Burning Slow

In which everything went wonderfully wrong

Nick quickly took his hand off Astraea as if she suddenly burned him.

"Nick, wait, I-"

"Aea, oh my god. We've talked about this. This wasn't supposed to happen. How could this happen?" He panicked, standing up.

The others were speechless at the news, Ember quietly sipping her coffee in the background.

"Pretty sure Grace knew too before we went." She mumbled, the couple whipping their heads to her. "Think about it, she placed you in the safest area- completely out of harms way."

"And you were too worried when Nick and the others were unconscious. Too worried that it was so unlike you." James pointed out.

"And the constant sound of puking almost every morning." Rocco said next.

Nick ran a hand over his face, trying to get his breathing back to normal. It was at this point that Astraea had enough of Nick's dramatics, glaring at him.

"This is your child. This is your choice. Do you think I wanted to be pregnant now? You need to stop being a f*****g drama queen and consider this child that we're going to be having in less than eight months."

"Aea, you were there." Nick's voice shook. "My parents, my siblings... That was the reason why we took that break. What if this time, I f**k up again?"

Greyson quietly cleared his throat, gesturing to the group to leave the couple be. They all nodded, knowing that this was between them. All except for Kenneth who remained sitting down, staring at the couple. Alex sighed, dragging Kenneth with them.

When they were all gone, Nick breathed out. His shoulders slumped, looking at Astraea, fear swirling in his eyes.

"We were safe... weren't we? The last time was-"

"Before we broke up. I didn't have my period last month."

"Aea..."

Astraea took a step forward, cupping Nick's cheek. "Our baby will have the most beautiful dark complexion and curly brown hair."

Nick sighed, leaning into Astraea's touch, the fear in his eyes still very much evident. "What if I do it again? What if I lose you? And now you're pregnant. I won't be losing just you- I'll be losing my family all over again."

"You've gotten better at controlling your anger, babe. We're going to get through this, yeah? I need you through this."

"Are you sure? I can't lose any more people." His voice cracked.

"I'm sure. We're having a miracle, Nick. Sure it's not the best time to have a child and we're still young but... this is a miracle."

What if's still swirled in his mind but he knew that Astraea needed his support more than anything right now. With a child on the way and the love of his life by his side, what could go wrong?

*****

"So all our girls are taken?" Jacob mused, staring at the two couples and Nathan.

"Are you sure you guys want to remain single? We're facing an apocalypse, who knows when we die?" Ember asked, staring at Jacob, Kenneth, Alex and her dad.

"I'm good. Your mom and I never broke up anyways." Ember unconsciously smiled at her dad's answer.

"I haven't decided yet." Kenneth admitted. "To be honest, I want a girl that can handle me spoiling her. I can practically create anything in the universe. I might end up falling in love with a gold digger."

"How 'bout you, Jacob?" Rocco asked.

"I'm not ready for relationships yet."

"Speaking of relationships, I want to meet James' boyfriend." Astraea grinned. "Can we?"

"Why not?"

"Hold on! You guys aren't going to ask whether I want a relationship?" Alex yelled.

"Fine. Do you?" Nick asked.

"Maybe. I just haven't found the one for me yet."

"Better get on it then. We're losing a lot of people every single day." Nathan advised.

"So, the address, James?"

"It's not too far from our house. We can walk from there or drive or something." Nick nodded, grabbing Astraea's hand and Rocco's gesturing for the others to do the same.

They disappeared into thin air, reappearing in a familiar room. Nothing's changed obviously.

"Is it normal that my stomach is churning or I'm just getting old?" Greyson asked, sitting on the bed.

"It's normal." Alex answered.

"Be prepared for the second time you teleport. It's going to hurt like fuck." Nathan said.

James and Jacob went ahead, exiting their room and the rest following behind them, Greyson walking a bit slower.

They took in the unfamiliar surroundings- they didn't really notice the last time they were there. The house was almost similar to Ember's, only it was a bit smaller.

"Where's your parents?" Greyson asked.

The twins tensed, the action unnoticed by the group.

"We'll tell you guys there. C'mon, we'll drive there instead." James swiped the car keys off the table, about to open the front door.

"Wait a sec, Greyson and I aren't immune to the virus like you guys are." Kenneth sighed, quickly recreating the special masks and handing it to Greyson and Alex.

"Problem solved." He said.

They miraculously all fitted into James' small car, all of them packed like those sardines.

"Everyone good?" James asked, staring at them through the rear view mirror. He saw them all nod and he started the car, driving through the streets, a wave of nostalgia hitting him and Jacob.

He stopped in front of big black gates, the road going up hill from there.

"This is where we get off." James parked the car and turned off the engine.

The gates opened on their own, all of them following the twins.

None of them expected the sight that awaited them at the top of the hill.

There were glass coffins as far as the eye can see. Some of the glass were frosted and some were clear- perfectly preserved bodies within each. Letters and dates floated above each coffin- the persons' birth date, death date, name and their epitaph.

"Oh my god." Astraea gasped, hands flying to her mouth.

"Mason's not too far." James voice was expressionless as he walked ahead.

The rest slowly followed him, having no idea of how to approach this situation. The atmosphere in the cemetery was heavy- they were the only people there and they didn't even know that they were going to be there.

James finally stopped in front of a clear glass coffin.

Mason Ortiz, July 27, 2204- October 08, 2228

Your bodyguard in Heaven.