Her Master was pretending to be calm about it, but she’d seen his anger. His regret. He didn’t want a baby. But you want one, her subconscious whispered. One that survives this time, with a man you love.
Back at the club, in the back where she and her Master lived, Molly hovered over the toilet, pissing on a plastic stick while Mephisto stared at her. Just like at the pharmacy, reality continued unabated around them. His employees were starting to arrive outside. Club patrons would be coming soon. Instead of greeting them, he was holding the stick she’d handed him. He watched it for about fifteen seconds, then set it on the counter and wordlessly gave her the other one from the box.
She peed again, miserably. She couldn’t pee as much this time, but the stick was mostly wet. She wondered if tears would work to fill out the rest of the absorbent tip. She handed it to him, thinking wildly for a moment of holding two pregnancy tests to her eyes, soaking the thick white wicks with hysterical crying. That resulted in a maniacal giggle she had to choke back. Mephisto glanced up from the second test.
“You okay, kitten?”
No, I’m not okay at all. That’s a definite ‘no’ for that question.
“Can you get off there?” he said. “I don’t want to tell you the results while you’re perched on a toilet.”
Molly wiped and stood up, then backed toward the counter as he approached with the two tests between his fingers. He held them out to her, under the harsh light of the vanity. “Two lines is pregnant. Both these tests have two lines. Two dark lines.” Molly swallowed hard as her Master stroked her cheek. “Little slavegirl, you’re definitely pregnant.”
Of course she was. She’d known she was as soon as he’d said it in the kitchen. But there was still the possibility of denial before the test. Now, no more denial. She looked up at him through tears.
“What are we going to do?”
He set the tests on the counter beside her and sighed. “What do you want to do?”
Molly wanted him to fix this. That’s what she wanted. She wanted him to tell her what to do, but she knew he wouldn’t. His dark brown eyes burned into hers. “I’m not sure what you’re asking me, Master.”
“I’m asking you whether you want to keep it or not, of course. I have my own opinion on the matter, but I’d like to hear yours first.”
His mouth and lips were tight, like he was holding his own opinion back. She tried to read his expression, but he was being carefully impassive. “Master, I— Do you—”
He held up a hand. “No. I don’t want you to do what I want. You aren’t getting any orders from me, not now, not about this. What do you want to do? This is the second time I’m asking. I’ll give you time to think if you like, but don’t look to me for your answer.”
“I—I d-don’t need time to think. I want to have it. I’m sorry if you don’t want to, Master. If you don’t want to—”
His lips twitched. “If I don’t want to, then what? Will you choose my will over that life inside you?”
Hot tears spilled over her cheeks. If he didn’t want it, then what? How could she find such a wonderful Master and lose him so soon? It wasn’t like she wouldn’t be okay. She had money, a safe place to stay. She knew she would love this baby. But to be without her Master—
He took her face in his hands. “What are you crying about, kitten? You don’t have to choose. Of course I want this baby, but I want you to want it too.”
A pent up breath of panic left her in a whoosh. He hugged her close and kissed her, then wiped away her tears. “No, no...no more crying. Not now. This is happy. You’ll be a great mother. I always thought so. I always thought it was a shame, what Clayton did...but actually didn’t do.”
Memory crashed down on her. Her hands flew to her middle.
“I lost the last one,” she cried. “At eleven weeks. Maybe I’ll lose this one too. Maybe something’s wrong with me.”
“I think the only thing wrong with you is that you have way too many unfounded worries. Let’s get you an appointment with an OB and see what’s going on. How far along you are, how the baby looks. Or babies. Maybe it’s twins.”
Molly almost vomited. Twins?
They waited a week to visit the obstetrician. It took that long to get an appointment with the kink-friendly one Mephisto knew, but Molly and Mephisto both agreed it had to be someone who would understand their dynamic. Molly didn’t think she could go through a whole pregnancy without any marks, at the very least some light bruises. Mephisto also pointed out that a kink-friendly doctor would know what activities they could safely continue to do and which ones they’d have to give up for the time being.
At the appointment, Dr. Willetts eyed Molly’s collar briefly as he talked to her about her symptoms and her previous miscarriage. It felt nice not to have to hide their dynamic, or pretend the collar was just a necklace with a charm.
It probably also made more sense when they told the doctor about the ordeal of Molly’s tubes being tied...but not really. He did raise his eyebrows a bit when he heard the whole tale. The doctor faxed over an order to the hospital where she’d had her surgery and found no notes in Molly’s records about her tubes being tied. “So, my dear,” he said in an ironic tone, “going forward, please remember you are one hundred percent fertile.”
After they talked, Dr. Willetts did an ultrasound to see how far along she was. Thirteen to fourteen weeks, give or take. Molly gawked at the shapeless little blob as he measured the skull, the arms and legs. A little butterfly fluttered in its chest. A strong, steady heartbeat.
“You’ve already got a trimester under your belt,” Dr. Willetts said. “And I know you’ll worry because of your last pregnancy, but based on your blood work and what I can see in this ultrasound, everything’s good. Your last pregnancy likely ended a few weeks before the miscarriage even started, so to be at fourteen weeks now with a healthy baby...this is a good thing.”
Molly nodded but worry still curled in her chest. It had been terrible to lose Clayton’s baby. She wasn’t sure she could go through it again. She hadn’t even gotten a chance to see that baby on ultrasound, to see the rapidly beating heart, the tiny limbs that moved and floated inside her.
“Holy God,” Mephisto breathed. “That’s a baby.”
Mephisto saw a baby, but Molly saw something more. Their baby.
Mephisto whistled under his breath. “Fourteen weeks.” He eyed Molly’s waistline. “I’m surprised you’re not showing more by now, kitten.”
The doctor looked unconcerned. “She’ll begin to show soon. Really show. With petite women, a first pregnancy especially, they don’t show at first, and then bam, they look huge.”
Molly wasn’t too thrilled about the whole ba
m, they look huge idea. Mephisto grinned at her. “So,” he said, turning to the doctor. “If she’s at fourteen weeks, can you tell us the date it was conceived? Approximately?”
“Sure.” The doctor pointed to a date on the ultrasound screen. “It would have been around the end of August. The baby should arrive sometime around mid-May.”
Molly and Mephisto’s eyes locked across the room. May 16th was her former Master’s birthday.
Suddenly, eerily, it felt like there were four—no, five—of them in the room.
Chapter Thirteen: Yes, Master
Mephisto entered Lorna’s BDSM shop and sauntered around for a while before she stuck her head out from the back. She came to greet him, one eyebrow raised, lips pursed.
“Master Mephisto, I’ve been waiting for you to come see me. But I’m afraid it’s a little late for a chastity belt to work.”
Mephisto laughed. “I didn’t come in for a chastity belt.” He leaned against a display of glass dildos and quirked a smile at her. “I see you heard the news.”
“Only from every customer who’s been by in the last month.”
“And...”
Lorna cocked her head thoughtfully. “How did it happen? You can’t have been trying. Now that I think about it, didn’t Clayton spay her? I seem to remember that being a topic of gossip at some point.”
“Spay her? She’s a slave, not a cat.”
Lorna sniffed. “Don’t you call her ‘kitten?’”
Mephisto sighed. “No, he didn’t ‘spay’ her, but she thought he did. So did I. Long story.” He waved his hand. “Anyway, I need your help. You have three kids, don’t you?”
“Yes, I do, my friend.” She put down the paperwork she was looking at to focus on him. “Pushed all three out of my vagina after excruciating and torturous labors. Why?”
“Molly’s a little nervous about childbirth. I thought maybe you could give me some advice. You know, things to say to reassure her.”