Well, Skye felt like even if a lot hadn't physically been accomplished at the church, the little red fox had certainly put the ball into motion for a great many thing, and most of it she prayed would benefit the shape-shifting community of the city, if not eventually the globe. She stared out the window as Nick drove, and she could practically feel the silence looming, pressing against her. Nick, whether he meant to or not, was a very imposing man, and now was one of those times where Skye would let it get to her.
Just take deep breaths, she told herself mentally. No puking in the truck. Just cleaned it. She stole a glance over to him, and sank down in the seat, wrapping the jacket around herself. He and the air conditioner were homies. Is he mad? Is he upset? Is he happy? Damn him for being able to do that poker face!
She opened her mouth to start this conversation, like she'd been doing for the last five minutes. Every time, she froze up and looked back out the window, watching the raindrops roll against the glass. It figured that it would have started raining on the way home, it was just her luck. She sighed to herself, though it was audible enough, and drummed her fingers on her leg underneath the massive jacket she'd usurped from her husband.
To be absolutely honest, Nick didn't know what to say to Skye, which was purely the reason why he hadn't yet. Was he supposed to be happy? He wanted to be happy, but what about the fact that any child of theirs was a mixed breed, and could be dangerous? Skye and the baby could both end up dead over something like that, and that scared him because there was NOTHING he could do about it. Not to mention, he couldn't help being selfish and wanting a child who was a lion, but only a hyena was really safe for Skye to carry. He wouldn't hate it if the child were a hyena, but he had to at least be honest with himself and say that he'd like it if it were a lion if it weren't dangerous for Skye
Was she happy about it? She hadn't wanted him to find out, but her little hyena buddies Ed and Eddy had spilled the beans in front of both him and Jaime, not the way he'd have liked for either of them to find out. Had Skye not wanted to tell him? He didn't want to be happy and excited if she was upset over it, or vice versa, and she hadn't yet said anything. It was a long, quiet ride, broken only by a long sigh from her.
It was driving him nuts.
"Talk to me, Skye. Tell me what you're thinking," he finally said, his voice soft and extremely careful. He had to be sure not to decide one way or the other until he could figure out what HER say in it was. It was her who had to carry the child, so what she thought of it was a big deal. He didn't want to unwittingly pressure her either way.
Skye winced. Right now she was feeling a little more emotional than she usually did, only she didn't blame it on her hormones, just the fact that she was usually very in control and right now she didn't know what in the hell was happening... with anything. And then comes Nick, tone dangerously neutral, like he's walking on eggshells. Did she ask for him to tiptoe around this? She felt herself getting angry, and then she got upset all over again, because this wasn't really his fault. Well, it was. Sort of. But not like that. It was more of...
"I was going to tell you this weekend. I didn't realize they would be able to pick up on it so soon."
That was all he was getting, because she was angry about crap he didn't know about and she didn't feel like telling him. She folded her arms tightly beneath the jacket and tried to look angry, but it was just too hard for her to twist her pretty little face into a frown, so she settled for staring out the window and hating the rain. She wanted to yell at him for trying to be so cautious. He was her husband, not someone who was designed to react the way she wanted them to.
He nodded at what she said as he drove, feeling like this was at least a step in the right direction. He still didn't know what she thought of it all, but he'd just have to ask her. She didn't usually come out and make situations like this easy on him. He had to guess, or just ASK, both of which he hated doing. Time to suck it up, though.
"Okay, I get that," he agreed, though he couldn't really help being a little bent that the hyenas all knew he was going to be a father before he did. That was just annoying. "Are you upset?"
There was the million dollar question, and hopefully she wouldn't provide him with a demonstration if she WAS upset. He just wanted to know how to proceed.
Did... did he just ask me if I was upset? she thought incredulously to herself. She looked at him with wide, shocked eyes, wondering if he had rocks in his head. "Why would I be upset? Are you upset? Because, I sort of expected a huge, 'I'm a daddy' dance or something with the way you talk about it, and instead I get some ominous 'We'll talk later'," she started, making her voice all deep and making a funny face when she impersonated him.
