March 22, 2060
It had been just over a whole year since Marléna's return, and the family still wasn't fully used to having her back.
Ever since the twins' ninth birthday party, Eddie had noticed his daughter becoming a little more exhausted and short-tempered, and now she was eating more than usual and he wondered if there was a chance his firstborn might be pregnant again, so he took her aside and talked to her gently.
"Dear dotter, I have noticed changes in your behaviour of late, and I have a theory that you might be with Christopher's child again." Eddie stated
Marléna raised an eyebrow at her father "Really Far? If I was to be expecting another boy I would call him after Far Far, and dear Einar." She said, recalling her Swedish friend who'd unfortunately perished in a New York blizzard just over six years before, "and if it was a girl Ilse Luana, after dear Ilse and Chris's Mum." She said with a dreamy smile, pressing a hand to her remarkably flat stomach.
Her father smiled too, his eyes crinkling at the corners just as his fars had done.
"I never thought I'd be able to even bear children to my husband again, after what that vile jerk did to me." She added, shivering suddenly, and her father crushed her to his chest in a vice-like protective embrace. "Your bröder and I would rip him to shreds if we were to get our hands on him." Eddie whispered to his daughter, stroking her hair in a comforting manner.
"But you would be endangering your reputation Far, and Chris has said he would gladly take part in the hypothetical beat down of Jansen, I'm glad you've all been able to mostly forgive my husband for his transgression." Marlèna replied, laying her head on her fars strong shoulder.
Eddie Lannerbäck chuckled "Well it took us right up until Christmas to truly forgive him — we all wondered why he'd brought a complete stranger back with him, we'd have been ecstatic if it had been Ilse, we wouldn't have been so suspicious and she would've definitely accepted the twins as her own without question… Sam and Luna were a little more open to that relationship but when it caused a rift between Robbin and them — they became taciturn with Chris."
So the next afternoon, Marléna sat in the office of her family's doctor and mulled over the conversation she shared with her father the previous afternoon and thought "I wonder how Chris will react if I am indeed pregnant again… I hope he's gonna be thrilled."
After the appointment, she sat in her car, excitement washing over her as if this was her first pregnancy, as she smiled softly upon her flat stomach. She knew her husband wasn't going to be back from his business trip til Saturday afternoon and she was worried somehow that he wouldn't want this child —
Saturday afternoon soon came and with the twins playing with Ragnar and Izzy at her parents' place and Olivia being spoiled by Roxy, because Jeff was busy at the Adoption agency (which he'd inherited from his father) gave Marléna a much needed opportunity to formulate lessons for her pupils, but found concentration a complete impossibility as she just wanted to dance and sing around her house…
At that moment, she heard the latch on the front door click, as someone entered the house, walking toward the couch to take off his shoes, When the man stood again, she suddenly launched herself at her unsuspecting husband, and he fell backwards onto the carpeted floor, whilst she began showering him with deep, hungry kisses.
Chris chuckled and sat up, pushing his wife back a little, and noticed that her shoulders sagged inward in defeat at his reaction, her hair hiding her face, as she began to whimper softly.
"I guess you don't want to find out the surprise I have for you…. oh well." She whispered brokenly, and rose to her feet turning for the hallway which led to their bedroom.
Chris's heart wrenched, and he followed after his wife, pulling her gently back into his chest as she reached for the door handle. "Oh babe, what's wrong? I was just shocked by your greeting is all." He paused, burying his face in the curve of her neck, kissing her lovingly "What did you want to tell me?"
She turned in the circle of his hold, and started to undo his tie "Well — you're handsome…" She began, slipping the tie from around his neck.
"So you've said…" He chuckled, and reached for the hemline of her sweatshirt,
"You're virile…." She continued, starting to unbutton his shirt, her eyes twinkling roguishly — "Again, you keep telling me so." he smirked, and began to pull her garment off "And what's more, you're still very — potent." she finished, and as he tossed it aside, he paused and gave her a mystified glance "What did you mean by that?" He trailed off, as he reached to unbutton his pants, Marléna hooking one of her legs around his hip, he smirked "What? No panties? God you're driving me insane, babe, come on and tell me…" He moaned, her heat bathing his face, his sudden arousal reaching an almost fever pitch.
