Chapter 18
Two weeks later…
"Yeah, I'm on my way to the gyno right now. I figured it was worth a shot to see if anything's changed since my diagnosis 7 years ago. Okay, Tara. I'll call you as soon as I'm done."
Kara had scheduled her annual check-up with her regular gynecologist, since she was still looking for a doctor for the supernatural she felt comfortable with. She waited for her turn at the office, flipping through an old fashion magazine discarded by a previous patient. She couldn't help tapping her foot in restlessness.
"Kara Taylor?"
"Yeah."
"Come with me, please…okay, you know the drill. Just put the gown on and get comfortable, and the doctor will be with you shortly."
Comfortable! Heh. Yeah, right. She wouldn't even come in every year except her health insurance all but required it. She took off her clothes and laid them neatly on the chair. The gown was huge on her, and definitely drafty in the back. Kara sat on the table, refusing to get into the undignified position until the last minute. She was up to 148 dots on the ceiling when the doctor finally came in.
"Hello, Kara. It's nice to see you again. What are you in for today?" Dr. Lee was a friendly, petite woman in her early 40s. She usually tried to make the exams as quick and painless as possible. She also tried to warm up her hands before doing the breast exam, which was much appreciated.
"Just the annual check-up."
"Okay. Let's get a few things down on the chart, and then we'll get started. Date of your last period?"
"I'm not sure. I've been too busy to jot it down. It was recent, though."
"Okay. No complaints, pains, etc.?"
"Nope."
"Date of the last time you had intercourse?"
"Sunday."
"New boyfriend?" Dr. Lee asked with a smile.
"Since the last time I was here.
"Still doing your self breast exams?"
"In the shower."
"Alright, let's get you situated on the table and have a look."
Dr. Lee carried out the routine, starting with the breast exam, then pressing around on Kara's abdomen to look for any abnormalities. Then on to the last part. Kara focused on staying relaxed as the doctor took her cell sample, then used a light for the internal examination.
"Kara, do you know that you're pregnant?"
"Um, I suspected, maybe. Just a feeling. Is there anyway to tell if things are different than before? Another miscarriage is not acceptable," she replied, gazing up at the ceiling.
"I'll order some blood work, and see if I can squeeze you in with the ultrasound tech, okay? We're prepared ahead this time. I'll do my very best to make sure you keep your baby, Kara. You can get dressed now. I'll send in one of the nurses to draw your blood."
"Okay. Thanks."
Kara was just retying her shoes when the nurse knocked on the door. She drew two vials from Kara's arm, and left her with a bottle of pre-natal vitamins. Kara walked back out to the lobby to wait for the doctor.
"Kara, can you wait a couple hours? The next time he has open is 1:30," Dr. Lee said upon finding her.
"Yeah, I've got time. Is it okay if I get lunch?"
"Yeah, just drink a soda or some water. It makes the ultrasound easier to read. The nurse at the desk will give you the room number when you settle your bill."
"Okay. See you later."
Her appointment was on the same floor, so that made things easy. Kara drove to a nearby shopping center with a fast food place, and called Tara.
"Hey. Yeah, it went fine. I have to go back to see the ultrasound tech in a couple hours. They took some blood, too. So, I'm just going to have some lunch and wander around for a bit before they need me back…I feel weird calling you at The Magic Box for this. Yeah, yeah, I know no one can overhear. Hey, they called my number for my food. I gotta go. Yeah, I'll call you after the ultrasound. Bye, Tara."
------------------------------------------
Kara walked into the office at 1:20 and checked in. Her name was called right on time.
"Kara Taylor?"
"Déjà vu," she muttered.
At least she didn't need to undress for this, just lift her shirt up and slide her shorts down a bit. They got started with the scan as soon as Dr. Lee joined them.
"What are we looking for today?" the tech asked.
"Any abnormalities that might indicate a weakness in her uterus and danger to the embryo."
"How many weeks?"
"Only a few, right, Kara?"
"Yeah." The conductive gel was squirted onto her stomach. "Cold!"
"Sorry. Nothing we can do about that. I'm going to move the wand around and have a look. The gel moving around might feel a little weird."
The doctor and the tech slowly looked over every inch of her organs. Kara was starting to doze off, when Dr. Lee tapped her hand. She pointed to a tiny dot on the screen with the tip of her pen.
"There's your baby, Kara. Can you see?"
"How can you tell?"
"It's in the shading, really. If you look close – squint, even – you can see a tiny variation in color between the embryo and the lining surrounding it. Neat, huh? Of course, when you're further along, we'll be able to see a lot bigger representation of the baby. At 12 weeks, it will be about 2 inches long," the tech informed her.
"Can you print me a picture of that?"
"Sure.
"Are we done, yet?"
