Bitter Destruction

Well, hot damn, it's been way too long!



I'm sorry to those who've waited so long for an update! Really really really really really sorry. But, I swear, I'm very focused on working on and finishing Bitter Destruction.



Of course, my ode to reviewers:



luvsyafiction - I'm, again, very sorry, dear, for not updating as quickly as you wished. /: I'm pleased that you enjoy the story ever so much! And feel free to ramble as much as you want! I love it! :)



Prince of Madness - My goodness, I believe you reviewed the same chapter twice! lol. But that's fine with me! :) I love to see that you notice her emotions getting wackier! It was intentional but I didn't want to be too in-your-face about it and tried to be subtle. If it worked, yay! There's a bit more of that in this one too, so I hope you see that as well. Thank you, love!



Ah, anyway, here's your long-awaited chapter! Don't leave Prue/Delilah behind now! ;)



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To say that I was afraid of the upcoming doctor's appointment was a complete understatement.



I was terrified.



Prue and I had undressed and put on our pajamas before going under the covers of Prue's warm bed. My hands shook as I pulled the comforter over me. "Delilah, it'll be okay," Prue soothed, turning to look at me.



"No, it won't, Prue," I shuddered, staring up at the ceiling. "Something will go wrong... I might burst into flames or something." My voice was starting to crack. 'Damnit, I'm starting to cry.'



"You're going to be fine, sweetie." The moisture grew inside my eyes and my chest was heavy. "It'll be good for you and the baby. The doctor will provide you with the information and medications that you need to keep your baby healthy and normal--"



I laughed with sarcasm. "Normal," I mumbled, shaking my head and biting my lips. "Normal..."



Prue rolled her eyes. "Okay, as close as normal gets."



"Prue, there's nothing normal about the conception of a child between a father and his daughter," I spat. "And, also, between The Source of All Evil and his Source-witch offspring. Their child is bound to be destructive and-and dangerous!"



"You don't know that for sure, Delilah," Prue said, using her motherly-tone. "We've gone over this before."



"But--"



"No, I'm not going to listen to this," the Charmed One interjected. "You're going."



I sighed in defeat. Why must she put me through this torture?



We lay in long moments of silence. I looked away to the wall, too bitter to cry now. My emotions were really going nuts. Then I heard Prue say, "Do you hate me?"



I turned my head back at her, shocked. "Of course not," I whispered.



She smirked. "I'm glad." Her face inched forward to mine, and she planted a small peck upon my forehead. "If you were," she muttered into my skin near my lips, "I don't know what I would do."



Breathing shakily as she kissed my jaw, continuing slowly downward, I shuddered, "I-I could... n-never hate you."



"You'll always love me?" Her voice was rich with seduction.



My underwear was becoming damp. "Always..." I breathed, my hands clutching the sheets below.



"Wait."



I gasped, surprised by how her tone went from sexy to straight-forward. "What?!"



"Hey, hey, it's alright," she hushed me. "I don't want to do something that will hurt you."



One of my hands raked through my black hair. I wasn't surprised by her words; I was just frustrated. "Prue, will we have to go through this every time we want to have sex?" I asked, rolling my eyes. "I'm fine!" I hissed.



Prue's eyes narrowed and she pulled far away. Damn it. I'd killed the mood.



"Wait, Prue..."



"No," she said, soft but firm. Her body averted away from me, her hand creeping over the alarm clock on her bedside table. "Good night."



She laid down, facing the opposite wall. I bit down on my lip, a bitter punishment for my goddamn stupidity. "Fuck," I muttered to myself, now too angry to cry.



Because I couldn't bear to think of Prue in any sort of sexual way without wanting to slap myself, I was stuck with considering the following morning. The thoughts left me queasy. The quaking of my muscles left my limbs shaking. My stomach was in a tight knot of something sticky and slimy. Though the room had been cool before, and I was sure it still was, my body felt like it was overheating, and I couldn't stop sweating.



You'd think I was having hot sex by the sound of it, but I certainly wasn't.



Somehow, and I'd envied her for it, Prue'd been asleep beside me as my body spasmed and churned. I was tempted, countless times, to wake her up and demand that she call the hospital now and call off the appointment. (And maybe she'd feel so sorry for me that we'd resolve this issue with beautiful love-making.) Unfortunately, I knew Prue wouldn't call them (or fuck me) no matter how many times I begged or cried or even whimpered. And I knew that if I wanted to properly nurse this baby, demonic or not, into a healthy one, I had to see a professional.



