Lost Without You

~42~

Once we got back to London after the Holidays, the time started to fly.

I was so busy with work, my 'theory of the art of fighting' sessions with Lucas or Stoker himself, meeting with Mum during the days, and then my dreams at nights, that I wouldn't have noticed how the weeks morphed into months, if it wasn't for my growing belly and the planned appointments at the hospital.

Mum tried to persuade me to move back home so she could be around more, but I refused. I did not want to attract any vampire's attention to her or Julian, who, ever since Dad moved out, was spending more time with her in our house in Barnes.

That wasn't the only change. Lia practically moved over to Stoker's. Nicole, on the other hand, spent always more time with me and Lucas in the flat; it was a joy to watch their relationship grow. To everybody's surprise, Anne and Mark got engaged. And, from our mutual friends, I heard that William and Kate got back together.

Seeing all of my friends so happy made me feel even more lonely. But Stoker, with his more or less fantastical theories about me and my two worlds, managed to shed some light into the long, dark tunnel I was walking through. I finally stopped groping around blindly and saw what I needed to do-- go back to Bran the next Halloween, step through the portal again, see if I could stay in and come back to pick up Aurora if I could, or persuade Vlad to come out with me if I couldn't... However crazy the plan seemed, it was a plan, and having it, helped.

The second week of May my belly was so big and my feet so swollen that when I arrived at work wearing rubber flip-flops, as no other pair of shoes fitted me anymore, Mr. Turner begged me to go back home for my own good. He didn't want me to come back to work until after the baby was born, and at least three months old, the kind man insisted.

"See, I told you." Lucas said as we walked back towards the flat. "It would be really nice if you listened to me, at least sometimes. You only have a week or two to go, you need to rest more."

I smiled at him, then looked around the sun-lit square, wondering why both he and Stoker still insisted on escorting me everywhere. No vampire has tried to approach me again, except for their very self-controlled friends. The mysterious Viorel seemed to have disappeared off the face of the earth.

"What am I going to do at home now?" I asked. Time passed so much faster when I kept myself busy.

"Sleep more! You look exhausted. You push yourself into those dreams of yours every night, but they are just draining you. And, apart from allowing you to see him, they are not really helpful, you said that yourself."

"But once Aurora is born, I might not see Vlad until Halloween. Your Uncle said so, remember?"

"He might be wrong. No one knows if your dreams will stop once the baby is born."

"Maybe he is wrong. But what if he's right and..."

"Fine, whatever you say. Now that you'll stay at home, you can spend whole days sleeping, and dreaming." Lucas said as we reached the house.

He unlocked the front door and once we stepped inside, offered me his arm. The stairs to the third floor's flat seemed to be too many and too steep lately.

"I'll have to leave as soon as Lia or Nicole come back. Will you lay down?" He asked when I unlocked the flat and we entered.

"Maybe for a while." I said, a little out of breath. 

Stopping by my bedroom's door, I looked at him thankfully. I... owed him so much, but he didn't want to hear my thanks.

"You mustn't worry about anything." He said, looking in my eyes seriously, unconsciously using the exact same words Vlad and Junior used whenever they thought that I was overthinking something.