Page 55 of The Deal


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The Asian woman approached Lyle and Penny. “Hey, I’m Luna Takahashi, I’ve just joined, but haven’t yet been allowed to practice independently here, despite being fully qualified-” Luna glared back at the receptionist.

Penny licked her lips. “You're qualified?”

“Yep, but Dr. Tilbury won’t sign me off yet because he isn’t convinced I have enough experience-”

“Fuck him.” Lyle shrugged. “Actually don’t, Miss Trolley Dolly here already is.” Lyle nodded to the receptionist who was clearly beyond fuming.

“They haven’t filled out the paperwork yet, the father needs to fill out his medical history-”

Penny bit her lip and raised her hand. “Ah, I have a question about that. I’m actually not sure who the father is…”

Lyle rolled his eyes. “I am.”

The receptionist gawped now.

“Well, as much as I’d love that to be the case I can’t be certain-”

“‘Cause you fucked Nix and Ash the same night as me?” Lyle wanted to cause a scandal now. Hell, the waiting room was all listening in, like it was an installment of a favorite soap opera.

Penny didn’t even blush. “Yes, that’s right.”

“How…” Spluttered the male receptionist.

Lyle shrugged nonchalantly. “I watched ‘em. It was fucking hot.”

“Anyway-” Penny cut Lyle off and looked at the female receptionist. Who stood in stony, disbelieving, disapproving silence, simply staring back at them both.

Lyle cleared his throat. “Luna, we’ll take that scan, thank you. Lead on.” He gestured for Luna to take them into the treatment room. Penny nodded curtly to the other two, turned on her heel and followed Luna. Lyle couldn’t help himself, he followed, but turned around and stuck his tongue out and pulled a face at the rest of the waiting room and the two workers who were open mouthed, staring back at them.

* * *

“Okay, yep,”Luna said, all business, peering at the screen on her scanning device. “See, here is the uterus, I’ll measure now, from the top of the head, here…” The machine clicked as she pressed buttons on the keyboard device in front of her. “Then we can age the baby, work out the due date…”

“Why did you do this for us?” Lyle asked.

Luna sniffed. “My sister was raped by the Demonios, they got her hooked on drugs, then raped her.”

“Huh,” Lyle grunted, regarding her closely, seeing that proud steely determination that he was only too familiar with. The type that’s only forged in trauma and pain.

“Sorry.” Penny winced.

Luna shrugged. “Black Coyotes got rid of the Demonios. I owe you one,” she said quietly.

Lyle stared at the fuzzy white and gray outline on the screen, as it occasionally wiggled and squirmed. Fuck, he’d been twenty years younger when he’d done this the first time. His childhood sweetheart. Before he’d enlisted. When he was a different person. He looked back at that Lyle like he was a stranger. They had two, a boy and a girl. Life had been hard. He remembered sleepless nights, long hours at work. He worked in a factory, he hadn’t left school with much. And the constant nagging from her, the constant pressure to provide. It’s what had torn them apart. He enlisted for the money, and she left because of it.

He tried, sent money. He used to take annual trips to see them. They grew up too fast. Then he’d started drinking. He called them sometimes, they humored him, chatting back, the odd text message, Christmas card. But they weren’t close. He’d seen photos of his grandkids. He hadn’t met them. Maybe that was something he could do… maybe this baby would help him bridge the gap back to his older kids. Because it was a bridge he wanted to build. He saw that now, he felt that. Watching that little baby wiggle about on the screen, he wanted that. Family. His family. He’d have to explain Ash and Nix but fuck it, he could do that. He was sure the baby was his, he felt this overwhelming sense of ownership. Of pride. He’d done a lot of fucked up things in his life but this was probably the best thing he’d ever done.

“I wanted to ask, I’m not sure yet if we’ll do this, but paternity testing, is it possible, while I’m pregnant?” Penny's voice chimed through his thoughts.

“Don’t do it Penny just ‘cause Colt said-” Lyle began with a huff.

Luna interrupted him, “It would be wise to know who the father is for medical reasons, like your blood type for a start, because we might need to think about if you and the baby have different blood types then it could make you ill, we’d give you treatment.”

Penny tore her eyes off the screen, she’d been gazing at it with wonder and joy, and looked at Lyle.

Lyle sighed. “I know what blood type I am, the baby is mine… but if it’s what you want to do Penny, baby, then of course, I’m happy to.”

Penny smiled at Lyle, a really warm, happy smile. “Thank you, I… I would.”

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