Dropping a bombshell [Mav]

[Katya Romanova]

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[atrb=background,http://i.imgur.com/OhUtY.png] She had been in the sprawling home since summer. She had been with Mav nearly a year. The thought surprised her, considering her previous avoidance of all things related to commitment. The man had somehow made her a better person, and it frightened her, though she wouldn't admit it in this lifetime or any other. She hummed softly as she leaned against the counter in the kitchen and began to roll pizza dough. After getting her hands coated in a fine layer of flour, she began to knead the dough beneath her knuckles. To think, this time last year, she had been snoring on her brother's couch and avoiding manual labor like the plague. Contrary to popular belief, she was quite the cook and knew how to take care of herself. She had just fallen into a bad place and hadn't been able to dig herself out. She lifted a hand to push several dark strands of hair from her face with a soft curse. Flour smeared on her cheek and caked in her silky, black hair. Her eyes flicked toward a nearby clock, taking note of the time. He'd be home from the school soon or rather, from wherever he went when he wasn't with her or generally just in the house. She nibbled on her lower lip and poured sauce onto the dough then topped it off with a bag of shredded cheese, a few slices of pepperoni, and a few chunks of sausage. Her stomach gurgled and when the oven was done preheating, she slid the pizza into the oven. "Take that, Papa J!" She crowed triumphantly, dusting off her hands and before Mav could come home and see the mess she'd made, she quickly cleaned up and did the dishes. She cast a final glance around and scrunched her nose before disappearing into the bathroom. Something had been tugging at the back of her brain, trying to tell her she was missing out on something rather important. She hopped into the shower and sang softly in Russian as she bathed, allowing the hot water to pelt her pale skin. When she didn't look like a gothic lolita bitch doll, she didn't look too shabby, not at all. She turned off the water and sighed softly in content, pulling on a fluffy robe. Making sure it was tied, she gathered up her clothes and dropped them into the hamper then yawned softly, moving to the couch and sprawling on top of the cushions. Her fingers tented over her abdomen and her head turned to look once more at the clock. Time seemed to move by rather slowly when Mav wasn't home. She still didn't have a job and perhaps soon, she'd talk to him about either taking up a job at the academy or finding work somewhere in town. It had to beat sitting around and watching her ass grow. Maybe it wasn't that bad, but it was pretty close in her opinion. She shifted onto her side and sighed quietly, flipping through the channels. Each channel was just about as boring as the last, much to her dismay. Why couldn't something interesting be on STAFF POSITIONS She crinkled her nose with momentary disdain and finally just settled for watching the news. The majority of the crap they reported was actually rather depressing, but she had learned not to pay as much attention to it. She just drowned it out and thought of things that made her happy. Naturally, one of those people was Mav and though she hated showing affection in public, it was probably a bit obvious that she was over the moon when she was with the man. Slowly, her consciousness slipped away from her and when she realized she was falling asleep, she shot up and went to check on the pizza that was baking in the oven. It was nearly done and the smell that was in the kitchen was only succeeding in making the woman hungrier. With the timer only five minutes away from dinging, she pulled on oven mitts and clapped her hands together, the sound of her covered hands connecting rather dull, as opposed to the sound it'd make if she hadn't been wearing the accursed things. Her stomach flopped and she shook her head, telling herself to calm down. It was only food, she'd eaten before, perhaps more so than most, thanks to the munchies. "Pizza is pizza." She muttered, acknowledging that there was a difference between bland pizza and the kind that had your taste buds begging for more while grease traveled down your arms and dripped onto whatever was beneath your elbows. Immediately after the timer dinged, she carefully extracted the pizza and used the sleeve of the robe she wore to wipe the sweat from her brow. After setting the pizza down on the cooling rack to cool, she cut it into eight slices and made her way back to the couch. She figured she didn't have much longer to wait and even if she did, the good news was she wouldn't wind up burning her mouth while attempting to eat the pizza. It almost seemed worth it to wait. A quiet yawn escaped her lips and what had been nagging her for the past couple of hours hit her like an atom bomb. She was late, her period was late. It was happening again. She swallowed hard. How long did she have before she had to run STAFF POSITIONS Did she even tell Mav, or did she just not breathe a word and go STAFF POSITIONS He was used to her disappearing, wasn't he STAFF POSITIONS It wasn't like she hadn't done it before, only this time she wouldn't - couldn't - return just about on her hands and knees, begging him for a reason to stay. It had been fun while it had lasted. For now, she would just have to keep up appearances and pretend like everything was hunky-fucking-dory. Fear knotted the pit of her stomach as nausea threatened to take hold. After another moment of sitting on her ass, she got up and went to the nearest bathroom, closing the door louder than she'd originally intended. In front of the toilet, she fell to her knees and hurled, trying rather unsuccessfully to keep her hair out of her face. She wiped her mouth with tissue paper and threw it into the toilet, doing what she could not to stare at it as she pulled down on the handle to flush it all down the drain. She pulled herself to her