"You know, it'd have been one thing if you'd have had a negative reaction, and another if you'd had a positive one, but you just didn't react at all. I can't decide if that's good or bad, but it didn't make me happy. Now you're tailoring your answers around me because you're trying not to set me off, well, guess what? I'm set off. I'm pissed off because I thought you'd be happy about this and you're not."
And then the waterworks came.
"Aw, DAMNIT," she sobbed, throwing her arms down uselessly. "I don't even want to cry right now! Stupid.. Nick!"
Great, he'd really botched this one. He sighed, dropping the careful manners and glanced her way. He was driving, so he couldn't give her his full attention, but he'd do what he could. They were almost home.
"I'm sorry, baby, please don't cry," he told her, reaching out with one hand and a series of glances to grab her hand, aware that he'd definitely been the one who messed things up here. "Ed and Eddy took me off-guard with all their comments, you didn't look happy, we didn't really have a chance to say much about any of it before that fox started talking, and I didn't know if you were happy about it all. I didn't want to freak out one way or the other if it would upset you, but I guess I screwed that up anyway."
There, that was the most honest he could be. Yep, he'd screwed it up, but he WAS thrilled, now that he could stop worrying about what she thought and think about what HE thought of it. He glanced her way again, a smile forming rather suddenly. He was OBVIOUSLY pro-kids. "But you're pregnant? I'm gonna be a father?"
Skye moved out of reach of his hand a few times to be contrary, and then gave in when she could hear the tone in his voice change. She sniffled and nodded as he spoke, trying like crazy to stop being such a girl about this situation. She angrily rubbed at her eyes as he admitted his guilt, and nodded a little.
"It's fine, I was just... mad. You were the closest thing to me," she confessed. Although she was still irritated that he felt the need to try and form an opinion around hers. She felt it wouldn't give her accurate data sometimes to say what she felt, based on him, but then again that meant she'd be doing the same thing. Whatever.
"Yes, I am. 110% sure. While I was with Jason the night that he got attacked the doctor decided to do some blood work on me. He kept kicking me out of the room because my test results were hatching, not because he didn't want me interfering with Jason's medical needs." She looked a little sheepish at trying to peek at her results before they'd processed, but she couldn't help it.
"So, yes. You're going to be a father. Honest reaction time. Go," she said as he pulled the truck into their driveway and hopped out. She waited to see what he did.
He was torn between just stopping in his attempt at holding her hand and trying harder for her attempts to escape it. She finally gave in, so his hand closed around hers and he finished what he had to say. At least she seemed to have chilled out after he explained, though. Life could have been so much more difficult if she hadn't.
Parking and shutting the car off was the first thing on his priority list the instant they got to the house, but he grinned at her when she told him that yes, he was going to be a father and she wanted his honest reaction. He could do that, and it involved him shutting the doors, clicking the button on the keyring to lock them while he walked around the car, and stashing the keys in his pocket. He didn't want to drop them, since they'd be inconvenient.
"Have I told you I love you yet tonight?" he asked, laughing as he wrapped her up in his arms to lean down for a kiss. "Because I do. And I love the idea of having children," he told her, sneaking another quick kiss before scooping her up in his arms to carry her inside.
Skye nearly tripped he came up on her so fast. She opened her mouth but he was hugging her and kissing her, and Skye found him the hardest thing to resist, and so, despite being somewhat irrationally irritated still, she kissed him back, and felt her anger melt away. Damn that power he had.
It wasn't until he told her he loved the idea of having kids that she completely relaxed, and her sigh of relief was interrupted as he scooped her up and made to the door with her. "And here for a moment I thought you were either going to drive me to a clinic or do the daddy dance. What a pleasant surprise it was neither," she said with a laugh. She didn't really want to try and do the damage control Nick leaping around the yard screaming, "I'M A DADDY!" might have on the next-door neighbors, who had begun to get increasingly MORE weird than before, as if it were possible.