Marléna giggled, and pausing in the undoing of his workwear, she took her husband's hand and pressed it to her stomach "Surprise…" she whispered, and Chris's jaw dropped, and his eyes began to twinkle.
"You're pregnant again?!" He whispered, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.
"It appears so." She teased, and finished undoing his shirt and as it fell to the floor;
her husband wrapped his arms around her shoulders, kissing the top of her head gently "When did you find out?" He asked, running his fingers through her hair.
"A couple of days ago… I would've told you over the phone — but I just wanted to see your face dearest, I thought for some reason you might not want this child…"
Chris's hands slid to her waist and he gently carried her to their bed and as he laid her down, he chuckled "Of course I would want another baby with you — after all the twins will be in fourth grade this year and Olivia will start kindergarten, so the house would be quiet and you would be a little bored."
"If we are going to have another son, I hope you're going to be fine with me naming him after FarFar and Einar…." Marléna ventured, looking up at her husband hopefully, once again fearing his reaction.
His hazel eyes glowed green with an ethereal lustre and he nodded "I know how close you were with your FarFar, he was a venerable man — And I miss Einar too, even if I only knew him for 3 and a half years before he died." Chris whispered, and began to massage her inner thighs, giving the still radiant woman beneath him pleasure, showing her he was thrilled to hear that they were going to have another baby.
"Mmm..." Marléna sighed, beginning to relax. Chris again silently thanked the lord above she'd been returned to his embrace, for he now realized though Elsie had been a fine woman, it wouldn't have been right to have her fill Marléna's shoes — he repeatedly kissed the skin above his growing child tenderly, causing his wife to giggle, and give his muscular shoulders a gentle, affectionate squeeze — only she knew exactly what to do to him to drive him completely insane, it was to her his heart would always be faithful.
He raised his eyes to meet her blue ones "But what if our new baby ends up being a girl?" He asked, trailing his fingers towards her entrance, feeling her hands yank his boxers off.
"Well — I thought since Erik's middle name is the male equivalent of your Momma's name, we would best be naming her in essence after your Mum — and since our son is partially named to honor my friend, we should name her for his sister who I will probably make our newest edition's godmother… only if you agree to it, that is." Marléna sighed, relaxing further as her husband continued to tease her with his fingers, she instinctively took a gentle hold of his member, stroking it until he elicited a soft moan, and she felt it harden beneath her fingers.
"What do you want, babe?" He asked softly, as the buttery ejection of her pleasure dripped out, coating the tips of his fingers, and she seductively smiled at him "I want you, but first I have to know whether you're going to mind me naming our expected arrival Ilse Luana if it is a girl…" She whispered wonderingly, gazing up beseechingly at her husband of almost a decade
"Babe… I'm more than okay with that, and Mum would be right chuffed to know you'd name our third daughter after her." Chris said, tightening his arms around her neck, after licking her cream ostentatiously from his fingers.
She let go of his member and he inserted it in her vagina and she let out a contented sigh "Remember how I thought you'd cheated on me shortly after I realized I was carrying Erik and Ingrid?" She whispered
Chris began to stroke her cheek lovingly with his thumb "Yeah, I really thought that I'd lost you for all intents and purposes, and would try my hardest to get you back — and though Mum said you were planning on putting the baby up for adoption, I couldn't believe you would actually do that…." he replied,
"My head was spinning and I knew my overreaction was due to my upped hormones, you were quite busy when I had the crucial appointment where I was told it was two babies, I thought it was almost a given thing, since you had a twin brother and we both had twin cousins, and you were thrilled." She concluded, before capturing her husband's lips in a passionate kiss.
"Mmm, babe… keep it up, god you're still so good…."