feet and wandered from the bathroom with a toothbrush dangling from her mouth. The sound of a door closing made her flinch. Now, it was the time of truth and she wondered just how long she could keep her cool around the man she was hopelessly in love with, the very man she hadn't been able to get out of her head since her early teens, unless she was really high and really wasted and even then, that didn't always help. She wandered toward him and bit her lip to peer up at him. "Welcome home, babe! I hope your day wasn't too boring without me around." She flashed him a smile and reached up to kiss his cheek, all the while cursing her height of 5'4''. "I made pizza if you wanna steal a slice." She informed him with a wink. Her stomach churned and she wondered how she wasn't stumbling her way back to the bathroom or better yet, how long she could live in her little fantasy world without confronting the proverbial elephant in the room. Maybe, just maybe, she wasn't pregnant and was just the victim of some rather fucked up coincidences. Deep down, she knew better. She had experienced this once before and after she had ran away from Mav the first time and had subsequently warmed up to the entire ideology of being a parent, she had miscarried. She still hadn't told him about it and figured she'd probably wind up taking that secret to her grave, right along with a few others. After wrapping her arms briefly around his waist and lingering long enough to breathe in the comforting, familiar scent that he carried, she pulled away and went to the kitchen to get out two plates. Maybe he'd understand and maybe, he'd be the one to run away if she told him all of the truths locked away in her pretty, little head. She sighed and forced the thoughts out of her head. What would her brothers say if they found out STAFF POSITIONS They'd all probably laugh at her and poke sticks at her until she broke down and chucked the biggest thing she could get her hands on at them. Her lips curled into a mischievous smile at the thought. Perhaps, she could enjoy whatever time left she had with Mav. Maybe she had been wrong to come back into his life after so long and expect things to go back to the way they once were or simply even to expect them to go to a better place, a place that made the both of them happy and gave them a reason for being. She was about to throw another wrench into his life, and she sincerely doubted he could take another bump in the road and find it in himself to patch it up and smooth it out. Maybe she didn't give him enough credit. She chewed on her lower lip and picked up one of the slices, dropping it onto a plate for him. She debated briefly on not eating but decided against it, figuring it might raise his suspicions. That was the last thing she needed. He had been the one to say he had wanted a family of his own and unless she walked out on him like she was planning to do or he had suddenly changed his mind, he'd soon find that he was going to get his wish. Her thoughts traveled to the last place she expected them to go. She wanted to marry the man and to raise a family with him, to give their children all of the things she'd never gotten as a child. Her hand dropped to her stomach and her fingertips curled into the fabric of the robe that she wore. Could she really be so selfish and so cruel again STAFF POSITIONS What had he ever done to deserve it when all he'd ever done was show her kindness, love, and compassion STAFF POSITIONS She hadn't even been back in his life a day and he had taken her within his home, had showered her with all of the things that they had missed out in their younger years because of her. She glanced back toward him and tilted her head, trying to survey his expression. "I think I might be pregnant." She said finally, just deciding to get it out of the way. Come what may, she wasn't going to try and hide it from him, even if it meant she wound up doing everything on her own. She was used to being on her own because up until last year, that's all she'd ever been: on her own. She sighed and glanced down at her plate, dropping her own slice of pizza onto the plate. How in the world was he going to react, would he be excited or upset STAFF POSITIONS Her head spun, and she took hold of the counter in search of support. Would he think she was only looking for his money STAFF POSITIONS It hadn't ever been about that, she hadn't ever cared about money, not even when her brothers constantly bitched at her to find work. Tears formed at the corners of her eyes and her head hung. Everything that happened here on out was dependent on his reaction and if she was actually pregnant. What if she wasn't and wound up giving her an unnecessary scare, would he consider her desperate and a possible liability STAFF POSITIONS She wished he'd just drop the ax and be done with it, even if it was just to spare some of her sanity and save her from her inner turmoils. A shiver ran along her spine, and she wiped her eyes, trying to be as discreet as possible. She had thrown herself under a proverbial bus for him and was hoping it didn't wind up breaking her entirely. What would her brothers do if she came back to them with her tail between her legs, asking for their help all over again STAFF POSITIONS That's what had happened the first time she had gotten knocked up with the man's child, only then they were still teenagers. Her brothers had happily helped her and instead of finding a way to make it on her own, she had fallen into depression and had returned to her old ways. She had become a lazy cat that was too content with its life to do anything else, other than eat, sleep, and screw. The boozing and the smoking had come without saying. She wanted to find the nearest corner and hide. It seemed like the only rational thing to do. Feeling numb as could be, she abandoned her pizza without even taking a bite and found her way back to the couch, easing onto the familiar cushions and staring blankly at the television screen in front of her, trying to focus her blurring vision.