Skye navigated the hallway skillfully from Nick's arms, turning on the lights as they passed. She wiggled around in place, aware that he wasn't going to put her down for a while, and wrapped her arms around his neck tightly, placing a light kiss on his jaw.
"I'm just glad you're not freaking out right now. I found out when I went to the Guildhouse... I've been trying to find a way to tell you all week." She figured now he'd know why she was so tense when she'd come back from seeing Jason.
He laughed at her talk of the 'Daddy dance', not even about to consider anything involving a clinic. That was their BABY she was talking about! "Who said I wasn't going to do a dance?" he asked, cocking an eyebrow up at her. They had to clear the hallway before he'd be willing to do anything that might risk her. He wasn't going to treat her like glass, but no rough-play for awhile.
Once they were in their room, he laughed and did an exaggerated twirl just for her before he dropped them both on the huge bed, using his arms to keep her from bouncing too high or far.
"It freaked me out a little to find out about it at that meeting, with everyone talking about Midnight and losing people, but you should have told me immediately. I promise I wouldn't have scared the neighbors," he assured her, still grinning like an idiot. She was actually the only person he really acted like this with. Even with Jaime, he seemed ever so slightly more mature. Given how childish they could both act in each others' presence, he needed to act just a little more like an adult with his brother. Besides, he was the oldest, so he was used to being the voice of reason.
It sure was a good thing he didn't intend to treat her like glass. Skye knew that the employment discussion was going to be a heated one, and her stomach knotted itself up again. She snuggled around on him once he'd finished doing his celebration and jumping on the bed with her, though she couldn't help but laugh at his behaviour. She only wondered what Jaime was going to do the next time he'd seen her. She'd talked to him about kids once, and he was pretty gung ho about being an uncle. She was equally nervous about his reaction, actually.
"I would have told you, but I needed a few days to think about things. I never told Jason -or- Ebere, Nick. They can... smell it on me, I guess. If they can, other shifters will be able to soon, too." She frowned. She didn't know if she wanted to run around telling everyone about this just yet. At least Capricia was pregnant, too. And she knew that Connor was going to suggest she take it easy, because Capri said he'd been trying to make her do the same thing. The difference was Capricia was a Frost Hunter and -always- in the danger. Skye sat on a roof with a rifle and made her money after an hour of waiting for someone to walk by a window.
She sat up enough to kiss Nick on the cheek lightly. All the stuff about Midnight had scared her, but Skye just shook it off at the end of the day. If she didn't, she'd go mad.
Nick knew better than to treat her like she'd break into a million pieces, but the chances that he'd be comfortable with her hunting all the time, especially when she started showing for real, were slim. He was the protective sort of guy, so it wouldn't have been at all surprising if he wanted to follow her on hunts, even if he just hung out in case things backfired on her. She wouldn't like it, but he was going to be EXTREMELY nervous about her hunting.
That was a conversation for another time.
"Well, no sense in hiding it, if everyone'll find out soon enough anyway. Don't worry, I'll eat anyone who messes with you," he promised, smiling and kissing her back, right on the cheek. He wasn't one of those guys that needed constant sexual attention, and this wasn't that sort of situation.
"Oooh, does this mean I have to make an announcement and get a baby shower planned and stuff? Because... I feel kind of lazy about this." She frowned, and then her eyes lit up. "Oh my god, what are your parents going to say?" she asked. She suddenly sat upright and made a face. Skye could never figure those humans out. She'd only met them a few times, mostly because Nick knew it sort of hit her in a bad way that she didn't have parents to drag him to see, and because they lived ACROSS THE COUNTRY.
"Oooh," she just said again, frowning. She'd gotten the 'age gap' talk a few times from human friends who meant well, and she wagered Nick might've heard it too. She sank back down onto the bed and sighed.
"Damn. My happy went away."
"Well, you don't have to, if you don't want to," he told her, looking almost thoughtful. He was a guy, and baby showers didn't really apply to him, so he hadn't even thought of it. His parents hadn't figured in just because he hadn't had a chance to consider them, but he knew what they'd say. "Don't worry about my parents. They'll be ecstatic, I promise."