She pulled away abruptly, suddenly shooting daggers at him from the depths of her eyes, "What do you mean 'still'?!" She hissed, and felt tears gather in her eyes, as she slid out of his embrace and towards the edge of their bed, smoothing her skirt over her knees as she rose to her feet, turning sadly away from him.
Chris's breath hitched, he knew he'd said something wrong, and he still hadn't fully climaxed, so he stared up at his wife, shocked.
She took a couple of steps toward the door, before she swayed a few times and collapsed upon the rug which lay at the foot of their bed.
Chris rose to his feet urgently, and within a half minute was knelt beside his wife, who looked awfully pale and very still.
He took her hand gently, before he laid his ear against the inside of her wrist, relief sweeping over him as he heard a faint pulse.
"Babe, I'm so sorry — please, stay with me…" he begged, his voice cracking as his own eyes filled with tears… surely if a god existed, then he wouldn't be so cruel as to take his soulmate so soon after she'd returned to him, right?—
For fifteen minutes she lay there, and every second her husband grew more and more anguished, then suddenly Marléna slowly opened her eyes, and started to sit up, but groaned as she fell back.
Chris felt the pressure of someone squeezing his hand, and looked to his right and saw a confused Marléna staring back at him.
"Thank heaven, I thought I'd lost you for good there…. are you alright babe?" He asked cautiously, his brow furrowed.
"Chris? What happened?," She paused, one hand immediately going to her abdomen as she let out a strangled sob "I've killed our baby, haven't I?" she whimpered, eyes refilling with tears.
"You passed out, and I thought I had lost you for sure… and I would be lost without you." He told her, and then chuckled, "Probably not, you weren't injured at all and you aren't showing yet." He carried her back to the bed and laid her down again, and as he prepared to climb back on top of his wife, he felt her suddenly flinch.
"Babe, what's wrong?" He repeated his earlier question, this time more urgently.
She suddenly gasped, feeling a light fluttering beneath her right hand, which had returned to her abdomen "Chris! Our baby just kicked for the first time!" She looked up at her husband, a tiny smile on her face.
Chris laid his hand atop hers and smiled lovingly upon her still lithe form, while Günhilde had grown considerably wider as a result of Thorliff's birth, childbirth seemed to have had little effect on Marléna, Astrid, and Linnéa, but seemed to have effected Chelsea and Josie. Maybe it was their Swedish genes that had prevented them from gaining too much weight —- yet his wife had endured a difficult pregnancy and delivery with their younger daughter, and he wondered if she'd have the same problems this time around.
May 17, 2060
It was roughly the middle of May, and with the elementary school about to break up for the summer, Marléna was exhausted. She'd had the 21 week ultrasound the previous Friday, and Chris had been as surprised as she was to find that they were expecting another set of twins. Now she lay atop her husband on the couch, his arms wrapped protectively around her, with his fingers tracing the outline of the subtle bulge of her growing pregnancy.
"Chris…." She whispered tiredly, turning her head to gaze upon the peaceful, content face of the still handsome man who she had loved since she was 16.
"What's up, babe?" He asked, beginning to sit up, pulling her back into his broad chest, resting his chin on her shoulder, before he kissed her neck lovingly.
"I won't be able to play with our other children too much, since I don't want to risk losing one of our coming arrivals, and it's fine to have the twins here since they've already gone through me being pregnant," she took a deep breath, "Yet, Olivia is a lot more of a handful and might accidentally endanger one of our coming arrivals… So, I'm thinking of sending her to your mothers's place for the Summer. She'll not be lonely, because your twin brother, Chels, and Gage are coming for the summer, as are Frank-Lynn, Josie, Ruben, Gabriel, and Leia… But then Jeremy's Stevie is being babysat by Inga and your cousin, because Jeremy has to focus on Linnéa, since she's due in late summer — another son, but they're keeping that a secret from the majority of the family, especially Mrs. De Martini and Tessa" she paused, as she caught a confused look from her husband
"Why would they not want Aunt Tabby and Tessa to know?" He questioned, which caused her to roll her eyes and quip sarcastically "I wonder why?" and Chris face-palmed "Oh yeah, they'd broadcast it to the country if they knew… just like Tessa tells everyone every single detail about her bedroom antics with Junior and it annoys us all!" He laughed, and laid a palm on her stomach, just in time to feel both of their unborn children kick, one after the other.