[Maverick Andenhal]

[bg=6b4916][atrb=border,0,true][atrb=width,380,true] Today was a day that was not unlike every other day that Mav had been experiencing recently. Dull drab and boring, with just a hint of irritating. The typical whiny students coming to him for non-administrative issues, and to those he had his usual kind mannerism about him; calm, quiet, and reassuring. Just so that they would feel well enough to leave him to his more pressing matters, like how he was organizing the team for the beginning of the upcoming season, and whether or not he was going to include competitions between Hollow Aspen and Blue Ridge Academy as part of their upcoming curriculum. The paperwork was piling up on his desk as well from new applications to Hollow Aspen. They all required his attention. He felt as though he were being pulled about nine different directions and eventually he was going to tear into about as many pieces and float to the floor like discarded scraps of paper. To his secretarial staff, he was about as good as currently. The man who signed papers and made big decisions - whether he felt he had given them thorough consideration or not. I will need to take the Blue Ridge idea into assembly in front of the entire campus. That is a huge decision I can't make on my own... Running his fingers through his hair, he sighed heavily. The stress had settled on his chest like a giant weight. On top of everything at work, he felt he didn't have enough time to dedicate to his dear love, Katya. She spent all of her time at home baking, cooking, and cleaning. The perfect woman. It kind of killed him, actually, to see her so domesticated. Her attitude was still there, though, and that was one thing she would never lose. This pleased him immensely. No matter what she did in the house she had made a home for the two of them, she would always be the sassy bitch that he loved more than words could summarize. By 4:30pm Mav had managed to piss of his secretary three times, placate five illogically upset students ("they said this, the nerve!" or "they should know not to cut me off in the schooling ring!" so on and so forth), and finish accepting and denying half of his application pile. He had eased up on the acceptance criteria to a degree. Though he still looked at talent and attitude over desire and passion, he had let in a few students based on their enthusiasm and potential. There were a few he was looking at sculpting and training himself. With the decision to call an assembly made, that left him with team roster decisions, which could be left until tomorrow. Logging off of his computer, he donned his leather blazer and fedora and locked his door behind him. His receptionist gave him a cold look as he stalked out of the office with an impish grin on his face. He was going home to his love! Fifteen or so minutes later, he had parked his in front of their large home and was hurriedly gathering his things out of it so he could head into the house. When he opened the front door, the wonderful of pizza met his nostrils. He didn't see Katya right away and so he took his boots off, hung his hat and coat, and headed for the kitchen. And then, he saw her, toothbrush dangling from her mouth, looking casually sexy as she always did. There was something off, but nothing that stuck out like a sore thumb and so Mav disregarded it immediately. He didn't even think to question why she was brushing her teeth right before dinner time. She stretched up to kiss him on his cheek, and it was the toothbrush that stopped him from dragging her mouth to his greedily. "Welcome home, babe! I hope your day wasn't too boring without me around. I made pizza if you wanna steal a slice." He flashed her a straight toothed smile and cupped her face in his hand, stroking her porcelain smooth cheek with his strong thumb. She looked so innocent, so child-like; so unlike the Katya that had thrown him for the biggest loop of his life only a year or so ago. "Work was work. The only way it wouldn't be boring is if you were hiding beneath my desk or if my door were locked and you were ON my desk..." He trailed off, grinning cheekily. "The pizza smells delicious my love." Mav moved into the kitchen with her, and she dropped a slice onto a plate for him. It was home made, not frozen. He couldn't help but smile again. Katya continued to amaze him - every day it was something new. But something was wrong. Her eyes wouldn't meet his, and her fingers were curled defensively around her robe. Mav made a small movement toward her, and his mouth was forming a question, when she did something else she was oh so good at doing: she dropped a bombshell. "I think I might be pregnant."

