Sidechain

"What's she hiding now?" Delia asked.

"A boyfriend," Darren said, morosely.

Delia turned and looked at Vivian. "Well if you're not going to say anything, I am. I'm pretty sure it's Lucia and Helen's son."

Darren and Carly both slowed to a stop, looked at each other, and then at Vivian, and then at Delia, and it was Darren who said, "Lucia and Helen have a—"

"—an enbie," Delia said, cutting in tactfully, "who uses he/him pronouns."

They both said, "Oh," and then said, "Oooooooh."

Then, in nearly perfect unison, the tension drained out of their shoulders, and they said, "Ooooooooooooh,"with Carly adding, "thank God."

"They don't live near here, do they?"

"She only went to, what, two concerts?"

Vivian leaned back and smiled, watching them have an entire conversation of questions without answers that, somehow, left both of them feeling a whole lot better.

Delia leaned over, conspiratorially, and said, "Your cool aunt status can remain intact."

Vivian fist bumped her.

"Also," Delia said, and then...

Vivian saw that she was sitting up straighter. Trying to get moisture on her lips. Preparing herself. It was time. Vivian tried to match her.

"Carly," Delia said. "Could we...." Then she nodded toward the door that led out to their back porch.

"Of course!"

The two of them got up, Carly with her wine glass and Delia with her water, and headed outside.

"Ooo, what's that about," Darren said, watching them go. "Did Carly get a little too blunt about something?"

"No," Vivian said. "It's... me. I need to talk to you."

"Oh! Sure! What's up! Is this about the thing?"

Vivian licked her lips and nodded. "Yeah, but..."

His face fell, from anticipatory excitement to something between disappointment and confusion.

"We're gonna go a different way," she said, after taking an extra second to psyche herself up.

Darren looked down, frustration showing on his features in the way that it always did whenever the rift that had formed between them came up.

"We're going to use my eggs," she said.

This detoured his downward spiral back into the realm of confusion. "I thought... I thought you said—"

"They don't think I can carry a pregnancy to term," she said, "but my eggs are viable. I still have my cycle. We can harvest them, have them fertilized, and then Delia can carry them."

"And then," he said, picking up the thread and rapidly gaining enthusiasm, "you could still end up with someone exactly like Tiff."

"Or not," Vivian said, lurching in. "I'm not trying to get my hopes up. If it works, we'll be happy no matter how it turns out."

Darren's excitement crested, broke, and when he sat back, it was with a more mature resignation than she'd expected from him. "So you need a different donor. Okay."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. We'll support you. No matter what."

Vivian nodded, and quietly mouthed, "Thank you," even though it didn't come out with very much volume.

"I'm proud of you."

Vivian did not know how to respond to this, but the way he squeezed her hand made her think that it was probably okay if she didn't. So she just squeezed back.

***

Vivian moved down the hallway with purpose and rhythm. She had a song in her head. It hadn't fully taken shape yet, but it was getting there. Little by little she rolled it around in her head, gathering pieces and flourishes until it was a pearl.

This process had often taken her weeks if not more up until recently, but sometimes she was getting through them in a day now. An afternoon. It was amazing how good it felt having a creative partner again.

No. Not again. Lucia had never been a helpful co-writer. It was wholly new.

She skipped down the wide staircase, bouncing off each step in cadence, and did a little shuffle when she got to the ground floor.

A lot of the party was already there, grouped off and talking somewhat amongst themselves. She spotted Lucia and Helen having a conversation around Zane, who was sort of leaned back between them trying very hard to look inconspicuous while he was doing something on his phone. It didn't take long, then, to spot Tiffany sitting elsewhere, behind a pole, doing basically the same thing while her sister and mother were carrying on a more spirited conversation. Tiffany was already wearing her tux pants and dress shoes, with a long t-shirt over it for now while she was eating, and that made her smile.

Vivian went over to the buffet, and made herself a plate. Then she went, found a tray, set the plate on the tray, and set the tray on a table while she went back and made herself another plate. Just as she turned around, tray laden with eggs and toast and danishes and orange juice and coffee and sausage, she almost ran right into her brother.

Darren took one look at her tray, and frowned. "That's enough food for two people."

Vivian did not have an answer for this.

"You're not supposed to see Delia today. Before the wedding. It's bad luck."

Vivian just blinked at him.

"You can't take that back up to your room. The food is for the dining area only, right?"

Vivian said nothing. They just stared at each other for a few seconds.

Then he said, "I'll go distract the lady at the desk."

"Good talk," she replied, and they took off in opposite directions.

She angled, at first, for the table at the farthest corner near the hallway she'd come in through, head twisted around like an owl to watch Darren's progress. He was waving and pointing at something in the parking lot, and, as soon as the attendant turned, Vivian legged it.

She made it about halfway back before her phone started buzzing in her pocket. She had to put the tray down, laden with cups as it was, to get it out, fearing it was Delia and that something was wrong.

It wasn't.

"Hey!"

"Lauren! What's up!"

"I had to call! I heard the track you laid down on the demo last night! It sounds amazing! How did you get your guitar to sound like that?"

