Searching for Love Ch. 10-11

IMPORTANT NOTICE: I MENTION A CHARACTER BEING DARK SKINNED; THAT DOES NOT AUTOMATICALLLY MEAN AFRICAN AMERICAN ... I say this because while I am caucasian, I tan very easily and in the summer time, get very, very dark.

Ashira

CHAPTER TEN

Danny looked around at his surroundings and struggled against his bindings. He knew he was near water because he could hear waves crashing on the beach and he could smell the salt in the air and hear the gulls calling. His head was throbbing and Danny groaned as he pulled his hand away and found a large pool of blood on his fingers.

"Look who's finally awake, the American." Danny looked up to find a tall, dark skinned man, his face covered by a dark cloth. "Who's the bitch now?" he asked, delivering a kick to Danny's ribs. The last thought that ran through Danny's mind as he lost consciousness was Jessica.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

"Hey," Jessica said, walking into Caitlin's bedroom. "What's up?" she asked.

"My water broke," Caitlin said, her eyes wide and frightened. Jessica smiled.

"Why didn't you call Claire?" Jessica asked.

"She's on her way, but I don't think she's gonna make it," Caitlin said, crying out as a contraction hit.

In the months since Danny was taken, Jessica seemed to withdraw into herself, however, Caitlin's labor seemed to spark a side of Jessica that everyone missed; it bordered on happiness. Jessica gave her friend's hand a gentle squeeze before going into the bathroom and getting a cold wash cloth to wipe of Caitlin's face with.

"How long have you been in labor for?" Jessica asked.

"About five hours," Caitlin gasped.

"And you didn't say anything until now?" Jessica asked in exasperation.

"Caitlin!" Jake shouted from the front room.

"We're upstairs," Jessica called back, looking up as Jake and Claire burst into the room. Claire washed her hands quickly and examined Caitlin quickly.

"You're already at ten centimeters; go ahead and push," Claire coached gently. Jake's eyes widened even more if possible and he winced as Caitlin reached for his hand and squeezed.

"The baby, it's early," Jake sputtered.

Jessica burst out laughing. "Jake, she's two days ahead of her due date, that's considered full term," Jessica teased. Jake grinned in spite of his panic and fear; he was glad to see something had made Jessica's mood lighter and a smile on his friend's face.

Caitlin cried out as a contraction gripped and Claire shouted for her to push. Ten pushes later and Caitlin fell back against the pillows, exhausted as Claire held a wailing baby in her arms. Jake waited impatiently, too afraid to leave Caitlin's side to look at the baby.

Jessica smiled and helped Claire weigh and measure the newborn and helped use the aspirator to get the gunk out of the baby's mouth and nose. "Are you okay? You seem more worn out than Caitlin," Jessica observed.

Claire smiled. "I'm fine," Claire said, putting a diaper on the infant before wrapping the baby in a towel. "Have you decided on names yet?" Claire wanted to know, turning towards Jake and Caitlin.

"Damon Matthew for a boy and Danielle Evelyn for a girl," Jake answered for Caitlin.

Claire smiled. "Great names. Here's your daughter," Claire said. Jake grinned as Claire slid the new baby into Caitlin's waiting arms. Jessica smiled and after Claire gave some last minute instructions to bring Caitlin into the infirmary for a more through exam, Jessica followed Claire down the stairs.

"Claire, has Cal heard anything about Danny?" Jessica asked. Claire sighed and shook her head.

"Not that he's shared with me, but then again we've been a little busy with other things," Claire said.

Jessica laughed a little. "I've noticed, you're absolutely glowing," Jessica commented before she sighed. "I know I shouldn't feel jealous, but I am," Jessica whispered. Jessica looked up with a gasp as Jake came down the stairs.

"Caitlin wanted some orange juice and to make sure you were okay," Jake said softly. "It's okay to be jealous Jess, we both would be surprised if you weren't, at least a little bit jealous. You were fully expecting to be holding your own new baby right now," Jake murmured.

Jessica's body wracked with sobs.

"I'm sorry, I've ruined your Christmas and you should be happy today, not brought down by my problems," Jessica whispered.

Jake gave Jessica a kiss on the cheek. "Listen to me Jessica. You have every right to feel sad, and you aren't bringing me down. I'm impressed that you've held it together as long as you have; but Cait and I are here for you, and so is Cal and Claire," Jake said gently. Claire nodded and they turned when they heard Cal enter the house carrying Kylie while Craig helped Will into the house.

"What's going on?" Craig asked nervously.

Jake smiled broadly. "You have a sister. Danielle Evelyn," Jake told Craig. Craig grinned and passed Will of to Jessica who had calmed down for the most part.

Long after Jessica had returned to her house with the kids, Cal held Claire in his arms and stroked her hair lovingly. "Cal, you're very quiet tonight, what's wrong?" Claire asked.

