Thanks for your review Kelly! I'm glad Aster came around to wanting to be a big sister too!
The Chemistry In Darkness
Chapter Seventy-Seven
Friday 28th February 2025
The next morning, Chloe struggled awake. Not because she was too tired to wake up but rather she was pretty comfortable finding herself wrapped up once more in between Elly behind her and Aster curled up in front of her. Although she did feel Elly's neck sweating gently against the crook of her neck, unlike she had the previous night they'd curled up with one another.
Elly had made them dinner the previous evening and the three had enjoyed the meal together in the tent. Hiding away some would say from The Pack but more so wanting to get used to being a family. The meal Elly had cooked was incredible. Chloe had been on the Island for a day and it already felt like home to her. Maybe it was having the two people who meant the world to her back in her arms that made her feel at home.
Chloe tried hard not to let the sweat from Elly's neck irritate her but after a few moments she shuffled gently and before she realized it, there was a large yelp from Elly behind her as she thundered backwards onto the floor next to the bed, narrowly missing the bedside table to her head again.
Chloe heard the sound of a crack followed by more yelping from Elly. Chloe soon found Aster was rustling awake from the noise and whilst not yet awake, Chloe felt comfortable enough to lean backwards to see what was taking Elly so long to get up only to find the woman sprawled out on the floor, face first, holding her left arm under her body.
Chloe giggled at the brunette, "Okay, Elly, you fell off the bed in shock of me telling you you're going to be our baby's Mum. Did you fall off the bed in shock at realizing I'm still here and haven't gone anywhere? Or from shock of remembering you're going to be a Mum again?"
"Ow," Elly groaned loudly, then lifting her arm awkwardly, "I think I broke my wrist."
Chloe frowned, "Elly, you're a werewolf, you've been telling me how close to immortal you are without actually telling me what can harm a werewolf and I don't think a broken wrist is one of them. You did not break your wrist falling out of bed."
Elly moaned in pain, holding her arm against her chest, "I can break anything today..."
As Chloe stared at Elly in confusion, Aster yawned and lifted herself up so she was leaning on Chloe and looking down at her Mum, "Mama, what else are you gonna break today? You're a walking disaster on the Nu Moon."
"What moon?" Chloe asked quickly in confusion.
"Nu Moon," Aster repeated in a giggle.
Elly stretched out her fingers from her broken wrist, seething when the movement stung painfully, "Aster means the New Moon. Say it with me, baby girl...New not Nu."
"Nu...Nu...New," Aster stumbled over the word all over again until she got it, "Mama, can we lock you inside away from everything today so you don't break anything else?"
Elly struggled gently to stand up but as she did, Elly tried to take a step forwards but her foot was caught in the blanket that was lying over the edge of the bed on the floor, and she tripped over backwards, trying everything not to react by placing her arms out again to break her fall and risk hurting her wrist even more or even her other wrist, Elly fell directly on her ass, "Ow!"
Chloe stared down at Elly, "What is going on here? Where has my super-powered werewolf girlfriend gone?"
Elly looked up at Chloe, struggling not to burst into tears at Chloe calling her 'girlfriend.'
"Mama will be back tomorrow, we're stuck with human Mama today," Aster rolled her eyes.
"I'm sorry, what?" Chloe's eyes widened, "Human?"
"Yeah…forgot to tell you about that, didn't I?" Elly realized quietly, as she stumbled about getting back to her feet, making sure to keep a safe distance from the blanket that still lay over the edge of the bed onto the floor, "I'm human…for today…hence the broken wrist and the…falling over like a klutz."
Chloe let go of Aster, stumbled for a moment herself as she got out of the bed and stood up, standing opposite Elly, "Are you serious…you're not like…having me on?"
Elly smiled softly, "The Full Moon Cycle turns me into an actual wolf three nights a month…and every month…about two weeks after the Full Moon Cycle, the New Moon comes to pass for a single night…and from sunrise of the day that the New Moon will hit the sky that evening until the sunrise the next morning…werewolves have no powers…we're human."
"The New Moon takes away your powers and you're human…for a day…once a month?" Chloe repeated, wanting to make sure she understood Elly correctly.
Elly blushed as she continued holding her arm to her chest, trying to ignore the pain in her wrist, "Yes…little ol' klutzy, tripping over everything, breaking things as I go…me."
