Chapter 36 Pivoting Paranoia
“So, I just sit and the machine will…take a picture?” Ender asked slowly, eyeing the basketball-sized floating white ball in front of him with a frown. Tech he may love, but anything medical related was of no interest to him, when it came to understanding how it worked that was.
The room was all white, with cabinets and a floating examination chair. Aside from the ball and chair, there was also a floating screen, a desk with a holographic tactile keyboard, and a control panel that he assumed was for the machine.
“Yep,” Doctor Ruby Corradetti said with a smile. “With fast and detailed results to boot. Just try not to move too much.”
Technology really had advanced a hell of a lot since the last time he’d been pregnant. He looked to Ruby, the doctor in charge of pediatrics, and all things pregnancy related, for the underground compound, and sighed. “Okay, do whatever you need to do then, I guess.”
The Dryad—or Forest Nymph, as some in her species preferred to go by—was short but curvy.
In a red blouse and black pencil skirt paired with matching heels, the white doctor's coat she had on contrasted nicely with her dark-brown skin.
Her long dark-green hair was currently pulled up into a bun, a few strands tucked behind her pointed ears, and there were red-framed glasses perched on her nose.
Ruby moved to the table and started messing with the control panel.
Seconds later, the ball beeped and lines lit up in a circuit board-type pattern over it.
Ender sat as still as can be, staring at Soren, who was leaning against the wall, when a visible beam of light came out of the ball and did a few sweeps over him from different angles.
Only a few moments after the thing went back to the start position, Dr. Corradetti chimed, “All ready,” as she tugged the hovering screen over, so it could be seen by everyone in the room.
Ender’s eyes grew wide as he eyed the scan of his belly.
“E-Ender…there are two eggs,” Soren rasped.
“Not only two eggs, but—” Ruby typed on her keyboard, and the picture moved to the right side of the screen, as a list of numbers and words appeared on the left, that he was not even remotely going to attempt to make sense of. “—two different fathers.”
“Y-you can tell that just with a scan now?!” Ender squeaked.
Soren let out a pain-filled groan. “Ender, you have to tell them.”
“I don’t have to do jack shit!” But…maybe… No…no, they… What if they tried to take them? “They can’t know. They can’t ever know.”
“Ender, this is a bit different than just one of them impregnating you, don’t—”
“I said NO!” Ender swallowed shakily, clutching his bump. “They are mine… They can’t… They can’t have them.”
Soren’s face, for some reason, became oddly pinched. “Ender… I see your paranoia pivoting right now, and I’m not liking where it’s going.”
“Leave my paranoia alone, it’s not bothering anyone!” he huffed.
“Mm, yeah, I'm pretty dang sure that’s not true.”
“Shut it, Toddles!” He took a calming breath and looked towards Ruby. “How’s the gestation going?”
The Dryad smiled, looking amused for some reason. “Both seem to be progressing at the same speed, thankfully. But you look as if you will be going longer than what is normal for your kind. Based on shell development, I estimate you have another five months to go.”
“Five!?” he groaned. “Are you sure it’s not three?!”
She laughed. “Unfortunately, not. While the protection barrier has been engaged in your uterine lining around your eggs, as you can see from the size and organic shape,” she pointed at the screen, tracing the outline of the eggs.
“The shell membrane is still forming. If you were following a normal Gorgon gestation period, it would already be fully in place, and possibly we’d even be noticing spots where the shell had begun to form. ”
Five more months—ugh. “Fine, fine,” he sighed. “Just more time to plan.”
“We will, of course, keep monitoring each week, as there is always a chance things could speed up. Though, in general, considering the complications that can happen with Gorgon pregnancies, on top of us dealing with multiple gestation periods mixing, it’s good to be cautious.
Which brings me to the few questions I need you to answer. ”
He grimaced. “Ask away…”
“What species are the fathers?”
Ender wrinkled his nose. “What? The scan doesn’t tell you that too?”
She giggled. “I’m afraid, for that, I’d need to do much more invasive tests, and with that stone barrier currently lining your womb, I figured it would be easier to ask. Regardless, I need to know what other possible issues we may need to watch out for.”
“One is a Fate, so likely no issue there, but the other is…a Siren, so…”
Ruby’s eyes widened at that, before she winced and seemed to hesitate.
He sighed. “Let me guess…you now need to do more tests?”
“To be perfectly honest, Boss, while I find both of those revelations shocking, it’s a damn miracle that you managed to conceive with a Siren.
