20th February, 2027
The Stadium
Ellis, Greece
Derrick, Yumiko and Ryad had spotted both Monika and I sharing a late breakfast. The 3 of them walked over to us.
"Team Mira is currently running some last minute drills. They still have literally no idea," Ryad said and grabbed the seat next to me. I inhaled a bit of his cologne which I'll admit smelled rather nice. Bet you anything Elena loved when he wore it.
"Monika, are you ok?" Yumi asked. Monika, who had been staring at her plate of apple pancakes and not eating them, looked up. She jumped a little when she realized more people were here.
"Oh yes, I'm fine," she lied.
"Really? Because that's your favorite breakfast food, yet you have barely touched them," I countered. She rounded on me.
"I don't like lying to people!" she stated loudly. "I've been lying to my future wife's face for like 2 months now!" Bold claim there Mon. Like REAL bold.
"Let me guess," Derrick began and struck the "detective" pose. "You think lying to my sister about a stupid game is cause for her to call off the wedding, state that she never loved you and that you'll never get to see Zoey again?" Monika nodded almost imperceptibly and it almost looked like she remembered something else she lied about.
"Did you forget that I did the same thing in 2023?" Derrick said and pointed his chin at me. "Lukas too."
"Zoey is not Meghan's either. You think Tina will ever forbid you from seeing Zoey, Monika?" I added. Monika shook her head.
"You often say you and Meghan are very similar people," Yumiko said. "How did you react when you realized that Lukas was lying to you about the tournament in 2023?" Monika looked at me and I responded with a smile. I remembered that day vividly. She had realized it was me the moment the opening riff from 2 Minutes to Midnight began playing.
"I was…ecstatic…but I also wasn't going to be shooting at him either," Monika said.
"Which reminds me," Ryad said. "It might be better on our immediate reaction times to not engage in combat with our significant others as best as we can. Prioritize someone else. Yumi, I know you don't really have a problem with fighting Jack, correct?"
"I do not. Sometimes I actually do want to shoot him with a paintball gun. But most of the time, he's a great husband and father," Yumiko explained. Ryad nodded.
"Fantastic. You're the wild card. In fact, if Team Mira catches on to that tactic, they might try to send Tina after Derrick, Ela after Lukas and so on and so forth. You kicking Jack's ass might get them scared," Ryad added. "Have you all studied their tactics and adjusted accordingly?" We all nodded.
"Tina knows my old hand-to-hand style. I did a lot of Jeet Kune Do attacks. We often sparred for fun and we were pretty evenly matched. Recently, I've been looking into a lot of Hapkido and Jujitsu techniques over the last few months. Plus I've been working on some impressions of the others. Yumi, tell me if Jack is right," Derrick said and cleared his throat.
"Brief me en route and I'll get it done," he said in an almost perfect imitation of Jack's voice. Yumiko barely even flinched as she said "Yep, you still got it." Ryad had his eyebrows raised in admiration while Monika smiled almost reminiscently for some reason.
"Duke Boy, grade my Ela," Derrick continued and then put on a high pitched voice with a passable Polish accent. "Poland's finest, ready to serve." I nodded. Derrick was good at his job and lived up to his codename pretty effectively. Derrick then turned to Ryad.
"Got my eyes on you cabrones," he said in a medium pitched Spanish accent. Ryad nodded.
"Nice," he said. "I trust you can imitate Meghan and Tina well enough already." Derrick nodded.
"Come on Monika, eat up. We gotta be there in 20 minutes," I said after looking at my phone. There was a text from Ela.
Engel - "I'll be looking for you in the stands. I'll kill you if you aren't cheering for me ;) "
I smirked and texted back "You'll see me, don't you worry." Monika must have remembered that apple pancakes are her favorite because she had started to wolf them down.
"Bad time to mention that Megs makes pretty good pancakes," Derrick said watching.
"She's never mentioned that before," Monika said, covering her mouth with her hand as she spoke.
"Bet you she was saving it to surprise you. Much like how Derrick lied to Tina about knowing her favorite Goo Goo Dolls song," I said and got to my feet. Looking around the cafeteria, I spotted Zofia sitting by herself and reading. She looked over after sensing my movement. One look at the 5 of us caused her eyes to widen.
