Chapter 6: The Journey Part. 2
Tasha is in her second trimester, filled with cravings and back aches and more weird symptoms. Leo becomes a bit too involved with the pregnancy.
AN: Finally the Leo reference we've been deprived of! If you get squeamish over weird food combos then you will not like this chapter. Also I spoiled myself and found out the name of Princess Davenport. But feel free to send in suggestions for the middle name, because I fell in love with the canon name as soon as I saw it. So in Medicine we always refer to the length of a woman's pregnancy in weeks. Tasha is about 16-18 weeks (four and a half months) in this chapter. Last chapter she was 14 weeks.
In the weeks following Tasha and Donald's baby announcement, a lot changed for the Davenport household. Leo and Adam were off taking care of things back at the Academy, while Bree and Chase had stayed to prepare for their trip to Centium City with Davenport. "I'll make sure to call you when we get there and every night that I'm gone, and I want you to send me pictures of your growing belly each week, and text me your cravings or dreams or whatever else happens during pregnancy, and if there's anything wrong you know I'll jet back here as fast as I can!" Donald said in one breath as he frantically tossed clothes in his suitcase. "Don't worry honey," Tasha smiled, "everything will be alright, I know you need to get the kids settled in the new city. Plus I'm almost halfway through my pregnancy so it will get a bit easier to handle." She was sitting up on their bed, a bowl of fruit resting on her bump, happily eating some seedless grapes that she had started craving a few days ago. "Besides," she continued after eating a few grapes "my Mother will be coming over in three weeks so I won't be all alone." "But until she comes you'll still be by yourself. I really wish you could come with me Tasha." "I know you do but I really wanna take things easy and just lounge around. Especially since you convinced my boss to give me a really long maternity leave." "To be honest sweetheart it's not like they'll miss you much." "Donald!" "I'm sorry, I'm an idiot for making a pregnant woman angry." "Just keep the grapes and peanut butter olives coming and maybe I won't hold it against you." Donald's face twisted in disgust as he remembered how she first started craving peanut butter on everything, now mostly of salty treats, but he was happy to be in her good graces. The smallest things would get Tasha angry or sometimes sad, and she would usually forget things the next instant. It would have been hilarious if the anger wasn't directed at him. She seemed to be a lot more social around Bree and Chase, but there was that moment yesterday when she couldn't stop crying over them leaving, even though today she was completely peaceful about it.
Soon there was a knock on the door and Donald went over to open it, revealing a bright-eyed Leo in his mentor clothes (which he said he was going to wear as much as he wants even if the bionic students no longer needed mentors because he earned it and had too little time owning that look) beaming at his mother and step-father. "Bree said I'd find you here!" Leo smiled his usual bright smile. Donald, confused by his arrival, asked, "Leo, why are you here?" Leo, taking offense, said "Um excuse me? I'm here to be with my mother thank you very much! You are going on some mission and leaving her all alone? She is carrying my sister, your daughter!" Donald wished he could have told him what really happened, but he couldn't say anything until the mission was proven a success. Tasha, feeling as if her son was getting a bit too fired up, quickly said, "Leo, while I love having you back here so soon, it really isn't that big of a deal, Donald and I discussed the issue already." Wanting to defend himself, the inventor began, "Besides I want nothing more than to take her along with me but I don't feel comfortable with her flying. And I'm not sure how dangerous the mission could, so I totally get what you mean Leo. I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't have to." Leo sighed, "I guess you're right, but that won't stop me from staying here with Mom." Donald smiled at Leo's protectiveness of his mother and unborn sister, "Alright, well I go check on Chase and Bree to see how their packing is going."
As Donald left, Leo made his way to the bed to sit next to his Mom to eat what he thought was a grape, only to end up eating a peanut butter filled olive. His face twisted in disgust as he looked for a tissue to spit the nasty combination out. Tasha burst out laughing to the point of tears, placing the bowl by her end table, her hand on her son's shoulder. Leo glared at her, "Mom what was that! And why didn't you stop me from ingesting it!" She crossed her arms over her belly, smirking, "Serves you right for sticking your hand in a pregnant lady's food! And it was a peanut butter olive." "Guess you're in that stage of weird cravings." "Oh big time! So how long you going to stay this time baby?" "Well originally for a few days, but maybe even for the two weeks before Grandma comes. Adam said I still need to check in with the Academy so some days I will be on that side but I'll make sure to come over every day." "Leo, there's no need to do all that I'm perfectly fine." "You say that now, but trust me Mom, I'm not letting you ride this solo." "Aww I appreciate that so much! You're such a good kid." "Well," Leo smiled, "I have such a good Mom."
The next day, Donald, Bree and Chase left for the airspace where Donald's jet would fly them to Centium City for their new adventure. After saying their goodbyes, Leo called Adam to make sure all was well back at the Academy. Adam was busy creating teams of the bionic students to send on missions with Douglas, and Perry was being her usual Perry self, so Leo decided he could stay with his mother for a few more days. So as soon as they got home , Leo made sure to get into full on baby brigade zone, he started pointing out the places that were complete baby hazards, started throwing out food he googled was bad for pregnancy, and made Tasha not lift a single finger. At first Tasha enjoyed the pampering, because it made her feel like a queen, and it helped that Leo didn't mind fluffing her pillow and massaging her shoulders or helping her keep her legs up. But every so often he wouldn't be as gentle and smack food he deemed too unhealthy right out of her hands, which started to make her a teensy bit mad. She knew all his efforts were out of love, but she was starting to enjoy her pregnancy less and less. She was happy to have her morning sickness fade, but now she had to get up to pee far too often and her back was starting to kill her.
