There was a knock on the door and Carolyn turned and called out over her shoulder. "Haytham? Is that you?" She could hear Maggie laugh and try the door. "It's just me, dear. Open the door!" She turned to Connor frantically. "Hide!" He looked around the room. "Where?" She spoke up "Just a moment, Maggie!" She pointed to the bed and Connor stared at her. Another frantic look and a point and he got up as quietly as he could and slid under the bed. She breathed a sigh of relief and unbarred the door. "What is it Maggie?" The older woman pushed into the room cheerfully. "I came for your checkup. I heard you weren't feeling well." Carolyn smiled and turned, anxious to get her to leave. "I'm fine. I'm just a little tired is all. I didn't sleep well last night." Maggie smiled knowingly at her. "I heard Haytham was back! Now come on, out of the dress and on the bed. I won't be here next week so we'll have your exam now. I insist." Carolyn slipped from her dress and climbed onto the bed carefully, aware of Connor's position below her. Maggie gasped and laughed when she saw her. "I'm gone not even a month and you're a house!" Carolyn adjusted her position awkwardly. "I certainly feel like one." Maggie laughed.
"It's not too late you know." Carolyn sighed. "Please don't start that again." Maggie looked at her. "You're wasting valuable time. You should take a lover." Carolyn flinched. "I've told you before. I don't want one." Maggie patted her knee as the tears began to well again. "You say that now but you're young. The grief will pass and you'll regret not using this time well. He's not coming back. Rare's the chance to try someone new without the risks, eh?" Carolyn swallowed. "I know that but I've got enough on my plate right now. Besides who would want me now? You said it yourself, I'm a house." Maggie looked at her seriously. "You need to be thinking to your future and that of your child. Haytham will not be around forever. The child will need a father." She finished her examination and sat back. "The quickening should be soon if you haven't felt it already." Carolyn laid back and studied the ceiling. "I felt it weeks ago." Maggie pressed a hand to her stomach and frowned down on her. "I see what you mean. Are you sure about the date?" "Very sure." Maggie moved up to her stomach and pressed an ear to her skin. "Hmmm. I only hear one heart beat but my hearing is not what it once was. You'll either need much bigger baby clothes or more of them." Carolyn sat up in the bed, startled. "What do you mean?" Maggie laughed. "Well if there were two it would explain a lot. And the birth would be easier on you than a babe this size." Carolyn fell back on the bed with a sigh. "Please not twins. What would I do with two babies?" Maggie stood and moved towards the door. "Same as you do with one, dear. But with less sleep." Carolyn scooted to the edge of the bed and pulled her shift back on, pulling the robe over it. She escorted Maggie to the door. "Just let me know if you have any complaints, child." She nodded and closed the door behind her, still in shock.
She moved to the couch and dropped to her seat. Connor edged out from under the bed. "Who was that?" Carolyn swallowed. "Maggie. She's the midwife. She wasn't supposed to come until next week. " He frowned. "What was all that about lovers?" Carolyn laughed. "I suspect she came today because she heard Haytham was back. Some people find it very hard to believe we're not lovers. She, of course, is in a better position to know than most if he had visited me last night." Connor studied the wall. "Are you?" "No! He's like a father to me!" Carolyn's voice was horrified. "She means well. If I were what I claimed to be it would be good advice." He studied her where she sat. "Have you? Do you? Is that why you do not wish to come with me?" She glanced up at him. "Have a lover? No. My life right now is a lie and I don't want to lie anymore. I just want what's best for my child. Children?" She looked pale and studied her stomach pressing her hands on either side. "One? Two?" She swallowed and eyed him. "You are large. It might just be big." His eyes followed her hands. "She said she only heard one heart beat." Carolyn sighed. "But she's also not a young woman."
She looked up at him suddenly, rising to her feet. "You've got good hearing. Fantastic hearing. Would you try?" Her eyes implored him and her hand reached for him. He swallowed hard and nodded. "I'll try." He looked at the bed unsure of what to do. She stood before him and he got down carefully on his knees before her. He pushed back his hood and she gasped. "What have you done to your hair?" He sighed and shook his head but placed his hands on her hips and drew her towards him. She pulled the edge of the robe back and the cloth of the shift tight while he pressed his ear to her stomach. He closed his eyes and blocked out the other noises from the building around them focusing on the gentle thumping under his touch. "I… I hear two. One fast, one slow." He looked up at her nervously. Her lips twitched. "Are you remembering to count mine? I have a heart beat too." He flushed slightly and pressed his ear back against her pulling her closer and wrapping his arms around her waist. No longer having to hold back the robe she fumbled briefly for a place to put her arms before resting her hands lightly on his shoulders. "Just the one then" he said finally but made no effort to move. She breathed a sigh of relief. "That's good then."
