Woken up in the middle of the night from a nightmare, Davi cheers of the pregnant Nina by showing her his 'special place' out in the forest.'

I keep uploading these at different times of day. I wish I could be uniform. I also keep wondering which time of day would be best for uploading these to maximize the amount of eyes on it. Eh, whatever.

Part 4 of a commission for  geckoguy123456789 of his kinkajou girl Nina and her adventures in pregnancy out in the middle of the Amazon Rainforest.

GIMME YOUR COMMENTSSSSSSSS

<<< PREV | FIRST | NEXT >>>

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

25 FEBRUARY

It's long past midnight now, the moon as bright as the daytime sun. If I were to guess, I'd say somewhere around three in the morning. I've lit a small candle next to our bedroll and I'm writing while Davi is fast asleep, one hand wrapped around my waist. Ever since the baby began to move, I'm no stranger to interrupted sleep. Our child seems to take every opportunity to toss and turn inside my belly, jostling me awake in the middle of the night for no reason whatsoever. The baby is lucky that I'm the forgiving type.

A few hours ago, I woke up to a mad flurry of kicks to my insides. I groggily rubbed a hand over my stomach, trying to calm the little one. Daaga was very observant after all. I'm growing larger than I expected. I look at least a month bigger than Lalik, though we conceived around the same time. I feel very maternal and satisfied as my belly grows more full with the fruit of my love for Davi. The Naragaka seem to respect me just a little more, the farther I am into this pregnancy. Perhaps it's some kind of respect for my burdens, but I like to believe that they find my natural fertility something to be admired. I certainly do, at times.
I groggily laid awake, patting my stomach as the tiny kinkajou inside batted away at my hand from the outside. Davi shifted in his sleep and laid a hand over my belly as well, protectively. It felt nice for both of us to hold the baby before they're even born. It's odd that I have no way to tell the gender out here in the wilderness, away from sophisticated equipment, so I have no idea what to think of in terms of names. I'll have to ask Davi and Chitani what are some good Naragaka names, but I have a few Anglo-Saxon ideas of my own.
But as I considered my baby and how happy I was, I unexpectedly began to cry. I am embarrassingly hormonal, so sudden crying spells are not unusual, but this was different. It went from silent tears to open-mouth, heaving sobs of despair. It wasn't until Davi woke up to my shuddering against him that I realized why.

“Nina?” He mumbled, his face pressed into my hair. He curled his tail around my leg and sat up, blinking in the darkness before he realized I was crying. “Nina! My binala! What is it?” He sat up, one hand still against my belly. I turned over on my back to look at him in the darkness, the outside light just bright enough to make out the gleam from his eyes.
“My...my mother...” I sniffed, trying not to wake Chitani. “I was...dreaming about my mother and...and I'm going to be a mother too but...but...but she'll never meet her grandchild.” I sniffed once, choking back a sob as more tears fell past my face. “She'll never know my baby...” I pulled Davi close to me, using his soft-furred chest to muffle my sobs. He pulled me up to a sitting position and rocked me back and forth while I cried, one arm around my shoulder and the other rubbing my belly in a small circle.
“Shhhh...shshshshsh…” he whispered as my tears began to die down. “It will be alright, Nina...” I pulled away in the dark, feeling his hands wipe tears from my eyes. “I lost my mother, too, when I was young. She would have loved to see our baby. But I remember her love and the songs she would sing to me and how she showed me the world. As long as I remember her love, she is still with me, even though she is gone.”

“You don't understand,” I muffled, shaking my head. “My mother was all I had. You had your sister and your tribe. I had no one. I was alone.”
“I am here,” Davi said, gripping my shoulders. He lightly squeezed my belly under his fingers. “Our child is here. You are not alone anymore.”
“...I know...” I mumbled. The baby kicked again against Davi's hand. He rubbed the spot softly and chuckled quietly. I sighed, dejectedly, feeling with him. He could tell it didn't make me feel much better. He can be astoundingly perceptive, at times.
Shuffling over the wood and blankets, Davi scooted past me in the dark and stood, his silhouette just barely visible against the gaps in the hut. Leaning down, he took my hand.
“Follow me,” he whispered. “I'll show you something.”
“What is it?” I asked, letting him pull my heavy body up to stand. I stretched my back, rubbing it with my hands. My belly is definitely getting heavier.

