Author: Kat
Title: Timing
Story: Polyfaceted
Colors: Daffodil 6 (new growth), red 2 (red wine).
Supplies and Materials: Collage, stain (There are two things that will be believed of any man whatsoever, and one of them is that he has taken to drink. -- Booth Tarkington).
Word Count: 523.
Rating: PG-13.
Summary: Torey finds out about Melissa's pregnancy.
Warnings: none
Notes: In which Torey suffers for my and Kelly's amusement. And yours too, we hope.


Torey had never been so thankful for the car service as he was now, standing in front of his house without any real memory of how he'd gotten there.

Actually, he didn’t have much memory of anything between now and Pop announcing Melissa's pregnancy, tears of joy in his eyes and an uplifted champagne glass in his hand. Torey could taste champagne at the back of his mouth still, so he must have drunk some. Probably not a lot, though.

Or at least he hoped not a lot.

He definitely wasn't drunk, anyway. Just in shock.

He walked in the front door, and half a minute later Eileen popped into the room, looking startled. "Torey?" she asked. "You okay?"

"No," he said, and blinked. "Wait, you got in here fast."

"You slammed the door, honey," Eileen said, gently. "You want to talk about it?"

He'd slammed the door? Huh. He had no memory of that, either. "It's weird." He rested a hand on her belly, felt their baby moving-- normally that calmed him, but now he just thought about Pop and felt ill again. "It's about Melissa."

"Melissa." Eileen frowned, clearly trying to place her. "Oh, your father's girlfriend?"

He felt his mouth twist. "Yeah. The one who's younger than David."

She shook her head. "Your father, I swear. What about her?"

He swallowed. "She's pregnant."

Eileen stared at him for a moment, then looked down at her prominent pregnancy, then back up at him. "She's..."

"Yeah," he said, and pinched the bridge of his nose. Eileen put her hand up to her mouth, eyes wide. "She's due in... I think Pop said early fall."

"Mm." Her eyes were really enormous now, her lashes casting soft shadows on her cheek and brow. She only opened them that wide when she was appalled.

Or...

A suspicious muffled snort escaped her hand.

Torey covered his face. "Eileen..."

"I'm sorry," she gasped, and lost it completely, collapsing into whoops of laughter. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

"You aren't," he said reproachfully, and grabbed her elbow to steady her.

She caught her breath and wiped at her eyes. "I am," she said. "For laughing at you, anyway. It's just... okay, I know it's mind-blowing, but you have to admit it's funny."

He didn't have to admit any such thing, and said so.

Eileen smiled at him, her eyes sparkling madly. "Oh, come on. Your child is going to be older than your youngest sibling. You don't think that's even a little funny?"

"No," he said, in his best repressive 'I'm your older brother and I said so' tones. Not that he was Eileen's older brother, but he had the most practice at that. "I don't."

She kissed his cheek. "Try to see the funny side of it, honey, or you're going to drive yourself nuts. You want some bourbon?"

Torey covered his face again. "Yes, please."

She kissed his cheek again, and set off for the kitchen. "Go sit down, I'll bring it to you. Just remember, it could be worse." She paused on the lintel, eyes sparkling again. "She could always have another baby later."

Evil woman.