chloefannon

[chloefannon]

“I’m eighteen, pretty sure this isn’t how I planned it either.” She hadn’t even been sure if she’d wanted kids. Chloe hadn’t even thought about children before this all happened, and now she found herself being thrust into parenthood without any other options. Children weren’t even on her radar - Chloe had been busy applying to art schools and looking into how exactly one got an internship as a tattoo artist, and that had been scary enough in how adult it felt. She’d never even interacted with any children outside of smiling or waving at one in a store, and now she was going to be expected to take care of one. “I don’t know if I can do this,” she managed after a moment. All of the thoughts that had been swirling around in her mind could now finally be voiced, and she was crying all over again. “I mean, I realize there’s not much of a choice here but I’m fucking terrified.”

“Babe I’m not to sure how I wasn’t supposed to freak out over that.” He said as he ran a hand through his hair and took a breath. “I can’t believe we are going to have a baby.” He said through his breath before rubbing his face. “This is certainly not how I expected our lives to be when we had our first kid.”

[chloefannon]

Chloe watched as he turned white as a sheet, and she felt her expression falling. “I asked you not to do that,” she whined, though she couldn’t really blame him. Her being pregnant would have been a nightmare regardless; at at eighteen, in their old reality she would have barely graduated high school. But now was worse, so much worse, considering the grim reality they were facing every day. “Yeah,” she managed, tears still forming and falling even as she bubbled out a laugh.”Yeah, that’s...that’s gonna happen.”

Elijah could feel the colour draining from his face when he’d heard what his girlfriend had just told him. Pregnant…– The word kept running through his mind. She’d have to be at least been four months by now. “I-I’m going to be a d-dad.” Was all that he could stutter out. Elijah had always wanted a family but when the outbreak happened he thought that it would be impossible, that him and Chloe would have had too much on their plate to even think about kids. Thoughts of what raising a child in this world would be like rushed to the mans head and his stomach churned slightly. 

[chloefannon]

“I’ve had to be pretty tough while you were gone,” Chloe mumbled in response, almost as though in protest. Tougher than he’d probably ever imagine. “I thought I was gonna die during the heat wave. You missed that fun.” Her asthma had kicked up worse than it ever had before. She’d gotten through more than she ever imagined being able to in his absence, and couldn’t help but notice she’d changed a little. She was still whiney, still very selfish, but was slowly becoming more independent. She unconscious leaned her cheek into his touch as she took in a shaky breath, trying to collect her thoughts. All at once, it just came out in a rush: “I’m pregnant. I’m pregnant and it sucks and I really need you to not freak out about this, because I am freaking out about this enough for the both of us.” The sentence came out in a flurry, and she couldn’t bring herself to meet his eyes. She wanted to be sick again, breath coming in slightly faster as she struggled to keep calm.

“Well It’s a good thing that I don’t plan on leaving again because seeing what the world is like out there, no one deserves to be out there, especially you.” He stated as he cupped her cheek. “Baby please, you’re starting to worry me, just say whatever it is.” Elijah said as he looked into the girls eyes. The look on her face was starting to make him feel queasy, all of the worst scenarios rushing to his head.

[chloefannon]

“It’s not the only thing, but I’ve been told it’s one of the things I’m best at.”

“No.” He rolled his eyes, “Is complaining all you do?”

[chloefannon]

Chloe offered a bit of a scoff, and set the bottle back down a bit more roughly than she’d originally intended. “I was reading it,” she grumbled, rolling her eyes. “I can’t drink. No need to get so possessive over something so stupid, Jesus.”

           “When I said make yourself at home I wasn’t being literal. I get it, it’s late out, you’re a little far from your ivory castle back in Lucy Park so you need some place safe to sleep. Whatever, but that don’t mean you can touch my whiskey, so if you want to keep your hand, do us both a solid and put the fucking bottle down.”

[chloefannon]

“Yeah, you and me both.” She scrunched up her nose slightly at the idea of having to tell Elijah about everything, but offered a nod. “I mean...he’d figure it out soon enough if I didn’t tell him, so I may as well bite the bullet.”

It was almost a downer when he heard that he wasn’t around. Even though his father wasn’t around for much of his life, it kind of made him think of that, which was a little unsettling. “Well, I hope he finds his way back, and that you can find the courage to tell him sooner rather than later.”

[chloefannon]

“Rude,” Chloe grumbled with a sigh. “Isn’t pregnancy like..a get out of jail free card? It should be. This shit sucks.”

A brow perked, “Just because you’re pregnant, doesn’t mean I won’t leave you with a group of zombies just waiting for their next meal.”

[chloefannon]

“Um, well...” Chloe made a face, sighing. “He’s my boyfriend, but he’s kind of...not here. I haven’t seen him in a while. He went out to do...something and hasn’t come back yet. I’m praying for the best, but it’s still pretty...crappy. He doesn’t even know yet.”

“Makes sense to do that,” he smiled back to her. “No, no, no,” he shook his head before he assured her with a hand on her shoulder. “That’s not stupid. Actually, it’s smart. Are you still in touch with the father? Or whoever could be a father figure to, um, it?”

[chloefannon]

“I mean, that’s kind of the plan. Or picking out one of each. Something like that. I just....I’m kind of waiting it out, you know?” The smile she offered was just a slight tick in her cheek, and she looked down for a second. “I just don’t want to do any of that by myself. Might be stupid, but..”

“And it’s all yours,” he simply added with a nod. When Chloe told him about what’s been going on, he listened. “You can always name it something that could fit both a boy or a girl. I could easily think of a few unisex names if you’d hear me out,” he suggested. “I hope there won’t be too much trouble going on at your camp anytime soon to mess that up.”

