II. The Next Generation
Study the past if you
would divine the future.
-Confucius
Everyone was ecstatic with the news that Rowan was pregnant. And after Reid was revived from his brief bout of fainting, he was elated as well. They had gone off the birth control about a year ago with the mindset of 'if it happens, it happens' so there was no pressure. After a while, Rowan began to get the feeling that maybe the likelihood of her conceiving was low. But now… The doctor had ordered her to take it easy for about a week. Her blood pressure was high and she was having some minor heart palpitations.
Rowan had had to call and cancel lunch with Ginger and Dottie. Ginger had given a high-pitched squeal of excitement when Rowan told her the news. Yet, there were other things that needed to be addressed as well. Which was why they were all gathered (sans Ginger and Chase) in Rowan and Reid's TV room.
After they all were comfortable, Rowan began to explain the high probability that her pregnancy would set off a chain of events. They already knew this, being of the age when kids were a very viable prospect, the women had been told of this 'chain reaction.' But now that it was real, beginning, it was good to have a refresher course.
"If you look at the family trees in the Book of the Damned, the five Sons of each generation were born within the span of one year," Rowan explained. She herself was about eight weeks, conception date the second week of February.
Chase Collins had been born July 14th of '88, conceived November of '87. Caleb was born September 9th of '88, conceived January of that same year. Pogue, born October 10th of '88, conceived February of that year. Reid was the same as Pogue, but born on the 31st of October. Lastly, Tyler, born February 11th of 1989, conceived June of '88.
Each person was collectively quiet, basking in their own thoughts. Then, as if everything within clicked, each married couple looked at their partners and smiles broke out.
"We're going to be parents!" Maria exclaimed.
"But there's no way to determine when exactly, right?" Hope said.
Rowan shook her head.
"Like the Danvers line doesn't necessarily produce the eldest Son," Caleb explained.
"My dad's the oldest," Pogue spoke.
After some more talking about the Covenant's generational history, each couple departed, knowing that Rowan needed her rest, and they wanted to absorb this some more with their partners in private. After they were gone, Reid made Rowan some tea. She lay reclined on the couch, Reid sat facing her. There was something they had been keeping to themselves.
"Appointment's tomorrow," Reid said unnecessarily.
Rowan blew into her mug. "Yeah."
The doctor was worried about her hypertension, and postulated that it might be gestational, but would be certain after the twentieth week. Chemotherapy as a very young child had weakened her body. But even before leukemia, Rowan had been prone to bouts of sickness. As if to make up for her physical frailty, her mind and spirit were as strong as steel.
It was silly, she thought, that pregnancy had not even occurred to her when she began to feel the nausea, fatigue, bloating. Her period had always been irregular, so she was never overly worried when it fluctuated. The sore breasts should have been an exclamation point, though.
Rowan took his hand. "We three are going to be just fine."
Reid knew, he knew deep down, that this would not be any normal pregnancy. Sure, pregnancies were hard on pretty much every woman (so he assumed), but it would be risky for his wife. It scared him.
"Reid…did you want a baby? I mean, really want one?"
He swallowed. He had to admit that when they had decided to go off the birth control, he had had hopes, high expectations; though he remained patient. And…he still wanted it.
"I did and I do," he said.
She smiled. "I'm glad."
And the timing was great, too. He had just been thinking about whether he should go back to swimming, now his mind was made up. Nope. It would take too much of his time, and likely take him away from his pregnant wife. A grin twitched on his lips, and he let his worries sink a little so he could at least concentrate on the positive ring of this.
"I love you, Row."
"I love you, too."
She took a sip of her tea. "I'll have to talk to Ginger and Chase about this."
To his credit, he didn't make a face. "Yeah."
"I didn't want to say it over the phone. Whether any of us liked it or not, this was going to happen. It's happened every other generation. Why would it stop at this one?"
xx
Two days later, after Rowan had talked to Chase and Ginger…
Ginger couldn't stop thinking about babies herself. She often thought about carrying Chase's, it growing within her. It always brought a secret smile to her lips. Now, she stood in front of the full-length mirror in their bedroom, sticking her flat tummy out, turning right, then left.
Ginger eyed the throw pillow on the bed. She took it, stuffed it under her shirt and giggled. Yes, she could imagine herself just this round. Only not from a pillow, of course.
This impromptu modeling was just how Chase found her. He leaned against the door jamb with an amused expression on his face.
"Gin?"
She squealed in surprise, unaware of her audience. "Hi."
He pursed his lips to keep his smile from growing. "What are you doing?"
