Welcome to Alchibah My Children
Day 184 OH Dark and Ugly, Stuart Compound, Liberty, Alchibah
Andrew Stuart
I groaned as the Alarm rattled me awake one more time. I had barely gotten to sleep after the latest clandestine training session with John Pierce so I was slow recognizing that this was not my Alarm.
What was killing my sleep was the Medical Alarm on Mariana’s console.
Mariana Stuart
Damn. It felt like my head just hit the pillow. I reached for the Medical Alarm, than glanced at it. Oh crap! I sat up in bed.
“Linda, tell me what’s taking place.” My gut was telling me I better start grabbing my gear.
“It’s Emily.” Linda’s voice was anything but calm. “The twins have grown like you wouldn’t believe and they have shifted positions.”
“Send me the data, now.” While the information was coming in, I began slipping on clothes as fast as possible. When Andy saw what I was doing, he quickly put on his gear.
My God. The twins were trying to come into this new world….breach. Not only that, they had grown since I monitored her nearly a day and a half ago. They weren’t due for two or three more days. For right now, Emily’s vitals were barely within normal parameters.
“Call the rest of the team. Get the equipment ready. We’re going to have to do a C-Section. If you have time, before I run down, begin to prep Emily. Out.”
I was just securing my last weapon, when I told my husband, “Don’t let anyone one other than medical personal inside!” I did a quick smile, “Bet I beat you there.” Than I dashed out the door, running like the devil was chasing me.
Andrew Stuart
I busted out the door doing my best to catch up to Mariana when the small family of Devils that had decided to roost inside the compound walls burst into the air all screaming, “VARG! VARG!”
Mariana yelled over her shoulder, “Andy, I’m busy.”
I went to speed without hesitation and went to where the adult male Devil was circling. It was a small pack of four Varg. Normally I might have just tried to scare them away, tonight they were in the way.
Four shots later I was on the radio, “Liberty Security, A. Stuart; I just dropped four Varg on the direct path from the Stuart Compound to Hanna’s Place. No further action required, sorry about the noise.”
“Liberty Security, Roger. We were just ready to call the Guard!”
I got to the Medical Annex to Hanna’s place in time to open the door for Mariana who was reading data from her wristcomp while screaming instructions.
Mariana Stuart
I knew as soon as the Devils screamed “VARG,” that a booming and cracking sound would follow; and I wasn’t disappointed, but was surprised when I heard four shots. Good, I knew there were four less predators in our area. I was glad the Devils decided to join our compound.
As I came crashing through the doors, I did my prepping then entered the sterile environment. After doing a quick survey on how much Linda was able to accomplish, I could tell Linda knew something was up before she called me. The room was ready and the mother was working on Emily. At about that moment, Kurt and Sally arrived. A few seconds later, the rest of the team came flying into the room.
I glanced at the current data on Emily, than instantly began shouting orders. We needed to move quickly to keep her from going into crisis.
From the corner of my eye, I glanced to Linda. She was worried, but doing everything to help her daughter and future grandkids. After that, our foursome began to work our butts off, trying to keep Emily from going critical. Since the kids had grown so rapidly over the last few hours, I was willing to bet this was not going to be a normal C-section.
Kurt did the cutting. I was able to anticipate the few bleeders and clamped them off.
Kurt asked, “How is it you are waiting with the clamp before I cut.”
“Kurt, cut and ask dumb questions later.”
Our support team seemed to read our minds. When we needed something, they had it ready.
Andrew Stuart
The lobby for the medical facility, which opened into the main hall at Hanna’s, started filling a little faster than I thought. The first one predictably was JJ. “No,” I said. “Mariana said it is closed to non-medical, besides Linda is in there.”
Next in was John Pierce from Hanna’s with a breakfast sandwich in hand, “What’s the commotion?”
“Emily Parker is in Labor and I think she’s having some problems. Mariana told me to seal the place to non-medical.” I just knew I was going to be repeating that many times.