Marléna smiled, reaching to wrap an arm around her husband's neck, "Andy finished his police training a year ago, and is a star recruit over there in Baronstown, and your cousin's cafe is thriving, I think those two are finally ready to have a kid… Jon and Charity are doing fine, your cousin teaches Physics at Cesar Chavez academy, Charity works as a hairstylist, Lorenzo is looking and acting more like his Mom with every passing day, for all his 7 years, and little Hope is simply an adorable, pint sized chatterbox." She finished, before her husband kissed her again.
Suddenly, the distant burble of a bus's idling engine could be heard in the distance, just as voices could be heard quickly increasing in volume
"C'mon Ingrid, let's surprise Mor and Daddy!" A young male voice cried excitedly.
"Dear bror, that wouldn't be wise since our Mor is pregnant again." a sweet small girl's voice cautioned her brother, moments before the latch clicked on the front door and a pair of nine year olds appeared in its frame;
Erik was older than his sister by six minutes, and due to his inherited height from both his parents, looked as if he was already 2 or 3 years older… in appearance, he was practically the image of their father — but with his Mor's celestial blue eyes with their flecks of light gray — and while he was serious like his father, he wasn't quite as harsh as his father was once.
His sister was almost the picture of their Mor in both appearance and temperament, she was extremely beautiful — her parents both were fearful of when she became a teen, for they knew boys would be crazy over her — with Marléna's medium brown locks, face shape, and coloring, yet had green eyes, which were not as deep a green as her morden's farfars' and had clear, dark brown mixed in with the green, her parents supposed the best description of their daughter's eyes was them being olive green.
"Good afternoon Mor, how are you feeling?" Ingrid asked their Mor, leaning to kiss her cheek gently.
Marléna smiled at her older daughter "Other than being tired honey, I'm fine… your father and I are expecting twins…"
Her son interrupted then, his blue eyes sparkling "Like me and Ingrid?" He questioned stupidly
His sister turned her head toward her slightly older brother, shaking it, and rolling her eyes at him, brown hair falling across her forehead as she did so "Well of course Einstein — and also Daddy and Uncle Gregory and quite a few of our second cousins." she quipped sardonically, causing her parents to exchange a smirk.
"Our older daughter is so much like you sweetheart that once I realized that I'd turned a blind eye to the abuse she'd suffered at the hand of Elsie, I started to loathe myself…" Chris told her, by this time the twins were in their bedrooms.
Marléna looked back at him "Far said Ingrid even ran away from home at one point, and said she told him your girlfriend would frequently beat and starve her…" Marléna felt tears pooling in her eyes "That wasn't any different from what Jansen did to m-me" She whimpered, turning to bury her face in his chest.
Chris pulled her tightly against him, whispering into her ear "Babe, he'll never lay his filthy mitts on you again — Your brothers and I will beat him within an inch of his life if he dares to…"
"Mark has agreed to stand as my attorney when the matter is put to trial." Marléna mumbled, Chris rubbing soothing circles into her back as he held her close.
"Mark as in Greyhawk Rhoads's son, the one who attended college with us and his twin brother?"
Marléna sighed, giving him a deadpan look "What other person do we know called Mark?" She asked rhetorically.
Chris face-palmed again, "Again, you got me."
Marléna smiled, "His twin Jack, is an exquisitely talented guitarist, he looks like a second Grey, with his golden blond hair and eyes probably a little greener than yours, dearest."
"I seem to recall him being a notorious heartbreaker, has he settled down with a woman yet, babe?" Chris asked, eager to hear the exploits of their college friends.
His wife shook her head "Unfortunately no, he's still up to his old games with women…. Seems like each time I call him to see how he is — a different girl answers the phone, some sound like they're only just at the age of consent, and I fear he might someday fall foul of the law."