"Ela's left side is weaker than her right," Zofia informed me. "But you probably knew that." Yes Zofia, I did. Her knees are also pretty weak after she hears me play guitar. There was one time I just played that Wonderwall song just as a joke but she had been all over me like a college girl afterwards. I knew how Derrick felt in college at that point. I nodded at Zofia.
"I won't hurt her. I promised your daughter Zo," I said. Zofia managed to show us a smile.
"It's just a training exercise. It will be good to analyze her reactions when she faces off against 'the greatest thing that has ever happened to her'," Zofia said. Monika gasped. I felt something catch in my throat.
"Yes Lukas, she used to tell me that all the time while you were still dating. Ela has been head over heels in love with you for longer than you might think," Zofia continued. "As for you Monika, I will be in your bridal party. I forgot to answer you the other day. I'm sorry." Monika nodded. Ryad tapped the both of us on our shoulders.
"Ready?" he asked.
"Ready," Monika and I said. Bidding goodbye to Zofia, the 5 of us walked to where the attacking teams gathered and waited for our moment to strike.
20th February, 2027
The Stadium
Ellis, Greece
We were there in about 20 minutes. Arrived right on time actually. The tournament was structured a little differently than when I initially competed. The last time I did was in 2024 and that year still used the old style. We played the preliminary matches today and then the semi finals and finals are held the next day. The thing that I was most afraid of was the bunking situation. As much as I loved Ela, I also wanted to win. Therefore, sleeping with her tonight could throw us both off our A-game. Derrick and I planned on hanging out afterwards and sleep in separate rooms. Dunno if I'd ever be out of the doghouse for that one but we'll see. Ryad signaled to one of the officials (and one of Harry's staff) that we were here as we were the first attacking team against Team Mira. The official nodded and pulled out his phone to make a call. I could begin to hear the sounds of the crowd roaring from our place near the stadium's entrance. Soon enough, the announcer began speaking.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls, welcome to the 2027 Tournament of Champions!" they said. The crowd roared in appreciation.
"Alright Mon, the order is Ryad, Yumi, Derrick and then you and me. We'll walk out together. I selected an absolute winner for our music," I told Monika.
"Let me guess, Iron Maiden?" she answered.
"No actually. You'll see," I said and gave her a small hug. "Meghan will not hate you for this ok?" Monika nodded and took a deep breath.
"Let's give it up for our first defending team led by fan favorite and defending champion Mira!" the announcer continued. On the screen nearby, I saw Elena (although from this point forward, I will be using codenames) make her way onto the field. Jackal kissed his hand and pointed to Mira's image on the screen. Hibana smiled as did Loki.
"Next up is the one and only Mr. Worldwide! Er- no…I mean PULSE!" the announcer said. On the screen I saw that Pulse had pulled a face that read "really?" while the song "Hotel Room Service" played as he made his way onto the field.
"How much you pay Frank in the sound booth to do that, Loki?" Hibana asked through her laughter. Loki shrugged.
"Autographed copy of the Time Warp album helped," he said.
"Continuing on is another fan favorite competitor, please give it up for Vancouver's own Frost!" the announcer said. I watched Frost make her way onto the field. I saw her eyes dart around the crowd looking for her husband. After a few seconds she pulled out her phone and looked at it.
"Soon Miss Lane, soon," Loki's voice said from behind me.
"The next member is also a fan favorite competitor, please put your hands together for the US Navy SEAL, VALKYRIE!" the announcer called. I watched Valkyrie walk onto the field looking a little apprehensive. She was deliberately trying to hide the scarred part of her face from people.
"It's ok Liebling, I still love you very much," I heard IQ whisper. I smiled under my mask. Why she thought that Valkyrie would hate her because of this was ludicrous. The love IQ had for Valkyrie was extremely strong.
"And rounding out Team Mira is a newlywed of almost 6 months. To Time Warp's lead guitarist Weiss-enhiemer no less. She even changed her last name to reflect this. Please welcome back to the Stadium, Ela Weiss!" the announcer called. I then watched my own personal angel walk onto the field with her signature baseball cap on and a pair of goggles perched on the brim. She was also scanning the crowd for me and frowned. Understandable. Have you seen me? I don't really do stealth all that well. I saw her begin to talk to Frost before the screen cut away.
