Paralyzer [Gotham]

3

I woke up and nearly jumped out of my skin; the hands roaming my belly shouldn't have been there. I was cautious opening my eyes, breathing a sigh of relief when Victor watched my stomach with wide eyes, hands smoothing over the small bump that had formed there. "Are you trying to give me a heart attack before I reach full term?" I sighed, making no moves to stop his actions.

"No," he chuckled, pressing a kiss to my belly. "I didn't want to wake you up." When he finally looked at me, there was a smile to his lips, and I dare say his eyes were glazed over.

"Are you sure you don't want to come to the appointment? We get to find out if it's a boy or a girl today." Victor shook his head and turned back to my belly.

"No, we went over this." I nodded and took a deep breath, holding out my hands and taking his to sit myself up.

"God, it's like this kid uses my bladder as a stress ball," I groaned, his chuckles following me through the house. When I reached the bathroom, I took a second to examine my reflection, running my hands over my stomach. Make him go with you. I squeezed my eyes shut and took a deep breath, I couldn't tell if it was worsening on its own or if pregnancy horomones had kicked it up a few notches, but the voice was yelling at me these days, it was consistantly harder to ignore every time.

When I opened my eyes, I nearly pissed myself, veins covering my face and the whites of my eyes blood red as the voice increased the volume. He needs to accomidate to your needs. Make him go with you. Take what you want. I jumped at the hand on the door, the insistancy of it telling me it hadn't been the first knock. "Lucian?" Victor called, voice muffled by the lessening of my own voice and the door.

"I-I'm okay," I informed, watching as the veins disappeared, the bloodshot in my eyes fading with them. I took a deep breath once the voice had faded, popping the door open and giving him a light smile. "I just looked a lot bigger than yesterday, it shocked me." His eyes scanned down my face, finding nothing that caught his attention, so he turned and walked to the couch, allowing me privacy once again.

I didn't daudle in the bathroom, in fear that the veins and bloodshot eyes would make a reappearance, finding Victor flipping through one of my books. "Have you thought of any names yet?" I wondered, moving to sit with him but standing before him when he set down the book and beckoned me there.

A sense of calm washed over me when he lifted my shirt, smoothing his hands over my belly as he stared at it for a minute. "Victor Jr." I laughed, sobering up a bit - though not by much - when I realized he was serious.

"Try again," I chuckled, putting a hand on the side of his head when he still looked at me impatiently.

"How about..." he trailed off in thought, perking up again with, "Dante." I chuckled some more and shook my head.

"Alright, we'll come back to boys' names later," I decided.

"I've got nothing else," he sighed, resting his forhead against my stomach. I looked past him into Andrew's room, tossing the idea around for a moment.

"How about Andromeda?" I wondered, looking down to him after a second. He leaned back and studied the bump before him, a small smirk on his lips as he held either side of it.

"I like it. Maybe you should pick the boy name, too," he mumbled, seemingly entranced by my belly.

"We have to agree on it," I pointed out. "It's no fun if I'm doing all the work." I looked at the clock and sat beside him. "I have to get ready in a few minutes," I yawned, leaning my head on his shoulder. "I hate not being able to have coffee." Victor chuckled as I ran my fingers over his wrist, the voice returning in a quiet hum. I hated this. I didn't even know what was wrong with me. As a doctor, it's extremely frustrating.

Take what you want. Tell him to show you. Go ask questions. I took a deep breath and stood, not wanting those unslightly veins to return while I was under Victor's analytical stare. I didn't need him panicking. He held onto my hand until I was out of his reach; if I thought his gaze felt heavy before, it weighed nothing compared to now.

[]

As I was sitting in the chair waiting for a doctor, a familiar curly head bounced by my window, perking up a tad. "Selina?" I hadn't seen her in a while, what was she doing here? She had crossed the doorway before she could turn, taking me in with wide eyes.

"Woah, Luci. You got fat."

"Hey!" I pouted.

"Sorry," she chuckled. "It's just, I don't think I've seen a pregnant lady up close before." I smiled and nodded her in, taking in the light stumble of her legs as she came over.

"You okay, Kitty Cat?" I hummed, tousling her hair as she reached my bed.

"Yeah... I've just gotta talk to somebody." She seemed torn between being here and leaving, but her wide eyes remained on my stomach.

"You can touch it if you want?" I offered. "I get to find out what I'm having today." Her brows came together in confusion, finally drawing her eyes away from my belly.

"Who's the daddy?" I frowned a bit but said nothing, Zsasz was serious about keeping his parentage under wraps. "So you're the virgin friggin' Mary now, hm?" I chuckled and shook my head, not getting to explain as the doctor came through the door.

"Imagine my luck, getting to work with Dr. Cane. We miss you around here," she greeted as she looked through my charts.

"I wish I were still a doctor. I miss this place," I agreed. Also just couldn't go blabbing my underworld dealings, that wouldn't be helpful around an abundance of manditory reporters. Selina stayed out of the doctor's way, keeping her head down as she came to examine me.

I held Cat's hand as the doctor put some gel on my belly, smoothing it in with an ultrasound device and turning to the screen. "Woah, that's the baby?" Cat breathed, unable to help her curiosity.

"Yes," the doctor informed, turning to me with a light smile after searching. "She's doing just fine." I took a deep breath and looked down at my gooped up stomach a moment, turning back to the screen as the doctor pointed out details the little blurred image contained.