Who: Nina and Gabe (Groot) When: Mid-February Where: The Agency What: Meeting about results of pregnancy related tests Rating/Warnings: Low, Talk about pregnancy tests Status: Complete
Gabe had to admit he was nervous. As they walked beneath the shadow of the entrance to the Agency’s building, a knot grew in the pit of his stomach. Ever since Valentine’s Day when his fiancee Nina had called about the Agency wanting to meet with them, he’d assumed it would be good news and couldn’t wait for today. But now he was wondering if it could be the opposite, that maybe the results of the tests hadn’t been good. After all, as far as they knew, combining werewolf and human DNA in this world hadn’t been done before. He’d tried not to consider that, ever the optimist, but it was hitting him now. What would they do if they were told it wouldn’t be good or even safe for Nina to get pregnant? Of course they could adopt, but Gabe knew how much Nina wanted to be a mother to her own child, and he wanted the same just as badly.
He tried to relax, but the tension was in every muscle of his well toned body. He carried himself a bit stiffly, trying to put up a brave front. Stealing a glance over at Nina as they walked inside, he finally said, “You okay?”
“Nope” Nina replied, giving him a wry half smile, “Everything is a bit of a mess in my head right now but I guess that’s normal right? We have no idea what they’re going to say in there”
Nina knew the merits of adoption, after all her adoptive parents had been beyond incredible and she couldn’t have wished for better ones. But she couldn’t deny a big part of her wanted a child who had her own blood running through their veins to show she wasn’t like her own biological mother.
They made their way towards the bank of elevators that security pointed to them towards (after a thorough screening as if they were entering an airport), and once the interminable wait for the next elevator car was alleviated, the ride up to the floor where their meeting was felt even longer and torturous. Gabe took Nina's hand in his and kissed her fingers. “No matter what happens, we'll be parents some way or another.” It felt like he was reminding himself of this fact more than just reassuring Nina.
The elevator car slowed to a stop, pinged open and they stepped out into the hall directly across from the office they were told to go to. Gabe swallowed hard.
Nina nodded leaning into Gabe for a moment before the elevator doors opened and they arrived at the office. Squeezing Gabe’s hand she raised her other and knocked on the door. A minute later it opened and a middle aged woman with a kind smile opened it, “Please come in” she said, “Nina and Gabe correct? Just take a seat for me, can I get you anything to drink?” she offered ushering them inside.
Nina shook her head, “No thank you” She was looking for any signs from the woman about what to expect but there was nothing. Just as Nina never betrayed anything when she had news for a family.
Gabe echoed Nina's answer with a silent shake of his head. He suddenly felt like his tongue was stuck to the roof of his mouth. Mutely he followed his fiancee, their hands still clasping the other's. He sat obediently in the chair, eyes also watching her like a hawk and taking in the details around them as of somehow he were playing a game of CLUE, trying to solve a mystery before it was spelled out for them.
“Okay” the woman said sitting opposite them, “Now I am sure you have a million questions but before we go any further let me just put you at ease and say that the tests we undertook lead us to believe you are capable of having a normal healthy child”
Nina felt like a weight had been lifted from her, “Really?” she said quietly hand squeezing Gabe’s.
“Really. There are a few things we can do to help but we can go through those” the woman said.
As soon as the words left the Agency woman's mouth Gabe let out a “Oh thank God,” at the same time Nina spoke, and kissed Nina's knuckles. He felt like he could breath and think and speak again now that the crippling fear of bad news was gone. Tears welled up unbidden in his eyes, but he forced them back, reigning it in best he could, which isn't easy for a Latino.
“So, when you say normal, you mean totally human? It won't be part werewolf?” That, besides Nina's body changing once a month while pregnant, had been their greatest worry. After all, if Nina changed on a full moon, what was to stop an unborn hybrid from doing the same? “What things?” He then said in reply to the woman, sitting a bit more forward in earnest interest.
The woman nodded, “Yes, a human child. We believe the wolf aspect of yourself would lay dormant during the pregnancy, it looks like the alteration in your hormones would make that happen. But we would supply you with additional hormone tablets just to make sure. Our tests were successful at the normal levels of a pregnancy but it wouldn’t hurt to have a little extra back up”
Nina nodded, “Okay, well that’s good. Not being a wolf during a pregnancy would be nice” she smiled.
Gabe was grinning his Groot grin. “This is amazing. I don't even know what to say. This means so much to us.” He looked over at Nina, his face lit up with joy.
Looking at how happy Gabe was Nina couldn’t help but lean over and kiss him, he was right it meant a lot to them to know they could have their own children. Currently Nina was just very glad that she wouldn’t be passing on her wolf side to a child, had that been the case she wasn’t sure what the decision would have been.
Gabe happily returned the kiss. His head was practically spinning with joy. He wanted to call his grandmother, Rocket, Merlin and Audrey - shout it from the roof; of course, he couldn’t do any of those things (except tell Merlin and Aud of course) because no one really knew about Nina being a werewolf.
For now, he would have to settle for resisting the urge to hug the hell out of the Agency woman and instead chose to stand and give her a hearty handshake. “Thank you so much again. Is there anything else we need to know?”
The woman smiled at Gabe’s strong handshake, it wasn’t often men she met with let their feelings show so much. It was nice and refreshing. “They’ll be a few more things to work out with you both but we’ll schedule another meeting for that, once you’ve had time to process everything”
Nina nodded gratefully, “Thank you for that. I appreciate it” she said, it was an important part of giving news this big. In her opinion people should always be given processing time.
“Okay, sounds good.” Gabe replied, and left the office with Nina’s hand in his. He could swear he felt hers trembling a little, the buzz of excitement like electricity between them. Once they were in the hallway he swept her up in his arms and twirled her in a circle, laughing. “Oh my God, did that just happen?” Setting her down, he pushed his fingers into her golden hair, holding her head still as he leaned down to really kiss her.
Laughing as he spun her around once they were out of the office, she smiled as she said, “I hope it wasn’t just a dream” Kissing him back she couldn’t stop smiling, their dream of being parents wasn’t just a dream anymore, it was an actuality.