"And now, let us introduce the first attacking team of the day!" the announcer boomed. A new song began playing over the PA system. I think it was Enrique Iglesias…judging by the cheers of women (and I guess some men) from the crowd. Jackal grinned at all of us, gave a thumbs up and then walked on the field as Enrique began singing in Spanish. He stopped several meters in front of Mira and her team and blew her a kiss. I don't know whose face was funnier. Pulse's or Mira's. She was staring at Jackal in absolute shock. Jackal proceeded to point at Pulse and then back the way he came. That's when some Japanese song began playing on the PA system. It was Hologram from…Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood? Yes! That was it! I should get back to watching that. Fantastic show. I recommend it. It was Hibana's turn to enter the field and I could totally tell she was lip syncing the lyrics to the song…mainly because Loki and I were doing the same thing. The song itself is fantastic.
"How the hell did both of you get married," IQ asked the pair of us but I could tell she was smiling. "Dorks. Honestly." I gave IQ a small shove and she responded by giggling a little and shook her head. Meanwhile, on the field, Pulse was staring at Hibana in sheer disbelief. But I caught the expression on Frost's face…or rather her eyes. They were wide with realization. As she turned to face Valkyrie, a Judas Priest song began playing. From this distance, I saw Valkyrie's mouth form the words "Oh you actual son of a bitch…"
"That's right folks, your ears are not deceiving you. Another fan favorite operator is currently present! For the first time since 2023, he will be competing against his sister and wife. Therefore, making him a braver soul than I," the announcer said. "Welcome back…LLLLLOKI!"
Loki meanwhile had been syncing his movements to the certain beats of the song "Halls of Valhalla." He took out his sunglasses, flicked them open and put them on. Then he walked out onto the field as Rob Halford screamed "Valhallaaaaaaaa!" Loki held his arms out wide as the crowd roared in appreciation. Frost and Valkyrie had exchanged looks but I could still recognize Valkyrie's "Jesus Christ Derrick" look from this distance. Ela was now making rapid calculations in her head and started scanning the crowd for me again. I saw her slowly turn to Valkyrie after a few seconds of this. Loki meanwhile had mined taking off his wedding ring while lip syncing "Fierce is the kill, on the North Seas…" Frost's eyes narrowed in mock anger.
"And now, rounding out Team Jackal is another dynamic duo. This time from the great land of Germany," the announcer said over the opening of "Deutschland" by Rammstein. I turned to IQ who seemed to have approved my music choice.
"Ready sis?" I asked over the keyboard intro line.
"Oh yes," she said and followed me to the entryway. The guitar and snare part of the song had just begun as we got out in the open.
"The Big Little Bro and the Small Older Sis, the German Tag Team, the 2 Wiess-enheimers! Ladies and gentlemen, AMP AND IQ!" the announcer shouted as the song's big drop engaged. IQ and I started slowly making our way towards our teammates. I barely flinched at Ela's "Oh you are so fucking dead" expression she was giving me. From behind her, I spotted Zofia sitting next to Jordan. Weird. I expected Jordan to be up with Eliza in the observation booth. Speaking of Eliza, I glanced up at the observation booth and I saw her fiery red hair stand out among the black. She caught my eye and flashed me the "metal horns." I looked back towards Ela and the others. Her expression had not changed. Same with Frost's towards Loki. Ela cracked her knuckles at me. IQ reacted before I could. She stepped in front of me and pulled the bolt back on her assault rifle. That caused Valkyrie's eyebrows to raise. IQ turned her gaze towards her future wife and made the same gesture. "Hurt him and you deal with me." Frost tapped Valkyrie on the shoulder and gestured to Loki. Valkyrie smirked and cracked her neck before squaring off against her brother. Loki laughed.
"Yeah right," he said over the call of "Defenders to the mat."
Our objective was the same as it always was at the Tournament. We had to find and "diffuse" one of 2 "bombs" in the building with the sites being chosen by the defending team. Turns out Team Mira decided to place the bombs on the 2nd floor armory. I turned to Jackal for orders after the drone phase ended. When I did so, I saw a small spherical object with a blue light fly through the air and attach itself on the ground before going almost completely invisible. I pointed that out to Loki and he turned to immediately shoot it but not before wagging his finger at it. A burst of gunfire almost took him out but whoever shot didn't have good aim.
