homeless_pard | Later...home

Entry tags:

jason au,
starter

Later...home

Who: Khem, Jason
When: Home from WW.
What: Hello pregnancy?

She woke, smiling; how could she not? She was home, in her own bed in the rooms above the shop and her husband was beside her, hair honey in the light that leaked past the curtain. He worked late, so she oft woke before he did, with much to do in this world. Shops were open during the day after all and she had been away some time. Like they'd be short of many key items and no few medicines for her regulars. It felt wonderful to be back in the place she had made for herself honestly. She trusted her high lord to handle the horses that had come with them, and to look upon the grander view of their realm. She had...here.

Here and a husband and it was a wonderful thing. She kissed him gently before slipping from the bed. No matter they'd been months and months upon the search for her anchors in her old world and coming back to the gate, the wonder that was wedded life hadn't faded in the least for her. Her lord, her Jason, had chosen to cleave unto her. She had only to share him with her sworn high lord, a fealty as ingrained and accepted as breathing. Her Jason wouldst ever look for the feeling of the high lord's fangs, and betimes his bed. But otherwise he was hers and she wouldst never time of that fact.

Her bed. Their bed. It was enough to bring heat to her cheeks as she slipped down the stairs to the living quarters above the shop and set her kettle to brewing. Skilled was a mild term to apply to her love honestly. Heated mayhap, eager to share his knowledge...

...skill...

...she poured her morning tea without truly realizing, and lifted the cup to her lips when her talisman of Gunnora flared hot, truly burning and sharp against her chest. She yelped and dropped the cup, cup shattering on the floor as she bent forward to get the molten feeling gem off her skin. Ouch ouch ouch...she looked down at the mark on her chest, bewildered, then turned to go downstairs further to the greenhouse. A burn ointment, best to keep this...mild...and then he was staring at the mark for a moment, considering. What, and why?

What and why indeed?

How long had...her tea was not harmful unless...

...when had she last had a cycle?

She blinked, considering amongst the waving greenery in the glass house.

Unless she was three months in.

Almost on cue with the realization there was roil of mild nausea, she winced and fled back upstairs.

Oh.

Oh.

Oh dear.

She wiped her mouth and brushed her teeth, eyes large and dark in the mirror when she dared glance. She had to go...wake Jason. Right now. Yes. Wake him and apologize.

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He wasn't rubbing her chest so it wasn't bothering the burn thankfully! And him breathing in her hair was....a nice but of normalcy? He had many small, touching mannerisms that were starting to define her ideas of home!

"There's...tests? I could make one, but it wouldst take a few days..." Mainly because the steeps that reacted for such took a few days to break down into the proper solutions? And that would mean several days without her tea and, ah, behaving on their end?

He would have preferred to stay plastered against her until her scent calmed him, but he knew that...that wasn't going to happen.

"There's tests here that they sell. If...if you want, I can go and get one?"

"It....wouldst be good to be certain?" she admitted. "So I might start tracing what else might be wrong should I not be..." Was she jumping to conclusions? Was this normal?!

He let out a breath and nodded. "Ok." Reluctantly, he peeled his arms from around her and took a small step back. "Get some tea...safe tea, I mean, and just...wait for me here. I won't be long."

It was noticeable how much trouble he had moving away from her. Absently, he grabbed a shirt and a pair of shorts that hadn't made it into the laundry basket and pulled them on as he walked to the door.

There was a drug store only a couple of blocks away. Jason didn't remember walking to it, but then he suddenly found himself staring blankly at the boxes of pregnancy tests on the shelf. Why were there options??? It was just...peeing on a stick, right?

His mouth felt dry. He grabbed one that looked like it had the most...thorough testing parameters? For all that he could tell, anyway. For the price, it had better be the most accurate. The clerk handed him the test in a bag with a sympathetic smile and said, "I totally get it, but you gotta have shoes on next time you come in, ok?"

Jason glanced down at his bare feet and muttered inaudibly, grabbing the bag and hurrying out of the store. He knew he had to have hurried because when he made it up the stairs to their room, he was a bit breathless. "Ok. Um...so it's this..." He pulled the box from the bag with faintly shaking hands and scanned the back of it. "I don't know, you...pee on it and then wait, and a...wait, are they two lines or a plus sign...? Maybe there's instructions in the box...?"

She noticed his shoes when she went down to make a new cup of 'safe' tea and winced. She truly had him out of sorts didn't she?! Not that many shifters cared for shoes when stressed but he usually made an effort and here she was utterly derailing his personal habits. Just in case she made him a cup of tea as well? It could only help, soothing tea. Warm and spiced...

...when he returned she pressed a mug into his hands. Still too pale and not at all stable herself but she was worried for him, plus it allowed her to take the box and look it over, reading everything on the outside carefully before opening to find, yes, instructions. "It says the 'digital display' will say Pregnant directly, there are no symbols?" she offered, petting his arm absently as she read. "It does not seem overly hard to do, it must be akin to the tests I know, just with the ungents already prepared. I simply was not expecting such a need." More the fool her?

