When you want it the most there's no easy way out
When you're ready to go and your heart's left in doubt
Don't give up on your faith
Love comes to those who believe it
And that's the way it is
-Lyrics to 'That's the Way It Is' performed by Celine Dion
Crimson Bonds Part 28
Heero and Duo locked in place like statues, eyes wide and mouths partially opened as they reeled over what they thought they had heard their sister say. "W-what was that?" the Original finally breathed. Unable to trust his own voice, his Companion somehow found his senses enough to reach over and squeeze their hands together between then.
Practically vibrating with excitement, Anna's watery eyes locked with his as she giggled, "I'm pregnant. As soon as I was sure, I came running back here to tell you."
Coming out of his own surprise, Wufei slowly approached his soul mate with a hope-filled expression as he reverently took hold of her wrist and brought it up to his mouth. His fangs growing in, he took a bite into her flesh to sample her blood and detected the sweetness in its taste that he had become all too familiar with over the years.
Onyx-and-gold eyes widening anew, he lowered the hand in his own at the same time that his sharp teeth fell behind his lips once more.
Smiling warmly to his nervous bride, he cupped the back of her neck and pulled her towards him to hold a kiss against her forehead. When he turned towards their brothers, his vision had misted over as he whispered, "Congratulations."
At his confirmation of the pregnancy, Anna gasped and covered her mouth at the excited cry that escaped her.
Nearly coming undone, Heero whimpered as tears rolled down his face while Duo cheered out loud with his own wet eyes.
Elated, the braided Companion sprang forward to catch his sister up in a fierce embrace and rained kisses on her cheeks. "Oh my God!" he exclaimed, leaning back so that he could take the sides of her face into his hands. "Thank you, Anna," he murmured brokenly.
The Irish Infected beamed and nodded with a rough swallow to rid her throat of the lump that had formed there. She had not been free for more than a second when Heero moved in to catch her up in his arms. His entire frame trembling from the emotions that were overwhelming him, he told her in little more than a breath by her ear, "Love you... so damned much."
"Love you, too," Anna replied in kind as she hugged him as tightly as she could. Stepping back, she gripped his shoulders, shouting, "You're going to be Dads! I'm so happy for you two!"
Wufei was in the process of exchanging a one-armed embrace with Maxwell as he snickered, "Your existences are never going to be the same from this point on." Ruffling the top of the Hybrid's braided head, he smirked, "I am very much looking forward to meeting the new addition."
Rubbing away the damp tear trails from his face, Heero smiled wistfully, "I think I'm still in shock; to think that we're actually going to have a baby of our own." Duo had lost his ability to speak at the moment and he could only manage to nod and hold onto his Vampire, burying his face against a cool shoulder.
At that, Chang draped a scaly arm around his Other's waist and hugged her against his side as he asked, "How were you so certain that you were pregnant, love? Have you been experiencing any symptoms?"
"None that really stood out until this afternoon when I was helping at the cafe," Anna answered. "I felt a little tired and really started thinking back to a couple other weird things that I had completely blown off."
Wincing, she added, "Plus, I've been sampling my own blood now and then to see if it had turned sweet at all, since you had told me that was all the sign you needed to know if there was a baby on board."
To the three pairs of widely blinking eyes watching her, the redhead shrugged, "Yea, I know it was a little... odd for me to drink from myself, but I couldn't stand Wufei having to always be the one to deliver the bad news once the window came and went for the change. If I wasn't pregnant, I wanted to be the one to know it first."
Her husband breathed, "Anna." Shaking his head in amusement, he grinned, "Leave it to you to take something like that on for my sake." Capturing her chin, he turned her face towards him for a fiery kiss.
Duo righted himself and pulled a couple paces back from his Chosen with a gasp. "We have so much to do!" he all but shouted. "We haven't discussed names, or worked out which room to make the nursery, or baby-proofed the mansion, or-"
Holding onto his Companion's arms, Heero laughed, "Easy, love. We have nine months before the baby is here. I know that it doesn't seem like a lot of time, but it'll be more than enough for us to be ready for when they are born. Neither of us were even sure that this could happen, so we had no idea that there was a point in even discussing those things."
