This is so much shorter than my usual chapters, but we're nearing the end. I've loved writing this and I'm determined to finish it, but I'm really wanting it to be over now haha. Hopefully it doesn't seem too rushed, but I understand if it does. Anyway, enjoy.
October 17th, 2030, 6:00 AM
Fey-Wright Residence
The sound of pounding feet against the wooden floor in the hallway woke Maya from her sleep. She braced herself and waited for the incoming missile that was her daughter Sierra. She'd grown accustomed to this morning routine, but unfortunately for Phoenix, he was still getting used to having another small child in the house.
Their bedroom door swung open and Maya pretended to be asleep under the covers still. This didn't stop Sierra from running across the bedroom floor and leaping into the bed, directly onto Phoenix's still sleeping form. He grunted, then groaned in pain. Sierra rolled off of him and into the middle of the bed, between the two of them.
"Good morning Mama Maya!" she yelled, directly into Maya's ear. She then turned her head to Phoenix. "Good morning, Daddy!"
Maya felt that familiar feeling of disappointment as Sierra said her name, but quickly pushed it away. With her mother's death so fresh, Maya had never expected Sierra to begin calling her 'mom' right away, but it did make her a little bit jealous that she was so comfortable calling Phoenix 'daddy' after living with them less than a month.
She tried not to take it to heart. She'd done some research and learned that it made sense for an older adopted child to be more comfortable calling their adoptive parents by their first names at first. In Sierra's case, she was only okay with calling Phoenix 'daddy' already because she had no real memories of her biological father, but her biological mother had only recently passed on. Sierra might eventually come around to calling Maya 'mommy', but Maya knew she might never call her that either, and had to get used to it.
Phoenix's sigh broke Maya from her thoughts. "Morning, honey," he said, keeping his eyes closed, still half asleep. Sierra sat up again and began to shake his shoulder.
"Get up, it's breakfast time! I'm hungry! Can we have pancakes again?!
"Pancakes, huh?" Phoenix said, finally sitting up and rubbing a hand over his face. "I guess so, but this is the last time. We really should start eating healthier around here."
He pushed the covers back and crawled out of bed. Sierra stood up on the bed and lifted her arms. Phoenix picked her up. "Do you want plain? Or maybe blueberries? Or bananas?"
"Hmmm," Maya heard Sierra contemplate. "Chocolate chips?"
Phoenix chuckled. "Okay, but tomorrow we're really going to start eating healthier."
Maya felt her stomach churn at the idea of chocolate chip pancakes. Normally she'd be just as excited as Sierra was about them, but the thought of them today only made her feel nauseous. She tried to push the feeling away, but as her mouth began to water, she threw the blankets back and ran for the bathroom, barely making it in time to throw last night's dinner up into the toilet bowl.
She heard Phoenix set Sierra down in the bedroom and tell her to go downstairs to wake up Pearl and wait for him to make breakfast, then he entered the bathroom behind her.
"Maya, are you okay?"
She was sweating, her hair sticking to her forehead. Phoenix pulled it away from her face to avoid it getting too close to her mouth. She nodded her head. "Sorry, Nick. I'm okay."
Phoenix knelt beside her, putting a hand on her back. "Are you sure?"
"Yeah. Just a bit of a stomach bug, I think."
"Usually stomach bugs last a day, Maya. You've been throwing up specifically in the mornings the last few days. Most people call that morning sickness."
She looked up at him, wiping at her watery eyes. "Huh? We both know that's impossible." She began to get up and headed towards the sink to wash her face and brush her teeth. "It's just a weird coincidence."
Phoenix watched her. "You know, they do say that when you stop thinking about it, when you stop trying, that's when it happens."
Maya finished brushing her teeth and turned to look at him. "I don't think so, Nick."
She walked past him and back into the bedroom to start getting dressed. He followed behind her. "Well, when was the last time you, you know, had your time of the month?"
Maya stopped with the closet door open, and thought. She realized suddenly that she couldn't actually remember. So much had been going on the past few months—what with her diagnosis, her small tiff with Phoenix afterwards, Aimi's death and their adoption of Sierra—that she hadn't thought much about that.
"I'm… I'm not sure." She stared at him, shaking her head. "No way. The doctor said—"
"The doctor never said it was totally 100% impossible," he said. "It was just really unlikely."
Maya sat down heavily on the bed, and Phoenix took a seat beside her. "Do you have any more of those pregnancy tests?"
"No, I threw them out so I wouldn't be tempted to keep taking them."
