Gen. 5.15-Matthew

A chilly breeze blew causing Kia to tighten her arm around mine and I glanced down at her.

“How are you feeling?”

I wasn’t going to attend the lighting of the tree in town square, but Kia insisted on us attending with the rest of the family despite the fact she hadn’t been feeling well.

“I’m okay. I think he’s gone to sleep or at the very least he’s stopped kicking the hell out of my insides.” Right after the words were out of her mouth, she grabbed her side and let out a long breath. “Or not.”

“Maybe we should go back to the house so you can rest. It’s cold out here and if Cameron insists on practicing his soccer moves, you should at least be warm and comfortable.”

I ran my hand across her belly and could feel the very active thumps. Kia had about two and half more weeks before she was due, but he wasn’t being kind in the last few days. Between her constant back pain that had gotten worse today and Cameron’s increased activity, Kia was having a rough go of things. I tried to pamper her as much as I could, but nothing seemed to help.

“No, I don’t want you to miss out on your family thing because of me,” she replied, frowning at me. “It’s all you guys talked about at dinner and you have to see your sisters with Santa for the first time.”

I turned my attention back to the rest of our group. Pops and Gi-Gi walked a little ways ahead of us, cuddled up like a young couple very much in love. Mom had Lois and Lori in the stroller while Dad tried to keep Lola from wiggling out of his arms. Since they’d become mobile, keeping up with them was hard. It seemed they each went in different directions at the same time. It made Feast Day dinner a hectic affair since two of them learned to unbuckle the highchair strap and would try to take flight. I laughed thinking about the poor guy playing Santa when those three got to him.

“We’ll stay for a little while, but you have to let me know if you start feeling worse.”

Stretching up on her toes, Kia gave me a quick kiss. “I will, I promise.”

We made our way over to where the family had claimed a spot. We were lucky it wasn’t too busy yet, but that would change once the sun started to go down.

“‘Att,” Lola said as wobbled over to me with her arms up. She had decided that the letter M was not part of my name. It was strange, she could say mom, hell she even said milk, but she’d settled on ‘Att for me no matter how many times we tried to correct her.

Scooping her up, I instantly gave her tickles which sent her into a fit of giggles. I wasn’t as nervous holding them now that they were bigger. At first it was strange to think I had sisters that were so much younger than me, but in the end I think it worked out well. I’m sure grown up me appreciated them a lot more than teenage me probably would have. Plus before we moved, Mom and Dad made sure to let me keep them as much as possible. Practice makes perfect they’d said, really I think they just wanted a few quiet nights to themselves. I didn’t mind though and Kia needed the practice more than I did. She was, and still is at times, very nervous around them.

I looked over to where Kia sat and laughed when I saw Lori mimicking Kia’s actions.

“Which way is the restrooms?” Kia asked, directing her question to Mom.

“Just over there,” Mom answered.

Pops went over to help Kia up, while Gi-Gi picked up Lori before taking Lola out of my arms. Mom grabbed Lois and the diaper bag and the whole group followed behind Kia towards the bathrooms.

At first I thought it was odd considering the girls were given fresh diapers about 30 minutes ago before we all left the house, but then I realized they were going to make sure Kia didn’t get lost. Yesterday she’d wandered off while they were at the store and last night she’d driven off while I was in the shower. The cops found her sitting on the side of the road in tears. Since my car was still registered to Pops, they called him after running the plates and he and Gi-Gi brought her home.

“How soon will she start her treatment?” Dad asked after they’d gotten out of earshot.

I shrugged. “Her doctors want to put her on the meds right away, but Kia is insisting on breastfeeding, so she wants to wait.”

Last month when we met with her doctors again, Kia had declined the surgery. She wasn’t comfortable with them drilling into her head and I didn’t blame her. The idea of that scared the shit out of me, but I also was scared to watch her when she slipped away. It seemed to be getting harder to bring her back when she had her episodes, but I wouldn’t push her to do a surgery like that. She had agreed at first to go on the experimental med combo, but now she was backing out of that. We’d had some pretty bad fights about it, but again in the end, I couldn’t force feed her the meds so I was stuck following her lead.

 “Do you think that’s wise?” Pops asked.

“No, but what can I do? She’s been reading all these pregnancy books and does some online pregnancy group thing and they all say that breast milk is best for baby and she won’t listen to reason on what may be best for her. I even tried to tell her what was best for our baby was having a mom that wouldn’t forget who he was. That didn’t go over well.”

