Zeev POV
"If it was up to me, we'd always stay in bed together. But sadly, I have work." Ash sat up and stretched their nude body, long lithe muscles stretching. Harlee grabbed Ash's thigh.
"You guys never told me what happened to my job." Harlee hissed.
"Shit." Ash muttered.
"Well played snake." I sighed. "Now you get to tell her."
"Ok, ok." Ash ran a hand through their hair. "So we may have told your boss that you had a family emergency and we didn't know when you'd be back to work." Ash took a deep breath. "If ever." Ash cringed.
"You what?!" Harlee shrieked, then breathed deeply, rubbing her stomach, which was jolting and moving. I laid a hand on it, fascinated. "Well I guess that's alright really. I'm about halfway through with this kid and would have to quit soon anyway, and he's really tiring me out." She sighed. "I guess it's better this way." She murmured.
Harlee POV
The cramping started the next day. It woke me up early in the morning. I gripped my abdomen and moaned. Zeev appeared instantly, hands covering mine.
"Harlee?" He asked softly. I tried to breathe through the pain. Was I losing the baby?
"Calm down honey, it's normal for humans to experience pain when carrying a creature of the Divine or Demonic." Ash soothed, smoothing my hair. "The pain will stop soon." Is this what Zeev meant when he said carrying a Demon child wasn't easy?
Zeev POV
Harlee was covered in sweat when she finally fell back to sleep. She wasn't aware of the shift in the Nephilim, but I was. It had just taken a huge step away from being 'me' and into more of its own individual being. I laid a hand on the swelling between her hips, feeling the Nephilim rolling within.
'Father.' The creature stilled. I nearly jerked my hand back in surprise. There was nothing more from the Nephilim the rest of the night.
Harlee POV
I scanned the help wanted list online. There were a lot of jobs I really didn't think I could do in my current condition. I laid a hand on my stomach, wincing as the Nephilim stretched. There was a tendril of an apology from its direction. Not words per se, but a vague feeling. I patted the bulge of my stomach.
"It's ok baby, we've all gotta stretch out sometime. And those are cramped quarters you're in, getting smaller by the day." I murmured. The thought actually made me a little claustrophobic, and the Nephilim squirmed, as if picking the thought from my brain. "Shh, it's alright." I patted my stomach again. I was entering my third trimester now, or thereabouts, by my calculations, and I was definitely looking it.
"Keep talking to yourself like that and they're gonna lock you away. By the way, Kayla wants to know if she can drop by, or if you'll drop by and when you're going to replace your phone, because she's tired of using me as a messenger service." Ash laughed.
"Ok one: you know I was talking to the baby and two: yes she can visit. You can bring her if she feels like it. Otherwise she's welcome to drop by. And three: I like not having a phone, no more spam." I shrugged. "Besides the most important people in my life are already tuned in up here.." I tapped my temple. "So why do I need a phone?"
"For everybody else?" Ash offered with a raised brow like it was obvious. Zeev wrapped his arms around me from behind and caressed my stomach.
"Besides, you'll need a phone number for any job applications you fill out." Zeev murmured in his deep voice, kissing my ear.
"Damnit-when did you get back?" I exited the website quickly. Zeev, Ash and I had been going around in circles about the job situation for months. They wanted me to just let them take care of me, at least until the baby was a little older. I was insistent on providing for myself. Ash still had a dead-end job even though they didn't need it after all!
"Entertainment value, dear Harlee." Ash kissed the top of my head. "See you guys later!" Ash called, slinging their work vest over their shoulder and vanishing.
"You're right. Ash is a flashy bastard." I commented. Zeev chuckled, then leaned down to nibble my ear.
"I do wish you'd let me take care of you." Zeev whispered. I groaned.
"Not this again." I sighed. "Look, you have an eternity for that. I'd like to stay self-sufficient as long as I can. I don't like relying on you all too much." I heard a snort from Sam in the living room.
"Shut it Sam!" Zeev and I both yelled.
