To Mai Surprise
Disclaimer: I do not own The Nine Lives of Chloe King, nor do I profit from any of my stories.
Warning: This story is rated M and is intended for mature audiences only. Reader discretion is advised.
Chapter 20
Alek was in a coma for five days. Meredith kept him at home; Aunt Valentina had the life-support set up in our room. I rarely left his side the whole time. After days of talking to him, praying to Bastet, wiping sweat off Alek's skin, and trying not to cry, Alek's heartbeat sped up. He woke up for about two hours, enough time for me to tell him what happened.
When the battle against Mr. Vacinni and Mr. Rezza was finished, we rushed Alek home. He fainted from blood loss, but he didn't lose another life. Paige and I, wracked with crazy hormones, both threw tantrums. Arun held Paige, ignoring her struggles when she tried to fight him off, and then letting her cry into his shoulder. I clung to Jasmine and Amy, desperately trying not to scream. Rajiv and Mitchell fought between themselves because Mitchell blamed Rajiv and his brother for Paige's hysterics.
After the update, Alek fell back asleep, exhausted. He slept well that night, waking me up in the morning with a quick kiss.
Since then, we have resumed our usual routine. My classes at the community college started up for spring term, taking up most of my time. Aunt Valentina planned for me to return to the high school next fall, after the baby is born. At the college, I took Creative Writing instead of English 11, Math 103 instead of Pre Calculus, and Political Science instead of APUSH. I miss going to school with my friends, but I don't miss AP United States History.
My classes were fun, but work was hell. Babushka forbade me from all types of caffeine, including my morning coffee. At the store, I would sit behind the counter, the coffee shop glaring at me. Eventually, Lana would just send me over to Valentina's antique shop. Aunt Val is never actually there but Brian, and his lovely assistant Mimi, were enough to distract me from my caffeine withdrawal and the pain of my stretching uterus. Luckily, there was an ugly old French divan that is never going to sell. With a five-cheese pizza and a 2-liter of grapefruit juice, a blanket and a pillow, I am perfectly comfortable. Even when Charlie decided that 'preggo-tummy' is cat for 'best-bed-ever.'
For Valentine's Day, Alek and I went to the courthouse. Meredith and Aunt Valentina came with us, since Alek and I are both only seventeen. We applied for a confidential marriage license, meaning that the license wouldn't go into the public records. My world turned upside down. Who would have thought a name and a ring would make me feel so different? Per Babushka's advice, I decided to feminize my surname in the traditional Russian way. From now on, I am Chloe Diane Petrova.
Alek and I exchanged wedding rings, mine resting on my left hand next to the heirloom engagement ring, his living next to his dog tags on the chain around his neck. The tags were a gift from Aunt Val, serving both as official identification, and an auspicious place to wear his wedding ring.
Петров, Александр Вениамин
Группа крови: A +
15 октября 1994
Бастет Благословение
The first tag has Russian engraved into its stainless steel. Also on the chain is the English translation, etched on a second tag.
Petrov, Aleksander Benjamin
Blood Type: A+
October 15th, 1994
Bastet's Blessing
For my birthday, the next day, Alek threw me a huge party at his house. Everyone who knew of our 'baby situation' was there. Mitchell spent the day sitting in an armchair, glaring at Rajiv from across the room. If the latter noticed, he didn't show it. Arun displayed a similar disdain for his girlfriend's younger brother. Paige, waddling about in an adorable navy maternity dress, made the party come alive. She kept the atmosphere light, in spite of her brother's irritated attitude.
Everyone brought me an assortment of baby supplies, and a myriad of seventy-five percent off post-Valentine's Day chocolate. The girls all brought baby clothes. The clothes that each girl brought reflected their personalities. Jasmine's were sensible, infant onesies and unisex outfits. Mimi gave me a cute set of outfits that were in gender-neutral colors, and about three hundred of iron-on patches and decals, promising to personalize the clothes when we knew the gender. Amy went all out, buying crazy baby clothes that seemed more like Halloween costumes. Though, imagining my baby in a tiny bumblebee costume or dinosaur poncho, I'm sure it'll be the cutest thing ever.
I started crying when I opened the present from the guys. Apparently Alek, Paul, Brian, Rajiv, Z, even Arun and Mitchell, all worked together to put together a beautiful set of baby furniture. Arun, with his extensive carpentry experience, had helped the other guys build a changing table, a dresser and a baby crib. The woodwork was beautiful, but just knowing that everyone helped create it was incredibly special.
