Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

6 weeks, 3 days

Sinara sat by the river, staring across the water and trying to process what the doctor had told her. She thought she already had worked through it but somehow having actual proof of what she’d suspected the moment her period, usually like clockwork, had been late was still something else.

Her fingers ghosted across her still-flat stomach and she found herself smiling. This was really happening. She was going to be a mom.

She’d put off getting even an at-home pregnancy test for days, wanting to decide what she’d do before getting confirmation. A baby hadn’t been something she’d planned - least of all a baby from a one night stand, of all things - but once she’d gotten to think about it, she had actually started to like the idea.

She’d never actually had a family of her own, passed around in the system until she’d aged out, and the prospect of having one had filled her with a yearning she thought she’d left behind years ago.

Plus, her tiny apartment was paid off, and by the time the baby would need a room of their own, she’d easily have saved enough to get something bigger if she sold the one-bedroom.

She and her business partner were doing really well, finally. That was the one thing that worried her. Telling him. But she really couldn’t keep it to herself any longer now that she knew for sure and had thus run out of excuses.

With a sigh, she got up and made her way to work.

She wondered how he would take it most of the way, in between thoughts of the possibility of them sticking a crib in the backroom so she wouldn’t have to be off from work quite as long, and if maybe they should take on an apprentice now, they way they’d been discussing the last few months.

There were no customers there when she arrived and she was glad. She’d sorted out what she was going to say and she needed to say it before she could change her mind. No stalling, she promised herself.

“Can we go in the office?”she said, doing her best to sound nonchalant and forcing her hand to stay away from her belly.“I have something I need to tell you.”

He raised an eyebrow at the request but he didn’t push.“Sure. Everything good?”

“Yeah.” She opened the door and gestured him into their shared office.“Just think we should sit down for this.”

He sat, frowning a little.“This sounds serious.”

“I’m pregnant,”she said without further preamble.“I’ve already decided I’m keeping it. I don’t want to let this affect work in any way. I would like to bring the kid along if we can figure something out but you’re not expected to help out at all.”

“Pregnant,”Robbie repeated. She didn’t think he’d hear anything after that word, or at least not absorbed it. He glanced down at her stomach as if that might tell him if she was just pulling his leg.“Pregnant. Are you kidding, chica?”

She shook her head.

“Right, ‘course not.” Robbie nodded slowly, his tongue darting out to wet his lips nervously.“Pregnant, right. Is that - is it m-”

“Please check your maths before you even finish that question,”Sinara interrupted. They’d hooked up occasionally through the years, yes, but not in quite a while. At least in part due to Robbie crushing hard on the new bartender in The Hub , their favourite bar, no matter that he refused to admit it. And it had always been a friends-with-benefits thing, they’d both been clear on that front. She grinned at him.“Or did you miss that part in sex ed where they explain how long people are pregnant?”

He laughed, a hint of colour in his cheeks.“Sorry. A woman I’ve slept with says she’s pregnant, my brain apparently shuts down.”

She chuckled.“So we’ll work something out with the garage, yeah? I’ll have to stop working on cars at some point ‘cause I don’t think I’ll be physically able to keep up with it all..”

“Woah, slow down.” He raised his hands to stop her.“We will figure everything out, obviously. But aren’t you forgetting something?”

Sinara frowned, unsure what he meant.“We can hire help. Maybe an apprentice-”

“The dad,”he interrupted.“Who’s the dad?”

“Oh.” Sinara shifted in her chair uncomfortably at the thought of Kasius, who she had no intention of involving in any of this.“Just… some guy I hooked up with. It’s not important. I’m not going to tell him or anything.”

“Just some guy?”Robbie echoed incredulously.“How the hell are you pregnant and the dad is ‘just some guy’? Chica, please tell me you didn’t bareback with a stranger.”

“Of course not,”she snapped.“Condoms are only, like, ninety seven percent effective or something.” Which she had theoretically known. She’d spent a good while glaring at the box these last few days in spite of that.“Anyway, it really doesn’t matter. He won’t be in the picture.”

“What’s his name?”asked Robbie. When she didn’t reply, he added, half-teasing,“Or don’t you even know his name?”

“I’m not telling you his name so you won’t try to look him up,”Sinara said. She didn’t think Robbie would do something really bad, like tell Kasius about the baby, but she didn’t need him trying to find him and convince her to tell him herself.

She already would have done so if she’d wanted to.

His number was still in her phone and she’d almost texted him more than once, in the weeks after she’d met him, somehow not quite getting his oddly sincere “Call me” out of her mind.

She’d sort of wanted to find out if he’d meant it or just said it because it was the sort of thing you’d say after a one night stand.

But she’d gotten swamped at work and then once she’d realised she was pregnant - well, no point in letting a virtual stranger butt into that.

“Fair enough,”Robbie relented.“How about we close early and I take you out to celebrate, mama?”

She slapped his arm playfully.“Don’t call me that. I’m not telling people yet.”

“You just told me.”

“Yeah, but you’re you. You’re not people.” She smiled.“Closing up sounds nice, though. How do we celebrate without booze?”

“Cake, I think,”he returned with a grin.“Maybe pizza, too? I’ll text Gabe, see if he wants to share one of those pineapple abominations with you.”

Sinara nodded her agreement.“No telling him yet, either, okay?”

“Thank God.” Robbie rolled his eyes.“He’ll get onto baby proofing the second he finds out, I bet.”

Sinara couldn’t argue with that assessment. While the baby was going to be her first family in the traditional sense, the Reyes brothers had been a pretty damn close approximation for years.

Chapter Text

8 weeks, 1 day

Sinara decided to go clothes shopping on her day off, much to her own dismay. She was probably imaging it but she could swear her clothes were already feeling pretty tight. Plus, she didn’t want to spend a lot on maternity clothes that she’d never need again and since the second hand store was always a gamble, she thought it best to start the process early on anyway. That way she’d have plenty of time to come back and find more.

She found two pairs of trousers that were quite nice, both without anything silly or unnecessary, one pair black, the other grey, and another hideously patterned pair she got anyway, since it was cheap and would give Gabe a good laugh. She didn’t bother with the shirts, figuring she’d just wear oversized ones she had lying around anyway.

The baby section was right next to maternity wear and she found herself straying over there, picking up onesies and marveling at how tiny they were. It was somehow hard to believe that a person could be that small, even if the baby was right now still miniscule inside her belly.

She unfolded another piece and chuckled. It was made to look like a suit, dress shirt and all. For some stupid reason, she found herself thinking that Kasius would like it. She scowled and put it aside.

She didn’t know what he liked. Hell, she barely knew the guy. It didn’t matter what baby clothes he would or would not like.

Sinara turned to head to the register, stopping dead in her tracks when she came face to face with a t-shirt on a hanger, dangling from another customer’s hand. It was a little bigger than the ones she’d been looking at but clearly still for a baby, or maybe a toddler.

My mommy & daddy love me to the moon and back, the shirt proudly proclaimed, complete with a little illustration of a cartoon astronaut on the moon.

She swallowed hard, wondering if it was too soon to blame the sudden rush of emotion on her hormones. A silly t-shirt shouldn’t have her second-guessing her decision not to involve Kasius in the baby’s life. He wasn’t the baby’s daddy, he was an accidental sperm donor.

“Pull yourself together,”Sinara muttered to herself.

“Sorry, what was that?”the woman holding the shirt asked politely.

Sinara quickly forced a smile on her face.“Cute shirt.”

And then she hurried to pay and get out of the store.

Sinara walked around the mall a while longer, letting the bustle of people all around her distract her from her racing thoughts. Or at least attempting it, anyway. Somehow, her mind kept going back to Kasius.

She sighed, exasperated with herself, and went to the food court. Maybe she was feeling so weird because she was hungry. She'd only had plain crackers for breakfast; the last few days she'd been pretty nauseous but at least she hadn't actually spewed because of it - yet.

She settled down at an empty table, looking around for a bit to see if any food appealed to her, but quickly becoming distracted by staring at her phone. Or more specifically, Kasius’ name in her contacts.

He'd put a cocktail glass emoji behind his name which she’d scoffed at when she had first seen it but actually thought was kind of funny. Sure, it was weird, but in a cute way. They'd talked about drinks quite a bit. He hadn't seemed bothered by the ones he favoured generally being considered “girly”.

The emoji even had one of those little umbrellas. Kasius had twirled his around with his lovely, long fingers as he'd spoken.

She tapped on his name, thumb hovering over the call icon.

Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to let him know? If he hung up on her she’d be off the hook with her weird guilt about not telling him. And if he wanted to see the kid, would it be so horrible to let him have the occasional weekend?

But then again, he might be a complete jerk, putting on a sweet act in the bar for a quick shag. But then why would he have given her his number without her asking?

Sinara groaned. She was making this difficult for no reason. She was going to get herself a cookie at Starbucks, see if she felt any better with some sugar in her, and if not - well, then she’d just call him and take it from there. If he really flipped out, she’d just say it was a joke and block him.

Satisfied with her plan, she walked into Starbucks already feeling a lot better. That was until she saw him.

There Kasius was, standing in line, a few shopping bags dangling from one arm, and some woman hanging on his other. Her curls were movie poster perfect, a tumble down her back as she threw them back, Kasius laughing at whatever it was she was saying, studying the menu as she dropped her head against his shoulder.

Sinara was frozen for a few seconds, staring at his profile in shock.

Of course she should have expected him to move on - it had been a one night stand, weeks and weeks ago - to think he hadn’t completely forgotten about her was silly.

She would have told him about the baby because of the baby, not to see if they could date or anything like that. But her heart was hammering against her ribs as if it wanted to break through and something hot curled in her stomach at the sight of him with his new girlfriend.

Then an even worse thought hit her. What if she wasn’t his new girlfriend? What if she’d been at home, wondering where Kasius was, when he’d been with Sinara, creating the little one she’d been agonising over telling him about?

“You putting roots down or what?”an irritated voice asked behind her, jolting Sinara back into the Starbucks, and the doorway she was blocking.

She fled without a word or another look towards Kasius, oblivious to him turning towards her just as she turned away.

Chapter Text

8 weeks, 1 day

“Hey, are you still listening? Kas, are you okay?”

“What?” Kasius turned back to Clio as she tugged on his arm.“Sorry, I thought I saw - it probably wasn’t her.”

His friend sighed heavily.“Not that girl from that bar again? Darling, you know I say this with love in my heart: You’re being pathetic. Get the fuck over her already. It was a one night stand.”

“She said she’d call,”Kasius mumbled, glancing to the door again, mostly so he didn’t have to look at Clio.

He felt more and more stupid with every time he uttered those words, or even thought them, but he still couldn’t grasp why she’d said that and then didn’t. They’d gotten along so well, hadn’t they?

“Aw, Kassie,”Clio said, then quickly interrupted herself to give the barista their order before returning her attention to Kasius.“That’s just something people say when they hook up with a stranger. It’s just one of those dating things. Like, ‘of course you don’t look fat’ or ‘no, size doesn’t matter’. I mean, you wouldn’t take that at face value, would you?”

“Well, no one’s said those to me, so I don’t see how that’s relevant,”Kasius pointed out.

Clio grinned.“Oooh, good for you! Only the guys who really want to believe that one get fed that line, I can tell you that.”