"Well, it might be time to finally buy another one."
She took a deep breath, puffing her cheeks up and blowing the air back out of them. "This is crazy, Nick. After all this time… and we just adopted Sierra. This is crazy," she repeated.
He smiled at her. "Let's not get excited just yet. But after breakfast, and once Sierra is off on the bus to Kurain with Pearl, we should go to the pharmacy."
She nodded. "Yeah, yeah." She turned to look at him, and grabbed his face to plant a kiss on his cheek. "I love you, Nick."
He wrapped an arm around her. "Love you, too. I'm gonna head downstairs to start breakfast before Sierra comes back up here."
"Okay. I'll be down in a few minutes."
She watched him leave, still dressed in his t-shirt and pajama bottoms, the back of his hair still fluffed up from sleep. He disappeared around the corner and Maya looked down at the floor. She placed a hand against her stomach. "This is crazy," she said again.
Two hours later, they had eaten breakfast (though Maya opted for yogurt and some fruit over the pancakes) and had sent Sierra off on the bus with Pearl to head into Kurain Village. It was a far drive, but Phoenix and Maya had opted for keeping her in school in Kurain even though there was a school closer to their home. They wanted her to stay immersed in Kurain's culture, and with all the other changes to her life lately, they didn't think it was a good idea to force her into a new school, too. Besides, it was her first year. Better to let her stick with what she knew.
Maya sat quietly in the living room to wait for Phoenix to finish showering. They were going to walk into the nearby town to buy a pregnancy test, and she was nervous. She wasn't really sure why. If it was true, that would be great. If it wasn't, it would be maybe mildly disappointing, but she'd finally gotten used to the idea of never having a biological child, and after adopting Sierra it didn't seem to matter that much.
Still, while it would mean more work, it would be nice to expand their family just a little more. Maybe a son to add to their family of girls… or even another daughter, maybe one who would take after Phoenix and become a lawyer instead of a spirit medium.
She shook her head. She couldn't start thinking of those things yet. They had to confirm whether or not it was even true, and if it was, she still knew the risks that would come with it. The doctor hadn't sugar coated the fact that if she were to get pregnant, they'd have to take all sorts of precautions to make sure she and the baby would make it through.
"Maya? Are you ready to go?"
Maya jumped and turned to find Phoenix standing in the doorway of the living room. He was dressed and ready for the day. She'd been so lost in her thoughts that she hadn't even heard him get out of the shower or come down the stairs.
She smiled at him and nodded. "Ready as I'll ever be."
October 17th, 2030, 10:00 AM
Fey-Wright Residence
Phoenix looked up from his spot on the edge of the bed as Maya came out of the bathroom. "Well?"
"I can't look, Nick," she said, beginning to pace in the bedroom. "You go check for me."
He patted the bed beside him. "Come sit first. We need to give it a few minutes anyway." Maya stopped her pacing and sat down beside him, her hands in her lap. "How do you feel?" he asked.
"I don't know," she said, shrugging. "Weird, I guess. Nervous… but not afraid of any particular outcome."
"Yeah… same here."
Maya looked at him. For some odd reason she'd almost forgotten that this would affect him as much as it would her. Phoenix wrapped an arm around her, pulling her closer to his side. "Either way, it'll be fine, right?"
"Yeah. I've been so happy the past month, with Sierra moving in with us and everything. This just seems to have come out of nowhere."
"We do still have that one extra bedroom," he said. "Maybe that's a sign."
Maya smiled, leaning her head on his shoulder. They were quiet for a few minutes. Phoenix looked down at his watch. "We should check now," he said.
"Will you first, Nick? Please?"
He nodded and got up, going into the bathroom where the pregnancy test was sitting on the counter. Maya waited impatiently, fidgeting on the bed. He seemed to be in there forever before he finally came out, pregnancy test in hand. For once Maya couldn't read the expression on his face.
He approached her slowly, and Maya found herself leaning forward with anticipation. "Well?!"
Finally, he smiled. "Two lines. According to the box that means it's positive…"
Maya took a shuddering breath in. "Are you sure?" she said, standing up and moving towards him, holding out her hand. He held out the test to her and passed it over. Sure enough, there were two definite lines. It wasn't even faint; this was definitely a positive test.
She covered her mouth with a shaking hand. "I can't believe it," she said, tears beginning to well in her eyes.
Phoenix wrapped her in a hug. "We'll still need to go to the doctor asap, but it seems like this is actually happening. After all this time."
