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A/N: Thank you to nattylovesu, TwilightEclps, S a i r a h i n i e l, Winchester girl, Kay and Marcus Sylenus! I appreciate the thoughtfulness and time you guys put into the reviews; thanks, thanks, thanks!!
Ex Multus Familia: Part 2
Chapter 8
The wedding reception was ridiculous. With Robin and Gem on the planning end of it, everyone knew that the food would be good, and that there would be lots of it. In order to be fair, they had even made enough for some of the transgenics who had only come for the wedding to take back to those who had stayed back at Terminal City.
There were the normal things such as platters of fruit and cheeses and crackers. Then there were miniature quiches, grilled chicken kabobs, pita bread and bruschetta, plates of small sandwiches, potato salad and pasta salad. Robin had tried to take general food that she knew everyone liked and add a little flair to it for the sake of the wedding. Most of the stuff had been made either last night or earlier in the day, and then a few of their friends had volunteered to cook some of it during the wedding ceremony.
Sidda had known how much food Robin was planning on, but she couldn't help but raise her eyebrows when she saw the loaded buffet.
"My cake not enough?" Sidda asked.
"Well, I wasn't sure…" Robin teased her friend. Then she hugged her while Sidda glared. "Oh, you goof, I made sure your cake had a table all to itself. It's the crowning glory. Speaking of which…"
Robin turned, her eyes searching for the not-yet-seen cake. And then she found it.
"Oh my gosh, Sidda, it's perfect!" Forgetting about the receiving line that she was supposed to be a part of, she rushed over to give the cake a closer examination. "It looks just like some high-priced chef made it."
"Well, that was the goal," Sidda said proudly. She had followed Robin over to the table since all she had heard was 'oh my gosh' before Robin had started running; she wasn't sure if Robin had said that because she loved it or hated it. "So do you like the design?"
"Yes, it's amazing," Robin said happily. "It matches the wedding colors, and the flowers are perfect…" she bent closer again and whistled. "You could so some serious business with a talent like that, Sidda. Most cakes like this can cost hundreds of dollars."
"Yeah, well, after that Dalton incident I think I'll retire from cake-making for a while." She glanced at the end of the tent where several of their friends were milling about, waiting to say hi to Robin and congratulate her and Seth.
"Come on," Sidda said, pulling her friend away. "You've properly appreciated my cake, and now it's time to go play hostess."
"Got it." Robin turned and hugged Sidda again. "Thanks!" Then she ran off.
The rest of the evening was a whirl of dancing and transgenics attempting to get drunk. There was a lot of speculation about those who hadn't done much drinking yet; everyone was still curious to find out if anyone could get properly drunk yet. But, unfortunately, everyone who tried barely even showed signs of getting tipsy. So far Manticore engineering was holding true, much to Robin's relief.
That night, most everyone stayed either in the farmhouse or in one of the rough cabins that they had spent a lot of time building all over the property. While Sidda took Taylor to her and Alec's cabin, Seth and Robin were going to walk to the most remote cabin, up in the woods by the small creek that ran through the property. They had been offered an ATV, but they insisted that they would rather walk. They did not have time for a real honeymoon, but everyone was going to clear out of the farmhouse tomorrow and leave Seth and Robin the farm for a couple of days. Sidda and Alec would take care of Taylor until Robin and Seth returned to Terminal City.
"It's funny how exciting a wedding makes this," Robin said, coming out of the room that had been taken over by the bride and bridesmaids earlier in the day. She had switched into a white summer dress for the walk up to the cabin with Seth.
"You should see what heat does," Sidda said, rolling her eyes.
Robin laughed and took Taylor from Sidda's arms so that she could kiss the little girl's forehead. "Hmmm, yeah, I bet." She handed Taylor back to Sidda. "Call tomorrow afternoon and let me know everything's ok?"
Sidda smirked. "What, not tomorrow morning? Or tomorrow night?"