“Can we maybe focus?”Kasius said, then realised that wasn’t a more pleasant topic, either. Clio just wouldn’t budge on her conviction that Sinara had never meant to call him at all. Meanwhile he was at a loss as to why she hadn't made good on her word.“Look, I know you think I’m pathetic but we had a connection.”

“I don’t think you’re pathetic,”she replied, then relented as he raised an eyebrow, seeing as she had literally called him pathetic not five minutes ago.“Alright, so it’s a little bit pathetic. But it’s also kind of romantic. I’d love for someone to be that head-over-heels for me.”

“Well, Sinara obviously disagrees,”Kasius said as their names got called and they went to collect their drinks.

“Maybe she lost your number,”Clio suggested.

He’d believe that a lot more if she hadn’t spent the last few weeks telling him over and over that he was “literally the only person in the entire world to genuinely think ‘call me’ actually means ‘call me’ after getting pulled at a bar”. He tried to sound sincere anyway as he replied,“Yeah, I guess. Maybe she did.”

It was rather more likely that she had deleted his number, even if he was reluctant to admit that to himself. Either she'd always meant to delete it and had been humouring him, the way Clio claimed most people did with their hookups, or she’d taken one look at the silly emoji and thought better of calling him. He had thought it was cute in the moment, still drunk on cocktails and more drunk on her touch.

They settled down at one of the empty tables at the food court. Kasius looked around, hoping to find Sinara - or at least the woman he had mistaken for her, so he could stop feeling like he'd just missed her.

“You could go back to the bar,”Clio suggested.“Maybe you’ll run into her.”

Kasius scoffed.“And what, look like a complete stalker?”

He’d actually considered doing just that when the second weekend without word from Sinara had ticked closer but he’d been too embarrassed to admit it to Clio at the time, and certainly wasn’t going to now. He hadn’t been able to find the bar again, anyway, only ending up in it the last time because there had been a meeting in a neighbourhood he was unfamiliar with - a company Father had considered taking over - and Kasius had ditched Faulnak, who had been as insufferable as ever and insistent on celebrating the deal in a strip club. He hadn’t paid attention to just where he was going at the time, so long as it was away from his brother.

“Well, it would be a little stalkerish, yeah,”Clio admitted.“I guess that just leaves you with the option of getting over her?”

“So you’ve mentioned.”

Kasius took a sip of his frappuccino so he didn’t have to say more, letting his gaze trail over the other people milling about some more. There was no sign of Sinara nor anyone who looked like her, either.

He got stuck at the couple at the table next to them. By the looks of it they’d just met up for lunch, him setting down their trays as she pulled clothes out of her shopping bag, holding up a baby-sized shirt with a bright smile. The shirt was adorable, a tiny cartoon astronaut accompanied by the words My mommy & daddy love me to the moon and back.

Kasius sighed, looking away from the couple as they kissed, his hand on her pregnant belly. He sipped his drink miserably, nodding along to Clio’s chatter but mentally still with the family in the making at the next table.

How was he ever going to find that when he couldn’t even get a woman to call him after they’d slept together?

Chapter Text

8 weeks, 5 days

Sinara was sulking.

She was desperately pretending that she was most certainly not sulking but it was getting progressively harder to even lie to herself.

Robbie had more or less accepted it when she’d blamed her sour mood on the hormones and the bouts of nausea. Having to watch for an opportunity to eat before she felt ill again was very annoying and he’d sympathised with her on the matter.

No wonder it was so much easier telling that small part of the truth than having to admit out loud that she was upset about some guy she had no claim to - or even a real interest in - having a girlfriend.

She’d reminded herself over and over again that the only reason she had meant to contact him after all was because of the baby. She had failed over and over again at accepting that and actually reaching out to him.

Instead, she was sitting cross-legged on her living room floor, shoveling down lasagna straight from the baking dish and trying to find Kasius on Instagram to see if there was any information on his girlfriend.

She would be fine with him being in a new relationship, even if she wasn’t very thrilled by the idea of basically inviting a potential stepmother into her and the baby’s lives. Then again, that could always happen, couldn’t it?

And maybe his girlfriend would dump him and wash her hands of the situation anyway if Sinara suddenly showed up.

Not that that thought had made her a little excited or anything. She was just happy that she was keeping the lasagna down so well.

What she really needed was to find his stupid profile so she could see that he had not been dating that woman when he’d hooked up with Sinara and she could just get her hormone-driven inner monologue to shut the hell up. He didn’t have his phone number associated with his profile, though.

It’s probably a burner phone for when he’s cheating, a very unhelpful little voice in her head suggested.

“We’re not on Maury Povich,”Sinara said to her empty apartment testily.

Maybe she was making herself a little crazy over this.

She would be fine on her own. Not that she was totally on her own, anyway. Robbie was already talking about which car seats were the best; Gabe would be freaking out with excitement once she’d tell him.

She did not need to involve Kasius in this. It would be best to just forget he ever existed.

Yeah, that’s what she’d do.

After ten more minutes of Instagram stalking.

With three minutes to spare, she found his profile - and the damn thing was set to private. The girlfriend wasn’t in his profile picture with him but that could mean anything.

She was halfway through creating a fake profile to add him when she realised what she was doing.

She was definitely being crazy, and more than just a little.

She closed out of the app, set her phone aside, and stroked her belly.“You know, you’d better be pretty damn cute for putting me through this. I swear I was normal before you moved in.”

She put away what little was left over from the lasagna, deciding to call it a night early.

That decision didn’t last very long.

She made it to bed alright, fully intent on going to sleep. Instead she was tossing and turning and back on her phone within the hour.

This time she wasn’t trying to find information on Kasius, though.

She had considered the personal ramifications it might have to let him into the baby’s life, and with that into her own, and his family and partner right along with him.

She hadn’t even thought of what it might mean legally to acknowledge him as the baby’s father. Now she was going through legal texts she was too tired to understand and forums detailing stories from situations similar to hers that did absolutely nothing to make her feel better.

She was down the rabbit hole of kids getting used as pawns in petty squabbles between their parents, custody fights and the fees that came with them, stepparents that wanted absolutely nothing to do with the kid, stepparents that put on a pleasant face but mistreated the kid behind the parent’s back, stepparents that wanted the other bio parent out of the picture and have full custody themselves, ex-partners who called CPS just to cause troubles, paternal grandmothers who wanted a do-over baby…

Sure, there was the occasional happily separated co-parents chiming in with how it didn’t have to go that way, how all it needed was communication and mutual trust and respect.

Sinara couldn’t exactly boast any of those existing with her and Kasius. Hell, she didn’t even know his last name. She barely even knew what he did for a living, mostly because she hadn’t bothered with follow-up questions and didn’t know what a botanist did. Something science and plant related, presumably.

There was her proof it was best not to contact him. There had been no proper communication, no trust on account of them being barely more than strangers, and assuming his girlfriend has been around back then, she didn’t even need to touch on the topic of respect.

Reaching out to Kasius would just be inviting trouble her way.

The vague notions of giving the baby the full set of parents she’d longed for as a child paled in comparison to the threat of anyone taking her baby from her.

She’d just have to be twice the parent she already was determined to be. She could love the little one enough that they’d never even think they might be missing something.

Chapter Text

9 weeks, 6 days

Sinara sipped her ginger tea, one hand resting on her belly. It was definitely no longer just her imagination: she was starting to look noticeably pregnant.

She made sure to wear loose, oversized sweaters, not quite ready for everyone to know yet, but she was planning to tell Gabe over dinner that night when she had the ultrasound picture to show him. For everyone else, she didn't much see a necessity for some sort of announcement. They'd find out when they found out. But Gabe was family; family ought to be told properly.

Even if she wasn't telling Kasius. Family wasn't blood, though. He wouldn't be the kid's family, not like Sinara, not like Robbie and Gabe.

They'd love the baby. That meant much more than blood.

Robbie was already being a huge support; he had asked her if she wanted a ride to the appointment and she’d agreed just as casually. They both knew he didn’t want her to have no one to share that moment with and she was grateful she hadn’t had to ask.

She’d made her decision about doing this without Kasius and she didn’t feel like she needed his help - or anyone’s, for that matter - but knowing someone besides herself cared about the little one enough to want to be there when she saw the baby the first time was nice nonetheless.

She headed out to meet Robbie when he let her know he was outside, sliding into the passenger seat.

“How are you feeling, chica?”he asked.

Sinara rolled her eyes.“Same as when you asked this morning. Seriously, Reyes, I’m pregnant, not dying.”

He grinned.“So you’re not gonna barf in my car?”

“Probably not,”she amended with a wink.

Sinara’s ob-gyn greeted them happily as she ushered them into the office, shooting Robbie a curious look.“I didn’t realise you’d be bringing someone, Miss Smith.”

There was an implied question in it, Sinara could tell. She’d told Doctor Simmons the father wouldn’t be around, and she had gotten tested for STDs, since there had obviously been some sort of condom failure. Clearly the doctor was trying to figure out just where Robbie fit into this.

“Yeah, is that alright?” It hadn’t really occurred to her to ask, since it was her uterus they’d be looking at.“Robbie’s here for moral support.”

“Of course it’s alright,”Doctor Simmons said.“So, how are you feeling? Any complaints?”

“Bit nauseous,”Sinara said with a shrug. That was starting to feel like her normal by now.

Simmons proceeded to ask a few more questions, and then went ahead with the ultrasound.

Robbie hovered next to Sinara, occasionally touching her shoulder lightly, clearly unsure what to do. Sinara rather shared the sentiment. It felt weird to wait for the doctor to show her her baby, the gel was uncomfortably cold, and she wasn’t used to her belly sticking out the way it was.

“Ah, that explains it,”Simmons mumbled to herself.

“What explains what?”Sinara asked. The doctor didn’t seem worried, at least.

“Well, most first pregnancies don’t show quite so early,”Simmons explained.

That much Sinara knew, as the doctor had already told her so when setting up the dating scan and asking if she was sure about the date of her last period.“So?”

Simmons turned the monitor so they could look at it with her.“You’re having twins. Congratulations!”

Sinara stared at the grainy image on the screen, glancing over at Robbie to make sure he’d heard it, too. He was gaping at the image, squinting slightly, and she turned back to it, searching it for something she could recognise as her baby - her babies.

“Those peanut things?”she said. Her voice was weirdly pitched even to her own ears.“Those are my babies? There’s two?”

Doctor Simmons went on to point out each baby, measuring them and letting them hear their hearts beat. Sinara was a little dazed, nodding along to the ob-gyn’s words but not taking her eyes of the screen.

When they left, she was clutching the picture of them, still not quite believing it.

“Think we can fit two cribs in the back office?”she asked.

Robbie shrugged.“We can always share a desk. Not like we’re ever both doing paperwork at the same time. Or we just stick them in one crib. I mean, they’ll be tiny, won’t they?”

“Yeah,”she said, brushing her fingers across the picture.“The peanuts can share.”

“Why are you being weird?”Gabe demanded, eyeing them suspiciously.

Sinara was still sorting her words in her mind, not quite having gotten around to telling him about the babies yet.“We’re not being weird.”

“Yes, you are,”Gabe said. He pointed at his brother.“You keep sneaking looks at Sin.” He turned his accusing finger on Sinara next.“And you look like you’re not listening to a word we’re saying.”

