She didn't understand. Why? What had she done so wrong to drive him away? It was one thing to cheat on her, but it was another that her supposed best friends were the ones that were with him. All three in the bed she had shared with him. All three that she had placed her trust in and they broke it that day. She had just gotten back from the doctor with what was supposed to be happy news, but it's all for naught. As she stood in the doorway, watching with numbness as the three of them scrambled to get dressed and toss excuses her way, she simply stared at them. Reaching up to her left hand, she gripped her engagement ring, sliding it off before simply dropping it onto the ground and turned around, walking out of the house and toward her car. She got in and just drove not knowing where she was going.

It was then that she heard thunder in the distance and lightning began to strike at the sky. As she drove her dark brown eyes simply stared at the road, her glasses slid down her nose, as everything eventually hit and she pulled over to the side of the road. She began to sob, despair cradled her, and broken trust was all that remained of her heart. Just then the thunder got louder as if it was a large explosion.

Eyes snapped open, blurry vision greeted her as she slowly sat up, being mindful of her large stomach. She then reached over to her shelf that sat next to her bed and put them on. Her eyes squinted as the light from the sun hit her in the eyes through the slit in her curtains. She let out a sigh as she turned to look at the clock, sighing quietly, as she got out of bed slowly. Just as soon as she was standing the sound of her phone went off signalling that someone was calling her, as she moved her dark brown hair from her eyes she looked over at her phone and pressed the answer button,

"Hello?"

"Hey Talia. It's Sarah. How are you feeling?" the familiar friendly voice of her friend and greatest supporter, Sarah Lennox spoke with a bit of happiness.

Talia looked at the clock at nearly winced as it was nearly twelve in the afternoon before she responded with a tired,

"Pregnant."

This caused Sarah to laugh as she replied, "Yes I know. How about you come over for lunch? Will is due back today and I am sure he would like to see how big you have gotten. Cindy has been itching to see her Aunt Talia."

At the mention of her name, Talia could hear the sound of someone running up before listening to the familiar voice of a thirteen year old girl,

"Auntie Talia! Is that you!?"

Talia couldn't help the small smile that appeared on her face as her left hand subconsciously began to rub her swollen belly lovingly.

"Yes it's me? How are you Cindy?" Talia asked the little girl that seemingly had taken over her mom's phone.

"I am doing good! Are you coming over for lunch!? I wanna feel the babies!" Cindy chimed happily.

Talia smiled as she replied back, "Yes. I have to get dressed then I'll be over. Let me talk to your mama so I can tell her."

"I'll tell her Auntie Talia. Love you and see you in a bit." Cindy replied back with extreme excitement before hanging up the phone without returning the phone back to her mother.

Talia simply shook her head as she placed her phone back down onto the shelf next to her bed and then headed toward her closet. Talia let out a small sigh as she looked through her sundresses. Eventually she decided to with her favorite deep blue sundress, a v-neck cut with off the shoulder sleeves, and solid ruffles along the bottom of the dress. She quickly grabbed some undergarments, proceeding to the bathroom, after a quick shower she was dressed and used her bed to put on her black flats. Talia checked herself in the mirror quickly, her chocolate colored eyes were tired behind her glasses. Being six months pregnant with twin girls will do that, she thought. Her oval face was rounded at the cheeks and she faked a smile to the mirror for a laugh, dimples appeared at the corners of her full lips. The sun dress she wore covered her ample, swollen breasts but still made her feel a little sexy, though she wouldn't admit that out loud. Her short five foot four inch frame gave her curves and she ran her hand over her belly to smooth a wrinkle in the dress. A light kick knocked at her hand and she smiled. At least the girls agreed that she looked good. After brushing her short, dark brown hair, she walked into the living room and grabbed her small black shoulder bag and exited the house. She was thankful that Sarah lived next door and was within a simple walking distance.

As soon as she left the house, and began to walk toward Sarah's house she instantly took notice of several different vehicles parked in front of their home. One was a silver looking sports car, a large black pickup truck and finally the largest of the vehicles being a blue semi truck with red flames on the front and seemed to extend toward the back. Talia blinked and gently fixed her glasses before nervously putting her right hand upon her belly. She slowly walked up to the front door, lifting her hand, knocking on the door loudly so Sarah could hear her, a thing she often did, since she moved in after all having a house with loud kids could be difficult.