Of course he'd gotten the 'age gap' discussion a few times, from Jaime and his parents included, but it didn't matter to him. He had other, larger concerns, so the fact that she was a few years young didn't really matter to him. By the time he was 80, those six years would mean nothing. "Don't let your happy go away, baby. Everything will be okay, I promise." Yes, he was willing to make that promise, because he'd FREAK on whoever made it un-okay. He didn't play those games.
Skye stared at him, non-believing. She was a non-believer when it came to his parents. She couldn't count the times on her fingers that she'd gotten the feeling they'd hated her on sight. She could never figure out why, either, because as far as she'd been told, she was the ideal take-home girlfriend. She reckoned it had a lot to do with the marriage being so soon, especially considering she was "young". Skye figured that having your family wiped off the face of the map didn't count for growing up fast anymore these days.
"Call them and tell them now?" she asked, testing him. She was praying that she was just forever misinterpereting them, but she didn't know. She wanted to find out as soon as possible, though. That way she'd know who to thank and who to ignore the piss out of. Skye was a vengeful shit when she wanted to be, anyways.
She gave Nick her best puppy-dog eyes to see if she could coerce him into calling them and telling them right then and there.
He frowned, recognizing and 'fearing' the puppy-dog face. He knew better than to brush it off as a harmless expression. "They're old and they get up at the crack of dawn. They're probably sleeping," he told her, knowing his parents by that point. They'd tried to make him and Jaime morning people just like they were, but they'd failed miserably. Maybe it was being a lion, or maybe they just weren't meant to voluntarily get up early. Nick had even been in the military for years, and he still didn't like mornings.
"I could call them first thing in the morning, if you want. I'll get up early for it," he offered, and that was a show of just how willing to please he was. He just honestly didn't think they'd be awake, and he hated mornings enough that he didn't usually want to get up at that hour. He would to make her happy, though.
She looked like she was thinking about it, and then nodded reluctantly. "Okay. But first thing in the AM," she reinforced, pointing at him sternly. She was exhausted anyways, she could admit to herself at least that she wasn't looking forward to staying up much later. At least she was already IN bed.
She snuggled up next to Nick and let out a little sigh. "I guess this means I have to come up with names. I might stick with this nature trend us girls have inadvertently got going on. Maybe Stormy or something." Like Nick assumed it would be a lion, Skye naturally assumed it would be a girl.
"Absolutely," he agreed, certainly willing to agree to call his parents in the morning as opposed to right then, when he was sure to wake them up. With that little 'crisis' averted, he gladly rolled over to bury his face against her and a pillow and lay an arm across her as she snuggled up against him.
"That makes me think of comic books," he warned her about the name, though he surprisingly didn't even think to comment on the fact that the baby might be a boy. Right then, the child's gender didn't even matter to him. He was still too busy reeling with the knowledge that he was going to be a father, that right there in Skye's belly, a baby was growing. It wasn't a new concept to him, of course, but to really, truly think about his OWN child was a different story. It was exciting, and kind of crazy, all at once. He wouldn't trade it for anything. "I love you, Skye."
"Okay, well, no comic book names, then. I guess I can ask Ebere and Stella what they think, since they're the only girls I know. Well, Jason too, according to you. I wish you would be nicer to him," she nagged slightly. "He feels really left out because he's afraid to hang out with the other Pakana if I'm there. He's got this notion you're going to come out of a shadow and stab him."
She glared at her husband, until the 'I love you' came out, and then she smiled. "And when you do things like that, I forget why I was mad." She leaned forward to kiss the tip of his nose. "This is going to be so great."
She thought this was going to be great? Hell, he'd just gotten her to agree with the 'no comic book names' rule he wanted, and he'd accidentally gotten out of the nagging with that 'I love you' he'd thrown out there for her. And with her being pregnant, he'd have a lot more opportunities to shower her with protectiveness and his 'I love you's, mean it every single time, and hopefully avoid the 'Jason' topic.
