Episode 203: A Moment Before (Aadya)

“Worried?” Greg asked.

Worried didn’t begin to describe the feelings Aadya wished she was drowning in, except she was on land. She was in a bed. She was dry and her body was tight and one of her babies was pushing into her back while the other played her lungs like a piano between pushes. How they had so much energy was beyond her, except she knew she was tense and impacting them.

There was Greg. He was her helper through this. Nell and Konrad had taken a break when she had told them to get out, with stronger language.

Greg had stayed, and she looked at him now with his brown waves of hair and his wide, angled jaw. She loved the feel of his lips against her, asking for more in such a tempting way.

“You don’t have to stay, you know,” she reminded him before pain shattered her body. Whatever Zero had given her, her body was contracting in ways she had never experienced before. More painful, faster, harder, more frequently. It was shaping up to be one of her hardest labors.

He kissed her now, his lips doing their special little tempting move. She followed him an inch or two away from her pillow.

“I’ve never done this before,” she admitted. “Maybe worried.”

He wrapped his arm around her and ran his fingers through her hair. “I promise I won’t run screaming into the woods.”

His free hand met hers and he laced his fingers atop her hand, atop her belly. “These babies are safer this way.”

“I know,” she said through a breath of air. “I’m usually in my bedroom, actually in my bathroom.”

She could imagine the feel of the rounded edges of her clawed tub beneath her hands, the burn marks from past labors. She wanted to be there now, more than anything.

She wanted to be strong for Talise, even more than that.

“I’ve never delivered on land before,” she said.

It was a lie, but she couldn’t remember the births; her luck flashed before and let her know she had just lied to Greg was all. Was it a lie if she couldn’t recall it? She wasn’t sure.

“Maybe you can have water here,” Greg said.

She glanced above her at the metal pole with the bag of fluids that were causing her body to squeeze and contort in pain. Beside that were monitors with ribbons of papers showing the waves that were supposed to represent the contractions. That machine led to her stomach, where sensors were wrapped around her belly. “With all this equipment?”

“We can at least ask,” Greg suggested.

She pressed her head into the pillow and closed her eyes. “You said you delivered your last son. What was it like?”

“Tense. He had a compound presentation and it was hard for Molly.”

“What’s that?”

“He was face-up. I thought for sure we’d end up in the hospital, but she pushed through it.”

Being Dragon, Aadya knew she took her health for granted often. She took Greg’s hand as she pushed through another wave of pain.

This pain was nothing, she reminded herself. This pain was a tiny little twin. This would be easy, easier than her other labors, in some ways. She wished she could move, but Zero had insisted she stay put.

Zero wasn’t there. She stood; Greg helped her. She would survive this, thrive after it.

“Have I told you what Acheron means?” she asked.

“I know what it means; I don’t know why you chose it.”

Her body arched forward. Greg massaged her back until the wave passed.

“He was born dead,” she said once she could move. “He was revived, but when he was born his heart had stopped.”

It hit too close to home, with what she knew of Nim’s son Caden.

“Drey suggested it, but then he revived. I liked it and it fit with Talise.”

She turned to him and let his arms hold her through another wave. “I’m sorry you were alone.”

“So, you’ve lost three and almost lost another.” His hands kneaded at her lower back in just the right spot. She moaned against him and his comfort. Her skin glowed at his touch, the heat a welcome respice. She focused on heat in her back, just enough to soothe. Greg picked up on her method and led her back to the bed.

This new method would work, she could relax in bed and please Zero this way. She could handle it.

Now in bed, he ran his thumb across her fingers. “How scared are you?”

“Scared enough,” she admitted. “Afraid of why I struggle when I shouldn’t, of what Titania may have done to me.”

Earlier, many pregnancies ago, Zero had removed her entire uterus to help her body heal. Before that, she always bled excessively and she’d had the losses. Her twin daughters with Konrad were a sign she was flawed in her own way, however that was.

“Well I can’t speak for the older two, but the others, it might not have been something you could’ve helped.”’

She could feel the truth in his statement.

“The twins with Konrad,” she confirmed. “They were somehow incompatible with life, despite everything.”

She looked at him, “I don’t mean to be the girl that seems to have a sign-up sheet for father of the babies.”

He laughed and stood, “If you had a sign-up sheet, I just took it down.”

“So no regrets yet?”

“Don’t worry, there’s still time.”

His arm wrapped around her, and he sat as much on the bed as he could. She moved, so he fit in his entirety, and leaned against him.

He leaned into her, brushing her hair aside, and said in a low soothing voice. “I’ve spent some time in the library trying to catch up on all that knowledge everyone else here takes for granted. I’ve learned a few things.”

She felt her skin prickling with a glowing heat where his words touched her. “Such as?”

“I don’t know if selkies and undines can mix. That Eowyn is something special.”

“Something new?” she mused, and luck confirmed. “She doesn’t have a seal skin that she can remove.”

“Hm.” His fingers strummed on the edge of her bed. “I’m not sure what any of it means, but I think the twin brother and the dragon magic are why she’s here and the girls aren’t.”

