Urban Dead: The Price of the Oath

[Caz]

Momentarily terrified, Melanie left Lisbeth's side and ran to catch up to Mike, reaching him and letting out a long exhale when she saw the healthy, screaming baby in his arms.

"Clear his airway," she instructed, "make sure there's nothing in his mouth. I'll handle the umbilical cord mess..."

And suddenly, from the woman on the bed, there was another scream.

Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck... Melanie rushed back to join Joachim.

"What's going on?" she asked. But her response was just more agonised moaning. She looked to Joachim, put a gloved hand on his shoulder.

"Baby's fine," she said reassuringly. He looked at her, disgusted, and she just then realised that she'd smeared blood and placenta all over his shirt.

"Oh, sorry," she said. Lisbeth began to breathe heavily again, and Melanie moved back to Mike.

"We've gotta stabilise her... you have any idea what's wrong?"

[Pcm979]

"No clue." Mike looked up from tending to the baby. "Another?" He asked semi-hopefully. He didn't know how these things worked, but just having to repeat the procedure would be easier than dealing with any complications.

[Caz]

She stared, the idea completely having skipped her mind.

"Oh fuck," she said, "I hope you're right..."

Melanie looked to Lisbeth with an apologetic smile. "Sweetie, I know you just went through Hell, but I'm going to have to ask you to start pushing again, all right? Just a little bit more, then you'll be okay. Your boy's doing fine," she assured, and then looked to Joachim. "Don't stop talking to her!"

"Mike," she said, "you did fine, you can handle this one, I'll get the first cleaned up."

As she said that, she took the baby into her hands and moved off to the side to handle the umbilical cord as well as clean him up.

Sherry looked to Petro, blinked. "Whaddya mean?"

[Pcm979]

"Oh, hell." Mike said inaudably, and moved into position again.

[Josh]

"Twice the fun!" he informed Sherry cheerfully. "And twice the number of brats for me to spoil mercilessly."

[Caz]

"You can have more than one?" Sherry said with a bit of a twitch to her eyelid. "Like fucking puppies?"

Meanwhile, Melanie busied herself with cleaning the boy, who appeared to be of fairly normal height and weight (as far as she remembered), although...

And then the sound of more screaming, this time the mother and the second child together. The first joined in.

And suddenly Melanie very much wanted to be somewhere else.

[Pcm979]

Mike caught the second baby and staggered back, now hoping mightily that the woman was going to stop at two.

[Josh]

"Sure, you can have two, three, four, even five or six in one go!" He waved his hands in the air, grinning like a madman.

[Caz]

"I hope a zombie bites your fucking balls and rots your cock off," Sherry said with another twitch. "Don't even fucking joke about shit like that.

Melanie looked over to Mike with a broad grin.

"Everything all right?" she asked.

[Pcm979]

"I, I think so." He said, tending to the baby he was holding. "Er, what now?" He asked helplessly.

[Josh]

He wrapped his arms around Sherry. "I'm just messin' with ya, Punk-ass."

[Caz]

She wrapped the baby boy in a few towels--the bst she had available at the moment--and handed him to Joachim, grinning still. He was breathing, kicking, screaming, and even though she was a bit irritated, this was a good sign.

"Keep him warm," she said. Joachim nodded, staring at the baby as though it were an alien.

"I'll take care of the second one," she said, taking the second child from Mike's arms after wandering back over.

"You get her some painkillers and... ehm... clean up," she said helpfully.

Sherry sighed against Petro's shoulder, leaning on him. It was a bizarrely paternal moment... and for the first time since returning to the mall, she honestly felt as though nothing had changed since she'd left. Their loyalty remained the same, their bond hadn't changed.

[Josh]

"Screaming's done," he said. "Bet there's a wrinkly little ugly thingy waiting in there." No two ways about it, newborns were fucking ugly to everybody but their parents, pretty much. Give 'em a couple of days to cuten up, it was all good, but straight out? Not so much. He crushed his cigarette and rose to his feet. "I gotta go see."

[Pcm979]

Mike nodded a little bonelessly and removed his now thouroughly-stained smock and gloves, wandering over the the medical cabinet and fetching some Panadol and a glass of water. "Here, ma'am." He said, helping Lisbeth down the pills. He then stood around aimlessly, like a schoolboy who hadn't been dismissed yet.

"Is there anything else I can do?" He asked helplessly.

[Caz]

"We can move her to a clean bed," Melanie said, coccooning the second child in a wrap of towels as well and hefting the first from Joachim. "You two are a bit more suited in the strength department than I am.

And by that point, Lisbeth was thoroughly passed out, regardless of the medication.

As Petro trotted in like a fucking ambulance chaser, Sherry padded casually behind him, looking more than a little apprehensive.

[Pcm979]

"Sir, can you give me a hand here?" Mike asked, dragging another bed over and preparing to lift Lisbeth.

[Josh]

He stopped and looked. "Wait a minute, she had two?" The irony of the conversation outside was suddenly apparent. He glanced back at Sherry sheepishly. If Mike was of a mind to be a father, his chore of persuasion just got kicked up by a magnitude of ten or so.

He grinned with the brightness of a child, ambling over to look at the little swaddled infants and glancing at Melanie. "Good job, sweetheart. My heroine."

He looked over at Mike and practically bounced to his side. "Sure thing, sure thing," he said, getting his hands under Lisbeth to help transfer her over.

[Pcm979]

"Okay." Mike said, finding it vaguely amusing that people he wasn't talking to were answering him today. "On three. One, two, three!" They lifted her and transferred her to the new bed. Mike bustled over to a cupboard and dragged out a blanket to preserve Lisbeth's modesty.

[Josh]

Petro thoughtfully plumped Lisbeth's pillow and adjusted her head on it a bit, then slapped Joachim on the back again. "Congratulations," he said. "Double-uncle."

[Caz]

What modesty? She'd just had two complete strangers yank babies out from between her legs.

Sherry looked to Melanie and the twins, smirked a bit, and offered a tiny wave.

"Your heroine's going to be too tired for bedroom antics tonight, love," she said as he passed her, then showed the babies to Sherry.

"One girl and one boy," she commented, "mum passed out before she could name them."

"Eheh, nice," Sherry said.

[Pcm979]

Mike was just like that. He took a seat and wiped his glasses dazedly.

[Josh]

He shrugged. "I salvaged a bathtub the other day. Figure we can heat that up, get her a nice bath and backrub for a job well-done." He stepped over to look at the infants. "Aaaaaaaaah," he said cheerfully. "They're... little. And wrinkledy."

[Caz]

"I could make the same quip about certain other things," Melanie said with a bit of a huff in Petro's direction. Sherry laughed nervously and made a beeline towards Mike, slumping down next to him.

Joachim, in the meantime, offered to take the babies from Melanie, who gladly obliged.

[Pcm979]

Mike put his arm behind Sherry's shoulders. "Well, you were right." He chuckled. "I damn well am going to remember this day for the rest of my life."

[Josh]

He embraced Melanie, ignoring the potential jibe. From his demeanor, it was almost as if the kids were his. "This is fucking great," he enthused. "Just great. Great, even."