Broadcast: Chapter 32 - Fact Check

Thomas grumbled, looking around on the beach. Most tourists would kill to be out on the sandy dunes all alone, the ocean lightly washing against the shore and slipping water in between his toes. But he was already in a bad and confused mood from his interactions with Hayley and he had just been abandoned by Chieftain, a local Hawaiian who gave him a shoulder to cry on, so to speak. The big man appeared out of nowhere and he left just as mysteriously. For such a large guy, he sure moved quietly. And as the sun set beautifully over the sea's horizon line and the balmy air started to get cooler, Thomas couldn't see well enough to even signal for another person.

Still, Thomas stayed in the ocean, the salt water halfway between his knees and ankles. He was squinting, looking at the rocks he was sinking into the wet sand. Somehow, whatever Chieftain said stuck with him. "If you place a rock near the water, do you expect it to face each wave and just sit there?"

"Shit if I know," Thomas muttered, trying to make out the rocks in the dimming light. "They're rocks. They don't have much of a say in things, do they?" Thomas felt a kinship with these rocks as he thought about it. His feelings for Lucy and Hayley and Jaimee, his career goals, none of that seemed to mean anything. The world was making decisions for Thomas and all he could do is roll with the punches.

He sighed, wondering why he was taking Chieftain so seriously. Thomas was ready to call it a night, pulling his phone out of his now-soaked pants. "Great, salt water can't be good for denim," Thomas said to himself, checking to see if Hayley had given him any heads-up about the night or if Jaimee had maybe texted him, begging forgiveness and asking to get back together. But there were no messages, save for an email from his local grocery store reminding him about ongoing sales.

As Thomas got ready to pocket his phone again and contemplated soaking his head in the crashing waves, the light from his phone illuminated the water. Thomas could see the rocks a little more clearly, and as a wave came in, the grains around the rocks shift and turn. It clicked for him: these rocks didn't just sit there when waves came. They changed their position to meet it.

Maybe Thomas wasn't as passive as he told himself. He'd made a lot of decisions to put him in this place. He chose to be a journalist. He chose to sabotage Hayley. He chose to quit PGNT and go work for the rival network. Thomas grit his fists and nodded: time to stop feeling sorry for himself and recognize that he was more in control than he pretended.

With a deep breath, Thomas turned around and headed out of the water. It was still extremely dark and he brought his phone out to light a path again. As soon as he started using it, a man's voice called out next to him. "Hey, thanks for that." Thomas adjusted the beam of light to see a young man around his age sitting on a large stone, polishing a surfboard. By the look of it, he was a native Hawaiian, though with a much more athletic build than Chieftain. "I left my phone back in my car."

"No problem," Thomas said. The surfer grinned at him and Thomas grinned back. This guy had nice charisma. "You're surfing this late?"

"No, that's too dangerous when there's so little moonlight," the surfer said, looking up at the starry sky. "I finished a while ago but I've just been waxing and cleaning my board. You get out of it what you put into it." He leaned forward, still smiling bright. "I'm Chris."

"Thomas," he replied, nodding.

"Can I ask you something?" Chris said, chuckling. "Were you just peeing in the ocean? I saw your silhouette standing there for, like, a while dude."

Thomas cleared his throat. "N-no, I was, um, thinking over some personal stuff."

Chris narrowed his eyes. "Someone didn't make you do the 'rock and the wave' riddle, did they?" As Thomas opened his mouth, Chris laughed. "That's just some gibberish locals use to play a trick on tourists looking for 'island wisdom,' dude. Glad you weren't out there too long."

"Right," Thomas said, glad the darkness hid his blush. "Hey, it's pretty hard to see out here. Do you know the way to the main resort on this beach? I need to meet up with my coworker."

"Sure. Surfing's just my hobby. I'm a cook at a couple of these touristy restaurants," Chris said, hopping up and tucking the surfboard under his arm. "There's actually a luau going on tonight and I was going to give my friends a hand with it. Think your coworker would meet us there?"

"Don't see why not," Thomas said, taking out his phone and sending off a quick text to Hayley.

