Chapter 15 Fear
Jack Hodgins awoke with a start, feeling like something had jarred him out of a sound sleep. Opening his eyes, he realized his wife was sitting bolt upright in bed, gasping for breath. Her hair was damp and her face flushed and sweaty. "Angie, whatsa matter?" he croaked. Boy, his mouth was parched, he needed some water badly.
"Oh, Jack," Angela moaned. "I had the worst dream. I found out I was pregnant again, but the stripes on the test strip were green." "What's wrong with that?" Hodgins mumbled, feeling not only groggy but very confused. "Wouldn't you like to have another little scientist, or maybe a little artist next time? He asked gently.
"Oh, honey, of course I'd like another baby. But that color meant that the baby was going to be born blind. I know we were so lucky to beat the odds with Michael Vincent, but in my dream, bad luck definitely caught up with us. It seemed so real, it frightened me so badly. It was scary enough last time, when we didn't know for sure what to expect. I'm not sure I could handle nine long months of worrying."
"So green isn't a lucky color on a pregnancy test, huh?" Hodgins mused, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. " Are you trying to tell me something? Are we having another baby?" He leaned over, putting his arm around Angela's shoulders and then rubbed his wife's back to soothe her jangled nerves. "Do you want me to fix you a cup of your blackberry currant tea to help you get back to sleep?"
Checking the alarm clock on her night stand, Angela shook her head. "Argh, it's 5:45 already, not much point in trying to go back to sleep now. But I would appreciate that cup of tea, if you don't mind. And no, silly, we're not pregnant, at least not that I know of," she stated.
A faraway look came into her eyes. "It would be nice to have a second child now that Michael is four. I don't think I want them to be too far apart in age," she mused.
"Them who?" Hodgins asked her. "Do you think you'd want a girl this time, or another boy?"
"I don't care which we have, as long as the baby is healthy and there's nothing wrong with his or her eyesight, that's the important thing." Angela declared. "My thoughts exactly," Jack nodded in agreement.
"You know, we have a few minutes before we absolutely need to wake Michael Vincent up to get him ready," Angela smiled slyly at her husband. "We could get in a little practice for making another little Hodgie…"
As he settled back against the pillows with his wife cuddled in his arms, Hodgins had a sudden thought. "You know, we ought to give some thought to what names go well with 'Mamba.'
Otherwise, you never know what even weirder name your father might dream up next time for our second poor baby…!"