2023 ― Westview, New Jersey

"Hmm... Hmm... Yep! You're definitely pregnant!" The doctor said as he pulled his stethoscope away from Wanda's stomach. Wanda laughed a little bit, but Christian could hear the nervousness in its tone.

"Well, that much we figured," Wanda said.

"It's just kind of taken us by surprise. It's just kind of suddenly... Quite suddenly, wasn't it?" Christian asked as he looked at Wanda. "I mean, it was practically overnight. I mean... how did this happen?" He looked up at the doctor.

"You see, when a man and a woman love each other very much." He said. Wanda and Christian exchanged a look, and Wanda cut in before the doctor could go any further.

"Well, we are just tickled pink or blue." She said as Christian helped her stand up from the couch.

"You're at about four months now. Is that right?" The doctor asked. Wanda nodded her head while Christian was shaking his head until Wanda looked at him, and then he started nodding his head too. "I thought as much. We let the little ladies keep tabs on their growing babies with fruit. It makes it simple for them." He whispered to Christian.

"Are you suggesting my wife is not intelligent?" Christian asked.

"No, no, of course not. At four months, the fetus is about as big as a pear. At five months, papaya. Six, grapefruit. Seven, pineapple. Eight, honeydew." The doctor said.

"Hypothetically speaking, what size fruit would it be in... say, 12 hours?" Christian asked.

"Uh, pardon? 12 hours?" The doctor asked. Wanda was already bigger than she was the night before when Christian first noticed she was pregnant.

"Well, I think this line of questioning is fruitless," Wanda said as she started to walk away, and Christian followed after her.

"Well, hypothetically speaking, should we be concerned?" Christian asked as they had walked over to the doctor who was gathering his things so he could leave.

"Hypothetically speaking, every new father-to-be gets nervous." The doctor said.

"Well, I have nerves of steel, so there goes your theory, Mr. Doctor..." Christian said because he just wanted something snarky to say.

"Chris... why don't you see the doctor out?" Wanda said.

"Good idea. Yes." Christian said as he and the doctor started to walk towards the door. "Thank you so much for dropping by, Dr. Nielson," Christian said as he took him to the door and opened it, and the two men walked outside.

"Well, I'm just glad you caught me in time. I'm taking the wife on vacation this afternoon." Dr. Nielson said.

"Oh! Have a nice holiday!" Christian said before he turned to his neighbor Herb and Vision were both outside. "Hey, Vis! Herb." He said and waved.

"Hey, Christian!" Vision responded, and then Christian turned back to the doctor.

"Hey, buddy!" Herb responded.

"Listen, can you keep the news of Wanda's... you know, just between us, because, uh... I don't know; everything's happening so quickly. We'd like to keep the news just in the family for right now." Christian said, and Dr. Nielson nodded.

"Of course. Mum's the word. I'm off. Bermuda, baby!" The doctor said and walked off, and then Christian heard Vision speaking.

"Hey, Herb! I think you might've taken the hedge-trimming a little too far there, old chum." Vision said. Christian's eyes looked over to see that Herb was using a hedge-trimmer to cut through a cement block?

"So I have. Thanks, buddy." Herb said he looked up with a smile, but he continued to try and cut through the cement,  which Christian found eerie. He's used his powers here, but every time he tries to read the minds of a person in town. 

It sounds like dead radio static.

"Yeah... don't mention it." Vision said, and then Christian turned to Vision and tilted his head to the side. He was still trying to figure out Vision's presence here and how Vision somehow had a family of synthezoids as well.

"Vis...?" Christian said, and Vision looked over.

"Yes, Christian?" He asked.

"Have you always had a family?" Christian asked. Vision looked peculiar at the question, mostly because he wasn't sure of the answer. Like Christian, he couldn't remember anything about a life he had before Westview; he didn't even know if he had a life before Westview; he just knew that he lived there and had a family of synthezoids just like him.

"I am quite certain I have, Chris." Vision said before he turned to walk back into his house. Christian let out an uneasy sigh before he went back inside of his home as well.

"The strangest thing just happened outside with Vision and H...-" Christian was cut off as he turned around and looked at Wanda to see her stomach was bigger. "Have you gotten bigger?" He asked.

"Have I? I can't tell from this angle." Wanda said. When she turned around, she knocked the papaya out of the fruit bowl, but before it could fall, Christian rushed over and grabbed it. That was weird to him; he's never had super-speed before. He was wondering how he just did that. Or he was thinking, since he couldn't remember anything about his life outside of Westview, maybe he has always had super-speed.

"I can't wait to be a proud papaya." In a lame attempt to make a joke, Christian said it did make Wanda laugh, so he didn't feel too embarrassed about it.

She only smiled at him.

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Later that day, Wanda used her powers to set up the nursery while Christian sat in the rocking chair and read aloud from a parenting book. "Nesting, the overwhelming urge during pregnancy to clean, organize, and prepare the home for the new baby." He read.

"See, you're an expert already. We've got nothing to worry about." Wanda said.

"Well, nothing to worry about outside of morning sickness, mood swings, aching back, and feet. Wanda, you should probably sit down." Christian said as he stood from the chair.

"Don't be silly. All I feel is excitement, happiness, and...-Oh!" She exclaimed as she looked down at her baby bump.

"Kicking? Already?" Christian asked as he laid his hand down on his wife's bump."Wow!"

"Oh, it's such a strange sensation. It's kind of fluttery." Wanda said as she started giggling. Christian smiled down at her, and then from the dream catcher she put above the crib, the butterflies animated and began to fly around the room. "Oh, did I do that? I didn't mean to." Wanda said. A butterfly landed on Christian's nose, and Wanda guided it away before she walked over to the window and opened it so that all of the butterflies could be free.