"Oh hush and get going already," Robin scolded.
"Hey, you're the one that better get going," Sidda said. "My cabin's one of the closest. Yours is the farthest, remember?"
Robin rolled her eyes but still left, and Sidda went to the cabin she and Alec were sharing, walking past some of the tents that had been set up in the yard.
It was strange to have responsibility over Taylor for so long. It made Sidda think about what it would be like to have a baby of her own. She thought she would probably want a boy; she adored Taylor, but she was not sure she would know what to do with a little girl who wanted to dress up and play dolls. Not that her own little girl would probably do that.
"Hey, baby," Alec said, taking Taylor from Sidda's arms as soon as Sidda got in the door. He lay back in the bed and jiggled Taylor so that she giggled at him. "Long day, wasn't it?"
"And I thought you were talking to me for a second," Sidda said, smiling at him. It was unfair how easy Alec had it with babies; they always seemed to take to him. Well, most did. There were a few that would immediately start bawling when Alec tried to hold them, something that always cracked Sidda up.
Sidda laid down on the bed beside Alec and let Taylor clutch one of her fingers.
"If only all babies were as well-behaved as her," she said.
"Oh, come on. You'd seriously want a well-behaved baby?"
Sidda laughed and nudged Alec with her shoulder. "Just because my kids will probably be demonic doesn't mean I can't dream."
Alec shook his head and then got up to put Taylor into her cradle. He got back in the bed and fell asleep, his hand resting on her arm. Sidda nestled closer to him, wondering why she all of the sudden felt lonely and worried.
Maybe it was because she and Alec had never talked about kids… there was an unspoken agreement between them, but Sidda wasn't always sure of the terms of that agreement. Did Alec think of them in the same forever sort of way that Sidda did? Did he want a family one day, or was she just a girlfriend that he liked at the moment?
Alec sighed in his sleep and shifted so that his arm tightened around her, pulling Sidda in close. Sidda smiled. The future didn't matter right now. Those questions could come later. For now, she was going to sleep. Even though Taylor wasn't a fussy baby, she was an early riser. Robin had warned her that she'd whimpering for her a bottle around 5am.
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When they were back in T.C. few days later, Sidda anxiously watched the clock, wondering when Robin would get back. As soon as Robin was back, Sidda planned to go to the infirmary, hopefully to return before Alec got back from Headquarters. She didn't want him worrying about anything, but she had felt strange ever since the wedding.
The morning after Robin's wedding, Sidda had woken up extremely tired, and the fatigue had pretty much continued since then. Her appetite was all wacky; instead of being hungry for normal proportions at regularly scheduled meals she found herself starving at times and then totally uninterested in food at others.
This morning she had found that her temperature had gone up slightly, and it was just enough that Sidda decided to get herself checked out. She did not think it was anything to worry about, but she would rather make sure. It was just so unusual for a transgenic's usual health patterns to change that much since they rarely got sick.
"So, Taylor, your mommy's coming back. You excited?" Sidda looked down at Taylor to find the infant looking up at her with a look that practically said, 'I'm not an idiot. Please act like a grown-up about this.'
Sidda sighed. "Okay, creepy genius baby, don't be excited." Taylor looked away from her and started rolling around one of toys as if she couldn't be bothered with Sidda's conversation.
"Wow, the baby's dissing me…" Sidda shook her head and went to the kitchen to pack Taylor's bottle so that she did not forget about it when Robin got there. Just then, she heard the sound of a motorcycle turning off and then a pair of very familiar voices outside the window. She hurried to the window and opened it.
"Took you long enough!" she yelled out.
"Oh, come on, as if Taylor's that hard to take care of," Robin called back. She had a huge grin on her face. "I'll be there in a sec!" she said before she and Seth disappeared into the building.
"Hey, genius baby, your mom and dad are back," Sidda said, heading back into the living room. Taylor was on her stomach, still playing with one of the soft, squishy toys that Robin had left for her. She glanced up at and smiled at Sidda as if she had understood and then went back to gnawing on the plastic edge of the toy. Maybe she was teething.
