Chapter 35 Pregnant Ass
Ender sighed when Soren blocked his way as he stood from the dining room table. “Something is up with you.”
He faked a smile and lied. “Nothing is up with me.”
“Oh? Nothing, is it? Care to explain then why you are constantly snapping at people? Or why you made the last three new recruits cry after sicking your chickens on them? Not to mention, the one you attempted to shoot before threatening to fry and roast on a spick.”
“He wanted to eat my chickens!” Ender hissed.
“Yeah, as one does when they think of chicken.”
“HE CAN EAT THE DAMN LAB GROWN SHIT! IT TASTES THE SAME!”
“For fuck’s sake, Ender. You have been moodier than normal for almost two months! What is going—” Soren suddenly cut off, the Harpy’s eyes going wide as he continued to stare at him.
Ender winced, fighting the urge to cover himself, when his brother’s gaze flicked to his stomach and the man began to squint. The oversized dress shirt he had on covered his bump, but…ah shit! Just, not yet! He wasn’t ready for people to know yet!
“Whatever you’re thinking, you’re wrong!” he cried. His gaze flicked to his inner circle, who were now talking amongst themselves about the weather and other random shit, wisely pretending they weren’t there and didn’t hear their conversation.
“Holy fuck, you are pregnant,” Soren whispered.
“I didn’t say that! You said that. I didn’t!” He pushed past him.
“Ender!”
“NOPE!”
“ENDER, GET YOUR PREGNANT ASS BACK HERE!”
Ender spun with a horrified gasp, his hands slamming over his brother’s loud, big fat mouth, as he hissed, “Would you shut up!?”
Soren glared over his hands at him. Smiling hesitantly, he glanced at his inner circle, who were now doing a much worse job at pretending they weren’t there. Some were now frowning, as if they weren’t quite sure they heard what they actually heard.
A nervous laugh slipped out, as Ender said, “Ignore him, he’s clearly losing whatever’s left of his ever-loving mind.”
Turning a glare his brother’s way, he dragged the Harpy out of the dining room. Ender marched him all the way up to his bedroom, where he pushed him inside. Slamming the door shut, he shoved the Cryptid against it and pointed a finger in his brother’s face. “You will drop this!”
Soren crossed his arms, still very much glaring. “Who’s the father?”
He let out a laugh of disbelief and backed up, sitting down on the edge of his bed as he answered honestly, “I don’t know.”
And he didn’t. It was really up in the air as to whether it was Killian or Cyrus.
Though, based on how big he seemed to be carrying, and the fertility issues Sirens had, it was likely the Grimm’s child.
Which wasn’t the best outcome, but he’d take it.
Ender, however, was pretty sure his genes had managed to defeat the mighty Fates, because it was definitely an egg.
He was… He wasn’t alone anymore. Though, he also wouldn’t be able to hide it much longer, or not at all, if Soren didn’t shut the fuck up.
The Harpy’s face twisted, as he stared at him for a moment, looking baffled, before snapping, “What do you mean you don’t know?! You can’t be that fucking far along, and your memory isn’t that shot…yet.”
Ender smiled, and snidely drawled, “I don’t know, because I don’t know which man it happens to be.”
“How many people did you sleep with?!”
Ender pursed his lips. “That is a rather personal, and frankly, out of line question to be asking your little brother, don’t you think?”
“Who is the father, Ender?!” the Harpy screeched.
“Like I said, I don’t know. There are two possibilities, as it happened with more than one person at the same time, and based on the activities, they both have at least a chance.”
Soren took a few deep breaths before letting out an angry trill.
“See, here’s the thing, Ender. I know most of your movements, sort of how your paranoid ass set up the organization here.
I also know exactly when your birth control ran out, though that was more just dumb luck, I just didn’t realize you hadn’t bothered to refill it.
“But based on the range, there is really only one location where you were out of my sight for long enough to do that, and I’m honestly not liking the fucking prospects of who it could be right now!”
Ender smiled sheepishly. “Well, you definitely will not like it when you know for sure, so let’s make you happy by me not telling you!”
“ENDER!”
He flinched, huffing, “You are really yelling at a pregnant person right now?!”
“Ender,” Soren ground out dangerously, before yelling with his accent out in full, “Who on that blasted, thrice-fucked clusterfuck did you FUCK two months ago?!”
“I feel that is one too many fucks in one sentence.”
“Ender!”
He pouted. “Honestly, yelling at me when you should be able to easily figure it out, knowing it was with two people at the same time.”
His brother’s brow pulled together, before his eyes narrowed again, and the man said with an enraged roar, “I’m going to fucking kill them!”
“WHAT?!” He rushed off the bed when the Harpy spun, yanking him back by his hand. “You are not going to touch them!”
Soren looked at him, his face twisting with rage, but also worry, as feathers sprouted along his skin. “You were fucking vulnerable! They—”
“I was cold!” he snapped. “I was cold, Soren…and they made me warm, and now…” He slowly slid his brother’s hand over his bump. “Now they have given me something that I failed again and again to get by myself. I’m happy, so you need to leave it be.”
Soren hesitated, the feathers receding as fast as they came, while his gaze flicked downward. The Harpy’s hand tensed ever so slightly on his bump, cradling it. When the man looked back up, there was a question there. “Failed with what, Ender…? What are you talking about?”
Ender gripped his brother’s hand. “I tried, years ago…to get pregnant. I was so tired of being alone. I know there are others of my kind out there somewhere…not many, but…they don’t really want to be found.
So, it’s just me here, and I…I tried. I went out and slept around.
But it didn’t work. Five years…I tried for five years before giving up and going back on my birth control.
“Gorgons have a low fertility rate, but it’s even lower when it’s not with another Gorgon…
At the time, I figured it was either just that, or possibly there was something else wrong with me.
But it doesn’t matter now, because I have what I want.
So the only thing you should be doing is sending them flowers, or even a damn thank you card, because they gave me this miracle.
” Ender swallowed hard as his eyes flooded with tears. “Damn fucking hormones,” he whimpered.
“Ender…” Soren rasped softly, wiping the tear away when one broke free. “Why didn’t you tell me you wanted to have a baby?”
He shrugged. “It didn’t work, so I didn’t see much point.”
The Harpy was quiet for a moment, before asking, “Are you going to tell them?”
Ender frowned. “Why would I?”
Soren blinked. “Seriously, Ender?! You don’t think the two men may want to know they could possibly be fathers?”
“They slept with me to comfort me. It was warmth I was after, and that is what they gave me. It didn’t mean anything beyond that. They are also in a committed relationship with each other. I am a complication that neither of them wants or needs.”
“I get that, but one of them is the father. And I may not know them well, but I do know they are not the type to just walk away.”
Ender smiled. “Soren, I don’t live in a world that fits in theirs. It’s better that they never find out.”
“Ender,” Soren growled. “Fuck, that aside, even if you want to keep it a secret for now, you need to let Docter Corradetti check you out. And before you argue, as I see you gearing up to do, think back to your many years of trying, and the problems you faced back then with Coop. You know personally how dangerous Gorgon pregnancies can be.”
He flinched away, clutching at his stomach as old fears rose up.
And then he felt it, this slicing, horrifying phantom pain of the eggshell of his first child cutting through his abdomen all those years ago.
Just the first of the children he buried, long before he’d successfully given birth to Kovo and Nyla.
Soren pulled him into a hug. “I don’t mean to worry you, or bring back bad memories.”
He shook his head. “No…you’re right. Keeping it secret is one thing, but being safe comes first. Let’s go, I need to see the doctor…”