8. Telling Eliza (& Co.)

“So…” Kara began.  “When are we going to tell your mom that you're pregnant?  It's been three weeks since we found out.  I think we should tell her.”

Alex grimaced.  “I don't know.  I'm afraid!”

“I know, my love, but you need to be going to the doctor!  What if something happens?”  She'd read every single book on pregnancy there was at the library, and she'd learned that there was a lot that could go wrong.

The brunette grumbled.

“Please, Alex!” she begged.  “There is so much more to worry about than whether or not your mom's gonna be upset with us!”

The human looked resigned to her fate.  “OK.  We'll tell her tonight.”

“Good.”  Kara was a nervous wreck.  They really were going to be in trouble, but she didn't care.  This was her last chance at having a family.  If Alex didn't tell Eliza, Kara would.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Alex picked at her dinner.  She'd promised Kara that she'd tell her mom tonight, but she really didn't want to.  Kara might be freaking out about all the possible disasters that might befall them, but Alex had an overwhelming peace about everything.  Well…  not everything.  There was this one thing.  She feared the never-ending disappointment of her mother.

“What's wrong, dear?” the woman she feared inquired.

Alex pouted at her lover, who was having none of it.  “Um…”  She pushed the food around her plate some more.

When her daughter was silent, Eliza prodded, “Alex?”

“I don't want to talk about it,” she finally spoke.

“Yes, you do, Alex!” Kara said forcefully.

“No, I don't!”

“Yes, you do!”

“Why do I have to tell her?  It's your fault!”

“What's Kara’s fault, Alex?”

“Fine, I'll tell her, then!” Kara huffed.

“Good!” Alex snapped.

Kara turned soberly to her partner's mother.  “Eliza,” she took a deep breath before continuing, “Alex is pregnant.”

Eliza clenched her jaw and was quiet for a long time.  Finally, after the girls had squirmed in their seats for longer than they wanted, she spoke softly, “And how is that your fault?  Who is the father?  I didn't even know you were seeing a boy, let alone close enough to get pregnant by one!”

The girls looked at each other.  They'd forgotten that they hadn't exactly filled the woman in on what happened during Kara’s ‘Kryptonian puberty.’  She had no idea about Kara’s new appendage, and certainly no idea about the girls’ after school activities.  Alex realized that it wasn't only her mother who would be asking her this question - everyone was going to want to know the same thing.  Who was the father of Alex’s children?  She started to panic.  What should she say? Should she lie?  What would her lies be?  Should she just avoid the truth?  She might be able to tell her mom the truth, but what about everyone else?  She hadn't thought this far ahead.

“Well?” Eliza huffed.  “I'm waiting for an answer, young lady.”

When Alex was still silent, Kara spoke up, “It's me.  I'm the ‘father,’” she used air quotes.  She took the time to explain how she'd become an Alpha a few months ago, and how she and Alex had had feelings for each other practically from day one of her arrival at the Danvers’ residence, which led to them having sex and getting pregnant.

Eliza didn't yell.  She didn't express her disappointment in them.  She didn’t even look at them.  She just got up without a word and went to her room, closing door behind her.

Alex wasn't sure if this was a better reaction than she'd expected, or worse.  “What's she doing in there?” she asked the Kryptonian.

Kara lowered her glasses.  “She's just sitting on her bed, holding her head.”

“Does she look mad?”

“No.  She kinda looks like she wants to cry, though.”

Alex's heart ached.  “Oh.”  There was the disappointment she'd expected.

Kara took her hand.  “It'll be OK.  Let's clean up, since it doesn't look like anyone will be eating anything else tonight.”

Alex nodded.  Her throat was too constricted to speak.

After the kitchen was clean, the girls headed towards the stairs, and as they passed Eliza’s room, it didn't take super-hearing to hear the woman crying.

That set off Alex's tears.  She raced up the stairs and threw herself down on her bed, bawling.  

Kara cuddled up behind her and kissed the back of her head.  “It's OK, baby girl” she cooed.  “It's gonna be OK, my love.”

“How can you say that when my mom hates me?!” she sobbed.

“Your mom doesn't hate you, Alex.  I promise you.  She's just scared.  I can smell her fear from here.”

That just made Alex cry harder.

