David couldn’t remember the last time he had been so thoroughly at a loss for words.
He stared at Cait, his mouth open slightly, her words ringing in his head. For once, he wasn’t falling silent because he wasn’t sure which words to choose, sorting through one phrase after another. No, this time, nothing came. His mind felt blank.
All around him, no one spoke, all eyes on the two of them.
Finally, after what felt like a very long time, he said, “Are you sure?”
Cait laughed, and so did several of the other women. “Yes, David. I’m sure.”
“That you’re pregnant?” he asked, still grappling with the knowledge that had just been presented to him.
She laughed again and gave his hands a gentle squeeze. “Yes, David. That’s what my trip to the doctors was about. And just to save you the trouble of asking, yes I’m sure it’s yours. You’re the only human man I’ve been with in a good six months.”
“When...did it happen?” he murmured.
“Ironically,” she said, smirking, “the very first night we met. Remember? I begged you to get me pregnant, and apparently you obliged.”
“Holy shit,” he whispered. “I’m...you’re going to be a mother?” She nodded. “And I’m...going to be a father?” She nodded again. “...holy shit. I need...wow. This is...very unexpected.”
That got more laughter.
David seemed to remember suddenly that he was in a roomful of people and he looked around at all of them. Evelyn and April and Lara were standing together. April looked a little nervous, but generally happy. Evelyn and Lara were practically beaming. As was Ashley. Jennifer had a small smile on her face. And Ellie…
He frowned. Ellie looked like she was going to be sick.
Ellie was staring at him and Cait like someone had just told her they had died.
Before he could say anything else, she suddenly set down the cup she was holding and began striding rapidly across the room, towards the stairwell.
“Ellie? Where are you going?” Cait asked, letting go of his hands. She apparently didn’t hear her because she just kept walking. “Ellie?” Cait asked, more loudly.
Ellie froze at the bottom of the stairs. She turned to face them and said, “Congratulations.” Then she all but sprinted up the stairs.
“What the fuck?” David whispered.
“I don’t know,” Cait said, and took off after her.
He followed in her wake. The two of them hurried up the stairs. Getting up top, they looked down the length of the hallway and saw the door to Cait’s and Ellie’s shared bedroom open. She was moving around inside, barely visible in the moonlight coming in through the window. They hurried down the hallway.
“Ellie, what are you doing?” Cait asked as they came to stand in the doorway.
She was shoving things into her pack.
“I-I need to go,” she said. She looked on the verge of panic.
“Ellie, what’s wrong?” Cait demanded, stepping forward. She reached out to touch her, then stopped short, hesitated, and pulled her hand back.
“I just need to go,” Ellie repeated. She zipped up her pack and threw it on.
“Ellie, wait! Talk to me, please! What’s wrong?” Cait asked.
Ellie finally turned to look at them. “I’m sorry. I know this is unexpected, but I have to leave. I just-I need to be by myself for awhile. I’m sorry.” She walked stiffly to the window, opened it, and then looked back at them. “Don’t try to look for me, and don’t expect me back.”
“For how long?!” David asked.
“I don’t know.” She paused one more time, looking back at them with a look of remorse, regret, and anguish. “I’m sorry,” she repeated, and then she slipped nimbly out the window. They both hurried over to it and looked out, watching her hit the ground and slip off to the perimeter fence, where she slid easily through a gap in it.
And then she was disappearing into the frozen forest, and she was gone.
“What the fuck just happened?” David whispered.
“I have an idea,” Cait replied. She sighed softly, her breath foaming on the chilled air that streamed in through the window. He looked over at her. She looked ghostly and painfully beautiful in the pale moonlight, but also very sad. She shivered and then closed and locked the window. “Ellie...” She paused, then sat down on her bed. David sat down beside her, waiting. “A lot happened to her. She told me things that I won’t repeat, but bad things happened to her. And it broke her. And I think...I’m not sure, really, but I think my announcement scared the shit out of her. Maybe she thought she was losing me, and she couldn’t handle that.”
She heaved a sigh suddenly and looked at him. “We’ll deal with that soon, but right now...tell me. Tell me what you’re thinking about...” She looked down and laid a hand carefully over her stomach. “...about this.”
“I-I don’t know,” he admitted. “I’m worried. If I’m being honest. I-I didn’t expect this! I didn’t even think it was possible!”