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That was it. That was all. Nothing more than those simple six words. They shocked Maverick into a stand-still. His slightly extended hand dropped to his side. The plate in his other hand clattered noisily to the counter. Katya

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Pregnant

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With his child

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But of course it was his child - she loved him more than he deserved, and she wouldn't be unfaithful to him. If she had been, they wouldn't be standing here in the kitchen. He would have come home to an empty house. The pounding in his chest was audible to his own ears. Were he Katya, he would be looking at himself and wondering how a jaw could drop so far without unhinging itself, and how eyes could widen so far as to look almost like chibi artwork. If someone were to take a photo of him as he was, now, it would be titled "childish shock." But there was nothing to say, not yet. His mind was spinning and he didn't know what to do, or say. But then, it hit him. Katya, pregnant. Katya, his Katya, pregnant. His Katya pregnant, with his baby. He was going to be a father. He was going to be a dad! The smile started as a twitch, and spread swiftly until it felt as if his face were going to split exactly into two halves. A warmth traveled through his entire body until there was nowhere else for it to go. It escaped and filled the room, filled his heart.

Just then, Katya turned and walked away from him, toward the living room. He followed her with slow, shuffling steps, his pizza abandoned on the counter. She curled up on the couch, her eyes welling with tears and staring straight ahead, unseeing. Mav approached her and settled himself on his knees in front of her, his hands finding hers in her lap and curling around them. [/color]"Kat, my love, my one and only, why do you cry

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I thought you had made me the happiest man in the world by loving me, but this

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This is something more, something far greater... You have given me a real gift, Katya. A child... Our child... I have never felt so happy Kat. Come here." He sat up taller and pulled her into him, her head settling onto his shoulder perfectly. One of his hands held her firmly to him, and his other hand settled on the back of her head, enrobed in her silky black hair. He kissed her wherever his lips could reach, and he was amazed, completely baffled, to realize that his eyes were brimming tears too... But tears of happiness - sheer joy. He was going to be a dad!

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▐ W O R D S » 1,492 with coding

▐ M U S E » awesome, but did not re-read or edit - it is raw and may be iffy in spots.

▐ O T H E R » ILUVMAVILUVKATYA.

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[Katya Romanova]