Eventually, after Alex had settled down, Kara assured her that her mom had fallen asleep.  They clung to each other - fully clothed, on top of the covers - with the dread of tomorrow hanging over them.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

The next morning, Eliza woke them up early.  “OK, girls, it's time to get up.  It's summertime, and since you're apparently old enough to be parents, you're definitely old enough to get jobs!  I'll be damned if I'm the only one paying to feed two Kryptonians!”

“Um…”  Kara started.

Wide-eyed, Alex shook her head at the Kryptonian.

“Not to mention all the baby stuff you're going to need…”

“Um, Eliza?”  Kara put her finger in the air.

Alex hit Kara in the stomach.  “Shh!”

“What is it, Kara?” Eliza huffed.

The Kryptonian fretted, “Uh…  There, uh…”

“No!” Alex whispered frantically, tugging at the blonde’s shirt.

Eliza spoke through gritted teeth, “What is it?”

The Kryptonian did not allow her lover to shake her.  “Um, Eliza, there are two of them.”

“Two of what?” the woman asked harshly.

“Two, um…  Two babies?”

The older woman went pale and sat down on the opposite bed from them.  “Wha…” she panted.  “Are- are you sure?  I mean how do you know?”

“I can see them?” Kara answered.

Eliza’s eyes went wide.  “Why the hell didn't you tell me this last night?!  Jesus fucking Christ!” she got progressively louder as she spoke.  “How could you girls be so irresponsible?!  I mean, seriously?!  God dammit!  How am I supposed to deal with all of this at once?!”

The girls cowered in Alex's bed, too afraid to answer.

“I mean, finding out you guys are in love, going behind my back, hiding Kara’s new developments, your first time having sex, having a baby, finding out that baby is twins - these are all each huge things individually, but you expect me to cope with it all at once? Fuck!  Fuck!  FUCK!”  She pulled at her hair with one hand and punched the mattress underneath her with the other.  Now, everyone was in tears, and no one spoke for a while.  After some long moments of Eliza holding her head in her hands, she spoke quietly, “Get up, shower, and get dressed in decent clothes.  You're both getting jobs, and you're going to work the maximum amount of hours that you're legally allowed and not a minute less.  Baby stuff is expensive, and now we have to buy double.”  She growled and shook her head.  “You have one hour to get ready.”  And with that, she stomped out of the room and back downstairs.

Kara wanted to get a job at the library shelving books, but there weren’t any positions open, so she ended up working at the Starbucks at Barnes and Noble.  Alex wanted to get a job as a lifeguard, but her mother pointed out that she would be showing soon, and people weren’t going to want a pregnant lifeguard.  She was forced to settle for working in a music shop in the mall.  Overall, however, the girls felt that, if this was their punishment, they could deal with it.  They were both just far too excited about their babies to feel much remorse.

Eliza barely spoke to them, but she found among her friends an OB-GYN that she could trust to keep their secrets, and she and Kara dragged Alex in to see her.  Eliza Danvers and Kathleen Landry had been friends since college at Stanford University, and Dr. Landry was just a couple hours away in National City.  It might be a long way to drive for some, but for the Danvers family, it was a small price to pay for secrecy.

“I know you probably got an earful from your mom already, but I really can't stress enough how you should have come to me sooner, Alex,” Dr. Landry chided.  “Kara is right.  There's a lot that could go wrong, not to mention we don't even know what problems there might be with carrying half-Kryptonian children!  At the absolute very least, you should be taking prenatal vitamins!”

Alex pouted, but didn't say anything.  She knew nothing she could say would help her case.  

They did an ultrasound, and Alex finally got her first chance to see and hear a bit of what Kara had already experienced - her children's images and heartbeats.  It was the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen or heard, and she burst into tears.  “Look, Kara!” she pointed.  “Aren't they perfect?”

“So perfect!” Kara answered her with a kiss.  “Just like their mom.”  They kissed again.

“Yep,” Dr. Landry assured them.  “They look just like they’re supposed to.  Would you like to know the sexes of your babies?”

Kara grinned.  “I already know, but I haven’t told them yet.”

Alex gasped.  “You knew this whole time, and you didn’t tell us?!”

The blonde shrugged.  “I wanted it to be a surprise.”

“Do you want to just tell them, or should I show them?”

“Show them!” Kara answered, still grinning.

