Bit Into Your Love {SAPPHIC}

🩸New Name (pt.44)🩸

(A/N, shorter chapter! :) but i already updated this week lol so here)

Again, nine months had felt like forever. Especially with my little guy kicking so hard. The pain he brought me was so immense, I wasn't even sure I could joke about it at times.

Part of it was emotional, I guess, knowing it would probably be one of the last, if not the last time I'd ever be pregnant again. Because really, the transformation was beautiful. But the longing to hold my baby just grew bigger every day. Nine months was a lot.

Melanie was 20 months old, almost two years old. That was crazy, to both Cleo and me. It had felt like she'd just been born the previous day. A bit of it was stupid, actually. You always heard parents around you saying things like that, that they grew up fast. But I never really believed it until I'd watched it happen in front of my eyes.

I felt like it had aged me. I couldn't even imagine how Cleo was feeling.

Although Melanie was probably still barely even a molecule to her.

I thought the pregnancy kicks were bad, but nothing would've prepared me for labor with that baby. He wanted out, and he made it very clear he would have that no matter what.

It was worse than the first contractions were with Melanie. Sharp burning, stinging in my lower back. Like I could feel him banging his tiny fists on my rib cage.

Luckily, the first ones were short. But it wasn't that way for long.

I groaned. "Cleo-"
"I know, I've got you."

She was quick to pick me up, along with our hospital bags.

As soon as she was in the car, with me next to her in tears, she called the babysitter, who lived just a few minutes away, and that was that.

It wasn't ideal, but all we could do was pray.

~June 27th, 2026~

The sounds of new life crowded the room. My baby was in my arms, howling as I held him close to my chest. Although, his cries seemed joyous, he seemed thankful to be brought into the world. He had so much waiting for him, so many opportunities in his path. I sobbed as I cradled him and rocked him back and forth.

This was all I had ever wanted, a happy family.

"Happy tears, I hope," Cleo smiled.

I nodded, no words came out through my muffled sobbing.

Once I was done, and I didn't really ever want to be done, I hesitantly handed him over to the nurse. They washed his face up and wrapped him in a green swaddle.

The nurse handed him to Cleo, and I watched as her eyes sparked with joy. Then they all left the room, until it was just us two and our new baby boy radiating happiness.

She sat on the edge of the hospital bed next to me and held him in her arms. She let her skin fade to its natural snowy tone and gently lifted up his lip with her thumb.

I knew exactly what she was doing. She'd done it with Melanie, and with no luck, it was clear to me she was secretly, desperately hoping this time.

There was no way to tell if a baby was a vampire right after birth unless you checked for fangs. Their skin color would only fade after a few weeks of life. She'd told me it was a natural adaptation of safety against humans, and because they were so fresh out of the womb, they hadn't gone completely cold yet.

"Marine." Her entire face lit up.

I just smiled. I knew what she was going to say.
Even though, deep down, we'd both known.