---

Vivian curled up like a ball on the couch. At her current size, it wasn't hard. She was pregnant with what felt like eight full-ish term babies that were taking shifts to kick her in. The constant barrage of fetal movement gave Vivian an in-depth anatomy lesson: for example, she now knew exactly where her bladder and cervix were, thanks to one or the other getting socked once every ten minutes or so, either sending Vivian off-balance or into the bathroom.

And Vivian was barely five feet tall so her belly dominated the rest of her body. Even if Lucy was the biggest woman in the office, you'd think they were neck and neck by looking at them. 

She settled her hands against her bare, tight stomach and sighed, watching the otherwise smooth surface quiver and bulge from the movement inside. As Vivian slowly moved her fingertips up the slope, a sweet cooing laugh took her away. "Doing some parental bonding?"

Vivian blushed as Rose waddled next to her and sat down, wrapping one arm around the precocious researcher. Rose cupped one hand against her own pregnant weight and scooted on the couch, letting their exposed skin touch. Vivian was in a thick sweatshirt and a pair of underwear while Rose had slipped into her lingerie ever since coming to Vivian's apartment.

"Just curious," Vivian squeaked out. She was big enough to crush Rose's head if she sat on it but she still spoke and acted like a tiny speck. It didn't help that one look from Rose sent paralyzing shivers down Vivian's spine. "You don't have any kids of your own, do you Rose?"

"Nope, just these ones in my tummy," Rose said, giving it a loud pat.

"You just have this kinda...motherly vibe," Vivian shrugged. Rose's full red lips twitched before smiling wide and pulling Vivian close, letting the Asian woman rest her head on Rose's shoulder.

"Oh honey, are you calling me old?" Rose laughed with her Southern accent. "This make-up covers up a lot of years, you know."

Vivian turned her head up, her lips barely brushing Rose's neck. "You look perfect to me."

"Thank you, dear," Rose said, moving her arms to wrap around Vivian's waist, her thumbs stroking Vivian's nipples. "You have been doing so well at the station. All your research...it can't have been easy."

"It wasn't," Vivian murmured, her whole mind going spacey at Rose's touch. "No one appreciates what I do...no one except you."

"It makes me so happy to hear that," Rose purred. "But what you have dug up is so interesting. This pattern of pregnancies around the city is so funny, isn't it?"

"Yeah, and we all keep getting bigger," Vivian slurred. "E-except for Kirstie...and you. You kinda seem the same size."

"That's very sweet of you to say," Rose said, kissing Vivian on the forehead and immediately distracting her from such thoughts. "But say, think there might be a...patient zero in all of this? You should look into one woman who got pregnant before this all started."

"Who, like Lucy?" Vivian mumbled.

"No, before her," Rose said. "It has to be someone else."

"H-how are you so sure?" Vivian said, stopping and gasping as Rose bent down and licked the fringe of her ear.

"Just a hunch, honey. You're the smart one here," Rose giggled, moving her hands to start massaging Vivian's belly. For a moment, her mind was taken away as she saw her phone buzz on the coffee table.

"Rose? Could you sing for me?" Vivian cooed.

"Hmm?" Rose said, glancing at the phone's display. It was Derek calling her. Fourth time tonight, not that she was planning on picking up.

"It's just...your voice is so pretty. I'll bet you're a beautiful singer."

Rose clenched her teeth, watching as the call dropped yet again. "Oh...no hon. I sang a little when I was younger but I don't do that anymore." She felt Vivian's body sag a little and Rose sighed. "But I can do a little humming. How about that?"

Vivian tucked her body in a little closer and Rose began to hum, feeling Vivian's breathing and heart rate get slower before she drifted off to sleep, falling calmly into the palm of Rose's hand.

---

As Thomas sent his text and was walking toward the festivities with Chris, Hayley was already tearing into the second pig of the night, with the rest of the luau guests looking at the voracious pregnant woman. Even Luna looked nervous as she sat next to her new friend, still dressed in her floral dancer attire while Hayley transitioned back to her bikini. "Guess these are...cravings, huh?" Luna asked.

"Crvngs?" Hayley repeated with a mouthful of pork. She gulped it all down and grunted. "No, cravings are like when you start wanting food that's weird or super specific. No, this is just regular pregnant lady stuff. Eating for..." Hayley tried to count in her head and didn't feel like divulging all that information to Luna just yet. "Eating for more than just me."

