Helen Lovejoy: Baby Blues

1.

She drove to the church on a monday afternoon. It was not an unusual thing for the minister's wife to do, but she had just been to the hospital.

On the way there, she got caught up in a traffic jam. While the people around her yelled words so rude they can't be mentioned here, she just stared ahead. There was no hurry, after all.

There were also no demons, which was a plus, as she was hardly in a fighting mood.

It had been 3pm when Helen Lovejoy had left the hospital, but it was 3:45 when she parked in the shadows of the First Church of Springfield. She stepped out of the car, walking quickly towards the doors and down the hall towards her husband's office.

The Rev. Timothy Lovejoy was reading his bible when his wife entered the room.

"Hello, Helen," he said, smiling at her. "How are-" then he stopped, for his wife looked out of breath. "Why don't you sit down?"

Helen nodded quickly, moving towards the large chair in front of her husband's desk and sitting down gingerly. "Hi, Tim." she replied.

Lovejoy looked at her in a confused manner, his head to one side. "So, my dear, what posessed you to come and see me when you know I'll be coming home in fifteen minutes?"
"Nothing's posessed me! Why? Am I acting odd?"

"No! Well, you look tired, but I don't think you're posessed. I'm just wondering why you came here?"

Opposite him, his wife took a deep breath. "Tim," she declared. "I went to the hospital today."

"Was something wrong?"
"No, nothing's wrong at all." Helen took another deep breath. Her husband looked at her.

"Tim," she said at last. "I'm pregnant."

When she had came in, her husband had been slouched over his desk, resting his arms on the desk as he read the Bible. Now he sat up straight, his eyes wide.

"This isn't a joke, is it?" he asked. His voice sounded like it didn't want to leave his mouth.

"Why would I joke about something like this?" Helen asked, standing up and walking over to where her husband sat. "I've been pregnant for three months, Tim. Dr Hibbert said I should give you this; it has the date of conception on it and everything."

The Reverend took the slip of paper from his wife, read it, then placed it on the desk in front of him, his hands shaking. "Yes," he muttered. "I remember that..."

"You're not scared, are you?"

"No, I'm not scared, it's just... oh, Helen!" He leapt out of his chair and pulled Helen into his arms. "I'm going to be a father again!" he cried, holding her close and kissing her.

"Good for you, Lovejoy," Mrs Fisch said as she walked past the door. "I always thought you'd make a good one."
Lovejoy nodded politely as the organist walked away. Then, turning his attention to Helen again, he said: "Sorry. It's just, well, I'm looking forward to it."

"I assumed you were!" His wife laughed. "You really aren't worried, are you?"

"Well, I suppose it's normal for parents to be a bit worried... but you're not, are you? I mean, we've had a baby before, so it's hardly anything new, is it?"
"I suppose not. But I guess I am a little bit worried."

"I understand." Lovejoy replied, and the pair held each other for a little while longer. Then, after what seemed like forever, they got in the car and drove home.

Helen could hardly forget about her pregnancy; in fact, she and her husband talked of nothing else for the entire evening. By the time they went to bed, the Reverend had decided which one of the two spare rooms was going to be for the new baby, and he told Helen about how it was the nicer of the two and it would be a perfect room for a small child. Helen nodded politely, but as her husband fell asleep beside her, she began to concentrate on the things she was worried about, and they weren't the things your average mother-to-be even considered.

Four months ago, Helen had discovered she was a demon slayer - one of a small group of people who could see the demons who lurked in every town. These demons could do severe damage, and if you could see them, you could also destroy them. Over the last few months, Helen had become very good at it. But, three months ago, the demons had managed to posess her husband, almost killing her in the process. She and her mentor, Roberta Lewis, had managed to return him to normal, but that wasn't what worried her.

Her husband had been posessed for at least a week, and the first day of that week was when her baby had been concieved.

In her mind, she heard the voice of that demon in Timothy's body, saw the way it had grinned at her from the table, even though it was about to be exorcised and had nothing to grin about.

"You're gonna have to let me stay... you're carrying my child."

Was her baby a demon? It was a confusing thought, especially if you were as nervous about it as Helen was. The thought that she might have a demon inside her was almost enough to make her want to have a miscarraige.

On the other hand, if it wasn't a demon, it was a baby. Tim's baby, something Helen definately wanted to have, even if she had done it before. As she rested a hand on her stomach (it was too early for anything to be noticeable), she began to wonder what her baby might look like. Maybe it would have Tim's dark hair, her green eyes...

Or green skin and yellow teeth?

The mere thought of that was enough to jolt Helen out of her dreams. It was no good; she would have to ask Roberta about it tomarrow.

With that thought in mind, she rested back on her pillow and fell into a dreamless sleep.