Cal sat up and looked at Claire in shock. "You mean to tell me you don't know your own body?" Cal asked.

"What do you mean?"

"I can't believe I'm the only one who's noticed that you haven't had your period this month; or last month for that matter," Cal said, running a hand through his hair.

Claire sighed. "It's nothing," Claire said.

Cal frowned, he could detect a hint of sadness. "What do you mean it's nothing? You could be pregnant Claire," Cal growled, panicking a little at the though.

Sure he loved kids, but he was so much better with other people's kids; if they needed a diaper change, he handed them back to mom or dad, if they were hyped up on sugar, back they would go.

"No Cal, I can't," Claire said, picking at a hang nail.

Cal frowned. "Just test yourself, please," Cal said gently. Hot tears filled Claire's eyes. "Claire, please, for me? For my peace of mind?" Cal murmured, taking her hand in his. Claire sighed, but got out of bed and walked out of her room which was strategically attached to the infirmary and into the medical bay. Cal watched her take a vial of blood; Claire preferred the blood tests since it was much easier to get a true positive or negative from a blood test then from urine and run the blood sample through the required procedures. Claire waited anxiously for the result and hoped Cal wouldn't be too disappointed when it came up negative.

"Well?" Cal asked impatiently as Claire studied the results. She looked up, pale and shocked. "Claire?" Cal asked, worried by the look on her face.

"I don't understand," Claire whispered.

"Claire?" Cal asked again, his voice taking on a hint of an impatient edge to it.

"I'm pregnant," Claire said, her voice just higher than a whisper, but still quiet enough for Cal to have to strain to hear. Cal sighed; he'd been partially hoping that his instincts were wrong; but after spending as much time around Jessica and Caitlin while they had been pregnant, not to mention not being told that she was wearing a tampon and he needed to keep it in his shorts for two months in a row had set his mind into overdrive.

"Cal?" Claire asked, the shock still evident in her voice.

"Why is this such a surprise to you?" Cal wanted to know, avoiding the conversation he didn't want to have.

"Remember how I said I was married before?" Claire asked. Cal nodded. "We tried to have a baby for years and we were told that we couldn't; the fertility specialist said that it wasn't Owen's fault, it was mine," Claire said, still trying to wrap her brain around the fact that she was actually pregnant.

Cal watched as Claire retested the blood.

"Claire, what are you doing?" Cal asked.

"I want to make sure it wasn't a false positive," Claire answered.

Cal rolled his eyes and crossed the room; taking Claire's hands in his, he swung her around to face him. "Claire, we've been seeing each other, not to mention sleeping together for the last year and a half now. I know your cycle as well as you, better if tonight is any indicator. You haven't had a period in over two months, and then, there's this," Cal brought his hands up to Claire's breasts and squeezed gently causing her to wince; they were tender and sore. Claire sighed and checked the second results, ignoring the growl that came from Cal. "Well?" Cal asked, already knowing what the result was.

"I'm pregnant. I'm actually pregnant," Claire breathed. Cal couldn't help it; he laughed; the awe in her voice made her sound like a giddy school girl who had just been asked to the dance.

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"You shouldn't have tried to escape! Now, we'll have to punish you." Danny cried out as the whip hit his already tender back. He still had no clue as to where he was, but wherever he was, his captors were cruel and enjoyed torturing him. He had seen one of the men actually fuck one of the women in the camp hard. Danny surmised that he had been here for months already because the woman who had been fucked senseless was now sporting the beginnings of a pregnant belly and it wasn't like that when he got here.

"Is she your wife?" Danny managed to ask in between lashes.

"Why do you care?" his tormentor lashed Danny three times before allowing Danny to answer.

"I have a wife at home. We have thre, two kids," Danny gasped.

"Why the correction?" his captor asked, raising his arm to whip Danny again; but something in Danny's posture made him hesitate.

"She lost the baby, just before I came out here," Danny said, looking over at the obviously pregnant woman. His captor followed Danny's eye movement.

"That's too bad," he sympathized with Danny. He didn't know what he would do if anything had happened to his woman or the child she carried.

"Please, just let me go. I need to know that my wife is okay," Danny pleaded.

"No. You were found over the body of one of our men," his captor growled, striking Danny again. Danny gasped and fought to remain conscious. "He was already dead. If you looked closely at his body, as I did, you would know that his stab wounds had a serrated; a jagged edge. My knife has a smooth blade, all the way around," Danny tried to reason. His captor brought the whip down once more before walking away.

Tears filled Danny's eyes as the wind threw sand into the wounds on his battered back. "Jess, please forgive me," he whispered before losing consciousness.

Thanks for reading! I'll be writing Claire and Cal's story next, obviously.