Amazingly I'd managed to calm down and sleep in my puddle of perspiration until it was nearly nine in the morning. My eyes opened to an empty bedside and I sighed. She really wasn't going to be there today.



I rolled out of bed slowly, the bulge in my torso feeling heavier than usual. After I stepped out of the bedroom, I called down to the middle Halliwell. "Piper!"



"Yeah?" she hollered back. Her voice came from the kitchen, it sounded.



"When's the... appointment?" Maybe she'd forgotten and bringing it up would only remind her of it. Why'd I say anything?



There was a pause. Maybe she did forget! Maybe we'd missed it! My hope disappeared the second it surfaced. "Ten thirty," she yelled, a clatter of dishes sounding. "Will you be ready in an hour?"



Sighing, I replied thickly, "Yes."



I trudged into the bathroom, my feet heavy against the floor. Slime formed inside my gut and sloshed as I walked, making me nauseous. I slammed the door, the bile rising quickly, and fell down to my knees, relieving myself into the toilet. When the vomit was completely emptied, I flushed it all away, wiping my lips with the back of my clammy hand. My body scooted a few inches toward the bathtub, turning the hot water on.



As the water filled the giant container, I undressed, almost too embarrassed to look at my body in the full-length mirror. One quick glance was all it took to make the glands behind my eyes produce a storm of tears. 'How could I let him do this to me?' I whimpered to myself, my hands grazing over my swollen belly. I could see the pink and white scars around my midsection, all of them like stitches bound to snap and burst my stomach open. Wincing away from my reflection, I melted into the tub, quiet sobs shaking my core. I grabbed a sponge from the sidewall and brushed it along my pale skin, rubbing away the filth.



Or pushing it deeper in.



Minutes passed before I grew tired of sitting in the grey-ish liquid and pulled the plug, stepping out while wrapping a towel around my frame. As I dried my skin off with the cloth, I thought about how I'd pushed Prue away last night. I hadn't done it purposely, of course; I adored Prue's affection and every touch. But she had to ask if I was going to freak out like last time (maybe not using those exact words but close) and I was tired of being seen as weak and vulnerable. 'Like you can, Delilah,' my mind bugged.



I clutched the towel tightly around my body and walked back into Prue's room, shutting the door behind me. I went to Prue's dresser to take out clothes for the day. I pulled out a pair of underwear from the bottom and then stepped back, surprised by a piece of paper. Hesitating, I leaned back over and saw it again: a photograph. With my heart caught in my throat, I reached in and grabbed the piece of paper, eyeing it uneasily. The photo was of a man, his shirt unbuttoned and revealing his hard, hairy chest. His hair was array, as though it were being blown by wind, and he had soft eyes and a charming smile.



Andy?



I turned the picture over, wondering if there'd been a love message on the back. Nothing. I didn't understand. Why would Prue have this still? She hadn't moved on?



The slime continued to squirm inside me. I placed the picture back into its previous spot, staring at it with confusion. I shook my head, realizing that I was fretting over nothing. So what if Prue kept a picture of Andy in her dresser? Andy was Prue's first love. They shared memories together - some that I'd rather not think about - but I couldn't judge her for having something to remind her of those moments. I thought of Belthazor, or Cole, before, too. Though that relationship wasn't based on much besides talking and sex...



I shivered and nearly gagged when I compared the activities between Belthazor and me to what Andy and Prue could've done. I didn't want to think of anyone else touching Prue like that other than me. She was mine.



Shoving into my clothes, I repeatedly told myself that Prue was mine, like I was convincing myself of this. 'Nothing to worry about,' I thought as I walked down the stairs, meeting Piper at the bottom.



I smiled timidly at her as she put on her jacket. "I think I'm ready."



A smile graced the sister's lips. "Okay then. Let's go!" I knew she was trying to act cheery for my sake, to make me feel more comfortable visiting a place where no one wanted to go because no good news could come from it. Unfortunately, my mind created words and phrases that would come out of this appointment.



"Your child is disfigured and ugly."



"The baby has talons and razor sharp teeth and will eventually tear you apart before the birth."



"A monster... It will destroy us all."



My hand shook against the door handle of Piper's car, my knuckles snow-white. "I can't do this," I mouthed, my throat too dry to make sound. My fingers pulled, despite my denial, and my body hoisted itself onto the front seat. Automatically, I pulled the seat belt over my chest, clipping it into its holder, and stared blankly at the green trees and light blue sky ahead of us.