“I'll show you,” he repeated, pulling aside the cloth in front of the doorway.
“I need to get dressed,” I said, still naked from our lovemaking from hours before.
“Don't bother,” he said, beckoning. “We are alone this night.” I contemplated this for a moment, then took Davi's hand and followed him into the moonlight.
The night air was surprisingly humid and warm, especially in February. Nevertheless, shivered at first, wrapping my arms around my chest. The fur on my belly was beginning to stretch too thin to cover all of it, so temperature was most sensitive on my navel. I rubbed it for warmth, feeling more protesting kicks from inside. Davi walked ahead of me and beckoned as he bounded off into the trees.

“Wait!” I hissed, trotting behind him as I peered through the darkness. My body had a weighty bounce I'd never felt before, my belly swaying from side to side if I moved faster than a walk. I pushed through the tress, completely naked, yet more concerned with finding Davi.
“Davi!” I called out. A rustling in the underbrush stopped, then headed toward me. Davi emerged from the moonlight.
“I am sorry,” he said smiling apologetically. He kissed me and patted my belly. “You cannot move as fast as before. I forgot.” He took my hand in his again and led me through the forest, through darkness I wasn't entirely sure how he saw through, even with dashes of moonlight cutting through the canopy above. We walked for about ten minutes, my paws beginning to get sore and my back even more so. My stomach bounced every time I stepped too heavily, and my little passenger inside wasn't very happy about it either. But as the sound of rushing water came to my ears, Davi mercifully stopped, not far from the closest river.

“I wanted to show you my special place,” Davi said. Letting go of my hand, he walked calmly forward and laid his palm flat against a large, thick three yawning skyward over a steep decline toward the water. “Where I come when I want to be alone.”
“Here?” I asked, looking around. It didn't seem very private. Davi shook his head, his white grin visible in the dark.
“No,” he said, pointing straight up the tree. “Up there.”
“O-oh,” I stammered, stepping back as I craned my neck upward. Its height was impressive, somehow rising above even the surrounding canopy, using the cliff it overlooked as an extra leverage. “Your...special place is...all the way up there?”
“At the top.” Davi hopped in place, kicked off the tree, and grabbed a low-hanging branch with one arm, effortlessly dangling in place. “I'll be right behind you.”
I snapped my head back down, hurting my neck as I stared wide-eyed at Davi. I stepped back, pointing to myself.
“You...me? Up there?” I glanced up again, craning my neck up at the incredible height. Davi wrapped his tail around the branch to steady himself and watched me expectantly. I shook my head and gestured down at my prominent belly. “Davi, look at me! I can't climb all the way up there!”

“Yes you can,” he said, simply. He dropped down to the ground and walked over to me, taking my hands in his and kissing my fingers. “You were born for the trees, Nina. It's what you are.” I pulled my hands away and stepped back. Turning to the side, I gestured to my stomach, running a finger around my curve for emphasis.
“I'm six months pregnant! Even if I could, it's dangerous!”
“That's why I'll be right underneath you,” Davi said, moving in to kiss me again, this time his hands around my belly. The baby began to turn over as he did, as if sensing their father's touch. “Do you think I would let my woman and my baby fall?” He flashed his broad smile again, winning me over completely. “You don't have to go all the way, but just try.”

I sighed, wincing at a strong kick to my rib. Davi felt it too, laughing while he rubbed the sides of my belly to calm our baby. Softening, I decided to at least humor him. I walked straight forward, using my new girth to bump him out of the way, as I shuffled toward the tree. The closer I got to the trunk, the higher it seemed to stretch into the sky. The truth was, I absolutely loved to climb. But living in the middle of London didn't afford many opportunities for tree climbing. There was an old tree with thick limbs in the park next to my primary school, but each time I tried to climb it at recess, I'd get reprimanded. It took many years to suppress the urge to scale every tall object and building in town, and it was even harder to bring it back up again.
The baby kicked yet again, this time to the outer wall of my womb. I brought a hand to it automatically, feeling the tiny foot pressing out against my palm as they tested out the limbs that would likely find the same urge to climb as I had. Whether it was my own curiosity, Davi's convincing, or whether his baby's genetics were starting to affect my brain, I really needed to see what was at the top of that tree.
I reached up and took hold of a lower branch, high enough above my head that I had to stand on my toes to reach it. It was sturdy, but just thin enough to wrap my hand around. Taking a deep breath, I grasped with my other hand and hopped off the ground. My muscles strained against ways they hadn't been used in years. With the added weight of a baby belly, my body felt heavier than ever. I could only dangle there like a dying leaf in fall, waiting for a slight breeze to knock me off.