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[atrb=background,http://i.imgur.com/OhUtY.png] Swallowing hard, she pulled away from him and cupped his face with her trembling hands. "I-I...there's more..." She whispered, wetting her dry lips as she struggled to form coherent sentences. Everything in her body was telling her to get up and run the other way, to completely avoid everything that she knew she needed to discuss. She felt like a dirty liar, dirtier than when she used to spread her legs for almost everybody she came into contact with, simply because they had given her some degree of attention. She had been worse than slutty, she had been pathetically desperate. Her hands dropped back into her lap and she found herself looking down, avoiding his gaze. "I never told you why I really ran and avoided you for eleven years, nor did I tell you anything entirely truthful, though I never once told a lie." She sniffled and wiped her eyes, resisting the urge to draw her knees close and hide behind a curtain of black hair. "A-After we started screwing around, I dropped all of my other...friends like hot potatoes and did what I could to keep up appearances so you wouldn't think I was some clingy two-bit twat. From the time we first slept together until the time I...ran, you were the only one I slept with and a part of me did it out of selfishness because you treated me right and I thought that...that if I didn't put out, you'd leave." Did she really have to discuss this with him STAFF POSITIONS What harm would it do if she hid it from him just a little bit longer STAFF POSITIONS She couldn't do that, times had changed and so had they. "Just before I ran, the strip turned blue. I got scared and left because I didn't know what else to do, and I was a coward, a huge fucking coward. I ran right into the arms of my waiting brothers and after I'd gotten warmed up to the idea of being a mother, about the time I was midway through my second trimester, I had a miscarriage." Nervously, she plucked at the familiar fabric of her robe. Couldn't she have just kept this secret until after everything was golden between them or would that have been even worse STAFF POSITIONS A soft sigh left her lips. "I fell into a deep, bottomless pit of depression and refused to move from my brother's couch, unless it was to entertain one of my nasty habits. When the doctors told me I had lost the child because of my previous habits, my life revolved around the very habits that had torn my little world in two." The words were coming out faster than she could possibly think to stop them and though she was putting a lot onto his plate...again, she knew it needed to be done. "When I suspected I might be pregnant again, my initial thought was just to run but that was my mistake eleven years ago - running." Her mood grew worse as time ticked by and though she tried to hide it, she felt like she was fighting one battle that she just couldn't win or at least, not on her own. Her stomach churned and as she continued to try and fight the sea of emotions that plagued her, she soon realized it was futile as could be. Tears flowed down her face, unhindered by her rather pathetic attempts to stop them. "I don't want your money and if it boils right down to it, I don't much need you either." She stood up and maneuvered past him, going to the kitchen to make a half-assed attempt to eat. Her heart felt like it was being ripped from the confines of her chest and the facade she put forth was stronger than she gave it credit for, despite the fact her eyes were leaking like faucets. She had already been brought to her knees once, she doubted anything Maverick could do would put her in a worse spot than she'd already been in. The only way he could accomplish that was if he decided to throw her out on her ass, and she couldn't fault him if he wanted to that, considering everything that was going on. If all else failed, she could go to the coldest reaches of Russia to be with her father and allow him to feed her bad habits. He had already said that he would, which had been a mistake in itself. She picked apart her pizza, dropping bits of cheese, pepperoni, and sausage into her mouth and chewing slowly, meticulously. She needed to get high again, soon...especially if things didn't start looking up soon. She wasn't going to fall on her hands and knees to beg him for his forgiveness over something that was a decade old. People had miscarriages everyday, shit happened and life moved on. No matter how tamed she became, there was always going to be a viper coiled within her, just waiting for its chance to strike and make the next person her victim. No matter how much she tried to convince herself of that, sharp needles poked at her heart, silently reminding her that she was making a huge fucking mistake. She was about to throw away the best thing in her life and for what, her own selfish pride STAFF POSITIONS She could feel something within her start to crumble and the change happened slowly, taking hold of every fiber of her natural being and making her weak in the knees. She scarcely had the energy to hold herself up any longer, all of her energy had been spent on the previous conversation. She gripped the counter tightly as she began to sway. She had to make sure that her ways remained changed and that she didn't fall back into her hold habits but for her, it was so much easier. So what if the drugs weren't good for her STAFF POSITIONS They helped things make sense and aside from a good chunk of her lifespan, they didn't really require much of her and helped to preserve her emotional and mental state. Who needed their looks when they were comfortable with their lives and able to manage the insanity that plagued them STAFF POSITIONS Her stomach knotted and she found herself stumbling to the bathroom, retching for the second time that day. She felt like complete and utter shit, worse than when she had the hangovers from her benders and perhaps what made it worse was the simple fact that because her emotional and mental state had just paid a rather hefty price, she was now vulnerable and waiting for him to tell her to get out, which she wouldn't even attempt to fight. She'd just find the deepest, darkest pit and hide there for the rest of her days, safe from the inner turmoils and the hell that love brought on her. Too drained to bring herself to even consider moving, she just remained where she was with her cheek resting on the lid of the toilet bowl. The cool porcelain brought her minor comforts, though it did little to actually help her and her fucked up state of mind.