"Oh I see how it is, scared I’m gonna take one of your men." Lisa joked a little and noticed neither of her friends laughing. "Sorry."
"No, it’s not because of you. It’s because of our guys. They’re not very friendly when it comes to meeting new people…" Stephanie started, letting Theresa continue.
"Yeah, Stephanie’s boyfriend is pretty nice but the rest of the guys would be very rude to you. We live with five different guys and we don’t want them to be mean to you so, if you ever come over it would have to be during the day, when they’re, umm, working…"
"Oh, well I’ll come visit tomorrow afternoon, about five o’clock. Sound good?" Lisa asked, watching as Theresa nodded excitedly and Stephanie frowned slightly.
"Yeah sounds great! You just gotta leave before seven, ‘cause the guys come home for dinner and they prefer not to have company." Theresa smiled, taking a receipt out of her purse and scribbled the address of the house on it with her eyeliner pencil. "Here ya go. It’s in a pretty vacant area over on the other side of the park."
"Okkie dokkie, I’ll be there tomorrow. But I gotta head home, I, unlike some very lucky people, have to work tomorrow." Lisa grinned, giving both of her friends a farewell hug and retreated out of the store quickly.
"Theresa, why did you do that? If one of the guys wakes up before we get her out of the house they’ll wind up killing her!" Stephanie muttered loudly, looking curiously at her blond confidant.
"Don’t worry, I’ll make sure none of the guys come out of the basement until we get her out. But it’s nice to have her to talk to again."
Stephanie shook her head, knowing, or maybe fearing something dreadful was going to happen, and no matter what anyone did there would be an awful outcome.
***~~**~~***
Stephanie and Theresa walked into the house three hours after they had departed, both carrying an arm full of clothing bags. Nick was the first one to see them and stared at the bags inquisitively.
"Did you two just buy out the entire store? Oh, what did you ladies get from Victoria Secret?"
Aj’s head shot up at the mention of a lingerie store. He looked over at the two women from his seat in the living room and put on a mock frown.
"I thought you weren’t going to let her blow up my credit card!" Aj laughed accusingly at Stephanie.
"Yeah, well I tried but, she has an addiction to clothes she’ll never wear. But she left about fifty bucks on the card for you…"
Aj jump to his feet in pure shock. "The card had a limit of over five thousand dollars!"
"Yeah, yeah I know, but it’s kinda hard to stop buying when the stores have so many nice things." Theresa giggled happily almost completely forgetting she was angry with him.
"Well at least your in a better mood. I need to speak with you upstairs if you don’t mind." Aj explained, taking the bags from Stephanie’s hands and started to follow Theresa up the stairs. Stephanie quickly grabbed his arm.
"What are you going to say to her!" She whispered in his ear.
"I’ll tell ya later." Aj grinned mischievously and hurried up the stairs. Stephanie just shook her head and prayed for the best.
"Hey what ya got there, baby girl?" A voice whispered in her ear, she jumped around and met Brian’s magnificent ocean eyes.
"Hmm, just something Theresa forgot. I’ll be right back I gotta go give it to her." She lightly kissed his mouth and hurried up the stairs after Aj and Theresa. She didn’t catch the conversation but did hear the loud sound of an open palm meeting a cheek. Fearing Aj had gotten mad she rushed into the room.
"You are so fucking conceited and rude. I’m not even sure why I fell in love with you!" Theresa screamed at him and left the room. It was obvious that it was Aj who had gotten smacked, due to the bright red hand print on his left cheek.
"What in the hell did you say to her this time?" Stephanie shouted at him. Aj didn’t even look up, he simply handed her the piece of paper he had written earlier.
"Love's a sensation caused by temptation, a guy sticks his location in a girls' destination to increase the population for the next generation, do you understand my explanation, or do you need a demonstration." She read out loud and looked at him in shock. "You actually said this to her?"
Aj nodded, keeping his gaze on the floor. He looked like he was actually ready to cry. Stephanie slowly walked towards him and place a hand on his tattooed shoulder.
"Well, since she’s looking for a more personal, sensitive and romantic apology, I’d say try writing her a poem…"
The words had barely left her lips when Aj leapt up and looked around the room quickly for something. He rushed over to his nightstand and picked up a large leather-bound book and flipped towards the back of it. He began reading and Stephanie broke his consintration.
"Aj, has there every been an incident when a mortal woman got pregnant with a vampires child?"
He looked up at her in utter surprise. "Why?"
"Hmm, just a question, something me and Theresa were discussing. We were talking about having children. She said she didn’t want any but I wanted a couple…" She rattled on, knowing he could see the lie in her eyes.
"There was only one incident I know of, and that was a while back. Probably before you were born. Yes, a mortal can get pregnant, but the one time that happened the mother didn’t survive and it turned the father into a…" Aj stopped mid-sentence, not wanting to bring up things that were best left in the past.
Stephanie could tell it was one of the guys by the waver in his voice and how he refused to look at her as he spoke.
"Who did it happen to?" She asked, feeling dread that it might be Brian.