The last straw came when Leo was this close to throwing away what could only be described as chocolate sand when Tasha decided she had had enough of Leo's help. "Put that bowl of sand back on the counter right now little boy!" Leo froze as he looked over at his mother, her voice quite menacing as they entered a staring contest to see who would react first. Leo decided to take his chances and rush to the bin, but stopped in his tracks as his mother spoke again, "Leo, just place the bowl down nice and gently." "Why are you even eating this Mom?" Leo asked, his eyes wide in disbelief of her borderline violent attitude towards its disposal. "It is a literal mud pie!" She knew she was probably being melodramatic, but she just couldn't get a hold of her emotions at the moment. "Just give me my mud pie and no one gets hurt." "Mom just calm down okay? I really don't want to take you on in this state." "This state? You think I'm just this fragile thing don't you! I'll have you know I can handle myself okay!" Leo chuckled as he saw his Mother get into a defensive stance, belly bump and all, "Man pregnancy brain got you bad huh?" Suddenly she went from angry to crying, which made Leo put the 'mud pie' on the kitchen counter and walk over to his Mom, enveloping her in a hug. "Oh Mommy, please stop crying, I'm sorry I said that, it was rude and immature. I know you have cravings for stuff but I just want to look out for Leona." Tasha's sniffling stopped as she asked, "Who's Leona?" "Um, Mom we discussed this last night, you were gonna name my sister Leona so that we would be Leo and Leona? You even said Big D would agree with it." Confusion covered her face as she really tried to recall the conversation, "Sorry Leo, doesn't ring any bells. Guess you're right about this pregnancy brain of mine." With that he smiled at his mom, and she smiled back, seemingly now in a happier non-craving induced mood.
Leo, with a sincere tone, said "It's just, for a while it was just you looking after me, and I'm forever grateful for that. I was hoping to return the favour somehow by being here with you two. Sorry if it seemed that I was a bit of a buzzkill." he looked down at his hands, feeling truly sorry that his actions upset his Mom. "Aww Leo," Tasha started, seeing things from her son's point of view, "I know you were looking out for me, but I've been through this before, and I'm happy to have you here too. It's just that you should never get between a woman and her cravings." "I know that now." Leo said as he walked back over to the mud pie and handed it to his mom. "Here, I guess Leona needs to get her minerals somehow… wait minerals." Realization came over Leo's face, "That's why you're craving the sand!" "Say what?" Tasha raised her eyebrow at her son's sudden epiphany. "You usually crave things your body lacks, you must be deprived of some minerals, which is why you're eating the sand." Leo crossed his arms, happy to have solved the mystery of the mud pie. "When did you become a doctor?" Tasha asked proudly of her son's diagnostic thinking. "Researching all this stuff about pregnancy and making a fake online account to chat to other expectant moms has made me know a lot of stuff." Slightly weirded out, Tasha replied, "Okay, we'll address the fact that you're chatting to pregnant ladies some other time, so what should I be expecting Dr. Leo." Tasha said as she took her mud pie and sat on the couch, enjoying the weird dish. "Well, you're almost five months, so you should actually be feeling her move about." "I do sometimes feel a flutter in my tummy but I always thought it was gas." Leo, not the biggest fan of fart jokes, lamented "Oh my gosh Mom TMI." "TMI!? I'm sorry I thought you were mister doctor man," Tasha teased. "Okay maybe I shouldn't be so invested in this pregnancy thing." They laughed and hung out the rest of the day, Leo planning that they should go ask for some mineral and vitamin supplementation for Tasha and to update the grocery list for shopping the next day.
The days to follow felt like the time when it was just Tasha and Leo, way before a life filled with bionics and inventions and billionaires and missions. When they were still the Dooleys. As much as they loved their new family and all the adventures they had, Tasha couldn't but enjoy the nostalgia of just being with her son. She was happily reminded that it wasn't the two of them anymore when she felt a little movement in her tummy when she and Leo had gone out for the day. Leo quickly rushed to put his hand on her belly only to have the movement stop. Leo was a bit upset that he didn't get to feel his baby sister move, especially since he would be heading back to the Academy the following day. "Don't worry Leo," She said reassuringly, "you'll be seeing her move about in no time." Leo sighed, "I just hope she thinks I'm a good brother." Wrapping an arm around her son, Tasha reminded him, "I've seen you go from only child to doing anything to protect your siblings in an instant, I'm sure the big brother role will fit you perfectly." They smiled happily at each other, something they did a lot of now, "Thanks for the vote of confidence Mom. We should probably call Big D and tell him about the new development of Princess Davenport." They spoke to Donald, Chase and Bree, getting updates on both fronts, happy to hear from each other again. They decided to have a Skype session and added Adam to the conversation, and ended up talking for hours. Tasha smiled as she felt her daughter move about in her tummy, as if she was excited to hear the many voices of her family.
Next chapter: The Celebration