Shades of Gray - By Jackie Kessler & Caitlin Kittredge Page 0,54
second trimester.
She watched Lester suit up from her position on the chaise, with a pillow under her feet, swelled to roughly twice their normal size. To think she had at least three more months of this. “I wish I was coming with you.”
“Yes, dazzle them with your pregnant tummy. That’d do wonders.”
Valerie threw a shoe at her husband. He ducked it. “Seriously, Les. I’m so bored I could chew the plastipaint off the walls. All I have to look forward to today is another exam, then a birth class. Me, Krakatoa, and Prismatic. All pregnant. In a class run by a suit.”
Lester shuddered. “Suddenly, taking on Mildew and his Rotting Crew doesn’t seem so bad …”
Valerie sighed. “You’re terrible.”
Lester checked himself in the mirror, his eye mask the only dark spot on his snowy costume. “Damn, I am a handsome devil.” He came and kissed Valerie on the forehead and started for the door.
“Your earpiece!” She held it out.
“Not likely. I hate that bloody thing.”
“Les.” Valerie sat up, with a little effort. Her stomach made it awkward for her to move, even with her superstrength. “You know what Corp said after last time. Wear it, or you’re on suspension.”
“One, I can’t think with that thing in my head and two, I’d like to see them try.” He grinned at her. “I’m the Hero of New Chicago, luv. I make the rules, not them.”
“Les …” But he was out the door. “Be safe,” Valerie finished, to no one but herself.
CHAPTER 23
ANGELICA
All Mentalists continue to resist comlink control. Results discouraging. May have to decommission the entire Mental power.
—From the journal of Martin Moore, entry #109
You look so gorgeous,” Holly Greene said wistfully, gazing at Valerie’s swollen belly. Every day she visited, Valerie got bigger and more beautiful, almost glowing with her pregnancy.
Her friend chortled, nearly spilling her water. “You mean for a bloated cow of an extrahuman, right? Thanks, Hols. Honestly, I can’t wait for the baby to decide to get out of my nice warm womb and into the cold cruel world with the rest of us. Christo, to have a solid night when I don’t have to get up to pee …”
“But won’t you have to get up to feed the baby?”
“Don’t make me kill you. I’d feel guilty for minutes afterward.”
Holly smiled and sipped her ginger ale.
“Three weeks to go. Thank Jehovah. So,” Valerie said, settling back into her recliner and setting her glass on her belly, “tell me how you and the others put away the Torrent Brothers.”
Holly rolled her eyes. “Come on, I know Les told you all about this.”
With a Vixen-appropriate purr in her throat, Valerie said, “A man’s version leaves something to be desired.”
“It really wasn’t that big a deal …”
“Come on, I’m bored out of my skull being stuck on bed rest. If I watch any more daytime soaps, I’ll go rabid and destroy all the furniture. Let me live vicariously. Tell me about the fight.”
So Holly told her all about the collar, emphasizing Les’s role for Valerie’s benefit. In truth, Luster had called the shots, but it had been Blackout and Night doing all the heavy lifting.
As for her part, Angelica had been on the sidelines, trying not to throw up. Remembering her own weakness, Holly bit back a disgruntled snort. She knew that lots of the Squadron would have sympathized with her moment of nausea—fighting extrahumans whose internals were decidedly on the external side of things made even the staunchest hero queasy. And using their own intestines for ropes? Utterly pukeworthy. So she didn’t tell Valerie about how she’d been sequestered behind a Dumpster, fervently praying that the contents of her stomach behaved.
And she hoped to Jehovah above that Les had opted for discretion when he’d told Valerie about the day’s events, let alone when he’d made his official report to Corp and the PR spinners. The last thing Holly needed was for rumors to fly about how Angelica had tossed her cookies after one look at the inside-out Torrent Brothers.
“You guys,” Valerie said with a sigh. “So lucky, getting to get out there and beat the snot out of supervillains. Me, I’m just getting fatter.”
“You’re not fat. You’re pregnant.”
“You’re not allowed to say anything about my not being fat, Miss Size Two.” Valerie shifted her weight. “I have about another minute before my twenty-fifth bathroom break. How’s all with you and George? Still experiencing newlywed bliss?”
Holly laughed. “Whenever we have a moment alone, sure. Our schedules have been insane lately. I