“That’s unfortunate,” she said in place of nothing.

“Does it help at all with your anxiety now?”

Aadya kissed him, the ticklish hairs of his upper lip brushing against hers. “You help. And that. I wonder how pixie Dragon Salamander undines do.”

“Better, probably. There’s no open animosity between them.” He kissed her again, and while he did her mind wondered if the animosity or the inability to cross breed came first. Perhaps even the bond mixed with the selkie genetics caused the instability.

His hand trailed under her chin, bringing her focus back to him and his steely eyes. “No matter what, I’m here. Before, during, after. However good or bad this gets.”
“Can I ask you a favor that is detrimental to that statement?”

He tilted his head, his eyes devouring her. “You can ask.”

Earlier, before her induction had started, she had moved his clothes into their bedroom closet. She wanted him to feel at home, to have space to be himself.

She laughed at his comment and expression, how skeptical he was. “Can you run upstairs?”

His lips found hers again, but he stood before she could enjoy him enough.

“What do you need?” he asked.

“I have a box in my closet. Two outfits, for these babies. My others have worn them.”

“What makes the box stand out?”

That she had put it beneath his clothes, to ensure he wouldn’t miss it.

“It’s wood and painted white with blue, yellow, and red waves on it.”

Greg kissed her again, his hand sliding across her belly. She hummed against him and trailed her hand down his body as it moved away from her.

It only took him a few minutes. While he was gone, she called on Clay, her rabbit familiar, to come to her. He came hopping through onto the bed and let himself sprawl across her ankles, too far to rub but present and close.

When he came back he had the box she needed and a bouquet of fennel wrapped in cedar strips. “This one?” he asked.

She huffed a laugh. Yes, those, a bouquet of flowers that would inspire her to not forget she was strong.

“Yes,” she smiled. “Thank you.” She wanted to kiss him, but he was too far and she was too bed. She settled for pulling him by his shirt to her, and her lips met the smiling shape of his.

“The flowers are lovely,” she replied.

Greg let out one of his hm’s, one that let her know he knew he was amazing. He set the flowers and box on a small table and sat on the bed with her again. “How are you?”

She nuzzled back into his arms. “I am calm. How are you? Was labor on your within-a-week agenda when you left home?

He rumbled against her. “Neither was marriage.”

Once settled, he kissed her, then resettled so he could kiss her as much as he wanted. “Today you went to your son’s wedding, a son you haven’t seen in almost twenty years and don’t remember came home, and you went into labor. Big day.”

“Huge day. With more to come.”

“More? What else?”

“I got you something. But then I’m done for today, no more things.”

“Not even two?” he teased.

She hoped her twins arrived soon, but she suspected it would be a long and grueling night and they would arrive past midnight.

It was better to pass the time sharing with each other, learning about one another, and becoming more together and unified. She still couldn’t wrap her mind around the excitement that filled her with his every touch. He was, in so many ways, everything she had been missing from her life: exciting, uplifting, soft.

And, she had a surprise for him.

“Can you open the box, or did you already?”

Greg opened the wooden box and smirked. He glanced at her before he pulled the smaller white box out, from within it’s wooden house.

“The small box is for you. I know it matters in Babylon.”

It mattered enough for her to pass up gardening the other morning, and she had returned to the gardens just in time for him to find her with the youngest of her children. A lucky feeling to return had paid off.

She watched his every expression as he opened the box: intrigue, surprise and shock, a smile she hoped meant he loved her.

“A ring? Thank you.”

She wanted to wait, weeks or months, but she could sense that tonight mattered. She appreciated luck in that way, and now that he was here she could see how much it meant to him.

“You don’t have to wear it or like it, and I know it may be too soon for you. I haven’t even died yet,” she she joked. She forced herself to stop rambling and took a breath in. “Did you notice the closet?”

“My clothes, you mean?” He kissed her, then sat back in his chair and moved his old ring to his right hand.

Greg held the new ring up. “Do you want to put this one on?”

She took the ring and slipped it on to his finger, her eyes mesmerized by the act. She hadn’t had a wedding ring since Drey, who believed in an endless circle’s representation of endless love and time.

Once the ring was settled against his skin she kissed him. She lost herself to him, and until the next contraction hit she was in a blissful state.

At least labor would be over soon. A day at most.

“I’ll shop this week,” he stated.

She laughed; Greg said shopping like Nell said gathering. “Enjoy the hunt? I didn’t shop for that one either.”

“Where’d you buy it?”

She glanced at the silvery blue ring on his left hand, and the silver ring from Molly, now on his right.

“I made it,” she explained. “Using part of a scale off of Apa, a small amount of aluminum, and some other metal. It should be as indestructible as you.”

Greg’s smile widened. She hummed in pleasure. Them, together, was everything to her.

“Point me in the direction of whoever helped you do that?”

She lifted her hand and pointed to the North, at random, her lips spread in a teasing grin.

He kissed her hand and captured it within his, warm and strong. “Speaking of shopping, I made some progress with Zero.”