"If I were still touring with the band, I would never cheat on you babe — you mean too much to me for me to even consider doing such a thing. My twin might, and Chelsea's fearful of it, JJ and Robbin won't as you and the rest of the family wouldn't ever fully forgive either of them for doing that — as they just about never did me, it's a miracle they've accepted me again.".
Marléna sighed, "How shocked were you when I turned up at your wedding to that other woman?"
Chris ran a reverent hand over his growing children, and nodded "Very, I just didn't want to speak immediately since I thought I was dreaming — seeing you near tears was enough to send my heart accelerating off into oblivion — I've been missing you terribly babe."
Marléna kissed him softly on the lips "I know, I didn't want to believe you had forgotten about our relationship… but, as soon as I saw you there at the altar with her, I felt like I should've stayed away."
Chris frowned, tightened his arms around her waist, and rubbed soothing circles into her stomach as their unborn children moved again. "I was fooling myself, saying I had romantic feelings for Elsie, and was never able to quite go through with making love to her — with each attempt, your face would continually flash through my mind, with such a look of betrayal on it that I realized that trying with Elsie was never going to work — it killed me not knowing where you were babe — but I thought I deserved some semblance of happiness, even though I wasn't ever going to be happy if you weren't there by my side."
"I love you so much Chris." Marléna whispered, throwing her arms around her handsome husband's shoulders.
Chris chuckled, tilting her chin upward to gaze besottedly into her ever-enchanting blue eyes, "You know I feel the same for you — I've done so since New Year's Eve 2043." He whispered, before he captured his wife's still sensuous lips in a hot, passionate kiss.
June 23rd 2060
Chris woke at 9 a.m. on June 23, 2060. His and Greg's thirty-third birthday… he looked over and noticed his wife wasn't beside him, so he got up, and padded out towards the kitchen only to find his heavily pregnant wife busy at the stove, cooking breakfast. He walked up behind Marléna, slipping his arms around her waist, automatically rubbing soothing circles into her swollen abdomen as their unborn children kicked solidly.
"Mmm," Marléna moaned, leaning back against her husband's chest, "Good morning and happy birthday, my dearest Christopher." She whispered, kissing the underside of his jaw hungrily.
He nuzzled into one of her robe-covered shoulders. "Will I receive my gift later?" He whispered huskily, tenderly kissing the side of her neck.
Suddenly, the sound of a throat being cleared, drew their attention to the dining table, where their firstborn sat, absentmindedly flicking through the day's newspaper.
"Can't you be mushy someplace else?" He grumbled, shooting his parents a dark look, he was getting to the age where his parents publicly displaying affection bothered him somewhat.
Chris smirked at the boy "Don't you worry son, in a few years you'll 'discover' girls and that being affectionate towards and with one isn't so bad."
"Daddy, did you have anyone before you met Mor?" Erik asked, swiping away some hair which partially obscured his blue eyes.
"No, your Mor is my first and only true love." Chris answered, squeezing his wife's shoulders affectionately, causing her to smile in response.
"There has been a few times when I thought your father didn't really love me…." Marléna interjected, keeping her face carefully hidden from her husband.
"When were those times?" Ingrid's eyes darted between her parents as she entered the kitchen/dining area, dressed in a crystalline blue dress, with its skirt having several tiers of ruffles and gradually darkening shades of the color, and her brown hair pulled into a messy bun.
"Well first there was whilst I was vacationing, with Farmor, Gran and my side of the family when Daddy decided to sleep with some vacationing southern Belle who transferred to our school. I remember the day after my side of the family had returned I went over to Grandmomma and Grammy's to surprise daddy, only to hear him making love to another girl…" Marléna started, keeping her voice low so her husband probably wouldn't hear it.
Chris, adept as ever to his wife's voice, managed to hear it and whispered "I know I cheated on you almost intentionally babe — but that was because I heard another unfamiliar guy's voice in the background, and I felt betrayed, assuming that he'd moved in on you, you'd accepted his advances, and that you and I were over."
