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Lisa scribbled her notes diligently as her abdomen grew. She had read what information there was of pregnancy in Vlad's books, of course, and diligently wrote down everything she observed about her own. Vlad teased her a little bit about it; he was gaining quite a sense of humor, she was pleased to note, though mostly with her. This was the man who she was pleased to have chosen and who had chosen her. They both loved knowledge, and could spend hours debating things until Lisa was tired and had to go to bed.
Did it matter that Vlad was a vampire? To her, it did not, except for medical considerations and the strange absurdity of the two of them becoming parents. Lisa was not even sure how the conception happened; it should have been impossible, but in Vlad's books there were mentions of children just like her unborn child, half vampire, half human. Just mentions, though, much to Lisa's frustration, no details on medical issues that these children might face or even have conceived.
Obviously, then, it was up to her to write her observations down, put them together so that some future woman - maybe a later mortal wife for her beloved husband - would find them useful. Vlad was slowly getting used to humans, especially with everything that Lisa had done to broaden Vlad's mind. He truly did have a library of knowledge, both inside his head and inside his libraries, and it would be nice if Vlad had someone that could truly be there for him just like she was there for him.
"What are you doing, my wife?" Vlad asked, interrupting her thoughts.
"Measurements, documenting my mood and any ailments, as usual." She kept her tone light as Vlad settled in the chair next to her. "After all, we have no documentation on how a pregnancy such as mine is different from one with two humans. We may need this in the future - or you may, someday, after I'm gone."
"There will be no other woman after you," he said, in slightly halting reassurance. "I will love no other woman like the one who has captured my heart."
Lisa put her notes down. "If I die - and I will do so someday, if only when I am very old - I want you to be able to find someone else, vampire or human. I wouldn't want you to follow me to the grave. I want to know that you can smile someday, even if death takes me."
"I can offer you more than that," Vlad said, though it was quiet instead of forceful. They'd had a discussion - an argument, even - about what she was going to be, whether Vlad changed her into a vampire or if she stayed human. In the end, it was her decision to stay human, and great man that Vlad was, he'd respected that.
"I am your link to humanity. I don't want to lose that." Her tone was firm, but she knew that Vlad wouldn't take it the wrong way.
"It would make you unhappy," Vlad observed. She'd told him more than once that it would be exactly how she'd feel.
"Yes." It almost came out as a sigh. "I am content as a human. A human carrying new life. One that I hope looks just like his or her father."
He laughed. "And one that I hope looks just like his or her mother. I am hoping for a girl, as beautiful and as intelligent as her mother."
"And I would not mind a boy, who grows up as thoughtful and intelligent as his father." There was no way of telling, of course. There were plenty of superstitions that one could tell if they were going to have a boy or a girl, but they were just that, superstitions. "But either way, I am pleased to have this child. They cannot have a better father than you."
"Nor a better mother, Lisa. You are the best mother for my children that I could ask for." He looked at her with tenderness in his eyes, and sometimes she could almost forget that he was not human.
"We will raise this child together," Lisa said reading over her notes and making sure she hadn't forgotten anything.. "We will teach this child to love books and knowledge. I would not want my child to live in ignorance."
"And this child shall not," Vlad responded. "For you are this child's mother, and I am this child's father." He cocked his head. "Are you feeling well?"
"As well as I can be, with the extra weight. I have seen many women that weren't so lucky." Even before childbirth, there were so many ways for women to die while pregnant, even after she'd become a doctor. "If I fall ill, you will be able to cure me."
"I will," Vlad promised. "I promised you when we married that I will bring everything I have to bear for you. If you are hurt, I will heal you. If you are sad, I will make you happy."
"You already have," Lisa told him. He could be a hard man, she'd seen, but he always looked at her with love. It was truly love for her, for the person who had banged on his door and asked him to teach her how to be a doctor. And she was a doctor now, because of him. Once their child was weaned, she would go back to that profession, to her village. Use Vlad's knowledge to make everybody healthier.
But in the meantime, she was content. She would make her notes, do tests upon herself, and after the child was born, bind together a book. Because this was science, was knowledge, was a record for the future. Vlad would keep the memory himself, for sure, but it needed to be recorded. No matter what sex the child was or what their destiny would be, this child was their child, hers and Vlad's, and she could have never asked for a better fate than this.