"Oh, that's not mine. I borrowed an old Gretsch hollowbody from a friend. That's why it sounds all full like that."

"It's perfect! Holy cats! You put freaking fairy dust on this!"

Vivian had to take a breath, as her smile got wider. "Thanks!" Then she shook her head. "I hope you don't mind, but I felt pretty good about it last night after I was done, so I sent the demo over to your guy at Ipecac."

"No, that's awesome. It's ready."

"Cool. Cool!"

"Are you nervous?"

Vivian said, "I'm not not nervous." She ran a hand through her hair as she paced back and forth in the corridor. "Mostly, I think I'm just... ready for it to be done already."

"You two are so cute together. I can't wait. I'm so glad we can come!"

"I'm glad too!'

"We'll be leaving in a couple hours. Oh! Also! One more thing."

"Shoot."

"I know we were just talking about using a drum machine, but one of my friends from Seattle reached out to me. Him and his buddy do this, like, drum and bass thing, just the two of them, and he's gonna be down in Portland for a bit for a family thing. I don't know that they're, like, permanent band material, but they could definitely stand in on a set and keep rhythm."

"Are they any good?"

"Oh they're good. I don't know if they'll really care for the whole, like, CHVRCH Ξ S meets Gabriel-era Genesis meets Sybreed thing we're working on, but if it's just for a couple shows then who cares if they're into it, right?"

"We really need a name," Vivian said, shaking her head.

"We'll get there!"

"OkayIgottaletyougo. I have Delia's breakfast."

"Why didn't you say so! Feed the woman, Vivian!"

Vivian jammed her phone back into her pocket, and scooped up her tray with fresh energy. It was strange and wonderful to have a creative partner, something she hadn't even known she'd been looking for, and every time they talked shop Vivian walked away from it feeling invigorated and excited. She and Lauren were on the same frequency when it came to music, and they'd both been feeling extremely prolific about it.

She had to set the tray down again to slot the keycard into the door, and then she was slipping into their room. No staff had seen her, or at least no staff had stopped her. Mission accomplished.

"Aww," Delia whined, upon seeing her, "that's way too much food! I'm already as big as a house!"

Vivian laughed, set the tray down on the edge of the bed, and scampered around it to wrap her arms around her fiancé, who was standing nude in front of a full height mirror, and frowning at her adorable belly bulge.

"I had so many ideas for today," she said. "So many styles of dresses I wanted to try on, and I couldn't wear any of them!"

This was a familiar diatribe, but Vivian knew the secret code. She kissed Delia at the base of her neck, right where the deltoid muscle joined it, and Delia's rigid posture started to melt.

"I hate that you're gonna look good forever in our pictures, and I'm gonna be frumpy and shapeless."

The irony of this statement was not lost on Vivian, as the early stages of pregnancy had already given Delia a delightful amount of curve, but the sentiment was still true. They'd picked a wedding dress that accommodated a variety of sizes, since they didn't know how quickly, or how much, Delia would be showing. They only knew that she would.

She slid closer, and slid her arms around Delia's waist to let them cradle the little bundle under her skin.

"I don't know about you," Vivian said, softly, "but I think this is the part I'm going to remember. This part right here. Right now. Holding you, while you're holding this little guy." She kissed the ridge of Delia's ear. "You're making a whole person in there. That's incredible."

"Say that again," Delia said, petulantly.

This time, Vivian turned her around, got down on her knees, and kissed the swell just below Delia's belly button. "You." Kiss. "Are." Kiss. "Incredible."

Delia raised her arms up, and grabbed her forehead, and as she did, her breasts rose with them. They were already significantly larger than they had been, and Vivian had been having all kinds of fun both with them, and with the mental image of what motherhood might do to Delia's body long term.

"Do you want me to keep doing this?" Vivian asked, kissing a little bit lower.

"Yes," she said, gritting her teeth. "No! I mean, agh! I'm hungry, and I'm horny, and I need coffee or it's going to be a very long day."

"Tell you what," Vivian said. She got back to her feet, took Delia's hand, and led her over to the side of the bed and handed her the mug. "Drink."

"Okay," Delia said, eyes narrowing to slits. "What are you... oh."

The oh came when Vivian dropped back down on her knees behind Delia, spread her hands just beneath the incredible roundness of Delia's ass, and pulled them apart ever so gently.

"Ooooh."

"Is this okay?" Vivian asked, just before her tongue touched down.

"Mmmhmm!" she replied, the last half jumping up an entire octave as Vivian's tongue started to burrow.

In the six months since Bumbershoot, a lot of things had changed. A lot of routines had changed, and a lot of the familiar elements of their relationship had gotten a facelift. Nothing had changed more than their sex life, and that was before the IVF took. In the three months since then, their sex life had changed again, and it was all for the better.

For one thing, Delia had gotten a lot more grabby, as exemplified by the way she had grabbed Vivian's hair by the root, and was keeping her very firmly in place. Vivian could feel the muscles contracting in a wave, down Delia's body, as she gulped down the coffee, and loved it. She loved being in tune with Delia almost as much as she loved learning new things.

"Done," Delia said, panting and pointing. "Go!"