The door opened and she was expecting to see Sarah, but her eyes were met with shockingly blue eyes. The man was taller than her, standing maybe roughly six foot two with broad shoulders and a fit body, instantly Talia began to rub her stomach, feeling the babies move underneath her hand always reassuring her that they were there.

"H-Hello…" Talia stuttered her left hand, gripping her shoulder bag tightly.

The man's eyes seemed to pierce her, though they seemed to be kind, but she all too often knew that kindness was often a lie when it came to her luck.

"Hello. You must be Talia Thorin. I am Orion. Sarah asked me to answer the door." Orion spoke gently.

Talia nodded her head, trying to will away the shakiness she could feel slowly starting to form. As he stood to the side, Talia entered the home, her eyes glancing from side to side as she took in everything. To her right, she could see three people sitting in the chairs in the living room, one was a woman, from what Talia could tell, she had black hair that was pulled into what could be described as a wolf's tail, she was broad in the shoulders, but seemed slim along the rest of her body. Despite being far away, Talia could barely see the faint marks of scars running along her face and Talia's eyes met with grey colored eyes. She began to stroke her belly as she glanced away briefly, she felt as if she was a lamb in a pack full of hungry wolves.

Talia then took a quiet breath, before glancing at the man next to the woman. He too was broad, but also stocky, what struck Talia was the large scar over his eyes for it reminded her of her late grandfather. She could see that his hair was black with grey peppered in, with black stubble coating his face, she didn't need x-ray vision to see that he was built. Scars too littered his face though they seemed to fit him, instinctively Talia could feel danger radiating off him. And the final man was sitting on the single seat next to the two and seemed the most laid back out of the three.

However, just like with the other two, she could tell he was just as dangerous. He seemed slim, but not unhealthy. He reminded her of the men that performed Capoeira, with how his body was built. He had on a bright purple vizor like sunglasses and his long dark dreadlocks framed his face. The light gave off a slight sheen from his mocha colored skin, almost as if he was outside just moments before her arrival and was just now cooling off from being under the hot sun.

Talia was startled out of any more observations, by the sound of Will, grunting out, "Dammit Javier!"

Just then Will entered where he was followed by Rob, she could see that both men were sweating obviously due to the heat outside. It was then that Orion rumbled out, "Will. Robert."

This instantly caught the attention of both men who looked at Talia in surprise. It was then Robert spoke instinctively, "Damn Talia. You sure you ain't carry the hulk in there- Ow- The fuck!?"

Will had slapped Robert over the head as Orion spoke again, with an aura of authority, "Language."

Talia could hear the two men in the living room chuckling as Will ran his hands over his face. However, before more could be said the sound of little feet hitting the floor echoed through the house followed by Cindy yelling out,

"Auntie Talia!"

Talia turned her sight to the young blonde child who slowed down and hugged her gently before firing off questions,

"How are the babies doing? Are you going to have them soon? Can I feel them kick?"

"Hey kiddo, how about we let Auntie Talia go say hi to mommy." Will stated as he gently pried his daughter away, his blue eyes looking up at Talia apologetically.

Talia gave him a weak smile, before responding, "It's alright, Will. Cindy, why don't you show me where your mommy is?"

Cindy blinked in confusion, despite her age she could see that Talia wasn't doing well, Cindy took her hand and gently led Talia into the kitchen. She could see Sarah was hard at work cooking along with another woman, whom Talia did not know, and it was then Cindy decided to announce their presence.

"Mom! Auntie Talia is here!"

The blonde haired woman turned around, her blue eyes brightened at seeing Talia, but her smile turned into a slight frown when she noticed that Talia was shaking badly at this point. Quickly and gently, Sarah led Talia toward the dining room and sat her down, taking her hand into hers. After a few moments, Talia began to calm down slightly, Cindy, forever her little guardian stood by her side, taking her other hand into hers and gently squeezed their hands in reassurance.

"I'm sorry, little one. I didn't mean to get like this…" Talia spoke weakly, yet apologetically.

Cindy said nothing before once more hugging Talia where she sat, and Sarah glanced behind her at the other woman that had followed worriedly. Talia hugged Cindy back and mentally berated herself for being as she was. She couldn't shake the feeling though of being surrounded by lions with double faces.

(I hope you enjoyed chapter one! I don't own Aelia nor her Aunt Geneva, those belong to Bomai Akila Neteru! I would also like to thank her for letting me use her universe for my fic! You should check out her story "Hot Iron" to learn more about Aelia! Thank you all for reading!)