Chapter 11
Time seemed to stand still for a second or two, then Vivian whimpered again, causing Au'revele to try to help steady her once more by speaking calmly and soothingly while rubbing her back.
“Where is the vidcom?” Quin demanded.
“It’s in my office,” one of the physicians answered.
“Turn it on, answer the call hailing this channel now.”
“At once, Sire,” the same physician said.
“I’m doing it now!” the first nurse responded as she ran from the room.
“Ehlealah, Doc is calling in now, he will guide the physicians to treat you just as he would.”
“I want him here now,” she begged.
“They are too far away from here for him to make it in time. But he can be here virtually.”
“I don’t want anyone to watch me give birth.”
“It is an ancient custom of my people to watch the birth of the new royal youngling. Only those recording the birth for history would be allowed to watch.”
She opened her mouth to tell him exactly what she thought about that, but he cut her off.
“It will not happen! No one but you and I and Au'revele,” he said, putting more of a questioning tone on Au’revele’s name, “will be here. I give you my word.”
She gritted her teeth and slowly went to her knees screaming in pain as a particularly hard contraction hit her.
Quin picked her up and placed her on the birthing bed.
Vivian clung to him, her fingers surely leaving marks on his arms as she waited for the pain to let up. The moment it did, she grabbed the pointed hornlike protrusion extending from his chin and yanked his face close to hers. “What in the entire fucking universe made you think I’d be okay with a fucking audience?!” she demanded angrily.
“I didn’t. I simply didn’t think of it. Do you have any idea how many years it’s been since a royal youngling has been born? I would not ever allow it, Ehlealah! We would have addressed it all tomorrow when we came for our medical visit.”
The sound of more rushing people soon gave way to all four of Vivian’s guard crowding into the room.
“Oh, thank God! Do not, I repeat, do not allow anyone to see me give birth! I don’t care what the customs are on this planet, it’s not happening!”
“Yes, Sirena,” Rel answered ferociously, as he and Kail moved to secure the medical suite and not allow anyone else in.
“What about them?” Asl asked, gesturing at the three physicians and the three nurses that had come at the call of the original nurse, who’d run into the lead physician’s office to connect the vidcom that was coming through.
“If they’re needed, they can stay. If they’re not, they need to go,” Vivian growled out.
“If you put your legs in these supports, you can press your feet here and it will give you an aid to deal with the pain,” Au'revele said.
Vivian glanced at the supports, much like stirrups in the gynecology offices she’d been exposed to. “Do you think it will help?”
“Yes, you’ll be able to brace yourself,” Au'revele said.
Vivian nodded. “Help me,” she said.
Au'revele helped Vivian get one leg in one leg support, as Quin assisted with the other side.
The original nurse came running back into the room. “I’ve got the vidcom connected. The physician has instructed us to move the Sirena’s birthing platform into the room with the vidcom.”
“Impossible! This is the birthing room,” one doctor said.
“Out! Get out!” Vivian demanded.
“Out!” Quin bellowed .
While Vivian’s guard removed the offending physician, Quin reached out and slapped Zahn in the back of the head. “Get your head in the game, or go away and send me someone who can!” Quin snarled.
Zahn snapped into attention and seemed to grasp the fact that he’d been mentally missing for the last four or so minutes. It wasn’t his fault really. Au'revele stood there in a little silk nightie, with a matching robe tied loosely at the waist, not the least bit worried about who could and couldn’t see her, and he could definitely see her.
“Yes, Sire!” Zahn shouted back. He looked back and forth, not sure what exactly needed to be done since he’d just returned to consciousness.
“We need to move our Sirena to the office with Doc on the vidcom,” Asl said.
“Done!” Zahn said. He grabbed the end of the birthing platform and started pulling it toward the door, but then realized that Vivian’s legs were up in the air and she was in the middle of pressing her feet against the metal plates while Quin stroked her hair and tried to talk her through it.
“Here!” Au'revele said, grabbing the green cloak Quin had used to wrap Vivian in from the floor where she’d dropped it, and tossed it to Zahn.
Zahn caught it and spread it over Vivian’s legs to preserve some sense of modesty, then turned to the doctor and nurses still blocking the door and just outside of it. “Move!” he bellowed, grabbing the birthing platform and yanking it toward the door with Asl pushing the platform from his end.
As they made it through the door, the nurse who’d connected the vidcom in the office was waiting. “Here, follow me!” she exclaimed.