She looked down at her stomach, hastily removed the pillow. "Nothing."
Chase chuckled. "All right." But his revelry faded when Ginger's faded, she stood there as if stuck, then bolted for their bathroom. He followed her, just to catch his wife vomiting into the toilet. Dread crept through his body.
Ginger finished, washed herself up. Could it be?
"Are you okay?" Chase asked, concerned.
"I think so…" Ginger looked at him.
"No." Chase shook his head. "It's just a stupid legend, Gin."
"Maybe," she trailed off. She walked passed him, retrieving something from the back of her sock drawer. An EPT test. "One way to find out."
Chase stuttered. "I…you… Aren't you taking your birth control?"
"Yes! I always do."
Both were silent as she administered the test. Then they waited…waited… POSITIVE.
Ginger drew in a slow intake of breath. Chase swallowed a jagged lump in his throat, disbelieving, wanting the test to be wrong.
"It could be a false positive," he commented.
Ginger peered at him. "No, no, I'm pregnant!" She grinned. It faltered when there was no following agreement from her husband.
Chase merely glared at the EPT stick, face rigid, hands clenched. "It's a legend. That's it."
"But…but, the te-"
"Is not one hundred percent," he interrupted harshly, instantly regretting his sharp tone.
She looked away, taking the stick in her hand. She threw it in the trash. "You don't want a baby."
Silence. Then, "You know what it's going to be."
"It's going to be ours," she said. "Something we made."
Chase sighed. "It's nothing to get worked up over. You've been taking your pills and I wear a condom every time."
"I should still go to the doctor though…right?"
"I guess."
Ginger was waiting for him to say that he would come with her. He always went with her to doctor appointments. No matter how long since her stay in the institution, she continued to have a faint worry that if she went into a hospital, she would never come out. Chase never looked down on her fear, he simply sat in the waiting room with her, then sat in the examination room, and they would walk out together.
After a thick quiet, Ginger had to ask, "You'll…come with me, right?"
His brow rose, he nodded wordlessly.
A few hours later they shared a quiet dinner with Dottie. After, Chase said he was going for a walk. He did this often, going into the woods, clearing his mind. He liked living outside the city. Although dinner had been palatable it was now sitting uncomfortably in his stomach. He didn't want this pregnancy. He would not make a good father. When was the last time a Son of his line hadn't succumbed to addiction?
He did not want Ginger to be disappointed in the future. Hell, Chase still feared that he would disappoint her. He still felt the twinges to use, because it was so very easy. At least that brand Rowan had put on him nine years ago did some good. Every morning when he had to look in the mirror, he checked for premature gray hairs, liver spots, things that came with advancing old age.
Chase strove to be the best husband, the best person he could be for Ginger. But he didn't know if he could stretch himself any thinner for a baby. One he would have to await the creeping years when he first got his Powers, then Ascended. How could he look his son in the eyes, tell him not to abuse his Power, when he, Chase, had done the very thing? That he had murdered innocent people, caused unspeakable pain to others. What sort of father would that make him? A hypocritical one. A bad one.
xx
Ginger sniffled. "I don't think he wants a baby, Dottie."
Dottie crooned. "Ah, dumplin'." She stroked the younger woman's hair that rested on her lap. "I'm sure he's just frightened."
She sniffed again. "He kept asking me if I was taking my Pill, like he didn't believe me. And he says the legend is just that, a legend."
Once Rowan had met Dottie several years ago, she sensed that she was a perfectly fine woman to reveal their origins to if they so decided. Naturally, Chase and Ginger opted to tell Dottie, they both enjoyed not having any secrets from her.
"Sweetie," Dottie began, "this baby, yes, this baby will have those same powers as Chase. And Chase had a mighty fine problem with his. Certainly he is afraid that his son would, too."
Ginger wiped her tears away, looked up at Dottie. "Really?"
Dottie nodded. "It's certainly a possibility."
"That does make sense," she mused. Dottie always had the right answers. "Dottie?"
"Hmm?"
"Were you ever really, really sad that you never had babies?"
"Well, at first. I thought that, as a woman, I was somehow letting down my Abraham. But he assured me that that was no such possibility." She smiled softly, remembering her late husband. "After, it took some time, but I accepted it. And we filled our lives with other things."
Ginger smiled at Dottie. "You're such an amazing person, Dottie. You find the good in everything."
The elder lady chuckled.
"You think me and Chase could do that?"
"Most certainly," she said. "Chase loves you like no other, my dear."
Ginger nodded. "And the legend?"
xx
"I took care of it," Hunter said to Rowan.
