The room was silent.

The clock on the wall ticked away, each second feeling like a full minute or more to Dracula. The low hum of the TV, playing some cheap comedy show, did little to distract the man as he waited. After a minute he turned it off, summoning the remote and clicking the power button to shut its noise. Snuggled up next to him, Ericka groaned.

"Hey, I was watching that!"

He peered down at her. "No, you weren't."

"Yes, I was," she insisted.

"Really? What show was on?"

Ericka opened her mouth to answer, but paused upon realizing that she indeed had no clue, too lost in her own thoughts. "Beats me," she admitted.

Drac laughed and kissed the top of her head, nuzzling into her hair. "It's okay, my love. I haven't been able to think about anything else, either."

"Mmm," she hummed, aimlessly tracing lines on his skull-patterned Hawaiian shirt with her fingers. "How long has it been?"

Drac looked up at the clock and sighed. "Not even five minutes."

Ericka mirrored his sigh, exhaling through her nose. "Too long," she murmured. "I bet it's nothing for vampires though, huh? Since you've lived for centuries and all..."

Drac snorted. "Are you kidding, honeybat? This wait is practically making me nutsy cuckoo!" He looked deeply into her eyes. "Can't you just tell? You must feel different, orsomething."

Ericka shook her head. "How can I tell if I've never even carried once?" she asked incredulously. She softened however when Drac pouted a little, and Ericka found his hand so that she could intertwine her fingers with his.

"Oh, sweetheart, I know you're excited to see. I am too. But trust me, this" - she pulled out a small white stick-like thing up in front of them - "is the quickest way to tell right now."

"I don't know, devil chops," he said, twirling his finger around one of her curls. "Are you sure that little piece of plastic will tell?"

Ericka shrugged. "The box assures it will."

"Advertising lies sometimes," Drac pointed out.

"So do certain vampires I know," Ericka replied, staring at him pointedly.

Drac tucked his head between his shoulders sheepishly, unable to counter further. "Eh heh heh heh… Touche."

The silence resumed again for another few moments, Drac's eyes shifting restlessly around the room until they chose to fixate themselves on the clock. The second hand ticking away, the minute hand inching itself along…

"Looking at it won't make time move any faster, Drac."

He tore his gaze away for a moment to look at Ericka, her face wearing a patient yet knowing smile.

Drac gave her a small mischievous grin in return. "Oh, yeah?" he said. "Watch." Drac focused his gaze back on the clock, narrowing his eyes. Ericka shook her head in amusement, but quickly stopped when she actually began to notice the hands seeming to turn a bit faster. She blinked a couple times, squinting to make sure she was seeing correctly, when she caught it - the misty purple and magical chimes coming from right behind her husband's back. Ericka reached over, pulling his hand out and smirking.

"Looking at the clock makes time go faster, eh?" she said, knocking him playfully with her elbow. "Just goes to prove my earlier point."

Drac laughed. "All right, all right, no more tricks, my love. " He gave her a kiss, short but sweet, and felt along her hips, roaming his wife's sides until his fingers drifted just below the hem of her blouse. She shuddered a little when his cool fingers made contact with the sensitive skin on her stomach, but soon she found herself enjoying the motions as he continued to stroke her slowly.

"Drac?" she whispered.

"Yes, my sweet little tarantula?"

"Umm..." She blushed. "Do you think, that... you know..." She trailed off, gesturing to her belly and not needing to finish that sentence.

"I'm not sure," Drac said honestly. "It would be wonderful if there is. But if not, well, there will be other opportunities I'm sure."

"Well if we don't change up 90% of our 'extra-curricular' activities, then yeah, at this rate I'm sure those other opportunities will come up real soon," Ericka joked. "Not that Imindthose activities of course."

"Based on how much you beg me not to stop, I think I could tell," Drac chuckled.

Ericka's cheeks reddened. "Hey, you're not absolved from it either. If I recall just the other night, the 'Dark Prince of Loviness' didn't want me to quit sucking on his - "

"Thatwill be enough," Drac cut in, hurriedly pressing a finger on her lips before she could get into full detail.

Ericka giggled. "Aroused much?"

"Maybe," Drac said coyly. "But I also didn't want to get distracted."

She shrugged. "It helps pass the time."

"We'vealreadypassed the time. See?"

Ericka's breath hitched as he pointed up at the clock. He was right. Fifteen minutes had passed since they'd started. It was the recommended time that the box had suggested. They were ready to see.

But before she lifted the plastic up, she eyed Drac suspiciously. "You didn't mess with the clock hands again, did you?"

Drac shook his head. "No, honeybat."

She narrowed her eyes. "You sure?"

"Does a face like this fib?" He turned into a bat, putting on the classic pouty bat face with large dilated eyes that were irresistible.

She laughed, and he turned back into his humanoid form. "Come on, sweetheart, let's see it!"

