Chapter 4: Growing Pains

 

"Congratulations Ms. Summers, you're about four months pregnant." The sonographer says with a caring smile on her face.

 

"Fo-Four months?  Don't you mean four weeks?" Joyce says in a concerning tone.

 

"No, I definitely mean 4 months, have a look yourself."  The sonographer turns the screen towards Joyce and continues. "Your baby is about 5 1/2 inches, which is still a bit small for four months, but your baby girl is developing facial features already, even teaching herself facial expressions!" 

 

Joyce is obviously stunned, but not for the reasons the sonographer expected.  "It's the second week of September, is it not? You mean to tell me I'm not just bloated right now? I'm actually showing?" Joyce voiced with concern, which somewhat confused the sonographer, making her stutter a bit.

 

"Y-yes Ms. Summers, this is normal around this time.  Your baby seems very healthy and you should have nothing to worry about.  How do you feel? Are you feeling any discomfort at all?" The sonographer says while returning a concerning gaze. 

 

"No, no nothing like that.  In fact, I feel .... fantastic.  Better than I've ever felt in my life actually. That's normal right? For uh.... four-month pregnancy, I mean?" Joyce looks to the sonographer expectedly. 

 

"Sure, well, it ...varies from woman to woman I guess." The sonographer laughs a bit nervously. "Y-your baby girl really is healthy, though.  This is good news! So, cheer up Ms. Summers! You look good, you feel good, so it's all good!" 

 

Joyce overlooking her excessive use of the word good, she may be a bit overly cheerful, but she is happy to receive such kindness. So she smiles, as she realizes asking further questions about the uniqueness of her situation would be pointless.

 

"Well, thank you, Doctor. This .... eased my mind and gave me some much-needed clarification.  I should get going, my other little tyrant of a daughter will be bussing it home from school in less than an hour, I don't want to be late.  Thanks again, Doctor."

 

The sonographer chuckles a bit, "wait, Ms. Summers, didn't you want a sonograph?" 

 

That being one of the furthest things from her mind at the moment made her reel back in embarrassment. "Of course I do, how could I forget? My mind seems to be elsewhere at the moment."

 

The sonographer smiles as she prints a sonograph for her. "Oh, don't worry Ms. Summers, you'd be surprised how often people forget about it." 

 

I know that's not the case and she's trying to comfort me, families literally come in here specifically for that, but she means well, so I won't mention it. "Will it take long?" 

 

"Oh, not at all, it's printing now." The sonographer grabs the printout, and stares at it for a moment, before bursting out laughing. "What's so funny, Doctor?" The sonographer wipes a tear from her cheek as she hands the sonograph to Joyce. She looks at her daughter in the sonograph holding up two peace signs and smiling towards the camera.

 

"It's like she's saying, 'I'm perfectly fine Mom, so stop worrying!' I'm willing to bet she is going to be quite the expressive child growing up." The sonographer says with content smile on her face.

 

"Oh, I'm aware, I am expecting her to be.... a handful to say the least." Joyce says while returning the same smile.

 

******

 

"I really hope that eased my mother's mind a bit, I can literally feel the stress that doctor put on her.  I should have punted her across the room when she put that goo on mommy's stomach! I held back though, that would have caused more unneeded stress and worry, mommy doesn't need that right now.  Ugh, I need sun! this is so confining, it's like a prison in here.  Like I'm trapped in a bowl of warm melting cheese. A very cheesy prison!"

 

Domino flails her tiny little arms and legs around, which definitely caught the attention of Joyce, luckily, she isn't exactly human anymore, or she would have kicked a hole right out of her mother's stomach. 

 

"Hmm, I can feel mommy getting stronger, she will probably be craving the sun as much as I am here within a few weeks.  I really don't want to trouble her or force her to be outside if she doesn't want to.  I'll just let nature take its course.  I want mommy stress free! But I'm so hungry! I just want a tiny little sun to feast on!"

 

Domino reminisces about her time in Rao's Supernova star system.  Just the thought of the nuclear reactions exploding around her and swallowing them within her being puts a calm smile on her face and eases her mind.

 

"I miss it there, it was so, painfully pleasant! Oh, I'm pretty sure I'm a masochist already." 

 

Domino giggles to herself and throws some punches at her mommy's belly.

 

"Take that! Hiii-yah!!! Oh, my Rao, I can't wait to fight! This is taking way too long, I want to move, I want to grow, I want to eat, I want anyone in my way to either kneel before me, step aside, or feel what it's like to be a squashed insect beneath my boot!  I am the Sun; the stars are mine.  I will bring life, just as easily as I will take it away! Whoa, I should calm down. There will be plenty of time for that! Let's focus on what I can do for now."

 

Domino thinks back to the soul space and remembering how she created herself.  "I can gift a system to 5 people, I wonder what would happen if I gifted a system to mommy while I'm in her belly? Will it be a detriment to my growth? Or will it evolve me further?  I don't even know why I asked that, I know for a fact it will help us both greatly. 

 

Though, what kind of system? A growth system? Magic? No... Intelligence maybe? What should be her main focus? Wait, she's becoming a Kryptonian like me right? I can feel her very cells change and evolve just as much as my own. What If I give her a Sun system?! That will focus on my immediate needs, while simultaneously helping her deal with her own body changing.  It will also give her stress some relief and prioritize our exponential growth. 

 

"I hope this won't have any unseen effects.  Nah, it should be fine!  Mommy's been strong! She'll be able to handle this, right?" Domino starts to doubt herself, wondering if this is the right decision. 

 

"No, I've made up my mind, I will conquer this world and it's demonic forces.  With my beautiful sister by my side, we won't be able to do our jobs if we have to worry about mommy.  I will make sure they won't even dare to try.  They will cower before her! The Summers' family will be synonymous with power, synonymous with fight, synonymous with not-to-be-messed with.  The ones that try, their bravery will be synonymous with stupidity." Domino giggles with delight and closes her eyes to focus.

 

*****

 

Joyce is humming a tune to a song she heard on the radio on her way home from her doctor's appointment. Folding her laundry to the beat, she feels happier than usual. Her family is growing and feels almost complete.  She had already put the sonograph picture on the front of the refrigerator when she got home, an overwhelming sense of contentment as she stared at it for a moment before doing some much needed household chores. 

 

She picks up one of Buffy's boy band t-shirts "how does she like this stuff? Is she truly my daughter?" Joyce shakes her head with a smile, mid-fold she pauses, staring at seemingly nothing to an outside viewer.  It was far from nothing; it was something only she could see.  Something that would change her life forever.  Something that... an unborn daughter of hers will have some explaining to do.

 

 

".......This little girl is going to give me a heart attack!"

 

****