Zahn and Asl moved the bed-like platform quickly but efficiently through the hallways of the medical suite until they reached the large, plush office of the lead physician. The moment they entered the room, they got a look at the lay of the office and let go of the bed long enough to start shoving heavy cumbersome pieces of office furniture out of the way and against the far walls .
“We must sterilize ourselves,” the first nurse told the doctors and nurses, and they rushed off to do just that.
“How is she?” a familiar voice asked urgently.
“She’s pissed off! Why aren’t you here?” Vivian demanded.
Doc smiled patiently at her. “I can only be in one place at a time, Sirena. But this will work nicely. I can direct from here.”
“They want to make me a freaking entertainment piece, Doc!” Vivian hissed out.
“It is standard procedure for royal births to be observed. I would have thought you’d been briefed on the process,” Doc said.
“No! No, no! We’re not going to go the traditional route, Doc,” Quin said. “We’re having a completely normal human birth! It keeps Vivi calm and I want anything that will appease Vivi in this time!” Quin demanded almost frantically.
“I understand, Sire. Please, take a deep breath and be calm. I have prepared myself and become well versed in human births since your youngling was conceived.”
Quin snapped his head in a sharp nod and petted Vivi’s hair some more. “It’s okay. It’s all okay, Ehlealah. You see? We have Doc right here for you.”
“Sirena, I need to be sure that you understand that we may have to take some unexpected measures.”
“Unexpected how?” she asked breathlessly as she tried to pant through another bout of soul-clenching pain.
“It may become necessary to put you to sleep if we are required to do more than coax the little one out. If we do that, I need you to understand that I will not place you in the sleeping or healing chamber alone if at all possible. But if your welfare requires it, I will do what is necessary to keep you and your youngling alive. Yes?” Doc asked.
“Do what you have to to make sure that we’re both alive and healthy, Doc,” Vivian instructed.
“If it’s necessary, Ehlealah, I will stand at the lid so that you can see me at all times. I will not step away. You will not be alone.”
“Just make sure that we’re both okay.”
“I vow it,” Quin said .
The two physicians and four nurses came in. “We’re ready.”
“What is the circumference of her birthing canal?” Doc asked.
“May I examine you, Sirena?” one of the physicians asked.
Vivian nodded.
The physician removed the green cloak, then folded her gown back out of the way so he and Doc could see. “It appears to be nine centimeters,” the doctor reported.
“She’s almost ready. Ten centimeters is optimal, but depending on the size of the youngling, nine can sometimes be enough.”
“Vivi! Vivi, we’re all here! We’re with you!”
Vivian looked at Quin with a horrified look on her face.
“Rokai, if you step in front of that vidcom, I’ll come back up there and kill you myself!” Quin threatened.
“I’m not! I don’t want to see all that! But we’re here. Me and Rosie and Kol and Ada, and Synclare, but not Lo’San, he’s on duty. And Vennie is running the com feed to be sure there is no delay.”
“You’re the delay!” Quin bellowed.
“Oh, sorry. We’re here! We’re cheering you on! Carry on!”
Vivian started whimpering and the metal plates she pressed her feet against started rattling and shaking with the trembling of her legs as she tried to fight through the pain.
“I need a scan to see the progress of the youngling,” Doc said. “It should be in the birthing canal by now.
“Do you people not know of epidurals? Somebody give me a damn epidural!”
“Sirena, by the time it would take effect, the child would be here,” Doc said. “Had we had warning, we could have provided the procedure you speak of and you would have no pain throughout the delivery.”
“Next time tell me when you start having symptoms,” Quin chided.
“Next time? You actually think there’s going to be a next time?” Vivian demanded .
The first nurse had run out of the room when Doc asked for a scan, but was back within moments with a handheld scanner. She held the scanner and slowly guided it from Vivian’s knees to her breasts and down again until she’d taken a complete picture of Vivian and the baby inside her. When she was done, she ran into the other room again and quickly slammed in into the reader and watched as a complete picture of Vivi’s insides came up on the screen. The nurse pressed a button and the image was sent to Doc aboard Command Warship 1, while at the same time she called for a doctor to come read the results.
“You can’t be serious! Move aside and allow us entry!” Quin heard his mother exclaim.
“There will be no witnessing of the birth, mother!” Quin said angrily.
“Well, of course not. But is she well?” Eula asked.
“Yes. We are having a traditional human birth without witnesses, other than myself and the doctors and our security to keep it that way.”
“We absolutely understand. We’ll wait here.”
“Thank you,” Vivian called out weakly.
