A1386g

"Marie, is this what you've been doing when you're online?" Mint asked, as she surveyed my base.

"I've mostly been shiny hunting." I replied between carrots, as Mint's character stared at mine.

"...and you already maxed your base out." Mint replied. "You've only had the game for what, three weeks?"

"Yes, and everyone's been gone and I felt great the entire time, so I got a lot done. I beat the story, did the DLC, and so I played around. It's been too quiet really."

"Makes sense."

"And I'd have more to do if someone could just get sent over already. I'm already doing the sheets and cleaning the room every day, and all of our laundry, and I still end up needing to find something to do."

"Adding more hands wouldn't make for more work."

"Mint, who actually does your laundry?"

"Housekeeping?"

"Exactly."

"Anyway, how much free time do you have?" Mint asked, as her character spun around to look at me. "Just getting all those dolls takes like fifty hours."

"Turns out I lost more time to my period than I remembered, and I haven't had one in a while so I could get more done, and when I got tired, I just played this before a nap." I answered with a shrug as my character slid into a wall.

"Wait, when was your last period?"

I thought back. "Six weeks ago."

Oh. Oh no.

Mint groaned, and I could feel her disappointment exuding from the screen and my headphones. "Marie, please go take a pregnancy test."

"Do you want to be on for that?" I replied, as I went to log out of the game. I didn't think she would, but it was probably polite to offer. This was probably a thing like closing the bathroom door though.

"Ugh, no, eww. I have to go meet Christine for a shoot in like an hour." Mint replied, audibly wincing. "Tell me the results later if you feel like it."

"Message me when you want to meet up again, but I'll talk to you later." I replied as I hung up. Definitely a bathroom door thing.

Getting up from my spot in the armchair that we tucked into a corner of the bedroom, I left my my gameboy on the shelf next to Serena. Then, I went to go look for pregnancy tests. In retrospect, I probably should've bought a box well before this, but everyone was usually pretty well stocked for everything so I didn't think I needed to at the time. So, still mentally kicking myself, I went to go find the person who would actually know where everything is: Jimmy.

I looked around the condo for him, doing a loop through the back first. Having checked the quarters, and then the living room, I finally saw him. Jimmy was bored standing out on the balcony with a bright yellow windbreaker thrown on over his fluttering blouse and skirt, and supervising whatever Rebecca and Honesty were doing. Which, given that the two of them were wearing harnesses tied into the balcony, and assembling something with wire, power tools and palm fronds, was probably something weird again.

After a moment, I decided I didn't want to interrupt Jimmy or ask what those two were doing, so I went to find Jimmy's Mistress. I checked her usual haunts: the home theater, her office, that weird parlour that led into the dining room, and finally her bedroom. What I did find in the bedroom was Master's mother examining Grace, using a portable ultrasound and a phlebotomy kit on a rolling cart. My sister was also there, and watching while she fed her daughter.

"Janice," I whispered to my sister, trying not to interrupt the examination, "Have you seen Miss Constance?"

My sister didn't speak, she just raised her one hand that wasn't propping up a child, and pointed at the boudoir.

"Thank you." I replied, as I crept away.

I knocked on the open doorframe into the boudoir, and Constance waved me over without looking up from her book. She was sprawled across her couch, in her bathrobe, and half looked up at me when I shut the door behind me.

"Is something going on?" Constance said, as she returned to her book.

"Actually there might be Mistress," I said, as I wrung my hands together in front of me. "Could I borrow a pregnancy test if you have any?"

"Running late?" She asked.

"Yes ma'am, by about three weeks." I answered, as I hoped Constance wouldn't pry too much.

"In my bathroom, under the counter in the purple plastic drawers, bottom drawer. There's some disposable cups next to them, and you'll need one of them for the test." She said. "Or, if you want, you can ask Mom, but she's going to be busy for another hour with Grace."

"Thank you ma'am." I replied, trying not to sound nervous.

"Use the other door to get to the bathroom, I don't want you interrupting mom and Grace."

"Yes ma'am." I replied, as I moved towards the bathroom.

