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Klara yawned and looked at the clock on the wall of the living room.
She hadn't really believed what Elizabeth said, but it was four in the morning and Sawyer still wasn't back.
"What if she's still in labor? Wouldn't that be a bad sign?"
Elizabeth didn't seem bothered at all.
"If that's the case it's best if we stay here. I told you, I would know if Sawyer was really distressed. I'm sure things are fine. It's late, and I'm tired - I'd rather go to bed, if he isn't back in the morning we'll go over there."
Klara yawned again, and accepted that Elizabeth was probably right.
"I guess I'll see you in the morning," she reached for the light sheet Elizabeth had found for her, and began to make herself comfortable on the couch.
Elizabeth wondered if any of the other buildings would be free so that Klara could have her own place, but the thought of there being so many empty buildings just reminded her of the abandoned camp ground.
She had been tired when she was sitting downstairs with Klara, but when she climbed the stairs to the mezzanine and got into bed, she found it impossible to sleep, and was regretting being so open with Klara, but it had felt like the right thing to do at the time and she knew that it had made Klara feel less like an outsider.
She had only just managed to fall asleep when she heard the door open downstairs.
Sawyer climbed the stairs silently, trying not to wake her, but she wanted to know what was going on.
"You're awake."
"There's no need to sound so disappointed."
He hadn't sounded disappointed at all, but she was tired and she didn't really know what she should say.
"I'm not disappointed, Elizabeth."
"Is everything OK?"
He nodded, but gave no other response.
He tossed his shirt into the laundry basket in the corner - they hadn't even done the washing before they left, and it was just one more thing they had to do now they were back.
The mundane stuff - things that they had been able to avoid for months.
When he climbed into bed beside her she traced her finger over his tattoo, and she noticed him tense slightly at her touch. She figured it had probably bothered him because it was a reminder of what lay beneath that tattoo, and so she moved her hand away.
“I didn’t expect you to come back tonight; are you sure everything is OK? Jonas seemed really scared and it isn’t like him to panic like that.”
“I think he knew she’d left it too late to get help.”
“You aren’t answering me. Is everything OK? I can’t tell how you feel right now and that’s scaring me a little.”
Sawyer moved to lie on his side, and Elizabeth rested her hand on his chest as he looked at her.
“My sister is fine, thanks to Selene. Nothing went wrong but she was in denial about how close she was and she wouldn’t have tried to get help; Selene figured out what was going on and refused to leave her there. The baby is a girl, and she’s healthy. My sister wants to name her Minerva, after the goddess.”
“As opposed to the character from Harry Potter?”
Sawyer laughed, and rubbed Elizabeth’s arm affectionately.
“I strongly suggest you keep that comment to yourself, unless you are looking for a lecture about why Greco-Roman mythology is so important to her.”
“I wouldn’t mind the lecture; I’m assuming it’s important to all of you, because Selene was pleasantly surprised that a human understood where her name comes from. I would like to learn more about what you consider important - I’m just surprised that she’s considering such an unusual name.”
The way Sawyer smiled made it clear there was something he wasn’t telling her, but she was too tired to press him any further.
She kissed him, mainly to reassure herself that he wasn’t hiding anything sinister from her, and he clearly wanted more from her than she had expected.
“We shouldn’t,” she moved away from him and he was confused and frustrated by her reaction. “Klara was mortified enough that she saw Jonas naked earlier, I don’t think she would appreciate having to put up with us while she’s trying to sleep.”
“Are you serious? She’s the same age as you, Elizabeth; I don’t think she’ll be that shocked if we have s*x while she’s staying with us, and if she's here for more than a couple of days she is going to have to deal with it.”
Elizabeth didn't think it was her place to tell him why Klara was so awkward, and she was irritated by his reaction until it dawned on her that he had been terrified about his sister earlier; now that things were OK, that adrenaline hadn't just gone away, and he was probably just looking to unwind and calm down; she had expected to spend the night convincing people to let Klara stay with them, and she couldn't stop thinking about what was going to happen.
"Do you think they will accept her? What if they don't want her to live here?"
Sawyer smiled, again.
"I don't think that's going to be an issue. When word gets out about the baby, they probably won’t even notice Klara has moved here.”
"How is a baby going to be that much of a distraction? Is it seriously such a big deal every time anyone in your family reproduces?"
"Not exactly."
Elizabeth narrowed her eyes, because she was sure he was hiding something from her and he wasn’t even trying to be subtle about it.
"What are you not telling me?"
He found it adorable rather than intimating, and she forgot about the fact Klara was downstairs when he kissed her again and wound his fingers through her hair.
It wasn't quite enough to distract her completely, and she knew him well enough that she ran her fingers lightly across the top of his waistband so he was particularly frustrated, and then asked him again: "what are you not telling me?"
She slipped her fingers down past his waistband just enough to make his pulse race.
"I thought you wanted to avoid doing anything fun while Klara is around? I don't think she'll appreciate it if you resort to sticking your hand down my pants every time you want to get information from me."
"So, there is information for me to get."
Elizabeth expected him to tell her she had to work a little harder, but he moved her hand away.
"It's not my information to give. Francesca, Jonas, and Selene all agreed not to tell anybody about the baby yet. It's not because of who she is, or who her parents are: it's because of what she is. I didn't believe it when Selene told me...I thought she was joking, or that she had made a mistake. But that girl really is incredible, and that's all I can say. "
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