Entangled

Chapter 10

Author's note: This is all I have for now, so... back to writing for me!

Normally Sasha can wake herself up easily. She always figured it came from the years of taking care of her younger brother while doing her homeschooling, but in all honesty, it's because she doesn't want to miss out on anything. She is so accustomed to being the bridge in their little pack, to being the mediator for Becky and Seth when they were too cowardly to admit their feelings for each other, that she sometimes forgets that the pack can function without her. And it does. Now that Becky and Seth are finally together too, she's watched them growing closer, learning to trust each other with intimacy and not just information.

It doesn't mean she's not still vigilant, though, at least not normally. She and Seth got a little wild last night, leaving them both sated and sleepy. At first it was just a way to keep themselves distracted while Becky contacted her relatives, but after it was clear that Becky wasn't joining them, they didn't stop either. They did end up running out of condoms that night, just as she worried they might, but even in the midst of all that sweat and sex, Seth still had enough presence of mind to stop after they used the last one. One pregnancy scare is enough for him, Sasha had thought before dozing off.

Other thoughts drift through her mind now, thoughts of babies and wolves and her husband and witches. Witch? The word haunts the edges of her memory. Why is she thinking about a witch? The call! In her mind, she sits upright with a jolt, sweeping the sheets aside to find her phone, but the reality is more sluggish. One eye opens to meet the sunlit room, and one questing hand finds the rest of the bed empty. Of course. Of course Seth would be up already, checking on Becky. Sasha can't even remember if Becky came to bed last night or if she slept in the suite's sitting room; Becky had been out on the couch, waiting for calls from family, and Sasha recalls that Seth went out to check on her at one point—something about a pillow sticks out in her head, or is it a blanket?—but she can't quite place the events in order yet.

"Morning." Becky's voice is so soft that Sasha can't tell if it's meant to be a greeting or just a statement of fact. Then the mattress dips beside her and she sees long spirals of red catching the sun. "I did three tests. All positive." Becky has one of the most vibrant voices Sasha knows, but it's strangely flat now.

Sasha wriggles an arm outside the blanket and squeezes Becky's hand. Morning. She distantly remembers telling Seth that morning was the best time to do a pregnancy test, but the sun is still bright and high, so it must be early yet. She couldn't have waited? The bitter admonition makes Sasha bite down on her tongue before she can say anything out loud. It's Becky's pregnancy test, Becky's body; Sasha and Seth have to work on her schedule, not the other way around. But Sasha can't deny that it stings. Since she doesn't have a biological sister—at least none that she's aware of—the Four Horsewomen fill that role, especially Becky. She always pictured holding Becky's hand as they counted down the minutes, waiting for the results. "Witch?" Sasha murmurs.

Becky squirms a bit on the bed. "Which tests?" she asks. "One of the digital ones, two of the other. I thought it would be good enough. Why?"

"No. Witch." Sasha tries to say the word more distinctly as she struggles to sit up, using Becky's shoulder as leverage. "Did she call? I probably forgot to turn the sound back on...." Fumbling at the bedside table, she remembers muting her phone when she was waiting for replies to her texts so the sounds wouldn't disturb Becky; now she has to hope she didn't miss any important calls because of it.

"Not yet." Seth's voice is quiet, but it still fills the room—and gives Sasha a jolt of jealousy. While she was sleeping off their marathon fuck session, he probably woke up early and was sitting with Becky while she was waiting for the results of the tests. "I didn't hear your phone, anyway."

Sasha glares at him over Becky's shoulders. "You should have woken me up earlier." Her tone is too sleepy to sound accusatory, though, and she doesn't want to upset Becky either. "How are you feeling?" Sasha asks her, gently resting a hand low on Becky's belly, hoping for some movement.

Becky shrugs awkwardly. "No different, really." She looks down at her belly with a mixture of worry and wonder. "So maybe it's nothing. The tests can be wrong—"

"Three of them?" Seth interjects. When Sasha pierces him with another glare, he holds up his hands in surrender. "Okay, fine, I know that I don't know as much about them as either of you do, but getting the same result three times just seems like it—"

"It can happen," Sasha says archly, wrapping her arms around Becky and kissing her cheek. "Let me go to the bathroom and then I'll call the witch. If she calls while I'm in there, feel free to answer. It should come up as Mina, and she knows it's for you." She kisses Becky as she stands, slow and lingering, and then motions sharply to Seth. He gives her a look of wide-eyed confusion so, after setting her phone beside Becky, Sasha grabs him by the arm and tugs him into the bathroom with her. "Why didn't you wait for me?" she hisses as the door closes behind them, hoping to mask her anger with the click of the handle.

Seth blinks innocently and for a moment, Sasha sympathizes with him. This is completely out of his depth, given what she knows of his exes, and he's just trying to be supportive. "She was already in the bathroom and she had the sticks out," he protests softly, glancing at the door. "I... she didn't come to bed last night and I started feeling bad because... well, if she's pregnant, being all scrunched up on the sofa or whatever can't be very comfortable, right?" He doesn't wait for Sasha to answer. "So when I woke up, I was going to go and tell her to take my spot in bed, but she was already in the bathroom, like I said, and—"

Rising on tiptoe, Sasha kisses him. She never once thought they purposefully excluded her, not truly, but that doesn't make it sting any less. "How did she take it?" she asks, trying not to sound upset.

"I think she's in shock. Or just really surprised. I don't know. She said something about wanting a witch or doctor to confirm...." Seth kisses her again before reaching for the door handle. "I know you wanted to be there for her, but she was going to do it alone and... I just thought it wasn't something she should do by herself, no matter what the result was."

It would be so much easier if Sasha could be angry, but his logic makes perfect sense. If she had woken up first and realized Becky was about to do the tests, she would have sat with her rather than go to try waking Seth and risk having Becky go through it all alone. "I get it," Sasha whispers, kissing his cheek before stepping back. "Go sit with her. I'll be right out."

After Seth leaves, she shuts the door and heads to the vanity first, looking down at the testing sticks, all in a row. Three of them, she thinks, and three of us. It's a language she knows—lines or no lines, plusses and minuses, certain colours—but now it feels like she's forgotten all the words, and she needs them if she wants to be a good sister. If Becky really is pregnant, Seth will be confused and overwhelmed, so it'll fall to her to help Becky, at least in the early days. If she has early days, Sasha thinks as she turns away from the vanity. If Becky's pregnancy is more like a wolf's, she might not have long left. Witches and doctors will have more answers, but whether their little pack will like the answers is another story, one Sasha's not sure any of them are ready to play a part in.