Vivian laughed as she moved to the bathroom about as quickly as possible without seeming too desperate, and she went straight for the toothbrush. When she came out a minute later, Delia was sitting on the edge of the bed, legs spread and licking her lips, and the plate was missing one sausage link and a piece of toast.

"Please keep going," Delia said. "I need a-a good one. Please."

As Vivian made herself comfortable, Delia leaned back on her elbows and rotated her hips. She went right for it, tongue on the clit and two fingers in the back, and the whole thing worked so good for both of them. For Vivian, anything that involved her having such an up close view of Delia's belly was some kind of heaven. Delia, though, was in the middle of some kind of anal awakening, to the extent that Vivian was incorporating it everywhere.

But it was the communication that made it possible. They were talking, all the time.

"Slower."

"Deeper."

"Is this good?"

"Oh god, Vivian, you drive me crazy!"

Talking throughout. Guiding, and helping, and checking in. Discovering together. In the time since Delia had gotten pregnant, Vivian's nipples had gotten absurdly more sensitive. Infinitely so, and she was not surprised when she realized that she had slipped her other hand inside of her button down shirt and was touching herself while she went down on Delia. It was almost as good as touching her clit, and much easier to access most of the time. It made her head all swimmy and floaty, and she drifted away on waves of hormones.

After Delia came the first time, she grit her teeth and said, "Nooooo, keep going," and came a second time like a total jerk. A multi-orgasmic jerk. Vivian was a little jealous, but only a little bit. After all, these orgasms were happening because of her, and she got a kind of feedback loop excitement out of the time she spent exploring Delia's body: kissing toes, licking thighs, devouring labia.

"Do you wanme to kee-going," Vivian mumbled, whole face buried in Delia's slightly more wild bush.

"No, no, stop. It's... ooo... oooo, my head." Delia giggled, and flopped down onto her back. "Ooooo, it feels so good."

Vivian got up to her feet, and made a show of licking her fingers, which got her another firm marching order toward the bathroom. She didn't mind. She would have done it anyway, to clean up after anal play, but it was so much fun watching Delia be clinical and bossy four seconds after she'd had three fingers shoved up her ass.

"You need to eat too," Delia called, as Vivian brushed her teeth again and washed her hands. "You can't just have coffee."

"Oh, I already ate." Then she made a rimshot sound, badum-tsch, that earned her a terrible groan from the other room.

"Seriously. Come eat!"

Vivian hurried back to the bed, and sat down on the other side of the tray from Delia, so they could both reach, but Delia was having none of that. She scooted across the middle of the bed, so she was behind Vivian, and moved in close. Hugged her from behind. All of Delia's most wonderful curves were pressing into her, and Vivian found that she really liked that.

She wasn't sure about saying any of that just yet, because she didn't know how Delia was going to approach her post-baby body, but she was prepared for just about every eventuality.

In all of them, Delia was hot.

"I love you," Delia said, laying her chin on Vivian's shoulder.

"I love you too," Vivian said.

"Big day."

"The biggest," she replied. "Yet." And then, after taking a bite of eggs that were maybe a little better right after they'd been made, she snuck an arm back behind herself to press her palm against Delia's belly.

"You really love my belly, don't you?"

Vivian froze, and turned just enough to be able to look at Delia out of the corner of her eye. And then she nodded. The woman could read minds; that was the plausible explanation.

"Will you care if I put on twenty pounds?"

Vivian shook her head.

"Will you care if I put on thirty?"

Vivian shook her head.

"Will you care if my tits get huge, like a B or something."

Vivian shook her head, and snickered. "I mean, that would be a lot more than you had before, but the way you put that, I just... I can't."

"Shut up!" Delia said, laughing. "I liked my itty bitties."

"I loved them," Vivian said, turning enough to kiss her, "but I can't wait to see what comes next."

This time, Delia's voice was very soft. Vulnerable. "Do you really mean that?"

Vivian nodded. "I do."

"I feel brave when I'm with you," she said, even more quietly.

"That settles it then," Vivian said. "I'll just have to stay."

She looked laughingly insulted. "Was there ever any doubt?"

"Nah," Vivian said, "but I like Brave Delia, and I really like how much Brave Delia loves anal."

"What?!" This caused Vivian to receive a very deserved pillow across the shoulder blades. "You can't just say that!"

"Yeah, but if I do then you'll get all feisty and, like, sit on my face or something."

This, somehow, seemed to shock Delia even more. "Do you want me to sit on your face?!"

Vivian leaned in closer. "Could you cum again?" she asked, softly.

Delia blinked, and nodded slowly. "I... yeah. I could. I—"

"Delia and Anal," Vivian sang, "Sitting in a tree! F-I-N-G—"

Again, the grabby hands, and Vivian laughed as she got dragged onto her back by her hair.

"I'll show you who likes what," Delia muttered, as she kicked her leg over Vivian, and straddled her head.

The banter continued well through the morning, and they both ended up being fashionably late to their hair and makeup appointments.

//Author's note: If you want to see more of this story, check out Attack Decay Sustain Release and The Beast In Me!! If you already have, then thank you so much for reaching the end of the story!//