Only Him

Chapter 12

The women's clinic, despite being associated with the university, was located a block away from the actual campus. I passed by a pharmacy on my way back and ducked in to pick up the vitamins Dr. Reed had prescribed. Only once I set foot on the campus again did I slip my earpiece back in and reconnect with my world.

I tapped in mid-way through Daniel's check-in.

"—clear near the garage. We can bring up the SUV's but Rose still hasn't checked in yet. We shouldn't move without her," he was saying. I'd been working with him long enough to detect the slight strain in his voice; he was worried. Not that I could blame him, exactly, I had been gone a while.

"You can stop pining over me, Suarez, I'm right here," I chimed in, skillfully dodging a co-ed attempting—and failing—to impress some girl with his non-existent skateboarding skills.

There was a moment of silence over the connection before Daniel responded.

"Damn, Hathaway," he sighed, relief evident in his voice. "Nearly three hours of radio silence. We were beginning to worry."

"I'm touched," I quipped. "Ran into some setbacks but nothing to worry about. Bring the cars around, I'll swing by and join Lissa."

I found Lissa exactly where I knew she'd be. Once upon a time I would have known because of our bond. Now I knew because it was my job and, life altering news or not, I had a job to preform. Whoever had told the Strigoi of our location in January still hadn't been caught and every trip to campus was a risk.

Lissa looked relieved when she saw me waiting for her outside of the classroom.

"Are you okay?" she asked without preamble.

"I'm not dying," I assured her as I took up my position as her other near guardian after a nod from Stella.

"Really?" she asked. "Because you took forever. I was worried you were getting bad news."

Bad news? Not exactly.

"I'm fine. The doctor said nothing was wrong; it will pass eventually."

Eventually. As in seven more months. But I wasn't about to get into it with her now. I needed time to process this on my own before telling anyone and maybe, just maybe, Dimitri deserved to know before Lissa. And as much as I liked them, my fellow guardians definitely didn't need to know first either.

Lissa looked unconvinced, maybe she was reading my aura again, but let it be. I was thankful for that.

Compared to the rest of the day the trip home was fairly uneventful. I never let my guard down and beat back the distracting thoughts that tried to make their way into the forefront of my mind repeating my new mantra: "focus now, panic later". It was an immense relief to pass through the guard gates on the edge of Court grounds and feel the comforting embrace of the wards surrounding us once more. As was our habit after Lehigh visits, the guard dispersed upon arrival, another Court guardian and myself were the only two to escort Lissa to her rooms.

"You're sure you are okay?" she asked as we finally paused at the doors to her apartment. The Court guardian had taken up his position in the hallway, doing the guardian thing of seeing without seeing, completely ignoring our conversation—or so it appeared.

"Yes," I lied, turning so my back was to the guardian. Lissa's gaze seemed to lose focus for a second, something she often did when observing auras. I knew she had probably seen the lie in mine but I wasn't about to give her an opening to comment on it. "I'll see you later," I called as I made my retreat, leaving my best friend and her worried expression behind.

I ran my hand over the flat expanse of my belly, scrutinizing my reflection in the bathroom mirror as I did. I'd been in this exact position, stripped to my bra and panties in front of the mirror, since I'd walked through my apartment door some time ago. I narrowed my eyes as I took in my slim waist, the smooth swell of my hips, and perfectly flat stomach. To my keen eyes I saw no outward indication that a baby was growing inside my uterus. To my own eyes my body looked just as toned and fit as it had since I'd graduated and become a guardian. But I had to be wrong. There were angry red indentations across my pelvis where my pants had hugged me just a little too tightly. I'd noticed that before, just before my birthday when I'd brought it to Dimitri's attention. It had been over a week since then. My body was changing, I just hadn't been able to see it yet.