"Not quite. We want to be very thorough, considering your previous history," Dr. Lee replied.
"Okay. I'll go back to falling asleep, then," Kara joked.
She did actually doze off for a bit. The tech shook her awake, then handled her a towel for wiping off her stomach.
"Well, give me the verdict."
"I want to check you every 4 weeks, but as of now, I see no warning signs. Take your vitamins, get plenty of rest, and call me immediately if you have any pain or bleeding. My secretary can give you my private number, too, when you make your next appointment. Oh, and take it easy on the exercise. No high impact activities."
"Yes, ma'am. Pilates okay?"
"Yeah, you're in no danger from that. Okay, I'll see you soon, Kara. Drive safely."
Kara shook hands with both of them, then left the medical building. She headed for home, thinking of where she could hide the vitamins so Spike wouldn't find them yet.
------------------------------------------------------
"Well, what did she say?" Tara answered the phone on the first ring.
"Hello to you, too?"
"Kara!"
"So far, a clean bill of health. She wants me back in 4 weeks for another scan, and to take it kind of easy. We might know more after the blood results come back."
"Oh, I'm so relieved. I've been anxious all day. Anything else happen?"
"I got some pre-natal vitamins, and a picture."
"No way!"
"Yep. A black and white picture of a tiny dot. The doc circled it so I'd be able to find it more than once."
"Scan it and e-mail it to me."
"Jeez, you sound more excited, and I'm the pregnant lady. You're planning to be the 'perfect aunt' that fills them up on sugar and sends them back to me bouncing off the walls, aren't you?"
"Who, me?"
"Yes, Miss I Only Look Innocent. Oh, I just heard the doorbell. I'll talk to you later."
"Bye."
Kara hung up the phone and ran to the door. There was a long box on the doorstep. She brought it inside and set it on the kitchen island, sliding the rubber bands off. Kara lifted the lid, and inside was a dozen long-stem pink roses. She found the card, and snorted in amusement at the message.
'Congrats, Yavanna.'
Kara arranged the flowers in a vase, then yelled at the top of her lungs: "YAVANNA!"
"You bellowed?"
"Care to explain?" Kara demanded.
"I've known since I read your aura. I just waited until you figured it out for yourself before saying anything."
"Do the PTBs know? You haven't been returning my messages."
"No, you seem to have effectively shielded yourself from their view. As for not calling – I've been rather busy."
"New boy toy?"
"Same boy toy. He's quite the stallion, for a human, and creative, too. But I suppose you don't want to hear about that. So, how are you feeling?"
"About ready to strangle you for not telling me straight off," Kara growled. "Pull that shit on mortals, Yavanna, but don't try it with me. We go back too far."
"Such language around the little one!"
"Save it! He or she doesn't have ears, yet. Who else out there knows? The child of a vampire and an Ossirian is too rare – nay, impossible – for there not to be some prophecy about how special they will be. Which means my child will be a target, either for death, or manipulation. If you don't have any ideas, find out."
"Okay, okay! Don't have to get hostile. Look, I don't know anything. I only knew you had conceived from doing the deep reading of your aura. I suggest you dig in the palace archives. And I'll keep my ears open."
"I already have once, but I didn't find anything but vague symbolism. It will take weeks to go through every prophecy in the records," Kara sighed.
"Sing for the anagogic that was at your party. Isn't that what he does? Warn people about their potential futures?"
"Wow, you actually talked to someone? I thought you spent the whole party trying to get into Brian's pants."
"I didn't know pregnancy meant turning into a bitch," Yavanna hissed.
"Hey, hormones, honey. They're unpredictable. Let me know what you find out?"
"Yeah…I wouldn't want to lose another old friend."
"Thanks, Yavanna. I'm just worried," Kara said more softly.
"Yeah, I get that. I'll see what I can turn up without raising suspicion. Later, Kara." She teleported away, leaving a calmer Kara staring at the flowers and wondering whom she could really trust.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Kara looked up from the stove and smiled at the newly arrived Spike.
"Hey, baby. Dinner will be ready in ten minutes."
"What is that? You've been making some, uh, odd combinations lately."
"Just experimenting. I've been using the same old recipes for years. Might as well attempt something new."
"Whatever, pet. I'm going to take a shower while you're finishin' up." He stole a kiss, then jogged noisily up the stairs to the bedroom.
She'd been trying to get up the courage for two weeks to talk to him about their future. Tonight, she was determined to spit it out, somehow.
She set the bowls on the table, and waited for him to come down to eat. Spike poked at the contents with a fork.
"What is it?"
"Pasta, Spike. You know, noodley stuff that's been around a few thousand years since the Chinese invented it?"
"You don't have to get snippy. What's in the sauce?"
