Disclaimer: Not mine, no copyright intended
Abby was awoken by the sound of her phone vibrating loudly on the bedside table. She glanced at the alarm clock, it was just after 3am. Barely awake, she picked up the phone to see who was calling at this un-godly hour. It was the security office number at the ARC.
"Abby, we need you at the creature holding area. That Smilodon we brought in last week is sick."
She sat up in bed. "OK, give me half an hour and I'll come and take a look." She said. As the closet thing the ARC had to an animal specialist, whenever one of the creatures seemed unwell, they called on her. Getting a vet in was out of the question, although Abby had often thought it was something they should consider. Having a permanent Vet on the team would be a huge help.
She dressed, and made herself a quick coffee to wake herself up. She'd tried to be as quiet as possible, but she heard Connor moving about and he was now coming downstairs.
"What's up? Why are you up and dressed?" he said, yawning.
"Sorry, didn't mean to wake you. The Smilodon is ill. I'm going to have a look at her" she gulped the last of her coffee and grabbed her bag.
"Want me to come with you?"
"No point, Conn. You go back to bed. I'm not sure there's anything I can do really, but I should at least have a look." She was rummaging in her bag looking for her car keys. Connor was already turning and making his way back upstairs.
"See you in the morning then." He yawned again.
Abby rubbed her eyes sleepily, and left.
"How long has she been like this?" Abby said. The Smilodon was laid on her side, and in obvious discomfort.
"A couple of hours now." Dan said. He was one of the ARC team assigned to look after the creatures. "She wouldn't eat earlier, and then when I came back to check on her, I found her like this."
Abby knelt beside the huge cat. The fact she could even get this close told her something was wrong. This particular creature had been with them a week now, having wandered through an anomaly just before it closed. They'd had experience with a Smilodon before of course, so they knew a little about the behaviour. She stroked the cat's back. "Hey now, what's the matter eh?" she whispered softly. Any fear that she may have had was pushed to the back of her head. This was a sick creature, and at this moment she was the only one that could help.
Abby spent several minutes checking the creature over. When she had been brought in, she seemed fit and healthy and there were no signs of any kind of injury. To see such a magnificent creature in this state upset Abby. Then, she finally worked out what was wrong and a smile spread across her face.
"If I'm not mistaken, I would say our friend here is about to give birth." She said. Abby was softly pressing the creature's abdomen.
"Really? Wow!" Dan said. "We've not had babies here before have we?"
Abby shook her head. "No. It's pretty cool eh?" She felt butterflies in her stomach. This was huge, a prehistoric creature being born in captivity, a first for anyone as far as she knew.
"What do we do?" Dan said.
"Animals are pretty good at this sort of thing, they can generally do it alone without any help. I think we just need to make sure she's comfortable and that we keep this place as quiet as possible for her. Perhaps we could put up some screens around her so she's shielded from the other creatures?" Abby said.
"I'll get onto that now. I think we still have the screens from when we had the power cut and the electric fences went down." Dan disappeared, leaving Abby alone with the Smilodon.
Abby sat back and watched. She knew she was about to witness something amazing and had to share it with someone. She pulled her mobile out of her pocket and called Connor. His sleepy voice on the other end made her smile, and her grin widened when he said he was on his way. Apart from herself, Connor was the most experienced member of the team, and it was only right that he should be here for this first.
When Connor arrived, Dan and a soldier were fixing up the screens around the enclosure. "Did I miss anything?" Connor whispered, sitting himself beside Abby.
"No. But I don't think it'll be long. She's getting restless." Abby replied.
"Do you have a tranquiliser gun, Abby?"
She didn't, which was foolish. The thought hadn't even entered her mind that the creature could turn nasty, she had only thought about helping it. Connor went to the armoury and got two small guns ready. He came back, settled beside her, and handed her one of the guns.
"Glad you came." She said.