"Nice try chica," Jackal said and fired his own rifle into the broken window. By the way, if you don't know, we all were wearing high tech body suits that stimulated various injuries and after a certain point, one of the officials would tell us that we were eliminated from that round and had to stay on the ground until instructed to move. The bullets we used were nonlethal but they still hurt like an absolute bitch. I took one to the nose back in 2024 and that shit hurt for weeks afterwards. Hence why I now sported protective glasses too.
"IQ, take Amp and try to flank them and get intel for us. Ping us some of Ela's or Frost's traps or any more of Valk's camera's if you can find them," Jackal told us. "Loki, who'd you scan?" Loki proceeded to turn into Ela while rappelling up the side of the building. I flinched a little but regained my composure and followed my sister through one of the windows she'd torn open. She also had her RED MKIII active. That little baby scanned for all sorts of enemy tech, such as..
"Amp, Pulse is roaming near your location, watch your six," Hibana's voice said on the comms. IQ pointed to the wall which was reinforced. I pulled out one of my sonic grenades and primed it. Level 2 should do it. I lobbed it at the wall and held up 3 fingers while IQ readied her pistol at where Pulse's head should be. The sonic grenade went off and shook the foundation of the wall and IQ put one bullet through it. The resulting grunt from the other side told me that Pulse was eliminated. IQ pulled up her RED again but was immediately eliminated by a shot from down the hall. I dove for cover barely suppressing the rage that had flared up. It was not real Lukas, she's fine. Get a grip man! I peaked around the corner and saw
"CONTACT, BOTTOM FLOOR!" Ela yelled and fired a shotgun at me. Damn!
"Get back here you lying bastard!" she shouted and I heard her footsteps approach. From across the way, I saw the other "Ela" (with smaller shoulders) that I knew was Loki. He and Mira had upgraded his TRIK projector a few years back so that it was a little harder for people to distinguish the real person from the Loki copy. Loki saw that Ela was currently tracking me and went for an ambush. This turned out to be a rather effective tactic. He startled the absolute shit out of her. Dunno what was funnier, the high pitched scream queen yell Ela made or Loki's imitation of it. Before the real Ela could react, Loki eliminated her with his pistol. Little unsettling to watch my best friend put a few "9 mills" into my wife.
"Sorry chief," Loki whispered in his own voice. God I hated it when he did that when he was someone else.
"Who's left," I asked.
"Us vs Frost and Valk I believe," Loki whispered and tapped the diffuser at this belt. "Got this though. What I didn't know is that we can't see the scoreboard anymore to see who is- AHHH!" Loki had trodden on one of his wife's Welcome Mats. Frost emerged from around the corner with her gun raised. She looked down at Loki on the ground as Ela but the disguise faded shortly after. I could see Frost's devilish smile emerge even though she was wearing a mask. Unfortunately for her, that moment of hesitation gave me a quick headshot "kill" on her. She dropped and I "revived" Loki. He too looked a little uncomfortable about me shooting his wife.
"Valk's the only one left," I whispered.
"I know, I think she's still on her cams. I hacked a few of them already. Tried the new tactic too. If she watches them long enough, a jumpscare happens. Valk always falls for those," Loki explained. "Give her a second, I'm sure we'll find her by the scream." Within seconds, I heard Valk's scream from about 5 feet to my left. Thinking quickly, Loki turned his back to the door as soon as Valk came out of it. I myself had hidden behind a wall. I peeked out of the corner and saw the "Loki Smile" go across Meghan's face and she drew her knife. Again, not a real knife. Loki turned at the sound of it, parried the initial strike and countered with his own. Near my feet, I saw he had thrown the diffuser. I took it and quietly ran to the nearby bombsite to prime it. I was able to do so just as I heard Loki's scream of pain followed by "I win little brother." Oh do you Valk, this sonic grenade will have something different to say. I chucked it out the door where it went off and Valk's screams of pain echoed along the wall. I peeked around the corner just as she recovered and eliminated her with one shot.
"Round 1 goes to Team Jackal!" the announcer shouted as I went outside to regroup with my teammates.
"Boy, they are PISSED," Jackal said.
"I know. Sacrificed myself to Megs so Luke could take her out. Used the old fighting style too. Can't wait to surprise them with the new stuff," Loki said now with the Loki Smile on his face.