“Don’t get worked up,”Robbie said.

“I’m not.” Gabe’s eyes narrowed.“Should I be?”

He gasped and went on before either could interrupt.“Is one of you dying?”

“What?! NO!”

Sinara quickly cut in before Robbie spilled the secret to keep his brother from worrying.“It’s nothing bad, Gabe. I’m pregnant.”

He stared at her, blinking slowly, the words not quite sinking in through whatever scenario he’d just been conjuring in his mind.

She slid the ultrasound picture across the table.

Gabe looked at it, silent for a few more seconds before beaming at Sinara.“I’m going to be an uncle?”

“Yeah, you are,”Sinara said. Tears were pricking at the corners of her eyes; that hormone nonsense was definitely starting to catch up with her.

“I’m not the dad,”Robbie hastily clarified, cringing at how much less casual than intended it came out, making both Sinara and Gabe snort with laughter.

Gabe rolled his eyes.“Doesn’t make me any less the uncle of that baby.”

“Babies, actually,”Sinara corrected, leaning in to point out the peanuts.“They’re twins.”

Chapter Text

10 weeks, 4 days

Sinara put away her tools, rinsed the motor oil of her hands and took a moment to rub her lower back. It was getting sore considerably faster than usual but she didn’t want to stop working on cars already. Besides, it felt like basically everything made her back ache anyways - from sitting to walking to lying down. She might as well be productive if her back was going to hurt anyway.

“D’you need a hand?”she asked Robbie.

He was finishing up some paperwork and shook his head.“Almost done. Can you lock up the front already? I don’t want a walk-in in the last five minutes.”

“Will do.” She fished her key ring out.“How about going to The Hub after? I could kill for their sweet potato fries right now.”

Her stomach rumbled at the mere mention. The house sauce that came with the fries was Trip’s own recipe and the best thing ever. They’d spent way too many evenings trying to guess the secret ingredient already.

Robbie agreed to go eagerly, as she knew he would. He never turned down a chance to pine over Trip across the bar. Which Sinara thought was hilarious, since he refused to admit it and was somehow completely oblivious to the fact that Trip was flirting back the whole time.

Sinara was excited about the fries right until Piper set them down in front of her. She smiled and thanked her anyway, asking for a ginger ale and then turning to Robbie when she went to get it.

“I can’t eat these,”she said.“The smell...”

She trailed off, pushing the plate away miserably.“Why they call it morning sickness when it just happens whenever I’ll never know.”

“Trade you my sandwich?”he suggested and she accepted.

She was starving and needed something, even if it couldn’t be the fries. The turkey and ham sandwiches were lovely, too, so at least there was that.

She cautiously took a bite, preparing for her tastebuds to complain about something she normally loved. The mustard seemed a bit more heavy than usual but it didn’t make her queasy so she kept eating.

“There you go,”Piper said, placing the ginger ale next to her. She raised an eyebrow.“Wait, did I mix up your orders?”

“Nah, we swapped,”Robbie said, popping another of Sinara’s fries into his mouth as she looked on jealously.

Piper looked from her expression back to the fries.“Something wrong with them?”

“I’m just a little nauseous,”Sinara said casually.

Piper’s frown only deepened, eyes on the ginger ale and then dipping to Sinara’s midriff. She was glad she was wearing a baggy shirt that hid her bump.

It wasn’t enough, apparently.

“Are you pregnant?”Piper asked.

Trip joined them from the other end of the bar.“Who’s what now?”

That was the problem of sitting at the bar so they could chat with the bartenders: everyone would hear everything.

“I’m pregnant,”Sinara confirmed. It wasn’t really a secret, anyway.

Trip glanced at Robbie from the corner of his eye and Sinara was just wondering how to subtly slip in that it wasn’t his babies when Piper already spoke up again,“Wait, is it that guy’s? You know, Blue Hawaiian guy?”

It was so like Piper to remember the drink order from someone she had served only once that Sinara could do nothing but nod in response. There was an uncomfortable twinge in her chest at the memory of Kasius smiling at her softly over the rim of his cocktail. She pushed it down and took another bite of the sandwich to give herself something to do until the subject changed.

She did not want to talk about this, now or ever.

“You know who it is?”Robbie asked, leaning on the bar to get closer.“C’mon, spill. Sin won’t tell me anything.”

“Nope, not my business,”Piper said and stole one of their fries.“Bartenders keep their patrons’ secrets.”

Robbie sighed exaggeratedly.“You’re not priests. Give me something!”

Piper looked at Sinara who shook her head. Piper shrugged.“Sorry, Reyes. If Mom won’t tell, I won’t tell.”

Sinara rolled her eyes at her calling her that but didn’t complain, instead shooting her a small smile. Piper could call her whatever she wanted so long as she didn’t tell the others anything about Kasius.

They didn’t need to know anything about him, seeing as the twins would never know him, either.

11 weeks, 3 days

Kasius pulled his collar up against the wind, cursing himself for not having an umbrella in his car. Of course his car had to break down in a neighbourhood he wasn’t familiar with, in the middle of a rainstorm, with his phone dying after he’d had just enough time to google the nearest mechanic.

At least it wasn’t far away so he’d hopefully make it home before long so he could get into some dry clothes. Or preferably a nice warm bath and then into dry clothes.

He stopped dead in his tracks when he rounded the corner and spotted the bar he had unsuccessfully tried to find weeks ago. 

He was already at the door, reaching out to push it open, when he thought better of it. Sinara very clearly didn’t want to see him again and going in to ask to use their phone wouldn’t be worth the awkwardness if she happened to be there. He’d just look like a deranged stalker, soaking wet and dishevelled as he was. He was only a few more streets from the mechanic, anyway.

He sighed and kept walking. At least the rain was dying down a little now. He could make out the sign over the entrance from a few feet away: Smith&Reyes Auto repair.

He walked in, glad that he’d made it with almost twenty minutes to spare before they were set to close.“Hello, do you take walk-ins? My car broke down not far from-”

He fell silent as he caught sight of the woman behind the reception desk.

Sinara was staring back at him just as shocked as he was.

Chapter Text

11 weeks, 3 days

Sinara stared at Kasius like he might disappear if she just blankly stared long enough. No such luck, of course. Her palms sweaty, she made to get up and walk over to him, then thought better of it. 

She was wearing a simple tank top that did absolutely nothing to hide her baby bump. If she got up, there would be no hiding that she was pregnant.

Kasius was still standing in the doorway and she thought that she should probably say something, say anything, but she couldn’t find the words.

“You never called,”Kasius said. Then he blushed so furiously she thought he was just going to turn around and leave again.

She let the words hang in the air for a second or two, wondering if it meant what she thought it meant: He really had wanted her to call him after their one night stand.

“Yeah. Sorry about that,”she said when the silence began to go on painfully long. Her tongue darted out to wet her lips.“I lost my phone.”

Wait, what? Why the hell had she said that?

“Oh. That’s too bad,”Kasius replied, taking the utterly horrible excuse in stride. He stepped closer with a timid smile, long fingers fiddling with the buttons on his coat.

She’d forgotten just how cute he was. She cleared her throat.“Yes. You were saying about your car?”

He looked almost confused for a moment, then nodded.“Right, my car.”

He gave her a quick rundown of where it had stopped working and what sounds the motor had made before giving out, then pulled out a business card.“You’ll need my details for your system, right?”

She nodded and he picked up a pen, scribbling onto the card before handing it to her.“I put my private number on there, too. You’re still welcome to give me that call.”

“Guess I owe you one, huh?”

The words were out too quickly, forgetting about the babies for a moment, or perhaps somehow thinking his appearance had to mean something on some subconscious level. Then she remembered the woman from the mall and her smile faded.“I’ll have to call my partner about your car. He drives the tow truck.”

She dialed Robbie’s number before Kasius could say anything else.

He picked up on the second ring.“Everything alright?”

She’d sent him home early, perfectly able to deal with the relatively slow day by herself until the father of her unborn twins had walked through the door.“There’s a car that needs towing. Can you come take care of that?”

“Is that a code for something?” His voice was tense.“Chica, is something wrong?”

“See you in a bit,”she said brightly and hung up. Then she quickly texted, The peanuts’ father walked in, I can’t leave the desk or he’ll see I’m knocked up.

Robbie would probably have thought up some robbery scenario otherwise.

Sinara turned back to Kasius, smiling politely.“He’ll be here soon. Would you prefer to wait by your car?”

He frowned, confused by her sudden change in demeanour.“I’ll stay, if that’s alright by you?”

“Yeah, sure,”she said, satisfied with how casual it sounded.“I’ll just input your data, then.” She looked at the business card and froze. They hadn’t exchanged last names but perhaps the unusual first name should have been enough to tip her off. She looked back at Kasius.“Hala? As in the Kree Empire Halas?”

“That’s us, yes,”he said, not sounding terribly enthusiastic about his family’s multimillion company.“What about you? Is it Smith or Reyes?”

“Smith,”she said.“I thought you were a botanist?”

Ridiculous as it was, there was a pang of hurt at realising he’d been lying to her.

“I am.” He looked pleased she had remembered.“Father still ropes me into the family business anyway. He doesn’t think my, ah, plant nonsense is worth anything.”

“Oh,”she said, not sure how to reply, not sure why it was such a relief that he had been telling the truth. It shouldn’t matter. She would let him walk out that door and then never see him again. Her hand automatically settled on her belly. She was horrified at the slight sting of tears building up. She swallowed hard.“What model did you say your car was again?”

Robbie must have driven like a mad man because he arrived much sooner than Sinara had anticipated.

He shook Kasius’ hand, eyebrows shooting up when he heard his name, and said,“I’ll meet you outside in a second. Just have to sign off something for the last customer.”

Kasius nodded, looking back at Sinara before heading out.“Call me, okay?”

“Sure,”she said, like she had that night she’d met him, with just as little intention of actually following through. She vaguely wondered if the peanuts might have his bright blue eyes.

Robbie closed the door and rounded on Sinara.“Kasius Hala? Your baby daddy is Kasius fucking Hala? And you’re not letting him know? Are you aware he’s bloody loaded?”

“We don’t need his money,”she said, getting up so they were at eye level. She hated feeling patronised, even if she knew how Robbie meant it. The twins would have easier lives with Kasius’ family fortune, that was impossible to deny. She crossed her arms.“And anyway, I didn’t know his dad owned the Kree Empire.”

Robbie barked out a laugh.“How many Kasius Halas did you think there were?”

“Well, I was hoping at least two,”Sinara snapped back. No point in admitting she hadn’t known his full name. She sighed.“Look, just get his car towed, alright?”

Robbie’s face softened.“You know I just want the best for you. All three of you.”

“I know,”she mumbled, walking around the desk to hug him.

She had just reached him when the door was flung back open, Kasius walking in, rattling his words off so quickly he must have rehearsed them.“Okay, so here’s the thing: I can definitely take a no but you never actually said no and I’m quite confused on what - holy shit.”

His eyes were fixed on her belly.

“Shit,”Sinara echoed softly.

Chapter Text

11 weeks, 3 days

Standing in the cool evening air, Kasius had mulled over every word Sinara had said but he was just more confused and frustrated the longer he thought about it. He wanted to believe that she had actually just lost her phone but Clio had done a very good job of convincing him that he was a complete idiot for thinking she had ever intended to call him. Or a hopeless romantic, as she had put it when she had been feeling charitable.

