"Wow, this is quite the book collection you two got here," Rory commented as she browsed the bookshelves of Celeste and Jess' study that probably contained more crime fiction and modern novels than most small-town libraries. She'd come over just because she'd needed a break from home. Having embraced being a homebody thoroughly after the holidays, by now the place was beginning to feel a little suffocating, and now with the nanny back in service, Rory gladly took the opportunity to get out there for a few hours.
"This is just a part of it, the downstairs apartment has about 10 more boxes, plus Jess has some in his office," Celeste noted, as she positioned herself onto their lounge couch, legs crossed under her, cringing momentarily at a kick aimed towards her intestines. She was rapidly becoming tired of being pregnant these days, her back and feet aching, struggling to get up the stairs and just running very low on energy in general.
"And what is this?" Rory inquired curiously, seeing Celeste's leather binder, that clearly looked valued and frequently used, laying on the couch next to her.
"This is just something I've been working on, it's just scribbles," Celeste said, brushing her hand as if it was no big deal. She knew Rory was not just going to accept that, and it wasn't like she was the first person she'd shown her drawings to, but she was however the first besides Jess who had seen the recent developments her drawings had gone through.
"Can I look?" Rory asked, not wanting to pry.
"At your own risk," Celeste chuckled, already trying to imagine her expression. Her drawings were now involving a lot more mature topics than they had before. They were of pretty much anything that adult relationships consisted of - the first glances, tears, comfort, fighting, and also numerous scenes with somewhat erotic subtone. The increase in the latter was partially because it seemed her imagination was a lot wilder than her physique could keep up with these days. The last couple of nights she'd fallen asleep before Jess had even begun to think about coming to bed, and with her getting up early most days, they'd been missing each other more than usually. With the bed being the most comfortable place for any intimacy to speak of, it was safe to say being pregnant was also beginning to affect their spontaneity.
"Oh, wow. Some of these are really hot," Rory commented, smilingly cheekily, as she observed a series of passionate glimpses - an outstretched manly palm against a tiled wall with water drops covering it, clearly in the middle of something strenuous, another with a woman's profile with her head pushed back, mouth open, as if in the midst of...something, and one with a man's muscular back with a pair of gorgeous legs wrapped around it, forming perfect angles against it. Rory had no doubt whom the back had been modelled after, the dark head of hair only confirming it, making Rory feel slightly embarrassed for thinking how hot it looked.
"I've been experimenting a little. First I was sort of into trying to do a children's book or something and now… well, I got a little carried away," Celeste explained, with a wide grin.
"Well this is clearly not for children," Rory chuckled. "But I like it - you should definitely keep this up," she added.
"Thanks. I feel like I have the style part down - I like when they are sort of hinting at the activity, but I feel I could use a strong story to draw to go with it. I feel like everything is already done, or my own story is just a little too risky to do, you know," she explained.
"Well if you get any ideas you can bounce them off me," Rory offered, not really knowing what to do with her mind during the time until her classes started again.
"I'll think about it," she replied, gratefully. She knew that theoretically she didn't need a story at all, after all drawings could just be taken as art without the story, but somehow with her family having been immersed more in the art scene she preferred to stick to all things literary, feeling it was somehow safer ground.
"How's it been with April? I haven't seen her much since last year but then she was pretty intense - kind of lost at the same time, you know. I'm not sure I would've been this kind to offer her a room to be honest," Rory asked, as she leaned back against the pillows at the back of the couch, relaxing for a moment.
"Jess told me about her weird phase," Celeste noted, with a chuckle, having tried to picture April as colorfully as Jess had described her. "But honestly, she's been nice. A little talkative but I don't see her every day so it's really quite okay. It's not like I have many places to go these days," she replied, feeling quite disappointed that the pool was still closed. April had been already helping her out with a number of little things like cooking and running a few errands for her, as she was around more on weekdays than Jess - only working at IBM 4 days a week. April had also taken up two weekend shifts at a local pub waitressing, meaning she was settling in quite nicely.
"Good," Rory sighed.
"Have you thought about Logan's birthday party yet?" Celeste asked.
"Honestly, not much. But I thought I'd perhaps just leave it to Finn, ask him to do the planning - because I'm sure he's capable. I'd just want to make sure everything is PG13 in the end," Rory explained in a tone resembling someone teaching etiquette.
"Well I guess I could help you, just let me know if you need me to do anything," Celeste suggested, putting her binder away as Rory had finished with it.
"Oh no," Rory scolded, "You are going to be ready to pop by then, the only thing any of us is allowing you to do, is rolling you in to attend it," she explained figuratively. Knowing from experience, Rory had learned it the hard way that babies didn't care much for due dates.
"Not you too," Celeste muttered.
"Just try to enjoy this last stretch, because you'll never know when you'll sleep a full 6 hours again," Rory lectured playfully.
"Noah!" Jess greeted as he arrived at the office that afternoon, having been to HPG that morning, adding "good job on the MacMurdo novella." Noah had only been there two weeks and Jess was already seeing the benefits - actually being able to delegate some of the to-do pile he'd had on his desk for months now. Celeste hadn't really come up again as a topic, but that particular day was a little bit of a test in that sense, as Celeste was coming in to take care of the evening's launch party.