That wasn't a topic he liked, particularly when it involved a male hyena potentially cuddling on his pregnant wife. He couldn't help it.
"You shouldn't be mad. I love you, we're going to have a beautiful baby, and everything's going to be amazing," he told her, fully meaning it. He wasn't going to focus on Jason's pakana issues. He was going to focus on Skye, and the baby they were going to have, and that was it. He went on to kiss her lightly, but slowly, on the lips. THIS was his world.
Skye responded to the kiss in kind, at first anyways, before sitting up a little to demand more attention from her husband. Once she'd satisfied her craving for the less-than-subtle liplock action, she rolled over and slid her feet into her fuzzy slippers, standing up. "I'm going to grab some water. You want anything?" she asked as she snatched his bathrobe off of the bedpost. It literally engulfed her.
She smiled at him, and she shifted as she realized she still got butterflies when she looked at him. They'd been married for a while now, and she -still- got butterflies. All the dirty looks and scoldings for being young and impulsive from her friends couldn't take that away. She nearly squealed to herself.
Well, he certainly wasn't going to be neglecting her if she wanted more attention than he was currently giving her, so 'less-than-subtle' was right up his alley. Of course, he was hoping that 'less-than-subtle' was going to turn into 'nowhere-near-subtle' within a few moments, even if he somewhat behaved himself right up until she slipped away for water.
Who could really blame him for giving her that heated, wanting look? No wonder she was getting butterflies. He'd have definitely reacted if the roles were reversed, though 'butterflies' were probably going to be reserved for baby day, or something. He didn't often get truly nervous, and most of the times it had happened in recent years had involved Skye. Funny how such a little woman could get to him like that, but he liked it.
He also liked seeing her in his clothes. The way they totally engulfed her just seemed to emphasize how small and potentially fragile she was, and though it made him worry about her, it was a huge turn-on to see her walking around in something of his. It might have only been a bathrobe, but it was his, and so was she, and he was a very happy man. "I want to come with you," he answered her, rolling off the bed and not even bothering with slippers or anything. His were on the other side of the bed, and he wasn't going around for them. Bare feet on a cold floor wasn't too much to deal with if he could wrap his arms around her and distract the hell out of her while she tried to drink her water.
"'kay" she sang, already headed out of the bedroom. It was hard to get down the stairs with Nick's nose buried in her hair, though, and she had to swat at him before she fell and broke her neck, which he would never let happen anyways, but still. As she shuffled her way into the kitchen, she paused in front of the little grocery list they had pinned to the fridge and jotted down a few things with the little attached pen.
She stopped to turn and give Nick a few smaller kisses on the shoulder as she peered over him to the selection of teas in the cabinet, trying to decide if she wanted water, really, or if some vanilla chamomile would do. She settled on the tea after a moment of debate, choosing to take a sip of the water before she threw the mug and bag assembly into the microwave for maximum heating efficiency.
"So, this means we have to clear out the spare room for a baby room. And buy things to put in it. Because I don't feel like being that couple that wants to 'build' things," she said, looking at him as she lazily scratched one leg with the other.
He would NEVER let her fall and break her neck, but it was indeed amusing seeing her try to shuffle down the stairs with him attached, when he would have been just as happy to carry her if he thought she would have cooperated. He had to admit that he wasn't very interested in the shopping list just then, though he knew he might be the one going to pick those things up the following day or so. Kisses anywhere, even just on the shoulder, took precedence over shopping needs.
"Baby, we can do it however you like. Besides, have you ever seen me try to build anything for aesthetic value? I can do functional, but not pretty," he reminded her from where he decided to lean against the counter. He could build sandbag barriers, dig trenches and put together tents and makeshift shelters, but something like a crib was a bit too delicate for him to work on with any level of success. They could buy what they needed, though he had no doubt that she could put something pretty together with a little more skill. Skye was patient, and very detail oriented. His orientation with detail only went so far as if it worked.
