Date = 10 April
Place = San Francisco (UCSF Medical center)
POV – Enrique
“And here we are … a. g. a. i. n,” my sister’s gynecologist rolls her eyes before walking into the room. I grunt softly … because she’s actually not wrong.
“I must tell you, this baby is by far the most complicated uncomplicated pregnancy I ever had to cover,” she continues.
“It’s because it’s a fucking Grimm,” I say without thinking, causing Doctor Burden to gasp in a hard deep breath. Ilkay frowns, Jackson agrees and my sister kills me with her eyes. Or rather with the one that’s not swollen shut. Yep, she’s sprouting an impressive black eye already. And her tears make me uncomfortable. It’s not like her to cry so much. Or lose control like that. Or look this scared. Why does everything always happen to her? I pull up my shoulders and bite my lip.
“What? It’s true.” I glance at the other bed in the room where Aria is sleeping, glad that she’s not crying at the moment, ’cause her tears are the pits. It hits me even more than Mel’s. Ilkay dosed her with some strong painkillers that knocked her out. Fuck, it feels as if someone stabbed me in the heart and is now twisting the blade from side to side to increase the torture. I swear this heartache is the most dreadful thing I ever felt.
“You know, the day this little bean gets born safe and sound, I’m downing a whole bottle of tequila,” gino-doc says. I might just join her. Hell, I feel like downing a bottle right now.
My phone rings. It’s Damion – AGAIN. I wonder if he knows it’s fucking like three in the morning here. And just because my sister’s phone got broken, it doesn’t mean he can call me every five minutes. Ug, I know I’m being unreasonable … he’s just worried.
“Hello,” I answer more harshly than intended, holding the phone up so I can see his face on the screen. It’s not him, it’s me. I don’t know what the fuck is wrong with me lately. But that’s a lie. I do know … I just don’t want to acknowledge it. I quickly look at Aria.
“Dude, why are you so cranky… did something happen to Mel? Or the baby? Or is it Aria?” He looks seriously worried … and tired and a small ping of guilt hits me. I try to sound less stiff.
“No, not since the last time you called, about 10 minutes ago. And I’m not cranky!”
“He so is,” doc Burden lays an unnecessary egg, her eyes not leaving the screen of the sonar machine. I give her a death stare and she sticks her tongue out, now looking at me. Mel giggles. At least my grumpiness is good for something – it seems to cheer my sister up.
“The doc is checking out the annoying little brat that you implanted inside my sister’s tummy,” Jackson shouts from where he lays stretched out on the foot end of Mel’s bed.
“You better come and take responsibility for your fucking sexual mishap,” my twin continues. Just then a short chubby nurse walks through the door and rams into a table, probably shocked by my brother’s words. She blushes when everybody looks at her at once.
“Eh … I just … um … your laptop, Dr. Blackburn,” she mumbles and places the computer on the same table she bumped against. Jackson jumps up and takes the computer, “Thanks, baby.” He winks at the girl who gasps and then slams into the door on her way out. She literally runs down the corridor.
“Ug, do you always have to make a scene,” Ilkay laughs, “She’s new and now probably scarred for life.” Jackson pulls up his shoulders and pouts his lips innocently before he sits down on the sofa and opens the computer on his lap.
“What’s going on?” Damion asks and I hand the phone to Mel.
“Men,” Mel says, and her voice gives away exactly how tired she is. I run my fingers through my hair. These new feelings that settled in my intestines are fucking frustrating. And the grimmest aspect of it all is that I can’t seem to get back to my original robotic self.
“Okay, I’m going to move south, so you might want to look away if you don’t want to see the gender,” the doctor says with a sweet smile.
“Ilkay, turn … you too, twinnies,” my sister scolds and we all oblige with a sigh. Just a few more days and we’ll know if we’re getting a niece or a nephew at last. This keeping secrets shit is not my style. I don’t like secrets and I don’t like lies. Keeping the contract business to myself is already bad enough. And the fact that I want to make it real is even worse.
“You know I can always just draw your chart if I wanted to,” Ilkay teases our sister.
“I hope you would not … I want it to be a real surprise for everybody.”
“You can look again. So, what are you hoping for?” the doctor asks while wiping my sister’s tummy clean with a wet wipe.
“I want a healthy baby, but it would be great if it’s a boy first,” Damion suddenly speaks from my phone. I totally forgot that he’s still there.
“First?” Jackson gets that look on his face. I know there’s something going on with him, but I’m too busy with my own shit to figure his out. I truly don’t have the energy to deal with whatever is brewing in his crazy-ass mind … cause Jackson’s stuff is always distressingly complicated as hell.
“Yes, I’m planning on having lots of little Grimms with your sister, bro,” Damion says confidently, but I’m sure if he was here in the room, the disgusted faces of my two brothers would throw him off a little. Like me, Jackson seems more intense and on the edge than usual … and I’m damn sure it has something to do with that tiny roomie of his.
“You’re not even married, and this one is not even popped … ” Jackson scuffs, sounding as irritated now as I feel. “And my sister is not a fucking breeding cow.”
“Well, I hope the next one is less problematic,” the doc intervenes.
“Making babies like fucking bunnies,” Jackson mumbles to himself.
“Ug, stop being so overly dramatic … it’s not very difficult to make a baby, now is it? Just think, if conceiving a baby was boring and strenuous like running a marathon, I would be out of a job. And just wait till your sperm hits the spot, Cranky” she looks at me and then at Jackson, “and Grumpy …” The look on Jackson’s face is classic and Mel burst into laughter and then she starts crying again.
I’m worried. This little fetus seemed to have broken my sister. Granted, she was not all that normal before, but it’s way worse now. She blames it on the hormones. I blame Damion.