Carl mumbled something like sorry when he heard the hiss, but there was really no way to make it less uncomfortable. He was as gentle as he could get already, but he did warn him when he was about to dab antiseptics on. He sat down and stroked the baby too. "I think he missed your touch. He had been crying quite a bit and fussed after his feeding, wouldnt go to sleep.
Eithan shut his eyes for a moment as he pressed his lips together, resting his hand on his son's head and smiling softly. The young man used his free hand to gently begin collecting Stanley into his arm and lift him up against his chest, then looked to his other arm. Noticing that he was finished with the bandaging as he wrapped both arms around the sleeping baby, who opened his eyes only slightly to look up at him then settle again. "I'm sorry, buddy..."He let their heads touch and sat back more against the headboard as he held him close to his heart,"You know I love you... So much..."He murmured, kissing over his resting face quietly.
Carl thought it was a good sign, at least Eithan was showing some kind of bonding with their son, makig him hopeful again that Eithan wasnt as cold hearted as he had sounded. He just sat there watched them. "I dont know how to word it but you have to understand no matter what you do, i will not let you go. I cannot afford to let you go or I will go insane. That's how important you are to me."
Eithan looked up at Carl,"Don't lock me up again... Ever again... Please."He looked at him with wet eyes,"I'll stay, but don't keep me away from my son... Don't hurt other people because of me."He supported Stanley's head and back with his hands as he met the other's eyes for a long moment,"I'm not going to run from you. I promise. I just want everything to be okay."
Carl looked at Eithan with a mixed feeling. He no longer knew if he should trust this man who he loved so much but seemed never able to figure out. He smoothed Stanley's hair, stayed silent and not sure if Eithan said his plea to safe Saul or was it a general statement. Quietly he said "if you said that intending to save Saul, I am sorry I would be letting you down. What he was going through is an intricate experiment and it wasnt something that could be stopped. I could only say I would let him go once the testing was completed, whoch could be sooner than I had anticipated."
Eithan looked down, watching as Carl smoothed their son's hair and reached to take his hand gently,"Okay."He said simply, squeezing his hand once their fingers intertwined and then pressing it against his middle. The young man pouted as he looked down,"I didn't mean it... I didn't mean it when I said I didn't want it..."He said, mentioning what he said about the baby that was in him now.
"Whether you are speaking your heart or not, I thank you for at least allowing me to dream on." Carl finally said, relaxing under Eithan's gestures. He caressed the bulged belly and slid himself behind Eithan, embracing them all. "You, Stanley and the baby are the things that are most precious to me in the world. I hope... I would give all that I have to make this moment last." He buried his nose within Eithan, settling in his unique scent.
Eithan nodded some as he leant back into Carl's chest, closing his eyes and rocking Stanley slowly while they sat,"Nothing happened between us."He said, looking up at him and then back down as he ran his finger over their baby's ear carefully,"kissing his head. The young man went silent for a moment, then said,"I hope we have a girl this time."
"We would soon be able to know. You should be almost 22 weeks now." Carl hugged them tighter and said. "To be honest i am glad to hear you say you didnt mean you dont want the baby. It would be dreadful if the baby wasnt loved by both parents. I had had first hand experience in that." He said quietly, not daring to nib at the earlobe as he would before.
Eithan felt slightly uncomfortable when he was grasped onto, though didn't say anything about it as he simply pressed himself into the others embrace. He fell quiet again while the other finally revealed his thoughts, his emotions towards Carl and what he did to him was able to change at any split moment. Just like the other was towards him he was sure. Though he would try not to hate the children Carl gave him just as much as he hated Carl, even if it wasn't a solid hate he knew it wasn't love either. What Carl felt for him wasn't love neither, it was obsession and the obsession made it's way of scaring him sometimes. He just hoped he could get away with the children before they were in too deep. With or without Saul.
They both fell into silence afterwards, each lost in their thoughts. Carl felt how Eithan pressed into him and sighed. He started patting on his back as if luring a little child to sleep. He lightly kissed on his forehead and said "i guess you should get some sleep now, you need plenty of rest now that you are with child. Your morning sickness started late this time around, unless you have been hiding the symptom from me. I will see to the supplements and nutrients you need." He paused before adding. "I love the child enough that I wouldnt be giving you any test drugs or funky things, at least trust me on that."
