Nightshade: A SimLit | Chapter 69: Bittersweet

The bright rays of the early morning sun beamed through the car windows, heating up the already warm interior. It was far from cold, but Orion was trembling intensely. He rubbed his damp palms against the leg of his pants for what felt like the hundredth time since they got in the car, desperate to rid himself of the sweat that wouldn't stop coming. He had never felt so nervous about anything in his life, and with every passing second they drew closer to Glimmerbrook -- and the hospital that awaited them on the other side of the portal. Silently thankful that Onyx was the one driving rather than him, he turned to Tiffany and considered saying something, but he couldn't manage to form the right words.

"You don't have to be so nervous," Tiffany said quietly, already knowing how he was feeling. "I'm going to be fine."

"B-but... it's a major surgery, Tiffany," Orion replied. "You can't expect me to not be worried..."

She sighed, glancing up at the front seat. Onyx and Amelia chattered mindlessly, probably nervous themselves, paying her and Orion's conversation no mind. "Why even bother to worry about me? You hate me."

"I..." Orion's heart sank and he looked away. A pang of guilt hit him, and he fell silent for a few moments. Tiffany treated him terribly, but had he been doing the same thing, too? Had he made her feel as unloved as she made him feel? The thoughts were ridiculous, and maybe somewhere deep down he knew it was just another tactic of her manipulation, but the guilt weighed on him. "I don't hate you. I-I could never hate you..."

"...Okay," she finally muttered. "Look, Orion... it's a scheduled caesarean, it's not like it's an emergency or high-risk surgery. I'm fine, the babies are fine... I'll be in and out of the surgery before you know it, and then you can come and see the--"

"Wait," he interrupted, turning to look at her again. "Why are you talking like I won't be there? You know I'm coming in with you, right? The doctor said--"

"No." Tiffany coldly cut him off. "You'll just be a problem. I'm sure the doctors don't want you freaking out. Watching a baby be delivered isn't exactly for the faint of heart. Do you really want to see them cut me open? And all of the blood and organs and... stuff? I don't think so. You'd probably pass out."

Orion frowned. "But I want to be there when they're born... I won't cause any problems. I promise..."

"It's just better if you stay out of the way. And..." she added quietly, "it would be a shame for you to freak out even more over nothing if they're not yours anyway."

There was no point in arguing against her. He felt the burn and turned away from her, staring out the window instead. Part of him wanted to believe that he wasn't the father, that there was some small possibility that she had nothing left to use against him and he could escape her torment -- but even if they weren't, would he really be willing to leave the children with her in order to save himself? He already knew the answer to that. He was stuck here either way, but if the babies were his, the overwhelming realization that there really was nowhere he could run threatened to outweigh the joy he would feel and create a bittersweet feeling. "...Okay. If you're sure that's what you want..."

"I'm sure." Tiffany smirked when she noticed he wasn't looking. 'Good. It's bad enough I have to birth these stupid kids I don't even want... at least I don't have to have this nuisance around when I do.'

---

The time spent in the waiting room felt like years, maybe centuries. Even the second hand on the clock hanging above the seating area seemed to crawl by at a snail's pace, and every tick drove Orion more insane, slowly but surely. He couldn't sit still, constantly fidgeting and glancing at the time, looking over at the large doors leading deeper into the hospital to see if someone was coming out to tell him that everything was fine. He had far more to worry about than Onyx and Amelia could have known, but they offered their support the best they knew how.

"I can tell you're upset. Hey, I'm sure everything's fine. Things like this take time." Amelia smiled reassuringly. "Just concentrate on something else and try not to worry. It'll be over before you know it."

Orion sighed. "It's been a few hours... I can't help worrying."

"There are a lot of preparations they have to do before they can even start the surgery. I'm sure by now, everything is almost done and Tiffany and the boys are perfectly fine." Onyx leaned against the back of his chair. "If something was wrong, they would have sent a nurse to come let you know, right?"

Orion rested his chin on his folded hands. "Yeah, you're right... I'll try to be more patient. But it's normal to be anxious, isn't it?"

