By February, Ava was beginning her third trimester. Her days at the house were still mostly spent painting or resting, which she spent more and more time doing as she began to get winded simply from climbing the stairs in Eli's house. The loneliness of it while Eli was at work was becoming unbearable, in a way that even her focusing on her art couldn't assuage.

She also began to feel needier sexually - a development Eli was more than happy to help her with. It felt like the days they spent together at Lockwood Manor went so fast now, and the days spent back in the city dragged on twice as long as before. When he was present, she didn't shun his company anymore; she craved it. The hours he spent at work or out running errands no longer felt like a reprieve as she idled around the house. Especially now that the lifeline had been thrown to her of moving up to the Manor, she felt even more despondent being trapped by herself while Eli went about his business.

He promised her there were projects in the works that were coming to a head which would necessitate his involvement, and during peak times he would ensure they stayed at Lockwood Manor so she would be looked after while he was otherwise engaged. One evening he came back later than usual, carrying a bag with dinner, and in a brief moment of madness spurred by paranoia, she snapped that if he was going to be fucking other women instead of her, he might as well let her go. He gave her an incredulous look then threw his head back laughing.

"You really think I'm off cheating on you?"

"Cheating implies some sort of consensual relationship, but you certainly seem occupied more than usual and while I would welcome the reprieve it behooves you to set me free, don't you think?"

She was grumbling from the kitchen sink where her belly kept getting in the way as she tried to load the dishwasher. Eli still had never asked or expected her to clean, but sometimes she did it just for a taste of normalcy. He came closer to her and wrapped his arms around her waist from behind, cradling her bump like a lover.

His lips brushed against her temple as he kissed her softly, "You keep me more than busy, my love. There is no room in my heart or my schedule for anyone else, I swear."

Ava didn't respond, keeping her eyes down and bracing her hands on the lip of the sink. Once again, she had shown her cards in a way that gave him more power over her, and she hated it.

"You're pretty sexy when you're jealous," he mused, leaving a trail of kisses down her face to her neck and shoulders as his hands lowered from her belly to the space between her legs.

No. She shouldn't submit to him. She shouldn't let him see her insecurity, or jealousy, or loneliness. After all these months she was scarcely better at masking her feelings in front of him than the first night she'd walked in here, when he forcibly fucked her right on this exact spot in the kitchen amongst a myriad of other places.

But her resolve dwindled as Eli slipped his hands down the waistband of her maternity leggings, gently spreading her pussy lips until she leaned her head back on his shoulder and moaned.

"There's no one else for me, Ava," his husky voice was hot in her ear as he tugged the lobe into his mouth, "No one else but you."

Since their argument over Maisie that night at the Manor, they had not discussed the subject again. Ava had made her threat, and whether Eli took it seriously or not, she couldn't tell. By not asking him, it was possible to believe that she might have actually scared him rather than the reverse for once. Still, on their return trip a couple of weeks later, she felt the pit in her stomach return the closer they came to the Lockwood estate.

For lunch, they stopped in the little seaside town again, as was becoming their tradition. The idea that the two of them even had traditions was unwelcome, but Ava bore it for the simple fact that it was another chance for her to experience life outside the walls of Eli's house in the city or Lockwood Manor. Here, they browsed the same boutiques and cafes while Ava lamented her inability to fit into most of the cute things on the racks now. Eli played the role of expectant father and dutiful significant other so well these days, holding her close to him and showering her with compliments for passersby to hear. Some of the locals began to recognize them by now, and the woman from the store Ava had gotten her granny sweater in was quick to remark how huge Ava was getting every time she saw her. The sentiment, while not wholly inaccurate, did little to assuage her insecurities as her waist expanded.

"You look so gorgeous carrying my baby," he whispered to her as they strode down the promenade, "I can't wait to see you mother my children."

By now she was used to the way he spoke about their future together as though it was a done deal, and merely arched her eyebrows at the statement, asking him, "How many children do you plan on me having?"

