The Delacours

thirty.

                I probably smoked two whole packs of cigarettes waiting for them to come back. Ray and Aria sat in the living room with Chris and me, in silence. A light started to open up, the threshold was opening. Zane and Val came back through. No one said anything.

"Isabel said that I was carrying two babies, and confirmed that there is now only one." She was trying to hold back tears.

"Did she know how?" I asked.

"Apparently it happens. One twin just absorbs the other. The baby I still have is perfectly healthy though." She broke a small smile. I didn't realize how much of pregnancy belly she'd already had. It was small, but definitely noticeable with her small stature. We all stood up, and surrounded her in a group hug. Ray and Aria went to hunt while the four of us headed to the kitchen; Val was hungry again so Zane offered to make her something to eat. As Zane prepared to cook, Val just leaned against the counter, with one hand on her belly, she was obviously still upset. I stood in front of her and put my arms around her.

"Can you two give us a second?" I said to Zane and Chris. They left us alone in the kitchen. "Is everything else okay?"

"Yeah. I'm fine. Isabel checked out my arm too. The spell Mariana hit me with wasn't the cause. It just happened... I felt a little cramping the other morning, but I thought nothing of it. I figured it was just a pregnancy thing." She looked down. "My body can't even do this right!" she cried out.

"Hey. Hey!" I said, holding her chin to make her meet my eyes. "You're perfect."

"My body couldn't hold both babies, Liz! There's something wrong with me!"

"No. There isn't. I was trying to look up stuff while you two were gone to try and figure out what could have happened. In humans, it's actually really common. Everything will be fine. That one kid is gonna be loved and cared for and spoiled to shit. They're gonna have three loving parents and that's all that's important." I gave her a light kiss and wiped the tears from her face. "I love you." She took a second and then cracked a smile.

"I love you, too." Chris came from behind us and put his arms around the two of us.

"I love you three." He kissed us both on the forehead, and then kissed Val on the stomach.

*****

I was starting to see the influx of wolves in Massachusetts and though I knew Dylan's plan, I was still starting to get nervous. The full moon was in a few more days and I was getting worried about how many of them were going to be around. Zane suggested that Val not practice strong magic during her pregnancy just to not put herself at risk. Carrying a child took a lot of energy from her and performing magic was just going to drain her energy. I was worried one of those wolves might still want to hurt the vampires or Val. I called up Dylan and asked him to meet me at a coffee shop in the middle of town.

"Hey, Liz. What's up?" he asked when he walked in. He sat down at the other side of the table. "Why did you ask me to meet you here?"

"I wanted to meet somewhere... neutral to both parties. If you're going to be the new Alpha of Massachusetts, you and I have to have a working relationship with another."

"I mean, yeah. I didn't plan on leaving you out of stuff."

"And yet... you and John didn't tell me, or Anna, the plan. Going forward, I need to be kept in the loop."