The Gunslinger's Gift

by April Zyon

  “Considering our chat a few weeks back, I think I should be asking you that question, Soph. I know you were hoping to have time just for us, to do our thing and be a couple for a period of time. I’m more than fine with having a child, because you will be its marvelous, spectacular, gorgeous mother.”

  Sophia blushed at his proclamation and licked her lips. “I’m good with it. Nervous as crazy, but I know having you there beside me, it’s going to be good. Very good. Now that I know.” She couldn’t help but put her hand back on her flat stomach. “It’s surreal. And yes, I’m happier than I can possibly tell you,” she whispered.

  “Good.” He smiled. Leaning in, he pressed a kiss to her lips and laughed softly. “I love you, Sophia Anne Duffy. You’re amazing to me, honey. Gods, what you did out there…holy hell,” he whispered. “I know you did it to protect us all, but sweetheart, I think you might have just outed yourself.”

  Sophia shrugged. “I couldn’t let anyone else be hurt,” she spoke honestly and moved closer so she could hide her face against his neck. “I might have outed myself, but it was for a good reason. Now at least they’ll understand why I need to be out in nature.” She hoped so, at least.

  “No matter what, Soph, I’ll ensure you get a green space. If I have to do it all myself, I’ll make sure you have a garden.” He kissed her cheek and held her tight for a moment before he relaxed. “Thank you for what you did.”

  “Thank you for that.” She smiled. “And I did what I did because I couldn’t let you be hurt. It would have destroyed me, and I won’t allow that to happen. Period. I love you, James Hickok, and I’m going to make you keep me, forever.” She pulled back and looked at him, grinning as she added, “I think it’s funny. I was in a support group for those that were virgins or born-again virgins, so to speak, and here I am—pregnant and not married. Two things I swore wouldn’t happen.” The connection they had was far, far more than a marriage though, and she knew it.

  He flinched at her words and shot her an apologetic look. “Should I say I’m sorry?” he asked, quietly. “I love you, Soph, and I’ll gladly do whatever you want to ensure you’re always happy with me. You know that, so tell me what it is you need, love.”

  “No, you shouldn’t say you’re sorry. I’m happy. The connection we have is worth so much more than a piece of paper. And that’s all marriage is—a piece of paper. I don’t need that. Not when I know what real and true love is. What this perfect connection to another being is.”

  “Okay, if that changes though, you say the word. I need you to be as happy and thrilled as I am being your life, in my life.” Sighing, he hugged her close to him and shifted a little. “We have a ways to go yet, honey. Have a nap with me, will you?”

  “Nap is good.” Sophia yawned. “Rest, James. We’ll get you all patched up, and then we’ll sleep for like a week before we come out of our rooms. We’ll be able to get delivery of food, right?” she asked, hopefully.

  “I’m sure we could arrange something. As long as it’s not your sister,” he muttered. “I love you, Soph, and I even like Vivian a hell of a lot. I’m just not sure if she wouldn’t try to off me once she finds out this latest bit of news she can use to glare at me.”

  “Crap, good point. Okay, we’ll have someone else bring us food. We’ll have them keep her far from it as well, because she likely would do something that would bother you, even if it’s just mixing in something that you don’t like or food you are allergic to. That’s just her.” Sophia yawned again and closed her eyes. “Rest. You have to be ready to drop with being shot and all.” She couldn’t believe that here he was making her feel better when he was the one who had been wounded.

  “Later, maybe. Currently, I’m still feeling some of the adrenaline racing through me. In an hour though, I’ll be ready to face plant onto our bed. I probably won’t get up for a good long while, either, so be warned. I tend to sleep a lot after an injury.” James leaned back against the SUV’s door, tugging her with him, and let out a slow breath. “Sleep for now, Soph. We’ll be back at the compound in about an hour.”

  Epilogue

  Twelve weeks later

  “I swear to God, if you don’t back off, I will beat you,” Sophia told her sister, who was shooting daggers at James. “I mean it, Viv.” She looked across the room and to Jason. “Jase, will you please take your woman out of here? It’s just a bloody doctor’s visit.”

