Open Wounds

Chapter 5

Valeria could really feel the changes now, and the life that grows inside of her. Her bump was already showing, and as she expected, it was a little bit bigger than usual, since she was having twins. She did wonder though if Alex will notice that.

Looking at her bump in the mirror made her remember Matias pregnancy, 5 years ago. She remembered she did the same thing.

"Well," she laughed, "Some things will never change".

She changed to nice spring dress, and went down stairs to find the house empty.

Matias was in his kindergarten, Stephanie was at school, and she guessed that Alex – or she say, Sportacus – is in his airship, in the outskirts of the town. He lately spend most of his time there, sometime he even slept there instead of coming home. It made her worried, because all he do there is exercising (of course, he is Sportacus) and thinking about plans to catch and beat Mark Prescott.

So instead of do nothing and be alone at home, she decided to do nothing and be alone outside.

It was pretty sunny, so she took her sunglasses and put on some sunscreen and went out.

She walked around in the little, quiet town. She actually liked for once.

"But once that you two are here, it would be even noisier," she laughed as she caressed her little bump.

She walked a little more, until she ran into Bessie, who was hanging her laundry outside.

"Oh, hello Bessie!" she said as she walked around it so she won't move anything.

"Ah, hello, darling! My, look at you, growing bigger every day!" Bessie laughed.

"I know, right?" Valeria laughed as well, and sat on the small yellow wall next to her.

"So how are holding on so far? I know that Sportacus is a little 'zoned-out' about this whole pregnancy," Bessie asked.

"Yeah... In the first trimester it wasn't that bed, but now, since I'm at the beginning of my second trimester, it's going to be harder, especially since he's in his airship all the time lately," she told the blue haired woman.

"Oh, dear... Is everything ok?" she asked.

"Well, not quite..." Valeria sighed and explained to her everything.

"Oh, dear god! I hope that this... Mark guy will behind bars again, as soon as possible!" Bessie said.

"Don't get it wrong, me too! But I wish that he would let it go just a bit to be with me," Valeria told her.

*****

"Ok, I got it! I got the perfect plan!" Mark announced.

"Listen to this – we need to catch Sportacus's daughter and son, while their parents aren't home. Then, when they finally find their beloved children, we will catch the pregnant Mrs. Scheving too. Then, when he is all alone, with no chance to save his family, we'll kill him in one shot – in front of his family, and then they will be next," Mark explained his plan and all his men applauded.

"Mike!" Mark called to one of his men, "Spy on the family to find out if both Sportacus and Valeria has plans outside, while the kids are inside the house."

Mike nodded.

*****

Around 10:00PM, Alexander returned home. He found out that Valeria was in the living room, staring at the TV screen, not really concentrating in what was on.

"Hey..." he quietly said, but it was loud enough to draw her attention.

"Hi! Welcome back," she said with a smile.

"Where are the kids?" he asked, he seemed half asleep.

"Well, um, it's 10:00PM, so they are already in bed," she told him.

"Oh, you're right! I barely noticed the time... But what are you doing in this hour? Aren't you tired as well?" he asked.

"Yes, I am, but," she said and stood up, "I've been doing what I did for the past month, which is waiting for you to perhaps come back home."

He looked at her from head to toe, and couldn't miss her baby bump. It was bigger than he thought it would be for the beginning of her second trimester, but he didn't want to ask since he didn't want to know anything that might risk her.

"I know, and I'm sorry, but it's something I got to do to keep us safe," he wrapped his arms around her, pressed her into him and kissed her on the cheek.

"I know, but I wished that you could just let it go a little and be with me," she wrapped her arms around his neck.

"But I can't," he told her.

"Well then, I can't be with you," she said and he drew back.

"No, I'm serious," she said and they departed, "you stink as hell, go to the shower now!!" she commanded and he burst into laughter.