/AN: Okay so I had a brief issue with my computer and was set back an entire day. -_-. I'd also like to dedicate this chapter to my Dad. His birthday is May 3rd and he'll be 46. Happy Birthday Daddy! :) Anyway here's Chapter 8: Ultrasounds and Winners. PS. This chapter has been edited.

Disclaimer: I do not and never will own the Darkest Powers Trilogy./

Derek's POV

I helped Chloe off the couch and we headed into the front room. "Kids, why don't you join us in the main hallway?" Kit called out Simon, Lucy, Mason and Tori from the kitchen.

In front of Marlee, Kit and Lauren, stood a middle aged man. He was about my height with dark graying hair. He had a slender build. I watched as Chloe walked back into the kitchen. Curious, I followed her. "Chloe? You okay?" I seemed to be saying that a lot lately.

"I can't go out there…"

"Chloe you haven't seen your dad in three years. He clearly came here because he's concerned about you. I'm not asking you to be happy about it. Just, go see what he wants." She leaned into my arms and gave a shuddering sigh. I began rubbing circles in her back in an attempt to comfort her.

Simon came up next to me. "What's going on?"

"Cold feet." I replied, without looking at him.

Simon laid a hand on Chloe's shoulder. She looked up at him. "Don't worry about it. We've got your back, no matter what." He smiled.

Chloe nodded slightly and pulled herself away from my arms. I grabbed her hand. "Let's do this." We walked out and stopped by the couch.

"Dad?"

The man turned to Chloe. "Chloe?" They stared at each other for a minute. I felt Chloe fidget nervously next to me. "How've you been?" Mr. Saunders asked.

"Okay. You?"

"Busy,"

"So, Mr. Saunders I believe introductions are in order." Kit said. "Shall we all have a seat?" We spread out on the couches in the main entry way.

"I'm Kit Bae. This is Marlee Hasich and we've been that main care providers for the kids, including your daughter." Chloe's dad took Dad's extended hand and shook it firmly.

"Lauren said you had a connection to the Edison Group. You mind explaining that? Nothing personal. Just want to make sure my little girl isn't in any immediate danger." Chloe shifted uncomfortably next to me.

"Not at all. I was a lawyer for the group. When things got bad, I took my son, and one of the other kids, Derek, into my care and fled. We rescued Marlee on a raid on one of the Edison Group bases. She's a shaman healer, who was being held against her will." Kit explained. Marlee waved next to him.

Kit moved on. Simon was sitting on the floor, his legs crossed in front of him. "This is my son, Simon. He's a sorcerer and eighteen."

"Hello. Nice to finally meet Chloe's Dad. We've heard a lot about you." Simon said. I'm pretty sure Chloe wanted to slap him. Mr. Saunders nodded.

"This is Lucy and Mason. They're twin werewolves, but Lucy is also a necromancer—"

"Sort of. I can see spirits, but I can't hear them. I'm psychically deaf." Lucy said.

"They're about to turn 17." Marlee explained.

"Next is Tori. My bio—"

"I'm his daughter. I'm a witch and I'm 17." Tori said, shaking Mr. Saunders' hand. Kit gave a grateful look to Tori, who nodded.

"Of course, you know Chloe." It was my turn to shift uncomfortably. I think Chloe's cold feet were contagious. This man's opinion of me would most likely shape the rest of Chloe and I's relationship. I couldn't afford to fuck this up.

Chloe squeezed my hand.

"Finally, this is Chloe's mate, Derek." I casually, or what I hoped was casually, shifted my weight.

"So you're the father of my grandchild?" I held my gaze as Mr. Saunders scrutinized every inch of me.

I swallowed. Evil scientists? Easy. Rapist werewolves? I'd take one on any day. Lauren? No contest. Meeting my girlfriend's father? Oh god, I wanted to dig a hole and die.

"Derek Souza." I felt myself extend the hand that Chloe wasn't groping. "Nice to meet you." Kill me now. Did I mention I suck at communication?

"And you as well. You don't seem half as bad as Lauren described." I resisted the urge to roll me eyes.

"No offense sir, but that might be because Lauren is a racist bitch." Mason said. Mr. Saunders raised a brow.

"She hates on werewolves and believes they should all be exterminated." Simon put in.

Chloe's dad looked at Lauren. Her mouth was open in shock. "You don't seriously believe them do you?"

"I believe what I see, Lauren. I've met quite a few werewolves on my journey for the truth. Not one of them stuck me as dangerous." Mr. Saunders replied.

"They're dangerous, Scott. You didn't see them in the lab. They attacked a doctor!" Lauren said.