Chloe thought for a moment, "Wait…this happened when you were in Erinsborough. You had that day where I beat you on our run and you kept falling over and you rushed off home to be with Aster because…"
"I needed to lock myself up in my bedroom at the Kennedy's with Aster so I didn't make more of a fool out of myself in front of you when really all I wanted was to impress you when we went running," Elly admitted.
"Oh, so you were running in front of me every time to impress me? Part of me was hoping you were," Chloe smirked, before reaching out to take Elly's uninjured hand, "You're really human for today?"
"As human as you and Aster are today…yes," Elly confirmed.
"And what do you normally do on your one day a month that you're human?" Chloe asked.
"Curl up in bed waiting for the next sun to rise because I'm an absolute mess during the New Moon phase…as you can see," Elly shyly held up her left arm, "I've already broken one wrist and I've been up for less than five minutes. It'll heal within hours tomorrow once my powers return…I just gotta put up with it until then."
"Well, then I guess I could be persuaded to spend the day in bed with you to keep you safe and stop you from breaking anything," Chloe decided with another smirk, then paused, "After you get that wrist strapped up and…our baby needs breakfast…think we can manage that first?"
Elly smiled at Chloe, "Is it 'our baby' that needs breakfast or you do?"
"Okay mostly me, but I am eating for two now," Chloe giggled.
"Then I'd better get my baby Mama fed with a really big breakfast…and try not to break anything else while I'm at it," Elly decided.
Chloe closed the distance between them, "As long as it's not breaking my heart, we'll get through this day together."
Elly smiled at Chloe's teasing, "I'll never do that."
"Good," Chloe whispered before leaning in and kissing Elly deeply, then pulling back, "Wow, you really are human."
"You can tell by the way I kiss?" Elly was surprised.
"Definitely, you haven't kissed me like that since we were dating years ago," Chloe giggled.
Aster rolled around on the bed, "Are you two done with the kissing so we can go get breakfast and I can introduce everyone to Beebo?"
"Aster wants eggs on toast for breakfast," Aster's soft toy Beebo spoke up.
Chloe jumped again at the sound of the toy talking and seeming to understand their conversation, weirded out that even Elly been human didn't make her surprised by the supernatural toy, whispering to Elly, "That toy creeps me out…how does a toy I bought at the hospital gift shop end up been supernatural?"
Elly shrugged, "Guess someone supernatural must've stopped by the gift shop too. C'mon, let's get all my baby's fed breakfast."
Chloe held up her hand, "How about we all get dressed first? I'd really like to not meet any other members of your family in my PJ's."
Elly chuckled in agreement, leaning forward to kiss Chloe but nearly slipped over again, allowing Chloe to catch her.
After spending most of the day lying in bed together, curled up with Aster and enjoying been back in one another's arms, Chloe was now sitting with Aster at dinner time.
Aster was sitting on Chloe's lap as she was seated on one of the chairs by the firepit at the camp. The pair were smirking to one another as they watched with amusement as Elly, Raven, Clarke and Lexa were cooking dinner for the entire Pack to welcome Chloe to their family.
The New Moon turning all four werewolves human for the day was clearly having an effect on their ability to do even a basic thing like cooking a meal for everyone. Especially Elly whom had her left wrist strapped up and could only use her uninjured hand. Despite the wrist injury been the only one between the four wolves, and the other three been unscathed from their day of been human, their injuries only seemed to mount up as their meals were cooked up.
Each seemed to be taking it in turns to screech when they touched a hot pan, seethe at how hot the food was as they tasted if it was cooked yet and fumbling around with every cooking utensil. On top of tripping over each other as they mingled around the cooking station that Chloe had been rather impressed that they had set up when they'd made the Island their home.
Abby had returned to the Island after her night shift at the hospital, with Chloe unsurprised to learn Abby had paid for a boat to bring her back to the Island rather than attempt to oar a dingy out there herself in her human form. Chloe felt even more appreciation for bumping into Lexa at the café, realizing she had been crazy to think she could manage to on her own.
Abby had gone straight to her tent to sleep off her night shift and Chloe hadn't seen her as yet. Romulus hadn't appeared either. He was still the only member of The Pack that Chloe had yet to meet yet and Chloe couldn't help but be overly nervous about it.
Elly had told her that Romulus was more than a thousand years old, had taken almost that long to meet his mate, Abby, and was very much the father figure to all the young women. He was an intimidating figure to say the least to Chloe.
As Chloe watched Elly shout in pain at burning her hand on the side of one of the frying pans, Chloe cuddled up to Aster once more, "Are they always like this on the New Moon?"
