Round Two

A Double Line?!

During my brief spell as a vampire, I had a taster of just how big our family is nowadays. Not only were there the various Uncles and Aunts we have, but Evan's Mum was engaged to a man called Marco, and he has his own large family... and news of my relationship with Andy had spread to them all. I'd never felt so humiliated as I did that night, especially when Mummy decided to take off the bandage applied to my wrist in front of everybody. The freshest wound on my wrist had healed thanks to my vampirism, but the older scars on the other side remained, and were on display for all to see.

The flame between Andy and I was rekindled earlier in the day, and about a month or so later we were attending the wedding of Evan and his soon-to-be wife Emily, who we'd met before. It was a double union shared with his Mum and Marco, to whom Mummy was Maid of Honour, while Daddy was Evan's Best Man, so our sisters got left with a friend while we went. Meanwhile the sickness both Andy and I were suffering refused to leave us alone, and at first we'd put it down to stress since it affected us both. As time went on we had no other option than to blame it on a persistent stomach bug, although this particular night I blamed the car ride – I never have travelled well on the road.

I was in dire need of a drink by the time we went inside, and understandably our parents had to leave us at the bar while they saw to their assigned duties. As we waited for things to start we found ourselves left among some... interesting people.

That plant man standing next to Evan is his father, Luca. The other who approached Andy is a true alien being, not like Daddy... in fact that alien man is his father. We learnt then that he used to reside somewhere among the stars and experimented on random people, impregnating them with their seed... people like Luca, who gave birth to our own father. Those two men we met were our Grandparents, and they both knew everything about us... I don't use the word lightly either. In fact the alien man, Zephyr, was even encouraging us to be open with each other, reassuring us that everyone present knew about us anyway.

It was for that reason that night was the best we'd ever had – the freedom was wonderful, and we savoured every minute. The only thing amiss was Daddy's temperament – during the course of the evening his mood dropped through the floor, and none of us could figure out why. It was only when we came back home he shed his mantle and ushered us urgently into one of the reception rooms, which seemed to be our meeting place of late.
“What's wrong?” I asked innocently, not prepared in the slightest for what his answer would be.
“As soon as the shops open tomorrow,” he replied with a stern urgency, “You guys are getting yourselves some pregnancy tests.”
I blinked in surprise as I stared back at him, for a moment thinking he'd gone mad.
“Excuse me?!” was all I could say, before Andy echoed my confusion.
“We're both guys!” he exclaimed, “How is it possible?!”
“That's what I wondered at first,” Daddy explained, “But you were both showing signs I'd seen before three times; twice in your Mum, once in Evan's. I tracked down my Dad to ask about it; he casually said men of his race can conceive as easily as the girls.”
“That's him though!”
“No Andy,” he continued, “It gets passed down the line. If I ever slept with a man I could get pregnant by him. Now please, get yourselves tested!”
My mind by now was spinning as I managed to put across my agreement. All this time we'd thought that, by us both being male, we'd be free from the worries a woman would normally have, now it transpired nothing could be further from the truth. After that new fact about our origins was laid in front of us I was left picturing the time I slit my wrist, when I was bad beforehand, and now felt a sickening feeling in the pit of my stomach. I was praying this was all a false alarm, for no other reason than hoping I hadn't put another life in danger through my rash actions.

We were true to our word too, getting up early and heading straight for the city pharmacy – we deliberately chose a place we weren't known as brothers, although in hindsight maybe that wasn't such a good idea. People in the shop were so judgemental, it was written across their faces what they thought of us, how stupid we'd been. Never mind the fact that we didn't even know it could happen, but I wasn't in the mood to justify myself to strangers. Racked with worry and guilt, all I wanted was to make sure this was really just a stomach bug that wouldn't go away.

We both got a pack of two and used them both, just to make sure. Our parents took hold of one of them and we all peered anxiously at the little windows at the same time...

The rising clamour washed over me in a haze. My mind was racing, my body paralysed with distress and shame. All I could think was “What could I have done to the baby?” I nearly died, I became a vampire, I drank a cure the next day, and all that time I had a little life growing inside me... as I sank into the nearby sofa I could contain my despair no longer and erupted into hysterical tears. I was only vaguely aware of Daddy's heartbeat in my ear as he sat by me, holding me in his arms. Mummy had long since gone, thank God... I learnt later she'd gone into a hissy fit and had to be sent to her punch bag. How Daddy could remain so calm was a mystery, especially given what followed further down the line. At the time though, after he left for his coffin it was just Andy and I sat on the sofa, or so we'd thought...

After just coming to terms with our predicament ourselves, we were faced with explaining it to our sisters. That in itself wasn't too bad, but they'd caught us in each other's arms, and what's worse was their asking about the commotion all those months ago, when I'd been found in the bathroom. I suppose it was only a matter of time before they got involved, no matter how much we'd tried to spare them the worst. Children aren't stupid after all.

We slowly got used to the idea, refusing to take the easy option and instead bonding with the growing babies inside us. Daddy seemed to take it in his stride but Mummy washed her hands of us, refusing to talk to us or even acknowledge us, spending more time with our sisters. That and the trouble we had at school all this time was making an already difficult situation near impossible, save for the more open minded among our family. It was people like Evan and even his Mum – where he said he got it from – who kept us sane during this time. I would include Daddy in that but I was concerned for him; he was showing similar signs that I had, of depression. He was also following in my footsteps by not confiding in anyone, and that worried me a great deal.

There was also another bug-bear we had to face, it turned out. We had our first scan a month after we found out we were pregnant, when we had to go up a trouser size to accommodate the increasing size of our bellies.

There is no feeling like that first sight of part of yourself growing inside you. Incredible doesn't even begin to describe how I was feeling then, although it quickly diminished when the doctor running the scan - none other than Mummy's brother - announced that there was more than one baby there. It got even worse when we found out Andy was also expecting twins! Forget the trauma we'd face of giving birth to them both, how the hell would we manage?! Two fifteen year olds pregnant with twins, in a house with four young girls? It became apparent very quickly that staying at home wasn't an option. My mind was racing that very day on how we were going to cope on our own, but for the sake of our children we were determined to manage.