He could accept being turned down, of course. But she hadn’t done that, had she? He tried to think if there had been any hints that she hadn’t meant what she had said, or if he had done anything to make her feel like she couldn’t be upfront about her rejection but he couldn’t remember either happening.

The easiest thing to do would be to ask her, he decided. It would be embarrassing to do with her business partner right there but at least then it hopefully wouldn’t feel like he was cornering her for an answer. Swallowing his pride, he walked back into the repair shop, bursting out with his thoughts before he could change his mind.

He had not been prepared for the sight of her, close to Reyes, but not so close that he couldn’t see the swell of her belly.

All three of them were silent, completely unmoving for a few seconds, then Kasius managed to find his voice again.“Are you - is that why you never called?”

He wanted to take the words back as soon as they’d left his mouth. It was none of his business; she probably already thought there was something weird going on with him for showing up in her shop like this. In her shoes, he would not believe his car had simply broken down, not with how embarrassingly transparent he couldn’t stop himself from being about how much he’d wanted her to call.

She bit her lower lip, exchanging an unreadable look with her business partner before she slowly nodded. Except she’d never actually called Reyes her business partner, had she? She’d only called him her partner. 

Was he the reason she had never called? Was he who she really wanted to be with?

But then, what had that night Kasius had spent with her meant?

Kasius tried to find any sign of anger in Reyes’ face, attempting to gauge if he’d just realised his pregnant girlfriend’s fling had shown up in their shop.

Instead, Reyes looked slightly concerned but mostly bemused.“Well, I’ll let you two sort that out while I fetch his car.”

And he squeezed past Kasius who still stood in front of the door.

“What does he mean, let us sort it out?”Kasius asked. That didn’t sound like a betrayed lover.

Sinara took a deep breath, one hand coming up to rest against her bump.“Maybe we should sit down for this?”

That made nothing any clearer. It seemed Reyes was not going to come back and punch him, though, so that was a plus.

He followed her to the backroom without further question, sitting down on the couch she indicated and watching her fidget in her chair.

“Did you know when we met?”he burst out. Surely she couldn’t have? She’d even been drinking.

Her brow furrowed.“Know what?”

Her confusion didn’t appear feigned though Kasius didn’t know how that question was hard to understand.“Did you already know you were pregnant?”

“What?” She scowled, chewing on her lip again, and finally sighed.“What are you talking about? I wasn’t pregnant before I met you.”

The meaning of those words sunk in ever so slowly.“That’s my baby? You’re pregnant with my baby?”

She nodded and he thought that he should probably be outraged that she hadn’t contacted him to let him know he was going to be a father. Instead he looked back at her belly, mentally calculating when he had last seen her.“But you’re, like, really pregnant already.”

“Charming,”Sinara deadpanned. Her voice sounded weirdly far away. Kind of muted, actually. She leaned closer, eyeing him with something like concern.“It’s twins. That’s why I’m as big as I am. Are you okay? You look a little pale.”

“Twins,”he said, and fainted.

Sinara crouched down next to the sofa to look at Kasius. She’d managed to grab his shoulder in time to stop him from slipping off the sofa so now he was lying on the armrest at a kind of odd angle.

The colour was slowly returning to his face so she didn’t think she had to do anything but wait; she had never seen someone actually faint before.

She reached out and brushed her fingers across his cheek without really thinking about it. It was strange to have him know about their babies after all but once faced with him, with him staring at her belly with such confusion in his eyes she couldn’t bring herself to flat out lie and claim they weren’t his, not even when that was apparently what he’d assumed.

He shifted and Sinara moved back into her chair as he blinked.

“Feeling better?”Sinara asked as Kasius pushed himself back up into a sitting position.

“Sorry about that,”Kasius mumbled, his cheeks going from pale right to a deep red.“That was a bit of a surprise. I mean - twins - we used a condom.”

She nodded.“Yeah, well, those aren’t a hundred percent effective.”

“Clearly,”Kasius said, gesturing at her belly. His voice was high-pitched and a bit panicked. He cleared his throat, then he fixed her with an intense stare.“Were you really not going to tell me?”

Sinara shrugged then nodded.“I didn’t want some stranger butting into my kids’ life.”

There was no point in lying, unless she wanted to repeat the idiotic line about losing her phone.

“Our kids,”Kasius corrected gently.

The tenderness in his voice almost made her well up and she pushed the silly hormonal reaction down as much as possible as he continued,“I wouldn’t be a stranger if you’d called right away, you know.”

It was part teasing, part reprimand.

Sinara decided to focus on the first part and chuckled.“Well, at the risk of sounding really cliche, I was super busy at work. And then I was pregnant.”

“Well, now I know anyway.”

There was a question in those words - or maybe a challenge.

“Now you know,”Sinara said. She wasn’t sure where this was going, or even where she wanted it to go.

“So will you let me butt into their lives?”Kasius asked.

She pondered that for a moment.“If I say no, you’ll go away?”

“I’m afraid I can’t make that promise,”Kasius admitted.

“Then yes.” Sinara smiled at him, surprised at the warms flooding her chest.“I’ll let you butt in.”

He smiled at her, reaching out and taking her hand. She almost pulled away but managed to stop herself. They’d had sex, for crying out loud, no reason to freak out over him touching her hand. Not to mentioned they’d basically just decided to co-parent. Assuming he actually meant what he was saying. She cleared her throat.“Are you free tomorrow so we can talk about how we’re going to do this?”

“I can talk now,”he said.

“You’re soaking wet,”Sinara pointed out.“Go home, get into something dry and take some time to figure out if you’re sure you want in.”

“But I’m already sure,”Kasius insisted.

She briefly squeezed his hand before pulling away.“Sleep on it. I’ll call you to set something up tomorrow, alright?”

She’d taken a few days before even admitting to herself that she should get a pregnancy test. He was probably in shock. He couldn’t possibly be taking the news he’d impregnated some chick he’d picked up - gotten picked up by - in some random bar that well.

“Alright.” He made to leave, then hesitated.“You will actually call this time, won’t you?”

“I’ll call,”she said. She couldn’t really blame him for doubting that; she pulled out her phone and sent him a quick text.“And if I don’t, you have my number now.”

“You never deleted mine?”

He looked ridiculously pleased at that and Sinara couldn’t quite suppress her smile as she rolled her eyes.“I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow,”he repeated, like it was an oath.

Chapter Text

11 weeks, 4 days

Kasius met up with Clio as early as he could convince her to get out of bed. This was the sort of news one shared face to face.

He smiled at his phone as he waited for her, zooming in on the ultrasound image Sinara had sent him the previous evening. He had told himself he would refrain from contacting her until they were supposed to meet up but when he’d charged his phone and went to save her number he couldn’t keep from texting back.

All she had sent was an emoji of two peanuts, which really wasn’t something that most people would have in their last used to quickly fire off. So he had asked.

What he’d gotten back was the ultrasound picture and, I call them peanuts cause that’s what they look like right now .

They really did, two tiny shapes labelled Baby A and Baby B.

His babies.

He could still barely believe he was going to be a dad but a rush of excitement hit him every time he looked at the picture – which he had done over and over again for the last twelve hours.

He couldn’t even be cross with Sinara for not wanting to tell him. Of course he was beyond relieved he had found out anyway but he understood.

She didn’t know him yet, being apprehensive and overly cautious with their children was perfectly rational.

He already wanted nothing more than to do everything he could to see those babies grow up happy and healthy.

“What are you beaming at your phone like that for?”Clio asked in lieu of a greeting, sitting down across from him.“Don’t tell me you’ve found someone new to pine over, finally?”

“Yes and no,”he said, resisting the urge to just show her the picture.“Good morning to you too, dear.” She glared at him and he quickly added,“I ran into Sinara yesterday.”

Clio perked up.“And she actually texted you this time?”

“Should I be insulted by how much that surprises you?”

“Probably. But later, please. Spill already!”

He talked her through the whole encounter - well, alright, he skipped the fainting - and she managed not to interrupt him even once, her eyes wide and her mouth hanging slightly open when he finished the story.“Kassie, are you shitting me right now?”

“Not in the slightest,”he said, pulling the picture back up and pushing his phone towards her.“That’s the peanuts.”

“Peanuts?”she said, and then before he could reply,“So she’s pregnant. Doesn’t mean they’re yours.”

Kasius frowned.“Well, I believe her.”

“That’s because you want to believe her,”Clio accused.

That was true enough, really. There was no logical reason he should trust Sinara on this. But once he’d gotten past the first shock, excitement had set in, and with it a glowing happiness that had made him keenly aware of just how long it had been since he’d been that happy.

So yes, he wanted to believe Sinara.

He couldn’t actually refute that so he just glared at Clio as she went on,“I mean, didn’t you use protection? She might’ve just decided you’re a convenient option once she was knocked up. There’s money in Hala children.”

“She wasn’t even going to tell me,”Kasius refuted, pushing away the thought that she hadn’t originally known the peanuts were Hala children. She still hadn’t told him when she had heard his name. She hadn’t said anything of her own accord; he’d stumbled into the knowledge. Clio’d been wrong about her deleting his number, she was probably wrong about this, too. He cleared his throat.“Anyway, this isn’t a discussion, I’m just letting you know. I’m meeting her later to sort things out.”

“I’m not trying to have a discussion,”Clio said, in that voice she always used when she thought he was being unreasonable.“I’m just trying to look out for you. I don’t want you to get invested and then get the test back negative.”

His confusion was apparently clear on his face because she added,“The paternity test, Kas. They’re pretty easy to do prenatal nowadays.”

“I’m not asking her for a paternity test,”Kasius said.

He could just as well just accuse Sinara of lying to him to her face, it would be the same thing. Or imply she was sleeping around so much she didn’t know who the dad was.

Clio groaned, dropping her face into her hands.

“I believe her,”Kasius reiterated, feeling a little bit like he was trying to convince himself, too.

“You don’t know her,”Clio said.

Kasius opened his mouth to protest but Clio cut him off,“I’m not criticising your little crush. I’m not going to be weird with her if you introduce us. I’m just asking you to remember to put yourself first.”

“Put myself first?” He grimaced.“Clio, seriously, I’m going to be a dad. I’m putting the babies first from now on.”

"You’re hopeless.“ Clio sighed.“Your dad’s going to insist on a test anyway, you know. He’ll disinherit you before he lets some random kids get at the family fortune.”

“Well, good riddance to him, then,”Kasius said testily. It was nice not to have to worry about money, he could admit that, but he still had his income and the trust fund his mother had left him on top of that.“You’re siding with Father now?”

Clio pulled a face.“When you say it that way, I feel like a jerk.” She took her coffee and downed it in one gulp.“I said my piece. I don’t promise not to say ‘I told you so’ later but fine, I’m done. I’m supportive. Tell me more.”

Kasius smiled, taking another look at the sonogram picture.“The study could be converted into a nursery easily enough, I think. My current idea is a sort of woodland theme. I think the whole pink or blue thing is overdone and besides, we don’t know yet anyways, so-”

It was good to get out all the things racing through his mind. Maybe it would stop him from putting his foot in his mouth too much when he saw Sinara later on.

He did have a habit of blurting out all the wrong things...

