I just blushed. I had conjured up a handful of answers to my question, but none of them had been that one. I could see him saying, 'Yeah maybe,' or 'Yes, I want three and the first to be a boy so he can protect the two girls,' or something along those lines.
I hadn't pictured him saying anything about Emma. That's because you still don't trust him, you silly girl, A voice said in the back of my head and I knew it was right. I mean, I trusted him. But maybe not enough towards the whole 'dad' thing.
"Ok, let's see." He said, thinking about it. "How many boyfriends have you had?"
I giggled. God, he was creative. "Four, not counting you." I told him before I could think about it. Oh God. Were we dating? Was he my boyfriend? This was so complicated.
He smiled at my words, not ignoring them or being angered by them. He took my hand, bouncing Emma on his other arm. "How many girlfriends have you had?" I asked, watching him. He thought about it for a moment and I started to get worried. "Three, not counting you." He told me.
I was surprised to say the least. I had more boyfriends than he had girlfriends? That was a shocker. "C'mon. Seriously." I said playfully pushing him.
"I'm serious. Girls normally just drool over me when I'm not looking or run the other way when I do look." He said.
I couldn't get over it. "Ok, how many girls have you slept with?" I asked out of turn.
He didn't seem to notice. Again, he thought about it. "I think I'll pass on that one too." He said.
I shook my head. "No way. You either answer the last time you were drunk or how many girls you've slept with."
He looked torn. "Ok, fine." He said, obviously making his decision. "The last time I got drunk was the day that guy from the Agency came to your door." He said quietly, letting Emma play with his finger.
"Why'd you do that?" I whispered, realizing it wasn't because of 'good drunk vibes.'
He shrugged before looking at me. "I feel strongly for you and I'm not really sure how to handle myself around you."
"What do you mean?" I asked, not getting the whole picture.
He sighed. "That day was really hard for me. I knew you were lying. I didn't really know how I knew, but I did. It was like, every time you talked, there was this buzzing in my chest. The only thing I could figure out was because you were lying to me. And I like you, a lot. I just don't want to mess this up."
I smiled at him, kissing his jawline. "If either of us is going to mess up whatever we've got here, it's definitely going to be me. So don't you worry your pretty little head."
He just shook his head. "Ok, my turn…" He said, thinking about it. "What would you have named Emma if she had been a boy?"
Well, alright. That one took me off guard. "Uh… I don't know? I thought about Sam or Patrick. My grandfather's name was Patrick." I told him, as he gave me a look.
He gave a dry laugh. "I was scared you were going to say after the starfish."
I laughed, pushing on his arm. He smiled at me and I noticed my baby girl fell asleep on his arm. I smiled at her, sleeping oddly against Warren's chest, her breathing matching his.
"Let's put her up." I told him quietly as I stood and picked her up. She made a soft noise and only moved to be closer to me. Warren rose next to me and followed me up the stairs. I changed her diaper as she just laid on the changing table, rubbing her face. I smiled at her as I threw away the dirty diaper and gently set her into her crib.
I leaned down to kiss her and Warren followed suit, wrapping his arm around my waist, just looking down at my baby girl.
No, I realized. Our baby girl. She wasn't just mine anymore. As I looked over at him, it finally clicked. Warren was honest, strong willed, there for me when I needed it. As I watched him just gaze at my daughter, I realized he really did care for both of us.
How could I have not seen that before? He completely cared for both of us. I smiled and he looked over at me. "What?" He asked, a curious expression covering his features.
"You're amazing." I told him quietly, kissing him gently on the lips.
I felt him smile into the kiss before he softly pulled away. "I think you got it backwards. You are amazing."
I shook my head as he rested his forehead against mine. "Let's go back down stairs so we don't wake her." I whispered as I took the baby monitor in one hand and Warren's hand in my other. I gave him a little tug and he started following me out of the room and back down to the living room.
After I moved Emma's toys back into the corner, I sat next to Warren on the couch. His arm rested above my shoulders and I laid my head on his shoulder. "Why do you live alone?" I asked after a few minutes of silence.
He smiled a little bit. "I don't really live alone. My mom comes back into town once a month or so. She's got a really important Government job, and I had to stay here to go to Sky High. It's a pretty cool deal if you ask me."
"Do you ever talk to her? I mean, it must be hard to only see her once a month." Or, ya know, I assumed. I missed my mom, but not in the way I'd actually like to see her. I more missed the memories I had of her and my dad from when I was younger. Before everything fell apart.
"Yeah, I call her every Sunday when she's gone. We usually end up talking for an hour or two." He told me.
I nodded. At least that made sense. "Do you ever talk to your parents?" He asked me. I shook my head. "No. Aunt Rose didn't want me having anything to do with them. She actually made it look like I died, to them, so they wouldn't come looking for me."