I blushed as I heard Davi chuckle behind me, clenching my jaw in frustration. Kicking my legs, I was able to build up momentum to start swinging. Before long, I had a healthy arc going, the weight of my body being countered by my arms and the tips of my paws grazing the ground. As I got higher and higher, I felt my tail, which dangled freely between my legs, touch against another branch somewhere underneath me. On the next swing, my upward angle took me just high enough to wrap my tail around the branch like a rope.
I stopped instantly, my arms still holding onto the first branch with my tail clenching onto the second. I dangled helplessly between them, like a hammock, not sure what to let go of first. I took a deep breath and let go of the first branch. I swung, up-side down by my tail, in a wide arc, feeling my hair scrape along the ground. As soon as I realized I was moving too fast to control myself, a pair of strong arms caught me before I went to far, gently lowering me toward the ground.

“Very brave, Nina!” Davi said, beaming. If he were anyone else, I'd assume he was making fun of me. He held me completely off the ground like a baby, my hands clutched over my chest and my heart racing. My tail drooped limply over his elbow and to the ground, just touching the dirt below. Davi lowered me to my feet and helped me pick leaves and twigs out of my hair. The baby in my belly was kicking and thrashing angrily, unhappy at the abrupt somersault they just experienced. I turned to Davi, panting, while he pulled a stick out from the back of my head somewhere.

“Let's try again,” he said. “I think I will give you a boost this time.”
He led me over to the side of the tree and took a knee, cupping his hands together as he waited for me to move. I raised an eyebrow and smirked, patting my stomach.
“I'm not as light as you think I am,” I said.
“You are as light as sunlight, Nina,” he said, dreamily, gesturing with his hands.

I took a deep breath, let it out, took in another, let it back out, then took in one more and held it. Striding forward, bare paws on the ground, I moved faster with every step I took, until I nearly jogged my foot into Davi's hands. With unexpected speed and strength, he lifted me up almost above his head, nearly launching me into the air. I panicked, grabbing two different branches with both my arms and wrapping my tail tightly around a third. My belly pressed against the tree trunk uncomfortably, my size only barely keeping my face away from the bark. The baby was protected by my uterine lining, but kicked out uncomfortably as my womb was squished. I thought of it as punishment for waking me up in the middle of the night.
Nevertheless, the act left me solidly ten feet above the ground, in the tree. Davi laughed again, scurrying up the side and perching on a branch just a little above my left hand.

“That wasn't so bad, was it?” He asked. I just panted. “Try to climb. You'll love it.”
Calming my breathing, I let go of the right branch and let my body swing to the left, my feet finding solid purchase on a thick limb. With my tail still secured around another branch, I felt more secure and safe than I expected. I even let go over the branch above my head, letting my arms fall to my side and using only my tail as an anchor. Curious, I reached forward and took another branch, stepping forward onto the next, just a little higher than the first. Then I stepped onto another, then another, then another, and then another. Glancing down, in just a few movements, I was already another eight feet higher than I had been, Davi still squatting below me and watching me climb. He smiled, waving in encouragement.

I took each step and each hold once at a time, each one becoming easier and easier the higher I got. By the time I was near the middle of the tree, my fear had disappeared completely. I was a little girl again, flipping around from branch to branch, my tail anchoring me to safety as I hopped between limbs. My pregnancy was only barely a hindrance, and in ways I could easily avoid. Paradoxically, I never felt more safe and more secure in my life than when I was up in that tree. Before I had known it, in what felt like seconds, I reached the top. There was a small, deliberate carving in the bark near my face of a kinkajou stick figure, characterized by its long tail. As if on cue, Davi scampered effortlessly next to me.

“It was so easy!” I exclaimed, swinging between two branches with my tail anchoring me to the trunk. Davi just grinned. “I haven't climbed this high in years, and it felt like nothing!” I panted, my heart racing excitedly.
“Is this you?” I asked, pointing to the figure. He nodded.
“It's how I know it's the same tree,” he said. “How I marked my special place.”
“Why is this your special place?”
Instead of answering, Davi simply pointed out beyond the tree. I turned, following his arm and gasped as I saw the valley. The tree grew in such a way that the very top was a good ten feet above the rest of the forest canopy. The upper branches overlooked the dense rainforest valley, the treetops stretching out like a vast expanse of green clouds. The nearby river cut through the trees like it had been painted there, gently swooping in a wide S-shape into the distance. The night was cloudless, the moon and stars giving us as much light as the noontime sun. I didn't even shiver in the wind, only finding the cold air cleansing.

