I twisted my head to look over at Teren, whose eyes were glued to the black and white monitor, his mouth dropped open in awe. The doctor pointed out a section of the grayness that was moving, fast and fluttery - a heartbeat. I knew Teren could still hear the heartbeat in the near silent room and I knew his mind was connecting the sound to the image. His very faintly glowing eyes started to water as he watched the screen. Then the doctor twisted the device and confirmed what Teren already knew, that there was indeed a second heartbeat. We acted surprised, which wasn't hard for me, since I was a blubbering mess anyway. Then that miraculous doctor measured something on the screen and told us I was around ten weeks along, putting my conception date in October, right around the time of our abduction, and my due date near the end of June. He also told me that everything looked normal. I cried again after hearing that. Not that I'd been worried something wasn't normal (aside from a little nausea and maybe some more tender than usual br**sts, I did feel fine) but hearing a trained professional say that is wondrously calming.
As we left, I immediately called my mom to tell her the news, and to tell her that she was right, going to the doctor had been one of the best ideas she ever had.
Trying to not let ourselves get overwhelmed by all the newness in our lives, not too much later we resumed our weekly get-togethers with Tracey and Hot Ben, so nicknamed because he was Abercrombie and Fitch model gorgeous. He was surprisingly sweet though, and definitely a good match for Tracey. I was still nervous about it, the first time we were all slated to meet up. Maybe the flood of hormones was making me an unnaturally strong worrywart?
"Are you sure about this, Teren?" I flopped down on his bed - our bed, as we'd officially moved in all my stuff last weekend - and stretched out on the covers.
He glanced back at me, his bare back invitingly sexy as he rummaged in his drawers for a casual shirt. I smiled at his new dresser set. Since all of my clothes had pretty much taken up his massive walk-in closet, we'd had to go buy him some new furniture. He smiled at my smile and tossed back, "Sure about what?" before continuing with his quest.
I sighed and flopped over to my stomach, lightly banging my feet together as I rested my head in my hands. "Hanging out with Tracey and Ben. I mean, you're only a couple months old, isn't it a little early to be social."
Finding a shirt, he straightened and gave me a wry look. "I'm not an infant. It will be fine." He slipped the shirt over his body, hiding that magnificence from me and I sighed again. Flattening it out over his chest, he added, "Besides, we're not going out to dinner...it's just a movie." He shrugged and then walked over to sit on the bed.
I stretched out one hand to him and he grabbed it. I brought the back of his hand to my cheek and sighed as his cool skin gave me a momentary shiver. "Yeah, I know...but still."
He leaned over and gave me a kiss. "Remember about that stressing thing...it will be fine." He pulled back and smiled widely. "And, we have something important to ask them, remember?" He tilted his head and raised an eyebrow and I smiled. We hadn't told them about the wedding, or the babies. We'd wanted to wait until we could get them together and ask them to stand up there with us.
I rolled over to my side, bringing the back of his hand to my heart. He smiled wider and I imagined he could probably feel my heartbeat through his sensitive skin. "I know, it will be great. I guess I'm just nervous about the hugging and congratulating part."
He smirked at me. "It's not like I'll be running my hand up Tracey's shirt, she'll barely notice."
I smacked his arm and he laughed. "You better not." I smirked as well and then a thought struck me. I grabbed his hand on my chest with both of mine and started rubbing the dead skin vigorously.
He tilted his head and furrowed his brow. "What are you doing?"
I grinned as I continued the friction on his hand. "An experiment. You tend to warm up the more you touch me, so I thought maybe I could warm you up before you touch Ben and Tracey."
He rolled his eyes and shook his head, then gave me a lopsided grin. "I could think of warmer places to shove my hand," he huskily told me.
I stopped rubbing his hand and debated whether I should smack him or kiss him. Deciding we didn't have time for the latter, I smacked him on the arm. He laughed while I brought his hand to my cheek. I sighed at the slightly warmer feel of it and he smiled watching me. "There, nearly human."
He shook his head, adoration in his eyes. "That's my motto," he murmured. He leaned down to kiss me and I let myself get lost in it for a moment. But then we started getting too lost in it and I had to push him back when he started to move over the top off me. Pulling away from his mouth, I muttered, "We have a show time to make." It came out a little breathlessly.
Pressing against me he muttered, "We have time."
I bit my lip, but laughed and pushed him away from me. He gave me a disappointed face and I laughed harder, pushing him all the way off me. "You really are so incredibly easy," I giggled as he helped me stand.
He made an affronted noise and grabbed his wallet from his nightstand. "I'll have you know," he pointed down to his jeans, "these are actually very difficult to get into." He gave me a lopsided grin. "In fact, only one girl can."
I laughed and walked over to him, slinging my arms around his neck. "Good," I said, giving him a soft kiss.
He pulled back, his pale eyes sparkling, just a bit too mischievously. "Yeah, I promise I won't tell her about you."
I gasped and brought my arm back to smack him soundly in the chest, but he blurred out of the room. "Chicken," I yelled out the open door. I heard laughter answer me, but he was probably already downstairs. "Smartass," I muttered, knowing full well he heard me.
