One Wild Night

Cecelia and Sabrina decided to stay at Matt's with Marissa, both girls protective of the youngest bat bitch. It made Marissa feel less depressed about not being on speaking terms with Sabrina; Sabrina obviously still cared for her but was hurting at the moment.

Carmen and Jess moved their stuff to one of Matt's spare bedrooms, but they were spending most of their time at Jimmy's. Johnny often came over to "keep Jess company" because Carmen and Jimmy were progressing steadily towards some sort of relationship and Jess was feeling like a third wheel.

"Marissa?" Matt tapped on the door of Marissa's room. It had been two days since Marissa moved in with him, and he'd only seen her once. He was starting to get worried.

There was no response.

Matt tried the door to find it unlocked. "I'm coming in!" he announced before opening the door and stepping into the room.

The curtains were drawn and all the lights were off.

"Marissa?"

He heard a faint sniffle. Closing the door quietly behind himself, Matt crossed the room and sat on the edge of the bed. He felt Marissa shift, inching over to make room for him. Taking it as the invitation it was, he stretched out beside her. She rolled over and laid her head on his chest.

"Talk to me, Doll," he urged, stroking her hair.

"I want to go home," she said, her voice barely above a whisper. "And I want Sabrina to forgive me. And I want Syn to be nice, like you and Zack. And..." She paused, swallowing hard to rid her throat of the lump that had formed there.

Matt felt tears soaking through his tee-shirt. He put both arms around her and held her tightly. "And what, Doll?"

"I don't want to be pregnant!" she sobbed, clutching his tee-shirt like a lifeline and snuggling as close as possible to him.

"Shh," Matt urged. He let her cry, murmuring soothing nonsense until she calmed.

"Sorry," she said.

"It's fine," Matt assured her. "I'm here whenever you need me."

"I already freaked out on Zee the day we got here," Marissa told him. "I don't normally break down this often. It's gotta be the hormones."

"It couldn't have anything to do with the amount of stress you're under," Matt said sarcastically.

"That might have something to do with it," she replied, and he could hear the smile in her voice.

"Stress is bad for the baby, you know."

"Well, unless you know a way to go back in time and change all this, I'm going to be stressed. Little baby Deathbat will just have to deal."

Matt laughed. "I see what Cecelia meant now."

"About what?"

"About your maternal instinct. Or, more accurately, your lack thereof."

"I hate babies. They scream and they cry and they shit and...I just...hate babies."

"You won't hate yours," Matt said.

"We'll see."

"You won't."

Marissa sighed. "I'll take your word for it. But just in case, you may want to remove anything I can use for the purpose of stabbing from the vicinity."

"Sure thing."

"And all the duct tape you have in the house."

"Okay."

"And anything--"

"Marissa," Matt interrupted. "Anything that could be used to commit murder will be taken far, far away from you."

"Good." There was a pause, then Marissa said, "And you may want to keep me away from any open windows, specifically the ones on the second floor."

Matt hugged her to him tightly. "You're not going to kill your baby. You'll have plenty of help. You'll get breaks."

"Why don't I just give it to you and come back in sixteen years?"

"Because I'm not the one who fucked you and knocked you up."

"I almost wish you were."

Matt kissed her on the forehead. "No, you don't. You're just feeling positive towards me right now because I'm being nice to you."

They lay in silence for a long time. Matt eventually realized Marissa's breathing had become deep and even. He knew she hadn't been sleeping well, so he didn't move, afraid he would wake her. He could stay here forever if it helped her rest. For reasons he couldn't explain, Matt had grown very fond of Marissa.