When the Benjamin’s came in, I knew the Main Event was coming.
First was Connor and I repeated my song, only problem was that Jai wasn’t having any part of it.
Suddenly John Pierce stepped right in the middle of it. He grabbed Jai by the armpits and picked her up bodily, trying to talk sense into her head. The Man was suicidal, Jai could wrap him into a pretzel; not to mention her Uncle standing right behind her was a Human Damn Tank.
Jai was out of it, all of the pain and anger; the sense of inadequacy and the blaming herself was pouring out.
I started over when Gabe spoke, “Jaisa, if it means that much to you I’ll go check.”
That was when I had to move, standing in front of the Entrance Door to the Clinic I spoke.
“No, you will not Angel. Magic ordered that door closed to all non-medical, the way through it goes through me.
“Neither you nor or I know who will win this but, rest assured Hanna’s Place will not survive.”
We were both ramping into speed when, out of the corner of my narrowing vision I saw Jai Benjamin beating on John to let her down. “Uncle Gabe, it ain’t worth getting banned from Hanna’s for life. Hell, it’s not like that crowd in there hasn’t saved her life once before. I can wait.”
I saw Gabe’s face finally crinkle with a smile as he tossed me the broadest wink in the world.
As he turned to embrace Jai, I turned and pretended to watch my wristcomp. “Dammit Andy, you just got played by the best Hostage Negotiator who ever lived.” I thought to myself. “But, Jai is back, it’s fracking worth it.”
From the doorway to Hanna’s came Chris Stevensen’s voice, “And exactly what do you do when both of them come for you?”
“That’s easy Laddie,” Robbie drawled, “shoot yer own damn fool self. Tis a bit easier, you know”
Laughing, I turned to see Jai in the embrace of a Father I had just decided to trust with the fate of Clan Stuart.
Mariana Stuart
It felt like an eternity, but it was only about an hour later, when we delivered the twins. The girl seemed to want to be the first one out on the womb.
I noticed Linda watching the monitor, before smiling. Emily’s vitals began to fall back into the normal range, after the boy was delivered. Both kids were crying, so we knew their lungs worked.
Linda and I took care of the twins, while Kurt and Sally finished with Emily. We held them up, so the new mother could see her children. She was tired, but smiling from ear to ear.
“Daughter, you did good.” Linda was a proud grandmother. “We’re going to clean them up, then bring them right back to you.”
After our examination, we pronounced them healthy and very fit. On a scale on 1 to 10, these two were an 11. The girl weighed 7 lbs. and 2 oz. The boy weighed 7 lbs. 3 oz.
Once we placed the twins in the new mothers’ arms, I gave a Kurt a quick nod. You could hear the twins helping themselves to breakfast. We meet in a corner, so no one else could hear us.
I whispered, “Did you see how rapidly the twins grew in the last day and a half?”
“Oh yes. I never saw anything like it before.” He glanced over to Emily. “Do you think it had anything to do with the three treatments of Quick Heal she received?”
That was a no-brainer. “If possible, I believe we should try to limit it to only two treatments in the future. This planet is full of surprises.”
The team cleaned up, than we moved Emily into a private room. “Alright new mother, when you’re ready for the rest of the family to see the newest members, let your mother know and you’ll be receiving visitors.”
Emily smiled and told her mother, “Can you give me a few minutes, until they have been feed?”
Linda nodded.
As Emily was smiling, she told us the names of the twins. “My girl is Angela and Angie for short. My son is Alexander and Alex for short.”
I left to find Andy and the crowd, that I knew would be waiting outside. There were several anxious relatives staring at me. “Mother and twins are doing to be fine. Give them a few more minutes and the family will be allowed to visit the newest members of Alchibah.”
There was no way I was going to mention how many close calls we had with Emily. One thing was very certain…this was a learning experience. If this is what takes place with twins, we may be changing some of our procedures.