We pulled into the theater lot a moment later and holding hands, strolled into the lobby. We spotted Tracey and Hot Ben instantly, as they had their mouths all over each other, and grinning, we walked over to say hi.
Tracey waved hello to us when she noticed our approach and I clenched Teren's hand tighter. We approached the eerily, equally attractive couple, his sculpted face and highlighted hair a compliment to her curves and blonde flowing mane. The two of them were almost more pleasing to look at when they stood together. Tracey's big blue eyes brightened when she took in Teren; she hadn't seen him in awhile. Ben either, for that matter, and, as he and Teren were sort of friends, he was the first to greet him.
"Hey, man, glad you're back." He clapped Teren on the shoulder, one arm still around Tracey. I exhaled and relaxed a smidge.
Tracey giggled and leaned over to give Teren a quick one-armed hug. "Oh," she squeaked, "cold outside, isn't it?" She brought her hand to Hot Ben's chest and rested her head against his shoulder. "I'm glad your dad's okay, Teren," she said, and Ben nodded beside her.
"Yeah, if he ever needs help again," he smiled dazzlingly, "I'd love to try working on a ranch."
Teren grinned and shot me a look. "Thank you, but I think that, uh...problem, won't come up again." I started to laugh, and switched it to a cough into my hand. Teren squeezed my waist and I relaxed into his side, happy that everyone was oblivious to what that really meant, and happy that the horrid moment he'd just joked about, was a moment that we finally could joke about. A moment that was gratefully over. "Shall we?" Teren indicated the ticket line and laughing at being together again, we bought our tickets.
After the movie, we headed to a bar, where we all sat in a noisy corner and Teren faked sipping his dark bottled beer. As you couldn't see through the glass at how much was left, no one suspected that he wasn't actually drinking it. Relaxing even more, as our deception started getting easier, and honestly, Tracey and Ben started getting drunker, I decided it was time to up that joyous feeling.
To interrupt the conversations around me, I noisily clinked a spoon from a nearby table against my Shirley Temple glass. Tracey and Hot Ben stopped giggling into each other's sides and turned their heads to look at me. Teren grinned and chuckled as he knew what I was about to do.
"Um...guys." They both grinned and blinked at me and I thought we may have to give them a ride home. "Teren and I have some news." We looked at each other and he smiled softly and grabbed my hand. Not looking back at Tracey and Hot Ben, I said to Teren, "We're getting married."
I heard the incredibly loud shriek from Tracey and watched Teren wince and close his eyes; that probably had been exceedingly loud to him. Twisting my head, I watched a half-drunk Tracey try and maul me over the table. Laughing, I stood up so she could hug me. She jumped up and down, squealing, and every head in the bar turned at the commotion. Trying to shush her, I added, "We'd like you guys to stand up with us."
At that point, she collapsed into my arms and started sobbing; I took that as a yes. Ben more calmly stood up to hug me around his girlfriend, and then clasped Teren's hand, who was now standing by my side, watching Tracey sob in my arms with an amused grin on his face. Ben congratulated us both and said he'd be honored. Tracey finally pulled back at that and slurringly said that she'd be honored too. Then she looked behind me at Teren and started sobbing all over again as she let go of me and reached out for him. I tensed, but honestly, she was so tipsy, he could have had icicles dripping from his nose and she wouldn't have noticed. She clung to him, sobbing on his shoulder and murmuring congratulations, until Ben finally pulled her back to her seat.
Sniffing and wiping her nose, she hiccupped and asked, "When are you guys going to do it? Spring? Summer?"
I grinned in my excitement and said, "The nineteenth."
She looked at me blankly. "Of which month?"
I frowned and furrowed my brow. "Of this month."
He face dropped as her mouth fell open. "This month? Jesus, Emma, that's only a couple of weeks away. How about a longer heads up." She shook her head and took a sip of her drink. Pausing, she muttered, "Why so fast? You pregnant or something?"
I flushed and attempted to shake my head, but she saw the color in my cheeks and sputtered on her drink. "Holy shit, you are!"
I sighed that I was a complete failure at keeping my secret off my face. I guess I was just too thrilled about it. Giving up, I shrugged and grinned as idiotically as I wanted to. "Yes, I am."
Her earlier exclamation was near silent in comparison to her new one. I thought we might get kicked out with the angry glares we were getting, and Teren actually brought his hands up to rub his temples. I suspected his hearing may be slightly less supernatural after tonight.
She didn't even give me the chance to let me stand again before she stumbled over to my side and sat on my seat with me, flinging her arms around me and crying again. "I knew it was weird that you were drinking a Shirley Temple."
I laughed and hugged her back, glad that most of our secrets were out. Ben stood up to give Teren a brief hug, not commenting on his chilliness, and then we spent the rest of the night going over the upcoming nuptials.
As our foursome was walking back to Teren's car later, after he'd agreed that we should take the sloppily drunk Tracey, and the slightly less drunk Ben, home, Teren suddenly stopped walking and looked down an alley. Furrowing his brow and cocking his head, he ignored the sounds of the two giggling people in our group and focused on something down the alley. My heart started beating harder as I whispered, "What is it?"