Ulrich was getting sick of this. The arguing, the keeping him up all night, why was Odd so annoying? Why was he up all night screeching songs or playing video games? He had run ahead of Odd this morning, even though he was still in bed by the time Ulrich left. Ulrich stood in front of the elevator in the hallway of the Academic building. He was there about an hour early for a tutoring session with his mathematics teacher, Mr. Moss. He had only ridden in the elevator once, when he had a twisted ankle. "What the Heck." He said to himself, and pressed the button. A moment later, the doors opened and Ulrich stepped in. Hardly anyone used the elevator, there were so many horror stories about it stopping In the middle of floors and students having to wait hours before they got rescued. Ulrich contemplated for a moment about getting off, but his thoughts were cut short when he heard someone attempting to run down the hall, his, very pregnant, Grammar teacher, Mrs. Grant.
"Hold the elevator." She called quickly, and Ulrich stuck out his hand, preventing the doors from closing. Mrs. Grant stepped in. "Thank-you, Ulrich." She said, turning to face him.
"No problem." Mrs. Grant was his favorite teacher. She was nice, sweet, and she didn't give a lot of homework. It was going to suck without her after she had the baby, she was taking 4 weeks off.
"What brings you into the elevator today?" Mrs. Grant asked.
"Laziness." Ulrich responded, smiling.
"Well, that's not a good answer." She responded, smiling back.
"Odd kept me up," Ulrich admitted.
"Della Robia? My, my, my, there is something wrong with that kid." She shook her head. With a sudden screeching movement, The elevator came to a halt. Right in between floors.
"What just happened?" Ulrich asked.
"The elevator stopped." She responded. Ulrich stared at her. She suddenly got a strange look on her face.
"Mrs. G?" Ulrich asked. She leaned back against the wall and grabbed her stomach. "Mrs. Grant?" Ulrich asked, again, leaning to her more.
"Press the emergency button." Ulrich quickly scanned the button platform and slammed his hand into the red button near the bottom. He faintly heard a siren on the floor above him.
"Mrs. Grant?" Ulrich asked for a third time, even though he knew, and feared, the answer.
"The baby." Was all she said before she was stopped by Ulrich holding a hand for her to stop.
"'Nuff said." He stated, clearly grossed out by the predicament him and his teacher were in. Mrs. Grant smiled, then screamed. Ulrich pulled out his phone, and dialed Jeremie's number. He answered a moment later.
"Yes?" He said.
"Where are you?" Ulrich asked.
"On a bench with Odd, Aelita and Yumi. Where are you?" Jeremie responded.
"Stuck in an elevator with a teacher who's in labor." Ulrich said as if this has happened before, which it hasn't.
"What?" Jeremie shouted.
"What is it?" Odd asked, hearing Jeremie's reaction to whoever he was talking to.
"Who's not squeamish and watches a lot of health shows, and knows the human anatomy quite well?" Jeremie asked. Yumi sort of raised her hand.
"You're in charge." Jeremie handed the phone to Yumi, who pulled it up to her ear.
"Hello?"
"Yumi?"
"Ulrich?" Jeremie pulled out his laptop and launched a scan, just in case.
"Yes, I'm quite aware of who I am. Now, can you help me here?" Ulrich said.
"Okay, can you tell me what's going on?" Yumi asked, still not sure because Jeremie had left out that 'minor' fact.
"I'm trapped in an elevator with a teacher who's in labor." Ulrich repeated again. "Help me!"
"Okay, okay, okay, okay. How far apart are the contractions?" Yumi asked. She heard him ask Mrs. Grant the same question, then he came back on the phone.
"She said every 3 minutes."
"Okay, her water hasn't broke yet, has it?" Yumi asked.
"Umm, no."
"Okay, hold on a sec." Yumi pulled the phone down. "Odd, go tell Mr. Delmas, or Jim, or Yolande, that Ulrich and Mrs. Grant are trapped in the elevator in The A building and she's in labor." Yumi said. Odd stood up, slightly shocked, and started walking quickly towards the head building. She pulled the phone back up. "I just sent Odd to get help." She told Ulrich.
"Odd? No way, He'll get distracted by something shiny halfway there and forget what he's doing." He rebutted.
"Okay, I sent Aelita, too." She quickly motioned for Aelita to catch up with Odd. She got up and left.
Ulrich sighed. He turned to Mrs. Grant, who was now on the floor.
"Don't worry, Mrs. G, Yumi sent Odd and Aelita to get help." Ulrich attempted to reassure her. She responded with, yet another, scream. Ulrich flinched as the sound echoed through the small space.
"Sorry, Ulrich, dear. Thank you so much for tolerating this." Mrs. Grant said, gasping. Ulrich nodded. Frankly, nothing grosses him out more than childbirth. He really doesn't want kids. But after this, That might change.
"Ulrich, how's she doing?" Yumi asked.
"Fine, I guess. I mean she sill in labor. That hasn't changed." Ulrich answered.
"How far apart are the contractions?" Yumi asked. Ulrich pulled down the phone.
"How far apart?" He asked.
"About 2 minutes." She answered.
"Two minutes" Ulrich told Yumi.
"Okay, has her water broke yet?" She asked again.
"Uhh," He started. That was the question that had been the most awkward so far. He turned to his teacher. She knew what he was going to ask.
"Not yet, dear." She answered. As Ulrich pulled the phone back to him there was a slight splash. "Can I change my answer?" She asked. Ulrich nodded slightly and brought the phone back up to him.
"Yes. It just did." Ulrich said, slightly disgusted.