"Well, now you'll both be able to enjoy the preparations since you're definitely expecting," Anna snickered after she and Wufei shared knowing looks. "The preparations are all a part of the fun of parenthood too. Plus, you have the advantage of our being seasoned in the whole process to be able to help if you need it." Chang bowed his head to back the sentiment, snickering at his memories of their own experiences.
Suddenly all too aware of his sister's state, Maxwell questioned in a rush, "So, how are you feeling? You mentioned you were tired earlier. Do you need to lay down? Can we get you anything?"
The Siren's head fell back with a loud fit of laughter. "I'm fine, silly," she reassured with a chuckle. "Being a little worn out from time to time is normal. it's about the only time my body acts a little more like it would if I was a living with the symptoms that come on. And none of it is anything that I can't handle."
She winked and patted her flat stomach, smirking, "I've had some practice in this. Your little one is in good hands."
Heero and Duo's eyes fell on her abdomen at her hand tapping as the reality of their child growing in her really set in. Unable to think of anything else to say right then, Maxwell muttered the only thing to sum of what everyone was thinking. "Wow."
That simple word hung in the air for a long silence as the smiling immortals allowed the revelation to catch up with them.
"I did not want to bother poor Midi with the news right at the moment," Anna informed. "She has enough on her plate with her grand opening tomorrow and I do not wish to take any of the thunder she has earned from her. Once she settles down, once the weekend is over, we can fill her and Trowa in."
Grinning widely, her Original brother concurred, "Very thoughtful. These next days should be all about them since this is a big day for the chain that they've created." He snorted, "Knowing our sweet little mother, she'd want to focus on making baby clothes and blankets instead of worrying about her business."
With a nod at that, Anna sighed in content, "Good. On that note, I'm just going to head up to my room and take a nap." Even as the words left her, the redhead's eyes grew. Biting her lip, she giggled, "Heh. It hasn't been since I was pregnant with Rosie that I ever needed sleep. This is so exciting."
Catching her up to press their lips together once more before he rested their foreheads together, Wufei smirked, "I'll be up with you soon. Sleep well, love." Floating high in the clouds after their sweet, unexpected kiss, his wife glowed as she spun gracefully on her heels to slip out of the room.
"Oh my God," was all Duo could breathe when he turned to face his husband. "This is real. I mean really, real." Hugging him, his Vampire kissed his temple with the same faraway grin on his own face.
Wufei chuckled deeply, "If you're already this in shock, I can't wait for your little one to actually be born. Then you'll get how real it is."
Chewing on the inside of his cheek, Heero moved towards his scaly brother and requested, "If Anna needs anything that we can help with, please be sure to let us know. She's taken on a lot by doing this for us, including her belief that we don't need to know of any challenges she might have tied to this pregnancy."
The Chinese Infected stood, quietly observing the Original's face to find the profound concern that Yuy was holding back for his beloved sister.
"You know her well," Chang replied, a sad upward bend to his mouth. "I honestly was not sure how much longer I would have been able to hold back since discovering that she has been doubling and tripling her fertility treatments for the last few weeks."
He was fast to raise his hands when the parents-to-be were visibly shaken by his announcement and reassured, "The second it seemed to be too much for her I could have intervened, but Anna is her own, selfless creature. I only mention it as one way she has already taken on sacrifices to make this possible for the two of you."
A strangled sob hitching, Heero unintentionally grasped onto Duo's hand a little too tightly. With a cringe that he contained to a slight shift on his face, the Companion squeezed back enough to express his own worry and understanding over the reaction.
"But we are talking about my soul mate as well as my little niece or nephew that she's carrying now," Wufei smiled, "and I promise that they're going to have the best of care. If at any time we need your stepping in, you have my word that you'll be the first to know."
That was all the new fathers could have ever wanted or asked for.
Coughing to clear his throat, Yuy bowed his head with a sincere, "Thank you."
His grin widening, Chang closed the distance between himself and his brothers to clasp firm handshakes and one-armed embraces with them. "Congratulations again," he offered warmly. "This baby is going to be very lucky to have you both as their fathers."