She laughed. "You were right. I just had to stop worrying about it, and it'd finally happen." She got serious again. "But yeah. Doctor, right away. He already told us the risks involved, so I want to make sure we do everything we can to make sure me and this baby are safe."
He held her close, and Maya pulled her head back just enough to stand on her tippy toes to kiss him. She smiled against his lips, another giggle almost bursting out of her. Phoenix pulled away and raised an eyebrow. "Something funny?"
"No," she said, shaking her head. "I'm just happy. Did you ever think we'd have a family like this? Pearl and Trucy, our older girls, already starting their own lives, and then Sierra, still practically a baby. And now this," she said, resting a hand against her stomach.
"You know, I can honestly say that yes, I always could see myself having a family with you. I didn't know how it'd happen or when, but I knew if you wanted it, it would happen eventually. I couldn't be happier."
She smiled. "Me too, Nick. Me too."
Maya understood that she couldn't go around telling people yet. Even with normal pregnancies there was always a chance in the first few weeks that she could lose the baby, and in her case the risk was even higher. She did make a doctor's appointment and they managed to fit her in for the very next day. Phoenix took time off work to go with her.
At the appointment, the doctor told her she was already about six weeks along, and would normally be past the point of not being able to tell people. Unfortunately for her, the risk of miscarriage or preterm birth was going to be there throughout her entire pregnancy. He assured her they would do all they could to make sure that didn't happen, and Maya and Phoenix both left the office feeling relatively confident and happy.
They decided together not to tell any of the kids yet. Sierra probably wouldn't understand, and if anything did happen early on, they thought it would be better to spare Trucy and Pearl the pain of it. They would obviously have to tell them once Maya started showing, but for now they were happy to have this little secret to themselves.
October 27th, 2030, 8:00 PM
Fey-Wright Residence
Phoenix set the book he was reading down on the bedside table. Sierra had fallen asleep to the sound of his voice about halfway in, but he made it a habit to continue on until the story was over, just to be sure she was really asleep. Her brown hair was braided and resting against her pillow as she laid on her side, her cheek pressed into the pillow. She was wearing the pink pajamas with the bunnies on them, a new pair he and Maya had bought for her not long after she moved in with them.
He smiled down at her. It had taken her slightly longer to get used to the idea of him being her father than Trucy had back when he first adopted her, but not by much. After only a few weeks she'd begun to call him 'daddy', and it made his heart swell every time he heard it. He was truly thankful she'd come into both of their lives.
And there would eventually be a new baby as well. He hadn't lied when he'd told Maya he always could see having a family with her, but he had to admit he didn't think it would all happen so fast. True, they'd been trying for a baby for a long time, and with the death of Sierra's mother they had finally been able to adopt a child, but Maya's pregnancy was a shock to both of them. So long as the pregnancy went well, they would have added two small children to their family in less than a year. A lot quicker than most couples grew their family, but in some weird way, it felt right. He wasn't getting any younger either. Having Sierra around did help with that 'getting old' feeling, but with Pearl always off in Kurain and with Trucy over in Khura'in still, he couldn't help feeling that he was getting up there.
He sighed and pulled Sierra's blankets further around her to tuck her in, then leaned down to place a kiss against her forehead. She didn't even stir. He got up and turned off the light before closing her door over, then made his way back to his own bedroom. It was still early, but Maya had told him she was tired and was going to lay down.
He walked in quietly. Maya was on her side, facing him, eyes closed. She was still dressed in her Master's robes, but she was definitely asleep. He wasn't that tired, but he found himself crawling into bed beside her and wrapping an arm around her. Maya stirred only a little, enough to recognize that he was there with her, but then her breathing deepened again.
Phoenix closed his eyes, letting his hand rest against Maya's stomach. She wasn't showing yet, but just knowing that there was a baby growing in there, a baby he'd helped make, was exciting on its own.
As he lay there with Maya, he found himself wondering. Would they be another girl, or maybe finally a boy? Would they become another spirit medium, or follow in his footsteps, or become something totally unrelated to either he or Maya? Would Pearl, Trucy, and Sierra be good big sisters? Well, of that he had no doubt.
How would they decorate the nursery? Would they look more like him or Maya? There were so many unknowns.
Just as he began to drift to sleep, he had another thought that made him pop his eyes open again.
What would they name the new baby? He sighed to himself and got up, leaving Maya in the bedroom and going downstairs to his small office. He'd never be able to sleep now. He knew it would take them the whole nine months to narrow it down, so he figured he'd get started on it now.
He had a list of potential baby names to make.
