Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE: BITTER (aka 04x11: normal )
■ ■ ■ ■ ■
"YOU'RE PREGNANT?"
It couldn't be possible. It made no sense. But there was no doubt that the pregnancy test in front of Dallis had two little pink lines reflected on the screen.
For a moment, she only stared. Wide-eyed, slack-jawed. Then a grin spread from ear-to-ear. She lurched out of her seat, landing on the other woman in a mess of limbs.
"Oh my God! You're pregnant!"
Laughing, Mei buried her face into Dallis' hair and eagerly returned her hug. She'd admittedly been nervous for Dallis' reaction but now her anxiety seemed ridiculous. Dallis looked ecstatic because she was. She felt like she was floating! At that moment, nothing could bring her down.
"I'm going to be an aunty!"
"And I'm going to be a dad," Austin drawled from next to Mei. To be honest, Dallis had forgotten he was there as soon as Mei slid the pregnancy test across the dining room table at breakfast. "Where's my hug?"
Reluctantly, Dallis tore herself away from Mei so she could curl her arms around her brother's neck. He grimaced, lips forming an unamused line when she reached up and ruffled his hair at the same time. Hope and Anthony -- who had found out about Mei's pregnancy while Dallis was working the case in Grenfell -- merely shared a fond smile. Hope had tears in her eyes that threatened to spill at any given moment.
"My first grandbaby," she cooed with a hand over her heart.
Dallis expected to feel strange that her younger brother was settling down and starting a family before she was. Deep down, she suspected that her reaction might've been different, more subdued, if she wasn't about to see Rossi at work. Since the kiss in the hospital -- and all the ones after that -- her perspective had started to shift. Austin might've been younger and now a few steps ahead of her, but Dallis wasn't entirely out of the race.
Just the thought of having kids with Rossi made her face heat up. Where on earth was her head at? They hadn't even gone on a date yet! The constant piles of paperwork since Grenfell had taken up the majority of her week, hence why Dallis was only just catching up with her family outside of a hospital setting.
"Can I choose their name?" Dallis asked, ignoring Austin's vehement scoff. She released him to clutch her hands in front of her, turning to Mei with a hopeful smile that made Mei laugh once again. "Oh, please! I promise not to choose anything ugly... like Austin."
"We'll think about it," said Mei before Austin could come up with his own retort. "Is that your phone ringing, Dallis?"
With a sigh, Dallis realised it was. She followed the sound to the kitchen where she found a voicemail waiting from Jordan Todd. Dallis was needed at work earlier than expected. Another day, another dollar, another murderer on a killing spree.