Eithan couldn't help as his eyes steadily closed while he held Stanley close in his arms, his face turning away slightly after the kiss while he settled down in the bed. "No... I've been dizzy, but that was the first time I had thrown up."He replied softly, nodding at the mention of sleep and closing his eyes as he fell asleep against Carl, one arm supporting their son and the other curled into the fabric of the man's shirt.
Carl looked at how Eithan appeared to be inseparable wi5h him and Stanley, even in his sleep, and knew deep down this was all a facade, but he ached to believe all these to be true so he just patted softly on Eithan, watching him sleep in silencr. The breathing of them all 3 seemed to have sychonized somehow, their chests rose and fell togrther. With mixed emotion, Carl also fell asleep.
The days had largely returned to normal except for Carl no longer allowing Eithan into the examination room where Saul was, though he had spent his fair share of time in the dungeon where his drugs were made, and done deliberately or carelessly, he had never restrained Eithan again, thereby not really monitoring that closely on his whereabouts.
Eithan never let Stanley out of his sight or had him out of arms reach, he used one of the supplies Carl had in the nursery, which they rarely used, to wrap the baby up in it. He slung him over his shoulder with his head over his breast, when he had read one of the books on babies after he had given birth, he had read about heartbeats and their affect on babies. Their son slept well for naps when he held him in the sling and it helped him when he needed to be quiet about sneaking around. Though he didn't dare go towards the man's office, he did look around for means of escape, planning it was the first thing then the other was finally executing it.
Carl didnt comment on Eithan's new protectiveness over Stanley, nor did he said anything on the sling though he thought it could create more pressure than necessary on his back that already had the growing belly as burden. He also didnt notice, or may have ignored deliberately, on Eithan's exploration around the house. However every single night he fell asleep with Eithan tightly wrapped in his arms, his palm over his belly for protection and also for claiming of ownership. He felt like his dream would be awakened and he would be facing the ugly truth very soon, but he felt helpless and wasnt sure what he could.do to stop the situstion from deteriorating further.
The young man could care less about the burden his children brought to his body, he could handle it until he found a better way. He wasn't that large yet either way so the eight month old wasn't too much for him to handle yet, though he was getting older and therefore bigger each day. Eithan went to corners of the house he couldn't before to look over things he hadn't noticed before, he slept well at night knowing that one day it would be his last. When they slept together, that was the only time he let Stanley either sleep between them both or in his own crib.
It had been another day for Saul's examination and Carl had lrft Eithan wandering with Stanley in the house while he checked on Saul. He had been allowed to be partially awake for more accurate results.
"Hello Saul, welcome back to the world." Carl set up the ultrasound again, getting the icy gel on his belly. He disrrgarded all protests from Saul, who had been significantly weakened and paled from long.periods of unconsciousness.
Saul blinked slowly, he had been deteriorating slowly with each month that passed, he wasn't sure how long it had been though he knew that it had been a while. His brows furrowed slightly and he shifted his hips forwards with a small frown,"How long..."He swallowed thickly, his throat was dry and his tongue felt like wood,"Am I not... Done?"He sighed, his belly was larger than he's ever seen an actually woman be, his chest had swollen to the point where the doctor had to keep breast pumps attatched to the male.
"Of course you arent done. You couldnt quite possibly push a kid out while you are unconscious. You have been flowing milk out in mass amounts so I hope you wouldnt mind with the pump." Carl said noncommitally. He glanced at Saul and sighed before getting up to get him a glass of water. He somehow rrminded him of Eithan in some ways, and it was true that in fact he hadnt expected his new drug would have such drastic effect on Saul's body. The newer version was designed to accelerate the process, but apparently Saul responded by magnifying the changes too.
He raised the upper body of Saul a bit to get him the glass of water. He had been careful to keep Saul hydrated, so it wasnt really needed. He seemed to have seen a dark shadow passing through the half opened door, but he dexided not to address it knpwing it could only be Eithan.
"Eggs... Not a kid..."He groaned softly, turning his head and tugging at the restraints weakly,"Let me out of these will you?"He asked him hopefully,"I can't fight you...let alone run like this..."He hoped that would make the other man agree, though when he went to get a glass of water he wasn't sure if he would agree, he wanted to turn away from the glass of liquid, the last time he had been offered a water was when this all started. Though with his mouth being so dry, he decided to take the chance and took a few sips of the seemingly normal water, the heavily gestated man looked up at the moving shadow slightly and watched it. He noticed the shape and wasn't sure how exactly to reply to the sight of the woman who had made this all happen to him in the first place, he curled his fists somewhat and shifted himself,"Does she have to be here?"