"Of course it's normal," Onyx nodded. "I know I would be."

'Yeah, especially if you were worried you weren't the father,' Orion mentally added.

The momentary silence between them was broken when a doctor stepped into the waiting room area, her expression held in a completely neutral state. "Orion Star?"

Orion's attention snapped up to her. "Y-Yes?"

"Your wife is in recovery. The twins were delivered safely and are currently in the room with her. You're free to go see them, but she's quite tired and currently resting."

He scrambled to his feet and looked over at Onyx and Amelia, as if asking them to come with him, but Amelia was the first to shake her head. 

"You should go ahead and have time to yourself to meet the twins." Amelia smiled. "We'll come see you all in a little while."

With a nod, he turned to the nurse and allowed her to lead him to a small room. The door was cracked open just slightly, and she motioned him forward, quietly speaking. "In here."

"Thank you," Orion said and stepped inside, closing the door softly behind him.

In front of him was a hospital bed with Tiffany tucked neatly under the blankets, sound asleep. He figured she must be exhausted after undergoing an operation like that and hesitantly walked toward her, but froze when he noticed the bassinets out of the corner of his eye. For a moment, he couldn't bring himself to even look in that direction, his heart pounding at the thought of what he'd see if he did...

'There's no avoiding it,' he thought. 'Whatever the outcome is, whether they're mine or not, I'll love them anyway. If I don't, who else will?' Slowly, he turned to peer down at the bassinets, his breath hitching at the sight.

The twins were wide awake, looking directly back up at Orion as he stared at them in a mixture of joy and anguish. Their skin was the same color as his -- a light purple -- and even as young as they were, a clear mixture of Orion and Tiffany's features were evident. One had his mother's blue eyes and blonde hair, perhaps a strange contrast to his alien skintone, but the other looked just like his father. They had the same bright, piercing pink eyes, the same soft pink hair...

Orion couldn't move, he couldn't speak, he couldn't do anything but stare in amazement. The realization finally set in that they were his children -- his beautiful children that somewhere deep down he had wanted so desperately, as much as he wished he didn't.

Orion couldn't contain his tears as he scooped the twins up from their bassinets, cradling them close in his arms. "Hey there," he whispered, a wide smile spreading across his face. "I-I'm so happy to finally meet you..."

He only received coos in response. All of the doubts he had, all of the fear and regret, all of the worry that he'd be unable to be happy when they arrived... it all melted away as he watched them fall asleep safely in his arms. Deep down he felt that he'd made the right decision to stay with Tiffany, as hard as it was, and he knew he'd stay as long as he had to -- he'd do anything to keep them safe.

---

A FEW MONTHS LATER...

It felt like ages until the only sound in the nursery was Orion's soft humming of a lullaby. It was well past three in the morning, and he'd barely gotten any sleep judging by the dark circles under his eyes -- but this was a night like any other. Slowly, he crept closer to one of the cribs, hoping not to wake up either of the twins again.

"Goodnight, Rocket," Orion whispered as he lowered the baby into the crib. Despite his exhaustion, he managed a smile at the peaceful sight. Or maybe he smiled at the thought he'd finally get a few hours of sleep. He never expected Tiffany to be a good mother, but it was worse than he thought. She didn't want much of anything to do with their sons, only offering help once in a blue moon aside from feeding them, but even that was only sometimes. He tried to push his troubled thoughts out of his mind as he turned to leave the nursery, careful not to step on the floorboards that creaked. 

But, like most nights, the peace and quiet didn't last for long.

Now frozen in his tracks, he sighed heavily at the sound of loud, shrill cries of the other twin. There was no frustration in his voice when he spoke, only weariness. "Oh, what is it now, Meteor?" As he turned to go and tend to him, his feet practically dragged the floor and his eyelids were heavy. It was almost as though he'd forgotten what sleep felt like, and he knew he wouldn't get the chance to remember again tonight.

---

Orion dreaded the sound of the alarm clock.

