Vision Of Escaflowne Fan Fiction ❯ Heart of the Dragon ❯ Pregnancy ( Chapter 16 )

"Time to get up," Van murmured into the tangle of hair on his shoulder. Judging by the angle of the sun, it was already midmorning.

"Van, I don’t feel good," it replied.

Van shot up and looked down at Hitomi’s pale face and tousled hair covering the pillow. "Are you going to be sick?"

Hitomi gulped and sat up, the blanket falling to her waist. Van completely forgot she was sick and stared.

Hitomi’s face turned a nasty shade of green and she flung back the covers, dashing naked from the room and into hers. Van could hear the unmistakable sounds of someone being vilely ill.

He got out of bed and walked over to his dresser, taking out a pair of black leather pants and a white baggy silk shirt. He pulled them on quickly and hurried to her room.

She was leaning onto the post on the bed, completely naked and not caring. Her stomach was still doing summersaults and she still felt like she needed to puke again. It didn’t help that she had gotten drunk the night before, plus Van taking her three times in one night. She held onto her head, the room reeling and the floor dipping underneath her feet. She cried out when she lost her grip and started to fall.

Van caught her and gently lifted her up. "Hitomi, what do you want me to do?" Van asked, clearly not knowing how to handle the situation.

"Oh, Van. Make it stop. Please make it stop."

Van frowned at himself, angry and upset that he was the one that had done this to her. "Shhh, it’s ok. I'm going to bring you into my room and go get Nara. Alright?"

"Oh, God. Let me go before I throw up on you," she whispered, her eyes closing. Van dropped her and she ran back over to the large water bowl. Her body racked with dry heaves and Van lifted her hair out of her face, a comforting hand on her shoulder.

When she was done, she collapsed into Van’s arms and he promptly handed her a handkerchief out of nowhere. She wiped off her mouth and almost gagged and started throwing up again when she tasted her mouth. "Van, please."

Van sat her on the bed and hurried to her dresser. He dug through the drawers, only finding an enticing black negligee that made him blink at how little it would actually cover. He stopped a minute, picturing his wife wearing it. He closed his eyes and started when he heard a small groan from the bed. Hitomi rolled off of it and went straight back to the bowl. Van sighed and forgot the luring piece to go look in her armoire. He found a floor length white silk piece that would cover much more and he took it out, bringing it back over to Hitomi who had just finished heaving.

He stood her up and she weaved where she stood. Van caught her before she hit the floor again and sat her back on the bed. He ordered her to lift up her arms and she did it slowly, afraid that any sudden movement would make her puke again. He put her in it with some difficulty, considering he had never dressed a woman in a frothy nightgown, let alone one that was half-dead.

He picked her up and she carefully put her arms around his neck. He walked over to the door and opened it, leaving it open and not caring. He walked as fast as he could, yelling at a servant when he got in his way. The boy looked horrified, yet interested, considering that her highness was being carried in some silky confection that made his eyes bulge.

Van was getting more pissed off by the second, everyone and everything imaginable getting in his way and glaring at his wife as if she was the most beautiful thing in the world, which she technically was, at least to him.

He saw Allen rip open Merle’s door and start to dash down the hall with the lady in question in his arms. "Allen, wait!!" he yelled to his back. Allen whipped around, drawing a moan from the lady in his arms.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, love. Please, just hold on. We’ll be there in a moment," Allen said soothingly and shifted her in his arms. When he saw Van with his own woman in his arms, and in the similar state, he grinned. They both started off to the infirmary, which was half way across the palace.

By the time they both got there, they were panting with exertion and had sweat pouring down their faces. Allen had had to stop once for Merle and Van twice for Hitomi. They had kicked in the door of which ever room they had been closest to and ran the woman in their arms to the water bowl on the washstand.

Van sighed in relief when he opened the door. Five healers stood up immediately and four others stayed sitting and or tending to the few sick they had. Van and Allen rushed in, bringing their burdens to the closet cot they could find and getting out of the way when Nara came bustling through, demanding to see her baby.

"Oh, my poor baby. I see that you finally told his highness about your being pregnant. Well, it will be a load of stress taken off your little back. Don’t worry, I will make it better," Nara murmured and hurried over to a cabinet filled with what Van knew were noxious concoctions nasty enough to make you gag.