A few moments later, there was a knock on the door. "It's open!" Sidda shouted. She scooped Taylor off of her blanket and fluffed the baby's downy hair. "You could at least be a little more excited, Taylor."
Robin and Seth came through the door, all smiles and exuding a very relaxed, positive vibe that filled the room instantly.
"Hey, Sidda," Seth said while Robin's attention immediately zoomed in on the baby. She swept her up and out of Sidda's arms in a matter of seconds and started cooing to her.
"There's mommy's beautiful girl! Did you miss me, sweetheart?" Robin exclaimed, cuddling her daughter.
Sidda raised an eyebrow as she walked toward Seth. "If I ever get like that, smack me."
"No way," Seth said, laughing, "You might feel differently after you get your own."
Sidda let out a sarcastic laugh. "That's not going to be any time soon, Seth. Thankfully."
"It's not so bad, Sidda," Seth replied, tossing a lazy smile at Robin. Sidda grinned to herself. My, my, they were quite the happy couple right now, weren't they? "What's been going on in T.C.?"
"Second mission team left yesterday for Canada," she replied. When he glanced at her, she held up her hands. "Something about a sub-atomic reactor, I'm not sure. Sort of a secret. They're supposed to be disabling it."
"Who went?" Seth asked, turning toward her as Robin walked back over to them, her need for alone time with her baby satiated.
"Let's see, Denali, Leslie, Nero, Uzi, Rhiannon, Jimmy and Lexington," she said, listing the names of the transgenics easily. "It's not supposed to be that hard of a mission, and they should be back in a couple weeks as long as they don't run into any snags."
"Sounds like a good team," Robin said, nodding, "Is Lex leading?"
"Yep," Sidda said, "He wanted to get out of Terminal City for a while."
"I'd want to get out T.C. too if some other alpha knocked me unconscious," Seth said, smirking at Sidda.
She rolled her eyes and shoved him in the shoulder. "Shut up." Irrational irritation suddenly spiked even though Sidda tried to fight it. She frowned at her friends. "Don't you guys have better things to do than harass me?"
"Yeah, but harassing you is fun," Robin said, beaming.
Sidda made a face. Oh, that mini-honeymoon had not been good for Robin. "Go home and play house. That's what you two are good at." Too much uncalled for vehemence.
"Geez, grumpy Sidda," Robin said. Seth took Taylor from her and nestled her into the crook of his arm. Robin looked at her friend, her eyebrows coming together. "Are you okay?"
Sidda waved her off, nodding. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just tired." When the two of them looked at each other with obvious concern, Sidda's aggravation level peaked. "Out, newlyweds!" She shooed them out of the apartment, waving her hands at them. Grabbing Taylor's bag from the counter, she tossed it to Seth. "I'll see you later."
"Dinner at our place?" Robin asked, attempting to get a smile from Sidda.
"Sure, fine, whatever," Sidda said, stepping out of the apartment after them. "See you then. I'm going out." Without further explanation, she headed toward garage where her motorcycle was, leaving Seth and Robin confused in her wake.
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The moment she stepped through the door, Sidda felt like fleeing again. She despised the infirmary, and she had only been there a couple times for her own injuries since coming to T.C. back in May. Hesitating, she stayed near the front door, not wanting to go any further.
There were two transgenics standing behind the front desk, and they were chatting to each other. One was an X5 guy, Jericho, if she remembered his name correctly, and a woman, Sibil, the transgenic female who was the co-commander of this place with Gray. Sidda considered darting out of the door before she was noticed, but Sibil glanced up and saw her. Dang it.
"Sidda? Are you hurt? Do you need something?" She walked out from behind the counter, her sneakered feet squeaking on the tiles.