“Open mouth, insert foot,” Dad said patting me on the shoulder.

 That was probably one of the worst fights we’d had recently. I was pissed when she said she wanted to wait. She’d talked and talked about being scared of something happening, she was having more bad days, yet she wanted to delay her treatment over something as trivial as what Cameron would eat. When all was said and done, I ended up apologizing and not pushing the subject no matter how much I disagreed with her decision.

Pops took a seat beside me, “Maybe have one of the women talk to her about it. Both your mom and grandmother do have a little experience in this department; they may be able to explain things to her in a way that she’d take better.”

I nodded my agreement. I’d thought about bringing the subject up again, but I never would. I tried to keep the peace as best I could with us because the stress was really getting to me. I was trying, but the more I did, the more I felt like I was starting to drown. I hated that feeling. I hated being on edge all the time and my normal coping devices were not always helpful.

“Pops you changed Gi-Gi right?”

“Yep.”

“And Dad you changed Mom?”

“Well I didn’t per se, but yes she was a human and is now a fairy. Why?”

“I was just wondering if changing Kia would help. I mean, for a person to go through that sort of physical change, a lot happens. We’re immune to disease as are vampires right?”

“Yes,” the both answered.

“So Kia becoming a fairy or a vampire should make this go away?” I asked hopeful to have found a possible option, but also pissed for not thinking of it sooner.

“Not exactly,” Dad replied. “If it were that easy, all sickness and such would be gone.”

Before he could explain why, the ladies all came walking back towards us. Pops walked over to Gi-Gi and gave her a kiss on the cheek as he took the girls from her. She then looked over at me and I knew just that quickly and quietly he’d filled her in on my question.

“Matt come with me to get some hot-coco.” I got up and dutifully followed behind her. “So you wanted to change Kia?”

“I just thought it would be an option. I mean you’ve witnessed first-hand what’s happening. I just want to help.”

“Have you asked her what she wants?”

“Come on Gi-Gi, she’s not going to make the wisest decisions. She won’t even go on her meds after Cameron is born because she wants to breast feed him. I just want her to not be what she is now!” I took a deep breath as I felt my frustrations and anxiety rising. Why were they dancing around the subject?

“I understand that darling, but you can’t force this on her.”

“I can’t force her to do anything apparently, no matter whether it’s best for her or not!”

Gi-Gi gave me a smile, seemingly not bothered by my short temper. “The change isn’t a cure all Matt. For cancers and other physical illnesses, it doesn’t always work,” she said with a heavy sigh. “For lack of a better word, changing a person is basically mutating them. Taking what they were and making them something different. There have been cases where healthy people have died during the change. Their bodies couldn’t handle it. We had a scare with your mother because it took her body a while to go through the process. When a person is sick, sometimes the mutation can have the opposite effect. It’s why changing humans isn’t a medical treatment.”

The more she talked about risks and liabilities, the less likely this option seemed for Kia. I mean we wouldn’t be doing it as a medical thing, it would be a personal choice, so there was no risk of suing some doctor for malpractice later. However, the more she talked, the more it felt like she was holding back on the real reason for the extended medical lesson.

  

“Gi-Gi, I get it, it would be a risk, and I’m sure you could explain it in a way that Kia would be okay with at least trying. I mean something has to be done for her.”

“Matt,” she said, her face showing the bad news to come before she delivered it. “The changes only ever affect the physical body. There’s nothing physically wrong with Kia,” she said quietly, stressing the word physically.

 And there it was. The truth she didn’t want to say. Kia’s problems were all mental so even if I convinced her to do this, it would be pointless no matter what.

“I’m sorry, Matt. I wish I could tell you everything would be okay. But remember you aren’t alone in this. We are all here for you to help and support you both.” She pulled me into a hug. Sadly it didn’t have the same comforting effect I’d hoped it would, but I hugged her back anyway.

“Pops suggested maybe you and Mom could talk to her about the formula thing. I mean, putting off her meds much longer…”

“Matt?” My sentence was cut off as I looked over to see Claudia standing there.

Gi-Gi turned and the displeasure on her face was evident when she saw who it was.

She smiled at Gi-Gi, “How are you today Dr. Gruber?”

“I’m fine Claudia.”

 “I’m going to get the coco,” Gi-Gi said before excusing herself. There was some sort of odd glance exchange between the two of them before she walked off.