The master bathroom wasn't anything unusual aside from it being handicap accessible for Grace, and being about five times the size of the one master and I shared. A lot of the furnishings were shared, although the chair was a much nicer one than we had in ours, and was very clearly intended only for Grace. There was a decent amount of purposeful clutter around, mostly Constance's and Ruperts, but there were seven toothbrushes, including one for Kat and another one for a child, and other things that reminded me how much time Jimmy, Grace and my sister spent in here. I did find the drawer quickly, and these were unreasonably nice tests.

So I read the instructions on the box, took out a test, and set to work.

I stripped off everything below my waist, walked into the shower, and squatted down. It took me maybe ten seconds to fill the cup. I had long ago gotten used to peeing on command, especially for other tests. Then with the full cup put to the side, I just kept going for a bit. After I was done, and the test sat in the cup on the counter, I sprayed the shower down with the spray head, and waited for the test to finish. I tried to ignore the trepidation I was feeling, but I ended up fixating on this being the first time I'd used a pregnancy test despite it being my third go round.

When I did check it, the results were faintly positive. Not wanting to do this again in the morning, that meant I had to ask Master's mother for help. So I cleaned up, got dressed, and slipped the test in my pocket to speed the conversation up. I'd say I was happy, but my thoughts kept drifting back to Serena, and the versions of her that kept appearing in my nightmares. I went out into the bedroom, and sat next to my sister while I waited for the exam to finish. I ended up confusing Kat a bit, but she didn't fuss when I held her. A part of me wondered if Serena would've been this easy, and if she would be this time. Certainly, I willed myself to believe, this time she'd be cuter than her cousins.

Finally, with Grace's exam finished, I tried to work up the courage to ask Master's mother what I needed to.

"Marie, what do you want?" Master's mother asked coldly. "And is it what I think it is?"

I swallowed before I replied. "Doctor Cooley, I was hoping you could help me with a test." I pulled the end of the used test out of my pocket to where she could see it.

"Grace, go tell Jimmy the good news. Janice, help her up and follow her." Master's mother said, without looking at either of them. "But let Kat sleep. I'll call you back when it's time for her test."

"Yes Doctor." Came my sister's answer, as she helped Grace to her feet, and the two walked off into the main room, leaving Master's mother, myself and a napping Katerina in the room. I could feel the sweat beading on the back of my neck as I watched them leave, and tried to prepare myself for the second toughest conversation in my life.

Once the two were gone, we began.

"So, you need confirmation?" Master's mother said as she looked me up and down.

"Ma'am, the lines on the test were too faint for me to trust it." I replied politely, the measured tone in my voice probably making me sound even more scared as I sat down on the bed.

"And, If I do it, it's a quick blood test, and you don't have to try again in the morning." The doctor replied.

"Yes. I want to know for sure. I don't want to tell him and then just never have been pregnant. I might be able to handle loosing another one, but I don't want him to think I'm a liar." I continued. Honestly, I didn't think I could survive losing another one.

"You did good coming to me." Master's mother said, as she fiddled with her equipment, and swapped some parts out. "This is actually part of my job, so we can just do this quickly, and then I can either have you go for a formal appointment, or I can update your chart from here."

"Thank you, ma'am."

"Anyway, stick out a finger, I need to prick it for the assay." She said, as she pulled out a fresh needle from the cart.

After she wiped my fingertip down to clean it, she pricked the finger and then immediately shoved my hand onto a box on the cart.

"That should be enough." She said, once she let my hand go.

"Is that the test?" I asked, surprised enough to forget decorum.

"A whole battery of them." Master's mother said. "I had a biochip made up so I could test my childrens' hormones daily while they were growing up. It's why Constance is as healthy as she is despite being an alcoholic."

I nodded.

"How long ago was your last period?" She said, as she stared into my eyes.

"Six weeks, ma'am." I replied, glancing away.

"While that test runs, strip, I'm going to do an ultrasound." She said, as she pulled a plastic tube out of somewhere. "Good thing I brought a new thing of gel."

I had plenty of ultrasounds before this one, but this was by far the most comfortable and personable I had ever had. I was laying on a comfortable bed, and actually being included in the process with some small talk. Even the feeling of the probe gliding across the gel on my belly felt nicer now.

"Looks like Steven did a good job on something for once." Master's mother said, as she put her tablet in front of me. "You've got twins. They look well developed, but you'll need an actual obstetrician and not an endo for that part. I still want to see what the test says about your hormones, but congratulations. You've made me a grandmother."

