A.N. Thank you everyone for the wonderful feedback. This chapter is short I'm sorry, my muse wanted to stop where it did. I swear she's already started to pack for her vacation.

Chapter 18

30 minutes later

The party was in full swing, Maria and Kyle were dancing together, Jim and Amy were talking to Cole, getting to know him, grilling him, and asking legal advice. Behind the counter Jeff, Liz and Michael were dancing—if it could be called that. The moves resembled that of a seizure shocking their bodies into odd flailing limb movements.

Liz twirled around, bumped into Michael who caught her by the waist and both burst out laughing. Ever since Michael proclaimed himself as her older brother he'd lightened up considerably. When Max and Isabel were still on Earth he didn't laugh, hardly smiled, if he did it was more of a smirk, and the glass was always half empty. Now he laughed, not all the time but far more than with his alien siblings.

Maria slumped down on a barstool. "Pass me some of that Hawaiian punch birthday girl." Liz danced over to the punch bowl and poured her some. "Why thank you."

"You are most welcome." She tilted her head sweetly before leaning over the counter. A sigh left her mouth as she gazed at Cole. "Oh I can't believe he's mine Maria."

"Don't really think you own—maybe rent would be a better analogy." She grinned teasing her best friend. "But I get what you're saying."

Liz shrugged. "I guess. It's weird though, two months ago I wasn't pregnant, I didn't have a fiancée—or almost fiancée, I didn't even know Cole, and I didn't know about my demon heritage. Amazing how quickly life changes. Granted all these are happy developments but strange none-the-less." She moved her drink cup back and forth between her hands.

"Well there are a few things that'll never change." Maria squeezed her hands in comfort. "You'll always have me, Michael, and Kyle. You'll always have a zit pop up at the worst possible moment, and you'll always be the first in line for the new Sherrilyn Kenyon novel." She finished off her punch and let out a refreshed noise. "Now I'm going back out to boogey. Care to dance birthday girl?"

"I'd be honored."

The second Liz and Maria took the floor Cole ceased paying attention to what Jim and Amy were saying. All he saw was Liz, he couldn't even tell she was pregnant, the shirt she was wearing covered the tiny bulge she had really well. Soon that would change though; soon no shirt would be able to hide her belly.

Mumbling a quick excuse he stood up from the booth and walked toward Liz, she was oblivious of him closing in. It wasn't until he was behind her and his arms slid around her that she noticed. "Hmm, missed me?" She questioned.

"Always." Maria discretely backed away from the swaying couple pulling Kyle back out on the dance floor with her.

Smiling lazily Liz turned to face him, he's so handsome, she remembered what Maria said about him not technically being hers but she couldn't help but think he belonged to her. Just as she belonged to him through and through. She felt it in her bones that more than their baby tied them together.

It was at that an urgent thought crept into her conscious. "Why don't I feel weird about this? Besides a few minor freak outs I've been accepting everything you and Daddy have been telling me. Shouldn't I be…I don't know comatose with shock right now?"

"Normally you would be." Cole simply blurted out. "The baby plays a huge role in your emotional state, the baby's calm so you're calm, when the baby's upset, you're upset. Another thing is probably because on some level you've known that you're not human."

Liz shook her head not willing to accept his last theory. "No, I've always thought I was human Cole. Never knew there was anything else to be."

"Maybe you never knew but deep down something was different about you. Probably noticed it as something weird and brushed it off as an unexplained event." He remembered when he was a young boy and he didn't know about demons but that didn't mean he thought he was normal. A force was lying in wait deep inside and it was waiting for its moment to make itself known.

Liz took a deep breath before lying her head on Cole's strong chest. Was he right, did she always know on some level that being Elizabeth Parker wasn't all she was meant to be. Yes, he was. Denying the realization wouldn't make it any less true, it simply was and she'd have to learn to accept that.

When she didn't speak Cole lowered his gaze watching her beneath his lids. There must have been an incident that stuck out in her mind. Nothing else could account for the expressions playing on her beautiful face. In time she'd tell him all her secrets and not so secrets, he'd be ready to listen. Cole kissed the top of her head and they continued to sway to the melody.

TBC