Warren was quiet for a moment. "That seems a little harsh…" He said quietly, trailing off.
"I used to think so. But now I'm glad for it. They weren't very good parents and I was just glad I didn't have to get hurt anymore. I bet I have more scars then you do." I said with a smile, trying to lighten the mood.
Warren's unexpected laugh almost made me jump. "No, no way. I definitely have more scars then you do."
I just shook my head. "Honestly, I don't even know how that would be possible, but ok."
He pulled me closer and I hugged him as he kissed the top of my head.
We just sat there together for a few minutes until there was static coming over the baby monitor. "That's weird." I said, moving to pick it up. It kept coming so Warren followed me up the stairs. I flipped on the switch and there, standing over Emma's crib, was Erebus.
I felt Warren flame up behind me. "Erebus? What are you doing? What's wrong?" I asked, suddenly flooded by a bad feeling.
He looked up at me with a sad look in his eyes, not even registering that Warren was on fire behind me. "I'm sorry, Cora. I tried to give you time, but they were farther ahead then I planned. Forgive me." He said, coming to stand in front of me.
"What… what are you talking about?" I asked.
"Cora. Forgive me for not giving you more information. I will never be able to make it up to you." He said, taking both my hands in his.
"Erebus, please. Are they here? Are they already here?" I asked, fear taking a hold of me.
He gave me a sad smile and before I could respond there was a pressure on my chest so intense, I could barely breathe. Erebus had disappeared. I ran to Emma's crib, picked her up and turned my back to the window when shots rang out.
I heard the gun right before the window broke into a million pieces. Then there was a stinging in my side. As soon as I felt the sensation, I pushed it out of my mind. I had to get Emma out of here now. I hadn't seen him move, but Warren was at the window, sending fire ball after fire ball at the shooter.
I somehow ended up in the hallway. The feeling in my side numbed slowly. I still pushed away from it, moving towards the middle of the house, where there was no windows.
"We have to get out of here!" Warren shouted over the room being blasted with gun fire.
"Call Will!" I yelled back at him as he moved us to the stair case, away from any windows or doors.
Warren pulled out his cellphone and ended the call within ten seconds. Mine and Emma's room kept getting blasted with different forms of bullets as I sat on the stairs, rocking my little girl. She said started crying as soon as the first shot was issued, but she laid cuddled up against my chest, quiet now, but shaking.
I looked down, worried she'd been hurt. She just looked concerned… Why would she look concerned?
"Cora. You're bleeding." Warren said, and I felt the pressure as he pushed on my side.
I groaned as I finally felt the pain and I leaned into him. I didn't know what caused the pain and I didn't care. I just had to get Emma out of here. Seconds later, Will's front door blew apart and I screamed, covering Emma.
Will looked around frantically before he saw us. He took my arm and dragged me out the doorway. I turned, looking for Warren. Men had gotten inside the house and were trampling down the stairs, towards a flamed up Warren.
"Warren!" I yelled, trying to pull away from Will.
"Cora! We have to get you out of here." Will told me, still dragging me. Before I knew it, the men were surrounding Warren and we had lifted off the ground. I held onto Emma for dear life, but all I could think of was Warren getting hurt.
As soon as we touched down at Layla's house, Will was already flying back towards his house. Layla ran out of the house, setting her hand on my shoulder as we both watched Will fly away.
"We left Warren. He flew me here and we left Warren." I said, looking at her with regret. How could we have just left him there?
Layla gave me a side hug around Emma and ushered me inside, out of the open. She sat me down at her dining room table after introducing me to her mom. Apparently, Layla's mom could talk to animals.
When Layla came back from the kitchen, she set a cup of hot cocoa on the table in front of me. But I was so worried for Will and Warren. This was my fault and there they were, fighting my battle.
"Oh my god! Cora! You're bleeding!" Layla's mom pointed out and I remembered how Warren had been putting pressure on my side when Will pulled me out of the house.
I shook it off, not looking at it. "It's fine. I'll pull it out when I know Will and Warren are safe." I told her, looking out the sliding glass door.
"Out? There's a bullet in there?!" Layla squeaked, sounding like she might faint.
I nodded. "He was far enough away, it didn't have enough momentum to go through. We don't have time to mess with it right now." I told her.
"Give me Emma." Layla's mom said as we saw Will coming towards the house.
After a moment of hesitation, I handed over my baby girl and bolted outside just as the guys touched down.
Warren had a gash in his side and three bullet wounds in one shoulder. "Warren! Oh my god. Warren, are you ok?" I asked, standing in front of him.
He gave a small smile. "If you think I look bad, you should see the other guys."
"That doesn't make me feel any better." I told him. "You need to get to the hospital. Why'd you bring him back here?!" I asked, becoming upset with Will.