"I spent the first five years of my life with those kids, Lauren. And yes, they were unstable. But given the fact that they had been genetically altered, and were cooped up all the time, it shouldn't be surprising that they snapped." I replied calmly, fully away that my every action was being surveyed.

"That's no excuse. You're dangerous, all three of you." Lauren shifted her gaze towards Lucy and Mason.

I watched as Mason jumped up in anger. Lucy was in front of him and Simon had his hand on Mason's shoulder.

"Mase, calm down."

"Yeah, dude chill. You don't want her blood on your hands, you might get a disease." Tori said, glaring hate at Lauren.

"Not to mention the fact that she's not worth it." Simon added.

"What did I tell you? He's chomping at the bit to rip my throat open! He should be retained."

Mr. Saunders rolled his eyes. "Is it possible that you offended the boy?"

"Offended? I doubt he even realizes who is who. No, I know his type. Ruled by instinct. I told Michael not to enter Lucy and Mason in the experiment. Not after… never mind. We're not here for the other two. We're here because Chloe's been impregnated with demon spawn." Lauren replied.

"Hold it, what are you talking about? Not after what? And who's Michael?" Confused, I looked to Dad. He wouldn't meet my eyes. What else was he hiding from me?

"Like I'd tell you. Can we get back on topic, please?" Lauren retorted.

"No, I wanna know what's going on—"

"Derek, drop it." Dad's voice was stern and meant business. I shifted back into an uncomfortable silence.

"Does it even matter to you that I'm turning into one of the creatures you think are so dangerous?" Scott looked at Chloe pointedly. "She didn't tell you?"

"No… How did this happen?"

"It's a rare side effect of my mate bond with Derek." Chloe explained.

Mr. Saunders turned to look at me. "I've seen young werewolves go through their first set of changes. It isn't fun to watch. I'm assuming you've completed the change already?" I nodded. "You'll help her through this then?"

Again, I nodded. "I wouldn't let her go through it alone.

Scott sighed. "Have the changes started yet?

Chloe shook her head. "Not yet. I've got a bit of fever though. Marlee says I should complete the change between the next six to nine months." She explained.

"And the baby?"

"The baby should be fine during the change. I'll check after each shift to make sure though." Marlee said. "Your daughter's in capable hands, sir. I wouldn't worry too much."

"Call me Scott. I'm not your superior. If anything I owe both of you for taking such good care of my Chloe. Keeping her out of trouble and all that."

"Well, I wouldn't say—" Lucy punched Simon discreetly in the arm.

"Ow, what the fuck was that for?"

"Simon, language." Dad said, shifting his gaze momentarily to Simon.

"Sorry," Simon mumbled, rubbing his arm.

"So if Lauren didn't tell you about my change, then she probably didn't tell you that she's trying to force an abortion on me either." Chloe said, softly.

"Abortion? Really Lauren? You know Bridget didn't approve of them." Scott told Lauren.

"Oh, so you think she should keep the bastard? She's seventeen. If you really think she's old enough to do this, the you're a bigger fool than I thought." Lauren replied.

"No, I don't think she's old enough to take care of a child. But there are other options out there, Lauren. You don't have to kill a living being."

"Living being? It's three weeks old. It's heart hasn't even started to beat yet. It's still a bundle of cells. It is not living."

"Just because it doesn't have a beating heart yet, doesn't mean it won't." Marlee replied. "A fetus' heart starts beating at around 8 weeks old. It's almost halfway there. At six weeks, a fetus has already had it's first few brain waves. You're just going to kill it before it even has a chance to live? That's inhuman."

"You realize that most miscarriages happen within the first trimester? There's still a chance that Chloe's body will do the work for me." Lauren snarled at Marlee.

"Lauren, if you aren't going to talk about the situation in a civil manner, I'm going to have to ask you to leave." Kit said, his arms across his chest.

"No offense, but instead of squabbling about what you should do about the situation, why don't you just ask Chloe and Derek what they want to do? They are the parents after all." Tori put in.

Silence settled in. It was clear that they hadn't thought of that. Again, I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. "Tori has a point." Kit said.

Scott sighed and looked at Chloe and I. "What do you want to do?" Neither of us said anything. I really didn't want Lauren around when I voiced my opinion. "Chloe?"

I felt Chloe shift her weight next to me. "I don't want an abortion. I want to keep our baby," Chloe said after a minute.

"Derek?"

"I'd like to be able to see my child. I'm gonna have to veto an abortion." I replied. I could tell Mr. Saunders wasn't happy about our decision. Tough. It wasn't his kid.

"You two realize you have another option." I really hoped he wasn't going where I though he was going. "You can always put the baby up for adoption." Of course. I ran a hand through my hair. "Think about it. You're on the run, you're almost constantly in danger. What kind of life is that for a child? Is that really the environment you want your kid to grow up in?" Scott asked.

