Dancing With The Devil (part two)

Chapter 50: Trouble

Jim watched Astrid drift off into the bathroom and chuckled to himself. He reached into his pocket and took out his phone. He found Seb's contact and rang the phone. After a few seconds he replied.

"Yup?" He replied, surprising Jim with his colloquial, out of breath, greeting. He frowned at his in-formality, but spoke non the less.

"I got some big news for ya." He smirked down the line.

"What?" Seb answered, still catching his breath.

"Astrid's pregnant."

"You what?" he said, quickly, his breath catching.

"You heard me." He smirked again.

"I'm offended she didn't tell me first."

Jim rolled his eyes, "yeah, that was gonna happen."

"Well, what did happen?"

"She thought she might be this morning," he began, "then went and got a test and it was positive."

"Okay, I'm coming over." he said, his breath beginning to grow heavier again, "I'll be there in ten."

"Are you running?"

"I'm exercising, Jim." He stated flatly.

Jim sighed, "you know, if it wasn't for Astrid liking you so much, I'd have you killed for talking to me like that."

"No you wouldn't," he joked, "if it wasn't for the tiger protecting your creepy crawly ass, you'd be washed down the drainpipe immediately."

"Shut up, Seb." Jim sighed, flopping down onto the bed.

"Oh, yes of course," Jim could practically hear his cocky smirk, "you don't need me now you've got a woman in your life to tell you what to do."

"God, I wish I could kill you."

"I think we'd both find that embarrassing." Seb laughed, "see ya later, boss."

Jim rolled his eyes as the line cut out. He chucked his phone onto the bed and sighed, shaking his head in reaction to what Seb had said about Astrid. He lay on the bed, looking at the ceiling for what felt like hours. He found himself thinking about life, and about the life he was going to bring into the world, well, partly. he lay down for what seemed like hours, letting his mind wander freely. He was so distracted by his thoughts that he didn't even hear the ensuite door opening or  Astrid stepping out.

She looked down at the oblivious man before walking into the closet. She looked in the mirror. Her hair was damp, in it's natural wavy form, with a towel wrapped around her body. She changed into leggings and a short top, before walking slowly towards the mirror. Her hands made their way to her stomach, and she placed them gently on her skin. Her warm body flinched slightly at her cold hands, yet adjusted quickly. She chuckled to herself as she began to wrap her arms around her stomach, before turning around and leaving the wardrobe, after bundling the towels in her arms. She stepped into the room and Jim was still looking at the ceiling. She smiled and shook her head.

"What'cha thinking about?" she asked, causing him to blink his eyes open and sit up.

"U-ugh," he stammered, "baby names?"

"Oh yeah?" she smirked and sat next to him, chucking the towel on the floor, "anything in mind?"

"Grace." He said, his face turning to witness her reaction, "for a girl."

She smiled, "and for a boy?" he didn't answer, "if you say Lucas, I swear to god-"

He chuckled and shook his head, "I have no influential male figures in my life."

"What about..." She smirked, "Max."

"Max?" He thought, "he was your old boss, right?"

Astrid nodded, "he gave me a job, ya know... better than most men in my life."

Jim raised an eyebrow, "oh really?"

"I sad 'most', and I'm not calling it James, that would be awkward."

"God no, that would be awful." He said, possibly thinking too deeply about how that would effect their sex life. He grimaced at the thought, "we could go through some sort of fancy Latin names stage."

Astrid laughed, "Hades?"

"That's Greek," he raised an eyebrow, "also, a little bit obvious."

"Yeah."

"Domhnall." He said, "it means 'world ruler'... it's Gaelic."

"Oh I see," she smiled, "if it's a girl it's English and if it's a boy it's Irish?"

"Well since I'm the only one who's come up with names so far..."

Astrid swatted Jim's arm, "she was my mother so that trumps what ever you have to say."

She leant her head on his shoulder, looking ahead into nothingness. Jim took her hand in has and started to lace their fingers together. She moved his hand so that it was touching her stomach.

"Just promise me something?" She began.

"What?"

"Promise me you won't go AWOL and then force me to leave with our kid, only to be shot in the head by you fourteen years later."

Jim laughed at her dark humour and shook his head, "I promise."

Astrid laughed before resting her head back on his shoulder. They fell back into a silence that was interrupted by the doorbell ringing.

"That'll be Seb." Jim got up, "I told him."

Astrid whined, "I wanted to tell him."

"Too bad." They stood up and Astrid shook her head, before running down the stairs to open the door. Before Seb could say hello, she wrapped her arms around him excitedly. He stumbled backwards, chuckling.

After a good minute she let go of him and allowed him into the house. Jim was perched at the door frame, glaring at him, only to receive a cocky eyebrow raise from Seb. Astrid just rolled her eyes at this.

"Okay, whatever you two have argued over," she sighed, "just stop it."

"Jim wants to kill me-"

"And that's enough of that." She interrupted, she then addressed them simultaneously, "I'm pregnant. Which means that from now on, I'm in charge!" She raised her hands, "so you two better just kiss and make up, alright coz I'm not having this bullshit."

She raised an eyebrow, before walking into the kitchen, "right then," she called out to no one in particular, "I want a fucking bagel."

As she went into the kitchen Seb looked at Jim and smirked, "you are done for, mate."

"Shut up."

"How bout you both shut up and make some lunch." Astrid called from the kitchen. Seb just laughed and shook his head as the two men followed the pregnant woman into the kitchen.

(A/N as I'm writing this, the finale of His Dark Materials season 2 has just been released in the UK. I ain't gonna spoil it, but if the next few chapters are emotion based, then it means I'm recovering. If you've seen HDM then you know what I'm on about, if not, WATCH IT!)