Before Will could defend himself, Warren's hand rested on my cheek. "You need more medical care then I do. At least my bullets came out." Warren said, painfully digging in the pocket of his jeans and pulling out three smashed bullets.
As I looked down at the gash in Warren's side, it started very slowly knitting back together. Despite the fact that Will was all but holding him up, I threw my arms around his neck. "I thought I lost you." I whispered, squeezing him tight.
I could feel him smile as he kissed my neck. "You should know it takes more than a couple goons to get rid of me."
And then the pain hit me. I grabbed my side, feeling the impact of the bullet. I looked up at Warren as everything started to spin. The last thing I remember was Will grabbing for me as I fell sideways.
The first sensation I felt was heavy. I felt like my eye lids, my arms, my legs were all made of steel. I didn't know how I was going to be able to open my eyes without help. Then I wanted to panic. What if there was no one to help me and I was stuck in this paralyzed state until I died?
Because I wasn't dead, yet, right? I couldn't imagine being in pain if I was dead. Because the pain just started up again. It wasn't bad; like I'd been given a drug to help hide it, but it was wearing off.
As these thoughts floated through my mind, there was an incessant beeping noise. First it was steady and slow, then it slowly sped up, then it became more erratic. And as the noise became more erratic, my panic increased. Where was I? Why couldn't I move? What happened to me?
Oh no. What if the Agency had caught up with me? Where was Emma? What about Warren and Will and Layla?
Pain flooded my side, silencing everything going on in my head. The pain blocked anything else from getting through. Then there was a pressure on my shoulder. I heard someone talking, but it was like they were yelling at me from the other end of the house; there was too much in the way to hear them correctly.
The pressure on my shoulder wasn't unpleasant; I just didn't know why it was there. And slowly, the pressure turned to tingling. The voice slowly felt like it was coming closer.
Suddenly, my eyes opened and everything was so bright, I had to blink back tears. Something moved and it got a little darker. After blinking a few times, I realized Warren had shut the blinds.
The pain in my side came back full force, making me gasp for breath. I looked up at Warren, and he took my head, kneeling to be closer to my face. I gripped his hand tighter than I probably should've, but he didn't say anything.
"Where… where's…" I tried to choke out, past the pain. I couldn't fathom why it hurt so much.
"Emma's fine. You need to calm down. It hurts worse when you panic." He said soothingly, as he set his other hand on my cheek.
I locked eyes with him and forced my breathing to slow down. After a few seconds, my breathing matched his and the pain reduced to a level I could push to the back of my mind. The beeping even went away.
He smiled, stoking my cheek softly. "Are you feeling better?"
I nodded a little, moving my head to look around the room I was in. Will, Steve, Josie, Layla, and Emma sat on the other side of the room, watching us. I set my head on the cool, metal safety bar, watching Emma sit quietly in Layla's lap.
"She's been like this since we brought you in." Layla told me, standing up and coming closer to the bed.
"Hey baby girl. I'm fine, see?" I told her as Layla set her on my bed.
She instantly curled up next to my stomach. I stroked her hair, holding her close.
Warren watched us. "Have you ever… thought..." He started, trailing off. But I knew what he was trying to say.
"Yeah." I said with a sad smile as I looked down at her. "She's gonna be a little Aunt Rose before she knows it." I said, watching her watch me.
She gave me a little smile. Warren reached over and brushed her cheek with his finger and she gave a giggle, making both of us smile.
"We're a really messed up family." I told him.
He smiled, running his finger across my cheek. "Don't you know that's the best kind?"
I smiled, leaning over to kiss him on the cheek. "So, considering I'm not dead, can I assume they got the bullet out?"
Warren smiled. "Yeah, they got the bullet out. But because it was scraping your hip bone and they had to dig for it a little bit, you're gonna have a scar from it."
I shrugged. "Scars build character." I told him, moving Emma closer to my chest.
After Josie and Steve confirmed several times that I was ok, they left, leaving Will and Layla in the room with Warren, Emma and I.
"So we didn't know if we should call your Aunt Rose or not…" Will said out of the quiet, trailing off a little.
I smiled over at him. "Nah. She doesn't need to worry about it. Besides, she probably knows something about it."
He shrugged, then looked over at Layla. "You want to get something to eat? I hear they have an awesome salad bar."
Layla smiled, standing up and taking his hand. "You guys want anything?" She asked.
I was hungry, but I was also incredibly nauseous. So food was probably a bad idea. "Nah, I'm good." I said, looking over at Warren.
"Yeah, just bring me back something." He called as Will and Layla left the room.
"Why don't you get a chair or something?" I asked, realizing he was still kneeling on the hard tile floor.
He looked down and winced, apparently realizing his stance as well. He nodded, slowly standing up and limping over to the chair and pulling it back to the bed.
Emma had fallen asleep against my chest, her breathing matching mine.