"Yes," she said flatly, and pointedly looked into the next room where a set of shelves leaned suspiciously to the left. "I knew I shouldn't have made you do it, and that's what I got for asking," she replied with a snort. She jumped up to sit on the counter, and crossed her legs.
"I can do little stuff, but really, I'm trying to be practical about this. There's no reason to get anything super-fancy for her if she won't even know what it is, yet. I hate seeing people blow thousands of dollars on crap the kid will just chew off or outgrow. More chew off in our case," she said with a brow raised at him.
"Man, Connor is going to jump up and down when he hears this. I can't wait to spring it on him. I bet he'll keel over," she said with a devious grin. What that man ever did to deserve the devilish intentions of every female he came into contact with, nobody would ever know, but Skye seemed to take just as much from antagonizing him as everyone else did.
He followed her gaze to that set of shelves and actually didn't say a damn thing for a moment. He just looked at them, taking note of the way they leaned, but they were sturdy. They worked, he knew THAT much, so did it really matter if they leaned? Apparently. "If it ever falls over, then I'll be at your mercy, but in the meantime, it's functional," he told her.
As for being practical, he was all about that, so she could go with whatever she wanted for the baby. He wasn't going to argue with her for a 'pretty crib', when in most cases, it was the mother who wanted the fancy shit for the baby. He was lucky Skye wanted to be practical.
He HAD to raise an eyebrow curiously at her mention of her boss freaking out, wondering what caused the women around that man to all take such pleasure out of screwing around with his mind. From what he'd heard from Skye, Batten deserved a LONG vacation before he had a heart attack. Nick gave him a lot of credit. "What about that other hyena? The blond with the crazy laugh, Stella, is it? She hasn't heard yet, right?"
"No, but I know it's only a matter of time before Jason and Ebere tell her," she said lightly. She cleared some of her hair back, and smiled fondly at him. "You'll probably be seeing a lot of them lately. Jason seems to like Ebere though, so you can stop worrying," she said sharply.
"I'm kind of tired. This is a lot to think about," she said, brows raising a little. "At least we've got plenty of time. We need to talk to the doctor - both of us - about can's and cannot's of shifting for this. And... I guess I do need to talk to Connor about time off. At least I have Sitara as a good replacement. She's quite good," she informed him, laughing a little.
She warned him, which he appreciated, about the coming 'attack of the hyenas', so he'd be prepared. He still didn't like Jason, regardless of who Jason liked, but he could tolerate him long enough for Skye to get whatever contact or advice or whatever it was she wanted out of the little wimp. "I won't touch him, I promise," he told her with a tiny little smile. He wouldn't touch Jason. Period. He'd just promised.
That left him other options, but as long as she knew he wasn't going to hurt the kid, everything was great, right?
Talk to Connor about time off? HELL YEAH. He didn't have to argue with her to get her to take it easy. That was amazing, and further proof of just how lucky he was with her. "You are a goddess, do you know that?" he asked her, forcing himself further into her personal space where she was sitting on the counter. It put her on a good level with his face, which he liked, and it was almost obvious just how much of a cat he was with the way he demanded her attention. The tea was unimportant. He was more interested in kisses and wrapping her up in his arms. "I'll go with you to talk to the doctor. Just tell me when, so I can clear anything else out of that time space."
"Oh, I'm aware," she laughed, accepting all his kisses with a bit of squealing and giggles. She locked her arms around him where he stood. "Now you can carry me upstairs, ya big bear," she commanded, still laughing. Nick knew where to find that ticklish spot right on her neck every time.
"I hope they can give me solid information to go on," she remarked. "Mitchell is a good doctor, sure, but I might need to find someone a little more specialized in shapeshifters for this. I don't know much about cross-breeding, as... 'Animal Planet' that term sounds. I wonder if it will be a hyena or a lion? I guess it'll be a hyena, but I don't really care which. Just as long as it's healthy and, not, you know. Two-headed," she added with a little laugh.