Meredith's present was a huge, apparently she had been stocking up ever since she heard I was pregnant. She managed to wrap up a Pack-N-Play, a baby swing, a baby bathtub, an infant car seat, and a baby stroller.
Aunt Valentina gave us an apartment in her building, so that we had a place to put all the new furniture. We would move in after the baby is born, before school starts.
Zane's grandmother offered to babysit while we were at school. Her medical expertise would help the San Francisco Pride, and she said there was something here she needed to investigate over the summer. Babushka, to celebrate both our wedding and my birthday, formally adopted us into the Domashevich family. Apparently she had suspicions that Alek was somehow related to her, because her daughter-in-law was a Petrova. Their family is exceedingly powerful in both Mai and human circles, controlling both the economy and the political spectrum of Europe.
Alek refused to accept the platinum credit card she offered, saying that he wanted to support his family with his own power. Babushka understood; she was proud of his determination. After much persuasion, we finally accepted her offer to pay for all of the medical expenses, childcare, and college tuition for our growing family. While accepting a credit card from 'the Family' felt like too much, we could still use all the help we could get.
Entering my second trimester was exciting. At thirteen weeks along, my hormones had all but died down and I had yet to resemble a beached whale. Paige, at 18 weeks, was only slightly more inflated than me. Predicting some more stomach growth, we decided to take another trip to the maternity department. Our new favorite store has to be Motherhood; they have all the best clothes. The sales representative showed us what we would look like in a week, two weeks, even a month of two.
While trying on a frenzy of floaty blouses and pants with elastic waistbands, Paige gave in to her need to expel her secrets. Apparently, Arun wouldn't have sex with her.
"Does he think I'm too fat? Or is it because Isaiah isn't his?" Wiggling into a brown silk skirt, Paige seemed to drift into her own little world. I doubt she would even notice if I ditched her in favor of the JambaJuice next door. "I shouldn't care, but I do! Today, he asked me if I… Well, he asked if, not really asked, more like casually suggested it, 'cause he said it like it was no big deal, even though we all know that it's not…"
"Paige! Breathe!" I took off the emerald green sweater that I was trying on. "What did he say?"
"He asked if we should get married!"
"WHAT? What did he say? What did you say? When was this?"
"Um… it was yesterday. We were… cuddling, on the couch, watching Harry Potter, when I felt Isaiah kick for the first time." She covered my mouth when I squealed. "Shhhush! I don't want the sale's rep thinking that my water broke or something…" She sat down on the bench, reaching for a pair of board shorts. Pulling the elastic band over her baby bump, she looked critically in the mirror. "Anyway, I freaked out and fell out off the couch. Arun thought I had hurt myself, so he went into one of his hyperparanoid mood things. I took his hand, just like this."
Paige grabbed my wrist and placed my palm on her stomach, moving it around until I felt a slight kick. "He felt Isaiah and he grabbed me. I was worried for a second, but Arun just held me close. He said 'I would be able to support a family better if I was married.' I didn't know what to say! It's not like he was proposing, but I don't expect him to take a knee and whip out a ring."
Her heartbeat was racing, so I dropped the jeans I as holding to make sure she wasn't about to start crying. "You need to confront him. No, put your phone away. Since you two aren't living together, you've get to get him cornered. I say, pack your overnight bag and show up on his doorstep tonight after dinner." I grabbed her phone. "This is mine now. You get it back tomorrow, only if you get him to explain his intentions." I sent Rajiv a text. "There, now you have no choice. I told Rajiv that you're going to sleepover at Arun's, and to keep it a secret."
"NO! Rajiv can't keep a secret! Arun's going to be pissed! He's going to text me, and I won't be able to answer! Oh my God, don't you dare answer it if he texts or calls! Give me that!"
We wrestled for a moment, until I conceded to give her the battery for her phone. This way, she couldn't talk to anyone, and I couldn't use her phone to talk to people for her.
"Don't back anything sexy, go for cute. He likes you; you just need to figure out if where he wants your relationship to go. I say, go for the 'cute, blonde, ditzy, mommy-to-be who needs to be protected from her own clumsiness.' Or you can be the 'pathetically confused pregnant girl who's afraid that her baby will never have a real dad.''
"You just told me to be myself…"
"That's good too, just be you. Just be Paige!" I laughed, carrying our clothes up to the cashier.
Do you want Chloe's baby to be a boy? Or a girl? Name suggestions?
There are a lot of couples in the fic. Who do you want to get married? What are your relationship predictions?
Which characters do you guys hate? You don't care about? Or just can't imagine them in the story? If I had to kill off three characters, who do you want me to kill?