Sidda swallowed her fear and turned to face the other transgenic, looking up at Sibil. "I'm not hurt, I don't think. I'm just…not…" She sighed and resisted the urge to put a hand to her aching forehead. "I don't know exactly what I am right now."
Sibil nodded. "All right, well, we'll go from there." She turned back and smiled at the male X5. "We'll be in Exam 2, Jericho."
"Got it!" Jericho exclaimed. He smiled at Sidda, and Sidda forced a smile back as she followed Sibil into a place from her nightmares: an exam room.
"Hop up on the table, and we'll figure out what's going on," Sibil said, patting the paper-covered table. Sidda took a deep breath and stepped on a stool to sit down on the edge of the table while Sibil sat down in a chair across from her. "So, what exactly is wrong?"
Sidda went through her list of symptoms hesitantly while she looked around the room, assessing possible escape options and chalking it up to her escapist-training. When Sidda was finished, Sibil stood up and headed toward the counter where she opened a drawer and picked up some things, one of them being an empty hypodermic needle. Sidda's gaze immediately shifted toward the door, Escape Option Alpha. Sibil was slower than her, she could make it.
"And you missed your last period, correct?" Sibil asked.
"Yeah, so I'm thinking I'm pretty messed up," Sidda said, shoving her thick blond hair back from her face, "Maybe something like a killer flu…"
"Sidda, you were in heat a few weeks ago, right?"
Sidda blushed and looked toward the door again. Couldn't they just go ahead and tell her she was dying so she could leave and end out her days in peace? "Yeah, that's right."
Sibil walked up to Sidda and extended her hand. "I think I might know what's going on. I'm going to do a simple blood test. It should only take about forty minutes since we have improved technology." Sibil tilted her head to the side. "Are you feeling all right? You're rather pale."
"Is this test going to prove something important?" Sidda asked, her eyes on the needle. Already she felt weak, as if the blood was draining from her extremities. Ridiculous fear of needles.
Sibil nodded. "Of course, otherwise I wouldn't run it."
"Is the needle part really necessary?"
Sibil sighed. "Yes, it is. It's a blood test, so I need more than a pinprick of blood."
Sidda bowed her head and then slowly extended her arm toward Sibil. "Fine. Go ahead, but I'm going to warn you, I'm not good with needles. At all."
Sibil smiled, obviously thinking that this was the normal transgenic fear of needles. "It'll be over shortly," she promised. She wiped the area she was going to draw some blood from with antiseptic, leaving a cold spot on Sidda's arm.
Sidda shuddered as the needle tip touched her arm. Without realizing it, she swayed backward slightly.
"Sidda, can you sit still for just a few minutes please?"
"Umm, maybe it would be better if I lay down while you did the test," Sidda said. She did not want to add that that way the doctor could still finish the test even if she fainted. If she had to suffer through the test, she wanted to make sure she only had to once.
Sibil eyed Sidda speculatively. "You really don't do well with needles."
"Whatever gave you that idea?" Sidda said sarcastically. She tried not to hate the doctor; after all, Sidda had volunteered herself for this torture.
Sibil adjusted the bed so that Sidda could lean back a little without lying all the way down, then she waited until Sidda was looking away to bring the needle up to Sidda's arm. Sidda could still feel it though. She felt extremely lightheaded and slightly dizzy, especially once the needle was in. She wanted to clench her fingers, but she did not really feel like she had any muscle control. Her vision seemed to be narrowing… there were strange dark spots, and it was like she was looking down a long tunnel….
And then the needle was gone. Sidda breathed deeply and closed her eyes for a moment, allowing her body to reorient itself.
"Please tell me you got what you needed," Sidda said.
"Yes, I did. If you'd like, you can just lay here until the test is finished. The clinic is pretty empty today, so it won't matter if you take up space."
"That would be nice," Sidda replied. If they had wanted to move her, the burden would have been on them. She certainly was not doing any walking in the next few minutes.
