8.65 – A legacy

Get ready for a quick tour of the new house ~

I tried not to rush this chapter. It was VERY hard not to.

Xavier’s POV

“So? What do you think we should do?” I asked, opening the door with a sly smile.

Edmund stepped inside, taking in the medium sized empty room. We had two empty rooms in our new house still waiting to be filled, and yesterday night I’d finally decided on an idea for it.

Before we got married we’d found ourselves a nice house at a really good price for what it was worth.

But that was due to the house’s history. Ridgevalley could be a little superstitious sometimes.

It seems a supernatural – a werewolf I think – had lived and died here. The house didn’t have that great of a history. Rumors were this werewolf had a taste for natural blood and had killed a few for fun. Eventually a natural had gotten fed up and killed him in his own home.

Yeah…a little dark. Tended to keep most of Ridgevalley away. The werewolf’s kin had cleaned up the house and tried to sell it, and the price had gradually gone down as no one put up an offer.

Edmund and I had adored the house and decided to buy it. We weren’t much for superstitions.

Though this did mean the neighbours still weren’t that enthusiastic at dropping by for a hello.

“Maybe we could turn it into a study…you know for your writing.” I suggested, even though that wasn’t at all what I had in mind.

Edmund shrugged. “We already have one downstairs beside the kitchen. I don’t think having two is practical.”

“Hmm, then what could we do with such a nice small room?” I asked, slipping my hands on his waist and laying my head on his shoulder.

“Sounds like you already have an idea.” Edmund smirked.

I shrugged innocently.

 

“I think it’d make a nice bedroom.” I smiled. “For, you know, a kid.”

“A kid?”

“Yeah. It’d be nice wouldn’t it?” I said, a little bit of doubt stirring inside me.

“I think it’d be a great idea.” Edmund said, smiling as much as I’d begun to.

“You’d make a great dad too.”

“Right back at you.” Edmund said as he pulled me in for a kiss.

***

“I’m not a bad cook!” Evan exclaimed, cracking an egg all over the counter.

Erin burst out laughing.

Apparently Evan had run out of gifts to bring Erin every time he stopped by the apartment, so one time he’d decided to make a meal for her. The apartment nearly burnt down and Erin’s first reaction was “We gotta show this to Xav and Ed!”

“Our kitchen’s doomed.” Edmund sighed. “After all the hard work we put in just keeping it clean!”

“Spare the oven will you?” I asked.

“You guys are not funny. What happened at Erin’s was an unexpected accident!”

Erin just kept laughing.

Half an hour later…

“Well sh*t.”

“It was a simple waffle recipe too of all things.” Erin giggled, looking at the burnt meal over his shoulder.

“Hey I think this is still eatable…” Evan exclaimed as he dissected one.

So, maybe more out of pity than anything else, we all took a plate of waffles with a generous amount of syrup covering them. Only the outer part was burnt, so at the very least, with some peeling, the waffles tasted pretty good.

“So Evan, how are things?” Edmund asked, making Evan groan almost instantly.

“Still not good. I’m just happy they haven’t tried to kill me yet.” He said.

Evan had at least stopped turning up unconscious in alleyways. That was a bonus. It seemed they were growing more annoyed with him than anything else now.

“What about you guys?” Erin asked, slyly glancing at both of us. “Any baby plans?”

Edmund smiled a little, knowing full well I’d told Erin about the subject coming up.

“We’re still thinking about it.” I replied, and Edmund and I shared a look.

It was one thing to want one. There were a lot of other factors to consider.

***

Edmund sighed contentedly, leaning back into the couch.

“Thank god for breaks. I’m just reaching my end here.” He said.

“Yeah, you’ve been working pretty hard.” I said, unclasping and reclasping my watch.

“I just can’t get this next part down. Nothing I write seems good and it’s making me go crazy.” Edmund said, rubbing his temples.

“Maybe you should stop writing for a day or two. You’ve been on your computer all day since Tuesday.” I said, taking his hand and placing a quick kiss on it.

“Yeah I know, but I’ve been stuck on this part for weeks. There’s only so long I can put off writing it.” He said with another sigh.

We sat in silence for a few moments, watching the commercials, until the thoughts stirring in my head made themselves known.

“We could adopt.”

“Adopt?”

I pushed myself off his lap, sensing his dislike for the idea.

“You do remember I was adopted right? There’s nothing wrong in it.” I replied a little quickly.

“Obviously Xav! I can see that, you turned out amazing after all.” He said with a smirk. “I’m just…not that enthusiastic at the idea?”