His eyes refused to open, but he persisted until they did. He hadn't been asleep for very long, but unfortunately, he had to get up and get ready for work. With a pitiful groan, he rubbed his tired eyes and sat up, realizing Tiffany was no longer in bed, which was one thing he was secretly thankful for.

Then, he fell into the routine. Take care of the twins, get dressed, start to head downstairs for breakfast and end up having to take care of the crying babies again... they were truly relentless at crying. The doctors said they were perfectly healthy, just another common case of baby colic, but it didn't make Orion's life any easier. Eventually, they calmed down and he dragged himself to the kitchen. As much as he'd value a cup of coffee, it only made him more anxious than he always was already.

It was a relief to see the friendly faces of Onyx and Amelia when he stepped inside the kitchen. He was able to smell breakfast before he'd even reached the bottom of the staircase, and the two turned to enthusiastically greet him.

"Good morning," Onyx said as Orion plopped onto a stool at the kitchen island. "I made you some breakfast."

"Good morning." Orion looked down at the stack of pancakes in front of him and smiled slightly. "Thank you... I really appreciate that."

Amelia frowned as she stepped closer. "You look absolutely exhausted... maybe you should take a day off from work to rest."

He sighed and took a bite of food. "I don't have any vacation days. I'm fine, really... just..."

"Rocket and Meteor," Onyx finished the sentence for him. "We know they're a handful firsthand. You should really let us help you more, Orion. You can't just keep staying up all night..."

"You do enough already," Orion replied. "I can't ask you to do more. If it weren't for you watching them while I'm at work... I-I don't know what I'd do. Or more importantly, I don't know what Tiffany would do..."

"I know Tiffany seems completely detached from the twins right now, but..." Amelia paused. "I can't see her being this way intentionally. Not with how deeply it hurt her that her own mother didn't want to be there for her. Something's wrong..."

'I'm sure you couldn't see her doing a lot of things, but she does,' Orion thought as he fiddled with his fork, looking away with a tinge of guilt that he let them foolishly believe that his relationship with Tiffany was ideal. He was good at hiding it, and Tiffany certainly wasn't volunteering to admit to her actions to anyone. But it was a good thing he'd already had practice with Onyx and Amelia -- there was no way he'd let his sons grow up knowing the truth.

"Onyx and I have been talking about it a lot lately, actually," she continued, also averting her gaze. "I -- we -- think that maybe she's struggling with postpartum depression or something. We've tried talking to her, but she doesn't even want to talk..."

Orion stopped eating and looked up at her. He hadn't considered the possibility that for once, this wasn't just Tiffany acting out to hurt him. "Postpartum depression? I didn't even think about that..."

"She should see a therapist to sort out how she's feeling," Onyx sighed. "Whether it's postpartum depression or not, she just... isn't acting right. How are things between you two when we aren't around?"

Orion bit his lip. "...they're... good, but I agree that she seems... off. I'll try talking to her later, but I'm going to be late for work if I don't get going." In a rush, he put his fork down and stood from his seat. "Take good care of the boys for me, okay?"

Onyx nodded and smiled slightly. "As always."

Orion returned the smile and quickly made his way to the front door, trying to mentally prepare himself for the eight long hours of work ahead of him despite wanting nothing more than to curl up in bed all day. It only made it harder that he now had to think about talking to Tiffany later. In all honesty, he was worried about her, especially with the possibility there was something wrong; maybe it was dumb of him to even care what was wrong or how she felt, but he couldn't force himself to stoop to her level of cold-heartedness and hatred. His love for her was still somewhere inside of his mangled, broken heart, buried deeper and deeper with every passing day, growing weaker with every blow he sustained from her. It was the only safe place for his fading feelings of love to stay: far below the fear and pain, until they were buried so deeply and damaged so badly that one day they simply disappeared, never to be remembered again. That day was one he could often feel drawing nearer with every passing moment.

"I'm starting to worry about Orion," Amelia said quietly as she watched him leave. "Tiffany isn't the only one acting strange lately..."

Onyx frowned. "Me too, but I'm sure he's mostly just stressed out from the lack of sleep and worrying about Tiffany. Eventually things will have to get better, but until then... we need to be there for them both."