"Well, if that was the first kick, that puts you at about six months! And I thought I was the one with super speed, yet I couldn't keep up. But, please don't misinterpret. I can't wait to meet you, little Billy." Christian said as he kissed Wanda's bump.

"Billy?" Wanda asked.

"Yeah."

"I was thinking, Tommy. Just a nice, classic, all-American name." Wanda said.

"Hmm, Tommy. Hmm, yeah. Yeah... But, then there's Billy, isn't there?" Christian said.

"Well, I guess there's only one solution to this debate. Hope for a girl." Wanda said. Then she used her powers to make the paintbrushes move independently and finish the mural on the wall.

"Well, we ought to decide soon. I estimate the baby's due... it's not a constant progression, assumingly logarithmic, but, thinking about the fetal development thus far..." Christian trailed off, and Wanda rolled her eyes.

"He's going to be here before you figure it out." She said.

"The nearest I can conclude is that Billy...-"

"...-Tommy."

"Eh... He'll be due Friday afternoon if you continue to progress like this." Christian said, and when he looked at Wanda, her eyes were wide.

"In three days?" She asked, and Christian nodded. "Maybe I should sit down."

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Later that afternoon, Christian held up a baby doll and narrowed his eyes. "You and I have an understanding." He said and then put the doll down on the table and pointed to Wanda in the kitchen. "Start the clock!" He said. As she did, Christian noticed his hands moving at a higher speed as he fastened a diaper onto the baby doll. "Done." He said.

"Your personal best," Wanda said as she smiled.

"We'll be nothing if not prepared," Christian said, and then Wanda's face scrunched up.

"Oh!" She said, and Christian immediately looked over at her.

"Darling?" He asked.

"Do any of your books talk about this? It's, uh... it's not painful, but it's strange." Wanda said.

"Is it a tightening sensation?" Christian asked.

"Yep! That's it!" Wanda exclaimed.

"Yes. Where was it..." Christian picked up his book and quickly flipped through it before finding the page. "Braxton Hicks contractions, also known as false labor, usually start in the third trimester. Named after John Braxton Hicks in 1875...-" Wanda cut him off.

"...-Honey." She gestured for him to skip past all of the historical meaning behind the name.

"Sorry. Yes. Yes. Oh! Excellent. It gives us a chance to work on our breathing exercises. It should go like this." Christian said as he stood up from the table and walked over to his wife, and he started to imitate the rhythmic breathing that was recommended. Wanda did it too for a few seconds, and then she shook her head.

"Yeah, it's not working. I can still feel it." She said.

"I'm sorry..." Christian said.

Wanda groaned out loudly as she cradled her bump, and then Christian noticed that the sink faucet started to run rampant by itself, and the lights around the house were flickering. "What's happening?" Wanda asked as they looked around the kitchen, and everything electric was buzzing to life and operating on its own.

"Let's get out of the kitchen!" Christian said. As he dragged her to the living room, the light got very bright around the room until it suddenly faded back to normal.

"It stopped..." Wanda said.

"I'll go see if this happened to any of our neighbors," Christian said.

And then he walked out of the house.

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Christian came back not too long after. He went down to Vision's house, where he still was getting used to the fact that he had a family of synthezoids, but their power was out too. "It appears that the whole block is out." He said.

"Oh, and that was just a fake contraction. Who knows what will happen when the real thing starts. Do you think they know it's my fault?" Wanda asked.

"Our neighbors?" Christian asked as he entered the living room.

"Well, yes, with all the close calls we've been having, it seems the people of Westview are always on the verge of discovering our secret," Wanda said.

"Yes... I know what you mean. But it's more than that, isn't it?" Christian asked as he walked over to the couch where Wanda was, and he sat down with her. "Mr. and Mrs. Hart, dinner. Outside with Herb... I think something's wrong here, Wanda." Christian said. Wanda looked at her husband, but she didn't say anything. Instead, she searched his eyes and searched for a way to make it right.

And then Christian was back standing where he was before he sat down.

"Yes, I know what you mean. The truth is, we are in unchartered waters, and you know what? I'm anxious, too." Christian said to her.

"We just don't know what to expect," Wanda said, and Christian shook his head.

"Nope." He said.

"Will the baby be fully human or born with powers?" Wanda asked.

"If he's anything like his mom, Billy will be perfect," Christian said.

"You mean Tommy?" She said, and Christian made a noise as he shook his head, and then Wanda gasped.

"Wanda, are you alright?" Christian asked.

"This is a real one!" Christian exclaimed, and then he started levitating through the air. "Wait, are you doing this?" He asked.

"I thought you said Friday afternoon!" Wanda exclaimed.

"Well, I didn't consider that the timings between developmental benchmarks could be quite random!" Christian exclaimed, and then his eyes widened as he looked down. "Why am I in the air?" He asked. Wanda started doing the breathing from the exercises earlier and gestured for Christian to do it with her, and as he steadied his breathing, he came back down to the ground.

"Better..." Wanda said as she stood up from the couch and grabbed his hands.

"Much better, actually. Thank you." He said. Then he heard a crack of thunder and looked out of the window, but no rain fell.

Instead, the rain was pouring inside, on them.

"Chris?" She asked.

"Yes, baby?" Christian responded.

"I think my water just broke..." Wanda said.

"That would explain the rain."

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Ahh, so Vision is here, but he's not going to be heavily involved yet; he'll be closer to the time where more of the action starts. Because I honestly really just needed him in this for the very last fight scene.

Don't forget to vote/comment.

xoxo.