"No it wasn’t Brian… But we all swore never to bring up that subject again, and I intend on keeping my word." Aj said firmly.
"Ok, then how does the whole pregnancy thing happen?" She asked, clutching the brown paper bag tighter.
"Well, the two individuals have to have a pure love. They only way a baby is made is through a pure heart. And the woman must be a virgin and have a good soul. And if I remember correctly the vampire can not have drank from them." Aj explained, watching her take in all he had just said.
"Okay, just asking. I had better let you continue with trying to get Theresa back." She smiled softly and headed out of the room.
"Oh and Steph, tell me what the results say, okay?" He said softly causing her to whip around. He just gave her a knowing smile and went back to his reading.
"Okay." She muttered back and hurried down to the bathroom.
***~~**~~***
Theresa sat outside the bathroom, waiting impatiently for Stephanie to come out with any news. She paced back and forth, thinking of what effects the news would have on Brian if Stephanie was indeed pregnant. She didn’t even notice Aj was up to her.
"What are you pacing for?" he asked, stopping her mid-step.
"Umm, waiting for Steph to get done it the bathroom so we can go through everything I got at the store."
"Liar." Aj grinned watching her face get red.
"Shut the hell up. You can’t say anything to Brian, not until she figures out what to do…" She stopped, hearing a loud thud in the bathroom. Aj and her quickly opened the door and found Stephanie seated on the floor, shaking violently, staring at the small pregnancy test.
"It’s blue, it says I’m pregnant, it’s blue." She mumbled looking up at them. Theresa rushed to her friend’s side and hugged her tightly. Aj just stood there, shocked but utterly calm. Stephanie looked up at him and realized what he was thinking.
‘The one time that happened the mother didn’t survive and it turned the father into a…’
***~~**~~***
Brian sat in his room, reading one of Theresa’s romance novels he found laying around. He was right at one steamy love scene when Aj and Theresa walked into the room, a shy Stephanie following. He tossed the book off the bed and jumped up.
"What’s up you guys?" He asked, wondering why Stephanie couldn’t meet his eyes.
"Steph needs to have a little chat with you…" Theresa started, silenced by Brian.
"Then why are you guys in here as well."
"You two can leave, I’ll just need to speak with Bri alone." Stephanie said in a hushed voice, heading over to the cd player and scanning through Brian’s cds.
Theresa went to say something but Aj silenced her and pulled her from the room.
"Do you mind if I put on a cd, it kinda helps me to relax." Stephanie asked, pulling out Creed’s Human Clay cd. Brian nodded and she placed it in the machine. She got it to the song she needed and hit play.
The music played and a soulful voice started the beautiful ballad.
Well I just heard
the news today,
it seems my life
is gonna change
I close my eyes
begin to pray
as tears of joy stream down my face
With arms wide open…
Brian listened to the song and watched her take a seat in the chair by the darkened window. He wasn’t sure why she was acting so strangely but rose and walked over to her. When he knelt down before her he noticed a trail of tears over her cheek.
"Oh, Honey, what’s the matter? What do you need to tell me?" He asked worriedly, taking her small hand in his.
"Bri… Brian. I found out some, umm, interesting news." She whispered, meeting his eyes and trying to consintrate on the song.
Well I don’t know if I’m ready
to be the man,
I have to be
I’ll take a breath, I’ll take her by my side,
we’re staring on
we created life,
with arms wide open…
He looked into her shining chocolate eyes and pleaded with her to tell him.
"Brian, I… I’m… it’s so hard to explain!" She whimpered, feeling more tears roll down her cheeks. His smooth hand caressed over her face, taking the tears from her cheeks.
"Try and explain it to me, I have no where to go." He comforted, as Stephanie leaned in towards him and rested her forehead against his shoulder, turning her mouth towards his ear.
"I’m pregnant."
***~~**~~***
Theresa and Aj sat in silence on their large black satin covered bed. Aj suddenly stood from the bed and fell to his knees in front of her.
"Aj, what the hell are you doing?" She stuttered, watching him pull his leather journal from underneath the bed and open it to a marked page.
"Apologizing to you." He whispered, realizing he didn’t need the book, for he had already memorized every line of what he was going to say.
Theresa stared at him in confusion and waited patiently.
"I wish I had said,
your beauty is like a light.
and I am drawn to it,
Fluttering by it’s flame.
I wish I had said
your body is to die for,
And I long to be martyred.
Yes I wish I had said
your smile melts through my heart,
leaving only your warmth.
Oh how I wish I had said,
your translucent eyes
send your soul to my heart,
forcing it to beat again.
Yes that is what I wish I had said
but with confounded cowardice,
All I said was
‘hello’ with a smile, and I pasted you by." He finished the last line, softly wiping a stray tear off her cheek and meeting her eyes.
Theresa didn’t give him a chance to say more, she simply pulled his lips to hers and smothered his lips and face with millions of tiny kisses. Aj kissed her back but then pushed her back.
"Does that show you how I feel for you?" he whispered over her lips, listening to her light breath. She nodded slowly and pulled his body into hers and kissed him again.