Chapter 12

In the car as we drove to the next city, all she did was giggle. And I couldn't stop smiling either. Mark sat in the back, humming songs my Metallica until finally he put music on. He stuck in the only CD that he had with him, Pantera: Vulgar Display of Power. He put it in on random. By Demons be Driven came on and he started singing, roaring really. Amber laughed and turned the music down for a moment so that she could speak and be heard.

"I want to name our daughter, Claudia, we know that, but what if it's a boy?"

Mark groaned, picking up on the vampire thing. "You're naming the kid after someone?" he paused and listened to Pantera for a moment. "In that case just name the dude Dimebag."

"Mark we aren't naming her after Claudia, it's just a nice name."

"Yeah but what happens when she grows up and asks about her name? Naming her that takes away her individual identity. If you name the girl Claudia then every time you call her down to dinner or whatever you'll think of a little blonde haired vampire."

I shrugged. "Whatever. It's a pretty name, that's what matters."

Amber turned in her chair to look at him. "But Mark, that may be so in the beginning, but once the kid is like two or three years old they'll have a strong personality of their own and make the name Claudia their own."

"Eh…I suppose," he laughed. "And I bet that whole discussion was pointless because you're gonna have a boy. What would you name him then?"

We, Amber and I that is, turned to each other and grinned. She and I spoke at the same time.

"Armand."

Mark rolled his eyes. "Jesus Christ someone please kill me. You two are obviously drunk. Obviously."

I laughed. We went on to talk about other things, about if Amber still wanted to travel or not, which she did, and we spoke about storylines, whether or not to tell the world that she was pregnant, which would have to be brought up with Vince and the writing crew. After a few hours in the car we pulled onto Long Island, over the Verrazano Bridge. The midday traffic wasn't terrible and we arrived in Uniondale, New York a little later. The Marriott Hotel was right next to the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum. There was a hockey game or something going on when we got there, the Islanders obviously, and the parking lot was more full than I expected it to be, what with the Islander's reputation. We went to the hotel and up to our rooms where we hung out for the rest of the night.

What I was beginning to notice was that I'd been wearing my mask around in public less and less. I'd begun to feel more comfortable and free without constraining myself like that.

Amber and I went up to our room, Mark leaving us to go across the street to the Coliseum Deli to get sandwiches and chips and whatnot. When he came up to the room about twenty minutes later he also had with him a bottle of Pepsi, and we used the hotel's cups and ice to drink it. We each had a sandwich and shared the chips. And it was one of the few times that Mark was in a solemn mood, and the first time that I'd ever seen him like that and not feel the same way. He was staring out the window, absentmindedly sipping his soda and tugging at the bottom of his hair. Amber asked if he was okay.

He slowly turned his head to her, his eyes seemingly unloving. His gaze set on her for a moment until he looked at me. "I was thinking about Paul…" he said.

I looked away, staring at the floor. Amber sighed. "You know, I'm not going to sit her all happy while both of you are all sad! I won't!" Mark and I both lifted our heads just slightly enough for our eyes to meet. She stood between us. "Be happeeee! Kane and I are having a baby, what isn't there to be happy about?"

Mark sighed. "Ahh…nothing. I'm sorry. I'm very happy for you."

"You should be happy for yourself," she said to him. "You'll have a little niece running around."

He chuckled. "Yeah, I'll spoil the little tike," he paused, and grinned at her. "How do you know it won't be my nephew?"

Her beautiful, serene smile came on again. She looked down at her stomach and put her hand there. "Well, Mark…" she laughed lightly, "you aren't the only person who can sense things. I couldn't tell before, but I can now. I know that this baby will be a girl. My little Claudia. Our Claudia."

Mark nodded his head and sported a sarcastic looking smile. "So I guess you won't worry about Damien or Amadeo or Lestat, now will you?"

"I guess not," I answered him. He stretched and yawned.

"Well that girl is going to be a wrasslin' baby, I'll tell you that much. Are you gonna bring her on the road?"

Amber placed a hand on my arm and sat down next to me on the bed. "Well until she starts school. Then I'll settle down with her and we can live like normal people," she rubbed my arm and leaned her head against me. "And Kane is staying with us whether he likes it or not. Because I don't know how I'd live without him."

"Well of course I'll stay with you," I answered her. "I mean…we don't even have to work if we don't want to because we have so much damn money."

Mark yawned again and looked over at a little digital clock. "Ooh! Look at the time! I must be going now. It's past my bedtime." He stood and grabbed a handful of chips as he walked out the door. I cleaned up all the wax paper and bags and all that stuff as Amber stared up at me from where she sat. Then she stood and changed into pajama pants. I noticed how muscles were beginning to shape in her upper arms. And also in her abs. But those wouldn't matter for a while because soon that whole section of her body would be round. She laughed.

"What are you gawking at?"

I shook my head to myself. "Sorry. I was just spacing out. You're just so beautiful."

To that she giggled and crawled into bed, decked out in one of my shirts which was ridiculously big on her. She sat up, blankets at her waist, and kept staring at me as I finished cleaning up and ten took off my jeans and shirt, leaving me in just boxers. I sat down on the foot of the bed and put my hand on her knee.

"Do you think you'll be sick again?" I asked her softly.

She shrugged, eyes starting to fall shut. She was tired. "I don't know."

"Well if you are and you need anything just wake me up, alright?" she nodded and I stood to go turn off the light. I got into bed next to her and I put my arms around her in the darkness. She put her hands over mind and moved them down to her stomach.

"Kane, we're going to have a baby. A baby, Kane."

"Yes. Claudia. Our daughter."

"What do you think she'll look like?"

I pulled her closer to me. "She'll probably have hazel eyes…reddish brown hair…" I laughed a bit. "She'll look nothing like Claudia, that's for sure. But it's still a great name. That's why we're naming her that."

"We should just name her Claudette or something in that case. Or else Mark is gonna be on us about it every waking moment. Ha."

"Heh…she'll probably be one of those kids that will always be called by a nickname or her middle name anyway."

"What should her middle name be?"

I sighed. "Well I think it should be something relevant to her, so we should wait until she's born. She may not develop as a person for a few years, but she'll still have character even before she's born."

"True."

Nothing else was said as we lay there. She fell asleep after a while and so did I, holding each other and holding our daughter.