Knock Down, Drag Out / Book One

Chapter Fourteen

Darcy eased herself down into the claw foot tub, the water so hot that it was borderline painful, before looking over at her twin. They had grown up using the same bathroom and being around each other constantly so it wasn't unusual for one of them to be in the tub while the other sat on the floor. It was where they had some of their best conversations.

"When we finally go home, do you think we should get a dog? Maybe a pit bull or something? Just for added protection?" Lylah asked, leaning against the wall by the door. She cracked it open when there was a knock and pushed it wide open to allow Ruby to enter.

Darcy shifted the bubbles around in the tub so she would be fully covered, not quite sure how she would react to seeing her son's current sexual partner naked. Ruby sat down in the floor beside Lylah and leaned her head back against the wall.

"Why a pit bull? A chihuahua or something equally as small would be easier to take care of," Darcy pointed out, sinking lower into the hot water so it could sooth her sore muscles.

Lylah shrugged her shoulders before answering. "Pit bull's have a reputation. Not saying that it's true, because dogs are only bad if their owners train them to be bad, but it would be kind of nice to have a dog that scared strangers away because they think the dog will attack them."

Darcy immediately shook her head, not wanting to hear about the God-awful stereotype of her favorite dog breed. Ruby cleared her throat and frowned when Darcy turned her head to look at her. "Honey, why are you crying? What's wrong?"

Darcy put her hands over her face and let the tears just roll down her cheeks. "They're such good dogs! They don't deserve that," she wailed, crying harder until she was sobbing into her bubble bath.

Ruby raised an eyebrow at Lylah, unsure of what was going on. She just shrugged her shoulders before getting up and walking over to her twin, rubbing her hand up and down Darcy's back to get her to calm down.

"Darcy, seriously, why are you crying? You're starting to freak me out. What's wrong?" Lylah asked anxiously, unsure what to do. Darcy usually never cried over small things like this and it was kind of freaking her out.

Darcy shook her head, tears still running unchecked down her cheeks. She couldn't explain what was going on any more than Lylah could, she was just so incredibly sad at the thought of pit bulls getting treated like murder machines.

Ruby got off the floor and made her way over to the twins, an explanation swirling around in her head. She could be completely wrong but it was worth mentioning and looking into if they could just get Darcy to stop crying.

She was fixing to sit on the edge of the tub and brush Darcy's hair when Lylah took matters into her own hands, putting her hands on top of Darcy's head and shoving her under the water. Darcy came up sputtering, bubbles all over her face, but she didn't look like she was crying anymore.

"Oh God! I don't know what's wrong with me, I'm sorry!" Darcy actually felt humiliated for crying in front of them so uncontrollably. Tearing up while talking or thinking about Steven was one thing, this was completely different.

"Honey, it's fine. But I have an uncomfortable question you need to think about. Do you and Maddox use condoms?" Ruby asked gently, not wanting to upset her all over again.

Darcy blushed but nodded her head, sinking further into the hot water. "Well, except for the first time. But I took the morning after pill."

Lylah shook her head and rubbed her fingers in between her eyebrows, trying to help ease up the headache she was developing. This entire situation was a mess.

"Darcy Lynn Howard, you're a damned doctor. You know that the morning after pill isn't one hundred percent effective," Lylah sighed, sitting on the edge of the bathtub next to Ruby. "When are you supposed to start your period?"

Darcy shrugged her shoulders and bit her lip, trying to think back to her last period. She let out a groan and slapped a hand over her eyes, not wanting to face Lylah or Ruby.

"I'm a week late, but it could just be from stress. My life getting turned upside down and running from a psycho killer that's stalking me is a pretty damned good reason for it to be late."

"That doesn't explain the crying for no reason," Lylah pointed out, watching as Ruby got up and started searching through the cabinets. "Woman, what in the world are you doing?"

Ruby looked over her shoulder and winked at the twins, pulling open another door. "This room obviously belongs to a woman, we might get lucky and find a pregnancy test. It's not exactly like we can go run to the store and pick one up without the guys knowing."

Darcy let out a sigh and stood up in the tub, taking the towel Lylah held out for her and wrapping it around her body. She stepped out of the water and sat down beside her sister.

"What are other symptoms of pregnancy?" Darcy arched an eyebrow at Lylah's question. "How am I supposed to know? I've never been pregnant before and I'm not an OB/GYN. I forgot about ninety percent of what we learned about pregnancy in med school."

Ruby rolled her eyes at their bickering and moved to look underneath the sink. "Your breasts get sore. You get heartburn, usually early in the morning or late at night. You get nauseous about pretty much anything and everything. It basically feels like the flu this early in the pregnancy."

Darcy slowly lifted her hands to her breasts and squeezed gently, wincing slightly at the pressure she felt. It was like they were overly sensitive and the slightest contact felt painful.

"Okay, so it would explain some things. But I just don't believe it. Do you know how rare it is to get pregnant after having sex with someone the first time? We only didn't use protection once and I took the pill. There's like a less than three percent chance that I'm pregnant," Darcy rambled, kind of freaking out. Lylah slipped her hand into her twin's and tangled their fingers together.

Ruby sat more comfortably on the floor and started taking things out from under the sink so she could dig through them. "Sorry to break it to you, sweetie, but that three percent change is all it would take. Why don't you get dressed while I go through the rest of this stuff?"

Lylah got up and lead her sister back into the bedroom, sitting her on the edge of the bed before going to the dresser to grab Darcy some clothes. She handed them over and Darcy put on the yoga pants and shirt without even bothering with panties and a bra.

"Are you gonna tell me why you're being so quiet right now?" Darcy let out a sigh and flopped back against the bed, scooting over so Lylah had a place to sit down.

"We don't need a baby, Lylah. Steven is still out there and being pregnant is just gonna add to the danger. Plus when this is all over Maddox is just going to leave! My heart's gonna be broken enough as it is, if I end up having his baby it might shatter me. It would be the only connection I had with him left and I know it makes me sound like a terrible person, but I don't think I could handle that."

Lylah leaned over her sister's face so she could stare into her eyes. "Darcy, honey, you'd be a great mom. And I have a feeling that if Maddox knew you were pregnant then he would do everything in his power to be in your lives. You're panicking and not thinking clearly."

Darcy blinked away the tears that had gathered in her eyes and pulled Lylah into a hug. "When did you become the smart twin?"

Lylah kissed Darcy's cheek and allowed her sister to squeeze her even tighter. "I've always been the smart twin, you're now realizing it is all. Come on, let's go check in with Ruby."

They made their way back into the bathroom to find Ruby holding an unopened pregnancy test above her head triumphantly. "I was just fixing to yell for you."

Darcy took a deep breath and grabbed the package from Ruby's hand, smiling nervously at her sister and honorary mom.

"Well, I guess it's time for me to pee on a stick. Wish me luck."