I looked at the two bean shaped blobs on the screen, unsure of how I felt just yet. Her laptop chimed.

"And your hormones are in the normal range for this stage, so they're healthy." Doctor Cooley said, after looking at a graph I wouldn't begin to understand. "Have you told my son yet?"

"No ma'am." I replied. Hearing that everything was good did make me want to do it sooner rather than later though.

"You should." she said. "And find someone else to talk to about it, a friend or another lover. You'll need it. Shared joys multiply, and shared sorrows at least don't feel as heavy."

"Ma'am, are you--?"

"Where did you put her remains?" She asked, not bothering to directly answer my question.

"They're still on the bookshelf." I replied automatically.

"Think of a friend, or just tell your sister, as well as Steven. It's all easier if you have someone else on your side. I won't tell anyone yet, but I won't have you keeping this a secret from my son until you're the size of a blimp, so you better figure out what you're doing quickly." Doctor Cooley said.

"I actually can't think of anyone, and the only person who suspects it is Mint." I replied. "Maybe Constance suspected it as well, or I just told her when I asked for a test, but I don't think she was paying attention."

"So you don't even want to tell Janice?"

"She's too busy to worry about me as well." I answered. Something I hoped was a lie, but wished was true. Then maybe if I lost the twins it wouldn't hurt her as badly.

"It's better she knows. She's going to worry about you anyway, because you're her sister. I won't force it, but I don't want to see her hurt. She's too important for Constance and Grace, just like you're important to Steven." Doctor Cooley said, as yet another reminder that she didn't think of me as fully human.

"Doctor, is there anything else I need to keep in mind?" I asked.

"Eat more, take your vitamins, and I'll have appointments scheduled for you up here for now, but I'd rather have you closer to home." She said before sighing. "Oihane's team is good, but with your history I'd want to keep a closer eye on you three. Otherwise you just need follow instructions and focus on being happy and eating well. If you have any questions, just text me or Kelly. " Master's mother said with a gentler look in her eyes than I had ever seen before. "Anyway, it's time for Katerina's exam, so you do need to get dressed and send your sister in while you think about who you're telling."

"Yes ma'am." I replied as I sat up, and wiped off the gel as much as I could before I got dressed and left.

I did track down my sister pretty quickly. While she wasn't happy that I interrupted her reading in the nursery, she was glad that it was finally time for her daughter's exam. She definitely noticed that I was in a funk, but didn't say anything about it.There was definitely more distance between us now, and I couldn't tell if this was just because we had different lovers and relationships now, or if losing Serena and having her resting on my shelf had been what drove that gap between us. At this point, I couldn't even remember the last time I had slept with her. She left, and I was alone in the nursery. I didn't feel comfortable enough being in there, with the crib and changing table taunting me, so I left shortly after her.

I ended up wandering out onto the balcony, and a part of me I hadn't known was there wanted to resolve all this anxiety by just cutting through the chains on the balcony, and diving head first off the sixteenth floor. It wasn't hard to resist it, but I could already tell this was going to be a long eight months.Rebecca was the one who pulled me out of that funk. "Marie," She said, holding up a lumpy lemon and a bundle of branches tied to a palm frond, "Do you want to wave the Lulav with us?"

I nodded on autopilot, and walked over to her and the shack she had built with Honesty.

"Okay, so today is the first day of Sukkot, which is a harvest festival," she explained, as Honesty emerged from the shack still covered in sweat. "So, aside from sitting and eating in the Sukkah, we pray and perform a ritual to consecrate ourselves, and also to pray for abundant rainfall in the coming year."

"Which is why you tied some branches to a palm frond?" I asked.

"It's part of the requirements." Rebecca said. "It is a harvest festival after all."

I nodded, as I had an idea of what that meant. It felt like a practical joke, but I could use being the butt of a joke today.

So Rebecca handed me the bundle with the palm frond in it and the lemon, the Lulav and Etrog respectively, while Honesty showed me how to hold them and then led me in the prayer.

So for a few minutes, I held the Lulav in my left hand, and had the Etrog in my right. I repeated the prayers Honesty said, word for word, and I shook both of them three times in the six directions, South, North, East, Up, Down, and then finally West. Simple, easy, and I didn't feel like I was the butt of a joke.