Eli laughed, "Not sure yet. Maybe 3-4. Maybe 5 or 6. I just love seeing you like this, I have a feeling I'll get addicted to knocking you up. Why? How many do you want me to put in you?"

Ava swallowed the urge to reply truthfully with, 'Zero.' Instead, she said, "Let's just see how the first one goes, ok? Babies are a lot of work."

"I'm aware of that. Once the baby is a bit older and you've shown I can trust you, I'll find a nanny to come and help when needed."

"When am I ever going to earn your trust, and how?"

He pressed his lips thoughtfully, "When you convince me that you're really in this. When you realize that we belong together, and I don't constantly feel like you're moments away from bolting the second an opportunity presents itself. I need to trust that you're ready to live as any other couple before I can loosen the reins."

Ava rolled her eyes although Eli couldn't see it.

"You wouldn't need to hire a nanny if we moved to the Manor like Mr. Lockwood suggested. I could have free rein but in a place where you already trust me. Sort of a compromise from both of us."

"I could if I wanted to, but right now I need to be in the city organizing things for certain projects, and no matter how much I trust you when I'm present, I don't trust you yet to stay at the Manor without me."

She pouted but knew he was not going to change his mind. It was maddening how impossible it was to trick him.

Ever since their last trip to Lockwood Manor, the baby's kicks had become harder and more frequent. She had begun to ask Eli to find out the gender, surprising herself with how much she wanted to know. Perhaps it was a way to feel some sort of attachment to this fetus that had been forced upon her, one way to exert control and a sense of peace about her circumstances, but it was all to no avail. Whenever she brought it up, Eli would chuckle dismissively, telling her how amazing it would feel to be surprised at the moment of delivery. No amount of reminding him that every second of her life since that dinner date was a 'surprise' would sway him either.

After visiting the fudge store and sampling at least half a dozen flavors, they walked back towards the car hand in hand. The weather up here was still bitterly cold and clusters of dirty snow gathered in the outside corners of the buildings awaiting the next rainfall to wash them away. As they reached the parking lot it started to drizzle.

Eli hurried to open Ava's door for her and guided her in with a hand on the shoulder before depositing their purchases in the trunk and slipping into the driver's seat with the fudge still in hand, passing it over to set on Ava's lap.

She ate 3 more pieces of it before they reached the familiar gates of the Lockwood estate, and the drizzle turned into a steady rain by the time the manor came into view.

"I'll pull around the back and go through the garage directly," he told her, veering his car towards the side of the house where Ava had not yet ever ventured.

Large metal doors at the basement level protruded from the house. Eli produced a remote, and with the click of a button, one began to open slowly, allowing him to edge the car closer until there was room enough to drive through. Inside was a cavernous room, sterile looking and cold. The door closed behind them and Ava waited for Eli to let her out, having grown used to his propensity for using the child locks on his car door when she was inside it with him.

"What is this place?" she asked when he got her out, standing there waiting for him to get the luggage and noting how unlike a garage this room looked.

Eli replied distractedly, "It's the subbasement level. Through those doors over there is access to the laboratory where the first dinosaurs were cloned by Hammond and Lockwood themselves." He pulled out one last suitcase and set it down on its rollers before shutting the trunk, "The whole of Jurassic World was started in this very house."

Ava swallowed, suddenly nervous, "There's no dinosaurs down here now, are there?"

He chuckled and headed for a set of elevator doors at the far end of the room, "No, not yet," he replied ominously.

The Lockwoods were surprised to see them enter through the entryway from the elevator instead of the outside stairs per usual.

"Rain too much for you, Mills?" Mr. Lockwood joked with him.

Eli shrugged his shoulders and gestured toward Ava and her belly, "Can't be too careful keeping this one from catching a chill," he answered with a grin.

"Too right," Iris chimed in, with Maisie standing next to her bouncing on the balls of her feet in excitement to see them.

Normally, this warm welcome was one of Ava's favorite parts of coming to the manor. Today though she suddenly felt chilly and tired. She thought to go upstairs and lay down for a nap, but Maisie rushed to her and wrapped her in a hug, leaning down to rest her head on Ava's belly."Can you kick for me again?" she spoke to the baby, but no movement came this time.