“I know,” she said, a small smile on her face. “I wasn’t sure whether or not I could even get pregnant, and I remember you saying you were pretty sure you couldn’t get a girl pregnant. Obviously that isn’t true.” She hesitated. “Do you believe me? That it’s yours?”
“Oh yes,” he replied immediately. “I believe you. I don’t think you would lie to me about that. I’m just...this is a lot. Especially after all that happened tonight.”
“I know. I’m sorry to just throw it out there like that, but I couldn’t hold it in any longer. I needed you to know. But there’s more I need you to know, David.” She gently placed a finger under his chin and raised his face so that they locked eyes. “If you don’t want to be a part of this child’s life, then I won’t hold that against you. You were not ready for this, you didn’t ask for this. I understand that. I’ve already come to terms with this: I want to be a mother. I think I’ve always wanted that, but I just never truly thought about it until I got the news. But this wasn’t...expected. I’m not going to try and force this responsibility on you, because this is going to alter the course of my life, and yours, if you decide you want to be a part of this child’s life.”
David thought about it, staring at her. There were so many things to consider, so many difficulties with raising a child even under the best of circumstances, let alone the post-apocalyptic nightmare they now found themselves in.
And yet, could he ask for a better mother for his child? Cait was...so many things. Smart, kind, compassionate, brave, fun, dedicated, loving. But he didn’t doubt for a second that she wanted to raise a child, looking at her in the moonlight. There was no turmoil there, no uncertainty. Just a peace, a tranquility in her eyes, an acceptance, a happy acceptance.
In that moment, David suddenly had his answer. He didn’t know why he had arrived at the conclusion he had, especially knowing there was so much to consider, but wasn’t that how it went sometimes? Hell, maybe even most of the time? People usually went with their gut. A lot of people said they wanted to reason things out, make informed decisions, and while he still believed in that, he believed, especially right now, that sometimes the decision got made for you. Like love. He hadn’t decided that he was going to start falling in love with Cait, or Evelyn, or April, and yet he was. He could tell he was.
In the same way, he knew that how he felt about becoming a father wasn’t a decision, not really, not in this case, at least. Regardless of his own actions, Cait was pregnant with his child. And he knew in some immutable way that he wanted to be her partner, wanted to raise the child with her, wanted to be a father.
All that came out of his mouth was: “Yes.”
As if she could read his mind, she immediately hugged him tightly against her. “Thank you,” she whispered. She held him to her. “You’re going to be a wonderful father, David. I haven’t met anyone else in my life that I wish had gotten me pregnant.”
“Oh, well I’m glad,” he replied.
She laughed loudly and pulled back. She sniffed and wiped at her eyes. He blinked a few times and realized, abruptly, that he had a few tears of his own.
“Emotional times,” Cait muttered, wiping at her eyes.
“I guess so,” he said, doing the same. Something abruptly occurred to him. “Oh shit!” he said, shooting to his feet.
“What? What’s wrong?” Cait asked.
“I fucked Ashley and Lara! What if they’re-”
“Oh! David, no. Don’t worry,” she said, reaching out. She took his hand and he let her pull him gently back down onto the bed. “I already talked with them about it. That’s why I asked you about your sexual partners. Do you honestly think I’d have let you fuck Lara tonight if she wasn’t fixed? No, don’t worry. They have both confirmed that, without a doubt, they can’t get pregnant. So don’t worry, I’m the only one you’ve knocked up.”
“Oh...okay then. Good.”
He kissed her, then he looked back through the door. “Shit, we shouldn’t keep the others in suspense.”
“Oh right. Fuck.” She sighed heavily and looked out the window again. “Goddamnit, Ellie,” she whispered.
“What are we going to do?” he asked.
“Let her be,” Cait replied. “I might be able to find her, if I tried hard, but I doubt it. And she doesn’t want to be found. She needs time. And...” she looked regretful, “...and we might need to be prepared to never see her again.”
“What? Seriously?!”
“Yes. I don’t know if it’s likely, but I think...I just don’t know if she can handle this. Obviously she can’t right now, given that she just jumped out a window. But regardless, we have to let her be. We have to let her work this out on her own.”
He looked out the window, a cold, heavy weight of loss and remorse settling on his heart, as if this was somehow his fault.
Hell, in a way, he supposed it kind of was.
“I’ll miss her,” he said softly.
