“I don’t know.” Cautious, Eve slid her hand away, tucked it behind her back. Logically she knew pregnancy wasn’t contagious, but all the same. “What do you think? I mean, are you . . . did you . . . Damn, I’m not processing yet. Was this, like, an accident?”
“No. We did it on purpose.” She scooted her tiny butt onto the desk, swung her pretty legs so the gel sandals bumped and squished against the wood. “We’ve been trying to procreate for a while. Me and Leonardo are really good at the process. We didn’t have any luck at first, but you know, try, try again. We tried a lot,” she said on another wild giggle.
“Are you sure you’re not just drunk?”
“No, totally pregs.” She patted her belly. “Embryo’s in and cooking.”
“Oh, God, don’t say embryo.” For some reason the word in combination with the squishy sound of the gel made Eve queasy.
“Come on, we all started out as one.”
“Maybe. But I don’t like to think about it.”
“I’m like totally focused on it now. But wait, because I’m getting ahead of myself. Anyhow, when I was at Olympus, I got this feeling maybe I was baking—I was whooshing in the mornings and—”
“Okay, skip that part, too.” Definitely queasy now, Eve realized, and made a mental note to sterilize the hand that had pressed against Mavis’s bare belly.
“Right, so I took a preg test and it was positive. Then, you know, I got worried I’d messed it up because I wanted it so much, so I took three more. Liftoff.”
She pushed off the desk, whirled around the room. “Then I went to the clinic up there, just to be more sure. I didn’t want to say anything to my honeydew until I was abso-poso. I’m six weeks into the deal.”
“Six weeks.”
“We’d tapped out pretty regular, so I figured I was just feeling off at first and I was kind of afraid to do the check because you get so bummed when it’s a no-go. But when the whooshing kept up—oh, sorry. I just knew something was up last week. I just went to the clinic here. Just one more check, you know, do an on planet deal. System’s go. I went home and I told Leonardo. He cried.”
Eve caught herself rubbing a hand over her heart. “In a good way?”
“Oh yeah. He stopped everything and started right away designing—well not right away because we had to celebrate by re-enacting the conception program—but afterward he starting designing me preg clothes for when I get fat. I can’t wait. Can you imagine?”
“No. It’s something else that’s beyond my scope. You’re really happy?”
“Dallas, every morning when I wake up and puke, I’m so happy I could just . . .” She trailed off and burst into tears.
“Oh God. Oh jeez.” Eve sprang up, hurried over, then wasn’t quite sure what to do. She tried a hug, intending on keeping it light—just in case—but Mavis grabbed on hard.
“This is the best thing that’s ever happened to me, in my whole life. I had to tell Leonardo first, then you. Because you’re my best friend. We can tell everybody else now. I want to tell everybody. But I had to tell you first.”
“Okay, so you’re crying because you’re happy.”
“Yeah. It’s so iced. I can have mood swings whenever I want and without chemical assistance. No drinking, which sort of blows, but it’s not good for little Eve or Roarke.”
Eve pulled back so abruptly, Mavis almost doubled over with laughter. “We’re not really going to call the baby that. We’re just borrowing them for fun until they can tell us what equipment it’s got. You get to call those names for when you and Roarke—”
“Shut up. Don’t start down
that road. I don’t want to hurt a pregnant woman.”
She only grinned. “We made a baby. Me and Leonardo made a baby. I’m going to be the best mommy, Dallas. I’m going to totally rock.”
“Yeah.” Eve ran her hand over the thick, colorful braids. “You will.”
Chapter 12
Eve was a lot steadier walking into a bar that smelled of cop than she was hugging a pregnant woman.
You knew what to expect at a cop bar—good, greasy food, alcohol without the frills, and people who made you for what you were the minute you walked in the door.
The lights were low. Conversations didn’t pause when she stepped inside, but she felt the subtle shifting of bodies. Then the flip back to business as usual when they recognized her as one of their own.