The Evening
Julia and Alonzo had spent the whole day at the Adair-Danziger-resirence looking after True and Uly, and taking care of little Elena, while John and Devon visited the Elder. Julia had enjoyed the day greatly. She loved little Elena almost like she were her own daughter. After all, Elena was the first baby Julia had ever helped delivering, and also the first baby born at the New Pacifica. So she was kinda special to everyone of the Eden Advance group.
Now they were back at their own home and Julia was trying to get some work done. But just as soon as she noticed Alonzo coming to the room, she knew that working would be impossible that evening. She sensed the electricity flowing from her husband at the very minute, he entered the room..
Alonzo came to stand behind Julia's chair. He lifted her long hair up from her neck with his hand and brushed his lips along her neckline. Julia draw breathe as she felt the soft touch of his lips and the heat of his breath. She turned to face his eyes... and saw Alonzo's teasing and tempting smile, when he pressed his lips to hers. She felt shivers of desire going through her spine. He could always do that. Start the fire. She couldn't help but to give in.
Alonzo took her hands into his and led her to the bedroom. He slipped his hands under her shirt and caressed her back with his fingers. His touch was sensuous and exciting when he pulled her shirt off and for a moment admired her breasts with his gaze filled with desire.
Julia closed her eyes. She gasped when Alonzo glided his hot lips and tongue along her neck and down to her breasts. She couldn't believe he made her feel that way. So exited and sensual, and so full of passion.
Alonzo helped Julia undress herself, then slowly took off his own clothes. He lowered the two of them gently to the bed. They could feel the strenght of each others burning passion and willingly began to dance to a rhythm of their raging heartbeats.
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Julia was feeling fully content. She was lying half atop of Alonzo, her head pressed against his shoulder. She moved her finger along Alonzo's nose, then lips, chin and neck and all the way down to his waistline. Alonzo slowly opened his eyes and smiled. "Hello, my sweet lover," he said and kissed her lips gently. "Hello you too," Julia answered with a heartiest smile. "Feeling okay ?" Alonzo's eyes gleamed. "Yes," he said. "You *really* know how to satisfy me !"
For a while they laid there silent. Then Alonzo drew Julia totally on top of him and said, with a husky voice and a fire of returning desire in his eyes: "I do feel ...um... I could exercise a bit more !" Julia gasped as she felt him move. "I surely can feel that you do," she said, then pressed her lips firmly against his... and joined him in his dance of love.
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The Observation
Julia had thrown up already three times that morning. She looked a bit pale and also very tired so Devon just had to ask: "Have you often this kind of...nausea ?" She smiled knowingly to her best friend.
Julia gave her a puzzled look. "What do you mean by that?" Devon grinned in a friendly way. "I mean I felt like that too...when I was expecting Elena, that is."
Julia stared at her in confusion. Some very wild memories went through her mind. Her mouth fell wide open when the meaning behind Devon's words hit her fully. "No, no... oh no, this is not it ! It can't be ! I mean...Alonzo has been on suppressors. This can't possibly mean *that*!"
Devon grinned widely. "Well, I just happened to overhear the other day when John and Alonzo were talking. You see, they were taking care of Elena and I heard Alonzo saying he sure would want to have one of those himself. A child of his own. Or as he said it: 'A heir to the Solace family'." Julia couldn't believe what Devon was telling her. "But even so, he wouldn't do that without telling me, would he ?" She stared Devon with hesitant eyes.
Devon swallowed slightly. A trace of guilt wiped over her face. "Well..." she kinda confessed, "he may have had the idea from me. I mean from what *I* did to John." Julia looked even more puzzled. She gazed at Devon with a questioning look. "What did you do then ?" Devon twisted her fingers and could't look straight at Julia. "I didn't tell John that you asked him to renew the suppressor dosage."
"You didn't ?" Julia stared at Devon in disbelief. "I always thought *he* didn't want to renew it." Devon looked a bit ashamed but finally dared to look at her in the eyes. "I wanted so much to have a baby. John's baby !""
"But that Alonzo would have done the same to me?" Julia seemed a bit lost. Devon looked at her smiling heartily. "Maybe you should make a test on yourself," she said and put her hand on Julia's shoulder. "To be on the safe side." "You really think I should ?" Julia said smiling vaguely. Devon nodded and gave her friend a warm hug.
Later that night, Julia did a test on herself. She was indeed pregnant.
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"Alonzo ! Alonzo, where are you ?" Julia shouted throughout their house. Alonzo came from the kitchen to see what was the matter. When he met her eyes he knew something very profound had happened. Julia stared at him with fiery eyes. "Just when were you going to tell me you've quitted taking your suppressors ?" Alonzo swallowed visibly. 'How the hell could she know about it ?* he thought. He hadn't tell anyone. "I... I was going to tell you soon," he said and tried to smile. "After all, it's only been six weeks." Julia gave him a short laugh. "Yeah, right ! It just so happened that you made your decision right at the worst possible time. When the risk of *that* happening was at its height."
"What ?" Alonzo stared at her. "Does it mean...?"