“I know. I will, too. We just have to hope that she gets it sorted out, and that she comes back to us.” Cait stood suddenly. “Come on.”
He stood with her and they made their way downstairs, where they found the others talking quietly among themselves.
“What happened?” Evelyn asked.
Cait sighed heavily. “Ellie...needs to be alone for a little while. I’m not sure when she’ll be back. Officially speaking: we should not be relying on her help until she returns.”
“Oh my God,” April whispered. “Is she...okay?”
“I don’t know,” Cait admitted.
“I know it’s really nosy and probably rude to ask but...I mean, how do you feel about this?” Lara asked suddenly, looking at David.
He stepped closer to Cait, slipped one arm around her torso, and laid his other hand against her belly. “We’re having a child,” he said.
That got a great reaction out of everyone. For a few moments, as everyone came closer and began to congratulate them and hug and kiss both of them, the weight of the events that had transpired tonight, from the incredibly risky assault to the near death experiences to Ellie up and leaving, seemed to fall away. He lost himself in the moment and as he looked around at the others, standing together in this warm building in the middle of the night, knowing that there were others in cabins very close by, it gave him a feeling of tremendous, overwhelming joy and comfort, something that he wasn’t sure he had ever actually felt before.
This felt like…
A home.
It felt like a haven that he could rest in, hide from the world in, build a life in.
As he looked at Evelyn and April, though, a new feeling came to him, and he knew that they were going to have to talk about this sudden development, because it would likely have serious impacts on their lives, too.
“We should probably, uh, talk,” he said, looking at them both.
Evelyn just smiled. “Tomorrow,” she said. “You two need sleep. You look like death warmed over. We all need sleep, actually, because we’ve got a shitload of work ahead of us tomorrow and the day after that. You two, I imagine, will want to get some intimate time together. So...sleeping arrangements. April, will you be willing to sleep with me and give up your bed for the night?”
“Yes,” she said.
“Okay. Lara, how about you take her bed?” Evelyn suggested.
“I appreciate it,” Lara replied.
“Okay. Jennifer...” She frowned, no doubt considering it. They actually didn’t have much in the way of accommodations.
“I saw a couch in the main room, I can sleep there,” Jennifer said.
“Are you sure?” Evelyn asked.
“Yes. As a wraith, I don’t even actually need to sleep per say, though I wouldn’t mind in this case. But I can sleep on the floor, this will be fine,” Jennifer replied.
“Okay. I’ll get you a pillow and a blanket. Get some sleep everyone. We’re going to want to get to that outpost as soon as we can tomorrow,” Evelyn said.
David sighed. “Yeah, good point.”
“I guess that means I gotta go home and sleep in my own bed?” Ashley asked.
“You can sleep in mine,” Evelyn replied.
“Yes,” she whispered, making Evelyn laugh.
David went around and gave each woman a hug and a kiss, and told them all goodnight. Lara lingered on the kiss. “I had a lot of fun,” she said. “A lot of fun.”
“So did I. You are great in bed, and an amazingly sexy and beautiful woman,” he replied.
She smiled and blushed. “Shut up.”
“I’m not lying.”
She looked like she was trying not to smile, but she just shook her head. “I believe that you believe it, at least.”
“You’re definitely hot,” Cait said, coming up next to him.
She sighed. “Okay, whatever. Just show me to my bed.” Her expression turned glum. “As much as I’d love to stick around and help out, I really need to get back home after this.”
“I understand, I’ll miss you, though,” David replied.
“I’ll miss you, too. Don’t worry, I’m sure I’ll visit.”
April led her off upstairs after that, showing her to her room, and Evelyn tracked down some bedding for Jennifer, setting her up on the couch. After making sure that the area was secure, the doors locked and the windows shut, David and Cait went upstairs to her bedroom. They pushed the door most of the way closed, then began undressing.
“So, Lara was a good fuck then?” Cait asked.
“A great fuck,” he replied. “Her thighs...damn. So sexy. Not as sexy as yours though.”
She laughed. “You don’t need to reassure me. I’m not that kind of girl. Speaking of my thighs though...you know my ass is going to probably get really fat, and my hips and thighs are going to thicken up, and my tits are gonna get huge, right?”
“They already are,” he muttered, but he couldn’t help but think about what Cait would look like pregnant. Like, noticeably pregnant.
He’d seen pregnant women before, and they never failed to turn him on so hard.