Piper put the car in motion, peeling slowly out of the driveway. This was it. I couldn't prevent it anymore.



"Is it normal," I squeaked, swallowing before finishing, "to be really... nervous?"



I didn't look away from the pathway of dark, stretched-out pavement, but I had a feeling Piper shrugged beside me. "Probably," she answered in a voice tinted with sympathy. "But you know that I can freeze the situation anytime you want me to," she assured me.



"The doctor won't know?"



"I doubt it," she replied. "Unless you're laying down, I freeze him, and then you're standing up by the time he unfreezes." I swallowed again. "Then we'd have a problem," Piper added with a small laugh.



I nodded, my eyes getting watery.



"Delilah, it'll go fine." I wished that Prue was there to remind me instead. Not that I didn't believe Piper; it was just easier and more relaxing to hear it from Prue's mouth. "There's some things I should tell you of, though, first. Before we get there."



That brought me out of my daze. I turned her way. "Like what?" I pondered.



"Well, since you've been in the Underworld for over twenty years, with no medical history whatsoever, we kind of had to lie about some things..."



I supposed that made sense and I had a feeling that if the doctor was to ask me personal questions about my past, I'd get hot and clammy and say nonsense. So, in a way, I was thankful, but also... worried. "What sorts of things?"



Piper cleared her throat, keeping herself averted towards the street. "Your whole name is Delilah Marie Sefton. You were born in Seattle, Washington. Your parents died in a house-fire one year ago, and you, being a lone survivor, left for California, determined to renew your life."



I looked at her blankly. "That sounds... alright, I suppose." But my throat was already drying up. I wouldn't be able to go through with this, lying to someone about my life. I'd had a hard enough time trying to do that when I first met the Halliwells.



"Yeah, I think so, too. Plus, I know your doctor, and he's nice. He'll believe you, no matter what." She sounded earnest.



"What do I say about the baby? And the baby's father?" I asked softly.



Piper sighed. "We weren't sure. I think that you should leave out the fact that you were--" Her eyes glanced in my direction. I nodded once to let her know I understood. "You could just tell them that you had a one night stand with a guy and you wound up pregnant, and now you've decided to go through with it."



'Sounds kind of slutty,' my mind pondered, 'but realistic.'



"But," Piper enunciated, "there's possibly a huge factor that we won't mention, but it's kind of critical."



I watched her face. "What major factor?" I asked meekly.



"Your... um..." She paused, an indent forming along her cheek where she bit down on the inside of her mouth. "Your father's baby," she said.



With one nod, I whispered, "Oh." Clearing my throat, I added, "The incest factor..." My heart thumped harder inside my chest. "Piper," I whimpered, "I can't tell them that."



"No, I know, don't worry," she said consolingly. "I'm only saying that if there seems to be something wrong with the baby... that's most likely the reason. Okay?"



I nodded some more, but couldn't speak. That would make things worse.



Piper parked her car in the parking lot outside a huge building with many other vehicles in the space near us. She waited a little while in the car with me, letting me calm down. When I saw the small digital numbers on the jeep's radio switch to 26, I exhaled slowly. "Okay."



The stretch of hallway in front of us looked miles long and was way too white. White walls, white ceiling, white tiled-floor, white painting backgrounds. My dark clothes were certainly a nice contrast I would've noticed if I wasn't too busy writhing with fear in them. A petite nurse, even tinier than me, was ahead of Piper and me, directing us to the room where I would eventually meet the doctor. For minutes, Piper and I sat in the room alone, taking in the surroundings and keeping quiet.



Someone knocked outside the room and invited himself in, poking his balding head around the, of course, white door. "Good morning," he said casually, shutting the door slowly behind him. His eyes were small and grey, the same color as his thinning, smokey-colored hair. Within his hand was a brown board with papers clipped to it, and inside the pocket of his long white coat were pens. "Hello, Piper," he acknowledged her, baring his pearly teeth. "Nice to see you again. I assume you're doing well."



She smiled back. "Yes, Dr. Keeton. I'm fine."



He glimpsed down at the papers in his hand. "And this is... Delilah Sefton, correct?" Dr. Keeton asked, peering up at me.



Taking a gulp of air, I nodded. "I am Delilah, yes."