  Sophia rested her hand on her small baby belly and grinned. Just the feeling of the slightest flutters made her heart race. “When we’re seeing the images of the baby it’s going to be just me, James, and Janet. I mean it. I love you, sis, but you blackened James’s eye when you were told I was pregnant, so, therefore, you’ve got to sit on the sidelines.”

  Jason chuckled as he slipped an arm around Vivian’s waist. “It was a beautiful punch, though. Caught him dead on with very little damage to her own hand.” He kissed Viv’s cheek and whispered something that had her sister grinning. “We’ll be outside waiting for the news. Shout if you need us.” Turning, he lifted Viv off her feet and carried her out of the room.

  “Thank the gods,” James muttered in obvious relief. The poor man had tried to make peace with her sister, she gave him that, but Vivian seemed to be stuck on hating him. Not that they could get a solid reason out of her.

  Sophia shook her head and watched them leave. “She still sees me as a baby she’s trying to protect and thinks that she’s failing. I really hate that. She should know that you would move heaven and earth for me.” Sophia let out a sad sigh. “Anyway, come and give me a hug while we wait for Janet to be told that my sister is outside and can come in.” Everyone seemed to go running from her. It was actually kind of funny.

  He moved to her with long strides, sliding up next to her, and wrapped her in his arms. “I think it’s more than that,” he told her, quietly. “I hurt you, Soph. She’s waiting for me to do something stupid again so she can nail my balls to the wall. I understand her being mad initially, upset even, but I don’t understand why she can’t be content when it’s clear to everyone you’re happy.” Sighing, he gave her a squeeze. “It doesn’t matter, though. It’s our life. If she’d rather remain pissed off at me, then that’s her choice. I’m not going to let her ruin our joy because she can’t get over the past.”

  “I couldn’t agree more. This is our life. This is for us and only us. I love my sister, but honestly, in the scheme of things, you’re the only one that matters. Well, you and our baby, that is.” She grinned, pulling his hand to her belly and putting it flat. “He’s moving around again. Feel.”

  “She is at that.” He smirked. They were having the age-old argument. He wanted a little girl, she wanted a little boy, but they didn’t truly care as long as the baby was healthy. “As soon as we leave, I need to show you something, and ask you something too. So, no dallying around down here. We get the okay that all is going well, find out the sex if we can, and then we bolt. We may or may not tell anyone the results, depending on how hard your sister is glaring at me. Deal?”

  “Deal.” Sophia chuckled. “I know that we’ll be able to tell the sex as long as your son quits being so shy.” She had been seeing the doctor every two weeks since being brought back. Janet was going overboard on her care to ensure that she was going to be okay. The child was, after all, the first child born of a Guardian and VV, as far as they knew. “Oh, Janet is ready,” she said when she saw the door open and tugged him right along with her.

  Janet stuck her head around it and let out a breath as she rolled her eyes. She then pinned James with a look and nodded. “Glad to see no new bruises from the redhead. Jesus, that woman has got some seriously bottled up emotions. Obviously, Jason needs to work harder at keeping her relaxed.”

  She stepped back and waved them inside before shutting and locking the door. “So, how are you feeling Sophia? Any more nausea? Anything I need to be made aware of since we last had you in here?”

  “Nope, actually I’m feeling remarkab
le. The only change…” Sophia blushed and said, “Well, two changes.” My poor James. She grinned at him. “One is that I’m nearly insatiable when it comes to being with James.” She felt her cheeks heat even more. “And I—” She chewed her lower lip and sighed, seeing the look on her soul mate’s face. “I’m craving meat. Lots of meat.” Which has James all kinds of happy.

  Janet stared at her in silence for a good five seconds before bursting out laughing. It took her a minute to regain control, but she was still smirking. “Sorry, but damn, that’s the best thing I’ve heard in too long. The first, I wouldn’t worry about, because he certainly doesn’t seem to care.” Janet tipped her head toward James, who was beaming at her.