I looked at Chloe and could tell by the look on her face that she was seriously rethinking her decision to keep the baby.

"You'd still be able to see them. All you'd have to do is find a pair of parents who are willing to do an open adoption. You'd still be able to be apart of the baby's life and be able to see them as much as you wanted." Scott said.

"Yeah, that's the answer. Just pass the problem off to an innocent couple. That's childish." We ignored Lauren.

Chloe sat there for a minute. "We'd be able to find supernatural parents?"

"If that's what you want." Scott replied.

I stared at Chloe in shock. Just yesterday she'd been hell bent on keeping our baby and now she was seriously thinking about adopting him or her out? "Chloe, come on. You aren't seriously thinking about this are you?" I asked, softly.

"Yes, Derek, I am." I saw Simon shove Tori, Lucy and Mason out of the room hurriedly.

"I'm confused. Why are we even discussing this? I thought we agreed yesterday that we weren't going to let anyone take our baby away." I wasn't okay with this.

"He's right though. Are you really willing to subject our child to a life on the run? It wouldn't be fair." Chloe said.

"And it'd be fair to give him up? Which is the worst indecency? A life of constantly moving around with your parents? Or a life where you're constantly being reminded that for whatever reason your parents decided to give you up to strangers? Neither is fun, but personally, I'd take the life where I'm not constantly second guessing my parent's motives." I said, keeping my voice level.

"Keep in mind, we have eight months left to figure things out. It's not a decision that needs to be made right this second." Kit said. "Derek and Chloe, you clearly have some things that need to be talked out. Why don't you go discuss things?" I nodded. I wasn't going to let this go.

"In the mean time, I'll go dig out the sonogram machine. Time to see who's gonna win that bet." Marlee said.

"Bet?" Scott asked.

"We've got a running bet. Derek thinks that the baby is actually twins. Chloe doesn't. Fifty bucks is the wager if you'd like to join, Mr. Saunders." Simon popped his head in the room from the kitchen.

"I think I'll pass…" Scott replied.

"You bet… on… a baby? That's sick." Lauren said. Again, she was ignored.

"Everyone meet in the living room in an hour… if that's okay with the parents." Marlee looked to Chloe and I.

I shrugged. I didn't care either way at this point. "That's fine, Marlee."

The group dispersed and Chloe and I headed up to our room. I shut the door.

"Can we talk about this?" I asked softly, sitting in front of Chloe on the bed."

"We need to do what's best for the baby. This isn't just about us." Chloe said, picking lint on the sheets.

"Why are you so sure that giving up the baby is the best option?"

"Why are you so sure it isn't?" Chloe countered.

"I can think of plenty of reasons, right now." I replied.

She held my gaze. "Would you like to tell me what they are?"

"Well, there's the fact that someone tried to kill you. If we put our baby up for adoption who's to say they won't come after him too? Or worse, what if the parents we pick out are undercover spied for the Edison Group? I don't want to subject our kid to that. On top of that, I don't think I could live with the guilt of leaving my child with some random stranger." I explained.

"Guilt?" Chloe gave me a look.

I took a breath. "I have no idea who my biological parents are, Chloe. I mean I've got Kit, and I consider Kit my dad, and that should be enough. But sometimes it isn't.

I was conceived from frozen cells. I have no idea if the people who donated them even know if I exist. If they do, do they even care? Have they tried to look for me? And if they don't, why'd they even consider giving up their cells in the first place? Did they care that they might have a kid out there at some point? Or was it just money for them?

These questions have plagued me since I was little, still in the lab. If we gave up our baby, I don't want him to have similar questions. They're not fun to think about."

I could see Chloe weighing the options in her head. "To add to it, yes, with open adoption we'd be able to see our child whenever we want to, but it's like Scott said. We're constantly on the run. So we'd have no idea how often that would be. A few times a year? Less than that? I don't like that idea Chloe. Plus, I think with the eight of us, taking care of and protecting a baby should be a piece of cake. And who better to do it than his family?"

Chloe stared at me. "You've been calling the baby 'him' since before we started this conversation." She said.

I averted my eyes. "I don't like calling him an 'it'. It makes it sound like he's a monster like Lauren thinks." Chloe nodded in understanding. A though dawned on me.

"Have you been listening to anything I've said in the last five minutes?" I asked.

"Yes."

"So any thoughts?"

"We talked for about ten more minutes, finally coming to a compromise we could both agree on. We headed down the steps. "Ready to see who won the bet?" I asked.

"I already know who won." Chloe replied.

"Oh?"

She nodded. "Me of course. Mother's intuition." Chloe smiled. I almost laughed. Almost.