“Of course, daughter. Tell us anything you need we will see it done.”
“We’ll wait patiently right here,” Zha Tahl promised.
“We’re waiting up here, too!” Rokai shouted.
“Shut up, Rokai! Just stand and wait,” Kol could be heard scolding.
Vivian started laughing uncontrollably before her laughter turned into tears.
“What is it?” Quin asked.
“We’ve got people waiting down here, people waiting up there. Everybody’s waiting and this child is just taking its time like it’s not all about them. It’s got to be a girl.”
Quin grinned at her. “As long as it’s healthy, it doesn’t matter what it is, but a girl would be my guess, too,” Quin said.
“Why does it hurt so badly? I know contractions are meant to hurt, but damn, I think I’m coming apart inside,” she whispered to him, gripping his hand tightly .
The doctor came back over to the birthing platform at about the same time Doc had finished going through the information the nurse had sent him.
Doc sighed. “Sirena, I had hoped it wouldn’t come to this, but I have to beg you for your trust.”
“Why? What’s wrong?”
“Nothing we can’t work around. But it will require you being unconscious. And it will require you being in the healing chamber afterward.”
Vivian looked up at Quin with tears in her eyes.
“What is the problem?” Quin demanded of Doc, while his eyes stayed locked with Vivian's.
“The youngling is too large to naturally exit our Sirena’s body. We’ll have to make an incision and take the baby from her womb rather than let her birth it naturally.”
Vivian took a deep breath and blew it out slowly. “So, a C-section. Okay, those are not unheard of on Earth. In fact, they are commonplace.”
“I have no doubt that we can successfully work through this. The problem is that you will have to trust us Sirena. And I know how you feel about giving up control, and about medical procedures because of certain circumstances.”
Zahn moved up to stand at Vivian’s head opposite Quin, and right beside Au'revele. Rel stood beside Quin, Asl and Kail stood near the foot of the birthing platform with their backs to the bed, all of them leaving the doctors room to maneuver as necessary. “We are here, Sirena. There will be nothing to fear,” Zahn said with a growl.
“Who’s got the door?” Quin asked.
“We do!” Ba Re’ answered, his voice strong and confident. “Myself and Li’Don.”
“No one is going in or out, and nothing is going to happen that shouldn’t,” Li'Don promised.
“Do you trust me, Ehlealah?” Quin asked, smiling down at her.
“Implicitly,” she answered .
“We need to proceed,” he said, seeing the familiar terror in her expression.
“I know that you and these males will keep me safe. I’m more terrified of what will happen to our baby if we can’t do this.”
“We will do this!” one of the doctors said at the same time the first nurse said the same thing, their unified voices giving Vivian the added boost of confidence she needed.
“I’m ready,” Vivian said, her voice shaky and tired.
“Gentlemen, prepare an injection of…”
The details were lost on Vivian as she stared into Quin’s eyes.
“We should have planned all this better,” he admitted.
“I thought we’d have more time,” Vivian said. I thought there would be at least a couple of more weeks to get everything planned and taken care of.”
“Sirena. We’re going to administer the sedative that will put you to sleep. We’ll take the youngling, then place you in the healing chamber. You will be monitored and I dare say, guarded, at all times,” one of the physicians tending her said.
Vivian nodded rapidly as she blew out a breath.
“I cannot hear you, Sirena,” Doc said.
“Yes. I understand.”
“Now, take a nice little nap and when you wake you will have your youngling in your arms,” he promised.
One of the doctors following instructions from Doc moved up close to her head and pressed an injection gun against her neck. He pressed the trigger and a flash of light was emitted at the same time a pinpoint of air forced medication into her vein.
“I love you,” Quin said as he looked into her eyes until she lost consciousness, her hand gripping his as tightly as she’d gripped him the first time he’d forced her into the healing chamber on his ship.
“Alright, gentlemen. We begin,” Doc said.
~~ ~
Forty-five minutes later Quin sat beside the healing chamber Vivian was in as he cradled his newborn son. The boy was a tiny replica of himself, but with the softened features of a human, large dark eyes like Vivi’s, and shock of black hair. As the boy slept peacefully in his arms, Quin made sure to remain visible through the healing chamber lid so if Vivian woke she could see him right there watching her. As he waited, he unwrapped his son for the third time to check for toes. Then fingers. Teeth, because Cruestaci younglings were born with teeth, and even nubs where horns would eventually grow. The baby had two nubs, one near each of his temples rather than the usual four that was standard for the Tel Mo’ Kok family, but he had hair, which the rest of the male members of the family didn’t — except for Rokai. It seemed to Quin that the boy had the best of both worlds. The youngling would only take being unwrapped for just so long before he started squirming and kicking and growling at Quin, making it absolutely clear that he wanted to be securely wrapped once more. So, Quin would wrap him the best he could, then call for his mother who would enter the room and properly bundle him up, drop a kiss on his forehead and hand him back to Quin, before returning to those still waiting in the next room for Vivian to wake so they could properly receive an introduction to the new arrival. It would not be done without Vivian awake and well to participate.
