Entangled

Chapter 3

Author's note: Last update for a few days, most likely, because I just discovered another story problem. ARGH. I'm hoping I can find a way to navigate it; otherwise you might have to deal with a few messy chapters.

Seth knows a thing or two about pregnancy scares. His mother had a few between marriages. His brother's high school girlfriend had one that Seth was supposed to keep secret. He's even been responsible for a few of his own, though he's grateful they all turned out to be false alarms. While Seth has plenty of friends who, despite shaky pasts, became great fathers, it's not a title he ever envisioned for himself. But here it is.

If Becky's pregnant, there's no doubt that it's his: he and Sasha are her only lovers. They always use protection when Sasha's involved, but even he will admit that when they're alone, sometimes lust overrules logic. All of this is racing through his head as he drives Sasha to pick up some pregnancy tests. They've all decided it's safer for Becky to stay at the hotel, especially since none of them are sure how a werewolf pregnancy works: they all inherited their lycanthropy through their fathers, and Seth never knew his. "How pregnant is she?" he asks, glancing over at Sasha. "I mean, will it be a nine-month thing like it is for humans or... how long are dogs pregnant for? Wolves, I mean." Then he can feel the blood drain from his face, leaving an anxious tingling in its wake. "Will she be able to shift? The full moon's so close. What if—"

"I don't know." Sasha's said that often during the trip and, to her credit, she hasn't lost patience with him once. "My mom is human and so is hers. And I'm not exactly in contact with most of my dad's side, and the ones I do keep in touch with aren't all werewolves. Becky will have to call her dad."

If Seth had gone pale before, he figures he must look like a ghost now. Becky's always made plenty of jokes about Irish mothers, but her father is no pushover either. "Doesn't she have an aunt or a cousin or something?" he asks. It's not like he's asked Becky to marry him or anything, but Seth doesn't want Ken Quin's lasting impression of him to be the mutt who got my daughter pregnant.

Sasha shrugs as he parks in front of a pharmacy. She's already pulled her distinctive hair up into a baseball hat and applied enough skilful makeup that she's barely recognizable as Sasha Banks. After she slips on a pair of glasses for good measure, she reaches for the door handle. "I'll get some other things too. Snacks, drinks, whatever. The cashier will see right through it, but who cares? We'll be gone in another city tomorrow afternoon and Becky will need to drink a lot of water for the tests anyway...."

"Will the test even work on her?" Seth asks. His gut has felt like a simmering cauldron ever since he felt that first movement. "I mean, she's a werewolf and she's a werewolf...." If the tests only detect human hormones, they might not detect a full-blooded werewolf.

"I know. But it's worth a shot." Sasha doesn't even try to hide her grimace. "I know a few witches," she adds with a hint of hope. "But it's probably too late to call them now. I'll call them in the morning. First thing, I promise." She toys with the tiger's eye pendant on her necklace. "We'll figure this out."

"Becky will," Seth replies softly. "I mean, it's her choice, really. Isn't it? It's her body. I can't—we can't tell her what to do...."

Sasha nods. "Of course. But we're her pack. Whatever she decides, we'll help her." She hops out of the SUV, but hesitates before closing the door. "That means we can't pressure her, Seth. Becky has to feel free to make the decision that's best for her."

"I know." Mere weeks ago, he would have scoffed and said something Like I'd want a kid when I'm on the road all the time. Since Becky's in the equation, though, it's harder to be so sure. Their little pack has meant the world to him; he's not sure how he would have endured some of the scandals and scares he's had without Becky and Sasha at his side. "Go," he urges her. "I don't want to leave her alone for too long." Part of him wonders if she was almost close to giving birth, but he didn't mention it because he didn't want either of his lovers to laugh at him. They must have some sort of women's intuition about such things, because neither Becky or Sasha seemed too concerned about Becky being left by herself at the hotel.

"I'll be quick," Sasha promises, blowing him a kiss before shutting the passenger's door and running up to the store.

While Sasha's inside, Seth grabs his phone and starts doing some searches, all the while hoping he'll remember to clear his history; the last thing he needs is for Roman to grab his phone and see key words like pregnancy. There's no point in looking up anything about werewolves, of course, since the world at large is mostly unaware of them. From what he can find, dogs seem to have a gestation period of about two months, wolves a little longer. Maybe werewolves are somewhere between wolves and humans? he thinks, trying to do the math. There's no logic he can apply, though, so he concentrates on human pregnancies instead: symptoms, side effects, common complaints.

By the time Sasha returns with a full bag of items, Seth possibly knows more about the uterus than is healthy for anyone of any gender, though he doubts he'll retain much of it. The video of an egg being released from an ovary was both fascinating and horrifying, and he vows to smack anyone who ever makes a joke about menstruation in his presence. "I got a few different kinds," Sasha says as she gets back into the passenger seat. "They work better if you do them in the morning, though, so Becky will have to wait a bit." Before she buckles her seat belt, she leans over and kisses him, softly at first and then more insistently, enough to almost wrench his thoughts away from the issue at hand. "Seth, we're going to be okay," Sasha insists. "All of us. Becky can't be the first female werewolf to ever get pregnant by another werewolf. If she even is pregnant! We don't know yet." She kisses him again, tugging on his hair hard enough to make his scalp spark with pain. "There's nothing more we can do tonight. The internet won't help and worrying won't do us any good. So we should just get back to her and get some rest, and then we'll figure out where to start in the morning."

"I felt it, Sasha. You did too, obviously." Before they had left, Seth had pressed his ear to Becky's belly and he almost thought he could hear... something. He swore it was a heartbeat, but Sasha insisted he would be able to hear Becky's from where he was too. That was one of the problems of enhanced senses: it could be hard to sort out all the sensations you received. "We do know. We just don't know how to deal with it."

Sasha snorts softly as she fastens her seat belt. "Well, at least we know the who." She gives his side a playful nudge. "Just how often do you two hook up without me anyway? It's not like we spend that much time apart." She doesn't sound accusatory, but there's something in her tone Seth can't quite identify: wistfulness, maybe, possibly just simple curiosity.

Seth focusses on the road, something predictable and stable. "If you're asking when... I'm not really sure. There have been a few times where we've forgotten to use anything." He chances a glance over at Sasha. "I'm sorry. We need to be more careful. I realize that. What we do together affects you too, obviously...."

"That's not what I meant." She leans over and kisses his cheek. "We weren't always careful during our early days, remember? I can hardly judge. I know what it's like." She pulls a bottle of water from the bag and opens it, taking a sip before offering it to Seth. "I just wish I knew more about it from the werewolf side of things, you know? Because Becky will obviously have to stop wrestling if she wants to keep the baby," she added, "but if the gestation is a drastically different length of time, it'll look weird. People will expect her to be out at least nine months, and if the baby's age doesn't line up, then all the conspiracy theorists will come out...."

Seth bites his tongue. There are always a ton of rumours swirling around, thanks to bitter ex-employees and dirt sheet writers and nosy fans. So far, he hasn't seen any about him and Becky and Sasha—not in any sexual combination, anyway—so they've been lucky. Adding a baby into that mix will make things considerably more difficult. "Do we have to tell people she's pregnant? Can't WWE just say she was injured while training or something?"

"That would probably be easiest," Sasha agrees. "It makes it more open-ended for Becky, anyway." Then she stops. "But this is ultimately her decision. We should wait until we get back so she can chime in too."

"Right." They both fall quiet then, and Seth knows that even though the baby is small, it's about to take up a huge amount of their lives no matter what Becky chooses. Whether they want to live under that shadow is something each of them will have to decide for themselves.