A few weeks went by, in which Domino spent as much time with Alexandru as possible. Every day now was a tiny bit shorter, since they'd hit the peak daylight of July and she was looking forward to him being awake more often. She was feeling more tired, and was no longer meeting with Mr. Hughes or Samir until lunchtime or a little after. They didn't mention it, and neither did she, but they all knew that the baby was starting to finally make its presence known. The obstetrician that Mr. Hughes had brought in was able to let her hear the heart beat, and he'd done a trans-vaginal ultrasound that had allowed them both to see their first glimpses of the baby inside.
Domino had been a little shocked to see the forming skeleton complete with wings, but she should have known. Alexandru said that all vampires grew or were born with wings, and he had been more interested in the veins and arteries that were attached to her uterus through the placenta than anything. She knew why, but she didn't focus in on their conversation because she knew that her lover was going to worry enough for both of them. She needed to focus on keeping herself as healthy as she could for her baby.
It was a Thursday, just after dusk when Domino, who had been sitting at the table in the kitchenette, looked up from the puzzle she'd been putting together by herself to see Alexandru come out of the bedroom. Her face had lit into a smile and she'd pushed herself up from the table a little faster than she probably should have, and a sharp pain shot up her spine from her uterus and she gasped and put her hands down on the table's surface, sending puzzle pieces flying everywhere.
"Shit!" She groaned as she stayed bent over the table, her breath a little more rapid as she looked at the work she'd just ruined.
"Domino, what is, my little dove?" Alexandru's face was filled with worry as he rushed to her side, one hand on her back as the other cupped her cheek and made her look up at him.
"I screwed up my puzzle. I've been working on this all afternoon." She told him, a frown on her face, she was going to ignore the sting of tears that had filled her eyes.
"What did you feel?" He pressed, his frown letting her know he wasn't in the joking mood.
"Nothing, just...just it stung when I got up, like I pinched my sciatic nerve only, only it wasn't my sciatic nerve." She put a hand on her slightly rounded stomach and stood straight, whatever it had been, it was gone now.
"Let's go have Mr. Hughes call for the doctor." He grabbed her pole and put a hand on her waist to guide her out of the room.
"I'm just fine, Alex. It was just a pinch. It's fine now." Domino insisted as he walked with her down the hallway and then they were climbing the stairs to the first floor.
"I would rather a doctor told me that, Domino." He grumbled as he opened the door to the first floor.
"I'm not even four months along yet, Alexandru. You're going to set a record for world's most worrisome new father." She chuckled at him, though she knew he was probably right, she should probably make sure that the pinch was just that.
"I'll hang it proudly on the wall if I have to, to keep you safe, little dove." He said in a voice filled with concern and walked with her to the door of Mr. Hughes' office, knocking on it loudly.
"He may not be here, Faeron had an appointment this afternoon." Domino said quietly as they waited to see if the door would open.
"How is that going?" Alexandru generally did not want to hear about the wood elf that had taken up residence at Vorhees and begun working there.
"Fine so far. They've mostly been going over how Mr. Hughes runs things, payroll, making appointments, employee concerns and stuff. But he's had several appointments with clients. I guess they've went ok. Samir hasn't ripped his head off yet."
"It's still an option." Alexandru hissed under his breath as the door was pulled open in front of them. Mr. Hughes stood before them in one of his many, matching suits that looked like it had just been pressed seconds before they opened the door.
"Just once, Arc, I want to see you walking around in a Van Halen t-shirt and pajama pants." Domino sighed as she leaned on the door frame. The look of anguish that came to his face was comical and she found herself laughing as he ushered them into the room.
"You do not generally need my services at night, Domino. Is there something I can help you both with?" He asked, choosing to ignore her suggestion.
"Is this because you've got that English accent? You need to dress the part? You know you'd be sexy no matter what you wear." She pushed on, watching him frown and shake his head at her.
"Domino."
"She stood up and doubled over in pain. She says it's just a pinched nerve." Alexandru explained as he set her into a chair, her pole at her side.
Mr. Hughes frowned and picked up the phone on his desk without hesitation, "I'll call Dr. Trainor. He can examine her."
"Don't you think it's a little quick to call in the big guns?" Domino asked, frustration in her voice as they made plans without her.