"Defenders to the mat," the official called. On her way inside, I saw Ela looking at me. She didn't look mad though. Rather excited. Maybe it was the thrill of being in combat again. Dunno. Needed to focus. The rest of the first match against Team Mira was incredibly lopsided. At the beginning of Round 2, 3 of us had immediately been eliminated by a "spawn peeking" Frost. Loki and I were among them. We got completely annihilated in that round. Round 3 was where we annihilated Team Mira. Jackal took out the spawn-peeking Frost and Pulse before tracking Ela around the building and taking her out. Meanwhile IQ and I had taken out Mira and Valk respectively. IQ did flinch after I landed a pretty brutal punch to Valk's gut followed by a headshot.
"Sorry Mon," I said to her outside.
"It's ok. She's fine." IQ responded. Round 4 was a close one. This one ended with Loki engaged in hand to hand combat with his wife. Both Frost and Loki had tried to do that fake out gunshot move Frost used at the Tournament last year. Pretty sure Loki did it to kill that Protean Butcher too. I watched as Loki changed his combat style on a dime and gained the upper hand against Frost. Frost had retaliated in a big way though. She was a little faster than Loki and got under a few of his attacks and one kick managed to send Loki flying. From the ground, he was able to get a knife throw off and it struck Frost in the back. Right between her shoulder blades. Round 5 was where I noticed something about Ela. She was being less "roamy" than usual. Like her job is to roam around the building looking for the attackers and providing her teammates with intel right? Half the time, my teammates found her camping in a corner with cover all around her. Hibana had said she was wearing a lot more padding than the others too. Round 5 ended with Loki using his new martial arts skills against Valk. He had begun with the old stuff just like against Frost but Valk was not ready for the Jujutsu tactics. I guess Frost only told her about the Hapkido ones. Valk had gone to attack Loki with her knife but he caught her arm and put her in a hold that looked like it hurt. As soon as he let her go, he eliminated her with one shot...after saying "Shut up Meg" like Peter Griffin. We did lose that round though. Loki got blindsided by Pulse and Mira. Round 6 was also a dud but we eventually turned the tide and won the match outright. Hibana was in the middle of telling Jackal about Ela as Loki and I left the Killhouse.
"That's odd," Jackal said. All 5 of us had gathered off to the side to watch the other teams compete. IQ also looked rather confused.
"That's…very unlike her," she said while reading her phone. I decided to check my messages too. I smiled. Yep. Messages from pretty much everyone on the other team.
Mrs. Zoolander - "Derrick's idea?"
Me - "No actually. Jackal's"
Mrs. Zoolander - "Tell him he's not allowed to see Zoey after our fight. That was so CHEAP."
Me- "His name is 'Loki'. What did you expect?"
Joyce Kinney - "Derrick's idea?"
Me - "Jackal's. Reassure my sister you still love her and want to marry her will ya? She's not listening to me for some reason."
Mira - "If this was Derrick's idea, I will make him test some new gear…"
Me - "Twas your boyfriend's actually. He thought it'd be funny."
Mira - "Fucking WHAT?!"
Mr. 305 - "Dog, uncool."
Me - "I mean you're right but it was still funny."
Mr. 305 - "Derrick had Frank play that song for my entrance didn't he?"
Me - "I plead the 5th"
Engel - "I FUCKING KNEW IT! I HAD A FEELING SOMETHING LIKE THIS WOULD HAPPEN!"
Me - " :) "
Engel - "Don't you do that to me you son of a bitch! I am SO mad at you right now!"
Me - "Is that why I can see you smiling to yourself a lot whenever no one's looking?"
Engel - "I just….I have something to tell you. It's not bad. It's wonderful actually. Can you do me a favor and aim for my head and or upper body? I want it to wait until after the tournament."
Me - "Weird request but ok. I still love you Mrs. Weiss."
Engel - "I love you too Lukas :)"
Me - "I'll be with the boys tonight. Just so there's no sabotage."
Engel - "Fair. NO girls. You're MINE!"
Me - "I should say the same to you Mrs. 'I Experimented in College'."
Engel - "Shut up doofus."
Me - "Ah, your doofus."
Engel - "MY doofus! MINE! 3 "
"Your wife mad at you too? Mine's been saying that I'll never hold Zoey again after doing what I did with the cheap ass knife throw," Loki asked. Hibana and Jackal also looked like they were engaged in conversations with their partners rather than watching Team Oryx and Team Thatcher compete. I nodded.
"She wants us to aim at her head for some reason," I reported. IQ looked at us with a confused face.
