Woods Random Legacy: Chapter 37 - Closer

They stood in silence for a few long moments, Anne's eyes locked on James's face as his mind raced.  He'd been in this position before.  It had seemed catastrophic then, but things were different now.  Anne was different.  He forced his head to move, the nod seeming stiff at first but quickly becoming more natural.
James: "I really wasn't expecting that."
Anne: "I know.  Sorry."

James: "No, don't be sorry.  We can make it work, unless you don't want to."
Something close to fear flickered across Anne's face for a moment.
James: "What's wrong?"
Anne shook her head.
Anne: "Nothing, it's nothing.  Just scary, you know, the idea of having a baby.  But I want to keep it."
James nodded again.
James: "We can make it work.  I'm not going to make the same mistakes I made before.  It'll be different, with you here."

Anne didn't look entirely convinced, but she nodded as well.
Anne: "It wasn't supposed to happen this way."
James: "Yeah, I know.  But it'll be alright."

As the pregnancy progressed, their relationship deepened.  The entire concept of a long-term relationship was new to James, and he couldn't quite explain what it was about the secretive schoolteacher from Woodbridge - a town so small and remote that he'd never even heard of it before - that had captured his heart.  One night, he decided to show her something.

After the short walk up the hill to the catacombs, they descended, James narrating all the way.
James: "So far, only my parents' remains are kept here, though I expect to inter my siblings and then myself when the time comes.  I'll have to set a guardian for the catacombs when I get older, but that should be easy to do.  Of course, there's built in protection against all the common sorts of supernatural creatures up here.  Zombies, werewolves, vampires, witches, aliens, and even those fairies I've heard stories about.  The whole place is shielded, so they can't touch my family.  They can look, but no touching.  On top of that, there's the biometric lock, so only myself and my descendants can open the door.  Supernatural powers would allow them to bypass that, yes, but like I said - no touching!"
He was already halfway down the first tunnel when he realized that Anne wasn't behind him.  Backtracking, he found her at the foot of the staircase, frozen to the spot.
James: "Are you alright?"
Her voice was quiet and trembled as she spoke, so James moved closer to catch her words.
Anne: "It's so creepy down here.  The whole place, it just...it's giving me the chills."

James: "Baby, it's fine.  The dead can't hurt us."
Anne: "I know."
James: "It's even too early for my parents' ghosts to start their haunting.  We'll only be down here for a few minutes, I promise, I just want to show you something in the second chamber."
Anne nodded, swallowing hard, and James leaned in to give her a gentle kiss, before taking her hand and leading her through the dim tunnels.

Soon, they came to the object in question.  Anne stared, her fear either forgotten or simply overwhelmed by the sight of the glowing crystal.
Anne: "What is it?"
James: "Tiberium.  I found it when I was still in school."
Anne: "Shouldn't that be in a government laboratory somewhere?"
James shrugged.
James: "Why should it?  I found it, not them."
Anne: "What if they just come and take it?  You could go to jail."
James: "How would they find it?  There's shielding built in, all around us.  There's no way they could run a detection scan that returned meaningful results."

Anne: "Why did you bring me down here, James?"
He glanced at her uncertainly, replying with some doubt in his voice.
James: "I just thought it was beautiful to look at.  The way it glows and all.  I wanted to share it with you."
Anne smiled and rested her head on James's shoulder.
Anne: "It is.  Thank you."

Alpha enjoyed the outdoors more as the weather warmed.  She even found a flower growing in the side yard and brought it back inside.

It brightened up her plain room considerably, and the teacher who had given her the nutrient solution promised that it would remain fresh for almost the entire season.

She studied hard - what else was there to do? - and quickly achieved an A+ in her classes.  Of course, she was careful to avoid too much attention, and declined offers to join the overachiever groups such as the spelling bee team.

The people at school still bothered her, all except for Valerie of course.  But she recognized that school was something that she would have to get through, and the better she did in it the less she would have to deal with people later on.

In the last trimester of Anne's pregnancy, James was promoted at work yet again.  Naturally, she didn't know what it was that he did, but he shared the news of the promotion with her; she was happy, the extra funds would come in handy to purchase diapers and other supplies that couldn't be recycled from when Alpha was young.  Of course, his promotion to Super Villain put James second only to the leader.  He would need to move quickly and carefully from this point forward if he wanted to attain his goal.  He purchased a book - "Making Yourself Indispensable" - that he had seen on a bookshelf in the leader's office.  Contrary to his expectations, the book took the position that he should be indispensable to his coworkers, rather than his boss.  A unique perspective, and one he would keep in mind if the opportunity ever came to prove himself.

It came sooner than he'd anticipated.  Only a few weeks later, the leader presented a scheme that was truly questionable, involving sending a team of henchman to secure a warehouse just outside of town.  When James mentioned his misgivings about the situation, he was told not to question the orders.  Thinking quickly, he intercepted the team as they left the base of operations, telling them that the mission had been scrubbed.  The boss was furious, and only the arrival of a report that a non-affiliated thief had been picked up during a police sting at that very warehouse that night saved his job.

As he returned home, he wondered if this was the right approach to take.  What use was having the support of your underlings, if your superior could fire you at her whim?  Only time would tell.

James also worried about Anne.  Her morning sickness, though mild, hadn't abated over the course of the pregnancy; if anything, it had gotten worse.  James was no doctor, but he knew that it couldn't be healthy for a woman in her last few weeks of pregnancy to be spending so much time curled up in front of the toilet.

One morning, he came in to find her sitting in the opposite corner of the bathroom, cradling something in her lap.
James: "Why are you over there?"
Anne twitched and quickly raised the small bottle to her lips, downing the contents - James saw a flash of blue as the liquid exited the clear flask - in a moment.
James: "What's that?  Are you drinking?"
She clenched the bottle and shook her head silently.  James, suddenly very aware that he hardly knew this woman at all, took another step into the room.
James: "Anne.  What's going on here?"
She finally seemed to find her voice, responding quietly.
Anne: "It's nothing."
James: "It looked like something to me.  Stand up, look at me."
She stood and stepped over to him, dropping the empty bottle into the bag in front of herself.

James: "Just tell me, what's going on.  What was that stuff?  And don't say nothing, because we both know it wasn't."
Anne: "Medicine."
James: "What?"
Anne: "It's medicine, James.  I didn't tell you because I didn't want you to worry."
James: "If you're sick, we need to get you to the hospital."
Anne shook her head.
Anne: "There's no cure, I've been through this before.  If I take the medicine, I'm okay."
James: "And if you stop taking it?"
Anne: "I die."

The words hung heavily between them.  Finally, James broke the silence.
James: "So how long do you have left?"
Anne: "A while, if I take the medicine.  Probably as long as anyone else, if things don't get worse."
He nodded, still frowning in concern?
James: "What about the baby?"
Anne: "I can't pass it on like that, the baby's fine."
James: "No, I meant about the medicine.  Will it hurt the baby?"
Anne was silent for a moment as she thought, then shook her head.
Anne: "No, it's safe."
James smiled and reached forward to pull her into a gentle hug.

James: "You could have told me sooner."
Anne: "I thought you'd worry and throw me out, so I tried to keep it a secret.  I'm sorry."
James: "It's fine.  Things will be fine, just try to relax."

As he held her, James's question echoed through her head.  "Will it hurt the baby?"  The thing was, she didn't know.

~ * ~

Oh noes, what's wrong with Anne? :(