"Thanks! I enjoyed it, it's been a while since I actually got to read anything other than self-help books and political thrillers," Noah replied laughingly, having positioned himself to the desk Celeste had been using before, but no longer really needed as she mostly worked from home. He had a quirky sense of humour, Jess not always picking up whether he was kidding or not. But on everything else they seemed to be seeing eye-to-eye.
"Well thankfully we publish neither of those," he noted in a light tone, heading for his office and closing the door behind him to make a call.
Celeste had gone to Dr. Norton that morning, her due date fast approaching being just one and a half months away. She had slowed down a notch, but he could tell she was becoming more and more anxious as well. He wished he could've gone with her that morning but the beginning of the year overviews at the HPG were unfortunately mandatory.
"Hey," Jess greeted as he heard Celeste pick up.
"Hey, hold on just a sec," she replied, accepting a package from a courier at the same moment at her doorstep.
"I'm here," she added, unpacking the books she'd ordered from their envelope while holding her phone between her shoulder and ear.
"How did it go?" he asked, expectantly.
She'd been hoping he wouldn't have asked that before they both got home that evening, not wanting to disrupt his work day.
"It went okay," she replied, picking her words carefully, not wanting to make a big deal out of it.
"Just okay?" Jess asked, insistently.
"Fine...," she relented. "But I don't want you to worry, okay?" she added hesitantly.
"Just tell me," Jess pleaded. How in the world could he not worry about them? He was already beginning to regret not having gone with her.
"Well, apparently I'm slightly anemic and my blood pressure is a little low - he got me on some stronger supplements," Celeste explained, trying to stay optimistic. She had been feeling a little weak the past few days, but thought it was probably just normal with the baby pushing more and more on her lungs and her sleep quality being not too great. And while she tried to stay optimistic, she was worried too, but she wanted to appear strong for him.
"And the baby?" he asked, recalling reading something about anemia's influence on babies. Apparently most things that affected mothers had potential effects on babies as well - that he did remember.
"Her heart beat is good, anterior position but she hasn't dropped yet," Celeste said with a sigh.
"That's all?" Jess inquired further, frowning his forehead. It wasn't that he didn't trust her - but he did know she had a tendency to soften the news on occasion with best intentions.
Celeste didn't want to lie, but she didn't really want to say it out loud either especially since Dr. Norton also had assured her that it was probably nothing.
"Este?" he insisted, his leg tapping nervously against the floor under his desk by then.
"He said her growth has slowed, but he said there's nothing to worry about yet, she's still within normal limits - he just wants to keep a closer eye on her," she replied. She herself of course had by now read everything she could find on anemia and small babies realizing that the two could well be linked.
Jess took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. "And all you can do is take the supplements?" he inquired, feeling helpless.
"I'll go give weekly blood samples to make sure my iron levels are increasing," she added, trying to sound assuring, but she wasn't feeling too secure with this information either.
"And you're sure you're okay to work tonight? You're not feeling weak or anything? I could ask Jenn to do it," he blurted, worriedly.
This was exactly what she had hoped to avoid.
"Jess, please, I'm fine. It's one evening!" she exclaimed, not wanting to be treated like she was incapable of mingling for a couple of hours. Besides she needed the change of scenery.
"Fine, just make sure you eat well, okay? And call me if there's anything, okay?" Jess pleaded.
"I will! I'll be there in a few hours," Celeste assured, and hung up her phone with a sigh. She'd already ordered anything she could think of that contained high levels or iron, including pâté - the only real form she liked to eat liver in, red meat, edamame, nuts, chickpeas and spinach. Share also knew that iron should be taken on an empty stomach with something rich in vitamin C - so she had a selection of juices ready to go with it. She'd begun to think maybe the iron deficiency was due to her love for milk these days as it decreased its absorption. Thinking about these things made her head hurt - she was supposed to listen to her body, that craved milk, and now just ignore it?
To distract herself, she browsed through the books that had come in the mail. These were now the two books she'd found that Noah had edited, the slice-of-life comics that Jess had mentioned. She had never really seen this type of comics before, hence it was quite refreshing to see that she wasn't completely insane for having thought about thinking of doing something similar. She read one of them in one sitting, leaving the other for later. What she liked was how the book seemed to have a very strong character and of course a very strong outstanding style that was unique to the author, perhaps even book, having not seen any other books by the same author. She studied the book as it was a textbook, not too focused on the reading experience, rather trying to pick it apart analytically - how the culmination was placed and how the author carried the tension. Now she was definitely feeling like she should try to talk to Noah about these, pick his brain a little on how she should proceede. Perhaps Jess was right to give him a chance? At least thinking about this was a good distraction from everything iron related.
"Are you feeling alright?" Jess asked with concern, as soon as she saw her gorgeous pregnant wife stepped into Truncheon two hours later, dressed in a button up denim maternity dress, her long oversized winter coat hanging open but almost covering the entire length of her dress. Somehow she managed to look hot in whatever she wore.