[chloefannon]

“Catholic school sex ed is don’t do it until you’re married. And no, but there’s this weird chastity ceremony thing some girls did with their parents...I never did. I mean, clearly. If I did then it would be beyond broken.” Cheeks still flaming close to the shade of her hair, she puffed out her cheeks slightly and slowly exhaled. “...I get to eat a lot, so I mean. There’s that.”

“God, that sounds boring. You’d think that they would educate their students on sex or did they just tell you that it’s the Devil and that you should lock yourself up with a padlock? Oh my God, did you have a chastity belt? Maybe you shouldn’t of taken it off, just sayin’." Clarke couldn’t even fathom what that kind of school would be like considering she barely even attended the one she was enrolled in, though she did try more towards the end; especially when she discovered the direction she wanted to go in. "Hey, gotta find the positives in these kind of situations. Don’t fight it.”

[chloefannon]

“Yeah, no. You get no say. If you have to go, I’m going with you. End of story. No argument.” She hadn’t slept well since he’d left, hadn’t been coping well at all. She had certainly been whining more to the general public as well. Not to mention the whole pregnancy thing, which was the cause behind the current shift in their conversation. All at once the nausea was back and worse than ever, and a chill ran down her spine. She was afraid to open her mouth to speak, God forbid she vomit on him instead. “No,” she said in a rush, hands moving to grasp his biceps instantly. “No, no, no. Not that.”

“I know baby and I’m sorry that I had to go.” He said softly, his hand running through Chloe’s hair. “I won’t be going again and if I did I sure a hell would not let you come with me, no one should be stuck out there.” Elijah stated before shrugging. “I mean if you think so then sure, but next time i’ll take a kiss over a slap. The man stated before feeling his head race when he heard her, his mind immediately going to all of the worst scenarios. “You aren’t breaking up with me are you?”

[chloefannon]

“Blah blah blah, empty threats.” Chloe frowned over at the other, huffing audibly. “I can’t exactly help any of this. I can theoretically help puking on you, but that depends on if you’re a jerk or not.”

“You puke on me, and I’ll be the last thing you see.” He threatened. It was bad enough that he had to deal with zombie guts and everything, he did not need human vomit to add on the list - especially from her. 

[chloefannon]

“Good. I’ve been worried. So, so worried. Other people kept showing up and coming back, and it was never you. So either I go with you next time, or...or you just..don’t go.” The argument was unrealistic and very much focused in on her tunnel-vision, but she didn’t care. “And yes I did. You deserved it...kind of.” Sniffing, she wiped at her eyes with one fist, and then the next question hit. “Nothing,” she said automatically, unsure if she was ready for this conversation. She’d been dealing with so much on her own, had been praying for him to come back so she wouldn’t have to anymore, and now she was afraid of the conversation at hand. How did one talk about something like this? “..Well, not nothing,” she mumbled, sighing as she pulled back slightly. “We....need to talk.”

“I know, but I’m here now and I don’t plan on leaving again.” He said as he her her close before groaning slightly when she pushed him. “Alright I promise babe, you didn’t have to injure me.” Elijah said with a small chuckle before looking at her seriously. “Whats wrong?”

[chloefannon]

“Oh my God you shut up.” Chloe did’t turn to look at the other, still trying to regain control of her stomach. “I’m pregnant and it’s hot and I’m tired and overall I just feel like shit. Your voice is making my head hurt more and I will not hesitate to puke on you, ‘kay?”

“Not my problem.” He retorted, rolling his eyes before wrinkling his nose at the stench. From afar, he could already tell that she was going to be a problem. And then his assumption was confirmed when she started vomiting everything out. There were much grosser things nowadays so he wasn’t as disgusted as he would have been before the apocalypse. He was sitting here, taking a break when this girl just came along. Honestly, peace and quiet was so hard to attain with both humans and zombies roaming this world. “So shut up. You’re getting old.”

[chloefannon]

“Yeah well, sometimes you don’t exactly get a choice in stuff like that...” Holding onto him tightly, the tears came without warning and she shifted to burrow herself into his chest. “Me too,” she managed after a moment, voice strained. After several minutes, she pulled back and shoved at his chest roughly, eyes still shining with tears. “You never get to do that again, okay? Ever.”

The man fell back slightly when her arms wrapped around his neck before his own slid around her waist. “You know I’d never do that to you.” He said softly as he placed a kiss on the girls forehead. “God I missed you so much Chloe.”

[chloefannon]

“I’m pregnant,” she groaned out as she dropped back fully to sit. “I don’t really get a choice around when I get sick. It rules my life now and makes all those decisions.”

Bug arched an eyebrow at her, his arms crossed over his chest as he stared down at her. “Nausea cure? There are doctors around here somewhere. I’m the opposite of that.” He retorted before finally, offering some of his water to her. “Getting sick around this time is not a good idea, girl.”

[chloefannon]

The voice was familiar, but she dared not let herself hope that much. She looked up quickly and the water was immediately place back on the ground (thank goodness for lids) and her arms were thrown around his neck. “Oh my God,” she murmured against his shoulder, squeezing tight. “Oh my God I thought I was never going to see you again.”

Elijah had just returned from some security detail he’d been on. The man didn’t think it would take over a month but it did and he hated it. Elijah had been walking back to where he used to sleep, a soft smile appearing on his face when he heard saw the familiar girls bright hair, frowning slightly when he noticed she’d been sick. He quickly pulled out the water from his bag before stepping closer. “Already one step ahead of you.” Elijah said before crouching beside her and handing the girl the drink.