"Wouldn't have missed this for the world!" he beamed. "It's not every day you get the opportunity to see a Smilodon give birth!"
It was about an hour later when the Smilodon let out a pained cry. Abby had almost fallen asleep on Connor's shoulder, but was suddenly alert. She leaned over and examined the creature. "I think this is it, Conn. I think the baby is coming!" she turned to Connor and smiled. The Smilodon began to purr slightly and her breathing heavy.
The pair sat in awed silence as they watched the cub slowly enter the world. Without realising, Abby had grabbed Connor's hand, squeezing it tightly. He wasn't complaining, it felt nice and kind of right at this moment. He locked his fingers into hers, and fixed his gaze on the miracle unfolding before his eyes.
The cub lay on the ground, motionless and covered in the mucus of the birth sac. Abby waited for a few moments then grew concerned. "She should be cutting the cord with her teeth by now and licking away the birth sac, something's wrong." Abby shifted herself closer and took the cub in her hands. "Connor, can you find some scissors, and a couple of towels or something. Looks like we're going to have to help her out."
Connor dashed off, secretly pleased he could do something to assist, but also worried. He found towels easily, there were always a few in the gym, but scissors? He found a pair of nail scissors in Sarah's drawer and hurried back. Abby was trying to clear the birth sac from the cub's eyes and nose. She handed the cub to Connor. "Use the towel to clean off as much as the mucus as you can, especially around the nose so it can breathe. I need to cut the umbilical cord."
Connor followed Abby's instructions, his hands trembling. "It's a male." He said, a lump in his throat. The cub began to cry and he breathed a sigh of relief. "Abby!" he said, feeling a tear trickle down his cheek. She had cut and tied off the cord and turned to Connor.
"Good job, Conn. Put the cub near her nipples, let's see if he'll suckle." Connor did as she said. The cub tried to suckle but seemed to be struggling.
"What do we do Abs?" Connor's face crumpled in concern.
"It's OK for a little while. I'm more concerned about mum. She doesn't seem interested in the cub at all. She should be quite distressed about us handling him, and she isn't." Abby moved herself around to the head and stroked it. "What's wrong eh? Why don't you want your baby?"
"Abby! There's another one coming!" Connor said.
They both took a step away to try and let things run their natural course. This time it was Connor that held Abby's hand. It was an amazing thing to watch. They both willed the mother to turn to the second cub and clean it, but again she ignored it. When Abby gave the nod, Connor took it into his arms and cleaned it with the towel until he heard it cry out. This one was a female. Abby cut the cord and cleaned up as best she could. She looked at Connor sadly. They had two beautiful cubs, hungry and desperate for their mother's attention, but she hadn't even lifted her head to them.
"We might have to feed them ourselves." Abby said. "I've done it with domestic cats, but something this size…" she shook her head. "I'm going to call Tim at the zoo and see what they did when they had to hand rear some tiger cubs. All I know is we shouldn't handle them too much at the moment. She might be OK in a few hours and look after them herself." She looked at her watch, it was only 6.30am but she knew Tim would be up and about by now.
Tim had been really helpful. She was relieved to find that she had done everything right so far. Connor had been sent out to the supplier of the substitute milk they would need, and Abby had gone to the zoo to borrow some feeding bottles. It wasn't long before they were both sat cradling a cub on their lap and feeding them with the bottles. The cubs sucked hungrily, which was a relief. At least it meant they were healthy.
Abby glanced over at Connor and felt a strange flutter in her stomach. He looked very much at home, bottle in hand and feeding the cub. The look in his eyes was one of pure love. It was completely unexpected.
Connor suddenly became aware that Abby was staring at him. "What?" he said.
"Hm?" Abby questioned.
"You're staring. Am I doing something wrong?"
"No, not at all, Connor. I was just thinking how much that suited you." She blushed, and Connor blushed.
"My parents were foster carers, we had a lot of babies around when I was growing up. I'm just used to it I suppose." Connor said.
