Damien smiled.
Mimi: Yeah
“Daddy?” Matthew asked, sounding half asleep.
“I’m almost done, baby. I’m sorry to wake you.”
“Mm.” Matthew snuggled beneath the blankets. “Okay.”
Mimi: I need to go to bed. Thank you for getting Operation: FUCK YOU in the mail
404: it’s my pleasure. Can’t wait to see how it turns out
After a quick goodnight, Damien set his phone aside and spooned Matthew from behind.
“Love you,” Damien whispered as he tucked the sheets around their bodies, caring for Matthew in all the delicate ways that made his soul happy. “I’m so happy you’re here.”
Matthew mumbled an unintelligible, contented reply. As his breathing slowed and deepened, Damien closed his eyes and relaxed. He left the curtains open. New York watched them fall asleep.
38
Matthew
On the first Monday following Matthew’s arrival, Matthew, Emily, and Damien attended an early morning appointment with Dr. Giovanna Triassi. She’d come recommended by Dr. McDowell, Matthew’s Aurora-based obstetrician. When Matthew stepped foot in her office and was welcomed by the staff like he’d been a patient there his whole life, he understood why.
Much like her support staff, Dr. Triassi was wonderful. When she entered the examination room, she had a smile for Matthew and Damien, but when she spotted Emily, her eyes lit up. “Hello! What an unexpected surprise. And who might you be?”
“Emily,” Emily declared. She hopped up from Matthew’s lap and put her hands on her hips. “Daddy says he’s gotsta see you today so you can take a picture of his belly, but doctors are only s’posed ta be for when you’re sick. You gotta make him better or I’ll tell on you, okay?”
Mortified, Matthew covered his face with his hands.
“I’ll do better than that,” Dr. Triassi said without missing a beat. “I’m going to make sure that he’s perfect. Does that sound good?”
There was silence. Judging by it, Emily was scowling at Dr. Triassi in a way that suggested it didnotsound good.
“Emimi.” Damien left his place by Matthew’s side and held out his hand to Emily. “You’re a big tough Ms. Monster today, aren’t you? You wanna come with me and go rampage in the halls for a bit? We can pretend all the floor tiles are buildings and stomp on them.”
Sated by the promise of destruction, Emily took Damien’s hand.
“Give me ten minutes,” Dr. Triassi told Damien in a low voice as she escorted him and Emily to the door. “Once he’s set up for the ultrasound, I’ll leave the door open a crack so you can come back in.”
Damien nodded, then took Emily out into the hallway. Before Dr. Triassi closed the door all the way, Damien threw back his head, roared, and stomped on a floor tile.
The poor thing never saw it coming.
Businessmen in fancy suits usually hightailed it in the opposite direction from a monster—it wasn’t very often they became one.
While Damien and Emily wrecked havoc on Floor Tile City, Dr. Triassi showed Matthew to a privacy screen in the corner of the room. He changed into the thin hospital gown he found there, then came out and positioned himself on the examination table. It was equipped with stirrups—which Matthew hated—but redeemed itself by being surprisingly cushy. The last time he’d been in for an ultrasound, the table hadn’t been half as padded.
Dr. Triassi made him comfortable by adjusting the pneumatic backrest, then lowered a screen suspended by an articulating metal arm. When he’d been changing, she’d set out two chairs, one on their side of the examination table. When Damien and Emily came back, they’d have a place to sit.
“Would it be okay with you if we did the routine physical exam while they’re still gone?” Dr. Triassi asked as she lathered her hands. “I figure if we get it out of the way, we won’t have to worry about any of the floor tiles in here meeting their untimely death.”
Matthew laughed. “Yeah, it’s okay with me. I think the blood draw the nurse gave me was enough medical action for my boyfriend. He came here to support me and to be with me when we see the baby for the first time, but I think he’s happier out there playing monster than he is in here confronting the, uh, less fun parts of being pregnant.”
What Matthew didn’t mention was that Damien had been the one to arrange for the appointment, and that he’d taken time off work so Matthew wouldn’t have to be at the ultrasound alone. There had to be at least a dozen urgent emails in Damien’s inbox already, and maybe a prickly text or two from his boss about yet another absence, but Damien hadn’t checked his phone once. It gave Matthew hope that Damien’s plan might actually come to pass.
“Ah, I know the type.” Dr. Triassi snapped on a pair of gloves and looked at him from over her shoulder. Her eyebrow was raised, the corner of her lips drawn up in a smirk. “I’ll be sure to bring smelling salts to the delivery room.”