"I will...return in a moment." So she could, well, pee on a stick. It was rather degrading wasn't it? Still it could then be capped in it's sleeve and brought back to the table so she could sip tea while they waited?

The tea was...a good idea. It gave him something...else to focus on. He didn't really taste it, but he held on to it while he tried not to stare at the small bit of plastic on the table. He knew he should say something, but...no, he had no idea what to say. So he held tighter to the tea and tried to remember to sip it.

"You are very angry at me aren't you?" she asked very, very softly. She was ignoring the stick as only someone really bound up in their own head could at the moment? He had to be angry, his jaw was tense and a thinner cup would like have shattered in his hands.

And he wasn't speaking to her.

Those were bad signs, right?

His blue eyes were a little too wide when he looked up at that, but there was no hint of anger in them despite the tension. "What?"

Shit. She looked like she would shrink herself into nothing over there if she could. He set the cup down and collected himself. "No," he answered just as softly. "No, I'm not mad at you, honey."

"Why wouldn't you be?" she countered, continuing the softness. "This is all my fault." Somehow! Whether she was pregnant or not, for frightening him! That wasn't what she was suppose to do as a wife! TERRIFYING ONE'S HUSBAND WAS NOT EXACTLY A GOOD THING!

"I know you took your tea: you've always been very strict with that, even when we were traveling through your world." He surprised himself with a small, stifled laugh as he stared into his tea cup. "And not really 'all your fault' unless there's something I don't know about."

But she had to have missed a day! She had to have! She didn't know what else this could be! He just got an utterly blank look at his statement though, because she was...very much still a woman from a medieval fantasy world? It was her responsibility to avoid or not? "No? What wouldst you not know?"

He saw that and reached out to squeeze her hand comfortingly. Well, it was meant to be comforting, but likely came off as nervous. "A bad joke, sorry. Can't really help it, I guess, when things are..." he gestured vaguely about them.

A deep breath and he met her eyes. "If...it's not like it's something you could have done by yourself, right? Pretty sure that's not how all that works."

His hands were shaking as he held hers. Shaking or fidgeting, was this how such was supposed to be?! She found herself squeezing his hands in kind, trying to offer comfort? "But it is my responsibility?" And he had rights as a husband? And in that she...

...ah the device had a beep when it was done and she near jumped out if her skin at the interruption. She was rather afraid to look honestly.

"Not here. And not with us." He shook his head and squeezed back, likely starting a compulsive back and forth of hand squeezing and fretting. "I could have made sure to use protection when I could. I...let myself be selfish when I heard you had your tea, but-"

That beep made him jump as well, and his face paled. He seemed just as afraid to look.

Things she had never thought to discuss with him because of course he need not worry? That this world might not assume such hadn't even occurred to her?

And it was much engrossing to stare at his hands yes. She was rather fond of his hands...right. This was ridiculous wasn't it? "What..." Ah, her throat was too dry she had to take a moment, "what do you hope is the result?"

He didn't answer directly; rather he stroked her hands with his thumbs. "I think," he said slowly, his voice creaking through his own dry throat, "that it might not be the best idea to wonder about what we're hoping."

His breath shuddered somewhat. "Do you want me to look?"

She wanted to know how badly this might go honestly but he was right, that was silly wasn't it? "On three?" She offered with a breathy, nervous laugh. Looking together might help?

He managed a weak smile and nodded. "Ok." Another deep breath and he offered, "One."

There was an almost pained pause before he managed the word, "Two."

He had to swallow through his tight throat as he dragged out the last number. "Three."

She squeezed his hands even tighter, her fingers would be bloodless by the end honestly, but that was a worry for another time. Now there was just the counting...

...and the growing scent of sun warmed wheat and ripe grapes? It grew stronger with each number and she actually found herself relaxing some, almost calm by the time they looked at the screen.

Of course she was.

Now what? She stared at Jason, waiting.

He was still pale, staring for a long time at the screen in dull shock.

Of course it was.

"Ok." he said weakly, trying to wet his very dry lips. "...ok."

Ah. Not something had...wanted. Why hadn't she spoken to him about this before?!

"My apologies my Jason. I'll..." She'd what? She had no idea.

He tore his eyes from the tiny screen on the table. He didn't look well, no, but she...

He forced himself up from the table. "No, honey, don't..." He pulled her, hands still shaking, into a desperate hug that made it impossible for him to hide the fear and panic inside him. "Don't apologize, Khem."

"You're so unhappy," she shivered, burying her face against his shoulder. So terribly unhappy.

What else was she supposed to do but try to fix that?! He'd never felt so fragile against him. Even drugged and raging with fever he had always felt solid and there, but a stiff breeze could shatter him right now!

He was very possibly clinging to her as much as she was burying her face into him. "I'm..." He couldn't say he wasn't? But that wasn't it, exactly. He tucked his nose behind her ear almost desperately as he breathed, "I'm...scared."

"...why?" How could this frighten a man who routinely faced nightwalkers and fights?! This was just something stressfully normal, wasn't it?

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