"You're right. I'm sure things will start looking up soon," she sighed. "I guess we should go check on the kids."

"Yeah, we should. How many kids will we end up raising before we get to raise our own?" Onyx laughed lightly, trying to lighten the mood.

Amelia smirked. "Hey, practice never hurts."

He raised an eyebrow. "Practice for raising kids or practice for having kids?"

Her smirk widened and she stepped closer. "Both."

Before Onyx could reply, the sound of Rocket and Meteor's cries were loud enough to rattle eardrums even from all the way upstairs. Amelia's smirk faded and she shook her head. "But, for now, I guess we're practicing raising them some more..."

---

While Orion struggled through a long day of work, and Onyx and Amelia cared for the twins along with everything else they had to do, Tiffany was immensely busy being lazy. Propping herself up on her elbow, she looked down as Sophie hopped onto the couch and tucked herself underneath Tiffany's arm. 

"You must be awfully bored if you want to hang out with me all the time now, huh?" Tiffany smirked. "Of course, I can't blame you. Orion never has time for you now, does he? He prefers paying attention to those loud, annoying little creatures. I bet they hurt your ears worse than mine."

Sophie looked at her and meowed loudly in response. Unfortunately, it was true; Orion had far too many responsibilities, and spending time with Sophie often ended up on the back burner. He loved her no less, and he certainly hadn't forgotten about her, but the poor cat couldn't help feeling like he did.

"I guess you have grown on me at least a little. I was pretty mad when Orion dragged home a pathetic, mangy cat... but... I'd say we're friends now, right?" Tiffany ran a hand along her fur. Sophie purred and rubbed her head against her hand.

"Orion doesn't even seem to want you anymore. I know you must be sad, but at least you have me. I'm your best friend now." Tiffany's smirk widened. "I think you're the only best friend I have, really. Onyx and Amelia are painfully dumb, Orion is nothing more than my playtoy, and don't even get me started on the kids. You and me should stick together. What do you say?"

Sophie meowed again and moved closer, as if she understood every word. She was the last thing Orion cared about that Tiffany could take away, and that was exactly the plan brewing inside of her. The bond between master and offspring was nearly unbreakable -- after Onyx turned her, she had developed a far stronger liking to him than Amelia. Was vampirism only achievable for humans? What if animals could achieve the bloodthirsty immortality as well? Those thoughts and many more raced through Tiffany's mind. If Sophie became a vampire, would she become a tool of advantage to Tiffany, to take away Orion's closest friend and source of comfort? Perhaps the whole concept was ridiculous, but there was only one way to find out.

---

"Tiffany?" Orion called, gently closing the bedroom door behind him. He was certain he looked nothing short of exhausted and awful, and honestly was surprised he still managed to be standing on his feet. "I-I wanted to talk to you about something..."

Tiffany unraveled herself from the bed blankets and sat up. "What is it?" she snapped. "Can't you see I'm trying to sleep? If you want to talk, do it before dragging yourself to bed past midnight."

"Sorry," he replied quietly, "but it's really important..."

She stood and approached him. "Alright, fine. You've got five minutes."

"It's just, u-um... I noticed since the twins were born you've been acting really... odd. No matter how much I beg for you to help me, you just kind of ignore them and leave it to everyone else to take care of them--"

Tiffany brought a hand to her forehead and groaned. "Don't tell me this "important" conversation was you trying to criticize me and tell me what to do!"

Orion's expression softened. "N-No, that's not it. I'm worried about you. I just... I just wanted to make sure you're okay."

She put a hand on his chest and roughly shoved him back. "I'll be much better once you learn to leave me alone!"

"Tiffany, stop." He placed his hand on hers and carefully pushed it away. "I know our relationship is awful, and you hate me," he blinked back some tears, "a-and I'm a fool for even bothering with this, but... the way you're acting, withdrawing from everyone, especially your own children... it can't be normal. I just want to help you, so for once, let me!"