Considering the extensive, and often devastating, complications both of your species deal with fertility-wise, medically speaking, up until this moment, I would have said it wasn’t possible.
“All that being said, I need to know which egg is which, and I can’t gain that knowledge through a scan,” she explained, before adding, “Oh, also, you will now be seeing my beautiful face for check-ups three times a week.”
“WHAT?!” Ender sputtered. “Three?!”
“Is that…necessary?” Soren asked, sounding worried.
“I’ll drop it down to two after this next month. But, for now, it will be three, as you are right within the range of when Sirens deal with their early complications.”
Ender bit his lip as he ran his hands over his bump. He had just learned there were two, and now he had to worry about losing one. No…no, he wasn’t going to lose them.
It’s okay, little eggies, I’ll do all I can to protect you, he promised.
“Fine, three times a week. And I’ll do whatever tests you need me to. Though this is definitely going to cut into my planning time,” he said, before realizing something and gasping. “I need to shop!”
Soren scoffed.
He glared at the man. “What?! I do!? We have a small supply of things, but not really too much baby stuff. Usually, if we have children here, they leave quickly! We… We need to redo a room! There’s so much to do! MEETING! I need to call a meeting! Everyone must know!”
“Like you’ll even let the babies sleep in another room. Also, what happened to not wanting people to know, hmm?”
“I changed my mind. I’m allowed to do that!” Ender snapped.
Killian couldn’t help but smile as he looked around the familiar grounds of Cyrus’ childhood home. The couple lived on what most would call an estate in Canting, Illinois, and the land surrounding their mansion was basically a forest.
It had been a while since he’d been there. Mainly, as they lived at least eight hours away now, and well…aside from get-togethers, he didn’t see Vivian and Orion Grimm in-person very often.
Killian did try to keep in touch by video call.
They were his partner’s parents, but honestly, given how long he’d known them, they were almost like his own now.
But with how strained Cyrus’ relationship with them had become, and really always had been, once they’d moved out and away, they just didn’t make it out here that often.
Though, he knew the couple weren’t there right now.
Killian let out a delighted laugh as he broke through the trees and caught sight of the large lake.
Hundreds of lanterns currently floated above the water, the soft candle glow lighting up the night.
In front, a bit away from the lake, there was a blanket laid out, with a picnic basket on top, and standing there, right beside the water’s edge, was Cyrus, dressed in black slacks, a red button down, and black boots.
As their gaze met, while Killian would admit it to no one, his heart skipped a beat, and a smile that was more lovestruck than anything slipped onto his face.
Killian’s eyes widened when he reached the Fate, and Cyrus took a knee, the man pulling out a small carved wooden box that was covered in ocean waves and could contain only one thing.
“Killian, from the moment I first saw you, I was yours. My foolish teenage brain instantly decided I didn’t care why you were there in my family’s lake, even if it was to drag me down into its unforgiving depths. ”
He giggled. “Thought about it.”
Cyrus smirked. “I know you did, and I would have let you. But as breathtaking as you are, it wasn’t your beauty that stole my heart.
It was you, all of you—your mind, your laughter, the nonsense we talked about in those early days.
My heart fell easily into your grasp, my love growing with every day I spent, and still spend, by your side.
A place I will forever be grateful you let me stand.
“Killian, I know life hasn’t been easy, and it's likely we will face troubles in the future, but I want to face them together. Because out of all the paths I’ve taken, the only one I have never questioned, never doubted for even a moment, was the one that led me to loving you.
” Cyrus swallowed, letting out a nervous chuckle as he opened the box, revealing a double band rose-gold ring with a blue moss agate diamond-shaped stone as the focal point, that was held into place with leafy vines.
Curving underneath were five diamonds, and the center one, which lined up underneath the agate stone, was larger and teardrop-shaped.
“Killian Neftlem, will you do me the honor of marrying me?”
For just a moment, he saw not the adult, but the teenager he’d met all those years ago.
The eyes staring up at him were the same then, yet not.
They were the same eyes that his desperate need to see the color of had drove him to reveal himself, but while the teenager had stared on, seeming entranced, with eyes filled with adoration, the adult now gazed up at him as if he was the answer to his world.
Killian remained silent for a little longer, just staring at the man who had made him believe in the existence of love again.
But as the beading sweat on the Fate’s forehead made it obvious the man was becoming increasingly more nervous as seconds ticked by, with tears in his eyes that refused to fall, he smiled brightly and finally said, “Yes.”