"He's sleeping," Ava smiled and pulled Maisie in for a side hug, "We missed you though, didn't we Eli?" she gave him a look that dared him to disagree. He merely laughed at her seriousness.

"Of course we did," he assured Maisie, pulling her in for a hug too.

It was still early in the afternoon, so Ava couldn't deduce why she found herself heading towards the stairs of her own volition rather than Eli's bidding. For some reason, she felt exhausted, despite not doing much today other than walking around the shops and eating what felt like her body weight in fudge.

"I'm feeling a little lightheaded," she told them, blinking her eyes rapidly trying to focus, "I think I might need to lie down."

Ava watched as their faces furrowed in concern and Eli turned towards her, his hand automatically splayed possessively over her bump, "Are you alright?"

She shook her head, "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Just really tired all of a sudden. Nothing a nap won't fix."

"Of course," Mr. Lockwood spoke, "Mills, go on and take Ava up to the room. Can you make it up the stairs, child? Or should you use the elevator?"

All the attention felt uncomfortable and made Ava regret saying anything.

"I'm fine, really," she assured them, "I can climb the stairs without a problem."

Up she went, embarrassed, but conscious of not pausing lest they think she was at risk of passing out. When she and Eli got to the room he opened the door for her and let her in first, dumping their luggage just inside and shutting the door before he put his hands on her lower back and led her to the bed.

"Rest for a bit," he told her as he peeled back the covers and she climbed in.

"No need to make a fuss, I'm fine," she objected but yawned as she said it.

Eli smirked, "Ok, well, let's see how you feel in a couple of hours, alright?"

Ava nodded and closed her eyes. Her body relaxed when he pulled the covers up over her shoulders and she fell asleep as soon as she heard him leave, shutting the door behind him.

Her dreams were strange. In the bed she normally shared with Eli back at his house, she lay immobilized, listening to an infant screaming in the corner. Her eyes scanned the room but she was completely alone as the baby wailed on, and she was unable to go to it and provide comfort. The urge to get up was so strong, but she was held down by some invisible weight, forced to listen to the agonizing cries that went unanswered. When she woke from the dream, she was covered in a cold sweat, and shivering.

The door opened with a click, "Are you awake?" Eli's voice was soft.

Ava didn't answer. She closed her eyes in case he came over to check, and tried to slow her breathing to appear like she was still asleep.

He must have bought it because the door closed again, and when she looked over her shoulder, he was not on this side of it.

The dream had felt so real, and her abdomen hurt with the effort of trying to move but being unable. She shifted in the bed to get more comfortable, then felt a sticky sensation between her legs that gave her pause. It wasn't unusual for her activities with Eli to leave enough of his secretions inside her to elicit the same feeling, but as they hadn't done anything in this bed yet since arriving, she slipped her hands down between her legs, then pulled them back up to see the bright red sheen of blood.

Ava threw off the bedding and sat up, looking down at the sizable red circle underneath her. Immediately, she felt faint again. She tried to yell, but her voice caught in her throat and her mind began racing. If she called for Eli, what if he thought she had done something to herself to cause this? Even though it wasn't true, he already told her once today he didn't trust her enough. Now she was almost surely miscarrying his baby and through no efforts of her own. The blood on her fingers smeared the sheets where she gripped them to feel like she had a hold of something to keep her from falling over.

Her breathing sped up, loud and ragged, as her heart pounded and she felt her body succumbing to a panic attack. The baby. His baby. Her baby.

The door swung open again but this time he made no attempt to do it quietly, having heard her hyperventilating from across the hall and come running.

When she saw him, eyes wide with concern, taking in her spread legs and bloody fingers, she finally felt the tears unleash. Loud sobs wracked her body, rocking her back and forth as he rushed to her and her pleas turned to screams directed at him, "Help me. Help me. HELP ME!"

Eli launched into action immediately, calling for Iris until she too came running, then left in search of extra towels.