Of course, Rebecca was still filming all of this on her phone, so even odds I still was.

Finally with the ritual done, I sat with the two of them inside the Sukkah and sent a couple of messages to Master and Mint. I didn't necessarily feel better, but I didn't feel adrift now.

With Mint, I just sent a bun emoji, and for master it was a request to have a private conversation when he gets back tonight.

"So, Marie," Rebecca said, as she sat across from me, "What's on your mind?"

"Ma'am, I don't know how I'm going to handle Master being gone this much," I half-lied. "A day or overnight is one thing, but this was a whole weekend, and they're going to get longer."

"You do have the two of us, and everyone else here." Rebecca replied, "And we are here for you."

"Ma'am you don't smell the same, and I want someone warmer to curl up with. He's..." the father of my twins, I thought. "Comfortable. Not that you two aren't, but it's different."

"I know the feeling." Rebecca said, as the sun started setting behind the buildings on the other side of the river. "I feel that way about Honesty. I can't sleep without her, and I know her nightmares are worse without me there."

Honesty blushed and looked away, but also didn't say anything.

I saw a notification on my phone. Master responded to my message, he'd be home in thirty minutes.

"Master will be back soon, so if you'll excuse me I'll go freshen up for him." I said, as I stood up.

"Mistress, we have class in an hour," Honesty said, not looking up. "You need to go take your medication and get dressed for it."

"Which class?"

"Topology."

"Right, night classes. Marie, tell Steven I wish I could've been here to greet him, but I can't miss my class." Rebecca said, as she also stood up, and walked out of the Sukkah back to the guest bedroom. Honesty followed shortly behind.

It was the last I'd see of them tonight.

With the two of them gone, I walked back into master's bedroom, and I took a quick shower before he returned.

Or I tried to. I froze up while I was soaping up my belly, as I wondered what kind of Master Steven would be to our children. Would he be like his father, or be as aloof and prone to playing favorites as his mother? Would I find some new side of him I hadn't seen before.

If I had a boy, or worse, twin boys, would Rebecca see that as a threat? Would Mint start to really hate me, instead of that quiet envy and resentment I knew she was nursing?

I was stuck in a loop thinking about those before I was interrupted by the door opening and the sudden sickly-sweet smell of rotting fish.

"I was wondering why you hadn't been out there to greet me." Master said, as he looked at me through the fogged up shower stall. "Anyway, what's going on?"

"It'll be easier to talk after you've showered, Master." I replied, as I turned off the water and opened the door.

Even without my glasses, I could see how exhausted he was. Slumped over, shoulders slouched, and with a sheen that wasn't sweat or condensation across much of his skin. He had managed to get most of his clothes off himself, but I ended up helping him out of his shirts, which were just as greasy looking as he was and somehow smelled worse.

"What did they even do to you?"

"A pelican threw up on me." He replied in a very flat, even and distant voice, as he stepped out of his underwear.

"What?"

"A pelican landed on the ship, tried to steal my sandwich, and when I tried to chase it off, it threw up on me. We were only an hour out, so I just rinsed off and decided I'd take a real shower here."

"Well master, I have some good news for you after you get out of the shower." I beamed as I started shoving his clothes into a garbage bag.

"That's nice." He replied wearily as he turned the water back on, and I grabbed my towel off the rack and put one out for him.

When he did finish showering, and had dried off enough to come into the bedroom, I was sitting attentively on the bed.

"So what's the good news?" He asked, now looking much more alive, but still tired.

"Master, I'm pregnant," I said. "I'm in my sixth week, and your mother said the twins are about where they should be, but I still need to see an actual Obstetrician."

He collapsed on the bed next to me, and then half rolled over. "That's amazing. But twins?"

"I have a twin, it's not that odd." I replied in a huff. "But, Master, you're the third one to find out."

"After who?"

"Your mother, and Mint."

"Why Mint?"

"She was the one who told me to actually take a test."

"Fair enough." He replied, finally on his back completely, "Do you want to tell everyone, or should I?"

"Please don't. Master," I said, before pausing. I wondered if what I said next would be the thing that actually let me see a side of him I hoped didn't exist. "No, Steven. It's too early now, I don't want everyone to know if I lose another one. Let me decide when we tell everyone. It'll be by the end of this trimester, I promise."