Disclaimer: They ain't mine. Guess who they belong to? That's right! Marvel. (Joy. Hear the Sarcasm?) This is the 5th in the Most Percious Gift Series, and is told from Tabitha's pov.
"If you do not hurry up, we are going to be late!" I yell over to Sam Guthrie. He looks up at me from where he is bothering Terry as she is attempting to fix one of Cable's more high tech toys.
"Alright, Ah'm comin'." He laughs, walking up to me and putting his arm around my shoulders.
"Geez, I thought you were excited about this." I grumble.
"Ah am honey. This is the first time we're gonna get to her our child's heartbeat. Sam says, squeezing me close to him.
I couldn't help but get excited as well. I mean, it's almost �miraculous, the way children are made. I gaze up at Sam and he looks down at me with the softest look in his eyes. I reach out my hand to pull his face down for a kiss.
"Really, ye two. Yer makin' we single people feel bad." An Irish accented voice interrupts us.
" Terry I thought you were fixin' Cable's toy?" I growl, a little put out from being disrupted from what I was doing.
"I was. 'Tis done." Terry answers, flipping her red hair over her shoulder.
"Oh." I answer, dangerously close to tears. Damn these hormones!
"Come on, Firecracker, we really are gonna be late now." Sam tells me, taking my hand and pulling me along with him.
The drive to the doctor was a long one. Sam was driving. I was dozing.
"Tabitha?" His voice wakes me up.
"Yeah? Are we there?" I mumble sleepily.
He smiles and asks, "Did Ah wake you up?"
"Yeah." I say rubbing the sleep out of my eyes.
"Ah'm sorry." He apologizes, reaching out to put his hand on my knee.
"S'okay. What did you want?" I ask placing my hand over his.
"Ah was just thinkin'. What are we gonna name the baby?" Sam says, looking over at me for a couple seconds.
I'm surprised. I haven't even givin any thought to a name yet!
"I haven't really thought about it." I answer looking over at him.
"Actually, Ah haven't either. It just occurred to me a few minutes ago." Sam tells me.
"Hmmm�any ideas?" I ask, not really sure. Believe it or not, I've never ever thought about anything that I would like to name my children.
"How about Thomas?" Sam suggests.
"I like that�wasn't that your father's name?" I ask, trying to place why that name would be important to him.
"Yeah." Sam said softly, a far away look in his eyes. His expression turns slightly sad, and I reach out to touch his hand.
"It's a good name." I say, trying to make him happier. I hate seeing his look sad.
Sam looks over at me, and a slow smile crosses his face. "Ah'm just sorry you never got to meet mah daddy. He would have loved you."
I smile at him, and say "I would have loved him to, I bet. Especially if he was anything like you."
Sam grins over at me, and I smile back. We stay silent for a while, letting everything sink in. This is probably one to the happiest times of my life, I find myself thinking. I try to push all the bad things in my life out of my mind for the afternoon.
"What about if it's a girl?" I finally ask.
"Now, Ah don't know about that. Illyana, maybe?" Sam suggests, looking over at me.
"Maybe. I don't know." I say, looking out the window. Sam is silent for a long minute.
"Tabitha?" He finally asks.
"Yeah?" I want to know, looking back at him.
"What was your mother's name?"
"Cassandra." I tell him, wondering why he would want to know that.
"That's a pretty name." Sam says, looking at me. "What was she like?"
"She was�pretty. And she talked a lot. And she smelled good, and had bonde hair. And she always put Band-Aids on my knees when I fell. And that's all I can remember." I whisper, playing with my hair.
"Why?" Sam asks, looking over at me.
"Because, my father never talked about her. I guess I just forgot the rest of the stuff." I mumble, sniffing softly.
To my surprise, Sam pulls the car off on the side of the road and stops it. Grinning, he gets out and walks around to my side. I look at him like he is out of his mind.
"What?" I ask, as he pulls me from the car.
"C'mere." He says, pulling me into his arms. I lay my head down on his chest and listen to his heartbeat for a few seconds. He rests his chin on the top of my head, and we stand there for a while, like two statues. No, I think, not two. One. We are one.
"Now you wanna tell me why you stopped the car in the middle of the highway just to give me a hug?" I ask.
He doesn't say anything, just reaches up to stroke my cheek. No, he was wiping�tears off? I don't remember crying.
"I�I was crying?" I ask, shocked.
"Um-hmm." Sam nodded, bending forward to kiss my forehead gently.
"Oh. I didn't even notice." I say, chewing on my lip.
"Ah know." Sam whispers, kissing the top of my head.
I lay my head back down on his chest and I feel the tears start to flow. My whole body shakes, and I cling to him tighter. He holds me just as tight, and I hear him sniff softly.
Suddenly, I'm telling him everything I can think of about my life before I joined up with X-Factor. I told about my mother, and my father, and how he used to beat me up. I thought I saw his jaw tighten when I said that, and he reached out and took my hand, but he didn't say anything. I told about living on the streets, and what I had to do to survive. When I finished, I looked at up at him, expecting to see hate, or disgust. Instead, all I saw was love.
"Girl, Ah don't care what happened in the past. All Ah care about is you. You and the baby. Speaking of which, we are now officially late for our appointment, so Ah think we should best be movin' on." Sam says, running his fingers through my hair.
I smile at him, and find myself wondering how I ever got such a wonderful man. I touch my stomach softly and I know that our baby is alive in there. And I already know what I wanna name it if it's a boy.
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