“My belly’s gonna grow a lot, too. I’m gonna get stretch marks,” she said.
“I don’t care. You’re going to look so hot pregnant, and you’ll still be wicked hot after.”
She smiled. “You’re a sweetheart.” As she finished stripping, she stepped up to him and settled her hands on his back. “There’s also a decent chance that I will be super horny. Like, more so than I am right now on average. So you’re going to need to fuck me even more than you do now,” she said with a sultry smile.
“I think I can manage that,” he replied, and she laughed, then she kissed him.
It was in that moment that her lips met his that he realized something had changed. He wasn’t sure if it was that he had done the most decisive thing of his life in helping plan for, enact, and execute that strike on the thieves, the fact that he had risked his life, or the fact that he knew he was to be a father. Possibly, probably even, it was all three, but he thought it was that third one most of all. Something had changed between them, and for the better. From the way her eyes widened slightly and how she pressed herself more closely against him, David could tell that something had changed for Cait, too.
He held her, leaning her back slightly and deepening the kiss, and she moaned. They began to make out with an intense passion, running their hands across each other. Her skin felt so hot against his in the pale moonlight, as if it was a physical manifestation of her passion, her lust, her desire. David pushed her onto her back and she landed with an easy grace in the bed, opening her legs smoothly for him, smiling up at him, her face illuminated by the moonlight. She looked achingly beautiful, impossibly gorgeous in that ghostly light, and he immediately climbed onto her, needing to be inside of her.
Normally their sessions were longer, and foreplay was very standard between them, but sometimes it was like this, where they simply needed to be making love. He needed to be inside of her as much as she needed him to be inside of her. And he could see her practically glistening, she was so wet. Before he could even get into position, she reached down between them, gripped his cock, and slipped it inside of herself.
“Ohhhh, David...” she gasped, her voice thick with emotion and love and lost.
“Cait,” he moaned as he penetrated her, “oh, Cait. Oh my fucking...oh Cait!”
He pushed deep into her, and she immediately wrapped her legs around his waist. He began to make desperate, impassioned love to her and she stared up at him with wide, unblinking blue eyes that seemed to glow from within. He had never quite seen this expression on her face before, or maybe it was just the intensity of it. David was sure that he had a similar expression. He began to thrust wildly into her and she moaned loudly, pulling him down, and they resumed kissing. The pleasure ate him alive. He boiled in it, was melted by it, and loved every second of its consumption of him. Cait felt like a living goddess of sex and lust and beauty as he made increasingly frantic love to her, driving furiously into her now.
The sounds she made…
Neither of them lasted long. It was a short but ferocious session. Cait began to orgasm in under a minute, and she screamed into the kiss, unwilling or maybe even unable to break it, to release him, and he moaned loudly as he felt her insides clench hard around him, felt that hot release of sex juices. And he moaned, and lost himself completely, and began to orgasm barely five seconds after she had begun to. He pumped her sweet, perfect pussy full of his seed, immediately releasing a hot spurt that surged into her, and then another, and another, draining himself into her, filling her up. She moaned louder, accepting it all, almost begging for it with her body.
They came together, and for some brief but seemingly timeless moment, became lost together, entangled within each other, bathed in pure ecstasy.
When they had finished, he laid on top of her and didn’t pull out for a long time.
There was so much to say, but as the minutes drifted by in the moonlit comfort of her room, they remained locked inside of his head, and no doubt in hers as well. Not forever, but for now. He almost fell asleep before he spoke. Almost, but not quite.
“Cait?” he asked softly.
“Yes?” she murmured, slowly running one hand up and down his bare back.
“It’s different now, isn’t it?”
“Yes, David. It is.”
“And not just because you’re pregnant.”
“No.”
“We need to get more serious, don’t we?”
“Yes, we do.”
He almost didn’t say the thing that wanted to escape his lips. Almost. But then, in the quiet of their shared space, he whispered, “Cait?”
“Yes, David?”
“...I love you.”
They weren’t looking at each other, not exactly. He had his head on the pillow, facing her, and she was laying on her back, staring out the window, so he could only see a portion of her beautiful, pale face.
But he saw her smile. “I know. I love you too, David.”
And he hugged her tightly to him, and she hugged him back. He pulled out of her and laid on his side. They embraced once more, facing each other.
That was how they fell asleep.
