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Troy leaned across the glove box and put a hand on Nick's shoulder. The highway - if it could even be called that - was endless. He sighed.
"Are you feeling okay, Nicky?" He asked his spouse. He wanted to brush his fingertips against the rounded expanse of his belly, but he didn't want to piss Nick off.
"I'm fine. Tired is all." The youth slightly cradled his belly over the baggy button down he was wearing. He was eighteen, soon to be nineteen, and heavily pregnant with his and Troy's first child.
"Do you think it'll look more like you, or me?" Troy asked. "Hell, what if it looks like your ma?"
"She's not my blood ma. Not Alicia's either." Nick shook his head. While Madison Clark had raised Alicia and Nick as her own, they were not her biological children; both Nick and his sister were mixed Native, although how much they had never known. "Why, ya worried our little girl will come out black or something?"
"You could be a little black, Nicky. Who the hell knows?" Troy shook his head. "But don't worry. I'm still gonna love her, whether she's as black as coal or red as a savage."
Nick shot his husband a glare.
"I imagine your dad is going to be livid." He muttered. "Tainting the Otto bloodline with a one-drop redskin and having a grandchild who's just a shade off of lily-white."
Jeremiah Otto was an old drunkard and a racist who had a years long dispute which had led to nothing short of all out warfare with the Black Hat Reservation, because the Native tribe's land got too close to Otto's property. Nick wondered how the old bastard felt about Hitler.
"That's the reason why we're not heading back to California any time soon, my dear." Troy responded. "It's getting dark, you want to find a motel? We got some money."
"If you wanna drive some more." Nick rolled down the window of Troy's Chrysler Royal. "I am tired though. Feeling pretty damn weird." The breeze felt good on his face.
"Don't even know where we are." Troy admitted. "Maybe we're in Texas. I should have bought a map."
"I thought about writing Alicia once we found a place tonight." Nick sank down in his seat, grunting as the baby inside him shifted lower in his belly. "Shit, little girl-"
"Yeah?"
"A-and telling her I'm okay, tell Mom not to worry about me-"
"And hope she forgives you?" Troy teased. Madison, loving but overbearing, had done everything she could short of sending Nick away, to keep the two from seeing each other once she found they were secretly involved. The night before his eighteenth birthday, Nick had left his family home and left with Troy for god knows where.
"Fuck that." Nick replied with a groan. "Lets just pull over for tonight."
"Alright, babe." Troy nodded and pulled over to the roadside on the desert sand. "We could sleep outside, under the stars."
"How romantic." Nick closed his eyes and moaned softly.
"We got some blankets. The night air'll do you good."
"Thanks."
Once out of the car with sleeping bag and blankets spread on the ground beside the car, the pair cuddled up together. Troy kissed his forehead.
"I heard they do bomb experiments out here." He said. "Do you think they do them here?"
"I don't think so. I think we'd know if we were in testing radius." Nick shook his head. "Jesus-"
"The Indians here, they think the end is coming. Something in the stars." Troy raised his hand up to the sky. "Though, there is a war going on-"
"Don't say shit like that, not now. The baby's coming soon, don't talk about that." Nick admonished. "You know more about this shit than I do, Indian crap. Apocalypse crap."
"I can't help my piece of shit dad fed me government collapse shit from the time I was born." Troy nuzzled his beloved's neck and threw his arm around him, rubbing his belly. "I won't scare you or the princess anymore." He whispered as he felt the baby kick.
"Just get some sleep, Troy. Hopefully we'll wake in the morning with coyotes having left us untouched." Nick joked. A sharp kick from deep in his belly made him wince.
"You get some rest too, sweetie."
-
Nick woke with a start, feeling fevered. He felt like he was burning. The night was still and black, the only light was the billions of stars that shone in the sky. Panting, he shook Troy awake.
"Troy, wake up-" the heat now ran down his pelvis, accompanied by sharp pains. His pants were wet. "Troy, fuck...I think the baby's coming."
Troy stirred, eyes widening with panic.
"Be calm, Nicky." Troy soothed, putting a tender arm around Nick. "Breathe, okay?"
"My water broke." Nick said with a groan. He tugged at his pants, pulling them off as another wave of pain shot through his lower abdomen. "I've probably been in labor for hours. How could I not have known?"
Troy crouched between Nick's legs. He thought he'd be frightened; he'd never seen anyone in labor before. But this was his Nick, ready to bring his baby into the world. Everything would be fine, even if the world was ending-
Nick moaned as the pressure in his hips built. As a cramp shot through his abdomen, he gave a push. He sighed, his body was following the rhythms of nature. He pushed again.
"Good, babe, you're doing great." Troy wiped his spouse's brow with his handkerchief. "Oh, Nicky, I'm so proud of you." He put his hand in his beloved's. Nick whimpered and squeezed Troy's hand.
"Oh my god-" The baby dropped lower in the birth canal. He felt an uncomfortable burning between his legs and down his bottom. "Shit, she's coming."
Nick finally screamed, the pain too much.
"Troy-! Oh, fuck..."
With a final, cataclysmic push, the newborn dropped into Troy's hands.
"Hey there, baby." Troy whispered. He removed the small pocket knife from his jeans and quickly cut the newborn's cord.
"Is she alright?" Nick asked, panting. He felt the afterbirth come, passing it with ease. Thinking quickly, he unbuttoned his shirt and gave it to Troy to wrap the baby in. "Daisy?"
Troy looked at him, frowning. The baby in his arms squirmed and whined.
"Nick. Its a boy." He said. "We've got a son. I know how much you were looking forward to a little girl. I was too."
"He's still our child." Nick took the baby from him, holding it close. He stroked the baby's soft head, letting the tiny boy latch on to his chest and nurse. "I love him already."
"We'll have to think of a name now." Troy nestled up to Nick, looking up at the sky.
"Daniel's a good name." Nick stated, after a pause. "Jack is, too. Or maybe we can name him Jeremy, kind of a fuck you to your old man." He chuckled.
"I don't know." Troy replied. "We don't have to think of one now you know." He leaned over and gave the baby a kiss on the head. "We'll have to get him registered, well, someplace."
"We'll get to that." Nick nodded and yawned, snuggling into Troy.
"He looks a lot like you, I think." Troy mumbled as Nick fell asleep. Troy took the baby boy from him, holding him close.
"I guess you're alright, little boy." Troy saw the stars glittering in the night, so bright and beautiful. He smiled at his son. "Yeah. Your momma may call you something else, but I'll call you that..."
Troy laid on his back, letting the baby rest on his chest.
"Boy."