“Wow...” I said, climbing over to sit between two nearby limbs with my back to the trunk. Davi circled around and sat beside me on an adjacent limb. Our tails curled around the branches we sat on, so we held hands instead.
“You can't ever see how beautiful it is from beneath,” Davi sighed, entwining his fingers between mine.
“Can you see the village from here?” I asked, swiveling in place to look in the direction we came. Davi leaned over to point over my shoulder to a point just a little to the right. If I squinted, I could make out wisps of smoke in the distance.
“It's easier right as night falls,” he said. “You can see the glow from the fires, then.”

I turned around, watching Davi gaze out nostalgically at the view. He was as naked as I was, his body carved by moonlight and rimmed by the stars behind him. I lost time staring at him, casting my memory back to the day I first met an awkward kinkajou boy in faded, donated clothes too small for him. To think I'd be with him in his village, alone on a moonlit night, and carrying his baby would have been a fairy tail. He felt my gaze and turned to meet it, smiling. I blushed like a little girl, turning down to look at my feet dangling beneath me past my belly.

“Are you learning much from Chitani?” he asked in Naragaka.
“I think so,” I responded in kind. “I'm getting to know the women around our hut. They bring me extra food sometimes. I think they are beginning to like me.”
“What about the other expecting mothers?” Davi asked. I paused, twiddling my fingers together.
“Lalik and I are close...” I said. “...Daaga says I'm growing healthily!” I added cheerily, putting a hand to my belly. “She says the baby is healthy, very active. Very big, too!”
“He'll be in the treetops in no time,” Davi said, proudly reaching over to feel my stomach himself. “Or she,” he added. Looking up, he turned the subject back. “What about the others?”

“They...” I sighed, feeling the baby kick and gazing out to the horizon. “...Theda has turned some of them against me. They call me a deceitful whore behind my back.” I sniffed, hormones bringing up quick and unexpected tears. “I used to get angry, but now I'm just...”
“Theda comes from a different village,” Davi said, frowning in the closest thing to anger I'd ever seen from him. “Her people have always been aggressive. Long ago, they were a different tribe, but became Naragaka later. We know not to listen to them.”
“I knew this might happen,” I sniffed, fighting back more tears with everything I could. “I thought as long as you and Chitani were with me, I could ignore it.”
“They'll come to like you in time,” Davi reassured me. He smiled, brushing hair out of my eyes. “They're only jealous of how beautiful and full of life you've become.”

I snickered and turned away bashfully.
“I haven't seen myself in months,” I said. “You don't have mirrors. I may be full, but I don't feel very beautiful.”
“Don't believe your reflection,” he said. “It will lie to you. I won't.” Grabbing the branch above him, Davi leaned over and kissed me, wrapping his arm around my back. I was starstruck yet again. “Believe me when I say you are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen.” He shifted down and kissed my stomach. “Our baby's beauty will all come from you, Nina.” A hard kick, bulging out from my fur, deformed my belly and nearly jabbed Davi in the nose. “Although he might have inherited my warrior spirit.” He added, facetiously. Davi was many things, but a warrior was not one of them.
“Or she,” I added. Davi kissed my bellybutton.
“Or she,” he repeated. He returned to his sitting position and took my hand in his again. “Have you thought of any names?”

“I don't even know if it's a boy or girl yet.”
“Neither do I,” Davi said. “You would know better than I. What do you feel?”
I sighed, closing my eyes with hands on either side of my belly. The baby was unusually still, only stirring slightly between my hands. If I concentrated, I could imagine holding them in my arms rather than my womb. It was amazing how much their personality had developed. They were most active in the early morning, squirming awake with the sunrise and seemed to calm down only once I ate a bowlful of figs. I used to find them strange, but now I don't want to eat anything else.
“I can't tell,” I said, shaking my head. “It could be either one, I just don't know.”
“Then we can think of both,” Davi said. “Maybe they could have an English name, like you?”
“But the Naragakan names are so beautiful, so special. And I want them to know where they came from.”
“I have heard so many Naragakan names,” Davi said, shaking his head. “If they are beautiful, it is lost to me.” He paused, then turned to me and asked “What was your mother's name?”