“Sire, we are ready to begin waking Sirena Vivian,” one of the physicians said.
“Is she fully healed?” Quin asked, getting up from the stool he sat on beside the chamber and moving aside so they could monitor Vivian properly as she awoke.
“She will still have some soreness and will require rest, but she is much healed.”
“Why is she not being fully healed?”
“We’ve been advised by her regular physician that completely healing her will result in a drastic hormonal imbalance that in humans can create many problems. Allowing her to finish healing at her own rate will more readily allow her body to adjust to the changes it’s undergone.”
“Very well. Proceed,” Quin said, lifting his son to his shoulder to cuddle him there and keep him feeling secure while they waited for Vivian to wake. Quin watched everything they were doing, his gaze flicking from one monitor to the next, seizing on one in particular as her heart rate picked up and her oxygen levels increased. “Remove the lid as soon as you safely can,” Quin ordered.
“Yes, sire,” the doctor answered. Two minutes later they did just that. Six minutes later she groggily opened her eyes, looking confusedly around.
“Ehlealah,” Quin said, leaning over her so she could easily see his face.
Vivian blinked, trying to force her eyes to focus. “Where am I?” she croaked out.
“In recovery. Everything went well. You’ll need to rest a little longer, but you and our son are safe and healthy.”
“Son?” she asked, her eyes filling with tears.
“Son. He wasn’t late because he was a female. He was just stubborn,” Quin said, nodding his head for emphasis.
Vivian watched as Quin held their son so that she could see him better.
“Does he have all his fingers and toes?” she asked.
“All of them. And his first set of teeth is in place and he growls at me when I unwrap him. But see for yourself… all his parts are there,” Quin said, unwrapping the child who immediately began squirming and growling irritatedly at Quin.
“I think he has your nature,” Quin teased.
Vivian smiled at him. She began pushing the sheet down to expose her upper chest and shoulders. “I want him right here, against my skin.”
“Anything you want Ehlealah.” Quin carefully laid the baby on his belly, against Vivian’s upper chest, then quickly covered his back with his blanket, and then the sheet covering Vivian.
Vivian held him against her body, speaking softly to him, and kissing his head as he immediately stopped squirming and growling and settled in to the warmth and scent of his mother. She looked up at Quin with tears streaming down her face. “Thank you.”
“Thank you,” he said, leaning over to curve his hand over his son’s back and kiss his Ehlealah.
When he pulled back to look into her eyes the nurse from earlier was standing right beside them. She held one of the mobile medical tablets they maintained medical records on in her hands. “Since there were no witnesses, will there be an official announcement and image distributed?”
Quin looked at Vivi, waiting for her answer.
Vivian looked at the tablet in the nurse’s hands, then at Quin, and thought of everyone waiting for confirmation that the birth had gone well, and the fact that she’d bucked tradition and a lot of Cruestaci citizens might take issue with that. “Are you taking the photo with that?”
“If you approve it,” the nurse said.
A picture was the least she could do. “Okay.”
“Yes?” Quin asked.
“Yes,” Vivian answered.
“If I may,” the nurse said, “the way you were looking at your Sirena with your face close to hers and your hand on the youngling. It was a perfect moment.”
Quin smiled as he leaned closer and recreated the moment, looking into Vivi’s eyes, his face only an inch or two from hers, the youngling resting on her chest, his dark hair and tiny red hand easily seen cuddled up against Vivian, with Quin’s hand protectively covering the baby’s back.
The nurse took several shots, showed them to Quin and Vivi for approval. “I will get a final approval from the Sovereigna and forward it to her for the actual release of course,” the nurse said, as she continued typing on the tablet. She stopped and looked up at the new parents. “What is his name? I can’t create the announcement of his arrival without his name.”
“His name is Zha Quin Alexandrus Tel Mo’ Kok,” Vivian said proudly.
“Heir to the throne of Cruestace,” Quin added.