As he reached out to her, Tiffany harshly gripped his wrist and narrowed her eyes. "I will never need help from any man, especially not a weakling like you."

Orion flinched. "Tiffany--"

 "You wanna know what's wrong with me? Maybe it's the fact that I have to be the mother to your children that I didn't even want!" Tiffany snapped.

He looked away. "Y-You don't mean that..."

"I do. I never wanted them, and I never will. Does that settle this argument? I sure hope so," she spat, "because I'm sick and tired of dealing with you."

"I-I'm not arguing--"

She didn't bother letting him finish. "What more do you want from me, Orion!? Tell me how many selfish desires I have to fulfill to get you to shut up!"

Their eyes met, and he searched for any ounce of sympathy left in her. "...one," he said, his voice barely above a whisper, "I have one selfish desire."

Her eyebrows furrowed. "And that is?"

"I-I just want Rocket and Meteor to have normal childhoods," Orion began, his eyes watering. "Far better ones than either of us ever got the chance to have, at least believing that they have two loving parents... is it really too much to ask of you to grant them that much?"

Tiffany felt a pang somewhere deep inside of her heart. Maybe it was sadness, maybe it was guilt, maybe it was her last bit of conscience calling out to her... but regardless, she could only laugh at him to numb the pain. "You want me to act like everything is fine in front of them, to pretend that I love them when I don't? To play house and make a perfect world where mommy and daddy are in love, and have a happy little life and a happy little family!? You've got to be kidding me, Orion. Get your head out of your fantasy world before reality destroys you."

Orion averted his gaze. "It already has."

She was silent only for a moment, then moved uncomfortably close to him. "If reality destroyed you, you would have already known that proposing your little game of fantasy wasn't going to work. You know what? If it's games you want to play, then believe me, I'll play them. But I'll play by one rule: that no matter what, I'll make sure you're the one that ends up suffering the consequences."

He stepped back. "W-What is that supposed to mean?" 

"It means," she began, pursuing him by continuing forward, "that in the end, you'll be left all alone, with nothing and no one. I will take everything you have, and once I'm done doing that, I'll take everything you don't have until you're broken beyond repair. You can paint me as the villain in any picture you want, you can cry for help or try to piece yourself back together, but you'll never succeed. You see, the game I play is like a game of chess: in a world where I'm the only important piece, everyone else is a pawn only worthy of being used to my advantage. Soon, I'll have you in checkmate, surrounded by the very ones you fight so hard to protect. Do you really think I'll let Rocket and Meteor side with you? The thing about pawns is that they're simply to be controlled and manipulated. That's what I've done to you, and that's what I'll do to everyone."

Orion was silent, shocked by her metaphorical threats. He couldn't find words, he could only wait for her to continue her assault and deepen his greatest fears.

"In fact, I'm already doing it." Tiffany grinned. "Even your beloved little cat has been turned against you."

"W-What?" His eyes widened in panic. "Sophie? What did you do to her?"

"I simply filled the void that you left. There is no greater bond than one between a vampire and her master. I'm sure she was tired of being forgotten by you, anyway." She smirked. "I didn't even know it was possible to turn animals into vampires! Such an interesting discovery."

Orion's face contorted in disgust. "You did what? I can't believe you would do something so violent to something so helpless!"

"Oh, becoming a vampire is violence? How discriminatory." Tiffany rolled her eyes. "I only did what I had to. Now she's immortal, doesn't that make you happy?"

He turned away from her, overwhelmed and shaking in a mixture of anger and fear. "Y-You're completely insane..."

"Not as insane as you're going to be by the time I'm through with you," Tiffany grinned. "Relax, Orion. I just needed to test out my ability to turn others into vampires, anyway. I'm not stopping at Sophie. If Rocket and Meteor don't inherit my immortality... I might as well grant it to them. Perhaps it will give us that bond that you obviously want us to have... but if they are already immortal, that's fine. I'll fill their heads with lies to ensure that they don't grow too close to you. And you know what the best part is?"

"You're completely powerless to stop me."

Orion looked away, silently crying at the realization that she was right.