlotte was upset and that she needed to be sensitive to that, Tara couldn't help but laugh at her impassioned outbursts causing Charlotte to shoot her an incensed glare. "Oh, I'm-I'm sorry" Tara said, trying to hide her laughter.
"Can it, Doc" Charlotte said bitterly, falling back onto the examination table. Tara calmed herself down and took Charlotte's hand, looking up at her stunned face.
"Well" Tara said softly, rubbing the back of her hand with her thumb and clearing her throat "you do have options, even this far along in your pregnancy."
"Abortion?" Charlotte asked, "Hmm, happily married for, basically, forty-eight hours, husband in prison, twenty-seven year old college graduate, in the middle opening a strip club…" she sighed, "Nah, I have no right thinkin' like that."
"Well, if you really do want to keep it I'm gunna want to look around to try and find that IUD and make sure everything's alright as far as that goes." she put the wand back to Charlotte's stomach and moved it around, looking for the little plastic T. "It's not ectopic which is also good and the baby's heartbeat is strong."
"Oh god." Charlotte said urgently, sitting up on her elbows. "Tara I've been drinking...I got high!" she started to hyperventilate. "I've got-I've been...oh god, is it going to have two heads or somethin'?" She squeezed Tara's hand anxiously.
"No, no" Tara said, laughing. "For all we know it could be fine and I swear it doesn't have an extra head." she looked closer at the image on the ultrasound "It doesn't look like there are any other structural issues so anything caused by the FAS won't be determined until the baby starts to miss developmental milestones, if it does."
"There aren't any tests you can do?" Charlotte asked helplessly
"Not for FAS. We can do an amnio if you want to cover all your bases."
"Yeah." Charlotte said, laying back down slowly, "Yeah let's do that."
"We can't do it tonight but I'll be sure to make you an appointment." She clicked the button to print a picture of the ultrasound and put the wand away before wiping off Charlotte's stomach. "Well, I couldn't find the IUD." Charlotte tensed, "Which is actually a good thing." Tara said, patting her reassuringly on the arm, "It means that it's probably got engulfed by the placenta and is nowhere near the amniotic sack and isn't in danger of hurting your uterus in any way. All in all, considering the things that could've gone wrong that didn't I'd say you're pretty lucky."
"Lucky" Charlotte scoffed and turned away from Tara. "You must think I'm a horrible person."
"No," Tara said soothingly, "Just scared...I can understand that. There's not a woman who's ever been a mother that wasn't." she sat back down next to Charlotte. "Hell, I am." At this admission from Tara, Charlotte finally broke down and started crying.
"I can't…" Charlotte began, taking heavy purposeful breaths then turned to look Tara in the eye, "I can't do what everyone else can. I can't be a mother, it's just not in my nature. My life has made me too hard and cold to be good at anything like this." She tried to appear proud of this fact but when she thought of the heartbeat she had listened to it broke her heart to admit.
"That" Tara said, getting up and wiping the goo off of Charlotte's stomach, "is the biggest load of crap I've ever heard in my entire life. Hell, Charlotte, all we have to do is look at the way you are with Tig to know that you're just telling yourself that because you're scared." she sighed. "Do you love Tig?"
"Of course." Charlotte said defensively
"Are you gunna love his baby?"
Charlotte swallowed and repeated, "Of course." much more quietly, tentatively touching her stomach for the first time.
"Then that's all you need." Tara said supportively, "The rest will come. Now," she waved the sonogram at Charlotte, "Do you want to know what it is?"