"That's weird. But OK. I'll gladly shoot the woman that stole my baby brother's heart from me," IQ said and pinched my cheek. Loki sniggered.
"I also just checked with Frank. It's primed and ready," he said. I smiled. Time Warp had another new cover music video ready to go. This one was about to be a classic much like the Simple Plan one where I dressed up as teenage IQ.
"What's primed and ready?" IQ asked as Round 3 started.
"You'll see," I responded. IQ found out what I was talking about right after Team Oryx won their match against Team Thatcher. Our music video for the song "Give Me Everything" began playing with Loki singing all of Ne-yo's parts. He showcased some of his dancing abilities before Jackie came on the screen to sing the female part of the song. I glanced at Team Mira where, for some reason, Frost was glaring at Loki with malicious intent. Like this wasn't a joke either. She looked PISSED. Didn't really help that Jackie was rubbing up against Loki on the video a little bit though.
"Jeez, Teen. It's Jackie. Jackie's married and has kids," Loki whispered almost as if he was annoyed. I glanced over and saw him texting someone and give Frost the "relax" gesture. Frost has been known to be a little territorial around Loki. Doubly so now that she had a daughter. At my wedding, she had glared daggers at Julia for calling Derrick "wirklich heiß" which means "really hot."
"NO FUCKING WAY!" Hibana suddenly shouted and started laughing while looking in Pulse's direction. Why? Because Jack "Pulse" Estrada had finally embraced the Pitbull joke and he was on the screen singing Pitbull's part of the song. He wasn't a bad singer either. Pulse acknowledged the cheering with a wave and gave a little bow. IQ was pretty much beside herself with laughter as was the rest of Team Mira. Ela included. She looked like she was having the time of her life and to be honest that was quite alright with me.
21st February, 2027
The Stadium
Ellis, Greece
Hate to do this to you but I'm going to give you the sparknotes for the rest of the Tournament. I'm skipping telling you about the semi finals. That one was extremely sloppy. We only barely managed to win that. Guess who we're up against for the final match. Guess. Yep. Team Azami. Why not Team Mira? Well, they got outplayed by Team Azami and missed the cut by only 2 points. Yeah, it's based on a points scale. You get a grade on how good your team did. We were at the top followed by Team Thatcher and then Team Amaru. I didn't have to fight against Ela again so that was nice. Most of the other teams had followed her weird request of aiming for and only hitting her in the head or shoulder. Never in her stomach. The previous night was spent with Derrick and Monika watching movies and chatting about nothing. Monika had reluctantly agreed not to go to sleep with Meghan so that both of them could be completely focused for today. And let me tell you, we were focused. We went flawless in our final match. Didn't lose one round. Yes, yes. I know, you want to hear about this, I understand that but I don't really have all day do I? Plus how many times do you want to hear "we breached, cleared and either set the diffuser or eliminated everyone or got eliminated ourselves and then Loki said some kind of cheesy one-liner" before you get bored of it? Tell you what, remember that terrorist cell we're looking into? I will pull zero punches in telling you about our engagements with them. I have a feeling I'm going to be doing a lot of that in the coming months. That and Monika's wedding is coming up too. We'll go over that and then back to action and bad guys and cool gadgets and stuff. Sound good? Wunderbar! Meanwhile, the 5 of us had just finished winning the final round of the Tournament and were subsequently assaulted by our significant others. Ela threw herself at me and kissed me. (I'm dropping the codenames now too)
"Missed me huh?" I asked. She nodded from my arms. I noticed she still looked extremely happy. From off to my left I heard Tina kissing Derrick and saying "You know I was kidding about you not holding Zoey right? I also didn't recognize Jackie at first. I'm used to seeing her dressed in punk rock attire"
"Yes Teen. Come on. I'm not that stupid," he said.
"Debatable," Tina responded.
"Mean lady," Derrick said followed by another kissing sound. Off to my right, I heard Monika's voice saying "I'm so sorry I shot at you Liebling. You know I love you very very much right?"
"Yes Monika, I know. Come here," Meghan responded. I smiled and turned back to my absolutely radiant wife.
"What's this wonderful thing you wanted to tell me?" I asked. Ela released herself from me and then grabbed my hand and put it over her stomach. I frowned.
"What? You're hungry? That's the wonderful thing?" I asked a bit annoyed. Ela shook her head and continued to stare at me. She seemed to want me to realize something. Then something clicked in my mind. The fact that she requested to not be shot in the stomach. No…no fucking way. I swear to God if she's lying to me right now, I will go insane.