Luna laughed nervously, nibbling on her smaller portion of ribs. Her own appetite was going haywire too. "Anyway, sorry about the dance class. I felt a little funny earlier today so there must be some disease going around. You get a bunch of tourists from around the world in one place and who knows what gets kicked up in the air."

"You look plenty healthy to me," Hayley grinned, slowly licking sauce from around her lips. "And at least we're still hanging out. I'm sure you could show me a few moves later."

Luna smiled. "I think in your condition, the dance moves the resort teaches might not be a good idea."

Hayley purred, scooting her wide hips closer to Luna's. "But you must know some moves."

She giggled and shrugged. "There are some teachers who come once a week and do some demonstrations for seniors. Those might work for you."

Is this chick serious? Hayley thought as she tried to turn up the charm some more. "I appreciate you wanting to be gentle but-"

"Hayley, hey," Thomas said, stepping up to the two of them. Hayley broke her gaze with Luna, shooting her coworker (soon-to-be former coworker) a death gaze before seeing Chris. He had a chiseled lifeguard physique and a stereotypical beachy face, with long hair and a killer grin. "Found you. Though you aren't exactly hard to find."

"Yeah yeah, sure," Hayley said, ignoring the comment about her size. "Who's your, um, friend?"

Chris was stunned, never seeing a woman with Hayley's...proportions in his life. He was torn between her striking face and frame and her, let's say, unorthodox body type. "Uh, I'd better see if my buddies need any help with the pigs." Chris darted off for the large fire in the middle of the luau and Hayley could focus her attention back on Luna. But to her surprise, Luna's attention was somewhere else.

"Hi there," Luna smiled at Thomas. "You and Hayley work together, huh? Think I saw you out in the ocean earlier today."

"Sounds like me," Thomas chuckled. He'd heard about Hayley bragging about her hula girl and he had to admit, she was awfully cute. "I figure I'm on an island, better try the water."

Luna giggled, her cheeks rounding out. Hayley looked between the two of them in terror. This couldn't be happening. First Jaimee, now...now her hula girl?

"Are you staying here long?" Luna asked.

"No, we're leaving the day after tomorrow," Thomas replied. "I'm a little jealous. California is nice and all but if I could leave here all the time like you...that would be great."

"What a coincidence. I've always wanted to visit California," Luna said, getting to her feet and standing beside Thomas. "Maybe you tell me a little about your home and I'll tell you about mine."

"I also live in California," Hayley said, slowly starting to stand, forcing her feet into the sand to let her fight against her enormous belly weight. "And I have actually done a lot of traveling for work. Last year, I-"

"Hayley," Luna whispered, leaning back to talk to the gravid ginger. "Your friend is kinda hot. Mind if we..."

"G...go ahead," Hayley replied, feeling her heart sink a little. Losing out on a relationship rarely happened to Hayley and when it did, damn did it sting. But the more Hayley thought about it, the less sad she got. Thomas, once again, was sabotaging her. He fucked up her work, he fucked up their trip, now he was going to fuck up...her fucking!

She began to stew, feeling the temperature rise as her large belly began to tremble with a mixture of anger and fetal kicks. Hayley knew what this was; it was something she had not felt in a long time. Hayley was jealous.

But was she jealous of Thomas...or of Luna? The second possibility upset Hayley even more and she spun around, looking for something to distract her. She turned and caught sight of Chris again. Bingo.

"Hey there," she said, waddling over to the surfer boy. "We didn't get to talk much earlier. I'm Hayley."

"I'm Chris," he said, eyes getting wide.

"I came here hoping to get some hula lessons but the class got interrupted," Hayley said, batting her big green eyes at him.

"Hula lessons, huh?" Chris said. "I've gone through a few of those in my touristy jobs."

oh god he can hula too. "Chris, this luau feels like a family event. I can't have you ogling my tits like this," Hayley said.

"Um," Chris replied, starting to look really nervous.

"So how about we take this to my hotel room?" Hayley said, holding out one hand for him to take. "It's not a breech of custom to sleep with a tourist, is it?"

A bead of sweat ran down Chris' forehead and it wasn't from the fire. "Definitely not."