Hello, Goodbye

Claude's Feelings

This chapter is long and does contain a lemon. Btw I've never been pregnant before so I double checked to make sure sex was acceptable during pregnancy. Luckily it is.

My eyes hurt when I opened them the next morning. I opened them nonetheless and looked around me. I was still in Claude's room and I could feel his hand firmly around my waist. I froze, when I heard what sounded like a moan fall from his lips. His hand that was wrapped around me creeped up to cup my right breast. "Claude!" I whispered but he never said anything. 'Oh my. He's asleep.' I elbowed him gently but still nothing. He wouldn't let me go. He began to gently massage my right breast. I bit the inside of my lip to keep from moaning myself. His hands felt good against me but I knew this wasn't right. I tried squirming around in his arms. He stopped massaging me but still wouldn't let me go. "I love you Thalia. Please don't go." I stopped. I turned slowly in his arms and what I saw nearly broke my heart. His eyebrows were furrowed and a stray tear fell down his cheek. 'What the hell is wrong with you Thalia? This man is your best friend. He's been with you through thick and thin and everytime you cried or had nightmares he was there to hold you. Your even pregnant with another mans child and he still loves you.'

His hold on me finally laxed enough for me to get out of the bed. I walked over to the balcony doors and opened them. I stepped out into the cool morning air. The sound of the ocean pulled me into a relaxed state. I began to rub the ever noticeable bump on my stomach. It was hard to believe that five months have passed since I came back to Derdriu. The nurses said I was about six months pregnant which made sense in the timeline of things. I only had three months of this pregnancy left. Three months here... with Claude. I briefly began to recall when we met again after all those years.

"Thalia. I'm glad your here. I would like you to meet my grandson and heir to House Riegan." I walked into the estate room and there stood a teenage boy with ran skin and unkempt brown hair. He had a single braid that fell down the right side of his face. Recognition flooded his features when he saw me standing there. "Hey, I remember you. We met six years ago in Almyra. How ya been?"

I instantly shied away from him. He would try to talk to me on multiple occasions and I would just ignore him. The same way I had been ignoring him the past five months. Guilt instantly flooded throughout my body. I sat my head in my hands and groaned. "Thalia... are you okay?" I turned to face a very sleepy looking Claude standing in the doorway. "I was just thinking of how I've been nothing but a crappy person and a crappy friend to you for oh I don't know... forever now." He sighed and walked over to me, placing his hands on my shoulders. "Thalia, you are not a crappy person. A lot has happened to you in the past several months and I've certainly not been making things easier for you. I said I didn't want to confuse you when I told you how I felt but then turned right around and pushed you away because you didn't return those feelings. If anyone is a crappy friend here then it's me." I wrapped my arms around his torso which caused a startled gasp to come from him. It took him a moment to return my embrace, but he did, wrapping his arms around me and placing his chin on top of my head. "Claude? When did you realize? That you loved me?"

A sigh fell from his lips as he thought about my question. "My birthday. How happy you looked when I opened my gift. How happy you looked when you sat in my lap and ate that chocolate cake. The smile that was on your face that day. It was the same smile I had seen for years, yet in that moment it meant so much more to me. It was then that I realized two things. That I was absolutely, undeniably  in love with you and that I never stood a chance because you were already head over heels for Dimitri." His voice cracked slightly causing me to pull from him a bit. Disbelief flooded over me in that moment and I wasn't quite for sure why. Then it hit me. The time I went crazy with bloodlust and killed those three men. That entire time Claude was right there by my side. He slept on the floor of my room, tried to get me to eat everyday. He stayed by my side not because he was my best friend, but because he loved me. And out of everyone who attempted to get me to feel anything at all, even Dimitri. Claude was the only one who could do it.