Tightening his hold on the scaly Infected before they pulled away to make his gratitude known, Duo whispered thickly, "Thanks, 'Fei. Don't think we haven't thought of your part in all of this. You've really gone above and beyond for us, too."
"Oh, this is nothing for me," the former soldier smirked. "I love babies. Not to mention I have a wife who handles pregnancy easily. What few symptoms she endures over the next nine months are usually benefits for me..." Wiggling his eyebrows, he chuckled, "Such as her increased urges for-"
Heero cut him off as he covered his ears, yelling, "Hey, hey, hey! That's my sister you're talking about!" Glaring half-heartedly, he huffed, "Try to spare me those details in your reports, if you don't mind."
Laughing, Wufei shook his head, "Sorry. I couldn't help that." Winking, he headed for the doorway as he said, "I'm going to check on Anna. I imagine that you're going to need some time alone to absorb all of this and celebrate. We'll catch up before Midi's grand opening. Have a good night."
The Original and the Hybrid gave their salutations. Facing each other, the beaming pair allowed the tears that they had been holding back to fill their eyes again as they latched onto each other. "This is so cool," Maxwell murmured against his lover's shoulder. "I was starting to convince myself that this might not ever happen."
"Me too," Yuy sighed by his Companion's ear. Sniffling as he leaned back, he grinned from ear-to-ear as he cupped the braided immortal's face. "Come on," he urged softly. "Let's head back to our home and start discussing some things that we will need to get in order for the arrival of our baby."
Their baby.
If ever there was a time when Duo was convinced his motionless heart might burst, it was right in that moment.
Stealing a kiss, the pair smiled dazedly as they clasped hands and headed off together.
* * * * * *
"If you can mutate humans, does your brother have the same ability for Vampires?"
The corner of Solo's lip twitched as the only means of a response he was ever going to give. And even that was a generous thing on his part.
He knew what was coming. It came every time he didn't give the Mad Doc what he wanted. Berg was too nice a name, so the Hybrid made his own for the scientist holding the remote trigger to the electro pads strapped to every major muscle of his body.
Raising an eyebrow high enough that they raised over the rims of his glasses, the old man questioned in a more demanding tone, "Can your brother mutate Vampires the same way you can mutate their Companions?"
The blonde's mouth stretched back in a sneer as he gritted out, "What brother?"
Doctor Berg delivered the harsh zaps of electricity without fail. Crying out in pain, Solo turned onto his side in a tight, convulsing ball of himself at the knee-jerk reaction from his assaulted nerves.
Only seeing white behind his closed eyelids, the Hybrid rode out the intense waves of sheer agony with a whimper that escaped him just before the shocks ended.
Shaking his head, the scientist stuffed his hands into the pockets of his white lab coat. "For never actually knowing your twin, you certainly are resilient in protecting him," he commented in half-amusement-half-wonder.
He rounded the trembling heap of a creature huddled on its side on the floor to slowly crouch down by its head. "Now why is that?" the Mad Doc asked, voice nearly purring in anticipation. "Is the blood bond between the two of you really that strong that it transcends physical and emotional distance between the two of you?"
Turning his sweat-soaked face to the side so that he could spit up a wad of blood from his mouth, Solo hissed, "I... don't... have... a brother."
High up in the laboratory's observation tower, Septum and Lucie looked on as the Hybrid screamed in the next long jolt that he received. "You really believe that their paths had crossed?" the Hunter asked, unable to tear her gaze away from the writhing prisoner.
"I do," the young man nodded firmly. "And I am also convinced that their reunion was not a very happy one."
Folding his arms across his chest, he shook his head, "There is too great of a coincidence to the loss of many Vampires and missing persons reports around the world that coincided at the same time a couple decades ago for there to not be a connection. On their own, they were not enough to draw interest. But then, no one else knows of the existence of these Hybrids to bother looking further."
Aisley finally peeled her gaze away to focus on her employer, frowning, "Then why in the hell is our Pet not giving him up? It would be one thing for him to not know where to find him, but to deny his existence all together... even after they must have met and parted on bad terms... none of that makes sense."
Suddenly, the Hybrid's screaming rose in volume and pitch when the bolts running through him intensified his misery.