Nara came back and lifted Hitomi’s head, pouring something down her throat from a small white vial. Hitomi felt her eyes get droopy and then close all together. She did the same for Merle quickly, for she saw how she was ready to regurgitate any second.

Van and Allen both let themselves relax when they knew their loves were taken care of. They sat down and ever so slowly, grins popped up on their faces. They tried to hold back the laughter, but it erupted all too soon. They stood up, still laughing and clapped each other on the back.

Nara rolled her eyes at the show of male perversity and listened to them congratulate each other and getting the poor knocked-out women on the cots pregnant. Nara wanted to slap the pigs, but she knew her baby and little Merle wouldn’t appreciate it.

"Now...if you two don’t mind. Leave."

Van blinked at the show of protectiveness from Nara. "Ah, Nara, what's wrong?" Van asked innocently.

Nara snorted and waved her finger at both of them. "I have a lot of talking to do to both of you, so you might as well follow me."

She walked more regally than Van and Allen both thought possible from the room and into another one. They sat down in what Van noticed was a small sitting room. There was a soot-covered fireplace that had once been white and blue marble on one side of the room, and surprisingly luxurious chairs that sat around a small coffee table in the middle.

Nara lowered her wide self into her favorite chair and motioned Allen and Van to the seats across from her.

"Now, I can just imagine what you must be thinking of yourselves right now. All selfish male pride about getting those poor young girls pregnant when they're still teenagers and have barely begun to live."

Van looked ready to protest, but was stopped at Allen’s motioning hand. Allen had already gone through a woman being pregnant, but he didn’t know the responsibilities of taking care of the child.

"Now, first of all, the conceiving dates of these children aren't too far off, but Merle is a cat woman and her highness is a human. So, there are going to be some complications. I’ll start with Allen."

About a very long half an hour later, Van and Allen almost ran out of the room. Van had absolutely no color in his face, and neither did Allen. The healers still in the room wanted to start laughing, but when they saw how upset the men were, they shut up.

Allen and Van both rushed over to the sides of their beloved's. Van took Hitomi’s hand in his and he raised it to his face, kissing it softly and resting it still clasped in his hand to his forehead. He started whispering things that Allen could barely make out as how much he hated himself.

Allen thought, hell with holding her hand, and buried his face in Merle’s luxurious hair. He sighed and wrapped his arms around her, his knees resting on the hard wooden floor.

They stayed like this for a whole hour. All the healers, realizing that they should have some privacy, left soon after they had come back in. Nara had willingly left with them, smiling her face off at her achievement.

Hitomi stirred and opened her eyes slowly. She wondered why the room was so dark and noticed how the dismal brown curtains were drawn over the windows, shrouding her in reticent shadows. She felt someone’s hand attached to hers and knew it was Van, because no one else was allowed to take such liberties with her queenly person. She smiled at the thought and tugged her hand out of her husband's. When he didn’t stir, she realized he was sleeping. He couldn’t be very comfortable on that wooden floor.

She started gently running her fingers through his soft hair and reveled in some quiet time just to watch her sleeping husband. Her fingers drifted down to his relaxed sleeping features and she traced the contours of his face. She had her finger running along his lips when he opened his eyes.

"Hitomi?"

"Yes, love?" Hitomi asked, pushing back his ruffled black hair from his face. He came up onto the bed and laid next to her, pulling her warily into his arms. When she didn’t protest, he calmed, especially when she wrapped her own arms around him.

"Nothing. Can I just hold you?" Van whispered, not wanting to disturb the other couple next to them.

"Of course, Van. I haven't been held since last night. You have to catch up," Hitomi said with a tiny giggle.

Van smiled into the darkness and molded her firmly against him. He let out a contented sigh and fell right asleep.

Hitomi felt so much love for him she had tears come to her eyes. She blinked them back, thinking about how absolutely lucky she was to have someone like Van, although he was stubborn and every once and a while made her cry. Especially now that she was pregnant and easily irritable.

She rubbed her hands up and down his powerful back and felt so protected, she dozed off along with him.