Chapter Text

11 weeks, 4 days

Sinara buried her hand in the kangaroo pocket of her sweatshirt, tugging it further down in hopes of looking less sloppy before giving up and just cradling her bump.

She’d let Kasius pick the place; all she’d asked was that wherever he wanted to meet had something on the menu that wasn’t spicy. She’d moved on from bouts of nausea to heartburn. Or, well, both, really. But she didn’t feel sick as much anymore.

She had not expected him to pick something so fancy.

This looked like a date restaurant, a bloody rehearsal dinner restaurant, and not a ‘so something went wrong with the condom, let’s have a chat’ restaurant.

Sinara was woefully underdressed for this place. Flavio’s had sounded like a quaint little bistro. She hadn’t known.

She probably should have checked the place out online instead of just throwing on a summer dress that didn’t have a waistband to make her uncomfortable, and a thin sweatshirt. She’d barely slept, too nervous for it, and she probably looked it, too, by the way the hostess eyed her as she opened the door.

Part of her wanted to bail.

Hell, all of her wanted to bail.

But she’d agreed to talk about it and if he really wanted to be a part of the peanuts’ lives, it was better if they came to an agreement civilly. She’d stand a snowball’s chance in hell if he tried to sue. Hala money could buy lawyers she couldn’t even dream of.

“I’m sorry, we’re fully booked, miss,”the hostess said before the door had even closed behind Sinara.

“Right.” She wet her lips.“I’m meeting someone. I think he reserved a table?”

The hostess’ smile did not reach her eyes.“Can I get a name, please?”

“Smith,”Sinara said, then shook her head. Her cheeks glowed. She was so far out of her depth in this place, it wasn’t even funny.“Sorry, it’s probably under his name. Hala. Kasius Hala?”

The hostess’ eyebrows shot up so high they basically disappeared into her fringe.

“Oh, of course, madame!” She waved over a waiter, her smile now radiant.“Mister Hala has been seated already. Stefano will escort you to your table, madame.” She turned to the waiter.“Mister Hala’s guest has arrived. He’s at the usual table.”

Stefano looked no less confused by Sinara’s attire than the hostess but brought her to Kasius’ table without comment.

She pressed her hand firmly to her belly when she caught sight of him, reminding herself of the two very good reasons she had not to turn and run.

Unlike her, he was perfectly dressed for the restaurant. Salmon dress shirt, a beige vest, a fucking tie, even.

And the brightest smile as he saw her.

Her stomach gave a flip that had nothing whatsoever to do with morning sickness.

“Sinara, hello,”he said, practically jumping out of his chair to pull hers out for her.“How are you? I hope Flavio’s isn't too far out of your way?”

“I’m fine,”she said, sitting down automatically. No one had ever pulled her chair out for her. She hadn’t known it was something people did outside of movies.“It’s fine.”

“Wonderful,”he said, taking his own seat again. He was still beaming at her.“How are - oh, where are my manners?” He looked at the patiently waiting Stefano.“My apologies. We won’t need the wine card today.” He turned back to Sinara.“What would you like to drink?”

“Gingerale, thanks,”Sinara told the waiter.

He gave a small bow before leaving them to look over the menus.

Another thing she had firmly thought only within the realm of cheesy movies.

“How are the peanuts?”Kasius asked.

“They’re good,”Sinara said, studying him as casually as she could.“I mean, as far as I know. I can’t feel them moving yet or anything.”

His hair was longer than that night at the bar, only just starting to curl. Maybe the twins would have curls, too.

His smile was just as warm as back then, and had that same touch of shyness.“Oh? Is that normal, then? To tell you the truth, I don’t really know anything about babies or pregnancy.”

“Me neither,”Sinara admitted. It was awfully easy to remember why she’d taken him home. She had to work harder to remind herself of seeing him with his girlfriend. She shrugged.“I’ll figure it out, I guess.”

“I’m sure we will,”Kasius said.

Sinara didn’t respond to the correction, instead turning to the menu.“Anything you’d recommend? I’m starving.”

The food all sounded good. The prices were horrendous, though not bad enough she actually wanted to ask to go elsewhere. It wouldn’t do to give him the idea she couldn’t afford it just because she didn’t think it reasonable to spend that much on eating out. He might take it to mean she couldn’t support the peanuts herself.

Even though she could probably get a week worth of meals out of the price of this dinner.

They ordered and Kasius was still just asking her question after question about how she was feeling, what her obgyn had told her about the peanuts so far, and a bunch of other stuff that wasn’t really what they needed to settle.

“Shouldn’t we get the basics sorted before anything else?”Sinara finally put in. It was weirdly nice, having him so excited and concerned, but she didn’t want to play pretend and then have it ripped away again. Who knew what he was playing at.“I mean, there is sort of the elephant in the room to deal with, no?”

Kasius frowned, then nodded.“I suppose so.”

“Good.” It didn’t feel particularly good but just as she couldn’t really trust him, basically being strangers, the same went for him, and she had to acknowledge it.“Well, I haven’t talked to my doctor yet but I checked online and apparently prenatal paternity tests are really simple and - why are you making that face?”

He was staring at her like she’d sprouted a second head.

Maybe he’d wanted to wait until the twins were born, so she wouldn’t ask him to chip in for medical care during the pregnancy?

She balled her hands into fists, trying not to let her annoyance show. Not that she’d intended to ask but getting around it preemptively would be lower than she’d expected him to go, even with all the crazy online forums telling her what a horrible idea it had been to admit to the babies being his.

“Why would we do that?”Kasius asked when the silence had stretched on a moment too long.“You said they’re mine. Are you - uhm, aren’t you sure?”

He blushed so furiously asking it, she couldn’t even glare at him for the implications.

“Well, obviously I know they’re yours,”she said.“You, on the other hand, currently have to take my word for it.”

Kasius visibly relaxed.“Oh, I’m fine with that.”

“Oh. Alright, then.” That was certainly not what Sinara had expected. She wasn’t sure if she didn’t think it was worse for him to just trust her on this. Who was that naive? It wasn’t like they were dating or anything. She’d barely let that thought sink in when something occurred to her,“Wait, then what did you think the elephant in the room was?”

“I wouldn’t have called in the elephant in the room, exactly,”he said.“I thought you were referring to when you’ll move in with me.”

His tone was so matter-of-fact it took her a few seconds to work through what he’d just said.

“When I - what? You want me to what?!”

His fingers were fidgeting with the folded serviette on the table, but his voice remained calm.“Of course you’ll have to decide if you even like my place first. We can get something else if you’d rather.”

“I’m not moving in with you,”Sinara said.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to pressure you,”Kasius said. He smiled and reached across the table to put his hand on hers.“If you’d like to wait until after we get married, that’s fine, I just figure it would be a little more practical the other way around.”

Had she been less freaked out, Sinara would have been thankful for the waiter currently flambaying something or other a few tables over, because it kept people sufficiently distracted, even as her voice got far too loud and shrill,“I’m not marrying you. Why would you even think - I can’t do this.”

She got up and all but ran for the exit. She didn’t know what he thought he was playing at but she wouldn’t hang around to find out. Not wasting any time on checking if he might follow her, she flagged down the first cab she spotted and jumped in.

She had mentally prepared herself for a number of ways this conversation might have gone. She had not expected Kasius to want to full-on play house.

“Rough day?”the cab driver asked.

Sinara met her gaze in the rearview mirror; she looked utterly shellshocked, no wonder the woman eyed her with concern.

“Just got the world’s worst proposal,”she mumbled.

Her own words made it truly sink in. Kasius had proposed. On the third conversation they’d ever had.

She rubbed her belly, vaguely hoping it wasn’t genetic to be absolutely bonkers.

Chapter Text

11 weeks, 4 days

Sinara pulled out her phone, looking at Robbie’s ‘Let me know how it went’ message and hitting the call icon. She needed some reassurance.

He picked up on the third ring.“Aren’t you running late?”

“No,”Sinara said.“I already left. D’you want me to come in after all?”

“I’ve got it.” She could practically hear his frown.“Why’d you leave? I thought you wanted to sort this? Don’t tell me that guy changed his mind.”

Sinara barked out an unamused laugh.“Nope. He wants to marry me, apparently.”

Robbie laughed, too, but his laugh was real.“Don’t be dramatic, chica. What did he actually say?”

If only she were exaggerating...

“If you’d like to wait with moving in until after we get married, that’s fine,”Sinara said.

The silence on the other end of the line was absolutely deafening.

“Yeah,”Sinara said,“My thoughts exactly.”

It was a relief that she wasn’t the only one who hadn’t seen this coming. She didn’t know how she possibly could have, honestly, but she’d never had particularly normal relationships, so she hadn’t been entirely sure whether her reaction had been justified.

“Wow,”Robbie managed eventually.“I’m not sure if that’s totally insane or sort of sweet.”

“It’s totally insane,”Sinara said.

“Probably. At least you know he’s actually invested for real, now.”

Sinara hummed vaguely.“Guess so, ‘cept I walked out on him.”

“I figured,”Robbie said.

Sinara swallowed around the sudden knot in her throat, knowing he meant nothing by it, knowing she was only interpreting it as hurtful because her hormones were going haywire and were all over the place.

“So now what?”Robbie asked.

“I have no clue,”Sinara admitted.“Maybe he’ll change his mind if he doesn’t get the whole nine yards.”

Robbie made a sound that could just about mean anything.

“Maybe,”he said. He didn’t think so, she could tell by his tone.“Are you home? Do you want me to come over?”

“I’m fine,”Sinara said.

She was, too. She’d intended to raise the peanuts alone, anyway. If Kasius wanted everything or nothing, all that did was relieve her of the guilt of not telling him. He knew, now. Better for him to turn his back on her than on the twins, once they were here. She remembered too well what it was like to have people turn their back on you, once you were no longer the cute novelty. Her babies wouldn’t be put through that. She wouldn’t allow it.

There was a prickle at the corner of her eyes that she couldn’t blink away.

“I’m going to have lunch now, actually,”she said quickly.“Talk to you tomorrow?”

“Sure thing,”Robbie replied.“We’ve gotta make those wedding plans, right?”

“Very funny,”she said, but a small grin stole its way onto her face anyway.

The whole situation was sort of hilarious, if you thought about it.

She’d gone from worrying about co-parenting, to having to turn down marriage, to probably never hearing from Kasius again in under an hour.

She’d barely hung up when her phone buzzed again.

She answered without checking, figuring Robbie’d had something more to say.“Yeah?”

“I’m sorry for freaking you out,”Kasius said in lieu of a greeting.

Kasius stared after Sinara, too stunned to even begin to wonder whether he ought to go after her. Clearly, they had not been on the same page about what it would mean for them to raise the peanuts together. It wasn’t that he’d expected her to marry him right away, that would obviously be preposterous. They hardly knew each other yet.

But of course he wanted to marry the mother of his children.

He wanted their babies to have the loving home he’d never had, with two parents to dote on them and take care of them and love them, and love each other.

Kasius had always believed things might have been better - or at least easier - with his father if his parents had truly been partners, not just two people who’d somehow stumbled their way into children.

And despite everything Clio was so happy to tell him about how he was a romantic fool, despite them only really sharing that one night, he could see himself loving Sinara. He could see him sharing the rest of his life with her. Wasn’t it reasonable to let her know that?