"Have you ever thought about having kids of your own?"
Connor considered for a moment. "I like kids and babies, bit of a scary thought having my own though." He blushed
"I think you'd be a good dad." Abby smiled.
"What about you? Would you like kids of your own one day?"
"I'm the least maternal woman in the world, except perhaps for my own mother." Abby said. "The thought scares the hell out of me, Connor. Me? A mother?" she swallowed nervously.
"You do an OK job with animals. I bet you'd be better at it than you think." Connor shifted awkwardly. The cub on his lap was kneading his thigh with its front paws as it tried to get the last of the milk in the bottle.
"Animals are different, Connor." Her cub had finished its milk and was falling asleep. She picked it up and placed it next to the mother, hoping it would snuggle up to her. "I don't exactly have a great role model for what being a mother is."
"So your mum made a few mistakes." Connor got a glare from Abby. "OK, so she made a lot of mistakes, but you can learn from them. When I watch you with an animal, like today, you're so … caring. I can see it in your eyes, Abby. You've got a lot of love in you, if you'd let it go and just…" Connor stopped. His thoughts were running away with him, and his head was filling with all sorts of images that he shouldn't be having.
"You should put your cub with the mother." Abby said, keen to change the subject. She watched Connor settle the cub next to its sibling. She could picture Connor with a baby quite easily, and she knew that one day, he would be a father. Suddenly, she felt her eyes sting. She was about to cry and she didn't know why. "Are you OK to stay for a while, Conn? There's something I need to do." She had to get out of there and pull herself together.
"Sure, take as long as you need. You OK?"
"Lack of sleep catching up on me, that's all. I just need some caffeine." She said.
Abby had shut herself in the ladies bathroom and let the tears flow. Images of her childhood came flooding through her head. No child should have to go through what she and Jack had, and her biggest fear was that she would be exactly like her mother. There was no way she could be a mother.
There was a knock on the door. Abby glanced at her watch, it was still too early for the other ARC staff to be here. She wiped her face, and opened the door slowly. It was Connor. "I knew there was something wrong!" he said.
"I'm OK. Just a few bad memories that's all." She said. Connor looked at her, his big brown eyes sad and concerned. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close to him. She rested her head on his chest and returned the hug. "Thank you." She whispered.
"It's been an emotional few hours, eh?" He said. "They're all sleeping now. Dan said he'd keep an eye on them for a couple of hours, why don't we go and get some breakfast somewhere? My treat."
"That sounds good." Abby said. "Can we go to that place that does pancakes with maple syrup?"
Connor took her hand and practically dragged her along the corridor.
Feeling refreshed, Abby and Connor returned to the creature holding area. Dan met them with a smile. "I was getting worried, the cubs are due their next feed and I could hear them making little crying squeaky noises."
"It's OK, I'll mix some more milk for them." Abby said.
"No need! Come on, take a look!" Dan said. He motioned for them to follow him. The sight that greeted them was the most beautiful sight either had ever seen. The two cubs were suckling from the mother, and she was licking them.
"Look at that!" Abby whispered. "Wonder why she didn't do that straight away?"
"Maybe she was just scared she'd be a bad mother?" Connor said. "There's lot of that about." He rested his hand on the small of Abby's back.
A pleasant shiver ran the length of her spine as Connor touched her. "Yes, there is." She said. "She seems to be doing alright now though. She had it in there somewhere, she just needed to find it."
Connor then did something totally unexpected. He kissed her, just briefly, on the lips. "You will too, when the time is right." Then he quickly walked away, almost as if he was expecting a slap or something.
"Connor!" Abby called after him. He stopped and turned around nervously. "Thank you." She smiled. He returned the smile, then turned away again, making his way to his desk in the main part of the ARC.
Abby lingered for a few more minutes, watching the mother Smilodon with her cubs. Connor's words echoed in her head – when the time is right. With a smile, she turned to make her own way to the ARC.