Her hands clasped around the stick, she began to undo her fingers slowly only to stop when they were halfway uncurled. "Drac, I can't," she whispered urgently. "I-I'm scared."

"Love droppings, what's there to be scared of?" He wrapped an arm around her, adjusting her so that she sat nestled at his chest, her back against his front. "We'll do it together. We'll close our eyes, you can hold it up, and we'll both open on three, okay? How does that sound?"

Ericka nodded, her throat feeling too parched for words. She slipped her eyes shut, feeling Drac help her undo the death grip on the little plastic stick and raise her arm up in front of them. Her hand trembled a bit as he counted down, heart beating wildly with nerves and excitement.

"Three..."

Ericka swallowed.

"Two..."

She bit her lip.

"One!"

At the last number she forced her eyes open, blinking hard and bracing herself. She saw the readout but didn't quite register it at first. Then her vision came into focus, her brain making the connections, and she stared in a wonderful state of utter disbelief. She knew this result was a possibility, but seeing it confirmed made her heart absolutely soar.

Positive.

The test was freakingpositive.

And that meant...

Ericka huffed out, tilting her head so she could look at Drac. His jaw was slack, his eyes wide and already glistening with tears.

"Ericka… you're… I'm… we're…" he stammered.

"Parents," she finished, the word feeling so foreign, soalienon her tongue as she said it.

She heard a sort of whimper of agreement from Drac, followed by sniffling.

Ericka looked at him in astonishment. "Drac?"

The sound of his name triggered the man to unleash his emotion, letting loose a torrent of tears as he cradled his wife tightly to his chest.

Ericka hugged him back, wrapping her arms around his waist as tightly as possible, burying her face into his neck and not knowing whether to laugh or cry or scream with joy all at the same time. It was so unreal to her, to be amother. To share her genes with the man she loved in the ultimate culmination of their zing.

Their baby.

The small life growing inside of her, a part of each of them. And it was at this realization that Ericka couldn't help the joyous little laugh that escaped her, along with the fresh droplets of her own tears slipping down her cheeks.

"Oh, Drac," she breathed. "What have we gotten ourselves into? I mean... I'm pregnant! W-we're going to be parents! I... I-I can't believe it!" The woman giggled as Drac responded with very enthusiastic smooches all over her face, cheeks, and lips.

"I know, I know, I KNOW!" he cried out with each loving little kiss. "I'm going to be a DAD! WOO-HOOOO!" His energy uncontained, he zipped up into the air and flailed his arms wildly about in a crazed frenzy, unable to help himself.

Her tears melting into full on laughter, Ericka collapsed back onto the bed in a heap, bewildered at the sheer amount of glee that flooded her entire being. It was crazy and exhilarating and terrifying, all rolled into one overwhelming wave of pure, untamed happiness.

When Drac had calmed down a bit, he swept into the bed and joined her, eagerly grabbing her shoulders and holding up the plastic test. "Does this say whether it is a boy or girl?"

Ericka rolled her eyes. "Of course not, Drac! We'll have to wait a couple more months at least before a doctor will be able to tell."

Drac shrugged. "Ah, well, with all this new technology and stuff, I figured it couldn't hurt to ask. And it doesn't matter, anyway, my love..."

Ericka raised an eyebrow. "Oh, yeah? Why's that?"

Drac grinned, bopping her gently on the nose. "Because I'll be naming the baby after you."

Ericka shook her head. "I don't think so, Drac."

"Oh yes, I think so," Drac argued. "Come on, love droppings, you don't like 'Erick' for a boy?"

"Eh, I guess it's all right," she mused. "But how the heck are you going to keep yourself in order if it turns out to be a girl?"

"Just spell it differently!" he said cheerily, counting along on his fingers the different iterations. "Let's see, there's E-R-I-C-A. Or, E-R-I-K-A, or E-R-E-K-A, or - "

"OR," Ericka cut in, pressing a finger against his lips to hush him, "we could give the baby an original name that we can both agree on that we don't mind. Like, I don't know…" She smiled slyly. "...Abraham?"

Drac's eyes almost popped out of his skull. "What?"He shook his head fiercely. "Oh, no, no, no, no, NO. N-O, NO."

Ericka laughed at his instant reaction upon the suggestion of her great-grandfather's name. "I was just kidding, honey."

Drac breathed a sigh of relief. "Thankgoodness." He cuddled her closer to him with a mutter. "Sneaky-pants."

"I only learn from the best!" Ericka said, snickering. She then pulled the plastic test out in front of her and took a look at it again. "Now all we have to do is wait to meet them... innine months."

Drac groaned. "That long?"

Ericka nodded, patting her belly. "Yeah, that long."

Drac stuck his bottom lip out in a pout and slumped his shoulders.

"Aww, don't worry, honey," Ericka tried to reassure, cupping his cheek. "We'll make it through."

He took her hand and kissed the back of it. "Yes, I know."

With his zing by his side, he knew they both would.