As the doctor left the room, Sidda closed her eyes and willed fervently that whatever death she was going to die would not be too painful or prolonged.
"Sidda? Sidda? Are you awake?"
Sidda opened her eyes and stared for a second at a beaming Sibil. Good news? Why would her death be good news for Sibil? She had had no idea the woman had such a grudge against her.
"Wonderful news," Sibil said, smiling, "According to the test, you're four weeks pregnant."
This time Sidda did pass out.
When she came too again a few seconds later, Sibil was anxiously checking her vital signs with two fingers pressed to Sidda's wrist. "Are you still feeling bad from the needle?" she asked anxiously.
"Um, no, definitely not," Sidda said, "I think I just misheard you."
"You're pregnant," Sibil said. Again with the smiling thing. What a creepy bitch.
"Crap, I was afraid that was what you said." Sidda slapped a hand to her forehead. "This is not good."
"Why not?" Sibil was very confused.
"Because this is me!" Sidda said. She pulled herself to a straighter sitting position. "I can't…Alec wouldn't…I don't know…" She stopped and grabbed Sibil's arms. "You can't tell anyone! Doctor-patient confidentiality!"
"I know that," Sibil frowned, offended. "But why are you upset about this? Everyone is always so thrilled to hear they're pregnant."
"Well, I'm not," Sidda said, "And you and the rest of this staff better not tell anyone else. I need time."
"Well, of course, but you will start showing in a couple months…"
"Damn it!" Sidda looked at Sibil again. In normal circumstances, she would have felt bad about how she was treating the woman, but these were not normal circumstances. Desperate times called for desperate measures.
"You're sure the test was right?" Sidda asked. "It wasn't just a super killer flu or something like that?"
"I'm absolutely sure," Sibil said. "Blood tests are absolutely positive. You can see the results here." Sibil pulled a sheet out from the folder she was holding, and Sidda grabbed it up eagerly.
"You didn't mix my blood up with someone else's?" Sidda asked, her eyes roving over the sheet and not making much sense of it except the little black notion at the bottom that declared 'pregnancy present'.
"No, no one else is getting a blood test in the infirmary right now; a mix-up would have been impossible." Sibil said. "Look, do you want me to call someone?"
"What part of 'don't tell anyone' do you not understand?" Sidda asked. She sighed and rubbed her forehead. "Please, please don't call anyone."
"Okay, okay," Sibil said, holding up her hands. She sat down in the chair across from Sidda again and watched her uncertainly. "Sidda, if you don't want the baby, there are things we could do, steps we could take."
Sidda raised her head and stared at Sibil. Her eyes widened when she realized what she was implying. "God, no," Sidda said, shaking her head, shock on her face, "No, I just…I need to think." Her head was aching; this was too much for her to process right now. A baby? Her baby? And Alec's… No way. What the hell was she going to tell Alec? Or not tell him…
Sibil nodded. This was probably the strangest reaction to pregnancy news that she had come across yet. She stood up and walked over to the table Sidda was sitting on. "Sidda, if you don't mind, I'm going to go ahead and give you your first prenatal exam, if you're okay with it."
Sidda jumped off the table. She wobbled for a brief second but regained her balance, shaking her head. "No, um, can we do it some other time?"
Sighing, Sibil crossed her arms over her chest. "I suppose, since you're obviously uncomfortable, but you need to come back in as soon as possible. Pregnancy affects all transgenic women differently, so we like to give all expecting mothers a thorough first exam so we can make a plan for them and try to estimate things like complications. You can bring Alec if you'd—"
"Okay, okay, that's fine," Sidda said, cutting her off as she headed for the door, "Just, don't tell anyone yet, all right? No one on the staff, and especially not Seth."
"I'm not going to tell anyone, but, Sidda, don't you think you're exaggerating this just a little?" Sibil asked, "It's not like it's the end of the world."
Sidda paused at the doorway, her hand resting on the doorjamb. "I'll get back to you on that."