  “And the second, definitely don’t worry about. Your body is going through huge changes, Sophia. You may be a vegetarian in your regular, daily life, but your body knows what it needs to help support and grow the life inside of you. It’s likely a little weird, even a little icky, for you, but don’t tamp down those cravings. Give into them in this case. You need the right balance in your diet to ensure we don’t have to deal with serious medical issues down the road. Don’t go overboard, mind you, but don’t beat yourself up if you have a burger or steak here and there.”

  “I eat steak. A lot of it. I like it too.” Even now, Sophia’s mouth watered. “I keep telling James that we’ll be able to see the sex of the baby today. So, do whatever kind of wiggling that you have to in order to get him to turn and flash his daddy.”

  “I definitely agree that we need to show mommy what a beautiful daughter she’ll have soon enough,” James said. Pressing a kiss to her lips, he grinned and squeezed her close.

  “Oh, brother,” Janet muttered. “Up on the table with you, Sophia. Let’s see if we can’t get a peek at this kid, so you two can give up on this disagreement.” Janet waved her over. Moving to the ultrasound machine, Janet wheeled it closer and dug out the gel, rolling the bottle between her hands slowly.

  “Sounds good to me.” Sophia climbed on and pulled her shirt up.

  Janet passed the bottle to James, who rolled his eyes and tucked it up under his armpit. The man had learned the fastest way to warm it. He didn’t like Sophia’s attempts to attach to the ceiling any more than she did when cold goo landed on her belly.

  Janet shot him a look and shook her head. She didn’t say anything. She too had learned it was easier to give into the Guardians on the small stuff than to argue. She pulled out the blood pressure cuff and started through the routine checklist.

  It wasn’t a half hour later when Sophia looked dumbly at the screen, James having sat back, hard in the seat that Janet had shoved at him. “Oh, shit,” she whispered and looked at James. “I think we need a vacation. What do you think about us going on vacation for, like, the next twenty or hundred or so years?” She licked her lips. “Thoughts?”

  He nodded slowly. His eyes were practically bugging out of his head and glued to the monitor. “Good plan,” he agreed, softly. “Somewhere never discovered, hard to get to, and nowhere your sister would ever think to look. Fuck me,” he breathed out. “She’s going to geld me for this.”

  “Can we not tell her?” Sophia asked, as she stared at the monitor before them. Two. Holy. Balls. Two. “Crap, and this is going to send Mercury into beyond overprotective mode.” Already the man had been crazy about ensuring that Sophia and the babe were safe. She was followed by her protection detail of Marines, and at least one Guardian, at all times.

  After cleaning the gel off Sophia’s belly, Janet helped her to sit up. “Quit being so dramatic, you two. What’s the worst she can do to the father of her soon-to-be niece and nephew?”

  They both turned looks on Janet that had her laughing. “Okay, good point. You two really should have hooked up before Jason started her self-defense and weapons training. Not smart, not smart at all.”

  “Thanks, doc. Your advice is so helpful and really tugs at my heart,” James said, sarcastically. “Fucking hell, we can’t tell her. We can’t tell anyone, because they’ll tell her. I say we go with your plan, Soph. We pack up and run far, far away from here. Maybe in twenty years, she’ll be okay with it all. Actually, let’s make it thirty, just to be safe.”

  “Here.” Janet held out a DVD and a picture. “For the baby book I know you two have going.”

  Sophia smiled and thanked Janet. She looked at James then the doctor. “You have to tell Mercury, don’t you?” she asked, with a frown. “Crap, that means we have to tell her too.” Son of a biscuit-eating, goat-herding, monkey’s uncle. Not good. “Okay, I’ll tell her and warn her that she shouldn’t even think about hurting you or being mean to you. I think that’ll be good. Right?”

  “’Cause that worked so well the last time,” Janet muttered.

  “Thanks, doc. Again, really, your input is so very helpful here.” James got up and moved to Sophia, stepping between her legs and slipping his arms around her. “I should be the one to tell her. But if she punches me again, I’m fucking decking her. Fair warning. Enough is enough. I know I shouldn’t, my mamma taught me better, but I swear to all the gods, Soph.” He let out a growl as he hugged her closer to him, his touch gentle.