Suddenly he pulled back his head and eyed her stomach warily. "What was that?" She laughed out loud. "Felt that, did you? Good. It's about time someone else was getting kicked." He pressed his face back against the cloth of her dress and moved one of his hands around to the front to press against her stomach, searching for more movement. His other hand stayed in the small of her back, holding her in place. Her heart began to race and she blushed to know that he could hear it. His second hand shifted back to her side and his fingers flexed on her waist. "I thought you were dying." He said softly. She contemplated the top of his head. "Is that how he got you to come with him?" He shook his head softly. "No, he just hit me over the head and tied me up." She laughed at that. "I'm sorry. I would never have asked him to. I can't imagine what people must think back in Boston. Ok that's a lie. I can entirely imagine. Every time you went out I would wonder if you were coming back. I wondered if this would be the time they killed you." She ran her fingers over his shoulders and he continued. "When I found you in the snow I thought you were dying. You were so cold and you wouldn't warm up." "I probably was." He took a shaky breath. "And when you woke up… I was so relieved. I didn't care that you were a Templar. I just cared that you were alive. It did mean something to me. I was just scared to think that you would use it against me."
She ran her fingers through what remained of his hair and felt his breathing steady and warm against her skin through the thin cloth. "It's okay. I know. So… " she asked lightly. "Is there someone back in Boston waiting for you?" "No. No one." She looked questioning at that. "None of the female assassins? The one I met seemed very fond of you." He nodded. "I am their leader. It would not be appropriate for me to be involved with any of them in that manner. Besides I must be able to send them into danger. I don't know if I could." He swallowed. "They talked me into going to a brothel once. It didn't go well. I couldn't do anything. I ended up beating up the owner and buying a girl's boat fare back to England." Carolyn laughed. "Why?" He looked up at her. "Because she didn't belong there. She reminded me of you." She smiled at him tenderly. "That's the Connor I knew and miss." She leaned down and brushed her lips against his. His hand caught up in her hair and pulled her back down pressing her lips back to his own. She pulled back and met his eyes, her pulse racing. "It would not change anything, but you're only here for a day. Haytham will take you back tonight. He must. It's too dangerous for you here. And it's not like you could do me any harm…" he kissed her urgently stopping her. She pulled back and took a breath. "You don't mind that I'm big as a house?" He shook his head. "You're you. I missed you. And you exaggerate." His lips were hot and demanding against hers and she pulled back gasping. "I've missed you too." His lips hovered over hers. "Come with me. Come home. Not just for the baby. For me. For us. I missed you so much." She shook her head sadly. "I can't. Please don't ask me for more. I think of you ever day but this is for the best, Connor. Can't we just have this?" His thumbs brushed the tears from her eyes. She offered him her mouth again and he took it hungrily. He glanced towards the bed and started to stand but instead she pulled off her robe and laid it out on the floor. Following his glance she blushed. "I share that wall with your father. We'll have to be quiet."
She knelt on the floor facing him, and cupped his facing kissing him eagerly. He shrugged out of his jacket folding it and tossing it beside them. He reached for his shirt but her hands found the drawstring of his pants and she leaned back on the cloth pulling him with her, the hem of her shift riding up over her legs. He sat up briefly, grabbing his jacket and positioning it beneath her head while he looked for the angle that allowed him to stay off her stomach. Finding it he sank into her with a sigh. She gasped and rocked her hips up to meet him. He kept is pace even determined not to spend months of energy in single burst as she writhed beneath him. When she put a hand up to her mouth and bit on her fingers, he looked down at her curiously. She gasped. "I'm not sure how quiet I can be. I've never had to be quiet before." He laughed and paused adjusting his position as her nails dug into his shoulders. "Don't you dare stop." He switched to holding himself up with one arm and ran a hand across her jaw and over her lips. Her eyes were dark with need. "Careful. I might bite." He grinned and picked his rhythm back up. "Go ahead." He covered her mouth with his hand as she sunk her teeth into the flesh worrying at it lightly with her teeth and tongue. The sensation drove him close to the edge but he held back until he felt her spasm around him and cry out into his hand. Heartbeats later he joined her.