He was pulled from his musings by Stefano arriving at the table, balancing what had been supposed to be their dinner, and an uncertain smile.“Would you like me to have these remade so they’re fresh and warm when your guest returns?”

Clearly he’d seen Sinara make a run for it.

“Oh, no, thank you. She had to leave.” He forced himself to smile.“Something came up quite urgently.” Him being an idiot, that’s what.“I’m very sorry.” The food smelled heavenly. Sinara had seemed excited about it; he’d really ruined her night. Unless - well, no harm in asking, even if those words had probably never been uttered in Flavio’s,“Could I maybe get those packed up to go?”

“Of course, Mister Hala, no problem at all,”Stefan said. He barely even looked horrified by the idea. A true professional.

In that moment, Kasius dearly wished for his ability to keep his thoughts to himself. Were he able to do the same, he would not have scared off Sinara.

And he was quite possibly about to make it even worse.

He could see she’d recently been online, so apparently she hadn’t blocked him, at least. He still didn’t expect her to pick up the call.

In fact, he was utterly unprepared for her to do so.

“I’m sorry for freaking you out,”he blurted out, and then just kept going.“I didn’t realise I’d let my assumptions get the better of me instead of actually talking. I’d like to do that. Talk, I mean.”

“I’m not marrying you,”Sinara said.

Maybe it was wishful thinking but he thought she sounded a little amused.

“I got that, yeah. I want to talk about the babies.” Stefano was returning now, the doggybag he was carrying so out of place Kasius couldn’t help but grin.“I had them pack up the food. Can I drop it off? I promised you food.”

That request was followed by a pause so long Kasius had to bite down on his lower lip to keep himself from saying more.

“Okay,”Sinara said, finally, and it was the most wonderful word in the English language, suddenly.“You can stay to eat and talk.”

She hung up before he could respond but it didn’t matter. She was giving him another chance. He’d make sure not to blow this one.

Chapter Text

11 weeks, 4 days

Sinara’s heart was hammering even harder than when she’d ran out of Flavio’s; inviting Kasius to her place had been a spur of the moment decision and probably not the best idea. Last time she’d done that, she’d somehow ended up pregnant.

Not that she wasn’t excited about the peanuts. There was no denying they’d been a happy accident, though.

They certainly weren’t a reason to marry some random stranger who just so happened to supply half their genetic material. They were, however, a very good reason to try her best to come to a civil agreement with said stranger. There was no harm in having another attempt at a conversation, surely.

Especially since he was bringing food.

She was pretty hungry and that vegetable bake had sounded amazing. Her agreeing to talk didn’t mean she’d concede to his crazy notions of how their lives ought to go. She knew that there was really no reason to get worked up about this situation.

It did not stop her from nearly jumping out of her skin when the doorbell rang.

She buzzed him in, smoothing out her dress pointlessly, and mostly just wiping her sweaty palms on it.

Kasius looked about as awkward as she felt when he stepped into her apartment. That was something, at least. She’d been afraid he might be annoyed or angry and slamming the door in his face not half an hour after running out on him would have been a bit much, probably, though she’d been preparing herself mentally to do just that.

“Thanks for letting me come over,”Kasius said and held up the doggy bag like it was a peace offering.

In a way, it was, she supposed.

“Thanks for bringing food,”Sinara said. She wasn’t sure what else to say.

She didn’t want to dive right back into a discussion that might have him going on about marriage again.

“Of course.” He gave her a smile that was just the slightest bit shaky.“Are you sure it’s alright if I stay? I don’t want to put you off your meal. I can just leave the food and get going.”

“It’s fine.” She waved him into the flat and gestured towards her small dining table where she’d set out two plates and cutlery.“We can talk while we eat. Just so long as you don’t try to get engaged.”

“Not before dessert,”he said, and then paled at the look she gave him.“Sorry, that was a bad joke. I’m not great with timing, I must admit.”

She sat down and unpacked the food.“You don’t say.”

There certainly were worse times to propose than the one he had picked, she figured, but the list was not very long.

“Well, to be fair, I always assumed I’d do all the proposing and that before getting my - uhm, getting someone pregnant.” His smile was sheepish and he was blushing furiously.“Not that I’m upset about the peanuts - it’s just - well -”

“They were a happy accident,”she supplied.

His smile looked a bit less likely to fall off his face at that.“A bit of a surprise, I was going to say.”

Sinara returned the smile and chuckled, then began eating without further ado. She almost moaned around the first forkful. It was bloody delicious.

She felt at ease scarfing it down in the comfort of her own flat, even with Kasius there. The overly fancy restaurant had done nothing for her nerves. The food was amazing, though.

She’d finished the vegetable bake off before Kasius had made it halfway through his lasagna.

“Would you like some of it?”Kasius asked.

Clearly she hadn’t done a very good job at being subtle about staring at his plate.

She was just so hungry lately. Whenever she wasn’t nauseous, anyway. Or actually even then.

“I’m good,”she said.

“I insist,”Kasius said and pushed his plate towards her.

Well, he had offered her his hand in marriage and she had shot him down. Accepting his lasagna was the least she could do, with the pleading look he gave her. Like he desperately wanted to get something right.

“If you’re sure you don’t want it,”she said.

“It’s all yours.” His relief was almost palpable.“You are eating for three, afterall.”

“Two of us are lime-sized or thereabouts so I’m not sure that justifies two meals,”Sinara pointed out. Not that it stopped her from tucking in. The lasagna was just as good as the vegetable bake.

“Either way, you should have all the food you want,”Kasius replied. He had his hand half-cupped on the table, staring at it in something like awe.

It wasn’t hard to guess where his mind had gone: Trying to picture what size a lime was, trying not to get overwhelmed by the thoughts of the babies. It was how she felt pretty much constantly, anyway.

“D’you mind if we postpone having all the serious talks?”she heard herself asking, without her mouth consulting her brain beforehand.“Just for a little bit. A few days or so. I’d like to just - I don’t know, get to know you a bit first?”

“Of course,”he agreed eagerly. The smile he gave her was still a bit uncertain but lit up his whole face.“That sounds like a really good idea to me.”

Sinara couldn’t help but return the smile.“So, tell me about yourself?”

The conversation flowed much more easily once they’d taken serious discussions off the table for the moment; before long, they’d moved to the couch to continue their chat.

They sat facing each other, holding cups of tea and far more relaxed than they would have ever been in Flavio’s - well, Sinara, at least. Kasius would probably have felt more at home in the fancy restaurant, she supposed, but he did appear at ease now, too.

She was a little surprised just how comfortable it was to talk to him about nothing and everything, the way it had been that night in the bar all those weeks ago. But they’d both been looking to hook up back then, so she really hadn’t counted on getting that light banter back.

She’d even lit a few candles without worrying too much about that making it feel far too date-like, what with Kasius just having proposed mere hours ago. Sinara liked her candles though and had been planning on trying out the new lemon scented ones that evening, so she’d put them on her coffee table without a second thought.

Kasius hadn’t commented except to compliment the smell.

All in all, after the disastrous start to their meeting, it was turning out really well.

It was a pity that she had to ruin the mood but she couldn’t stop herself from asking any longer.“So, have you told your girlfriend about the babies yet?”

He stared at her for a few seconds, a frown etching itself on his face, and finally settled on,“Pardon? My what?”

“Your girlfriend,”she repeated.

That was followed by a few more seconds of silence.

“I don’t have a girlfriend,”Kasius said.

Sinara took a sip of tea to buy herself a moment before she responded.“You don’t have to break up because of the peanuts, you know.”

“Okay?” He was still giving her a bewildered look and a blush was creeping up his neck.“I don’t have a girlfriend, though. I haven’t dated in - well, quite a bit, really.”

“Oh,”Sinara said, torn between feeling stupid for pushing and wanting to push some more. She knew it had been him in the mall, there had been no mistaking that. That woman didn’t necessarily have to have been a date, though.“Okay, then.”

“Okay,”Kasius echoed. He worried his lower lip between his teeth, not quite meeting her eyes as he asked,“So, are you seeing someone?”

Sinara just shook her head and pretended not to notice the way his shoulders relaxed at that.

No more complicated discussions that day, they’d agreed.

“So, what exactly does a botanist do, anyway?”she asked, tugging the quilt down from the backrest and throwing it over her lap.

It was adorable how excited Kasius got at the question. She could perfectly picture him telling stories to the babies.

She kept her mind on that and very far away from the fact that she could just as easily imagine leaning in and kissing him.

Chapter Text

12 weeks, 3 days

Kasius checked his phone for the fifth time in half as many minutes. He had no new messages and it was still another three minutes until the time they’d agreed to meet but he was still not quite ready to accept this was really happening. It was just too good to be true.

After only a week of texting, phone calls and a single walk in the park, Sinara had invited him along to a doctor’s appointment.

He hadn’t expected her to let him in on something so personal so soon after his hasty, botched proposal. She was a much better person than he deserved and he was determined to live up to the trust she put in him.

That did not stop him from worrying that she might have changed her mind about this and rescheduled without telling him.

Before he could check his phone yet again, he finally spotted Sinara as she rounded the corner. He waved at her, a little unnecessarily, since she was mere meters away.

“Hey,”she said.“Have you been waiting long?”

“No,”he lied. He didn’t want to look overeager just because he was.“How are you?”

He stepped forward to give her a quick hug without really thinking about it. He was a hugger and so was Clio, and he spent a lot of time with her, so hugging wasn’t something that he even consciously decided to do.

Sinara stiffened for a split-second, then gave him a quick pat on the back before stepping back.

Kasius flushed, about to apologise for overstepping when Sinara beat him to speaking.

“I’m fine,”she said.“Same as when you texted this morning. You?”

“Excited,”he admitted. There was probably no hiding that anyway.

“It’ll be really boring for the most part,”Sinara said but there was something like fondness to her tone. She brushed her fingers against her belly absently.“We’ll talk about how much I puke, a lot. You can just pop in when she does the scan.”

He couldn’t imagine anything about this whole experience being anything short of amazing, even if it was talk about morning sickness. Though of course, he was most excited for the scan.“I’ll stay for everything, if you’ll have me?”

She rolled her eyes but she did it with a small smile.

“Wouldn’t have invited you otherwise,”she replied, and led the way into the clinic.

She was so relaxed, Kasius didn’t know how she did it. She’d of course gotten to experience one scan already, so she had that on him, yet he didn’t think he’d be any less overwhelmed with emotion if it were the second time. He did his best to mirror her relaxed attitude. It was good that she was so at ease; that was probably better for the peanuts, too.

They chatted for a while - Kasius valiantly refrained from bringing up the list of possible baby names he had started - and then they were called in.

“Hello, Doctor Simmons,”Sinara said as she walked into the room.“Kasius, this is Doctor Simmons. Doctor Simmons, this is Kasius Hala. He’s the dad.”

Kasius beamed at Sinara, having to force himself to turn to the doctor instead. The dad. His stomach fluttered pleasantly at that introduction.

“Hi,”he said.“It’s good to meet you, Doctor Simmons.”

“Likewise,”the doctor said and shook his hand.

Then she returned her attention to Sinara, taking her blood pressure and asking more questions than Kasius could keep up with, about morning sickness and dizziness and back pain, and a host of other things.