"Ok, think of it this way: what happens if your very paranormal baby does something very paranormal while you're at work? How are you going to explain it when you suddenly light up like a light-bulb? Or the cramping starts? And the Nephilim hasn't even shifted yet-but it will, and you best hope it doesn't turn into some huge monstrosity that tears you apart. Or worse, you go into labor. How do you explain that to your colleagues at work?" Zeev questioned. "The closer you come to term the more dangerous this game becomes Harlee."
"I... still have some time." I hedged.
"You have four beings of Heaven and Hell tied to you-why won't you let us take care of you?" Zeev roared in exasperation.
"Because you already have to do everything else!" I yelled back.
"We want to!" Zeev barked.
"Only because the Bond forces you!" I screeched.
"It's because we love you Harlee, you idiot!" Zeev exclaimed.
"That's the Bond's fault too!" I screamed. Zeev threw his hands in the air. We stood there panting, glaring at each other.
"That's simply not true Harlee." Spoke Sands softly from behind me. "I'm not Bound to you and freely Contracted to you of my own will. I may not be able to fully experience love as you do, but the freedom given to me as an Angel of Death certainly allows me a certain capacity for the feeling. I would never have offered you the Contract if I felt nothing towards you. Ash became so enamored of you that they kidnapped you to try to force a Bond with you. Ash is certainly capable of love, albeit a more twisted, corrupted version of the human variety. Zeev now holds half your soul. He sacrificed the rest of his Grace to save your life, long before he truly wished to admit that he had begun to experience the human emotion we call love." I hugged my chest.
"And as for me.." Sam leaned against the doorway "I was selfishly motivated." He shrugged. I rolled my eyes.
"Gee thanks Sam." I retorted.
"Stop calling me that!" He snarled.
Zeev POV
Harlee's hand rested on her rounded stomach under the large men's T-shirt she was wearing.
"But seriously Zeev-how long is the Nephilim even gonna need this? Is it even gonna grow like a normal child?" She hissed under her breath, looking at the row of bassinets and cribs.
"A little faster perhaps-but on average they keep pace in body with normal human children." I murmured, kissing her temple.
"I really didn't ask any of the right questions before jumping into this with both feet, did I?" Harlee groaned. I chuckled.
"I don't think anyone's ever truly prepared for children. But yes, you seem to be remarkably uninformed." I teased. She glared at me.
"Not helping!" She pulled free from me and walked down the row of bassinets, turning to walk back up the row on the side with the cribs.
"Goddamn this is hard." She spat. "It's just a fucking baby bed! This should be so much easier! And look at the prices! What are they lined with ? Gold?"
"Please don't worry about that Harlee-"
"But I do Zeev, I do, ok?" She snapped. "I never really intended for you all to support me. This kid is half mine, I should be able to do something for it!" I approached her and placed my hands on either side of her abdomen.
"You are doing something for it. You are nurturing it and providing it safety and your body while it grows. Then afterwards, you will, I presume, continue to offer it nutrients and care and all the love and attention a mother can offer her child. That is far from nothing." I kissed her softly. As your Bonded, the father of this child, and your lover, I feel compelled to care for you both myself. Why won't you let me do my part now?" I looked her in the eyes, knowing how the words would affect her.
"You manipulative bastard. Don't think I can't recognize when a Demon's using their glib tongue to twist words prettily. She snarled, but she wrapped her hands around the back of my neck and tugged my face down for a kiss, then sighed.
"Fine, get whatever you want. But remember-we have a smallish house, with five adults and a child on the way. We're running out of space. Oh and please don't spend a huge amount of money." She cringed.
"You could always let me move you to a bigger residence." I offered.
"No!" Harlee instructed, then sighed again. "At least not now."
"Your house only has two bedrooms Harlee." I responded, kissing her neck. "And the second is full of junk."
"Hey!" She interjected. "It's keepsakes and things, not junk!"
"And we've got to remove your 'keepsakes' to make room for the baby." I kissed her again, nibbling her earlobe. She shuddered. "And when we have our second child-"
"Second child! Hold up! I still haven't had the first one yet!" Harlee screeched and I chuckled wickedly.