“Fancy seeing you here,” Claudia said, apparently in no hurry to move along.

“Not really since my family still lives here and I visit often.”

“You’re family, but not you? You loved this place in high school. You talked like you’d never leave it.”

“High school was a long time ago Claudia. Hell, you couldn’t wait to get out yet you’re still here.”

She flashed me a smile, one I remembered well from high school. It was the smile she’d give me when she wanted something. “Oh me, I’m just visiting. I left this hell hole as soon as I could.”

“Oh, well good for you. I’d like to say it was good seeing you, but well, it’d be a lie.” I attempted to step around her. Last thing I needed or wanted was to deal with Claudia today or any day really.

“Wow, that’s a surprise,” she said, blocking my path.

“What?”

“You being rude. What happened to that awkward, overly accommodating guy? You know the one that got so nervous about the idea of sex he started counting.” She laughed at her own private joke.

Closing my eyes, I took a slow inhale then exhaled. One…two…three…four…I couldn’t deal with Claudia. Not today. Not after the talk I’d just had with Gi-Gi. I only wanted to spend the evening with my family and enjoy the rest of the holiday without stress if that was possible. Eight…nine…ten…

“Matt!” I snapped back and saw Claudia still standing in front of me. “What the hell? You just zoned out while I was talking to you. You’re hot, like really hot, like I’d do you right now hot, but damn, still strange as ever. I sure dodged a bullet with you. I bet your ass is still bagging groceries or some shit.”

I stared at her for a moment trying to figure out how teenage me could have ever been so in love with her. I know now it wasn’t real love, but now I don’t think it was even love of any kind. She was a vile and hateful person then and it seemed like she hadn’t changed much in the last few years.

“You want to know what happened to the old me Claudia? He met this nasty and spiteful girl whose only goal in life was to have someone else take care of her. Being a vampire had nothing to do with the fact she fed on the souls of nice boys that only wanted to do right by her!”

“Fuck you Matt! You thought having your daddy come over to try some life is precious guilt trip on me and my mom was going to make a difference? Think again Farmer Boy! I’ve gotten what I wanted in life. Darrick Abe went pro and I made sure who I got and stayed pregnant by! I get a nice monthly child support payment and I don’t have to work. Meanwhile, you’re doing what? Managing some small time store barely making minimum wage?”

“No, you dumb bitch! It’s really me that dodged that bullet! You hitched your gold digging wagon to the wrong person.”

People were walking by and giving us disapproving looks. More families had arrived and our argument was drawing attention. One…two…three…Claudia looked shocked by my outburst at first, but she quickly recovered.

“Lying is really not your style Matt. I mean I get why you’d try to impress me since I am the one that got away.”

“I don’t have to lie and I’m sure as hell not out to impress you. Got away? No, not even close. Yes, I work at a grocery store and I’m damn proud of that fact. You want to know why?”

“I already know why, Farmer Boy. You like this crap-ass small town life. You probably will get some poor, unfortunate girl to marry you and live paycheck to paycheck the rest of your lives with a bunch of snotty nosed brats running around! No…thank…you.!”

“You’re right Claudia. I do like small town life. I have in fact gotten married and we’ll be having our first child in a few weeks. You are wrong on the paycheck to paycheck part though. I enjoy working at the grocery store. It’s a nice multi-million dollar family business that my father built and I’m proud to be able to run it with him. That team Darrick plays for, my Pops owns it. And as you already know, my grandmother is a doctor. I could keep going because our family fortune on several sides goes back decades. So all that boils down to the fact I’m worth more than Darrick Abe ever will be and considering he’s been on the disabled list for an entire season, sadly it’s not looking likely his contract will be renewed.”

 The look on her face was priceless! Throwing our wealth around wasn’t something we did. It wasn’t how we acted in our family. The money was there, but it wasn’t what we based our lives on. Everyone did their own thing that made them happy and each new success our family trust grew but we just went about our daily lives. Seeing the look on Claudia’s face as she heard just what she threw away, it gave me a little bit of a rush and I started laughing. The scowl on her face took me back to my teen prank pulling days and I got an idea.

People walked by pointing and laughing. One little girl asked what was wrong with her face. The inner beauty prank was one I didn’t do often. Dad had gotten pissed at me when I’d done it to Mom. She didn’t suffer any effects because her inside matched her outside, but he told me never to do that again.