"Ela…are you…" I began to ask in a shaky voice. She nodded. SHE. NODDED. Oh my God…OH MY GOD.
"Yes Lukas…I'm…I'm pregnant," she said softly and started crying silently. Millions of emotions shot through my body at this moment. Most of them being excitement mixed with a little bit of fear. I didn't know what to do. I just stood there with my hand on Ela's stomach like an idiot.
"That's Ela's stomach buddy," Derrick's voice sounded from behind me. "Don't worry, tomorrow we'll go over shapes. And then next week, get ready, colors. Zoey already knows a few of them so you're a little behind already." Tina seemed to be a bit quicker on the uptake and quickly grabbed Derrick's shoulder.
"Ela…" Tina began.
"What do you think all those messages were about Tina? Yes, I'm pregnant," Ela said. Tina squealed and hugged her. Derrick meanwhile clapped me on the back.
"Welcome to the Dad Club, we've got jackets," he said.
"Do you know if it's a boy or girl," Tina asked. Ela's smile broadened.
"Both," she said before looking at me again. Hold the FUCKING phone. Did she just say both? I could barely speak. My wife was having…
"Twins?!" Tina asked excitedly. Ela nodded.
"Found out the other week," she said and hugged me again. I heard her whisper "You delivered on your promise" in Polish.
"Yo, super brilliant idea! Let's not tell the aunts! It'll be AWESOME!" Derrick proposed. I looked at Ela who nodded.
"I'm in. Should be funny," she said.
"So am I," I said and kissed her forehead.
"Oh MONIKA!" Derrick called in a singsong voice. Monika turned and walked over.
"Yes?" she asked before she noticed my hand still on Ela's stomach. "Why are you holding your wife's stomach, Lukas? Is she sick or something?"
"You know, for someone with the name of IQ, you are slow on the uptake sometimes," I said. Monika still looked confused for a few seconds before her eyes widened. Almost comically. She pointed at Ela and managed to ask "Are you pregnant?!"
"Oh yes I am," Ela responded. Monika clutched her chest and almost fell on the ground before Meghan caught her.
"Meghan…Meghan, Ela is pregnant," Monika said. Meghan turned her head in Ela's direction and Ela nodded. Meghan smiled.
"Auntie Meghan right?" I asked. Meghan nodded.
"What's going on here?" Zofia's voice asked. She too had walked over and was looking from Ela to Monika and then to me. She gasped upon seeing Ela's smiling face.
"No…no…" Zofia began and clutched her own chest.
"Zo, I'm pregnant. You're going to be an aunt," Ela said and hugged Zofia. Zofia becan crying. Something which I have been told is very rare. I looked toward Derrick and Tina as Ela and Zofia hugged it out. The pair of them winked at me which reassured me that they would keep to their word about the twin thing being a surprise. Then I felt Zofia hug me after a few seconds. She was saying things in Polish that I was only just able to make out.
"Relax Zo," I said. "Ela and I want you in our child's life." Zofia looked at Ela again. She nodded.
"Who's telling Jana, you or me?" Ela asked. Zofia pointed to Ela.
"Done," Ela said. "That being said, I am hungry and I want to eat lunch with my husband and the father of my child." We went to walk towards the cafeteria but Derrick stopped me.
"Hang on, what's Air Jordan do- OH SHIT!" he said. Jordan was standing behind Eliza with a ring box in his hand. Eliza turned at the sound of Derrick's voice and saw Jordan get down on one knee. Atta boy Jordan! You finally did it! Eliza looked incredibly surprised at first but eventually she nodded her head and accepted the ring. Then she kissed Jordan.
"Hmm, I'd wager a guess the wedding won't be for a while," Tina said.
"What makes you say that?" Meghan asked. Tina smirked for some reason.
"Just a feeling," she said and leaned against Derrick. "Your mom says Zoey misses us."
"She misses me more!" Derrick teased.
"You sure it's not me?" Meghan added.
"Actually," Tina said and turned to Ela. "Sue says Zoey keeps saying 'La!' every few hours or so." I grinned down at Ela who looked like she was about to cry. Already possessing those motherly instincts. Exactly why I married her. She'd take a bullet in order to save those she loved. Just like me.