Wide-eyed, Millers leaned forward to watch as his captive convulsed violently along the floor and a thin line of blood trickled from his nose. Patching into the com, the researcher ordered calmly, "That's enough for today, Doctor. Send him back into his cell and allow Celeste into visit him so that he can be healed for our next session."
Releasing his hand from the remote that he quickly stuffed into his pocket, Berg obeyed without hesitation. He removed the headpiece and pads from his 'patient's' chest, arms, back and exposed legs beyond the jean shorts that he wore.
Two guards standing by hoisted Solo unceremoniously onto a cart that they wheeled off through the secret door leading to the holding chambers. Too lost in the haze of his mind-numbing recovery, the blonde immortal could not put of a fight with how heavy every part of his person felt.
Celeste gasped at the sight of her lover sprawled about on the tray that he lay lifelessly atop when he came into view.
Eyes closed tight, panting heavily, damp from tears, perspiration and blood as he twitched uncontrollably, the Hybrid fought back a sob that broke her heart. Pressing her hands firmly up against her glass wall closest to him, the lovely Companion bit her quivering lip as her vision clouded over.
One of the armed brutes tossed their charge into his cage while the second wordlessly typed the access code to the Latin girl's cell.
Not needing to be directed in what she had to do, Celeste hitched up the hem of her long, blue skirt and ran for her soul mate. "Solo," she whimpered as she scooped up his head to rest it in her lap. In a rush, she placed the flat of her wrist against his mouth, urging, "Drink."
Somehow, the blonde immortal was able to hear her through the white heat flooding his mind enough to kick his instinct into gear.
His fangs growing in to sink their way through his Companion's skin, he gulped down her blood by the mouthful. Shuddering from the euphoria as well as her fear brought on by the desperation of his feeding, the young woman swallowed roughly and gently ran her free hand through his wet hair.
Despite the want for more of his mate's rejuvenating essence, Solo was not about to take more than what he needed and was able to find the strength to retract his fangs. His breath no longer required, his rapid panting came to a stop as his violet-and-gold eyes slowly blinked open so that he could take his distraught lover's face in.
"Hey," he grated out. "Still... here," he reassured with a weak smile.
A soft bubble of a laugh and a whimper breaking from her chest, Celeste grinned warmly, "Good." Chewing on the inside of her cheek, she noted the video camera focused on their holding rooms. The one observing her empty space had not moved to home in on them yet... and the one stationed in the Hybrid's cell was to her back, unable to follow her lips.
Bending down to act as though she was offering a kiss, the Companion whispered, "They're still asking about Duo?" Well aware of their observers, Solo kept his answer minimized to an affirmative hum. "You're still protecting him... right?"
"Not out of any loyalty to him," the blonde retorted softly with a snort. Glaring up at the ceiling past his partner, he growled, "I'm just not about to give those bastards what they want. They should know better than to think that I have any reason beyond pissing them off as to why I'm not giving him up."
Of course that was the only explanation for his defying their captors. There was no sentiment behind his actions. Solo had himself convinced of that. Hell, the only time he had been with Duo they had been fighting one another. He had gone and taken his brother from the family that his twin had accepted and adopted as his own...
...Vampires. The creatures that his blood was bonded to greater than his living half. The beings that had been threatened by his twin.
There was certainly no love lost on Maxwell's part for his brother, either.
Celeste's lips curled up in a taunting smirk.
"Sure," she replied without bothering to hide the sarcasm in her tone. But she was not about to argue. Pressing their lips together for a sound kiss that they both had been aching for, she poured in all of her adoration for the Hybrid that she had come to need over their years of healing together.
Pained by how much he longed for there to be more between them, the half-breed sighed deeply when the exchange ended. Eyes heavy, he murmured apologetically, "'m pretty tired, love. Sorry..."
"Don't be sorry," his Companion insisted. Smiling, she brushed away the traces of blood that remained from the closing wounds on his chest with the pad of a thumb as she promised, "I'll be right here when you wake up."
It was all Solo needed to hear to surrender the fight to sleep and he drifted off no sooner than her vow was spoken.
TBC...
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