His wife shot him a scandalized look "That 'other guy' was our now deceased friend Einar… we were just childhood friends and nothing more since he'd met and fallen for an English exchange student the summer before and was asking if I had anyone… because I was always a contender for his affections, we used to chat quite frequently over Messendger before he and Ilse immigrated… and you hadn't heard the whole conversation, so you'd naturally concluded I was involved with him — which I wasn't." It wasn't a pleasant memory for Marléna and she felt tears spring to her eyes and suddenly broke into sobs.
Chris tightened his arms around her, resting his chin on her shoulder, "Babe… it's alright, I'm still here, and I'm sorry for my past mistakes — I love you, my sweet Marléna, I always have, always will." He murmured, his own eyes filling with tears.
Their daughter looked at her parents and felt her lower lip begin to quiver, she hated seeing anyone she cared for upset, especially her parents "Mor, you don't have to tell me the rest if it's too painful for you." She told her mother, half-smiling.
Marléna yelped as the children in her belly moved again. "C-Chris…" She whimpered, suddenly feeling light headed.
Instinctively, Chris began rubbing soothing circles into her swollen stomach again "Babe, take a seat and rest, over exertion is not good for you, let me finish making breakfast — Erik, come on and make yourself useful and assist me, your mother is pregnant and needs a rest."
"Daddy, do you want me to help you too?" Ingrid interjected, sweeping away some errant locks of brown hair which had fallen across her forehead and into her eyes.
Chris smiled lovingly at their older daughter, "You can if you want, but watch your Mor so she doesn't over exert herself again."
"Chris, I'm not helpless!" Marléna protested, "I don't want to be a burden on you ever." she muttered, averting her eyes and staring at her belly.
Chris sighed, and before he finished with cooking the breakfast, he went to the table and lifted his wife's chin so he could look into her eyes "Babe…. you could never ever be a burden on me, you're the one and only person who has ever made me feel like I truly belong, I wouldn't ever wish for a life without you at my side…" He leant in, gently pressing his lips to her stomach. "You've already bestowed upon me three gorgeous children, and in a matter of months two more will join us… you have always been my heavy metal love." He whispered before capturing her still sensuous lips in a passionate kiss.
"You never felt like you belonged in your Mum's family?" Marléna asked, raising her eyebrows.
Chris nodded "That's right — most of Gran and Grandad's biological grandchildren resemble their parents in both appearance and temperament: You have Jenna, who's almost the spitting image of Aunt Lori, Luella whose Aunty Leni all over again, though my twin bears no physical resemblance to our Mum, he's got her personality, Laurel has the darker hair from her dad, but is ever bit Aunty Luan, Frank-Lynn has a combination of his parents' features, but is just like his mom In personality. Linka is uncle Lincoln's mini-me, Kuro is a lot like both Aunt Lucy and Uncle Silas. Lotus is probably the most like Aunt Lana out of the 'three little grease monkeys", Annabelle is just like Aunty Lola, in spite of her being adopted… Neill is Aunt Lisa and little Kady — who I guess I shouldn't be calling so any more since she's just turned 16, is the image of Aunt Lily." He finished, laying a gentle hand on her swollen abdomen as their unborn twins moved again.
Marléna sighed "If I hadn't made it out of Jansen's captivity alive, you'd have married and eventually had kids with that other woman, wouldn't you?"
Chris nodded solemnly, "Probably. And she would probably go behind my back and drop the twins off at your Uncle Tom's agency's premises and they would have likely been adopted out and would probably see nothing of me or Olivia… and I'd eventually find out a few years later and then divorce her, since that whole relationship would've definitely caused an insurmountable rift between Robbin, JJ and I… but luckily you came back to me and that never occurred." He whispered, brushing his lips against her forehead.
Marléna sighed, she couldn't really envision marriage to anyone but Chris, for she loved him and the children they'd bestowed upon one another more than life itself.