Dr. Landry moved the sonogram wand around to show the babies’ sexes.  “Looks like you’ve got two beautiful little girls in there.”

Alex grinned.  When she heard a sniffle behind her, she turned and saw that her mother was in tears, too.  “Are you ok, mom?” she asked worriedly.

Eliza just nodded and wiped her eyes.  “Yeah.”  She shared a look with Dr. Landry.

“I know you're mad, Mom, but this is a good thing, OK?  Think about it!  Kara lost everything.  This is my chance to give something back to her.  I know it's not the same, but it's a chance for her to have a family again.”

Eliza was quiet for a moment, then, “You could have waited until you graduated college for that.”

“Yeah,” Alex agreed.  “And we would have, if we'd thought for one second that Kara could actually get me pregnant.  She’s from a whole different world, Mom.  We didn't know.”

Eliza shook her head at the floor.  “Well, what’s done is done.  Now we just have to deal with the consequences of your actions, don’t we?”  Her voice didn’t bite as much as it had been doing lately - mostly, she just seemed resigned to her fate.

“What are you telling people about the father?” Dr. Landry asked.

The girls looked sheepishly back at her.  “We don’t know.  We haven’t really talked about it,” Alex answered.

“Maybe you should make up a boy from another school or something, since you obviously can’t tell them the truth.”

Alex nodded thoughtfully.  “Yeah, that should work for most people.”  She pressed her lips together.  “Not sure that’s gonna work for Vickie, though.”

Eliza’s eyes widened.  “You mean Vickie doesn’t know you’re pregnant yet?”

The girls shook their heads.  “We haven’t told anyone.”

“Oh, boy,” Eliza drawled.  “You’d better tell her soon before she figures it out on her own.  You’re already showing a bit.  She’s going to wonder why you didn’t tell her right away.”

“I know,” Alex answered.  “I’ve just been trying to avoid all the questions that are going to come up.”

“Well, you’re going to have to face the music somehow.  At least Vickie can’t possibly be as mad at you as I am.”  Eliza stood.  “Are you ready to go home?”

The girls nodded.

“Good.  Let’s go.  Thank you so much, Kathy.”  She reached out to hug her friend.

“My pleasure, Eliza.  I’ll see you again soon,” Dr. Landry answered, squeezing back.

“Thank you, Dr. Landry,” Kara chirped happily.

“Thank you, Dr. Landry,” Alex parroted.

“You’re welcome, girls.  Take care, and make sure you’re taking those vitamins!” she ordered.

“I will,” Alex promised.

“We’ll make sure she does,” Kara assured her with a wave.

XXXXXXXXXX

When they got home, Eliza pulled out her phone and scrolled through her contacts.  “I almost forgot,” she stated with a pointed look at Kara.  The phone rang a couple of times before someone picked up.  “Hello, Clark?”

Kara’s heart went cold.

“Yes, do you have a few minutes?  Kara has something important she needs to talk to you about.”  Eliza handed the phone to the younger blonde.

“Uh... hi, Clark,” she chuckled nervously.

“Hello, Kara,” her cousin answered pleasantly.  “Is everything OK?”

Kara pressed her lips together and looked at Eliza.  “Well…  I guess that depends on who you ask.”

“Oh-kay…” Superman said slowly.  “What is it you need to talk to me about, Kara?”

“Um…  Well…  I don’t really know how to say this…  Um…  I, uh…  I-  I kind of got Alex pregnant?”

There was silence on the other line.

“Clark?”

“I don’t get it,” the Man of Steel answered.  

Kara sighed and swiped her face with her hand.  Yet another person she had to explain presenting to.  Arg.  If she thought it was embarrassing telling Eliza about her body changes, it was nothing compared to trying to explain it to Clark.  Why didn’t he know about this already?  Probably because he was born male and didn’t have to present like she did.  How unfair.

“Wow,” Clark breathed when she was finished.  “I don’t even know what to say.”

“You don’t have to say anything,” she assured him.  “I guess Eliza just thought you should know.”

“Right…  Wow…”

Kara could hear her cousin pacing.  “Yeah…  Well, Eliza isn’t too happy with us.”

“That doesn’t surprise me, Kara.  You guys are still just kids!”