She gave a lot of tips on how to reduce or deal with the unpleasant side effects, though, and Kasius noted it all down - he firmly pretended not to notice the heat creeping into his cheeks at the bemused look both women gave him when he pulled out the notebook. He liked taking notes. It made him feel prepared, and they needed to be prepared: they were having two babies, afterall.

All the preparation in the world could have not gotten him ready for the scan, though. If the picture had already been life altering, there were no words for actually seeing the little shapes move around and hearing their hearts beat.

“Oh, wow,”he breathed, eyes fixed on the screen but his hand finding Sinara’s shoulder automatically.

She patted his hand absently.“You’re not going to faint again, are you?”

“No promises,”he said. He was only half joking. He definitely felt a little lightheaded. In a good way, though.

He turned his attention from the screen to give Sinara a smile; she returned it and then looked away to their babies again. He followed suit, fascinated by the grainy image.

“Everything’s looking good,”Doctor Simmons told them after taking whatever measurements she needed.“They each have their own placenta, so that means we don’t have to worry about transfusion syndrome.”

Kasius didn’t know entirely what that syndrome entailed but he figured it was a good thing that it was ruled out. According to some very terrifying Google searches, this pregnancy was already riskier than normal because they were having twins. He’d banned himself from googling after the first five minutes on a forum discussing everything that might go wrong. There was no good in dwelling on that, surely. The doctor let them know what to watch for and everything else would be stress that Sinara and the babies didn’t need. Kasius knew he was insufferable when worried; it had been pointed out to him many times by many people.

“So they’re not identical, then?”Sinara asked.

He wasn’t the only one who’d been doing some googling, he figured.

“It is less likely but it isn’t impossible,”Doctor Simmons replied.“Identical twins can have a placenta each. Either way, them not sharing one is a good thing.”

“So they’re healthy, right?”Kasius made sure. Even though he was determined not to be a worrywart, he needed to hear her say it. Those little shapes on the monitor already owned his heart; he wanted them to be safe and sound.

The doctor gave him an indulgent smile.“They’re absolutely perfect.”

Sinara squeezed his hand at those words; he’d almost forgotten his hand was still on her shoulder. She still didn’t shrug him off, though, so he left it there as Doctor Simmons finished up, pointing out that the babies were similar sizes, and then printed off a picture for them.

Sinara offered it to Kasius and he was all too happy to accept it.

He was still staring at it by the time they left the clinic.

“Maybe pocket that before you walk into traffic or something,”Sinara said, lightly bumping her shoulder against his.

He gave her a sheepish grin but did as she suggested, slipping the picture in the inside pocket on his jacket, carefully making sure it wouldn’t get creased.“Sorry. It’s just a lot to take in.”

“Yeah, I get that,”Sinara replied, and then said nothing else as they made their way to the little café nearby.

She’d picked, this time, Kasius had insisted. He didn’t want to end up making her uncomfortable again - which was the same reason he was following her example and walking in silence. It was way too soon to ask about living arrangements and that was what he was currently dwelling on. The corridors at his place were probably way too slim to comfortably push a double stroller through. That’s what he got for moving into stupid overstylised modern architecture...

“It’s really pretty,”he commented absently as they walked into the café. Jiaying&Daughters. He hadn’t heard of it before but he instantly felt at home.“Do you think these teapots are handmade?”

“Sure, whatever.” Sinara didn’t look at the shelf he was pointing out, instead she was fixing him with a very intense look.“So?”

He looked at her expectantly but she left it at the single word.“So what?”

She frowned, as if he was being purposefully obtuse.“Are you still in?”

The question caught him so off guard, all he could do for a few seconds was gape at her. Then he gathered himself enough to ask,“Why wouldn’t I be?”

Sinara shrugged, not meeting his gaze.“Thought the scan might freak you out. Make it too real.”

“Oh.” Kasius reached across the table for her hand, thought better of it, and dropped his own hand in the middle of the table instead.“I’m not going to say I’m not freaked out because, honestly, I sort of am. I mean, we’re having two babies. That’s - well, it is sort of scary, in a good way?” He shook his head, trying to sort his thoughts.“I’m not going to change my mind. I want to be there for the peanuts.”

She slid her hand a little closer to his; he couldn’t tell if it was on purpose.

“Even once the initial excitement wears off?”she asked.

“Of course.” He brushed his fingers against hers, then took her hand when she didn’t pull away.“They’re babies, not throw pillows. The excitement isn’t going anywhere and neither will I.”

She smiled, her shoulders relaxing.“You get excited about throw pillows?”

“Are you saying you don’t?”

She laughed, and he promised himself he’d get her to do that as much as possible.

As far as enchanting sounds went, her laugh was right up there with the peanuts’ heartbeats.

Chapter Text

12 weeks, 5 days

Sinara was on her way to Kasius’ flat, annoyed with herself at how nervous she was about it.

A far too large part of her was still expecting him to change his mind, no matter what he said about it. Every foster family she’d had had changed their mind about her, once she’d no longer been the cute new addition to the family. Hell, there had been puppies who had outlasted her stay in some homes. A few too many homes, really.

She didn’t want to allow herself to get excited about doing this together - or as co-parents, anyway. But a part of her absolutely was excited that the peanuts would get to have more of a family than she’d had growing up and that scared her.

Being excited was way too close to being attached and being attached never ended well; it just ended.

Kasius had been so enthralled during the scan, he probably had believed himself when he’d said he wouldn’t change his mind. She’d believed him in that moment, even. Inviting her to his place seemed a little odd, though. Like he wanted to break things off without a scene - not that there was anything to break off in the first place - since she’d already proved that she couldn’t be counted on not to cause a scene in public. If running off had counted as a scene.

She shook her head, even more annoyed with herself. She was going in circles with this over and over, one second thinking she had nothing to worry about, the next full of concern that Kasius would walk out on the peanuts, the next yet thinking that might be for the best, after all.

She’d brought it up to Robbie as casually as she could manage and he’d pointed out that they both already knew that she had massive trust issues and that he’d be around no matter what, so she might as well see how it went with Kasius.

He had not told her explicitly that he’d guessed that she was very close to sabotaging the whole thing just to have it over and done with on her terms, but she had seen it clearly enough in the way he had stirred his coffee with far too much concentration so he didn’t have to look at her. She’d pretended not to get what he was implying.

She much preferred it when she was the voice of reason. It didn’t suit Robbie nearly as well.

She was so lost in her thoughts, she startled a little when Kasius actually opened the door to his flat. He was beaming at her, wearing an apron, and had a bit of chocolate smudged on his cheek.“Hey! Did you find the place alright?”

“Yeah,”she said. It was the biggest, newest building on the block. Not exactly easy to miss.

They just stood there for a second or two and then Sinara stepped forward, expecting him to move out of the doorway to let her in but not entirely surprised when he took it as an invitation to give her a hug. It was a short hug, like the one he’d given her at the clinic, and she had yet to decide what she thought of his habit of hugging in greeting.

Sinara wasn’t a huge hugger but she had to admit he was a very good height for her to hug. She could rest her head on his shoulder just right, if she were so inclined. Which she wasn’t, of course, she’d just happened to notice that.

“I just put the cookies into the oven,”he told her as he waved her into the flat.“Oatmeal chocolate chip, right?”

“Right,”Sinara said. Had she mentioned her favourite cookies? Well, clearly she had, even if she couldn’t remember it. Trying to find something to say, she landed on,“You have chocolate on your cheek.”

“Oh.” He blushed and wiped at his cheek furiously.“Did I get it?”

“Just sort of smudged it around more,”Sinara said.

He pulled out a handkerchief from his apron, perfectly folded to show off the initials embroidered onto it, and continued to wipe his cheek.

She mentally added ‘embroidered handkerchiefs’ to her list of things she didn’t think real people actually owned but apparently did. Though if the twins did end up being identical, embroidering their onesies would probably not be the worst idea to tell them apart.

“Okay, let me give you the tour,”Kasius said, pocketing the now chocolate-smudged handkerchief.

Sinara didn’t point out that there was still a bit of chocolate on his cheek, just followed him into the flat. Seemed she really had been overthinking this whole thing if he just intended to show her the place - after all, the peanuts would spend time at his, too, though Sinara didn’t think she was sold on fifty-fifty. She didn’t want to miss out on her kids that much.

The flat was nice, the decor much more homey than the austere, overly-modern outside let on.

Kasius ushered her into his office, basically bouncing on his heels in excitement as she took in the room.

“I think we should make this the nursery,”he said.“I can move my desk into the living room no problem and then the changing table can go under that window, see?”

She listened to him rambling about how he wanted to set up the nursery, a soft smile finding its way onto her face at his genuine excitement. Maybe things really were going to work out okay with them co-parenting. He wanted her opinions, too, on the colour of the walls and if separate cribs would be better than a twin crib and all sorts of things.

He was eventually interrupted by the oven timer beeping through the flat and she followed him to the kitchen. The cookies smelled damn delicious; her stomach gave a loud grumble at the smell.

Kasius smiled at her, somewhere between pleased and apologetic.“They need to cool, sorry. Let me show you your room while we wait for the cookies?”

She nodded, mouth watering as she drew in another quick whiff of the freshly baked cookies, and only then did she process what he had said. Her room? What was he on about?

The room was by the soon-to-be-nursery, a regular spare bedroom turned guest room. If it were Sinara’s home, she’d probably keep the office and make the guest room into the nursery but apparently Kasius entertained a lot.

“Obviously I’ll leave the redecorating in here up to you,”Kasius said.

As far as Sinara was concerned, there was absolutely nothing obvious about that statement.“Why would I be redecorating?”

Kasius frowned.“So you’ll feel at home? This doesn’t really seem like your style. Or mine, honestly. My grandma is the one to mostly use it and - well.”

He waved his hand around vaguely to indicate the room as a whole; not that there was anything particularly grandma-esque about it. It had far more muted colours than the rest of the rooms, though, and no knickknacks strewn about.

“It’s fine,”Sinara said.“I mean, I don’t care that much about a room I’ll spend an occasional night in.”

She’d have to keep that in mind for when she upgraded her one-bedroom, though: Find somewhere for Kasius to stay over, if necessity arose. Maybe a nice pull-out couch in the living room would do.

Kasius, however, was still frowning at her, and then his shoulders slumped.“Oh. You don’t want to move in?”

“Uhm, no?”

When had that even become a possibility? It was better than being proposed to by a virtual stranger but not by a lot.

“Did you think I was going to?”she asked, careful to keep her voice neutral. Oddly, she felt more inclined to start laughing than to run for the hills but he already looked sad enough without her laughing in his face.

Kasius shrugged, colour creeping into his cheeks.“I mean, sort of? Actually, not sort of, just yes. I wouldn’t have made a fool of myself if I didn’t think so.”

“Fair enough.” She gave him a small smile as she cast around for a topic to ease the tension.“Think I can have a cookie now?”

He did relax visibly at that. Maybe he had been expecting her to run for the hills, too.“They should be cool enough now, yeah.”

They were cool enough and they were absolutely delicious, too. He’d even remembered to make her some ginger tea to go with it - or maybe he just liked the kind. She didn’t ask if it was for her still far too present nausea, just in case it wasn’t and she’d look like an idiot for assuming. That was firmly his forte and he was welcome to it.

She was just considering broaching the subject of just how intermingled he expected their lives to become when her phone rang with Gabe’s custom tone.