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Shit, shit, shit. Sidda fed her street bike more gas, tearing through the streets of a twilight-cast Seattle. The sun was setting, the shadows were growing and everything was cool and crisp. It had just rained, and the grey haze was stubbornly sticking to the sky, like always. Sidda's cherry red Ducati roared around a tight curve, almost slipping out from under her as she leaned into the turn for maximum speed.
A kid? Really? Now? Sidda blazed down the street, everything blurring together as she passed. Most of her mind was focused on the road like it should be, but another, smaller portion managed to drag itself back into that mental loop she kept playing. Manticore should have made her less of a multi-tasker. It would have made life a lot easier when it came to getting her mind off things.
She was pregnant. The very idea made her head ache. She put on more speed, trying to force herself in giving her full attention to the road, but it was impossible. She needed to think anyways. Slowing down to 75 mph, she took the bike through a dizzying number of turns.
All right. So she was pregnant. With Alec's kid. That much she was certain of. She had not been with anyone else since they had gotten together on the Italy mission, and four weeks ago was squarely in the middle of her heat cycle, which meant that the precautions they had taken had not exactly worked. Of course, there were a few times that they had been a little too eager to bother with those precautions…
Sidda could have smacked her past-self silly for being so stupid.
But now she was in a bind. She wanted this baby. That was another thing she was certain of. Something deep inside her wanted this kid, no matter how much stress it was bringing her right now. She already loved it, even though it was what, the size of a pea? Finger-length? Sidda didn't know. Sidda didn't know anything about being pregnant; she had watched Robin go through the process, but that had been Robin. She wanted the baby, but Sidda just wasn't ready for kids yet…however, it looked like she didn't have a choice.
And there was another person thrown into this mixed-up situation. Alec. The baby-daddy. Her co-conspirator. Her mate. Whatever you wanted to call him. What was she going to tell him? Was she even going to tell him? What would he think?
That was the real question on her mind. What was Alec going to think? Say? Do? Would he accept it, be happy about it, even excited, or would he flip out? Leave her? Be mad at her for letting something like this happen when he felt like their relationship was short term instead of long term? Maybe he would think this was Sidda's elaborate scheme to make sure he wouldn't leave her.
Sidda felt cold at the thoughts that were rushing through her mind. Manticore had taught her to consider every possibility and all of these were awful possibilities. There was always a worse scenario. Alec could dutifully stand by her side, regretting the entire situation but doing what he considered the right thing, and the only thing tying them together would be this tiny kid since Alec would only be there because that's what he thought was right. Because maybe this really was short-term to him instead of long-term. Alec would tie himself to her out of duty, not love, and Sidda didn't want that.
And what if that elusive mate of his showed up? Sidda and their kid would be a burden on Alec, a constant reminder of a past regret that he needed to take care of. Or there was even the possibility that Sidda's real mate would appear, that that transgenic would want Alec's kid and Alec out of the picture, possibly permanently.
Sidda shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts. Damn it, her head was aching again, and she was tired, both of which she now realized were symptoms of her pregnancy. Even if she didn't tell him, Alec was going to start realizing that something weird was going on with her. She needed to figure out what she was going to do and fast.
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By the time Sidda returned to Terminal City, she had a plan. It probably wasn't the best plan; in fact, she knew that if she told anyone about it, they would come up with a hundred reasons why she should not do what she was going to do. So that was why she decided not to tell anyone. She had made her mind up, and she didn't want anyone to bother with trying to dissuade her.
There were things she had to do first. She had to get that prenatal exam done; it was important to know what complications, if any, she would have to deal with when the time came. She had to find an appropriate destination, gather up some fuel and pack. Secretly. She did not want anyone to know that she was leaving.
That had been the best solution that she could think of. Her friends would not be happy with her because she was leaving, but really, it was the best solution in the end. It gave Alec his freedom back, and that was what was most important to Sidda. She did not want to give him a chance to even think about being dutiful before she left.