"He didn't give you any trouble?"
She was sitting up in bed, having come from a fresh shower. Damn, 'morning' sickness, damn hypertension. Damn the light headedness, the fatigue and heart sputters. Eight days since she found out she was pregnant, she hadn't been to work all last week. It was Sunday, and she did not know if she would make it to work tomorrow. The last thing anyone needed at an emergency veterinary hospital was a baby-carrying woman fainting on them. Not to mention she was on the doctor's orders to take it easy.
Hunter eyed her. "Come on, do any of your charges give me trouble?"
Rowan smiled. Whitelighter and Shepherd working together for ten years, the people in her vicinity knew her, and they certainly knew Hunter. He had left lasting impressions here and there over the years. There were still some egotistical supernaturals who didn't like the tact taken with them. Hunter always cleaned it up.
"I can't just sit them all out, though," Rowan said.
"Row, for however long the doctor says you need to stay put, that means you stay put from your Whitelighter duties, too."
She pursed her lips, petting Erwin's head that rested on her lap. Tippy and Bruce Lee II were curled up on the pillow. They seemed to sense her pregnancy and were sniffing around her almost constantly, not that she minded. As always, her animal familiars, the furry part of her family, were a comfort.
"Shit, I can't believe you're going to be a mom," Hunter said.
She giggled. "Me neither. If you pause and think back, it almost feels like yesterday that I saw you walk into Mrs. Fuller's fifth grade class." They laughed. "I remember thinking that you were the most handsome boy I'd ever seen."
"Then Mrs. Fuller told me to take the empty seat beside you," he added his own recollections. "You shook my hand, and it was, maybe, half the size of mine. Your fingernails were painted light blue." Then, "And you guys were reading aloud book reports, and yours was on Old Yeller by Fred Gipson."
"Naturally, I started crying," Rowan finished.
Hunter chuckled. "You got an A-plus."
"Oh, hey, put in the DVD, we'll watch it."
"Ah, Row," Hunter started to complain. "It'll just upset you." Not to mention he'd watched it a million times, but, hey.
"True…it's as sad as that one movie, I Am Legend. Remember when the dog, Sam, died?" She shook her head. Rowan hadn't read the book before going to see the movie in 2007, and cried sporadically throughout the rest of the film after Will Smith had to kill his dog. And lo' and behold, Rowan began to sniffle now and her eyes filled with tears. "It's the hormones," she said, waving it off. "All right, put in Enter the Dragon or something."
Bruce Lee woke up.
xx
Tyler was late getting home. It was an intense day at work, busy. He tried to avoid Serena as best as possible, but they did work together. He couldn't pretend she didn't exist. So far, all encounters had maintained strictly professional. The last thing he wanted was to have an ounce of tension between him, which would then create tension between him and Maria. He would feel guilty, Maria would see it, and then he would tell her the truth.
Tyler hadn't been lying when he told Reid that it had nearly killed him to lose Maria that one time. Part of him entertained the idea that they were really, truly over, but the idea hurt too damned much. That month of separation, without her melodic voice, her enthusiasm for life and art…and him. His life wasn't right without her.
A sense of peace stole over him when he entered their home. "Maria?" he called.
"In here!"
He followed her voice, found her in one of the spare bedrooms of their two story house. She sat smack dab in the middle of the room, large sketch book in front of her. Her black drawing implement in hand ran swiftly and smoothly over the paper.
"Hi, Ty." Maria didn't even look up, she was in the zone. Since Rowan's pregnancy, and the certain advent of her own, her creative muses had come back alive.
She felt Tyler kneel down beside her, watching. Some artists minded when others hovered, but not her; especially if she was really into it, not even heavy duty construction going on in the same room would distract her.
Tyler saw she was designing a nursery from different angles. It warmed his heart. They had discussed children in the past but it never really came of anything. They didn't use birth control. Now he was seeing his wife with more glow and zest to her since…he couldn't remember. Was he that obtuse? Tyler knew he needed to work on his attentiveness. It only came to roost when Maria's displeasure was palpable, when she got quiet.
Finally, Maria sighed, dropped her pencil. "God, that was invigorating!"
Tyler chuckled. "It's great."
She looked at him now. Brown eyes big and glossy with joy. Tyler kissed her and she accepted voraciously. Both were breathless when lips parted.
"How was work?" she asked.
"Good," he replied. He told her about it in depth in their bedroom as he divested himself of his work clothes.
