Chapter 11

Sulien

I hadn’t seen Callie since Saturday morning. I ended up working double shifts on both Saturday and Sunday because I had to take a little sabbatical from work.

The week of the showcase was unlike any other week of school. The entire campus would be shut down for anyone not participating in the event. The school would be swamped with reporters trying to get an interview with future top heroes, and the grounds would be full of construction crews as they built the sets for us to show off our skills.

Usually, that meant all general studies and most hero-tech students would be at home, probably cursing us hero program kids for disrupting their learning or some bullshit. But, seeing as Callie was my PR representative, I knew she’d be lurking somewhere in this mess. I just didn’t know where.

Missing Callie was an ache I never expected. When we started doing whatever this was, I relished my time away from her. But, ever so slowly, she’d shifted into being an integral part of my life. So, while I was excited to get into the meat and bones of the showcase, I realized I couldn’t even warm up without saying hello to my favorite girl.

So, instead of going to the Combat Simulations room, I wandered around campus, hoping I’d stumble upon Callie sooner rather than later .

Eventually, I caught a glimpse of her from the corner of my eye.

Reporters swarmed her with flashing cameras. Her shoulders were pulled tight, and I took her being fully distracted as a chance to admire her without the risk of her poking through my thoughts.

I slowly drew closer, and instantly, my gaze flickered to her stomach. That’s when I noticed her usual pencil skirt was fitting a little more snugly than it had last week.

A smug smirk pulled at my lips, and while she’d told me she wasn’t pregnant, seeing her like that didn’t stop my recent fantasies from feeling more real.

I reveled in that thought as I closed the gap, preparing to sneak up on her and disrupt her interviews, but the closer I got, the worse she looked. When we talked on the phone, she’d told me she couldn’t shake the lingering exhaustion, but it didn’t seem like exhaustion was enough to cause this.

Her skin was so pale it almost looked gray, and her eyes were slightly glassy. When Callie stood, she normally had a strange sense of confidence, like she belonged anywhere she went, but there was none of that.

Instead, it seemed like she was holding herself upright with sheer willpower alone. Something was wrong with my girl, and she needed my help.

Before I could think better of it, I sped over, tossing my arm over Callie’s shoulder in hopes of supporting her and distracting the reporters. And while my plan worked, I wasn’t at all prepared to be the center of their questions.

“Sulien, what was it like having Necro as a father?”

“What made you want to be a hero?”

“How do you feel about the rumors that Callie is doing more than managing your public image? ”

Those were all things I could answer easily. And I knew I should have smiled and played along. Half of heroing was about your image, and this was my chance to show the world that I wasn’t just Necro’s son. But making a good impression wasn’t even on my mind.

“Back off,” I warned, pulling Callie closer to me.

All the reporters looked at me like I’d just burned down their homes, and if it got them to fuck off, I would have. But Callie had been working too hard for me to ruin it all like that. So, instead of embarrassing us, I moved her away from the crowd.

I found a secluded place near the back of one of the buildings, leaning her up against the brick as I focused on her. My gaze bounced around her face as I noticed more and more wrong with her.

Her cheeks were flushed, and dark circles hung from her eyes. She was not at all the put-together woman I was starting to love. She needed to go home, and she needed to go to bed.

“Callie, what’s going on with you?” I asked, my whisper coming out more angry than concerned.

She looked up at me, and I could tell she was struggling to stay focused. She breathed in a shaky breath as she prepared to answer me, but before she could, she swayed just slightly, enough for her face to crash into my chest.

Instinctively, I wrapped my arms around her to keep her steady, but as I quickly worked through the shock, I noticed something. Callie was burning up.

And not like a normal fever. It felt like her forehead was going to burn through the flame-resistant material of my super suit. My stomach twisted with a mixture of fear and anger. Fear because my girl was so sick, anger because someone let her out of the house like this.

“Callie, you need to go home.” I kept my tone stern, completely ready to abandon the day and drive her myself if need be.

She shook her head weakly. “I’m just a little warm. I need water.”

“You need a doctor.”

She took an unsteady breath and pushed away from my chest, her eyes meeting mine with a stubborn determination. “I need to be here,” she whispered, her voice trembling. “Sulien, this showcase determines our future. I need to make sure you find a center placement that’s close.”

Tears formed in her eyes, and I could see how much this meant to her. But there was no way she could stay in this condition. I wanted to argue, to tell her she was being ridiculous, but the desperation in her voice, the fear of losing me, was enough to make me pause.

“I need to do this, Sulien,” she whimpered. “If we don’t do this, I might lose you.”

Her statement was touching, but there was no way in hell she’d tell me that if she wasn’t sick. Still, I was putty in her hands, and that meant I’d do anything to keep her from crying.

I heaved out a sigh as I picked her up, cradling her against my chest. “Alright, but we need to find a place to cool you down.”

She nodded, and I carried her into a nearby building. The air conditioning made her shiver against me as we made our way to the student lounge in the support building. I thanked God it was empty as I gently lowered her onto a well-worn leather couch.

She seemed to sink into the cushions, her breaths uneven and shallow. I could tell by the distant look in her eyes that she was struggling to stay alert, let alone conscious.

“Close your eyes, Sunshine. This is going to feel weird,” I warned.