“Why?”

“I kind of like the idea of having a kid with your eyes.” Edmund said with the sweetest smile.

I couldn’t deny that having a kid with our genes was appealing, but…

“A little red head running the house would be cute, but that’s going to be a little hard unless you were planning on some drastic measure I don’t approve of.”

Edmund laughed. “No, no nothing like that! I was thinking more on the idea of a surrogacy. Initially it would be more expensive than adoption actually, but I think if we did things right we could actually manage it for the same price, or even lower!”

I blinked a little surprised. “You’ve actually done research on this.”

Edmund chuckled. “You’re not the only one who’s been thinking about this. I’m as excited with the idea as you are.”

“Okay. Let’s see if surrogacy is the option for us.”

And that’s what we were determined to find out for the two months that followed.

We spent a lot of time researching on the subject and on the ways to make it cheaper. We weren’t exactly rolling in money, even if Edmund’s books were selling really well and I’d managed to get a good promotion recently.

We called a lot of different people to get a feel of which company would be the best, and if getting a loan for this was the action to take.

Once we started getting more and more comfortable with the idea, we brought it up with our friends, asking whether they thought surrogacy was the best option.

They all seemed too focused on the happy prospect that we were really working our way towards getting a kid.

It’s when we asked Lilith about it, that our decision really became final.

“I think surrogacy would be a great option for you two.” She said. “And actually, if you do choose that, I wouldn’t mind being the surrogate mother. Actually I would love to! And I think it would be cheaper for you two if it was someone you knew.”

“Really?” Edmund asked “You’d do that?”

“Yes of course!”

We exchanged smirks, and I noticed Erin’s mood darken a bit. With a smile at both Lilith and Edmund, I pulled Erin to the side.

“Erin…” I said as Edmund and Lilith walked off to talk about the idea a little more.

“What?”

“What’s going on?”

“Don’t you already know with your sixth sense and all?”

“Are you really jealous over this?”

She bit her lip. It was obvious she thought she was being ridiculous over this.

“Well I am your best friend.” She mumbled. “Maybe I liked the idea of being able to do that for both of you.”

I smiled. “And that’d make me happy if you did, but you don’t fit the qualifications.”

Erin narrowed her eyes. “How?”

“Well…the company we’re interested in won’t take surrogate mothers who’ve drunk alcohol in large amounts in the last two years.” I explained.

Erin smirked. “Ah haha, in that case…”

I suddenly lunged forwards, grabbing my friend in for a hug.

“Oh god, I’m getting excited now. We’re really going to do this.” I mumbled into her hair and she chuckled.

“And I’m so excited to see how you two are going to be parents.”

“You’re supposed to say you think we’re going to be great parents.”

“I don’t like lying to you Xavier.”

“Hey!”

“I’m just kidding haha!”

***

“Meh…that’s weird.” Alistair said, surprising everyone in the room.

Maxwell rolled his eyes.

“What?” Edmund asked with a slight chuckle.

“I said I thought it was weird.” Alistair repeated.

“What’s weird about it?”

“I just can’t picture it.” Alistair said shaking his head and frowning like he really was trying hard to see it in his mind. Edmund laughed softly, ruffling his brother’s hair.

“I think it’s cool.” Maxwell said, reaching over to feel Lilith’s growing belly. “And I can see it. A baby in there? It’s just really tiny isn’t iti?”

“You got that right.” Lilith smiled.

It was Alistair’s turn to roll his eyes.

The front door opened, and Erin came in, bearing a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes.

She gave a quick wave.

“Max honey, time to go home.”

“What!? But mooomm can’t we stay a little longer? Lilith said she’d tell us if the baby kicked!” Maxwell whined. But then he caught Alistair silently laughing at him with his stare. “I mean, okay…”

“I have something to tell your uncles first though, so you can go play or wait for the baby to kick for a little while.” Erin said.

“Alright!”

Exchanging a look, Edmund and I followed Erin into the kitchen.

She gave me one look, bit her lip and then refused to talk, knowing I’d eventually figure it out with my sixth sense.

And when I did, I tried my best not to laugh.

“This is a marvelous opportunity to say I told you so.” I said, really unable to resist.

Edmund frowned. “What’s going on?”

Erin met my eyes, realized I wasn’t going to tell him, and spoke up. “I’m pregnant.”

This time I really did laugh. Erin reached over and slapped my arm.

“I don’t get it…why are you acting like this is a bad thing?” Edmund asked with a smile.

“Well,” I said. “When Erin and Evan began dating, Erin told me she’d never be dumb enough to get pregnant by accident. Apparently she was.”

