Sticky...

She knew when she got married that there would be challenges. That how different their upbringings were would add to those. She knew that. They knew that. They had talked about it. Understood that it would take a little extra compromise from both of them at times. But that's what marriage was all about even when backgrounds were similar, and theirs certainly weren't. She knew that they could make it through even the most challenging times. Or at least hoped.

"You're pregnant?" 

"Surprise..."

"That's not funny."

"Well it's kind of funny. I mean, it is a surprise."

"You fucking cheated on me and you think that it's funny?"

"Oh wait, babe, no. I absolutely didn't cheat on you. I would never. You know that."

"So you decided to get artificial insemination without talking to me first? Without seeing what I thought about it?"

"No, I didn't do that. I wouldn't do something so major without us both deciding we were ready for children. You know that too."

"I know a lot of things. Like I know that it's impossible for you to get pregnant without cheating on me or getting artificial insemination."

"Impossible is a word for...well...we don't use the word impossible in my community."

"Oh come on! You are going to try and fall back on that?"

"It's the truth. Impossible is for science not magic."

Her wife just glared at her. Yeah, this one was going to be more challenging to get past than deciding who to spend Christmas with. 

She thought back to a lesson on brewing potions with her sister. 

"I hate potions."

"You don't hate potions, you just aren't as good at them as I am."

"No, I mean it. I'd rather do blood magic. I like it better. It's more sticky."

"It wouldn't be if you cleaned your work stations more often."

"Ha. ha. Very funny. You know what I mean. Potions wear off too quickly. It's a lot of work for a little time. Blood magic sticks. You work one spell with blood magic and that shit's forever."

"Not quite forever."

"Okay, maybe not quite forever. But pretty much forever."

"That's why I like potions better. Because I do know how long they will last. No matter what the spell is there is an exact amount of time it will last. Blood magic is unpredictable."

"Blood magic lasts. It's sticky. Potions and spells with nothing but will behind them are all limited."

She smiled at the memory. Which was a mistake. 

"Why are you smiling? What the hell?"

"I'm sorry. I was just thinking about my sister. She would totally be on your side."

"ANYONE would be on my side. Seriously, what the fuck? You're sitting here telling me you're pregnant and expecting me to just be cool with it. I can't get you pregnant. You can't get me pregnant. It's one of the many benefits to being a lesbian. No unexpected pregnancies."

"And I should have expected it. I mean as soon as Jenn died I should have thought about it, but I didn't and I'm sorry about that."

"Look, I don't want to sound like an asshole here, but what the fuck does your sister dying have to do with this?"

"Do you remember our sixth month anniversary when I took you to the Ravel Manor House?"

"I don't want to play memory lane right now..."

"No, trust me, this is relevant. Really."

"Okay, sure, whatever, yeah, of course I remember it. It was lovely."

She opened her phone and did a quick search then handed it to her wife. 

"It's gone."

The article showed a collapsed ruin where the house had stood. There were some quotes from locals about how suddenly it just fell apart. The house had stood for centuries then suddenly it was just rubble. The reporter had tried to contact the owners to see what had happened but there was no one left. The last Ravel had died. There was actually a lot of confusion over who the land would go to, the only deed on record stated that if the Ravels left, the land would then belong to the King. 

The last King to rule that area had done so five hundred years ago. And there was no clear line as to who would represent the crown now. That particular King ruled over a kingdom that covered what was now 5 different countries. So do all of the countries have a claim? Or would it have been whoever was in charge of that particular fiefdom? Which would cover three different counties. Or should it just go to the township or the county or the city or the country that the manor had been in while it stood? And if it just reverted to the local government were they then incharge of determining why the manor had collapsed and turned to rubble so quickly? 

The article left the reader with a lot of questions and no answers. 

"Fascinating. Really great stuff. And, again, what the fuck does this have to do with anything?"

"What they called a deed, wasn't a deed. It was a binding document. One done with intent behind it. And tied to blood."

"And..."

"So you know we've talked about different types of magic, that was blood magic. Blood magic stays in place as long as that blood line exists. If you were to actually look at when the last Ravel died and when the house collapsed you would see it was the same day. Probably the exact same time. And when the house collapsed it collapsed with all the weight of how old it was hitting it all at once. Which is why it basically disintegrated. It had been held through blood magic. When the line died, the magic failed."

"So the old house fell down. Tragedy. Again...what the fuck does this have to do with us?"

"Spells can be really specific and can include a lot of things. Especially blood magic spells. If you have enough will, and enough blood you can make a really strong binding. One of my ancestors made one of the strongest known. My line. My blood line back centuries. Jenn and I were the end of the line. Two more chances to continue the line. When Jenn died well...one more chance."

"And so you decided to continue your line?"

"No, again, honey, I would never do something without talking to you. Never. But I didn't think about what Jenn dying meant. Not about that anyway. That unless I carried a child that our bloodline would end. With my death the spell would come undone."

"And our house would fall down? Sorry, this house was built new 15 years ago. Try a different story."

"I don't actually know what would happen. I don't know what the original spell was for. I just know there has always been another one of us. There has always been a continuation of our bloodline. No matter how improbable a healthy pregnancy might seem, there is always a child. They wove it into the spell. A self perpetuating line."

She looked at her wife trying to see in her eyes if she understood what she was saying. 

"When this child is born. Our daughter, it will have to be a daughter since neither of us have a Y chromosome to give, the DNA test is going to show that she is our child. Both of us."

"That's impossible."

"Again, not a word we use."

"So you are trying to tell me that not only are you pregnant, but you are pregnant with my baby?"

"That's what I'm telling you. And I should probably add that most likely she won't be an only child."

....

She knew when she got married that there would be challenges. That how different their upbringings were would add to those. She knew that. They knew that. They had talked about it. Understood that it would take a little extra compromise from both of them at times. But that's what marriage was all about even when backgrounds were similar, and theirs certainly weren't. She had just always assumed that the biggest challenge would be dealing with a whole family that thought they were actually magical. Now she knew the biggest challenge would be dealing with a whole family that actually was. Including her newborn daughter.