Aster nodded, her toy, Beebo, still in her hands, "One of my first memories is of these four on the Nu…New Moon…and how funny they are unable to move and be as they are. I'm so used to Mama been a wolf now, it's so funny to see her been human like you."
"Do you want to be like your Mum, Aster?" Chloe asked quietly.
"You don't have to whisper, Chloe, Mama doesn't have her superpowered hearing," Aster giggled, before snuggling against Chloe, "I do want to be like Mama…and you."
"Like me?" Chloe squeaked in surprise.
Aster smiled up at Chloe, "You're the best mate, Mama and I could ever ask for."
Chloe was touched by Aster's words but was soon distracted when she noticed in the distance that Abby was exiting her tent with a gruff looking man whom she could only assume to be Romulus. The married couple walked hand in hand over to the campfire.
For over a thousand years of age…he does not look a day over forty…yet also someone whom I never want to get on the bad side of…and Romulus looks familiar somehow…
Elly noticed Abby and Romulus too, dropping what she was doing at the cooking station and walking over to meet the couple, motioning for Chloe and Aster to get up and join her.
As Chloe and Aster did so, Elly placed her hand around Chloe's waist, smiling when Aster stood in front of them. Abby and Romulus walked over to them.
"Abby, I know you only met Chloe for a moment yesterday morning, but I hope you can properly meet her this time," Elly re-introduced her mate to The Pack members she thought of as quasi-parents to her and Aster, then nodded at Romulus respectfully, "Romulus, this is Chloe…my mate."
Romulus looked Chloe up and down before striking out his hand to shake Chloe's politely, "Another bloody female. Can't anyone's mate be a man? Guess I still have some hope left for Raven. I'd like to not be the only man around here."
Abby elbowed Romulus in the ribs, actually hurting the human version of the powerful werewolf, "He's joking! We're incredibly happy you both found each other, Elly and Chloe. And that Aster has two incredible people to watch her grow up and become the person or werewolf she's going to become."
Elly smiled at their acceptance of Chloe, knowing that Romulus was indeed joking about been upset that another woman had descended their Pack, "If it's okay with you two…Chloe would like to live with us out here on the Island until we…figure things out back home."
"Of course," Romulus smiled this time, taking his hand and shaking Chloe's again, "Welcome to the family."
Before Chloe could get emotional at the feeling of being part of Elly's family, Elly pressed her lips to Chloe's forehead then squeezed her hips, "Well…speaking of family and…wanting another male around here… Can I tell them?"
Chloe watched Abby nod in the knowledge she already had about the pregnancy, "Of course."
"Chloe's having my baby so in about six months…there might be another male here for you to be a Grandpa to, Romulus," Elly announced joyfully.
"Bloody better be," Romulus grunted, before adding, "Congratulations, Chloe, Elly, you two will be incredible parents. I look forward to seeing you on this journey to become parents to your baby as well as to Aster."
Elly beamed at Romulus's words then turning to the other girls that she thought of as sisters, calling them to stop cooking dinner for a moment because she had news for them.
Within moments, the campfire had erupted into a celebration about Chloe and Elly's pregnancy news, with everyone just as happy as the parents to be.
The celebration didn't just last into the late evening of the New Moon, it continued thoroughly for the best part of several days.
Though as the next few days had arrived, Elly had tried to lessen their excitement, explaining that the couple were still awaiting test results that showed the baby would be healthy so they could proceed with the pregnancy.
Chloe and Elly were surprised by how understanding everyone was.
Two nights after the New Moon had come and gone, Chloe and Elly were curled up in bed together, Aster soundly asleep next to them already, talking to each other about the inspiration they felt from the celebration had left them feeling like their baby was going to be healthy and there was nothing that could get in the way of their burgeoning family and their future together.
Meanwhile, back in Erinsborough, Aaron frowned as he walked out the back of his house, asking his brother, Mark, "Did you just throw your phone in our pool?"
Mark placed his hands on his hips, as he turned to Aaron, "That was the Station…Pierce's lawyer finally succeeded in getting him bail. He's probably already on his way home."
"Do you want to confront him?" Aaron worried.
Mark tensed up at the thought, "No, that will only make things worse during Pierce's trial. But we really need to find our sister…because as long as Pierce is free…wherever Chloe is…she's not safe."
Next time - Chloe's family back home worry about where she's disappeared to and Pierce is back wanting revenge!