And that was the other reason she could not tell anybody. She had well-meaning friends, but she knew if she told them of her plans, they would tell Alec to try and get him to keep Sidda from going. And then Alec would know about the baby, and then he would feel tied-up. It just wouldn't work. She would leave notes and call after she had left so that no one would freak out, but she planned on making it quite clear that she did not need any help.
"Not even born and you're already causing trouble," Sidda said as she got off her motorcycle. "You're definitely my kid, aren't you?" Great, she was already doing the talk-to-the-baby thing that she'd always made fun of Robin for when her friend had been pregnant.
She stopped and looked up at her apartment to see if the lights were on. They were. Unless she'd forgotten to turn them off, that meant Alec was back. She took in a deep breath, then headed into the building.
She stopped again outside the door, gathering herself for the façade she was about to put on. She had never had to deceive Alec before, and she did not like doing it at all. But hopefully she could just push it to the back of her mind and forget about it for a while.
"Hey, what's up?" Sidda dropped her keys on the counter and then went and sprawled on Alec, who was, predictably, on the couch. She suddenly wondered if lying on her stomach was bad for the baby…it could not matter when the baby was so small, could it? Sidda really needed to steal Robin's baby books. But just in case, Sidda shifted onto her side a bit. So much for forgetting about the baby.
"Hey, ouch, you're digging your hip bone into me," Alec protested. He wrapped his arms around her and shifted her a bit to a more comfortable position before kissing her neck. "You're cheerful today."
Well, she was covering up well then. "Yeah, I was in a bit of a mood earlier, but I think it's finally gone away," Sidda said. Oh, how much she was going to miss being wrapped in Alec's familiar scent and warm arms.
"Awesome. Maybe I'll get a little less abused tonight," Alec replied.
Sidda laughed. "Hey, I'm not nearly as bad as Syl is with Krit."
"Very true. I guess I should be grateful. Though you know, Robin…"
"Likes to go around getting shot and re-decorate her apartment every few months," Sidda finished.
"You know, you're right. I did get the best deal."
Sidda smirked. "Of course you did. And of course I'm right." He got the best deal… but would he have picked something better if he had the choice? Sidda sighed.
"You sure you're ok?" Alec asked, peering down at her.
"Yeah, just a little tired," Sidda smiled and idly drew her finger across Alec's chest, tracing the designs on his t-shirt. "I rode around on my motorcycle for a while today."
"I bet that felt great," Alec said enviously. "I went over to drop something off at the Cultural Center for Joshua, and I ended up getting stuck there for the rest of the day."
"And I bet you thought of me all day," Sidda said teasingly.
"You bet I did. Next time I watch the baby and you get to go paint walls."
"Blame all the painting on Robin," Sidda replied. "She's the one that obsesses over it." Sidda rolled over to look at the kitchen, ignoring Alec's mutterings and groanings as her bones dug into him again. "Did you save me any dinner?" she asked.
"Yeah, there's some spaghetti and garlic bread in there," Alec said. "We ate at the cafeteria tonight; Robin decided that she didn't feel like cooking. " Alec chuckled and sat up as Sidda moved off of him and headed for the kitchen. "I told Seth that it was almost too bad he had come back. No more overloads of free food."
"Nope," Sidda said. "So you should probably learn to cook, unless you want to eat dessert for dinner all the time. 'Cause that's what I'm best at." Or unless you want to starve, Sidda thought. After all, soon she wouldn't be there to make anything for Alec.
"Hmm, desserts doesn't sound too bad…we can eat those on the days we don't feel like going to the cafeteria."
Sidda rolled her eyes and grabbed a dish towel to throw at him. "You're so lazy, I don't know how you keep in shape."
"It's a gift."
Sidda grabbed the spaghetti after it was heated up and came back to the living room to sit and eat next to Alec, even though he was watching some stupid TV show. At the moment she just wanted to be close to him.