“Did you?” she asked, her voice too peaked to feign a lack of the interest she held.

“He taught me how to do a spell for securing things. And.” He let out a sort of shiver and on his lap, beneath their hands, a raccoon appeared.

The raccoon’s eyes scanned the room then them, her tiny paws pressed against their hands.

Aadya smiled wider and took her hand from Greg’s so she could pet the raccoon. The raccoon crawled into her arms and Aadya hugged her.

“She’s perfect,” Aadya commented.

“Zojei.”

Aadya hugged her again and massaged the space between her ears. Clay came up the bed and began sniffing Zojei.

“She’s very cuddly,” Aadya commented.

Greg kissed her before she could notice him approaching. “So are you.”

She hummed again. “Will we have to fight over you?” Aadya asked Greg.

“We can just give her puzzles to solve when you need me free.”

She laughed and cuddled into both their arms, pulling at Greg to rejoin her on the bed. “Maybe you can learn the tunnels?” she asked Zojei.

She looked up at Greg, holding her and their pile of fluff. “Thank you for being here.”

“Thank you for being.” He kissed her forehead and trailed his hands down her neck.

“You really like the ring? It isn’t too much?”

“I love it. It’s… unexpected, in a good way.”

“As long as you know… Nevermind.”

She tried to not let her heat give her away, but she didn’t want to point out in infinitum that she felt only sorrow for his loss of Molly, and that if she ever returned to life Aadya wouldn’t be the person to make it feel odd to him.

“As long as I know what?”

“That I’m not trying to replace her.”

He laughed, causing Zojei to shift her eyes to him. He ruffled her head then massaged Aadya’s shoulders. “I’m not worried,” he assured her. “I’m not exactly out to replace yours either. I just want more of what we have.”

“You could replace them,” she joked. Her heart was his, at least. “Most of them, anyway.” More is good.”

“More is all I want.”
“Except maybe newborns.” She had plenty of babies. And, the spell would open the chance to more. Four more, because of some issue in the spell used against them.

Why, she wondered, would someone ever do that. If she wanted to get pregnant she would.

The spell was designed to make more though.

“Remember last night when we were waiting as long as we could? Perhaps It’s a good idea going forward.”

There were other ways to enjoy each other.

He laughed. “We could try for twice as long, and it’ll be a full half hour before you’re pregnant.”

She glanced at his hand again. She loved the ring, and she knew it would bring him power. “I’m serious Greg. You’ve been warned, list owner.”

He laughed, louder. “I’ll be careful.”

She ruffled Zojei’s fur again then sent her on her way, to the foot of the bed with Clay.

Greg massaged her body more, now that he had access to it.

“You know you won’t,” she pointed out.

“Yeah, but there’s a window of time before it’s a problem, right?”

She saw his face changing as he got the same feeling she had.

“A window known as tomorrow,” she pointed out. “I’ll be fully healed after I resurrect. No windows.”

“I’ll get condoms,” he sighed.

“What are those?” she joked. She’d heard of them, thanks to her prolific kids. It was a shame they wasted their minds on knowing about things they didn’t seem to need in their lives.

“Prevention,” he replied.

She looked up at him, at his eyes that yielded a dangerous level of intelligence. “Okay,” she shrugged. “No quadruplets for you.”

“Quadruplets?” He made a new face, and she wasn’t sure if it was amused or anxious or excited or a mix.

“Huh,” he managed.

“Will your condoms work?” she teased.

“It’s abstinence or babies. Your call.”

She laughed, which made her laugh more, because everything about to happen felt beyond ridiculous. Perhaps she was wrong, and this was all a dream. The spell, the desire to populate the Dells… it was so necessary and so incredibly awful at the same time. She wanted to space children out not add an army, but she needed an army and someone knew she wasn’t willing to do it to herself; she had agreed to it in some ways though.

When she stopped laughing, partially because of pain, he kissed her. “I hate sleep anyway.”

“It makes my ring look slow, in comparison,” she mused. “I’m sorry my life is so unsteady.”

“Remember my life?” he trailed kisses along her forehead and cheeks. “Not exactly winning any boring awards.”

“So you can handle the idea of four little fairy versions of you?”

“Four little fairy versions of us.”

“Mine are human versions of me, actually.” She caught his lips and kissed him. “Let’s get these two out first.”

“You know, since this was my idea…it’s technically my second heist since I got here.”

The true heist wasn’t even one he had to work for: Nell wasn’t there, and maybe he would show up, but he wasn’t there now.

These were Greg’s kids, in so many ways.

She rested into his arms. “You’re very skilled.”

It was going to be a long night of talking and bonding, but the big things were out for now. She tried to close her eyes between waves, while they were still decently spaced. He massaged her. Quadruplets was insane. Maybe when she woke up it would all be a dream, and she would still be in her bed a few days ago.

She didn’t want to go back. Wild, insane, whatever was coming – she felt his arm resting across her chest, and knew she was ready, ready for him and for anything.

She trailed her hand down to his ring and felt the metal for a second. This was their moment, the best one yet.

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