Ninety-Four…

Ninety-Four: Little Boy Blue

Contains offensive language, sexual talk, violence.

Aubrey hadn’t noticed Vaclav entering the basement.

When Lauren turned around, she gasped.

“Vaclav. I didn’t know you were standing there,” she said, fidgeting. “Well, I’ll just leave you and Aubrey alone now.”

Vaclav watched her leave, not turning his attention to Aubrey until Lauren was gone.

“How can you be pregnant? How can you be carrying a child? I don’t understand.”

“Yeah. That makes two of us.”

“How long have you known about this?”

“I don’t know. Does it really matter? I only know I’m not supposed to be carrying this baby!”

For the first time in forever, Vaclav looked wounded.

“I’ll get you in to see the doctor. Soon,” he muttered.

The soonest appointment Vaclav was able to schedule wasn’t for three more weeks.

And every day, every week the baby stayed inside her was like a ticking time bomb waiting to go off. Or so it seemed to Aubrey.

Was it just paranoia? Hopefully the doctor could calm her fears.

Vaclav held her hand as Dr. Lawrence performed a sonogram. Aubrey refused to look at the monitor.

“Do you wish to know the baby’s sex? I can see it right here.” He adjusted the ultrasound stick at an angle on Aubrey’s tummy, and pressed down.

She already had to pee. Dr. Lawrence was making it worse.

“No. We don’t need to know if it’s a boy or girl. We only need to know if—”

“It’s a boy,” Lawrence said. He shifted the transducer again.

Vaclav glared at the doctor; then he glared down at the screen.

Don’t look, Aubrey told herself. But once she saw her husband look, she had to look.

He moved on the monitor; tiny skeletal limbs stretching, bending. It looked like he even sucked his thumb.

Reznik. It was like having Reznik all over again. How can I abort him now? I’ve already lost too many babies… Aubrey held in tears. She glanced back up at Vaclav.

“Dammit. We didn’t need to know it was a boy. Just makes this harder on us,” he groaned. “So fucking stressful…”

Without responding, Dr. Lawrence replaced the sonogram tool next to the monitor. Vaclav released Aubrey’s hand and circled around the bed to speak with the doctor.

“I can’t tell you why she hasn’t miscarried. I can only theorize that it’s a fluke and nothing more. The fetus looks healthy, there seems to be absolutely nothing wrong with him.”

“We were thinking an abortion would be best, just in case.”

“I do not recommend an abortion. That’s nonsense. The baby seems perfectly healthy.”

“I didn’t ask for your opinion on it. As for anyone’s health, I’m worried more about Aubrey’s than the baby’s.”

“Aubrey’s in fine health. Aside from some spotting, her body is sustaining the pregnancy well.”

“What happens when her body decides it won’t sustain the pregnancy? By then it’s too late for an abortion.”

“It’s too late now, Mr. Haas.”

“Bullshit.” He stormed back to Aubrey’s side.

“What do you want to do?” he asked, twining his fingers with hers.

Aubrey didn’t answer.

Several minutes afterward, Aubrey and Vaclav embraced outside the hospital.

“You don’t want an abortion, do you?”

She looked down; shook her head ‘no’.

“Maybe you should have the abortion. Jakub was a bad seed, and even Reznik had his issues. Perhaps you truly aren’t meant to carry this child.”

“Maybe I was also wrong. Maybe I was meant to carry this baby. I always wondered about the ones I’d lost; especially the one I aborted years ago, using those birth control pills. Sometimes I wonder if it would’ve been a girl or boy, what he or she would’ve been like now, or looked like. I don’t know if I can go through that again.”

“Are you absolutely sure about this?”

“No. I’m not sure about anything. I only know I can’t abort this one. Like Dr. Lawrence said, it’s too late. We know it’s a boy, and I’m in my second trimester.”

“Why did it take you so damn long to figure out you were pregnant? Or that you weren’t going to miscarry?”

Seriously? Now we’re going to do the Mr. Big Scary Vampire freak-out?

“Why did you feel the need to fuck me twice the night we conceived him? I was finished but you weren’t. So you just doubled our chances of me getting pregnant,” she said. “If you want to shift the blame, there’s plenty of it to go around, Vaclav.”

“Fair enough. As you well know, I was very horny that night I fucked you twice. I won’t apologize for wanting to have sex with my own wife,” he paused. “And why did you fuck up on calculating your ovulation schedule?”

Aubrey clenched her jaw. Then she clenched her fists…