You'll Never Be Alone [mpreg|sequel]

xiv

Eddy isn't sure if he should be worried.  Dan is listless in the nest of blankets piled on the couch, a pillow hugged to his chest and a hand pressed to the side of his belly.  There has been no sign of Riot, no change for better or worse these past couple days.

"He's regressing," Dora says softly.

Eddy's gaze flickers up to the woman's, a slight tension filling his body at her quite appearance.

Dora looks... she looks better.  Her hair is braided back and away from her gaunt face which is finally gaining color.  Her arms are crossed over her chest and her hip is propped out as she leans against the wall.  She still looks like she's drowning in the clothes once owned by Anne but she's starting to look like herself, feel like herself.

"Mentally wise he's exhausted and traumatized by everything, the way he holds himself makes it seem as if he's regressing but honestly he could just be trying to figure out what to do, how to better help his situation."

There's a pause followed by a lingering silence.

Finally, Eddy finds the words that have been stuck in his throat the past week, the words he wished he could have said the moment he found her, "I'm sorry."

Dora looks at him, studies him intently.  There are tears glistening in her eyes she refuses to shed, "I'm not."

Eddy can't hide his surprise.

"You saved people-"

"You got hurt because of me."

"But you stopped Drake and the Life Foundation."

"And your family lost you.  Your kids, your husband-"

"It was better that way."

"They mourned for you, they stopped looking... I stopped looking for you."

"And I don't blame you."

Eddy isn't listening though, he's too wound up and too caught up in his festering guilt, "I went to your service, a memorial because they didn't even have a body.  Because you were just gone and I didn't do anything!  I put you there!  I put you in a fucking casket and-!"

The wail of a child stops him mid-rant.  He's panting, breathless and flushed.

"I miss them and don't think for a second I'll ever forgive what happened to me, but you are not to blame.  Every horrible thing I went through was because of Drake.  That man was a monster, he ripped me away from my family, not you, not even Venom.  In the end you saved me and I know you protected them, my family, everyone.  I know.  Because of that I... I'm not going back."

Venom appears holding a little ball of lilac slime melding within their hold before the black symbiote sinks into Eddy's skin and plops the baby symbiote in Eddy's arms.

Dora stares at the hybrid with curiosity, the little slime ball takes the figure of a baby and gawks right back.

All Eddy can do is hold his daughter close.

Dora reaches out and briefly lets her fingertips brush the back of the baby's hand.

"Why?"

Why would you willingly leave the children you raised from this small? Why?

"Because they lost me once and I can't... I can't do that to them again, to my husband, to my children.  There's this... this thing, this symbiote inside of me and they will never let me go.  I can't, I won't, expose my family to this-this monster."

The symbiote in question bristles at that but doesn't lash out.

"It's just better if I stay gone."

Eddy looks at his daughter, unable to fathom ever abandoning her even if it's against his own will, but he understands.  He would move heaven and earth just to know that she is safe.  He would and has killed for her.

"Stay."

Dora looks at him.

"Here. Stay?"

Dora smiles sadly, "I'm sorry... I can't."

The next morning, she's gone.