"She's a little you." He said with a smile.
"What do you mean?" I asked. All I could see in her was Dean and Aunt Rose. I didn't see any of me in her.
"Her hair, her eyes, her skin is all yours." He said, smiling.
I scoffed, looking down at her. "Did you know her nose looks like yours?" I asked, looking between the two.
"Well and she has my nose." He said, smiling at me as he leaned over and kissed me gently.
We pulled away as the sound of someone clearing their throat covered the room.
"Mom?" Warren asked, looking confused as he stood to give the woman a hug.
She was pretty. Simple, but elegant. Warren was the spitting image of this woman. She had long black hair that was pinned on top of her head in a bun, and beautiful porcelain skin. The beginning of her laugh lines and crow's feet actually aided her appearance. Her eyes were different though. Where Warren's were a smoky gray-brown, hers were a sharp, piercing blue.
"Warren. I was so worried about you. They said Will's house got shot up, then you were in the hospital. I got here as fast as I could." She said, dropping her briefcase and hugging her son.
"I'm fine, mom. Got shot a couple times, but they're all healed up." He said with a little smile as he pulled the collar of his shirt down enough to show off his war wounds.
Despite the fact they were all healed up, Mrs. Peace didn't look too thrilled. "Always getting into trouble." She said, setting her hand on his cheek.
Emma made a sad noise in her sleep and I slowly, painfully rolled from my side, so I was sitting up more. Emma made a whimper and I shushed her, stroking her hair to ease her nervousness.
When I looked up, Warren's mom was staring at me and all I could feel was fear. I knew this was a powerful woman that could rip me apart if she wanted. Maybe not literally, but pretty close.
But surprisingly, it was over in a second and she looked worried about me. "Are you ok, honey?"
I looked from her to Warren, suddenly confused by the exchange I was presented with. He smiled slightly and nodded, encouraging me. "Yeah," I said looking back at her. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just got shot." I said with a shrug.
Her look of concern increased. Apparently, she didn't know I'd been shot. "Oh my god. Did they get the bullet out?" She asked, looking between Warren and I.
"Yeah. Scars build character and all that jazz." I told her passively as Emma shifted in my lap and woke up yawning. "Hey baby girl." I said with a smile as she wrapped her arms around my neck and squeezed as much as she could.
I looked up again and Warren's mom was just watching me. It then donned on me that I had no idea what her name was. "Oh, I'm sorry. I'm Cora, by the way." I told her.
"Alice Gray." She said, stepping closer and hold out her hand.
I shook her hand, wondering why Warren and Alice had different last names. "Nice to meet you." I told her. She smiled with a nod, glancing between me and my baby. "Oh, um. And this is Emma. She's almost eleven months. Say hi, honey." I said and Emma looked up at her, slightly concerned.
Emma gave a little wave before cuddling closer to me. "Momma. Super?" The little girl asked me.
I had no idea if Alice was a super or not. "No, no honey bee."
Emma looked slightly confused, but cuddled up to me.
"Actually, Cora. My mom is an Empath." Warren said, coming to sit in the chair next to my bed.
I looked between Warren and Alice. "Oh, ok." I said. "Yes, baby girl. Super." I told Emma, playing with her hand.
She smiled happily, then leaned so her arms pointed to Warren. Warren took her, setting her in his lap as Alice pulled up a chair.
"So…" I said, trying to think of something to talk about as we sat there in awkward silence. "Warren says you work for the Government." Yep. That was all I got. I couldn't think of anything else as the pain slowly crept back into my system.
Alice smiled. "I'm the Deputy Secretary of Defense."
I blinked a couple times. "That's… uh… pretty important." I said.
Her smile made me want to smile about something, but I didn't have much to smile about at the moment. They pain was slowly getting worse so I shifted in bed.
"Are you ok?" Warren asked.
I looked over at him and smiled. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine."
He didn't look convinced as he stood to hit the pain killer button. "You're such a liar." He told me as Emma giggled.
"Silly girl." I told her.
Alice watched our exchange. "Are you two… together?"
Her question kind of caught me off guard. Were we? Like, actually together? We had that moment on the floor at Will's house while we were playing questions. But I guess we never clarified. Are we dating?
I saw Warren's lips turn up in a soft smile as he took my hand. "Yeah, mom. We are."
[Author's Note: Oh the action, oh the suspense! Will Cora find out who's trying to kill her? Will Warren's mom approve of her relationship with Warren? Will we finally figure out if Emma really is a super? Find out on next week's episode of 'I may or may not update this story, I'm running out of ideas on how to wrap this up'!
No, but seriously. This is the last complete chapter I have written. If you'd like more, pleaseeeee I beg of you, give me ideas or let me know what else you'd like to see. I honestly don't know where to take this, so any help would be GREATLY appreciated.]