He was watching the desk for her today; she fished her phone out but he’d already hung up. There was a text, though: Can you come in quick?

Difficult customer, she surmised, and he was texting under the counter. They’d agreed on this technique when he’d first started to want to help out some days after school.

She made her apologies to Kasius and left the flat, almost running into a woman as she opened the door. The woman from the mall, if she wasn’t mistaken. Clio, perhaps? She’d yet to figure out a way to find out if his often mentioned friend and the stunning blonde were the same person without admitting she’d seen him in the mall and acted like a fool over it.

“Oh, sorry,”she said and stepped around her. Gabe rarely used the SOS; she wanted to hurry.

She was already halfway around the corner but she did hear Kasius greet the woman in a bewildered tone, and she heard the woman’s response, too.“I did something bad. Please don’t be mad?”

It seemed Sinara wasn’t the only one who had something to deal with...

Chapter Text

12 weeks, 5 days

Sinara had hurried as much as she could but apparently it hadn’t been fast enough: The yelling was loud enough for her to hear before she even opened the door.

“Shut up,”she snapped the second she walked into the shop.“And get the fuck out before I call the cops.”

The stranger rounded on her, sneering, eyes flashing with anger.“Is that her?”

The question was directed at Gabe but the guy didn’t seem to actually want an answer, stepping closer and giving her a once-over.

Behind him, Gabe raised his phone in silent question. Should he call the cops? Sinara hesitated, then gave a small shake of her head.

Hopefully, the guy would just calm down now that he’d feel vindicated that a manager had showed up to talk to him. Bringing in the cops was more hassle than it was worth.

“What do you want?”she asked bluntly. Best to make it clear she didn’t intend to humour him. And really, with how unnerved Gabe looked, this douche was lucky she hadn’t socked him in the jaw and thrown him out.

“Watch your tone,”he snapped.

“Watch yours,”she snapped back.“And get the fuck out of my shop.”

His sneer only grew more derisive at that.“Believe me, I am not happy to have set foot in this dump. I’m here on business.”

“Take it elsewhere.” Sinara crossed her arms and glared at him.“We don’t want your business.”

“I sure hope I don’t have to take this elsewhere, too,”he muttered under his breath.“Once is bad enough.”

Great, now he wasn't making any sort of sense. As if the regular shitty customer wasn’t bad enough…

“Get to the point or get out,”Sinara said, glancing over to Gabe, who still had his phone at the ready. Probably for the best.

“Very well. Here’s my point: I want you to disappear back where you came from,”he said, waving a hand dismissively.“Father won’t write your little bastard into his will, I can guarantee you that, but it will be a hassle to keep my idiot brother from throwing family assets at you. There’s an easier way for both of us.” He pulled out his checkbook, raising an expectant eyebrow at Sinara.“So, what’s it going to take for you to drop this spiel now?”

For a few seconds, all Sinara could do was stare at him. She had thought he was just some entitled customer, but no. This jerk was her babies’ uncle?

“Will you just spit it out already?”Kasius said after a few minutes of Clio hemming and hawing and asking him not to be mad.“We’ll see if I’m mad once you tell me whatever it is.”

He’d expected that to make her laugh but Clio just looked even more worried.

“I was at Flavio’s today,”she finally said, as if that explained anything at all.“So was Faulnak.”

He waited for more but Clio went back to worrying her bracelet between her fingers and not meeting his eyes.

“So you had lunch with my brother and I’m supposed to be angry? If anything, I feel sorry for the miserable company you had.”

“I told him,”she blurted out.“The waiters talk, you know? It got to Faulnak and he saw me and he asked and - I’m really sorry.”

“You told him about the babies,”Kasius surmised. He really should have seen it coming that that little episode in the restaurant would come back to bite him. But that Clio had actually confirmed the rumours…

“I’m so sorry. I told him where her shop is, too.”

“You what?”

“Look, I know you said you trust her but that’s stupid, I’m sorry, it really is -”

“So you set Faulnak on her?!”

“I wasn’t thinking,”Clio mumbled, blinking furiously.“I just figured - I don’t even know. He stormed off right away and then it sort of clicked what I’d done and - I’m sorry. He’ll probably have told your dad by now.”

“I’d be relieved if that’s all he does,”Kasius said, going around Clio and grabbing his jacket, hurrying out of his apartment without explanation.

Faulnak on the warpath and Sinara having to go deal with some problem at her shop? Kasius wasn’t lucky enough for that to be a coincidence.

Now the only question was whether he would arrive on time to prevent things going down the drain.

“Get out,”Sinara said.

It was the only thing that came to mind at his ridiculous proposal. Money truly rotted brains; he seemed to genuinely be convinced he could just throw cash at her and have her and the peanuts disappear.

He rolled his eyes.“I appreciate you trying to play hardball but if you don’t make an offer I can’t counteroffer and we will be stuck here forever.” When she didn’t give him a number, he clicked his tongue impatiently.“Come now, there’s risks in trying to play the boy. He might catch on once he stops to think about it.Then the well dries up forever. A check’s smaller but it’s certain.”

“I don’t want your money,”Sinara spat.“Or your brother’s. You can fuck right off trying to buy my compliance.”

“Yes, yes, I hear you. I’m going to need a number now.”

“If you want a number so bad, try 911. This is definitely harassment.”

“Put the phone down,”Faulnak threw over his shoulder at Gabe.“I’ll give you until tomorrow to run the numbers. Figure out what you think you can settle for and what you need to make the bastard worthwhile. Hell, maybe you can even get enough to get proper help for this shitshow of a shop of yours. Stop relying on that little cr-”

Kasius did arrive in time.

In time to see Sinara punch Faulnak square in the face.

Chapter Text

12 weeks, 5 days

It had been a while since Sinara had punched someone in the face. It hurt a lot more than she remembered. Faulnak staggered, a look of mild surprise crossing his face to quickly be replaced by anger.

He opened his mouth to speak, but someone beat him to it.

“What do you think you’re doing?”Kasius demanded.

Sinara spun around to stare at him, shaking her hand as if it might help her stinging knuckles.“Well -”

“Not you,”Kasius said and waved her off.“I’m sure that was a perfectly appropriate response.” He stepped away from the door - and a sheepish Clio - and next to Sinara.“Faulnak. An explanation is in order, no?”

“You’re asking me for an explanation?”Faulnak snapped.“I’m trying to make sure you don’t ruin your pathetic little life and you’re asking me for an explanation?”

“Sounded more like you were worried about family assets,”Sinara pointed out helpfully. No reason not to set the record straight.

Kasius didn’t seem surprised by that in the slightest.“Ah, of course.”

“That’s all you’ve got to say?”Faulnak said.“I went to all this trouble rather than just letting Father cut you from his will altogether and that’s the thanks I get? You siding with your little whore?”

For the second time within minutes, Faulnak got punched in the face.

Kasius looked about as surprised as Faulnak, cradling his hand to his chest but continuing to glare at his brother.

“That’s me done trying to help you,”Faulnak growled, shoved past Kasius and stormed out of the shop.

“Oh, no, no,”Kasius muttered.“Oh, fuck.”

“It’s fine,”Sinara said, not really feeling like she had any right to tell him so and not believing it, either. If his father was like his brother, he might actually get cut out of the will and have his lifestyle upturned.“We can just go ahead and get the paternity test to shut him up. Then you don’t have to worry about your father, right?”

“Huh?” Kasius shook his head.“I’m not worried about that. It’s just - that really hurt. I didn’t know it would hurt my hand so much.”

“Never threw a punch before?” That didn’t really surprise her. He didn’t seem the punching kind. She held her hand out.“Let me see.”

He offered his hand and she took it, carefully prodding and inspecting.“Did you punch with your thumb in your fist?”

“Uhm, I think so? I don’t know.”

“You’re not supposed to do that,”she said.“Doesn’t seem to be dislocated or anything, though. If it doesn’t stop hurting you might want to see a doctor. And I’ll show you how to make a proper fist sometime, yeah?”

“Okay,”Kasius said and smiled at her.

“That was wild,”Gabe said, coming out from behind the counter to join them by the door.“Hi, I’m Gabe. You must be Kasius.”

“Nice to meet you,”Kasius said, offering his hand but chuckling and pulling it back at Gabe’s meaningfully raised eyebrow.“Sorry you had to meet Faulnak first.”

“Eh, it’s fine,”Gabe said.

“It’s not, I’m sure he was utterly insufferable,”Kasius said.“But it’s kind of you to say so.”

“He was.” Gabe grinned.“But, I mean, I got to see him get punched twice, I’m over it.” He glanced past Kasius."And you are?"

Sinara turned around and the woman she assumed was Clio blushed beet red and looked almost panicked.

"Oh, uhm, no one."

"This is Clio,"Kasius said. For some reason, it sounded a little icy.

"Hey,"Sinara said.

Clio's smile was a little shaky, too."Hello. Nice to meet you, Sinara."

“Yes, well, I would have liked introducing you under different circumstances,”Kasius said.

“Think we all could’ve done without your brother.” Sinara shrugged.“It’s not like - wait. How come you showed up now? Did you know he was going to come here?”

“Just an educated guess,”Kasius said, shooting Clio a concerned look.

Gabe beat Sinara to asking,"An educated guess based on what?"

"I should leave,"Clio says, and did just that before anyone can react.

"Did she set your brother on me?"Sinara asked. She was surprised it came out mostly calm. Or maybe she just felt calm in comparison to minutes earlier, when she decked Faulnak in the face.

"She didn't mean to,"Kasius said quickly."But yes, she blabbed to him."

“How do you do that without meaning to?”

“Gabe,”Sinara reprimanded gently, though she really thought it was a fair enough question.

“I suppose she did kind of mean to,”Kasius conceded. He gave a small shrug, looking rather lost.“However, I am sure she didn’t expect him to come here.”

“Oh, so -”

“Gabe,”Sinara repeated.

He fell silent but shot her a very pointed look that said what he was thinking very clearly.

Sinara gave him a small smile.“Don’t you have homework still to do?”

“Sure, sure.” Gabe rolled his eyes but turned to the office.

Sinara waited until the door closed behind him and then turned to Kasius.“Look, I’m not defending your shithead of a brother and I’m probably not going to want to really meet Clio anytime soon but you have got to admit this is hardly surprising.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, a paternity test would solve everything.” She paused, then went on before she could overthink it.“You are acting a little - well, if I were trying to pull one over on you, you’d not exactly make it difficult.”

“Be that as it may,”Kasius said,”I’m afraid there’s something you need to understand about me: I am extremely stubborn.”

“So now you’re going to double down about not wanting a paternity test?”

“Absolutely.” He grinned at her.“So while I’m feeling especially petty and you’re not best pleased with Faulnak either, should we revisit that proposal?”

Sinara couldn’t help herself but laugh, the last of the tension leaving Kasius’ shoulders as he realised his best friend and brother’s stunts would not send her running for the hills.

“I’ll get you some ice for your knuckles, yeah?”she said.“And some for mine, now that I think about it.”

Kasius nodded.“Sounds good.”

Sinara slipped into their kitchen nook, pulling out some ice and wrapping it in towels, pausing to collect herself before she was heading out again.

“Your daddy’s bonkers,”she told her belly quietly.“But you know what? I kind of like it.”