  “No, you’re right.” Sophia wrapped her arm around his middle. She looked up at him and grinned. “Okay, before we tell her, can we go for ice cream? Oh, and steak and cheese nips.” She was starving. “Thank you, Janet,” she told the woman with a nod of her head and hugged James again. “Come on, take me and feed me, Daddy? Oh wait, you said you had something you wanted me to see?”

  “Yeah, I did. We’ll grab you a snack on the way to tide you over until I can feed you properly. I want to show you my surprise before your sister kicks my balls into the stratosphere. It’ll be more meaningful if I don’t sound like I’m going through puberty again.” He helped her off the table and nodded to Janet. “Keep this hush-hush for an hour, tops.”

  “Oh, my lips are sealed. No way in hell am I telling Vivian this news. No way am I telling anyone this news. I much prefer not being on her hit list, thank you very much. Now, get out of here before she decides to storm the joint.” Janet waved them out of the room and locked the door behind them.

  Sophia looked up at James and grinned. “I’m happy.” She thought she should tell him. “No matter what, I want you to know that I’m happy. I love you. Are you happy?”

  “Absolutely,” he said. Leaning in, he kissed her slowly, turning so he was facing her and backed her up until a wall stopped them. “I have the most amazing woman in my life, and she loves me. I couldn’t ask for anything more, Soph.” Another kiss, a quick one, and he drew away. He took her hand and led her out of medical through a back corridor she hadn’t realized even existed. Obviously, Vivian didn’t know about it either, otherwise she’d have been in there waiting for them.

  “Oh, this is cool.” She moved in closer to James and looked around. “There are no markings denoting this anywhere on the maps. This is pretty amazing. I never would have thought that there were hidden passages. I like this. A lot.” She touched the wall and laughed. “It’s the mountain rock. How cool is that?”

  “It’s some of the original channels. No one on the staff knows about them. It’s a safety net the Guardians have in case this place is ever compromised. I’ll show you a few different routes, just in case the worst happens, which it never should, but we can never be one-hundred percent sure. Right?” James made a face and shook his head. “Sometimes, I confuse even myself,” he muttered.

  At an intersection, he paused then headed down a branch. They ended up facing a solid wall that she soon found out was actually a sliding door, as the section in front of them moved out of their way when he put in a code on a hidden pad. Stepping out, they were in the regular corridors, right next to the elevators.

  She moved along with him and frowned. “What about the guardians that have turned to the darkness. Wouldn’t they know about these corridors? Could they sneak in using these passages?”

  “We mo
ved all the entrances a few years ago, after…” He pressed the button for one of the top floors and sighed. “After William. We also upped the security to military-grade products. There are turret guns hidden behind panels over each door, a series of lasers that if tripped coming in from the outside activates them and the person coming in has exactly twenty seconds to put in the right code, first try, or they get pumped full of holes.

  “There’s a number of safety features that take into account animals. It has facial recognition software that the FBI has been panting after, actually. In its library is every single person that works, or lives, here, as well as every mammal, bird, and other animal in the world. Because we are that paranoid.”

  “Oh, wow. Well, I’m glad that you are because that means we’ll be safe here. Our babies will be safe here. Right?” She moved in closer to James, loving the way that he always held her.

  “We’ll all be safe here.” He squeezed her, pressing light kisses to her hair until she turned her face up then she got some to her cheeks, her nose, and her lips. The elevator stopped all too soon, and James was leading her through the corridors. Stopping at a door, he punched in a code and looked to her. “Kick off your shoes out here. Trust me on this. Close your eyes, and let’s see if you can’t guess what my surprise is for you once I lead you in a couple of steps.”

  She did as he instructed. “Should I strip out of the rest of my clothes too?” Yep, she was horny…again. “Because if I get naked, I think you should to. Would be a great deal of fun for us both to get nekkid.”

  “No! Sophia, control yourself for two minutes, woman.” James was laughing. “Shoes off, eyes closed, and just relax. I’ll lead you in and see if you can figure out what I’ve been working on for the last few weeks. Quickly, though, before Vivian thinks to check the security feed and finds us.”