| �Well�wow, now I know how hard this was for you. Okay. Um�I�m pregnant.� Isabel blurted out. Tess� jaw dropped at the sound of those words. Those words were so familiar to her. �You�re pregnant?� Max asked. �How long?� �3 months.� �But how? Tess is 3 and a half and she looks like she�s 6 months. How can you look so thin?� Max asked, puzzled. �It�s called mind-warp.� �You can mind-warp?� Max asked. �Yeah. Tess taught me a long time ago. Tess, I�m so sorry I never told you sooner. I was just so scared. It�s hard enough for one teenager to be pregnant, and then two? It�s kind of crazy. Mom and dad are going to kill me.� Isabel was so ashamed she�d never told them sooner. Tess had come out with the truth the day she found out and Isabel had held it in for so long. �It�s okay, Izzy. You don�t have to be sorry. You didn�t do anything wrong. You�re just scared, and I know exactly how you feel.� Tess said forgivingly. She gave Isabel a warm hug. �So is that what�s been keeping you from talking to me?� �Oh have I been ignoring you?� Isabel asked innocently. �I�m sorry, I didn�t realize it. I was just so wrapped up in my own problems; I didn�t want to talk. But now that I�ve told you, I�m not keeping anything back. I promise.� �Good! Now, we just have to find out a way to tell mom and dad.� Tess said in a worried tone. �Yeah.� Isabel responded. ~~ The next day ~~ (Isabel and Tess, along with Michael, have just told their parents about Isabel) �I thought I raised you better. I�m sorry� but I just can�t believe what you�ve done.� Diane was crying in her husband�s arms. She didn�t want to accept the news that both of her daughters were pregnant. It was too much. �Do you know how irresponsible you were to have gotten yourselves into this situation? No 16-year-old should have to say they�re pregnant. And you, Michael. What were you thinking! I hope you know that we expect you to take care of this baby just as much as Isabel is going to.� Diane was on the verge of screaming. �Mrs. Evans, I will make sure this baby has the best father in the world. I guarantee that.� Michael told her. �Mom, there�s something else we should tell you. Michael and I think that it would be best if I would move in with him. This way, the baby has a mom AND a dad all the time.� Isabel said. �What? You can�t leave. This baby needs a grownup in its life, and you two are definitely not grownups. You can�t move out. I�m not letting you. You�re my only girl left.� Diane began to bawl again. Isabel moved closer to her mom and hugged her. �Mom, you�re still going to see us all the time. It�s just that we want the baby to live with its parents, not its grandparents. You understand, don�t you?� Isabel said softly. �Yes�When do you plan on moving out?� Diane asked with a hiccup in-between some words. �In two weeks, same time as Tess.� Isabel said quietly. Diane whimpered again. ~~ 8 months later (Tess� POV) ~~ �You know what I hate about being a pregnant alien? The fact that I can�t go to the hospital and have a freakin C-Section.� I say as I stuff my mouth full of French fries. �Tell me about it. This completely sucks! I think mom and dad are starting to get a little suspicious.� Isabel responds right before she takes a large bite out of her burger. �Don�t worry about it, I�ve dealt with it already. � We�re over-due and getting anxious. I�ve had to mind-warp mom and dad into thinking I got pregnant later than I actually told them. It really tires me out, so I sleep a lot. I rarely go out and when I do, I only go out with Isabel. Max is busy at the UFO centre where he got a full time job. It makes good money so we can afford the baby. But personally, I think we can manage perfectly fine by just turning $1 bills into $100 bills. I know, I know, it�s lying. But that�s what our powers are for, right? Helping us to survive. �So is your nursery finished?� Isabel asks me while taking a sip of her Giant Cherry Coke. �Yeah, Max finished it yesterday. We�re completely ready for the baby to come. And you?� �Oh yeah. You should come over today and see some of the stuff I got last night. I saw some of the cutest dresses at the mall.� �Great! How bout I come right after we eat.� �Good.� Inside Isabel�s apartment, we walk into the nursery. The walls are painted a mural of the distant world we call Antar. Max was the only one who could remember Antar fully, but he had taught the rest of us memory retrieval techniques to remember our pasts so we could remember too. Max had spent day after day in this room with Michael, drawing on the wall what he could remember. A reddish moon floated in the sky to my right and ahead of me stood another moon, only this one was a light blue. And on my left was another moon, this time a bright yellow, like our sun. A red ocean spans far into the distance underneath the window. To any ordinary person, this room would be only one person�s imagination. To us, this was home. �It�s beautiful.� I say speechless. I�ve seen this room before but not finished. It brings back so many memories of my past life, like when I used to sit out on a rock that over looked the ocean and stare out into the unknown. Suddenly I feel the baby kick violently. �Ouch!� I squeak. �What�s the matter?� Isabel asks me. �Oooh it hurts! Oooh!� I groan in agony as I drop to the floor. The baby is rather large for my body to handle and when he kicks it�s more than I can handle. But this is different. It�s harder and more painful than normal. I�m lying on the floor, clenching my fists so tight, they turn white. �Get Max.� I whisper in the pain. �Uh, Okay.� Isabel is in a panic as she picks up the phone to call Max. �Hi Max, you�ve got to come here quick. It�s Tess and the baby.� She says good bye and hangs up the phone, then runs to me and kneels down on her knees. �What�s wrong Tess?� �I don�t know. I think maybe I�m in labour.� I grunt as I try to keep myself from screaming. �Don�t worry. Max is on his way.� She tries to comfort me. �Do you need anything? Any water?� �Tobasco sauce. I NEED tobasco sauce!� I demand, as my craving for pepper becomes stronger. She gets up and runs to the kitchen. She returns with two big bottles of TS and I gulp them both down right away. That�ll keep me fine for now, since my craving has gone away. A few minutes pass by as if they were hours and then Max and Michael come through the door. Max runs to my side and picks me up to bring me to Isabel�s bed. He lays me down gently as I continue to groan with immense pain. �You�re going to be okay, Tess. Just hang in there. We�re going to try and get through this and at the end, we�ll have a beautiful little baby in our arms. Okay?� He says quietly. I nod with worry. I have such a large fear that something will go wrong. None of us know what we�re doing. I�m only praying that this labour will be like any human one. Instead of getting contractions, I receive kicks from the baby. Strong kicks. I think that�s the way he�s coming down, by kicking his way. It�s excruciatingly tormenting and I can�t stop shrieking with the kicks. I can start to see bruises forming on my belly from baby. I know Isabel is terrified out of her mind because she knows she still has to go through this whole process. But she�s staying strong and rushing back and forth between the bedroom and kitchen, getting me ice and tobasco sauce. |
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