I choked, a sudden well of emotion surging back up inside me. I swallowed the lump in my throat and managed to speak past it.
“…Charlotte.”
“It's perfect,” He said, smiling. “What about your father?”
“What about yours?” I countered. Surprise struck Davi's face. He blinked, thinking deeply.
“...Rami,” he said, quietly. “I...have not thought about them in many years.”
“We have lost so much. Both of us,” I said, squeezing Davi's hand in mine. I brought his hand again to my belly, guiding his palm over its surface. “Why not think of what we've gained?”
He felt my stomach quietly, smiling to himself as the baby squirmed, but his eyes still seemed heavy with thought. Davi pulled away, turning to look out at the view. A sharp breeze cut through us and gently swayed the tree.

“Nina,” he said, pausing. “...What will you do after you give birth?” He had reverted back to Portuguese.
“Oh...” I hesitated, my mind split between answering the question and pondering his expression. “I...haven't thought about that much. I've been so concerned about the birth that...” I frowned, shifting on the branch and flexing my tail. “I...I thought I would go back to school and finish my masters but...that doesn't seem so important n-”
“I want to go with you,” Davi said, curtly. He nodded to himself as he looked out on the horizon.
“Davi...” I muttered, stunned. “But...you want to leave the village?”
He nodded again.
“You'll just...you want to leave everything behind? The Naragaka are your people, your family. What about Chitani?”
“Chitani can make her own decisions,” Davi said, grimly. “What about you? What about our child? Don't you want to raise Rami or Charlotte in the world you came from?”
“Don't you?” I countered, still incredulous. “There's no place like this village where I come from. The world outside is complex, dangerous. Here...they'll be safe. We'll be safe.”

“Our baby will be caged, Nina,” Davi said, looking over and shaking his head. “Yes, this place is my home, but I don't want to stay here forever. When I left the village for the first time, to go to Brasillia, I came back an outcast. I was almost thrown out of the village completely, were it not for Chitani arguing on my behalf. Though, in truth, I think it was out of pity I was allowed to stay.”
He sighed, turning around on the branch to face me again, his expression more pleading than angry.
“Nina...how can I tell you in one night what took me my entire life to learn? The Naragaka are my people, and I love them dearly. But they are cowardly, fearful of a world that is already leaving them behind. I can't stay here anymore. It's wrong of us to live like this, so isolated in our paradise, like a cage made out of gold. There is so much more to see, to do, so much more life to live than can be found in these trees!”

He looked down, catching sight of my belly in the moonlight and smiling. He watched and traced a finger along the bulge the baby made with their foot. I had barely noticed until they turned over and jabbed me in the stomach. I hiccuped, patting myself to calm them.
“Look,” Davi said, “whether son or daughter, our child has so much energy. Already they're ready to get out of you and see the world. I won't let them be trapped here like I was.” He shook his head and looked away, mumbling to himself “Like Chitani...” in Naragaka.
I sighed, shifting on the branch. I felt the baby settle in the lower pit of my womb, cradled as they finally started to calm down and sleep.
“...It will be hard, Davi,” I said, shaking my own head. “London is half the world away. It will be a lot to get used to.”
Davi looked up and paused before a wide smile bloomed on his face.
“I could walk across the ocean if I needed to,” He said, “as long as I'm with you and little Charlotte.”
“Or little Rami.” I nodded. “Alright. We'll go back together. All of us. As a family.”

Davi smiled and laughed, a deep-throated, meaty laugh that echoed off over the valley. Letting go of the branch he flipped over and dangled from only his tail. He hopped from limb to limb excitedly, lithely twisting his body between leaves and branches. I followed him down, not quite as acrobatically, but as flexibly as I could with a child in my belly. I met him halfway down, while he hung upside-down, and we kissed before meeting at the trunk, panting and laughing. Davi took my hand and began to walk toward the village, but I stayed in place and pulled him back.

“Wait,” I said, in Naragaka. I slid closer to him, running a finger up the smooth fur over his muscular torso. “There is not enough night left to sleep.” I trailed my finger down his stomach and ended with my hand between his legs. “And I'm not very tired anymore.[/i]”
Davi shuddered, a different smile on his face. He glanced at me, eyes half-lidded, and slid his palm over my filling, round belly before slipping it underneath and between my legs. I inhaled sharply through my teeth.

“There is no reason to wake my sister,” He responded, coyly.
We found a patch of smooth grass next to the river and occupied ourselves for the rest of the night. It was only with the rising of the sun that we finished and went back to the village, our bodies drained but our hearts full.