“It must’ve been that one time. It was too early in the month, I didn’t think anything would happen…” Erin theorized, biting her lip.

“How did Evan take the news? I’m assuming its his.” Edmund asked with a smirk.

 

“Of course it’s his! Geez you two are horrible.” Erin said, hands on her hips. “I just came back from telling him actually. And he reacted a lot differently than I expected…he just doesn’t seem like the dad type you know?”

“He did give me a scare though. For a moment he seemed to be frozen after I told him the news. And then he started muttering things, and when I asked him to just say it…”

“He actually smiled and hugged me!”

“I never thought about having kids before Erin, but I’d be willing to have this one with you. And make it work. I haven’t gotten all that’s due to me back, but I have enough for this.”

“I still feel horrible though. I’m not even sure I want to go through another pregnancy.” Erin said with a sigh.

“You’ll probably warm up to it eventually.” I said with a smirk. It was Erin, she’d watch Maxwell go, she’d start imagining what this baby could become, and she’d decide she wanted to keep it.

“But if you don’t, that’s fine.” Edmund cut in. “Pretty sure Evan’ll understand.”

I faked thinking about it, then shook my head. “Nah, she’ll keep it.”

“I’m really liking your husband more right now.” Erin said and I laughed.

“Oh hey…you two done the room yet? Can I see it?” Erin asked excitedly.

“No! Were not done yet.” I said.

“We’re getting close though. We finished painting this afternoon.” Edmund replied.

“Ooh, can I see it?” Erin asked, eager to get a look at the baby’s future room.

“No! The paint’s probably still fresh, you’re not going anywhere near that room.”

“Ehhh you’re mean Xavier.” Erin complained, and I chuckled rolling my eyes.

***

Nikita

I’d known before the doctor had even shown us.

We we’re going to have a baby girl. And now, 7 months into Lilith’s pregnancy, we’d finally decided on a name.

Nikita

 

Nikita Whitelight as it happens.

Now that was a long discussion. What last name should we give her? Once we got married Edmund absolutely wanted to take my name. He didn’t want to be associated with the Pallens anymore and I didn’t protest. When we were discussing baby names though, he suggested we give her Whitelight instead of Jales.

I wasn’t too sure at first, and I spent a lot of time thinking about it. Even went and asked Tina and Charlie what they thought about it. In the end they only wanted me to know they didn’t mind either way.

In the end we did give her Whitelight.

It felt a little like we were adding honor, a legacy, to her name. For everything that had happened, for all the people that had suffered. As if giving her that name would ensure the protection of all the Whitelights that had come before her.

Nikita Whitelight

***

3:13 am

I woke up with a small start, the remnants of a bad dream fleeing behind my eyelids.

The feeling that something horrible was going to happen. Something would go wrong with Lilith’s pregnancy. The vampires James had killed were still alive. This happy life I was leading with Edmund was all a dream.

But per usual, after a few moments, my sixth sense would kick in to tell me not to worry. Lilith’s pregnancy was going to go fine. James had killed those vampires. My life with my husband was real.

This was nothing compared to what I had endured over two years ago now. I didn’t have nightmares anymore. Sometimes, maybe once a month, I’d get a bad dream, but I could usually go back to sleep a few minutes after if I woke up from it.

It didn’t feel like I could go back to sleep this time though. I crossed my legs on the bed and concentrated on calming myself down, on pushing back the small want to go out and get myself a quick drink.

But my meditating ended up only waking me up more, my magic tingling excitedly as time worn on. And then it hit me.

Nikita

My phone buzzed and I rushed to grab it, eagerly looking at the new text I’d gotten.

Lily: Its happening! Im heading to the hospital

A smile spread on my face and I quickly jumped back onto the bed.

“Edmund! Edmund wake up! Lilith’s going into labor!”

 

 

 

 

And then there was a cliffhanger!

So yeah busy busy busy I am, next update will be in April, see ya!

Okay no bad joke XD Can’t help it, I’m actually so psyched for this baby. JUST SO PSYCHED.

Means per usual in two days you guys get that chapter

P.s. For personal preferences I want Ed’s genes we’re all going to imagine that surrogacy has evolved to the point where they can take a sperm’s genetic data and modify it to form an egg, with which they then fertilize with the other man’s sperm and impregnate the surrogate mother with it. Ah technological advancements.

• As you all know, Lilith’s inclusion was a small collab done with Iomai! And here’s the chapter that mirrors this one. Go on and read Lilith’s story too! She lives her own adventures 😀