Pregnancy

Elin had to admit. She had not expected such a development. Not only that, but Heather had started showing signs after just two weeks from being with the goblins, and Elin had no illusions that Heather had been with anyone before. She'd been pretty clear that she didn't have any friends in her world.

However, she knew that she couldn't just leave Heather like that to face something she hadn't asked for or agreed to in any form. As it is, Heather's expression was still rather unreadable, given she clearly wasn't understanding the implications of what Elin had said.

"Uh, could you have Elmo and Jonas leave?" Heather asked. "Uh, just for a minute?"

Elmo looked like he wanted to ask why, but Jonas put his hand on Elmo's shoulder and said, "Come on, kid. We can continue this after they finish whatever it is she wants us out of here for."

Kim merely smirked at Elmo's outraged expression, though it was clear he couldn't think of anything to say, despite his mouth opening and closing as he was pretty much dragged out by Jonas. Elin couldn't help but think of the whole situation as rather entertaining, despite how much of a friend she considered Elmo to be.

Once the door was closed, Kim turned to Heather. "Okay, so why did you want them gone?" she asked.

Heather didn't say anything right away, but rather sat up and started to get out of the bed. Elin didn't try to help her, but it was clear that she was unsteady on her feet. Which didn't surprise Elin any, given how long she'd been out of it.

Once she was firmly on her feet, she began taking off her clothing, until she was completely bare. Elin understood why Heather didn't want Elmo or Jonas present, though at the same time, she didn't understand what Heather was doing.

Elin glanced at Kim, who was nodding, which confused Elin even more. She then looked at Sonya who was merely watching Heather with a concerned expression. Elin looked back at Heather who was running her hands over her belly, that was starting to show signs of her being pregnant, even though it wasn't that noticeable.

"Why is she doing that?" Elin asked, feeling like she should know, since everyone else seemed to understand something that she didn't.

"She's probably doing that to help her accept what's real about herself now," Kim answered. "That she is indeed pregnant. What she decides to do after this, I can't really say. That'll be for her to decide."

"What do you mean, 'for her to decide?'" Elin asked, her confusion growing. "What is there for her to decide?"

"If she wants to keep it," Sonya said, her gaze turning a little sad but not leaving Heather. "Since she didn't ask for that to happen, she might want to abort her pregnancy."

Abort her pregnancy? The mere thought of that was foreign to Elin. It was almost as if they were saying that Heather would rather kill her unborn child than to keep it. Why would anyone want that?

Elin felt her world start to spin, until Kim put her arm around her shoulders. "I'm guessing they don't have abortions that you know of on your world," Kim remarked.

Elin looked at Kim, not understanding what she meant. She then looked back at Heather, not sure what to make of what was being said around her. Then she looked back at Kim when she heard Kim sigh. She was shaking her head at Elin as if she should understand what was going on.

"Well, she was raped, so she might not want a reminder of that happening," Kim said, sounding to Elin like she was choosing her words carefully.

Elin felt completely baffled by what was being talked about. Almost as if they were talking about one subject while Elin was thinking about another subject.

"I won't do it," Heather declared suddenly, pulling Elin out of her thoughts.

"You won't do what?" Elin asked, still confused.

"I won't abort my baby," Heather answered firmly.

"Give it some time, okay?" Kim asked. "You just found out and are probably overwhelmed by it, so think about it and we'll think of something if you do decide to get an abortion."

"I said I won't do it," Heather repeated, as if Kim had suggested she end her pregnancy. "I don't care if I didn't want this, but a baby would care about me the way I'm sure my parents never did."

Elin saw a tear slide down Heather's cheek. She wasn't sure what this was about, but she wished someone would explain it all to her. She was feeling like she understood the words the others were speaking, but the meanings had suddenly changed and she couldn't figure out what they were.

"Heather, at least agree to talk about it later, okay?" Sonya urged. "It's a lot to take in all at once and after we've had time to calm down, you might see things a little differently." Then as Heather's expression towards Sonya darkened, she quickly added, "Whatever you decide then, I'll be with you all the way. Just like I told you when we were talking about leaving Stanley's team."

Heather blinked at that last statement, her expression softening. Elin was surprised at that statement. Was there a story there that they'd be willing to share? She wasn't sure, but also didn't want to say anything about it right then. She was still trying to figure out what exactly was going on. Too much was happening too quickly that she couldn't make sense of.

"Oh!" Heather suddenly cried out in surprise.

"What is it?" Elin asked, rushing forward. She hoped it would be something that she'd be able to understand more. She couldn't say what it was about, but that at the very least, it was a change of topic from whatever an 'abortion' was.

"He kicked," Heather giggled.

"Can I feel?" Elin asked, not sure what exactly she meant by 'he,' but assuming she was talking about the baby she was carrying.

"Sure," Heather said and put Elin's hand on her belly.

At first Elin didn't feel anything, but then she felt something that was almost imperceptible to her, but it was clearly movement inside Heather. A moment after she felt it, she started to withdraw her hand, a sense of wonder travelling throughout her. It even took her a moment to realize Sonya had moved up next to them.

As Sonya felt the kicking, Elin glanced over at Kim, who seemed to look rather unsettled. Almost like she felt like she didn't belong in the room. Even as Elin tried waving her over, she didn't move.

As Elin turned back to Heather, she suddenly remembered Elmo and Jonas waiting outside the room as well as the reason they'd come up here in the first place.

"Um, listen, there was an announcement earlier today about the goblins. Apparently they're going to be leaving the dungeon soon and we were thinking of going to try and destroy the portal. Part of it's because it's a challenge we can get credit for and part of it is so the goblins can't do to others what they did to you," Elin explained, not sure if she was remembering everything correctly.

Heather looked alarmed while Sonya looked resigned. Heather glanced at Kim and sighed. Elin wasn't sure what else to say, so she looked at Kim, silently begging her to say something.

"Alright, now that both of you know, we'll need you to help us decide how to proceed with it," Kim said. "However, there's one thing I want to know first, Heather."

"W-what?" Heather stuttered in surprise.

"You said something about wanting to keep the baby because it would love you or something and how your parents never did. What did you mean by that?" Kim asked, her expression wary.

Heather sighed as she started stroking her stomach. "Well, I've thought about it, and I think that maybe my parents set the bomb that went off just before I got brought here," Heather said. "I mean, they know that I don't go out at all and they had said they would be at my graduation, but never showed. Yet, the bomb went off at a time most teenagers wouldn't be home. Especially on graduation night. So, I'm pretty sure it was my parents who set the bomb that set fire to the only home I've known."

"You poor thing," Sonya said, wrapping her arms around Heather gently.

"Okay, I can understand that," Kim replied. "Though, you should probably get dressed. We do need to let the boys back in so we can continue what we were going to be talking about."

Heather nodded. "Okay."

Elin turned away as Heather started putting her clothing back on and walked over to Kim. "What do you think we should do about preparing to fight the goblins?" Elin asked quietly.

"Well, first I need some armor. Last time I fought them, my armor was destroyed and I was nearly killed, so that shows how much I need it," Kim replied.

Elin nodded. "I'll aid where I can too."

"Good girl," Kim praised, tousling Elin's hair.

"Okay, you can let them back in now," Heather said.

Elin turned and saw she had gotten her clothing back on, so she turned and headed over to the door where she knew Elmo and Jonas were waiting on the other side.