Promises

Chapter 2: 3 Months Later

Ada stared down at the stick, waiting for results that she already knew. It had been months since Erik had left and after ignoring constant nausea and sore breasts, it was time to acknowledge what was happening to her body.

She was pregnant. Pregnant. Her. It was hard to imagine but she should've expected something like this eventually. It wasn't as if her and Erik had been diligent in the birth control department. Ada hated the way birth control affected her body and they didn't regularly use condoms. Most of the time, Ada was lucky if clothes came off all the way.

But now she had to deal with the repercussions of their actions. Alone. Holding the stick in her hand she sunk against the bathtub and leaned her head against her arms. She needed a plan. She was alone in the world; it was the reason her and Erik had gotten along so well. Ada had no family or friends; the few friends she'd made at MIT had gotten annoyed whenever she had to ditch them because Erik was suddenly in town. It had been a no brainer; Erik was the only one who she could depend on she didn't need anyone else. Except now Erik was gone.

Something occurred to Ada. Erik was gone, but his stuff was still here. He had no real possessions; his lifestyle wouldn't allow him the luxury of traveling with personal effects, not that he'd had a lot to begin with. But there was this book...

Ada stood and ran to the hall closet, pregnancy test still clutched in her hand. Erik never talked about his past but if there was an idea about where he could be then she wanted to try to find it. Even if it meant going through his stuff. She wasn't exactly sure when this stuff had ended up in her apartment and she knew that when he came back he would be pissed about her snooping. But she couldn't handle it on her own. She wasn't as strong as Erik, wasn't able to stand on her two feet. She lived in a shadow of herself, so used to having Erik protect her when he was around that when she wasn't she didn't know how to be her own person. The only time she truly felt alive was when he was around.

But Ada knew that with a baby coming she would have to figure it out and stand strong until Erik came back. Which was much easier said than done. Stretching up to the highest shelf in the closet, she brought down the leather bound book Erik had brought with him and stashed in her hall closet.

"You moving in or something?" Ada watched Erik come through her front door from her bed, a trash bag over one shoulder and a book under his arm. It was late but Erik had a key that he used to frequently slide in between her sheets.

"You actin' like you don't want my ass here or something?" He raised an eyebrow and smirked. She bit her lip. He knew she wanted him there all the time.

"What's with the book?" she asked, as he set the garbage bag down and opened up her hall closet.

"It's nothing much...something of my pops." Ada nodded; Erik had mentioned his father had been murdered when he was young in Oakland. "It was his diary." Erik stuffed the book in the closet and turned to Ada.

"Enough about that...what you hiding under them blankets?" Erik's canines shown in the moonlight and Ada opened her arms to welcome him back where he belonged.

Ada shook off the memory but the tears were still in her eyes. She hoped that they'd be able to have more nights like that. She opened the book. The first few pages were written in a language that she didn't understand. Flipping through the pages, it was more of the same language that she didn't understand. Hot tears ran down her face but she brushed them away angrily. She wasn't giving up.

Getting to the middle of the book, she finally found a word written in English.

Wakanda.

The page was a mixture of English and whatever language Erik's dad had spoken but Ada felt like it was something. Wakanda was a third world country from what she understood but maybe there was more than she knew. She left the diary on the floor and went to her old desktop computer in the corner. Tapping her fingers against the desk while she waited, Ada found herself slipping into another memory.

It was the first time they kissed. After spending months flirting and studying together at her apartment, Erik had tucked a curl behind her ear and pressed his lips to hers in a bruising kiss. Ada felt her stomach drop and heat pool in her stomach. Her hands came to rest on Erik's shoulders and he buried his hands in her hair, pulling slightly in a way she hadn't known she liked until then. He bit her lip and she gasped, his tongue mingling with her own in a way that had her groaning.

He slowed the kiss down then, pressing a kiss to first her top lip, then her bottom lip, before tugging her lip between his teeth again. "I been tryna be respectful but I've been wanting to do that for a while."

The ding of the computer coming on brought her back to the present. Once she got the browser up, she typed in 'Wakanda' to get more information. Wakanda, officially known as the Kingdom of Wakanda, is a small landlocked country located in Africa surrounded by mountain ranges and an impenetrable rainforest. Despite being a third world country, Wakanda does not engage in trade and does not receive any foreign aid.

She scrolled through a few more articles, including one about how some crazy guy had stolen all the precious metal that Wakanda had, and the recent passing of the king.

She sat back in defeat. There was no way to ensure that Wakanda was where Erik was. And yes she was pregnant and really needed him but when he was underground, there was nothing to be done about it. She placed her hands on her belly where their baby was growing inside her. She would have to be strong for this baby, and for herself, until Erik came back. He would come back. He'd promised and he never broke promises to her.