“On the contrary, on Krypton, we would be considered adults, and we would have already been married and had kids by now!” she insisted.

“Well, we’re not on Krypton!” Clark insisted loudly.  “We’re on earth, and you’re not married, you’re not even legally allowed to get married!”

“You could marry us using a Kryptonian ceremony!”

“Kara, you’re way too young for that, and you're missing the point!  Having a baby is a huge responsibility!  Are you really prepared for that?”

Kara fumed.  “Need I remind you that I was sent to earth with the specific purpose to take care of you as a baby?”

Clark groaned.

“And unlike some people, I am fully prepared to take responsibility for my family!”  

Clark was quiet for a long time.  

“Hello?”

“Yes, I'm here, Kara.  I just don't know what to say.  I-  I’m just really disappointed in you.”

Kara seethed.  “Excuse me?” she grit through her teeth, trying desperately not to crush Eliza’s phone.  “You’re disappointed in me?”  She scoffed, “That’s a laugh.  It’s not like you’re even in my life!  At least Eliza’s disappointment means something.  Yours?  It's not even worth registering.”  She hung up the phone, resisting the urge to throw it through the wall, and dropped it onto the couch before stomping upstairs and slamming the door behind her.

“That went well,” Kara heard Alex say from downstairs.

“I don’t need your attitude right now, young lady!” Eliza snapped.

Kara sobbed into her pillow.  What right did Clark have to say those things to her?  He basically just dropped her off at the Danvers’ house and left her there.  Alex has had more interaction with her cousin than she ever has had.  Hell, he took the time to teach the Danvers family to speak Kryptonese, for Rao’s sake!  But Kara?  She barely got a phone call here and there from her cousin.  She heard Eliza’s phone ring and the woman pick it up.

“Hello, Clark”

“Eliza?” Clark spoke.  “Is everything OK?”

The older blonde sighed.  “I guess that depends on your version of OK.”

“Do you need money?  Or-”

“No!” Eliza answered quickly.  “No, of course not.  That’s not why I wanted her to tell you.  I just thought you should know, you know?”

“Right…  So… Um…  When is the baby due?” Superman asked.

“Clark, there are two babies,” Eliza informed him.

“Oh,” he whispered.  “Oh, wow.”

“Yeah.”

“Eliza, I don’t know what to say.  I’m so sorry.”

“Yeah.  Well…  Anyway, she’ll be 40 weeks in March, but since it’s twins, they will probably be born sooner than that.  So far, everything looks good.  Alex and the babies are perfectly healthy right now - no blood sugar problems, no blood pressure issues.  So far so good.”  Eliza went into her room and closed the door - not that that would prevent Kara from hearing, but she supposed it was more for Alex’s benefit than hers.  “Honestly Clark, I’m scared to death.  What if those babies rip my daughter apart from the inside with their Kryptonian strength?  What if something perfectly common goes wrong?  What if I lose my daughter?  I’ve already lost my husband,” she said tearfully.  “I can’t lose my daughter, too.”

“Hang in there, Eliza,” Clark comforted her.  “I’m sure everything will be fine.  There’s no better expert at Kryptonian physiology than you.  Is Alex going to be under any other doctor’s care?  I know obstetrics isn’t exactly your specialty.”

“Yes, I have an old college friend that’s an OB.  I’m positive we can trust her.  We saw her today, actually.  Alex had her first sonogram.  The babies are so perfect - girls.  I’m still mad as hell with their parents, but I couldn’t help but fall in love with those little girls today.  I really hope everything goes smoothly.”

Kara started crying for a whole new reason.  Eliza loved her babies.  She’d wondered if the woman would even come around to liking them.  Having her love them seemed too much to ask.  “Thank you, Rao,” she prayed.  “I couldn’t bear it if my babies’ grandmother hated them!”

Alex finally came upstairs with a sandwich in her hand.  “Are you OK, Angel?” she spoke softly.

Kara smiled with tears in her eyes, and when Alex gave her a confused look, she explained, “You’re mom just told Clark that she loves our babies, even though she’s mad at us.”

Alex brightened.  “She did?”

Kara nodded.  “Yeah.”

“Thank god,” Alex breathed a sigh of relief.  “You hear that, girls?” she spoke to her tummy.  “Everybody loves you already, and you’re not even born yet.”  She rubbed her hand across her belly.  

