Jake Mackenzie (brotherofdemons) wrote in spinningcompass, @ 2013-10-11 20:32:00 |
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Entry tags: | !plot |
Who: Rae and Cal
Where: Their bedroom, the townhouse
What: The Island isn't done messing with them.
When: Backdated like whoa to Sunday morning 6 October
Rating: Low
Open: Nope
Status: Complete
Cal groaned as he woke up. Last night had been amazing, but it left him with just as little sleep as he’d been getting. Though the reasons for this sleepless night were much more pleasant than the clean up or helping patients. He smiled over at Rae before stretching and getting up.
“Today is going to be a great day.” He said to no one in particular. Then he blinked. “Hello?” There was no missing the distinct English accent as he spoke. “No….nonononononono.” He went into the bathroom and looked in the mirror, as if that would make it more believable. “I do so love chocolate chips.” He tried to speak with an American accent, doing different phrases but it all came out English. He was officially sounding like Ramses.
“RAE!” He panicked, running back into the bedroom. “Rae, wake up now.”
Rae hadn’t been deeply asleep, but far enough into slumber that she hadn’t paid any attention to the male voice in the background until it started yelling for her. She grunted as she pushed herself into a sitting position and yawned, putting a hand over her mouth and stretching the other as far overhead as it would go. “What’s wron-”
Her eyes went wide and her lips snapped shut as she realized the accent coming out of her mouth wasn’t that of Kent. “Oh gods.” She tried a few particularly ‘English’ phrases, then started swearing in Arabic. Even her Arabic sounded American.
She officially sounded like Calleigh.
“What...does this mean?” His eyes were wide, looking around. “How….I mean…..what does this mean?” He wasn’t sure what else to say.
“How the bloody hell should I know?” Rae snapped, and instantly regretted it. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment to try and pull herself together. It worked, if barely. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have snapped at you.”
The voice sounded perfectly natural, for Calleigh. If she looked in the mirror there wouldn’t be any hint there was an Englishman in the body of a pregnant American woman, and now there wasn’t any if she opened her mouth.
Cal sighed and closed his eyes before looking at her again. “The kids said Dad had an English accent….” He bit his lip to keep it from quivering. Even with the testosterone, Calleigh was still inside that head and she was having a little bit of a break down. He sat down on the bed and put his face in his hands, resting his elbows on his knees.
Rae was fighting back tears herself. She wasn’t entirely sure this meant they were stuck like this forever, but it wasn’t a good sign either. Ramses might be inside the head, but it was a head that was constantly marinating in pregnancy hormones, and despite her best efforts a tear rolled down one cheek. “That doesn’t necessarily mean what you imply.” Her tone was shaky, but she reached out to touch his shoulder.
He put his hand over hers and squeezed gently before looking at her. “It’s not exactly an argument against it.” He shook his head. “Bridget is never going to accept this. She’s….she’s already weirded out.” Cal sighed heavily. “This is just going to make it worse.”
“Can you blame her?” Rae’s tone was bitter. “I still haven’t accepted this, and if I’d been told about it before coming here I would have thought you completely mad.” She glanced down at her hugely swollen midsection. “I wish I’d never come here, if it means we’re like this forever.”
The last words were nearly a whisper, but nonetheless she’d spoken the thought aloud.
Cal sighed and got to his feet. He looked at her crossing his arms over his chest. “So glad you feel that way. That our relationship and our children aren’t worth having to deal with this.” He refused to look at her. “I hate being trapped in your body, but I’m okay with this because we have each other and we’ll have the children.” He shook his head, then turned to leave the room.
Easy for Cal to say that, he wasn’t the one nearly eight months gone with twins. “I’m sorry love,” Rae said softly and shook her head. “I don’t mean it, not really. I’m just...” might as well admit it. “frightened. I don’t know how to live my life as a woman, especially not if it really is for life.”
She wasn’t entirely sure if Cal heard her or not, or if he did whether he’d acknowledge the words. Getting up was a major production these days, and she just didn’t have the energy (or desire) to make the effort. All she really wanted to do was lie back down, pull the covers over her head, and hope that when she woke up it would all have been a bad dream.
Cal stopped, hand on the door frame. He didn’t turn to look at her, though. “You think I know how to live as a man? There are things that I used to be able to do as a doctor that I can’t do now because your hands are bigger than mine. I had to relearn how to suture. Going to the bathroom is even a rather interesting production.” He looked at her. “Do you know why i take so long in the bathroom? Because I feel the need to clean up after myself when I….miss.” He made a face.
Rae raised a skeptical eye at that particular explanation but refrained from calling ‘bullshit’ on it. In her experience it was a simple matter of trajectory and shouldn’t have taken long for someone as intelligent as Cal obviously was to learn that. But it was missing the point that was trying to be made. “That isn’t the same thing as having things growing and moving about inside you, and having to expel them when the time comes.” Perhaps she was being a bit dramatic but could anyone blame her? “I chose to call myself Rae and use female pronouns, but it’s a coping mechanism to keep myself from going insane. In here-” she tapped her head and then as close to her breastbone as she could given her baby belly and bloated breasts “I’m still Ramses Emerson, the man bedouin and town dweller alike called Akhu el-Efreet, brother of demons.”
“I’ve been robbed of feeling what you’re feeling. I’ve wanted children. Wanted to know what it was like. And I could miss out on all of that because of this stupid place.” He sighed and closed his eyes. “Because inside here.” He touched his temple. “And here.” He touched his chest. “I’m still Calleigh. A woman that thought she’d spend her life alone and finally has a chance at a family. And I could end up spending the rest of my life fathering my children instead of carrying them.”
Rae sighed and sank back into the cushions as she felt a sharp kick from one of the twins, as if they felt their parents’ distress. “There doesn’t seem to be anything we can do about it except pray to whatever divine forces we believe in that this is indeed temporary. But, if it is permanent, there is no one else I would choose as the father of my children. No matter what face you wore.”
Cal walked over and kissed her softly on the lips. “I love you. You know that, right? Even if we fight or...I might storm off in a huff...I’ll never stop loving you.”
“I know.” Rae wasn’t completely sure about that, honestly. But she had to have faith that it was true, otherwise it would make the situation that much worse. “I love you too. Why don’t you go ahead and go downstairs and see about breakfast, I’ll bring myself down in a little while.” She needed a few minutes to pull herself together before presenting herself to the rest of the household.
He kissed her again, then nodded. “Okay. Don’t take too long.” He smiled and touched her cheek briefly, then grabbed his robe and tied it on before heading downstairs.