Ava cried until she thought her heart would give out, partly from fear, and partly from something else, a strange sensation that felt familiarly like grief. But that was impossible. How could she grieve something she had never wanted and actively fought against in the first place?

When Iris returned with the towels, she bent over Ava and smoothed her hair, shushing her sobs and taking hold of her shaking hand.

"Mr. Lockwood has sent for a doctor. He should be here within the hour. Don't fear." Her smile was kind, but Ava knew the likelihood of what the doctor would say. Dead. Gone. Miscarriage. Stillbirth. The possibilities flooded her mind in rapid succession as she worked herself into a frenzy.

Eli paced the room, stopping from time to time to look at her, and his face was indecipherable. Did he blame her? Was he already planning the execution of his threatened punishment, a future harem of all her closest friends?

Not long after, Maisie came bounding down the hall, breathless and bright-eyed.

"The doctor is here," she said.

Ava's eyes flashed over to Eli, who watched the door listening to the unfamiliar footsteps as they approached.

An older man appeared, mid-40s, good-looking, with a bald head and dark beard speckled with gray. Glasses framed a soft face, a black messenger bag slung over his shoulder, and he smiled reassuringly at Ava as he came in.

"Good evening," he greeted her, coming to sit on the opposite side of the bed from where Iris sat still holding her hand, "My name is Dr. Lowenstein. Can you tell me what's going on?"

The list of things gone wrong was limitless, but more than wanting to tell the truth and escape, right now all she needed was an answer.

"I-I-I'm b-bleeding," she stammered.

"And you're pregnant, yes? How many months?"

"I-I'm in my t-third trimester, just barely though."

"I see," he didn't seem rattled, "How much blood have you lost?"

Ava pulled back the coverlet to show him and heard Maisie give a gasp from the doorway.

"MAISIE. OUT." Eli's shout scared the poor girl so badly that she promptly burst into tears as well and went running down the hall, her sobs echoing behind her.

Iris looked at the door, pained by the girl's reaction. Ava pulled her hand from the old woman's.

"Go, go and see to her. I'll be fine." She gave a half-hearted smile but knew it wasn't convincing.

"You're sure?" Iris asked her.

Ava nodded, "I don't want her traumatized by this any more than necessary."

Iris wiped a few tears from her own eyes and squeezed Ava's hand before she stood.

"I'll be back after I've calmed her down," she promised, then, with one last look at Eli and the doctor, she left.

Dr. Lowenstein turned to Eli, "Are you the father?"

Eli was biting his thumbnail looking down at Ava's stomach. He barely seemed to register the doctor's words.

"Sir?"

"Hmm?"

"Are you the father of the fetus?"

That seemed to rouse him, "Yes, I am."

"Good. If you don't mind, please come sit here with your wife while I set up the machine."

Eli did as instructed, holding Ava's hand but not with the usual grip. Was he mentally rehashing their trip up here for when she might have done something to cause this? Was he already plotting how soon he could impregnate her against her will again?

She looked to his face for answers but he stared at Dr. Lowenstein as he retrieved a large, clunky-looking laptop which he turned on immediately. A small ultrasound wand was attached, and Ava held her breath as he pulled some of the lubricating jelly and squeezed it on the end.

"Sorry it's not warmed like it would be in the office," he told her, walking over to where Iris had been sitting minutes ago, "Now, could you lift your shirt and lower the waistband of your pants for me?"

Ava did as he asked, her own grip on Eli's hand tightening while his remained almost limp. Dr. Lowenstein pressed the wand over her womb and pointed to the tiny screen, where the small body of a baby came into focus.

"See, that right there, that's your baby."

Fresh sobs bubbled in the back of her throat, suppressed by her efforts to keep her lips firmly shut as she waited to hear the worst news he could possibly deliver.

"And that, right there," he pointed to the center, "That's baby's heartbeat."

Both she and Eli seemed to exhale at once. Tears of agony turned immediately to tears of relief, and when Ava looked at Eli he was crying too.

"So the baby's alright?" he asked the doctor.