“What? What did you do to me? Why are people laughing?” she asked frantically running her hands over her face.

 “Maybe they are just seeing you for the monster that you are. Have a nice life Claudia.”

Shrinking quickly, I flew off to join the rest of my family leaving her behind calling my name. The effects of the prank would wear off in half an hour, but until then everyone would see how horrible a person she was behind that mask she wore. The best part was, she wouldn’t see what they saw if she looked in a mirror.

I tried my best to enjoy the rest of the evening. As predicted, the girls were all over the poor Santa and I think Lola pulled his beard so hard he lost hair. Kia was still not feeling well but still refused to leave. I was really worried because the kicks had turned into little contractions. Braxton Hicks, Gi-Gi explained, and that’s when Pops decided she needed to go home and rest despite her objections. He just picked her up and carried her to the car. She started crying and saying she ruined everything and we both tried to calm her down.

Most of the night she tossed and turned and was still not feeling any better in the morning. I told her we didn’t have to drive back today, but Kia said she was ready to go home. 

We said our goodbyes to Mom and Dad and headed home. We were forty-five minutes into the drive when Kia screamed out my name grabbing ahold of my arm. The sudden movement made me swerve and the driver headed towards us honked his horn at me.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, looking over to see her seat all wet.

At first I thought she’d peed herself, but her grip on my arm got tighter as she yelled again which made Klutz start barking. Shit! Shit! Shit! She was in labor! Pulling over quickly, I reached for my phone as I rushed to Kia’s side of the car. I called the one person I knew could get to us before an ambulance would.

“Pick up! Pick up! Pick up!” I said hurriedly as I listened to the ringing.

“Hello.”

“Gi-Gi she’s in labor! She wasn’t feeling well still but insisted we go home anyway and now she’s screaming and…and…”

“Calm down Matt. Tell me where you are.”

“Route 42 just outside of town.”

I heard her tell Pops to call 911 and then the line went dead. Kia was in the car screaming my name, Klutz was barking and turning circles in the backseat.

A few minutes later Gi-Gi appeared and went into action asking about the timing of the contractions and trying to talk Kia through the one she was having. I stood by helpless as I listened to Kia painful cries. I was told to open the back, put down the seats, and lay down the blanket she’d brought with her. Taking our bags out of the car, I quickly leashed Klutz and secured him to the door handle before doing as instructed. Kia was moved to the back of the car so Gi-Gi could have more room to work. My son was about to be delivered on the side of the road. One…two…three…four…

“Can’t you just take her to the hospital?”

“No Matt, moving that fast with her would be harmful to both her and Cameron.”

Moments later Pops was beside me. “The ambulance is on the way. Your grandmother can handle this, but you need to go and help your wife.”

Kia cried out again.

“Help?! How am I supposed to help?”

“Go hold her hand, let her hit you, cuss at you, anything,” he replied.

I absentmindedly nodded as I slowly approached the car. Gi-Gi was instructing Kia to push. I climbed into the small space and wedged myself in behind Kia, supporting her head in my lap. She gripped down onto my hands as she let out another scream. Klutz howled in unison. In the distance the sirens could be heard. Drivers pulled over, offering assistance but Pops kept them from getting in the way.

“You’re doing great Kia. One more push and I think he’ll be out,” Gi-Gi said.

Tears leaked from Kia’s eyes, sweat beaded on her forehead, but she nodded okay. Taking a deep breath, Kia pushed again. Klutz let out another howl. Seconds later a tiny cry was heard, Pops handed Gi-Gi a blanket and she wrapped it around the baby. Our baby. He’d been born on Route 42, in the back of my car delivered by my grandmother, but he was okay. And he had one hell of a set of lungs as the soft cry had turned into a full blow wailing.

I felt Kia’s hand on my cheek. “Why are you crying? I did all the work.”

I looked down at her and she had the brightest smile. “Because I think you broke my fingers,” I replied, then leaned forward to kiss her.  

**A/N**

Yes, I changed up how the inner beauty thing works. It was hard to find a way to work him doing his LTW into the story so this is what I've come up with. Basically only people that look at his victims will see the change, but not the person themselves. The way I figure it, the person doesn't actually change, it's more like a temporary illusion.  

I have some shots of his other victims since in the main file he is complete, but I thought Claudia's needed to be all on her own. Ain't she pretty!!! LOL