What Would He Do?

Writers: Dana, Eimi
Date Posted: 14th May 2006

Characters: Nialyn, Birigundi
Description: Nia tries to hide her growing belly for fear of Birigundi's reaction...
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 11, day 20 of Turn 3

Birigundi

Nialyn bit her lip as she stared at herself in the mirror, touching her fingers to the swell of her stomach. The baby was growing. She couldn't feel it move yet - she certainly wasn't that far along - but it was getting bigger. Soon, she wouldn't be able to fit into any of her clothes, and she'd be wearing nothing but big, heavy sweaters, baggy tunics, and skirts and pants that had elastic waistbands.

Shards.

Nialyn wouldn't call herself a vain person, but as she ran a harshly critical eye over her body, she knew she wouldn't be so comfortable with the way she looked as she had first thought. She'd tried to tell herself that it didn't matter - that is was sharding _shallow_ to think about appearances when there was a life growing inside of her. But she couldn't help it. She didn't _like_ the way her face seemed to be getting...rounder. Fatter would be a better term, she thought sourly. More honest.

Running hands down her sides, she paused at her stomach. Hesitantly, she lifted the hem of her blouse and looked at it, studying it carefully as she turned to the side. Yes...it would be very noticible to Biri now. When he embraced her, he would feel it.

She closed her eyes. What would he do? Would he say anything? Or would he ignore it? Nialyn wasn't sure if she wanted him to pretend that nothing was different, or if she wanted him to comment.

Would he still want to touch her? Spend nights here in her weyr with her?

Worrying her lower lip, Nialyn opened her eyes again to gaze at her reflection. "I hate feeling like this," she whispered. She hated feeling as though she were on the edge of something that she couldn't move forward or back away from. Always feeling anxiety about herself, about the baby, about Biri, about she _and_ Biri...

What would happen now? Would things change?

"Ok, Nia, I brought the rest of those baby clothes and put them on the..." Birigundi stopped in the doorway when he saw the expression on her face reflected in the mirror. "What is it?"

Quickly dropping the hem of her shirt, she tried to smooth her face of whatever expression it'd had. Shards. "Nothing, Biri."

"Let me see," he said as he walked up behind her, still looking at her through her reflection in the mirror.

Flustered, she took a step to the side, trying to evade him, and the mirror. "There's nothing to see. Really, I'm fine." She tried to give him a reassuring smile.

He reached out to pull her back in front of the mirror. "Come on, Nialyn. Whatever it is, let me see."

"It's nothing," she whispered as she crossed her arms protectively over her chest, looking down. "Really, Biri..."

"Good. So there's nothing wrong with my looking, is there," he said gently as his fingers curled around the hem of her blouse. "Just let me see, Nia. Please?"

Gathering her courage, Nialyn peeked up at him through her lashes. What would he say? Slowly she uncrossed her arms, hesitating.

He gently lifted her shirt over her head, dropped it behind him, and looked at her reflection in the mirror. "Shards," he whispered as he reached his hands around to softly touch the slight bulge of her stomach.

A slight tremor ran through her at his touch as she, too, lifted her head to look at her reflection - at his hands surrounding her. Then her eyes drifted to his face, but she couldn't read his expression. Nialyn shifted.

"Wait, wait," he said gently as he held her tighter. "Don't move. Let me see." His fingers traced the outline of her slightly extended stomach and his lips spread into a slow smile as his eyes flickered to her in the reflection. "It's the most amazing thing I've ever seen," he whispered, his whole face lighting up with wonder.

She stared wordlessly back at him. "It... Really?"

"Well, yeah," he chuckled as his eyes drifted back down. Birigundi turned them both to the side to look at it in profile, running his fingers lightly along the skin. "I mean, _look_ at it. There's...
There's really a little _person_ growing inside there, isn't there! I mean..." He suddenly found himself at a loss for words. It was the first tangible evidence of the fact that he would be a _father_ soon. It was... incredible... And he couldn't stop looking at it, touching it.
"Shards," he breathed softly.

Feeling a pleasant heat suddenly flush her cheeks, she bit her lip lightly as she looked down at her stomach, watching as his fingers rubbed and caressed the swell. She hadn't been expecting this. She hadn't known _what_ to expect. But this... It warmed her. It warmed her far more than anything he'd ever said to her had.

"Can you feel it yet?"

She shook her head. "Not yet. I think it's still too soon for that."

They were silent for a few more moments until Birigundi's fingers stilled over her stomach. He leaned over to look at her face. "Nia, is _this_ what you were trying to hide from me?"

Again, she shifted. "I wasn't trying to hide anything."

He frowned and reached up to turn her eyes towards him. "Then why didn't you want me to see?"

Since when was he so sharding perceptive? "You... I wasn't expecting you. And having your weyr door being swung open while you're kind of in the middle of changing makes things...a little awkward, don't you think?" She gave him a grin, hoping it would sway him from this abrupt train of thought.

Birigundi frowned and dropped his hand. "You thought I couldn't handle it, didn't you."

Her grin faded. "No..."

He sighed and shook his head. "What did you think I would do?"

Suddenly ashamed, Nialyn looked down and moved away, reaching to grab her blouse up from the floor. Was she truly so sharding transparent? Guilt began to creep into her thoughts as she began to hide herself beneath cloth. "I don't know, Biri," she finally murmured, still not really looking at him. "You know how sharding emotional I can get. Sometimes it just...gets carried away. And I don't think."

His eyes never left her face as he tried to read her expression. "Well, you know, I can't guess what you're thinking, and I can't help you if you don't _talk_ to me, Nia. And you'll never know what I'm thinking if you don't _ask_ me. I'll tell you. I won't hide anything from you."

**But...sometimes you just can't ask certain things...** But she would keep that thought to herself. After drawing the laces of her blouse loosely together, she raised her eyes to his. "I know..."

Last updated on the May 14th 2006

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What Would He Do?