Celeste gave him her signature three kisses, along with a sigh, knowing that Jess couldn't really help but to worry, she just didn't want to hear it, wanting to have something else to think about it.
"I'm good, but just let it be - I've taken my supplements, had a spinach-strawberry smoothie just before I came here - I'm doing everything I can, trust me," she assured quietly. "I just want something else to think about tonight, okay?" she pleaded.
Jess could see in her face that she was struggling too, but he got it - while he could drown himself in his work and forget, as much as it was possible, she really had few escapes these days.
"Okay," he sighed. "Tell me if you need my help," he assured sternly.
Tonight's launch party was a little bit more casual, involving the introduction of a collection of poetry by different authors, hence scattering the attention from just one to several authors. This also meant that they were going to need more room for standing, the room only fitting about 100 people to sit, so she began by folding some of them up and placing them at the back of the small stage backdrop.
"Need help?" a voice asked from behind her.
"I'm good," she replied, recognizing from his voice that it was Noah. For a moment she considered whether this would be a good time to inquire into the graphic novels she'd just browsed at home.
Instead she pondered - What was his curiosity in her? Why approach her? Didn't he have work to do? A life to go home to - the time already being late?
Noah picked up a few chairs anyways, carrying them where she'd been placing the others.
"I said, it was fine - I just needed to clear up a few, not all of them," she replied scoldingly, having made the sides a little narrower. If she needed the help she would've asked Jess.
"Sorry, I just hate seeing…," he began clearly picking his words.
"A pregnant woman moving herself?" she chuckled with a note of sarcasm, trying to push aside all of the prejudice and appear casually friendly.
"Well yeah," Noah chuckled at her response.
"You don't have any work to do?" Celeste insinuated.
"Actually no, I just finished something and I thought I'd stick around for the event," Noah explained.
"Okay - if you want, you can go get those three boxes from by the door," Celeste relented.
"Where do you want them?" he asked.
"On those tables right there," Celeste gestured towards the back of the room.
"Unpacked, I assume?" Noah asked.
"Yep," she replied, dragging three stools to the stage area.
"Have you been doing this long?" he asked casually. It honestly didn't seem like prying, rather just casual small-talk.
"Few months, just helping out a bit since Eliza, who did this before me, quit," Celeste explained, positioning the potted fake flowers that actually looked pretty decent, in their correct positions to liven the place up a bit.
"Listen," he began stepping a bit closer to her, not to speak so loudly, catching Celeste's attention. "I think I know where I know you from, and I am pretty sure that is the reason for the rather unusual NDA in my contract. I just want you to know that I have no intentions of exposing you or prying into whatever it is that has brought you here. I just couldn't help it - I have a photographic memory and my brain just never stops working until I figure stuff like that out. I just wanted to apologize if I made you comfortable," Noah said, as he looked at her.
Celeste didn't know what to say - if it was true, it was a welcome gesture, but she was legally obliged to refrain from comment and deny everything. This definitely gave her something else to think about.
"I don't know what you're talking about," she replied without looking at him, her heart pounding at the thought that someone new might actually know her secret.
"That's fine," he replied, raising his hands, gesturing he was letting it go.
This was about trusting an outsider, which was hard enough without life altering secrets being at stake. But the gesture itself had seemed genuine. Celeste continued to position the books on the tables, seeing Noah head back towards his desk from the corner of her eye. She didn't even want to look at him, feeling more hesitant than ever.
The event went as planned, drawing quite a crowd and thankfully the crowd scattered sooner than usual, diving into parts that headed to different pubs and clubs around the area to celebrate, leaving Jess and Celeste alone to close up.
"Noah told me that he knows," Celeste sighed as they got to the car.
The engine purred, beginning to heat up the car, as Jess stayed quiet. The look of regret came over him - he felt he'd failed to protect her.
"He said he figured it out, but doesn't plan on doing anything with the information, he even apologized. I didn't confirm anything, of course. But I just thought you should know," she added. She'd spent the entire event thinking about it - what this would mean legally if a 3rd party leaked the information - she really didn't know the answer. And while surely it would be reason for firing him and demanding compensation - but what use was compensation if there'd be a media storm to follow. She couldn't just keep running, not with their lives in place and baby on the way. There were were a number of thing he could do with the information - including blackmail. But could he just do that based on a resemblance?
"I'm sorry," Jess exhaled, his hands holding onto the steering wheel as she stared out the windshield.
"Hey, you couldn't have done anything about this - I mean theoretically anyone could've pieced it together, and anyone still can, with or without being an employee at Truncheon. It's not an isolated world we live in here. People remember things, some more than others," she soothed, her initial panic having somewhat subsided. She didn't want Jess to blame himself, seeing how the anemia diagnosis had shaken him up already - this was hard enough for him.
"Do you trust him?" Jess asked. He knew she probably didn't have enough to go on, but he hoped she had a hunch.
"He could've gone straight to the press without signing the contract if he wanted to, but clearly he didn't," Celeste explained.
"So maybe he meant it…," Jess reflected.
"I hope so," she replied - there really wasn't much other to do that give him the benefit of the doubt.