Working for Love

Nieces and Nephews (7)

Contrary to almost everyone I knew; I was dreading the end of the workday. When work was over, that meant I had to pick up the kids, which meant I had to see Delilah, which meant I had to be subjected to her scrutiny and try not to argue in front of the kids.

I would much rather spend four hours after work discussing mortality with Asa like we had done at lunch—not that it had been a bad discussion. It had actually been quite enjoyable, despite the fact that we were talking about death, and rather ironic to me that I would rather deliberate about death with a vampire than I would spend time with my own sister.

Since I was a babysitting, I wasn't able to visit Mom after I was released from work, so I sent her a picture of me at my desk to keep her company. She laughed at it, confirming I had done the right thing. I knew she loved to spend time with her kids, and I was the only one who really had the time and money to visit her so often, which made me feel like I was letting her down today, but I couldn't leave Em high and dry either.

"Four o'clock," Viveca said, stretched after she closed her laptop. "Finish up whatever you're doing and then we're out of here."

I quickly typed in one last name, then saved, and closed my laptop as well. "Done. Do you always finish so promptly?"

She chuckled. "I try to. The sooner I'm done, the sooner I can get home and put my feet up. I'm going to take a shower, change into something comfortable, then head over to Manny's. What about you?"

"I'm babysitting for my sister." I slid my laptop into my satchel. "She works night shift at Walmart on Wednesdays, so I watch her kids for the night and drop them off at school the next morning." I hesitated for a moment before asking, "do you have any nieces or nephews?"

She smiled, shouldering her bag. "Three with a fourth on the way. He's due in a few months. My family is so excited to have another baby—my dad especially loves kids. He wishes he had more grandbabies." She giggled a little. "But if elves are slow to the alter, they're even slower to the delivery room. Our babies are well spaced out."

"Really?" I said. "Sometimes humans have babies that are only a year or slightly less apart. Do..." I hesitated again. Is this a weird question. I've already started it, it's too late now. "Do elves carry for long?"

"A whole year," she said, leading me towards the door. "Which probably seems long to humans."

"I mean, that's an extra three months." I dropped an empty mini bag of potato chips in the trash on our way out. "By the ninth month most women are ready to be done."

Damon appeared from another hallway that connected at the elevators, pushing the down button to summon the machine. "Done with what?" he inquired, glancing at us.

I didn't say anything, falling into embarrassed silence. What would he say to us talking about babies? Will he think we're just average women who only talk about children and makeup? Does he already think that? He'll either laugh his head off or blush if I tell him what we were talking about.

"Being pregnant," Viveca said, apparently not having the same thoughts as I was. "We were discussing the differences between elf and human pregnancies."

"Oh. Well, vampires only carry for eight months, supposedly because of the increased speed we experience compared to humans, although I'm not sure I trust that theory. My sister carried for eight and a half months before little Jehu showed his face." He sounded so nonchalant about the topic, as if he had discussed it a hundred times with us. "I can testify that she was more than ready to be normal sized again. I think she perhaps regretted her impatience when he started crying every two hours for the next month." The elevator appeared with three other vampires already in it, but we managed to squeeze the rest of us in.