WAG - Justine's not really pregnant

[g33k]

Like it says on the tin.

Maybe Nemesis forced Justine to lie to Thomas (I bet it's relatively-easy to spoof a pregnancy-test (but why would Thomas even think to distrust Justine, at that point???  So faking a test likely unneeded)), or even fooled Justine (I think there may be stages of Nemfection where the Infected don't even realize it).

Why do I suspect this?  Because WoJ has previously said "no more surprise relatives for Harry."  I'll have to go back to find the actual words of the WoJ; maybe he weaseled a loophole in.

But the alternatives -- her actually being pregnant, with the Doom of WoJ over that -- would (strongly) imply something tragic with Justine, somewhere during Twelve Months.  Which would honestly feel kinda gratuitous.
 

[peterwiggin94]

There's a couple of good explanations here that I think undermine your theory. First, Jim changed his mind or only meant that Harry isn't getting any more children. He does have two of them counting Bonny and Harry does count her. Second, Justine did get pregnant and just cheated on Thomas. It would be relatively easy for her to do by Nemfecting her bodyguards and maybe having one them do it. She could have easily started the process right around Skin Game and conceived by Peace Talks (it's about 1-2 months between those two books). She could force Thomas into doing the mission right away so he couldn't reasonably ask for a paternity test by saying "Hey Thomas, I've been possessed. I've been skipping my birth control pills, taking medicine to help me ovulate, and poking holes in the condoms. Do what I say or I'll hurt your baby." I bet that would work on Thomas considering he accepts he's going to become a father in the first chapter of Peace Talks. 

Either way, there's a couple of ways to fit Justine's pregnancy in with the WOJ you mentioned and with the book canon.

[g33k]

... First, Jim changed his mind or only meant that Harry isn't getting any more children. He does have two of them counting Bonny and Harry does count her ...

"Jim changed his mind" (or "Jim lied" -- he does sometimes, we know) is always a possibility; but if we count that one as probable, we might as well ignore all the WoJ's in all our WAGs.

I really should go track it down (but I'm not gonna, tonight), but I'm pretty sure the context was "all relatives" (not just "Harry's own kids").  The context was Jim having re-used the plot twist of "surprise! new relative!"
  so.
  many.
  times.
(i.e. Jim used it for all Harry's relatives), and Jim saying that was all of them, and there'd be no more surprise relatives.

... Second, Justine did get pregnant and just cheated on Thomas
...
I bet that would work on Thomas considering he accepts he's going to become a father in the first chapter of Peace Talks. 

I suppose that's possible, sure.

[peterwiggin94]

That Justine had cheated was my immediate conclusion on finishing Battle Ground. The timing was just too perfect for me to accept that she had conceived from Thomas. It happens right after Harry becomes available for manipulation and Mab's knight. Before that, Harry was dead, in Winter, or on Demonreach and mostly out of reach.

[Dina]

A baby for Thomas is not a "surprise relative" to Harry, is something relatively foreseeable. Yes, white vampire are not too fertile, but once Thomas and Justine began touching each other, a baby was an option.
I am pretty sure that WoJ was after Harry finding about his daughter and that Eb was his grandfather (and he had already found Thomas was his brother), so WoJ meant we were not going to find another brother for Harry (someone named him Dick, for "every Tom, Dick and Harry...), or Maggie LeFay long lost sister. But of course I may be wrong.

[Mira]

 I think it could go either way.  Because of his mother, I think it is very possible that Thomas is potent and got Justine pregnant.  On the other hand she is Nemfectected, the reason why she was now able to have sex with Thomas in the first place and get around the true love burning was by having lesbian sex .  Having sex with another female made it possible for her to have sex with Thomas.  Somehow she convinced Thomas that her having sex with another woman instead of a man was somehow different and didn't spoil their feelings for one another though it did blow the true love burning. As a result, Justine and Thomas could now have sex and supposedly be as in love with one another as before.  Thomas, yes, but Justine?   So what is stopping a now Nemfected Justine from having sex with another man and getting herself pregnant?  Nothing.  What is to stop her from lying to Thomas about it?  Nothing..  Thomas who is still very much in love with her would believe anything she told him.

So could she be totally lying about being pregnant in the first place?  Oh yeah..

[g33k]

... Somehow she convinced Thomas that her having sex with another woman instead of a man was somehow different and didn't spoil their feelings for one another though it did blow the true love burning ...

Everything Justine says & does is obviously suspect.

But I think whampires have a very very different perspective on sex & love than the rest of us.

My whole issue with that scene from the end of Ghost Story is that bypassing the restrictions of "True Love" should be part of "Whampire 101" training that they all get after first kill but before they strike out on their own.  Thomas should have already known all that.

[vincentric]

Everything Justine says & does is obviously suspect.

But I think whampires have a very very different perspective on sex & love than the rest of us.

My whole issue with that scene from the end of Ghost Story is that bypassing the restrictions of "True Love" should be part of "Whampire 101" training that they all get after first kill but before they strike out on their own.  Thomas should have already known all that.

Thomas didn't want to be unfaithful to Justine. He probably knew the workaround but didn't bring it up because that might have hurt her or at least undermined her confidence.

And there is a chance that he didn't know it. Falling in love with a mortal is probably not a widely discussed topic in White Court society. (Hmmn, what happens if two White Court vampires fall in love?)

[Mira]

Everything Justine says & does is obviously suspect.

But I think whampires have a very very different perspective on sex & love than the rest of us.

My whole issue with that scene from the end of Ghost Story is that bypassing the restrictions of "True Love" should be part of "Whampire 101" training that they all get after first kill but before they strike out on their own.  Thomas should have already known all that.

Thomas did know it, he talks to Harry about it in the case of his little sister Inari in Blood Rights.  That's the whole point of that scene when Justine brings her girl friend home to have sex with the full knowledge of Thomas, so they could consummate their true love without burning.  What's unclear, is why lesbian sex was chosen to break the true love protection by Justine and possibly Thomas as well.  No, it shouldn't have made a difference, sex with another is sex with another, and would break the protection..

Thomas didn't want to be unfaithful to Justine. He probably knew the workaround but didn't bring it up because that might have hurt her or at least undermined her confidence.

And there is a chance that he didn't know it. Falling in love with a mortal is probably not a widely discussed topic in White Court society. (Hmmn, what happens if two White Court vampires fall in love?)

Yeah, he knew it about it, Thomas also wasn't thinking straight at the time of Ghost Story... However does feeding fall into the same category as having ordinary sexual contact with another to break the true love protection?  We've had this debate here before, if Justine was raped, would her true love protection have been shattered?  Is there a WOJ on this? How do you define it, rape is an act of violence, but it involves sexual contact..  What about the young women Thomas after the Skin Walker was done with him, had sex with and fed upon until they died?  Maybe the true love protection was already blown long before that scene in Ghost Story?