Kara grinned and grabbed Alex by the hips and pulled her close.  “That’s right, my little ones!” she cooed to her children.  “Your mommy loves you, and your Mama loves you, and your grandma loves you.  You don’t have to worry about that nasty cousin Clark.  You will never lack for love, I promise.”  She hugged the human girl as tightly as she dared.

Eliza must have hung up with Clark while they were talking because she called up the stairs, “Girls, would you please come down and help me with dinner?”

“OK, Mom!” Alex tried to shout around a mouth full of food.

“Are you eating already?” Eliza asked.

“I’m sorry!  I was getting hangry!” she defended.  “I’ll still eat dinner.  I’m pregnant, what can I say?”

Eliza rolled her eyes.  “Whatever you say, dear.”

XXXXXXXXXXXX

“Hey, Vicky,” Alex spoke into her phone.  “How’s it going?”

“Hey, Alex!" Vicky replied.  "I’m doing great.  How are you?”

“Um, I’m good," Alex hedged.  "Listen, I have something I need to tell you.  Is there any way you could come over?”

“Sure, let me ask my dad,” Vicky agreed.  “Is everything OK?”

Alex bit her lip.  “I mean, yeah, everything’s fine.  I just need to talk to you about something.”

“OK.”  Alex waited while Vicky asked her father permission to leave the house.  When she got it, they hung up and Alex paced the living room.

“It’s gonna be OK, Alex,” Kara assured her from her seat on the couch.  

Fifteen minutes later, her friend was knocking on the door.

“Hey!” Alex greeted her with a hug.  “Come on in.”

“Hi, Kara,” Vicky greeted.

“Hello,” Kara answered cheerfully.  “How are you?”

“Good.  A little bit dying to know what’s going on, though.”

Alex took a deep breath.  “Right.  Let’s go upstairs.”

“Sure thing.”  Vicky followed Alex up to her room.

After they’d both sat down on her bed, Alex took another deep breath and just blurted it out, “Vicky, I’m pregnant.  I’m having twins - girls.”

Vicky’s eyes went wide.  “What?!  I didn’t know you were even dating anyone!  How can you be pregnant?!  Who’s the baby daddy?”

“He’s uh, a boy I met at the beach...  He’s from out of state.  His name is Curtis.  We’re not really together.  He doesn’t know I’m pregnant, and I have no intention of telling him.”  She and Kara had devised their little lies together the night before.

“Why wouldn’t you tell him?  You could be getting child support or something!” Vicky exclaimed.

“I just… He’s from Texas, and I don’t want to bother.  It’s just easier this way.”

“He didn’t force you, did he?!”  Vicky was about to be livid.

“No!  No, nothing like that!” Alex assured her.

Vicky pouted.  “I just can’t believe you wouldn’t tell me about something like this.  I thought we were best friends.”

“I’m sorry,” Alex apologized.  “I was just kind of scared of people’s reaction.”

“I guess I can understand that,” Vicky sighed.  “But next time something big like this happens, you have to tell me!  If you don’t, I’ll be really mad!”

“You got it,” Alex answered.

Vicky hugged her.  “I can’t believe you got pregnant.  I always thought you were the most goody-goody-two-shoes when it came to sex.  Either that, or you were a lesbian.  Either way, I didn’t see this coming.  What about school?”

“What about it?”

“Well, we’re about to be seniors, how are you gonna finish the school year with twins?”

Alex shrugged.  “I don’t know.  I’ll figure it out.”

“What about college?”

“I can still go to college!”

“Yeah, but can you still go to Stanford?  How can you afford to pay for that school and twins?”

“I don’t know!  I might not go to Stanford now.  It’s five-and-a-half hours away, and National City University is only two hours away.  I might just go there.  They’re still fully accredited, and I can stay closer to home.  Maybe I’ll start out at the community college here in Midvale.  They’re a decent school, and I can take all the stupid, useless beginning classes that have nothing to do with my major there.”

“I guess,” Vicky said skeptically.  “When are you due?”

Alex smiled.  “February or March?”

“Are you even going to be able to finish your senior year?  You might have to retake your last semester!”

Alex frowned.  “I’ll figure things out.  It will be fine.  I know it will.”

“If you say so.”

“I do.”