"It's nice to meet you, Miss Sefton," he said, his smile welcoming and honest. My body, however, wouldn't relax. The tension in my muscles was threatening to spasm. "It says here," he began, glancing downward again, "that your medical records have gone missing."



"Y-yes," I answered unevenly. I was hoping that he'd ask no questions, but that was a silly wish. "They're just... gone."



Nodding once, he replied, "I see," without a look up. "How long have you been pregnant, Miss Sefton?"



I had to keep reminding myself that he was speaking to me and not some other person with the actual last name "Sefton". "About a month and a half."



Dr. Keeton's thin eyebrows grew close together. "Are you sure?"



Was I sure? Of course I was sure! I knew that six weeks earlier my father pinned me down and raped me against my will and spread his seed into my body. I knew that the baby inside of me was developing ever since that incident a month and a half prior to this appointment. How dare he ask me such a thing!



As my blood boiled under my skin, in my palm lit a small fire. I ground my teeth together and fought to extinguish it, but I was filled with rage. "Delilah, stop!" Piper shouted, grabbing my other, empty wrist. "Put it out!" she ordered, her eyes pleading.



Using a lot of willpower, I folded up my hand into the ball of a fist. I could still feel the heat against my skin, like the harsh rays of sun pressing down on my pores, but when I reopened my hand, it was empty. Exhaling, I looked at the doctor, whose eyes were staring back at me. "Oh no," I whispered, my now fire-less hand covering my lips.



"No, it's okay," Piper assured me. "He's frozen." Thank god Piper was there. "Hopefully he didn't see the flames..."



"Yeah..." I whispered again, letting my limb fall back to my side. "I was so infuriated by him, though. Asking me if I was sure."



Piper could see the fury reappear in my face and quickly tried to stop it. "Delilah, he doesn't know everything that happened, okay? He doesn't realize that you were... assaulted, and he doesn't know when the conception was. You have to understand that." Her words made me pause and close my eyes, releasing the negative effect of his question. "Maybe you don't look like you're only six weeks along," the witch offered, shrugging her shoulders. "Just be careful, okay. I know it's hard."



Sighing, I shook my head up and down. "Okay," I said back. "Unfreeze him."



Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Piper flick her wrists at Dr. Keeton, whom suddenly came back to life. He cocked his head to the side, waiting for me to say something. '"Are you sure?" he had asked, remember?' my mind reminded me. "Yes," I answered matter-of-factly, "I'm sure."



Dr. Keeton looked skeptical. "Could you stand up for a minute, Miss Sefton?"



I eyed Piper worriedly, who nodded encouragingly at me, and stood from my chair. "If you wouldn't mind, could you please lift up your shirt?" he asked, though his tone was more a soft command.



My hands clasped the end of my shirt, slowly peeling it upward to reveal the curve of my belly. Somehow, to me, it did look a little bigger compared to this morning in the bathroom, but I disregarded the thought. I was just being paranoid.



Immediately, Dr. Keeton's face showed concern. I realized he'd seen the large scar along my abdomen. "How did that happen?" he inquired with bulging orbs in his sockets.



"Uh..." I hummed, stalling to say something logical. "My ex-boyfriend was abusive," I said finally. "Very abusive." The wide, grey eyes averted up to mine, still in shock. "He's in jail now, though," I lied.



Absently, his head bobbled up and down. He walked closer to me, setting his clipboard down onto the computer desk beside where Piper sat. His big hands prepared to touch my lump of stomach, but he asked for permission first. Shakily, I told him he could. His hands pressed down just above my navel, then felt around the circular opening, but were careful not to touch the faded line that my father had created years before. "Are you in a relationship now, Miss Sefton?" the doctor questioned as he felt the bump.



"Yes," I said quickly, mesmerized by his hands' movement. "A healthy one."



His hands did one last rotation, his fingers slightly pressing down in some areas. "Miss Sefton, I would like you to have an ultrasound," he declared, removing his hands.



'What's an ultrasound?!' I silently cried, freaking out over it. Freeze him I yelled to Piper using my power. Piper bounced in her chair, kind of like how Prue would always jump when I'd asked her something with my power, and did as she was told. The doctor was immobilized once more. "What's an ultrasound?" I asked in an anxious voice.



"Calm down," Piper said in a hushed tone, glancing up at the man in the white coat as though he'd be able to hear us through the freeze. "It's a machine they use to see babies inside the uterus."