"It means that you made it, mister. Right with the first try !" She tried very hard to look angry but didn't succeed very well. In fact, she was starting to like the idea.
"I did ?" Alonzo's face melted in smile. His eyes were shining when he came to Julia and wrapped his arms around her. "So, you're pregnant ?" Julia couldn't help but to smile. "Yes ! Thanks to you !"
Alonzo cupped his wife's face into his hands and kissed her gently over and over again. His joy was overwhelming.. "So, we are going to be a family," he whispered and felt that he was the happiest man in the whole universe.
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The Beginning
Julia woke up in the middle of the night. She felt a pain shooting from the lower end of her abdomen to her sacrum. A very sharp and very strong pain.
Julia swallowed and closed her eyes. She tried to breathe fast and superficially to ease her condition. The pain was so sudden it made her moan. "I can bear this," she said to herself. "I have a very high tolerance of pain." But somehow the knowledge about that didn't give her very much comfort.
When the pain faded, Julia got out of bed and began to walk around the room. She knew it would be good to move around instead of just lying in . Only a moment later she felt the pain coming back. Again a very sharp pain. "There's nothing to worry about," she tried to calm herself. "These are only foreshadowing pains." She wasn't due until next month so she didn't take the pains very seriously.
But two hours later she had to take them seriously. The pains were coming back every three minutes.Something was not right. "Oh no !" she whispered as she felt her tighs get wet. "These are not the foreshadowing pains. This is the *real* thing !"
She took a deep breath as a new contraction began. The pain was so strong it made her moan again and forced her to grab onto the bed. A loud cry escaped from her lips and echoed in the silence of the night. That woke up Alonzo. He got scared as he saw Julia leaning against the bed and breathing rapidly. "What's wrong, Julia ?" he asked with a worried tone in his voice.
Julia couldn't answer. A contraction had a hold on her and she was concentrating on her breathing. When the contraction ended she straightened herself up and opened her eyes. She looked at Alonzo and tried to laugh a bit just to calm him down. "The newest member of the Solace family wants to come to the world right now." She felt how clearly the head of the baby was pressing against her hipbones.
"Now ?" Alonzo cried and jumped out of the bed. "Is there something *I* can do ?" Julia gasped again. The contractions were coming *really* fast now. "I'm afraid there's no time to get anyone here. This has gone way too far." She threw a quick glance at Alonzo. "So *you* have to help this baby to the world !"
All the colour escaped from Alonzo's face and he swallowed very loudly. He gazed at Julia for a while with an expression of disbelief on his face, then pulled himself together and nodded. He was too afraid to smile.
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Alonzo piled up some pillows to the head side of the bed and helped Julia there. He rubbed her back with his thumbs for a while to ease the tension from her aching body. Then Julia reclined to the pillows, bent her knees and grabbed onto them when the next contraction began. She knew the second stage pains were beginning.
"Alonzo !" she cried and tried to maintain her control of the pain. "You must look how much I have dialated."
Julia tried to stay calm but could feel sweat increasing on her skin. She wanted so desperately to push but knew that she shouldn't until the time was right. She felt she was on the very edge of her tolerance. She was so exhausted, so worn-out. 'I knew this was going to be hard, but I never guessed it would be *this* hard," she thought as she closed her eyes tightly and tried to hold her breath again to ease the pain. It was almost unbearable.
"Oh, I wish this would be over already !" Julia snapped rather angrily at Alonzo. He chose to ignore it and just wiped off the sweat from her forehead and then went back to the foot of the bed. "Honey," he said with a calming voice. "It *will* be over soon. I can already see the crown of the head."
Julia was surprised over Alonzo's calmness. She tried to talk her husband through the delivery but felt like he would have known what to do by instinct.
Finally Julia couldn't hold the pushing. She was all covered with sweat. But Alonzo was calm and efficient. He helped the baby's head through the delivery channel, then twisted it so that the shoulders could come out. Finally rest of the baby's body slided out from Julia's womb.
Through her exhaustion Julia could hear her baby crying for the very first time. Tears of joy and relief flooded into her eyes, too.
Smiling Alonzo lifted their newborn baby onto Julia's stomach and then kissed his wife gently. The child calmed instantly when it felt the skin of it's mother next to it's own. Only few minutes later it's eyes were open and looking at Alonzo and Julia very briskly.
Julia had never thought she could ever feel such happiness. She smoothed down her child's downy head and could't keep the tears of joy flowing down her cheeks. "I love you, Julia Solace !" Alonzo said smiling broadly and brushing his child's cheek with his finger. "You've just given me a beautiful daughter ! The heir to the Solace family !"
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An Epilogy "If I had known how hard a job this is, I would have used suppressors myself !" Julia Solace, when giving birth to her daughter Jade Julia. (Said laughing.)
By that time Devon Danziger was five months pregnant with the second child from John. Their daughter Elena Rachel was 18 months old.
Finally, Bess Martin joined Devon and Julia to share the joys of motherhood. She gave birth to twin sons, Ross Thomas and Patrick Morgan, four months after Joshua Broderick Danziger was born.