Paralyzer [Gotham]

17

If I looked, I could see several of Victor's men patrolling the streets on our way, at least the ones I recognized, but there were two hanging out on the porch when we pulled up. He walked behind me as he carried my stuff in, nodding the goons off the porch as we went. As if it made much of a difference, the men sat in the car instead of on the porch, remaining on hand but allowing us some privacy.

He'd cleaned up the place since he brought me here recently cured of the virus, made it a little nicer, but it was still a dark place where he tortured people in the basement. Talk about traditions built in the walls. "Go sit down," he advised gently, kissing my head as he sorted out my things. Taking a deep breath, I shuffled into the livingroom and laid down on the couch. I knew part of being pregnant meant your hips shifted around, but that didn't make feeling it happen as I got comfortable any less unpleasant.

I had barely huffed before something fell on my chest, opening my eyes and staring at my striped cat as Victor came to sit beside me, lifting my legs and keeping hold on them after he'd sat down and laid them over his lap. My eyes closed again as he started rubbing the soreness out of my calf, slowly making his way down to my foot. I didn't have any words, I'd missed him far too much to find anything to say, and being bathed in his attention was satisfying enough after he was so distant.

It was only after he began on the other leg that a question floated to the surface. "Have you thought about any names yet?" At it's mention, Victor leaned over and placed a kiss to my enormous belly, still making his way down to my ankle.

"Damien," he threw out, and I gave it a minute before nodding. It was better than Victor Jr., by any means. "I still like Andromeda for the girl name." I smiled a bit and reached my hand toward him, gently tracing my fingers over his torso.

"And middle names?" He laughed, stretching the smile into a grin.

"I've barely thought as far as tomorrow, Lucian. Middle names never crossed my mind." I shook my head and relaxed further into the couch and his hands.

"We don't have to middle names. I'm good with Damien Cane and Andromeda Cane." Victor lifted one of his hands from my ankle to take my hand, pressing his lips firmly to the heel of my palm as I toyed with the legs on the stuffed cat.

[]

Victor was still adament about keeping my fat, pregnant belly away from public eyes, so he didn't allow me to set up a clinic like I'd been pleading with him for months now, but I made him swear that I'd get the option once I squeezed this thing outta me. For the most part, if you excluded the constant need to pee, I sort of enjoyed being pregnant. Now that I was ready to pop, I just wanted this kid out of me.

Victor had been waiting on me hand and foot, for Christ's sake I couldn't walk from the bedroom to the adjoined bathroom without him feeling like he had to escort me there. He walked me into the kitchen as he stood just a step behind me, hands on my widened hips as I waddled to the counter. Once there I rested my eblows on the surface and leaned over them, smiling a bit as Victor ran his hand over my back before starting coffee for himself.

"I know this is the house you were raised in and all, but I really don't think the place you regularly torture people is a good place for the baby to grow up," I proposed, turning my head slightly in his direction.

"So I wouldn't be able to just refurbish and call it good?" he checked, taking a second to look over his shoulder and smiling at the pointed, yet humored, expression I bore. "Alright, I'll check the boarders later, see where your apartment lays on the map." I stood up straight and walked over to the calender he'd hung up, studying all the marks that he'd placed on it.

There were smalls marks on the counter going a few months back, marking when the city fell into madness and adding a mark to each day it continued. He had marked out my trimesters, too, with a little assistance, planning just as far ahead as he could. I was ready to pop any day now, and honestly I couldn't be more done with pregnancy, but it seemed this kid found my womb comfortable and would stick around for a little longer.

"What're you up to today?" I hummed, coming around the counter and leaning my back against it as he followed through his morning routine; coffee for himself, if we could get our hands on it, and enough breakfast to tide me over until this kid drained the contents of my stomach. He worried me at first, since it seemed like all the food we were getting had been going to me. I had to make sure he ate most days and it made me feel like he put a little too much emphasis on our situation.

He was more talkative at least, I think running me through his daily schedule helped him keep his mind together, but as he talked it just flowed in one ear and out the other, my face dropping into a stoic expression. Victor must've asked me something I couldn't respond to, because his eyes turned to me and grew three sizes as he took in the puddle at my feet.

[]

It was gruesome, really, having to endure childbirth with no form of medication, only a tub full of water to try and ease the pain, but even that didn't do much to help. I don't think Zsasz planned to have the baby here, for us to deliver it on our own, or to even be present while it happened. I'm sure he expected me to have someone tagging along, like Barbara, who was a little more experienced in the womanly department, but all things considered he handled it very well.

There was a lot of screaming, a lot of cursing his name and all that he stood for, and an updated entry to a version of long, drawn out torture. After the one full term experience, I was absolutely sure there was no way I was letting him do this to me again. Pushing one baby through a narrow canal was torture enough, there'd be no way in hell he's getting any more outta me. All the same, it was a beautiful expreience to become parents, to see this thing that we created, to see it actually come to fruition.

After today, we added a new occupant to the world, one that only we knew about: our little fighter, Andromeda Cane.