"Domino, the fetus inside of you is going to affect you differently than a regular human fetus. If we need to make adjustments in your treatment, we need to do them quickly and not wait until things get worse." Mr. Hughes paused as he spoke quickly to the person who picked up on the other end as he sat behind his desk and motioned for Alexandru to sit as well.
"It was just a little pinch." She shrugged, muttering to them as she sank back in her chair.
"I need access to your airplane." Alexandru said and Domino looked over at him confused.
"Why? You hate planes."
"I need to go to Belarus, maybe Latvia." He said, his eyes on his former employer and not on the girl beside him.
"It is at your disposal." Mr. Hughes nodded, he had just set the phone back down.
"Why? Where are you going?" Domino knew her voice was shaking, she didn't want him to leave for a long time, she needed him here, with her.
"I need to find Klaus."
"Your sire? Do you think he can help?" She asked and watched as he frowned at her.
"Klaus is your sire?" Mr. Hughes raised an eyebrow, Alexandru had not ever explained who had turned him.
"Yes."
"How long will you be gone?" Domino asked, worry in her voice, she did not like it when he left, she just didn't.
"I don't know. I have to find him."
"A week? Two?"
"I don't know." Alexandru said a little louder than he'd meant, and he knew it bothered her when her eyes filled with tears and she looked at him a little agonized.
"I'm scared, Alexandru." She sniffed, wiping her eyes as he stood up and picked her up and sat down in her chair with her in his lap, curled up in a ball with his arms around her.
"My little dove, I will come home to you. I need to find Klaus, to see if he can help you. I don't want to leave you, but I can't take you from here, and I will have a better chance of finding him than anyone else."
"When do you want to leave?" Mr. Hughes' voice was filled with sympathy as Domino looked over at him with a frown.
"Immediately." Alexandru replied and put a hand on Domino's forehead when she choked back a sob.
"I'll get it arranged." Mr. Hughes picked up the phone again and called who she could only assume was the pilot of the plane that would be taking her vampire lover from her. He spoke for a short time, and then was off the phone again and had stood up and started to walk around the desk.
"Are you going to wait for the doctor to see her? He should be here momentarily."
Alexandru lifted Domino off of his lap and set her on her feet so he could stand up. "I'll wait until the doctor has some news. Then I'll go."
The three of them made their way up to the second floor, to the room that Domino used during the day, and she was lifted onto the bed, with Alex beside her as they waited for the doctor. When he arrived, portable ultrasound in hand, he asked Domino several questions and then he scanned her abdomen for a while. He said very little and they had to wait while he looked at the images on the screen. Finally, he turned to them with a soft smile of understanding.
"There is no damage to the uterus. You have no free blood or other fluid in your abdomen. Getting up as quickly as you did may have inadvertently made the fetal wings poke you enough to cause the pain. I can't be certain, as there is no evidence of any trauma. I would suggest, however, that you limit your movement for the remainder of the pregnancy. You should also refrain from intercourse, Ms. Ashburn, until the baby has been delivered."
"So I'm stuck in bed for five and a half months? Wonderful." She frowned as she looked from the doctor to Alexandru.
"There is no chance of her actually going to full term, is there, Dr. Trainor?" Mr. Hughes asked.
The doctor shook his head, making his white hair shift back and forth on his head, Domino realized he must have been asleep when the call had been made requesting him to come here. She frowned, this probably wouldn't be the last time that he was sent to do so.
"I am hopeful to reach the six month mark, at least for the child's sake. I still do not know how healthy we will be able to keep you, Domino. I do not want to lie to you about your chances."
"One of our employees has suggested that we add erithropoietin to her medications, and that we start giving her platelets a little later in her pregnancy. I believe he has gathered information from a vampire who has been studying how to help girls like Domino."
The doctor thought about it for a moment before nodding, "If I could speak with him, it would help me make a decision to do it, though I can say right off the bat that neither would hurt her chances. Can you set up a time tomorrow for me to return and talk to him?"
Mr. Hughes nodded, jotting something down on a pad of paper that he pulled from the pocket of his suit. "Of course, I will let Faeron know that he will speak with you tomorrow, say 9 am?"
"That would be fine. If there is nothing else?" The doctor looked from Domino to Alexandru, and then back to Mr. Hughes.