She nodded slightly before closing her eyes, and I was certain she fell asleep the instant her eyes shut. If she hadn’t been a million degrees, I would’ve used the opportunity to call her mom and tell her Callie needed to go home. But no one could kill a fever like me.

I placed a gloved hand on her forehead; the heat radiating from her was enough to make me uncomfortable, but I pressed on.

Back in my emergency medicine class freshman year, I’d discovered that my powers were good for more than just setting things on fire. I could push heat into cold things, and more importantly, I could pull heat from warm things. It was a trick I’d only used a handful of times, but right now, it was exactly what Callie needed.

I breathed in slowly as I focused on her warmth. Ever so slowly, I felt the excess heat travel into my hand before venturing up my arm and filling my chest. I needed to focus to make sure I didn’t take too much of her warmth. But the longer I worked, the longer it felt like I had to go.

By the time she reached a normal Callie temperature, sweat was rolling down my face. I wiped it off on my sleeve before igniting my hand just long enough to dissipate the excess heat.

With that out of the way, I sat down in front of the couch and leaned back, studying her for a moment, watching the steady rise and fall of her chest. She looked better; the color had returned to her cheeks, and she wasn’t shivering anymore, but something else nagged at me.

Her skirt still didn’t look comfortable. The waistband seemed a little tighter than normal, as if it were digging into her stomach. And while she wasn’t awake to say anything, I couldn’t shake the feeling that she was in pain.

Slowly, I reached for the zipper on the side of her skirt, hesitating once my fingers found it. If someone walked in on us, I was going to look like a certified creep, and while I’d seen Callie naked almost every single day since we started talking, this felt different. More intimate. More like I was trying to take care of her and less like I was trying to fuck her.

With a deep breath, I pulled the zipper down an inch or two—enough to loosen the top but not enough to leave her exposed. She seemed to relax further, maybe even breathe a little easier. The gesture caused a small smile to tug at the corners of my lips.

Something about taking care of Callie in such a small way made me feel almost giddy. Like this somehow cemented that we were more than a fling. My gaze lingered on her now slightly exposed stomach. It was definitely a little swollen, and I remembered how feverishly Callie denied the possibility of being pregnant, how much that thought had offended her. She’d been stressed over the showcase, and it was possible she wasn’t eating right, or maybe she was on her period or something. Or… maybe…

I slipped my hand under her skirt, letting it rest on her blouse. Something about the gesture was so undeniably tender that it filled me with an emotion that I wasn’t ready to confront. Not yet. My relationship with Callie was too new, too fragile… but I didn’t have anyone around to witness any of this.

So, I leaned in and kissed her cheek. I lingered just long enough to breathe her in before pulling away, wondering if it was too soon for me to tell Callie I loved her, even if I knew deep down it was true.

My thumb ran back and forth across the slight swell of her stomach, mentally willing myself to drop the idea of a potential pregnancy. I didn’t have time to focus on that, not right now, but part of my mind refused to let go. The thought of having a future with Callie was intoxicating, and I wanted nothing more than to be the one to take care of her forever.

That meant I couldn’t focus on anything other than the showcase for the next few days. I needed to do right by Callie and right by the family we might be creating.

***

Callie didn’t wake up until nearly noon, and I made sure to reduce her fever one last time before we headed to lunch. I kept a close eye on her as we ate, watching for any sign that she wasn’t feeling well. But she seemed to be doing better. Her color had returned, and she managed to eat without any trouble, though she still looked tired.

I took a bit of satisfaction in the fact that she didn’t notice I’d undone her skirt a little until after we’d finished eating. By then, there wasn’t much she could do to fix it. She shot me a half-hearted glare, but there was no real heat behind it. Instead, she just sighed and tugged at the fabric, trying to adjust it as best as she could.

“Why didn’t you tell me I was practically naked?” Her voice was hoarse, so I pushed a little more water her way.

“I’d prefer it if you were fully naked,” I teased.

She rolled her eyes but rested a hand on her stomach. I watched her for a moment, fighting a smile. It was like she was slowly warming up to the changes in her body, even if she hadn’t fully come to terms with what they might mean.

“You look cute,” I added.

Her gaze narrowed into a glare, but her lips twitched like she wanted to smile. My heart fluttered, and I realized that no matter how hard I fought it, I had fallen for this girl—fallen hard.

I looked at her as if I were seeing her for the first time, noticing the small things I hadn’t before. The slight dusting of freckles across her nose, the flecks of gray in her all-too-blue eyes, the way she looked at me like I was the most important person in the world.

I reached forward, resting my hand on hers, refusing to break eye contact.

“Can I tell you something?”

She shot me a small smile and nodded.

I swallowed hard, the words bubbling up before I could stop them.

“I love you,” I whispered.

Her expression softened, and for a moment, she looked like she wasn’t sure what to say. As if on cue, the alarm on my phone went off, shattering the moment.

Panic raced through me as I fumbled with my phone. “Sorry, that’s my alarm for warm-ups,” I explained, my voice apologetic.

“Does that mean you have to go?” She sounded saddened by the idea, and unfortunately, she was right.

“I do… but find me later?” I asked, hopeful. “I want to talk more about this… Maybe you can spend the night?”

Callie smiled and nodded, and I fought the urge to give her a parting kiss. After all, that could wait until later.

Unfortunately, later never came.