"Okay. Where's the head?" Yumi asked. Ulrich almost threw up.
"Did you really need to ask me that?" He said.
"Yes, and it would make all our lives a bazillion times easier if I knew." Yumi responded.
He didn't even turn around this time.
"Mrs. Grant? Can you, Uh, feel the head?" Ulrich asked, feeling queasy.
"Let me check. Please, Ulrich, I love you to death, but please don't look. This is by far, the most awkward thing I've ever had to do in front of a student. God, I pick the worst days to wear pants." She said. Ulrich wouldn't dare look. He liked Mrs. Grant, but not like that. After a moment of awkward silence, she answered.
"Just barely."
"Just barely." Ulrich repeated over the phone.
"Okay, It's probably not going to be much longer." Yumi said, running through everything she knew in her head.
"Where's Odd and Aelita?" Ulrich asked, hopefully.
"I don't know. Jeremie, call Aelita." Yumi said. She pulled the phone down to continue the conversation with Jeremie.
"I would, but you still have my phone." Jeremie responded.
"Take mine." Yumi pulled her phone out of her pocket and handed it to Jeremie.
He dialed Aelita's number. Yumi pulled the phone back up to her ear.
"Jeremie is calling them now. How are you guys doing?"
"Awkward."
"What is she doing?"
"Screaming."
"Where is the baby?"
"Yumi! Quit asking that!"
"Have to."
"Mrs. Grant? Where is the baby?" Ulrich asked awkwardly.
"It's getting lower. Ulrich, do you know when help is coming?" She said, nervously.
"Yumi, it's getting lower, how much longer?"
"Jeremie?" Jeremie had just hung up the phone.
"They told Delmas, who called the Fire Department, and the hospital. Help is on the way." Yumi repeated what Jeremie told her to Ulrich, who told Mrs. Grant.
"Good." She sighed, then screamed.
"Ulrich? How is she?" Yumi asked.
"Not good." Ulrich said.
"Where-"
"I know, I know. Mrs. G?"
"Ulrich, It's really low."
"Yumi, she says it's really low. What do I do?"
"Put her on the phone." Ulrich closed his eyes, turned around and handed Mrs. Grant the Phone.
"Mrs. Grant?"
"Yes?" She almost cried.
"How low?"
"Very low, hun."
"Contractions?"
"Every 15 seconds."
"Okay, put Ulrich back on." Mrs. Grant handed Ulrich The phone.
"Ulrich, I need you to do something." Yumi said.
"What?" Ulrich asked nervously.
"I need you to help Mrs. Grant into a leaning position on the wall."
"Yumi, where is this going to lead to?"
"Just listen to me." Ulrich helped her onto the wall, in all attempts not to look a her. "Okay, now what?" He asked.
"Now, You'll need something clean and soft, like a blanket or a shirt."
"Yumi, please, please do not tell me what I think you are going to tell me."
"Do it!" Ulrich took off his jacket. "Okay, now, listen to me very carefully. Tell her to start pushing her next contraction."
"Yumi?"
"Ulrich."
"Mrs. G, push at your next contraction." He said, awkwardly.
"Ulrich, dear, you are going to need to open your eyes." Mrs. Grant said.
"Please, Mrs. G, anything but that." She didn't have time to respond. She grabbed her jacket and wrapped it around her stomach the best she could.
"I'm covered. Open." She said through breaths.
"Tell her to take a deep breath, then push." Yumi said, over the phone.
"Take a deep breath, then push." He repeated. He was just starting to get used to this. Barely. She started to push.
"Now, just catch the baby." Yumi said. "The Fire department just showed up, and so did the ambulance."
"To late." Ulrich said. He let the phone drop as the baby fell into the jacket he had sprawled beneath his teacher. The baby started crying. Ulrich didn't know what to do. He helped Mrs. Grant down and handed her her baby. He grabbed the phone. "Yumi?"
"Ulrich? Is the baby crying?" Yumi asked, nervously as if it was her ow child.
"Yea, she is." Ulrich answered. Suddenly, the elevator started moving, and less than ten seconds later, The doors opened, revealing Odd, Aelita, Jeremie, Yumi, Mr. Delmas, and some fire department workers and paramedics. The second the door opened, Ulrich practically fell out of the tiny room. Yumi hung up the phone she was still holding onto. The paramedics rushed in and took Mrs. Grant to the hospital. Mr. Delmas let the students fallow, since they all helped her.
At the hospital, The students walked into Mrs. Grant's room. She holding a sound-sleeping baby girl.
"What's her name?" Yumi asked.
"Ask Ulrich." She responded. Ulrich stared in shock, something he had done a lot of today.
"Me?" He asked.
"You delivered her. You helped me through it. You deserve to name her." Mrs. Grant said.
"Mrs. Grant, that's so kind." Ulrich was touched. She was right.
"Hannah, Ulrich, you can call me Hannah, outside of class." She said.
"Well," Yumi urged. Ulrich closed his eyes. He tried to remember something about the elevator. It had Brown walls and red carpet. Not red, scarlet.
"Scarlet. Name her Scarlet." Ulrich said.
"That's beautiful, Ulrich. Middle name? Yumi, you can pick her middle name." Hannah said.
"Scarlet Rose." Yumi said. It had a nice ring to it.
"Scarlet Rose Grant" Hannah repeated to herself. "It's beautiful. Thank you both, thank you all, so very much." The five chimed in with their 'you're welcomes' and gushed over the baby. Ulrich slumped in a chair. Yumi walked over to him.
"What's wrong?" She asked.
"I, I'm never having kids." Ulrich said, smiling. Yumi laughed.