The rocks may melt and the seas may burn

[every_blossom_blooming]

When she finally extricated herself from the couch in Kaz and Inej's apartment, Nina had gone back to her own. She couldn't bring herself to go back to the cabin yet, though she was sure she should do... something. She drifted around her apartment, touching things left behind. There was too much of him here and not enough.

At some point after the sun had gone down, she found herself on the floor with the stupid owl mug that, in all its ridiculousness, had become Geralt's. The tears fell without notice now. She found her phone, vaguely aware that she had all but disappeared from the world since Geralt did. It had been days.

She sent a text to Frank.

Help me. He's gone.

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[every_blossom_blooming]

She huffed a laugh, but there was at least a little bit of real humor there. She gave Frank a smile when he came back. "Well, that's because you're a real man and not a stupid little boy parading around as one."

Nina had never understood why boys - or men - could act like their girls or their wives were somehow a burden on their lives. Fine, she should find someone better. She'd given dozens of girls the same advice. She tucked herself against Frank and rested her head on his shoulder.

"Thank you," she murmured. "You're getting off kind of easy, you know. I had Sweeney meet me in a bar and insisted he drink most of a bottle of alcohol for me."

[onebatch_twobatch]

"Well, if you need any other drinking proxies, I'm happy to do that too," Frank said. He knew, obliquely, who Sweeney was. They'd never met, but he'd seen him around. It was hard to miss him.

He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and held her close. Losing people in Darrow was perhaps one of the worst things about this place.

"Maria kept a list," he said softly, "of all the reasons she wanted to drink while she was pregnant. And Billy or I--or both of us--had to drink for each of 'em, every time we had a leave day while we were on deployment. We were very good drinking proxies."

[every_blossom_blooming]

"You're a darling," she murmured. Nina hiccuped another little laugh and shook her head. "You'd be drinking for ages at this rate. The father of my child just disappeared, my feet hurt, my back is starting to ache, my breasts are sore and too big, my clothes don't fit anymore..."

She closed her eyes and a small little smile tugged her mouth. "How often were you on her list?"

[onebatch_twobatch]

"All the time," Frank assured. Him, Billy, his CO, the entire middle east, his son. He drank for it all so that Maria wouldn't, and he did it happily because it was what Maria needed of him when he was far away from her.

And he can do it all over again, whatever she needs, for Nina.

"It's a good thing you have a tailor, then," Frank said gently, "to help with the clothes, at least."

[every_blossom_blooming]

"Krem's already taken care of it, actually, because he's sweet and intuitive that way. And he wants me to model for him." She rolled her eyes but smiled all the same. "I suppose I should actually start wearing them now. It's time to admit it to myself that my clothes just don't fit like they used to."

[onebatch_twobatch]

"It's only going to get more uncomfortable to keep wearing your standard clothes," Frank assured. He remembered letters and phone calls from Maria, bemoaning not fitting into her favorite jeans or whatever else. She hadn't had someone to custom make a wardrobe and alter it ad nauseum.

He rubbed the back of her neck, then got up to retrieve the tea. It ought to be steeped by now--probably oversteeped. He wasn't good with tea, just coffee.

[every_blossom_blooming]

Nina accepts her tea and holds it close like she might absorb the warmth.

"I haven't gone to find out if it's a girl or a boy," she admitted. "The doctor said I was far enough along, if I wanted to know. I can't decide if I want it to be a surprise or not."

[onebatch_twobatch]

"You know, you can go to get a wellness check, and just never find out until you give birth," Frank said. He didn't know if Nina, with all her power, needed to do wellness checks. She could probably feel if everything was alright with the baby. Still, sometimes technology could be an asset. Especially when she was under more stress than normal, it was nice to hand some control over to other professionals.

"Or, take someone with you, and they can know it. But I feel like you might try to wheedle it out of them. Little miss spy."

[every_blossom_blooming]

"I know, the nurse asked me last time she checked on me if I wanted to know," she said with a sigh. She'd stared at the ceiling as the woman did the sonogram, assuring her at the baby had all of its little fingers and toes. Nina could tell that the child was healthy, but that was all. It was nice to hear from someone else that all was going well.

"Maybe you'll have to come with me next time. Or Inej. I wonder if Geralt would have wanted to know... seemed rather traditional, maybe he would've preferred it to just be a surprise."

[onebatch_twobatch]

"If you want me to come along, I will absolutely come along," Frank assured. He thought Nina's friend Inej might be a better choice, if only because she was someone Nina had known for years, someone that meant something to Nina outside of the context of Darrow.

He sipped the tea he'd brought over for himself.

"I think it's more important that you do what's right for you," he said softly. "Not to erase his presence. But because you're the one that's here, you're the one making the choices. I hate to keep comparing things to me and Maria, but you know--she had to make those choices because I just wasn't there. If she wanted to know if Frankie and Lisa were a boy or girl, if she was going to tell me, when, all that stuff. Because she was the one that was there, going through it. I don't know how different it would have been if I was there."

[every_blossom_blooming]

Nina huffed a weak laugh. "It wouldn't have been terribly different, I think, because hearing you talk, I know exactly who the boss was in your relationship and it wasn't you," she teased him.

She sighed and ran her hand over her belly. Her eyes widened briefly and she reached out to grab one of Frank's hands. She put it where her hand had been a moment ago, then moved it a little.

"Can you feel it?"

She felt the flutter inside her as the baby moved, then something a little sharper as it kicked.

"Right there?"

[onebatch_twobatch]

It took a moment of shifting. She'd done it once before, but he'd been a little hungover and a lot flustered at being caught out with Guy in his bed, the awkwardness of that whole morning. It was better this time, this quiet moment. He shifted his hand under hers and smiled gently.

"Yeah," he said, nodding. "Yeah, I feel it."

[every_blossom_blooming]

Nina just smiled down at her hand covering his covering the baby. She ignores the tears trying to well up. Geralt liked feeling the baby move. More than once he'd rested his head there and told her about the baby's heartbeat and what he could smell. Maybe someone else would've found that off-putting, but Nina liked it.

She took a shivering breath and let it go slowly.

"Oh, I might recruit you for a hand to hold when I actually have to give birth. I might break Inej's and Kaz won't let me touch him."

[onebatch_twobatch]

"I think Inej can take the grip," Frank assured, but only because he was pretty sure that if she wasn't allowed in that birthing suite she would break her way in. He'd met the girl after all, even if only in passing. She could take more than she looked like she ought to be able to.

"I'd be honored," he said, and leaned over to kiss her forehead.