When we got to the living room everyone else was waiting. "About time, you got here. We can't get a peek at the twins without the baby maker." Simon said, with a smile.

"Oh thanks, Simon. How sensitive of you." Chloe rolled her eyes.

"Anytime." Simon continued grinning.

"So how does this work again? I've only seen it in movies." Chloe asked Marlee.

"Just lay flat on the couch and lift your shirt up a little. I'll do the rest of the work." Marlee replied. Chloe did as she was told.

"The monitor is hooked up so everyone can see." Marlee pulled out a bottle of gooey substance. "This is warming gel, so it won't be cold." Chloe nodded as she squirted some of the gel on Chloe's exposed abdomen.

"So, we won't be able to see a baby yet, but the gestational sac or sacs will be visible. It'll indicate the number of fetuses present." Marlee explained as she pressed the transducer over Chloe's skin.

Nothing appeared at first other than gray fuzz. Then, two black circles appeared in the gray mass. "Well there you have it. Twins."

"Oh, hell no. Seriously?" Chloe swiveled to get a better look. A smile spread across my face.

"I didn't wanna say I told you so… but I told you so!" Simon said, his eyes glued to the screen.

"That's a baby?" Mason leaned closer.

"Not yet. But they will be." Kit replied.

"Can you tell what the gender is?" Lucy asked.

"Nope. And we won't be able to for a while. I'd say at least until Chloe's at sixteen to twenty weeks. Maybe sooner. But I wouldn't put money on it. But I can tell that they seem to be a good size, which means they're fairly healthy despite the accident." Marlee said. "Okay, so who wants a picture?" In the end, Marlee made a copy of the image for everyone.

"Has anyone seen Lauren?" Tori asked, a hateful look on her face.

"She said she didn't want to be present." Scott said, still looking at the print out of the twins.

We gravitated to the Kitchen and I made Chloe some chicken noodle soup at her request. "So we've made a decision about the twins." This got everyone's attention.

"We've decided that for now, it would be safest to keep them. If drastic measures need to be taken later on, we'll sent the twins into hiding with temporary adoptive parents." Chloe said.

Mr. Saunders didn't look too happy about our decision. "I can live with that I suppose. Are you sure you want to do this?" he asked.

Chloe nodded. "I'm about ninety seven percent sure. I think the other three percent is cold feet but, I want to do this."

We spent the rest of the day talking all things baby until it was time to head to bed. I collected my winnings from the bet jar, which was all of a hundred bucks, and headed up the stairs. I shut the door. Chloe looked at me. "I believe, you have a debt that needs paid." I advanced in her direction.

"Do I?"

I picked Chloe up and carried her to the bed, my lips never leaving hers. I inhaled her scent, burning it into the recesses of my mind so that I'd never forget it. I was just starting to let my hands wander when there was a knock at the door.

"Really? I swear to god I'm going to get a 'do not disturb' sign for the door."

Chloe giggled. "If we ignore them, maybe they'll go away," She whispered. I nodded and she ran her hands through my hair as I claimed her lips again.

Another knock.

I let out a growl of frustration. "I will brutally murder whoever is on the other side of the door."

Chloe laughed at my comment. "Calm down. We've got all night." She got up to get the door and I flipped onto my back and laid my arm across my eyes.

"I was being serious," I replied.

"Uh huh. Sure." I heard Chloe open the door and looked to see who disturbed us. "Lauren. What do you want?"

"I wanted to apologize. And say congratulations. I heard you're having twins." Lauren said.

I could see she had her hands behind her back, hidden from view. Chloe must've noticed too because I saw her close the door a little. I sat up, ready to spring into action at the slightest hint of anything wrong.

"Yeah. Marlee said I'm due around July seventeenth of next year." Chloe said.

Lauren said something that I couldn't make out.

There was something wrong. "Chloe—"

The events that occurred next happened in slow motion, before I could react. I watched as Lauren lunged through the door and tackled Chloe to the ground. I leapt into action in a panic, too late. The rage I felt was overwhelming when I finally realized that Chloe's midsection was pooling with blood.

I looked at Lauren who's face looked like a deer caught in head lights. "I've dealt with you long enough." I raced toward her, kicking the weapon from her hands, losing my self in red. I was hell bent on killing her. No matter what it took.

/AN: DUN, DUN, DUN! I'm so evil to you guys. :3. That's it for now. I'll update soon! As always, leave a review please. :) Or not. You know, that always works too. I'll post whether you guys want me to or not, so I guess it doesn't really matter. But it would be nice to know what you guys think... Also, I apologize for the annoyingly short chapters... I know they suck. But oh well. Guess you'll have to live with it. :)

-Kit/