Henry was counting the minutes to sunset..he had to talk to Vicki, she had to call him, he needed to talk to Will, what if he burned up before he could...all these thoughts were running through his head while he stayed frozen on his bed, afraid to move.
"How..how can you know that? Are you sure?" Vicki said, tears forming behind her eyes.
Maggie took her hand, "Are you not happy? Is it Henry's? I mean, the change usually takes longer but it's different for everyone. Vicki, what's wrong?"
Vicki hesitated, then composed herself.
"A few years ago, before Mike and I broke up, I got pregnant." Maggie's eyes widened.
"Yeah, we were surprised too, wasn't planned that's for sure. Anyway, I just never saw myself as the mother type. I'm kind of a.. sort of a..." she was searching for the right phrase.
Maggie finished for her, "...an independent-woman-who-doesn't-need-a-man-or-anything kind of person?"
Vicki looked at her and nodded slowly, "That's about it." She shook her head as if to clear out that phrase,
"At any rate, we were thrilled after we were over the shock. We were four and a half months in when we found out it was a boy. Of course Mike was over the moon. I hadn't told my mother yet, old-fashioned values and all, plus you're always afraid something will..." she stopped. She was trying to choke back her emotions. Maggie squeezed her hand and said, "It's okay Vicki, let those emotions flow out of you..." Just by Maggie speaking those words, Vicki relaxed somewhat but the tears still crawled down her cheeks.
"It's just still hard to talk about it." Maggie nodded in agreement. "Yeah," said Maggie, "Especially with a warrior princess like you, " trying to relax the mood a little herself.
"Yes, you realize how strong you're not when something like that happens. So, everything was great, normal. I went in for my visit and they couldn't find Chr..the baby's heartbeat." Maggie stroked her arm, calming her again.
"Go ahead, say his name, Vicki." She shook her head no, "I..I can't."
Maggie prodded her, still stroking her arm, "You can and you will, speak his name."
"Christian, Christian Michael Nelson-Celluci." she finally said. Maggie smiled, "See, he was real, it's okay to keep his memory."
Vicki went on to explain that the doctor could find no reason for his death and that's one reason Vicki had such a hard time getting over it. She was a cop, she wanted answers. Answers never came. The only thing that came was a small private burial in babyland at the local cemetary. She never told her mother, no one knew because she wasn't really showing so it was only her and Mike.
"So, I vowed then that I would never ever want another child. I closed my heart off to that, forever or so I thought."
"What do you mean, so you thought." Maggie asked, releasing her somewhat as she could tell that Vicki was a little less tense after her catharting session.
"When I met you , Will and Tori, I realized what I was missing. But I also knew in my heart that I was in love with Henry. Henry is a vampire and I knew I was safe from getting pregnant, ever again. Safe from pain."
In that moment, Maggie realized how much alike she and her half-sister really were. They wanted to be independent, in control and in charge. Vicki was regaining her composure but she was raw, exposed, vulnerable.
Vicki was still trying to grasp what Maggie had told her. "Are you sure, I mean how can you tell?"
Maggie explained that she could feel the baby's essence. She tried to reassure her that everything was fine.
"Then why am I so sick and weak?" she asked looking terrified.
"Because, you have abilities you don't know how to use and if that baby is Henry's.." Vicki cut her off,
"What do you mean IF, of course it's his!"
Maggie raised and eyebrow, "Hey you got two really, really hot sexy men that love you, who am I to judge?" Maggie smiled mischeviously.
Vicki let a laugh escape her,"I don't know if that's a compliment or not, but I'll take it that way. But yes, without a doubt it could only be Henry's. I have not been with anyone other than Henry for the last two months and before that, it had been almost...two years." Both women made a face.
Maggie shook her head, "Poor woman...okay, so you have the ability issue and now, you have a vampire's baby in your womb AND you sent a demon back to hell..."
Vicki covered her mouth with her hand, "OH NO, did that or would that harm the baby?"
"Hmm, for someone so sure she never wanted a baby again, you sure are worried," Maggie said smiling.
Vicki became angry, "This is no time to be facetious, just tell me."
"No, you should be fine. These little guys, "she said rubbing her belly, "they are as tough as you and me."
Vicki still couldn't wrap her mind around it and she almost didn't want to. I wish Henry were here...
"I know you do," Maggie replied out loud. "Stop that!" Vicki retorted. "I hate when you guys do that."
"You won't when you learn to control it better and when you can do it better yourself. Although this little training session I had planned may be a little more difficult now. Plus, there are perks to being the mother of little half-vamps, remember, eyes, no aging..."Maggie trailed off. Vicki smiled.
Again,Vicki reached over first and gave Maggie a tight hug, "Boy, I should have known my hormones were out of whack. I'm never this touchy-feely or emotional." Maggie smiled over her shoulder.
"I know, it irritated me too the first pregnancy, but you get used to it."
Vicki pulled back just as her cell phone vibrated with the alarm that it was sunset.
"OH, I have to call Henry. I promised him. What do I tell him? I don't want to tell him over the phone."
"I know, invite him up." Maggie said full of cheer.
"WHAT!!??" Vicki replied.
"Yeah, that's it, invite him up and have romantic getaway in our guest house, then tell him."
"I'm pretty sure that's why I'm in this predicament in the first place, to many "romantic" getaways." Vicki said dryly.
"True, but, how long has Henry waited to hear the words, "Henry Fitzroy, Duke Of Richmond, Bastard son of Henry the VIII, I'm gonna be your baby momma..."