Maria listened while watching him undress. He still had that toned body she'd first seen in his swim uniform at Spenser Academy. The ridges of muscle rippled under firm skin whenever he moved, his chest was toned, hard. He wore his hair a little shorter than he had in high school, but it was still that deep chestnut that shone with golden highlights under the sun.
"Ty, do you still want to start your own practice?" she asked.
He smiled a little at that. "Yeah, maybe in a few years." He hated some of the office politics that went on. His own practice would allow him to know his patients better. A more intimate setting. Considering his area of medicine, he believed people wanted doctors that knew them, remembering their names without having to look at their file, remembering their children and their symptoms without having to do a review beforehand.
"I think the next couple of years are going to be pretty busy starting a family," he said.
A grin broke out on her full lips. "I can't wait till it happens, Ty."
"Me neither." He laid his hand on her flat stomach. "Getting round with our son." His eyes met hers. "And I promise I'll be there, Maria, no getting so caught up in work. I don't ever want you to worry about that." Again, he added silently.
xx
The ride home from the gynecologist was quiet. Chase's hands were clenching the steering wheel, and Ginger was staring down at her clasped hands on her lap. She wished she were excited that she was pregnant; and she would have been if not for Chase's abundant lack of cheer. He didn't want this to be. But here it was.
When they got home, Dottie was waiting for them. Both met her eye, but Chase's was brief and he walked away. Ginger stood in the foyer, then her shoulders crumpled and she began to cry. Dottie instantly had her arms around her.
A few hours later Ginger was in bed, coming out of her fatigued stupor. She had cried herself to sleep. The drapes were closed, the room was dark. Then she sensed another presence. Chase walked further into the room, sat on the bed facing her.
"Hey," he said quietly.
He hated seeing the pain in her eyes, hated knowing she cried. The whole time in the doctor's office he was hoping she would say that it was a false alarm…it hadn't been. His wife was pregnant with their son…a son he didn't think should be born, considering what he would be. Instantly, he had begun calculating the dates. Ginger was five weeks and two days pregnant, one month and nine days.
"I was taking my birth control," she sniffed.
He squeezed her hand. "I know."
But there's enough time, he thought. It hasn't been that long, and it was legal. Yet his thoughts wouldn't give voice. It was foremost in his mind, the solution. It was safe if the doctor was right. They could…
Like a clash, their eyes met. And Chase knew Ginger knew what he had been thinking. Shock, pain, and fear drowned her features.
"Gin-"
"No!" she yelled. "No!" She scrambled out of bed, wrenching her hand out of his.
"Ginger, please, I-"
"No, no, no!" she screamed, tears coursing down her face. "You can't! We can't!" She ran out of the bedroom.
Chase began to follow, then stopped. She was likely going to Dottie. That was fine. Dottie was infinitely better company than he was. Chase sighed.
He blinked back the acid tears that threatened to spill. He wouldn't cry over this. He didn't deserve the solace. Chase was fairly certain he might have broken a piece of his wife's heart.
xx
"Mom? What do you remember about me when I was a baby?" Rowan asked.
Evelyn Danvers smiled at her one and only daughter. Rowan lay on her back on the couch with her head on her mother's lap, long hair draped over with Evelyn's fingers softly running through it. Rowan was doing the same to Tippy who was curled up atop her. Bruce Lee and Erwin were with Reid in his den.
"Well, let's see," Evelyn began. "Where do you want me to start? I remember so much." And she did, the days before the alcohol.
"Hmm…when the doctor told you and Daddy that I was a girl."
She chuckled. "The look on your father's face was priceless. He insisted the doctor double check, and he put his face right up to the screen to be certain he was seeing what the doctor was telling him was there."
Rowan giggled.
"For days he was almost in shock. 'A girl' he would say, then shake his head in wonder. And he would go on to Caleb about how having a little sister would be wonderful. Then you were born…you came into this world singing."
"Singing?"
Evelyn nodded. "There's no other way to describe it. Many glasses of wine were drunk in celebration of your birth." They both laughed. "We were worried at first that Caleb being the only child for over a year, would feel resentful of a new baby in the house. But he took to you instantly." Mother and daughter exchanged another smile. "You and Caleb were the light of our lives. And you two remain the light of mine even now."
It's raining babies. Almost. I apologize if anything rings untrue about pregnancies. I've never been, so I'm kind of going by articles on the Internet and what I've seen on television.
More about what I read, because pregnancies don't strike me quite as glamorous as some tv and/or movies portray. *coughs* Charlotte from Sex and the City
Anywho, I love to know what you think! Thanks for reading and the kind reviews I've gotten thus far. :)