"Various vegetables. You don't have to eat it. There's plenty of blood in the fridge, anyway," she sighed.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing. I just had a bit of a fight with Yavanna today, so my mood's off."
"Wanna talk about it?"
"Not really. It was just a women being bitchy thing. We're over it."
"I'll bite 'er if it'll make you feel better," he offered.
That got a giggle. "No, it's okay. She'd probably enjoy it too much, anyway."
"Knew I could get a grin."
"I love you. Have I told you that recently?"
"Last night on the phone. Love you, too, kitten. Are you sure you're alright?"
"We haven't really gotten to that conversation we were supposed to have…"
"I didn't want to push you. You seemed too upset. What do you want to talk about, Kara?" He was all ears. No better time.
"I - We never figured out what we'd do if we mated, you know? Like where to live, and stuff like that. I know you claimed me, but…do you want to be tied to me – at this point?"
He leaned back in his chair, sighing as he considered his answer. "I forget, most of the time, that you're still on your first lifetime. I should have thought about what that means for you…"
"Okay…"
"You haven't lived long enough to move outside human expectations, and that's not a bad thing. I don't mean that it is. That's just where you are, at 29, right?"
"Yeah. You mean that time moves differently for an immortal being…your perspective is different. Where your average human has to fit everything they'd ever want to do in 78 years, a vampire, or other immortal has the potential of infinity. If you waited 20 years to see The Great Wall, it's just a drop in the bucket."
"Exactly. What was expected for your future when you were a kid?"
"Go to college, get married, raise kids, and help the old folks when they got feeble. Just like every other American."
"And what did you want to do? How did you imagine your adult life?"
"Pretty much the same, but just one child, and the freedom to not slave away at some job I hated. Once I had to start wearing glasses, I didn't think about a boy picking me to be his bride. I don't think I can remember any time that I pretended to be a bride. Probably because of my parents' marriage being kaput by the time I was 5. I don't know. I never thought of myself as not being a mother someday, though…My mother, she left me letters for all the important occasions…my 25th birthday, an engagement, my wedding, first child, turning 30 – everything that she would have been around for, with a normal life span. She actually picked up birthday cards for every decade." Kara chuckled ruefully, shaking her head. "Of course, I've only opened the one letter. It amazed me that she could be so thoughtful still, with all she was going through – all the pain before her death. I don't even know when she got out to shop for all those cards." Her voice had picked up a distant quality, not really talking to him anymore. She blinked, and looked up at Spike, who'd just been listening and letting her think out loud.
"I'm sorry…I kind of got off topic."
"It's alright, luv. I know how much she means to you."
"Like yours. You never really answered my question. You've pretty much known where I'm at from the beginning. What do you want from this, Spike? Staying with me will be quite different than 100 years with Dru. And I think you know that, but for arguments' sake, what happens in 20 or 50 years when we've gotten comfortable, and this amazing woman comes into your life somehow? Someone who stirs your blood and gets you like no one else before. I know you'd never cheat, but you'd wonder what if, and I'd be the ball and chain keeping you from finding out." Playing devil's advocate seemed to be their thing tonight.
"Kara, I claimed you."
"Without talking to me first. I know you, Spike. You're possessive of your women, and I can't blame you after the Angelus and Dru mess. What I'm getting at is that I have no clue what your plans are. The claim doesn't keep you here, it just means I belong to you," she continued quietly.
"It wouldn't be one sided if you hadn't revoked yours!"
"And I did it because we hadn't decided on anything beforehand! I didn't take you with me with the intent of mating that night. You surprised the hell out of me when you said 'mine'! Even with an eternity claim, I don't die if you do! And you'd still be just as vulnerable to a dusting. I can't be killed, so I'd have to keep living with the feeling of you being gone. It's a very serious decision!" With every sentence she'd gotten louder. She sat down again, panting from her outburst. "It'd be like two people meeting in Vegas for the first time and getting married over the weekend. All impulse, and then you're left with this huge responsibility that you never thought about," she added quietly. "Do you mind if I go lay down for a while? I'm not feeling very well."
"You didn't eat much," he murmured.
"Yeah…just put it in the fridge. I'll finish it later." She turned for the stairs, walking like she was very tired.
Spike sat there still, feeling like he'd done something grievous, but he'd missed what exactlyit was. Somewhere along the line, he'd missed a step, and now his girl was clearly hurt. Had he taken what they had for granted so quickly? Looking back, it could almost be viewed that way. Well, he wouldn't be getting any peace until he thought it all out. Spike exhaled, and started clearing the table to go wash the dishes. Once everything was put away, he went outside to smoke, walk, and think. It was late, or early, when he went upstairs to bed. Trying the handle of Kara's bedroom door, he found it locked, and all the lights were out. Sighing, he went into the next bedroom, undressed, and tried to fall asleep.