"Looks healthy to me," he answered, moving the wand around her abdomen and pressing to get a clearer look, "Bleeding in the third trimester can occur sometimes while not causing any harm to the fetus. This one looks just fine to me, although you'll want to confirm with your regular OB at your next appointment."

Ava's head laid back against the pillow. Her face felt hot, her eyes were puffy and swollen. She realized Eli was now holding her hand with the same pressure as her, and she squeezed his harder.

His eyes fell on hers, holding her gaze silently. She looked back at him with equal intensity, trying to convey her relief without saying it.

"Do you already know the gender?"

She held her breath at the question.

"No," Eli replied, still looking at her.

"Would you like to?"

Her eyes pleaded with him when her lips could not. It would be something for her at this moment, a piece of certainty in the midst of so much anxiety.

"Can you tell for sure?" he asked Dr. Lowenstein.

The doctor arched an eyebrow, "Quite sure. Do you want to know?"

Eli sighed, "Yes."

"You're having a boy."

Ava felt his hand squeeze hers tightly, and she didn't know if it was good or bad until she saw his tearful smile.

She laughed in relief, crying even more. A boy. A little boy.

Conflicting emotions crashed over her one after the other, but Eli kissed the back of her hand and thanked the doctor, who began packing up the equipment in preparation to leave.

When he stood to exit, Eli followed, shaking his hand and walking him to the door and down the hall. Ava could still barely speak, but she smiled at the doctor in gratitude, waving goodbye as he left and waiting until Eli returned minutes later.

"The whole family is very concerned, but they want to give us privacy. Do you feel well enough to eat dinner if Iris makes it?"

Ava nodded, hand caressing her bump absently, mulling over the doctor's revelation. Her baby was alive. Alive and healthy. Her little baby boy.

Eli watched her touching her belly then came closer. He sat on the bed and took her hand again, staring at her stomach as he spoke.

"For a few minutes there, I thought… I thought…"

"I know," she said finally, "I did too."

"And I waited for you to gloat, to act excited, but you didn't. At first, I thought you must have found a way to terminate, but it was so obvious you were as devastated as me, maybe even more."

Silence ensued. She didn't want to confirm it for him. All these months she had spent fighting him, denying him any emotional satisfaction she could apart from sex. To agree with him that she now felt something for this baby would be to agree that she felt something for him. It didn't matter though, she knew that he knew, and he wasn't going to let it go.

"Do you want this baby now?" Eli asked her.

She paused, "I don't know what I want, but… when I thought I was losing him, I realized I couldn't bear the thought of miscarrying now."

He nodded, running his hands through his hair.

"Do you love me?"

It was impossible to keep her face neutral as she croaked out an unconvincing, "No."

He smiled, "It's not a bad thing to admit it."

She laughed in the midst of crying, "I hate you. I hate you more than anyone else in this world, I think. But I love you too, somehow, and I hate myself for it."

Ava knew the admission would come back to bite her in the end. Rather than take offense, Eli responded with enthusiasm by crawling over the bed to kiss her, cradling her face in his hands as gentle lips touched everywhere they found, settling on her stomach where she felt the first hard kick since waking up in a puddle of blood.

"Whoa, I felt that one," he looked at her in awe, then remembered, "We're having a boy."

Another tearful laugh, "We're having a boy," she repeated.

He rubbed her belly, deep in thought.

"I know it's been hard for you being stuck home by yourself while I'm working, but I think I can do most of my current projects from up here and travel back as needed for a while. That way we could stay here for a couple of weeks at a time at least until just before the baby comes."

"Thank you," she breathed, meaning it.

"You're welcome."

Part of her wanted to be held right then, even if it had to be by him. There was a strange comfort in having been wrong about losing the baby and admitting her inability to avoid feeling something for him after all this time. In that moment though, all she cared about was the relief she felt and the security she knew she would feel with his strong arms wrapped tightly around her.

As if he could read her mind, Eli scooched in closer, pulling her to his chest where she wrapped her arms around him and let herself be held.