Chapter 44
Chapter forty-four
Atlas
Atlas pulled back his gloved hand. The medical mindset was hard to slip into, but he forced himself to focus. Not much dilation, but the baby is in position. It didn’t help that Anna also had her hand over her mouth, trying to not laugh. He was checking her cervix, after all.
Maybe he should have insisted that Sterling come for this part. Because she was sitting there, spread open to him, laughing her head off with a pillow clutched tight to her chest above her pregnant belly.
“Anna.” Atlas pulled his expression into a mock frown. “I’m trying to be professional.” He resisted the urge to feel around further, instead removing his fingers and patting on her stomach. “This has to be the oddest dilation check I’ve ever done.”
Her face was red as she started laughing again. She hadn’t stopped from the moment he explained the medical procedures done before birth.
“Sorry.” She giggled harder, gripping her belly. “You look so . . . serious . . . this is serious stuff. And then you’re fingering me . . .”
Sighing loudly, Atlas held up a gloved finger. “I’m checking dilation.”
That was enough to set her off again. She laughed harder, her brown hair slipping out of her ponytail and curling around her face. “Okay. Okay.” Then she tried to make a serious expression. And failed.
“You’re so silly,” he said. “Good news is, everything seems on track . . .”
Anna wiped at the tears that started from laughing so hard. “Are you going to check my moisture levels next? Like your plants?”
Atlas recorded the sound of Anna laughing, then dropped his voice. “Only if you’re lucky. But I won’t use the glove then.”
“No. You wouldn’t, would you?” Breathing hard, she forced out between giggles, “Because the sensors are in your fingers, huh?”
“You’re right.” Atlas rubbed a hand down her face, lingering on her cheek. “I promise when I’m with you for real, it won’t be this amusing.”
She reached up to give him a kiss, surprising him. “Yes. Yes. I’ll be so serious.”
He pushed forward, instinctively deepening the kiss against her tentative touch, before she chuckled and ducked her head.
“So . . .” The grin stayed as she caught her breath. “How much longer until the baby is born?”
“I’d say you’re going to have this baby next week.” Saying that aloud stunned him. Next week. Immediately he stiffened. “She’s head down, in position . . .” His voice trailed off.
The rest of his monitoring tools were within easy reach.
A non-stress test machine was on the kitchen table, tracking her low-level contractions.
There weren’t any at the moment, but his hands trembled, thinking of everything he should check and do.
And everything that could go wrong. The warehouse was cluttered now with the testing supplies in addition to the furniture.
“Hey now, Mr. Serious.” Anna reached out, peeling off his glove and holding his hand. “We can do more tests later, okay? The important part is that I’m ready, Atlas. It’s all gonna be okay.”
The grin had faded from Anna’s lips, but her eyes still sparkled. She was nine months pregnant, tired, and sweaty from working all day, but he couldn’t help but stare.
“Yes.” Atlas wet his lips. What else could he say? I’m nervous? She already knew that. “I’m excited to meet her.”
“Me too.”
He put a hand on her cheek. “How’s your head?”
“Oh.” She pressed her lips together. “I tried really hard to stay calm all day.”
Atlas regretted asking, seeing her fingers start to fidget with each other. “Did that help?”
“Yeah. I saw the baby cow too. It’s hard to get mad around something so cute.”
He closely looked her in the eyes. “Are you saying that so I won’t worry?”
She half laughed again. “Is that possible for you?”
He rolled his eyes. “Yes, Anna.”
“I hung out with Nora all day. I think we’re regular dairy farmers now.”
“Excellent.” His body relaxed. “Good.”
“Why are you so worried?” She reached for his hand. “I know childbirth is dangerous, but you can fix everything.”
Not everything. But she was right in that he was acting illogically. He smoothed down her hair. “You feel fear when there’s something you care deeply about.” Then he tilted his head. “Take pity on my overworked circuits.”
“Oh.” Her expression grew soft. “Now I feel like a jerk for laughing.”
Anna pulled him closer for a hug. There didn’t need to be words sometimes, and those were the moments he enjoyed the most. After stroking her side, he whispered, “I did have a surprise today. Can I show you?”
“Hmm what? Is it a good surprise?”
He lifted her up off the bed, helping her pull her underwear back up and folding down the pajama top over everything. “Here. Let’s get you decent again first. No more dilation checks tonight.”
“What’s the surprise?” Anna said. “Is it the lighting Zero installed? Because here, look, he already showed me.”
She reached over and pushed the button to a switch on the wall, dimming the light low without turning it off. Then grinned at him. “Ta da! It’s not solar powered either, so it doesn’t have to recharge. He even put a sensor on it so all your plant lamps wouldn’t overheat.”
The lighting in the warehouse had transformed the area, making the inside really feel like a home. Soft and dim. Calm. He gestured to the ceiling. “That is great, but not my surprise.”
“Better than candles or the lanterns. I think it makes everything cozy.”
“It does.” He pulled on her hand. “But I wanted to show you something else.”
Anna followed him out of the bedroom, through the kitchen, to the other little room in the house, which used to be an animal quarantine area. All the industrial modifications had been stripped out. Instead, he opened the door to a room with a soft purple color on every wall, and the little crib.
“See?” Atlas reached over and turned the lighting on for this room. “Ta da?”
“. . . Oh!” Anna’s mouth opened wide.
Over the crib, he’d painted some little farm animals, trying hard to remember how the humans used to decorate and prepare for a new baby. There were even some shelves to hold the little baby clothes Anna had stitched on the ride from Earth. And, of course, some of his plants also lined the walls.
He gently reached over, cupping her cheek. “You love it?”
“Yes I do.” She touched his arm. “You get a gold star.”
Back on Earth, right before the war, babies had nurseries set up similar to the ones at the facility. They were designed for easy access, for androids to take over primary rearing, with glass walls and constant observation.
But not this room. It took a lot of digging through memory files, but he’d modeled this nursery after long-lost history books.
Things he’d never experienced, but felt right.
Back when mothers stayed with their children and still held them with their own arms. The people still left on Earth seemed to have gone back to those ways.
That’s how Tilly appeared to have been raised with Nora.
At least, he thought the nursery he made was modeled after those times. After all, he was drawing on references from long before he was constructed. Who could really know for sure?
Atlas cleared his throat. “I tried to make the room like babies used to have long, long ago. Like in the movies.” He pointed to some drawings on the wall. “Tilly added a few pieces of artwork too.”
Anna turned, and her eyes sparkled. “You fixed everything?”
“Yes.” He pulled her back into his arms and placed his hands over her stomach. “I’m ready too.”