My eyes were suddenly very Dr. Keeton-like. "Really?!" I gawked. I almost felt excited, but then the anxiousness took over again. What if it didn't even look like a baby?



"How hideous he looks..." I recalled my father say in my dream a couple nights prior. The voice sent chills down my spine.



"It won't hurt, will it?" I asked. "He won't... put it in me?"



"No, no," Piper clarified. "He'll put some gel on your stomach, and it may be a little cold, but that'll be all. No pain or anything."



I considered this. "Do you think I should?"



Piper's mouth was at an angle, showing her uncertainty. "He seems to be fascinated by your stomach, so maybe it's worth checking out," she offered.



That was true. I looked back at his thin fingers, inches away from my flesh. He did seem in awe for some reason. Maybe it was worth checking out.



"Okay," I replied softly. "Unfreeze him again."



Dr. Keeton's eyelids batted twice, waiting for my response. "Okay," was all I said.



The older man turned away and walked over to bed that lay on the other side of a curtain dividing the room. "Please get onto the bed while I set up the machine," he instructed, forcing the curtain back. Still holding the fabric of my shirt, I strolled over to the white and light blue bed. Piper followed me and helped me climb on top of it. The white paper that covered the middle of the cushioning made loud crinkling noises as I positioned myself in its center. My face grew hot with embarrassment, but Piper smiled gingerly at me, reminding me that it was alright. Again, I would've felt even better if Prue'd been there in her place, smiling, or even smirking, for that matter, but Piper was fine for the moment.



Dr. Keeton pulled over a rectangular piece of equipment as high as his midsection. Upon the machinery was a keyboard and computer, along with many thick wires and electrical cables. The screen of the computer was pitch black, but then Dr. Keeton stood in front of it and made clicking noises with the keyboard. After a few minutes, he turned around, holding a bottle like one for carrying toothpaste. "This gel is going to be a little cold," he warned before squirting a little onto my stomach. He was right; it was freezing! My fingers dug into the crinkling-paper instantly and my insides were a little warmer. The baby must've been keeping warm from the sudden chilliness.



He took a device out that was stuck to the computer. The shape slightly reminded me of a dildo, but I wasn't very turned on by it. Especially when it was in the hands of this old man. "Wh-what's that for?" I shivered, tensing up.



"This will show us the baby on the screen," he informed me. He sounded sincere, so I had to believe his was telling the truth. He placed the tool onto the spot where the thick gel lay, and began to lather the cold substance over my curvy abdomen.



The heat was growing in the pit of my midsection and it was starting to get uncomfortable. 'Please be good,' I silently prayed to the fetus. The doctor kept moving the dildo-like device along my belly, and I could see the computer screen behind him start to show greys and whites instead of solely black. "Is it showing up?" I asked, leaning forward.



Dr. Keeton peered backward, his hand moving slowly on my body. "Ah," he said to the computer, his cheekbones rising. He faced me with a grin. "There."



I could see it. The small, distorted grey shadow of something. I saw a circular head, outlined in a solid white, and another circle attached to the first one. There was a curve that I assumed was the nose and, I swear, I could see the heart beating and beating. My own heart seemed to be stuck in my throat. "That's..." I whispered. "Piper, that's him..."



"Yeah," she said quietly and laughed. "There it is."



Both of us watched the figure float in a dark space on the screen, hypnotized by its small movements. Even Dr. Keeton, whom I imagined had seen many of these before, stood there captivated by this video.



"It's beautiful..." I breathed, my eyes becoming clouded by tears. It was amazing to see how my father and I could've made something so... wonderful.



Dr. Keeton turned himself around and took the long tool off of my stomach. "Great, isn't it?" he said, wearing the same grin.



"Magical," I whispered, wiping my eyes with my fingers.



Dr. Keeton chuckled a little. I glanced up at Piper, her expression almost proud. Swallowing down the moisture I'd grown from the emotional moment, I smiled up at her, and then at Dr. Keeton. 'My little baby,' I sang to myself.



"But, Miss Sefton," Dr. Keeton said, interrupting my brief happiness, "there's something you have to know." My sudden smile faded into a small horizontal line. "Your pregnancy hasn't lasted for only six weeks."



I pulled back into the noisy paper and drew my eyebrows together. "Doctor, I swear, that's how long it's been--"



"No, Miss Sefton," he interjected. "Based on the looks of your fetus and the shape of your stomach, it appears you have been pregnant for 15 weeks."



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Let me know what you think! :)