Chapter III: Help from our Friends
A/N: Another long wait for an update. Edith is… difficult for me to write, which is a very bad thing, for someone trying to write her. Any kind of advice for writing her in the future will be appreciated. Trying to write a writer is far from the easiest thing. Especially a stubborn writer. I also borrowed a scene from another story of mine. It fit the situation. Thanks go out to Laura for her beta work. Enjoy the update! SSD
Edith slowly became aware of her surroundings, the pillows were soft against her face, she snuggled deeper into the covers wanting to retain the warmth and drift back off to dreamland. She sighed and rolled over, the sudden movement making her head spin, her stomach roiled in sympathy and nausea washed over her. She remained as still as possible trying to make the sudden dizziness go away but the nausea worsened.
She felt the now only too familiar sensation wash over her in waves, growing like the incoming tide. Edith yanked back the duvet and sat up, the room seeming to spin afresh, or perhaps she was unable to stay still, it was hard to tell. She got to her feet, her legs wobbling like jelly and stumbled across the room. She felt as though she were trying to cross the deck of a ship in the middle of a hurricane. She felt so awful, tears began stinging her eyes, she took another few steps and collided with the dresser. She righted herself and felt like she was on a ship in the middle of a stormy sea. Edith opened the door, barely aware of her surroundings and knew she was going to be sick. Unable to walk due to the nausea and dizziness she slumped to her knees and crawled as fast as possible to the bathroom.
She reached up and threw the toilet seat back just as her stomach heaved. The first few seconds were a welcome relief, the action easing her nausea. The hot, foul smelling liquid seared her throat and her abdomen ached as she heaved again, and again. She had a few seconds respite and gulped air, coughing and spluttering. She felt her stomach heave and threw her head forwards once again. Her throat was agony and her stomach screamed in protest as her stomach contents were fully emptied and she began to dry heave. Mercifully she only brought up foul tasting yellow bile. She was shaking and muttering slightly as the heaving began afresh.
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Alan felt that it was safe to enter Edith's home now after a few days. Marshall would be coming with him, hopefully to get things started.
Marshall was more worried about entering the house without Edith's knowledge. Unlike his brother, Marshall had prior experience with a pregnant woman, his wife Mary.
In the early days, things could be most… unpleasant for the woman. Mary had not been that ill, it had been smells that had mostly driven her up the wall.
She'd also thrown things at him. He'd been lucky that her gun (Mary was from Texas among other things) was in the gun safe. Marshall had to move the gun safe to where Mary couldn't reach it.
He'd been less than keen on getting shot anyplace! And Mary could hit what she aimed at with incredible accuracy.
"If what you've told me about Edith's symptoms is true, she'll likely not be feeling well at the moment. And I really don't want to get things thrown at me."
"If you would prefer to wait in the sitting room while I talk to her, you are free to do so."
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Alan went to the room Edith was in. She had just come out of the bathroom feeling a little weak. His hand rubbed along her face as he felt sorry for what she was going through at the moment. "Marshall is here to speak with you. Are you well enough to speak with him?" Alan asked worried.
"I will be alright, give me a moment to fresh in up." Alan left her a moment while she tried to make herself look presentable. She put on a change of clothes putting her hair in a bun. When she finished, she made her way down stairs seeing Marshall sitting on the couch across from Alan.
"Edith, it has been a long time," he said greeting her with a hug. She returned the hug. Hugging him briefly before sitting down.
"Nice to see you again," she said sitting next to Alan.
"I do wish there were better circumstances, but we need to discuss your options for the child."
Edith nodded. Alan had mentioned that Marshall would likely be more than willing to help.
Before Marshall could speak, Edith asked, "What's the worst that can happen, if nothing is done?"
"The child could be taken from you, especially if it's a boy. It could be construed that taking him or her from you would be in the child's best interest." Marshall almost growled out the last two words. There was a lot of true idiocy when it the Courts decided to do things that were supposedly in a child's best interest.
"What if we left Ireland? Headed back the US?" Alan asked as Edith turned even paler at Marshall's statement.
"I cannot believe I am saying this, but staying in Ireland actually would make certain things easier, like forging the documents. All you need is a few pints, and you'll get your forged documents when you need them," Marshall smiled a little at that before continuing, "My friend Declan owes me a favor from when we were still in law school. And he'd do this for free once he finds out that he's going to be able making things difficult for the English legal system."
Edith had gotten up and was standing by the window, looking outside. Both men noticed that was rubbing her stomach.
"I'll do it. For the child. I don't want the child, boy or girl anywhere England." Edith's voice was strong.
"As you will. Alan and I will go and see Declan. Will you be alright alone?" Marshall asked.
"I'll be fine. Go on, get going."
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Edith had agreed to marry him. Alan wasn't going to pressure her in regards to what kind of marriage it would be, at least initially. Edith was pregnant, the child would be her primary focus after he or she was born.
The only reason he was at the hospital, was that it was time for his shift. Alan didn't really need to work, but the repetitiveness of his rounds helped him think.
He wasn't expecting to see Doctor O'Neill still there. His shift had been earlier in the day. The old doctor was talking to a woman who looked to be about ten years older than Alan himself. They seemed to be old friends.
"Doctor McMichael, how are things moving along?" The older doctor was somewhat aware of the plans that were going on.
"The papers just need to be signed." This had not been what Alan had imagined a wedding of his to Edith would be like. It was clinical and very little emotion.
"How is Edith doing?"
"Not too badly. Still a bit sick."
O'Neill shook his head, "Usually that abates, but it can last throughout the pregnancy." Realizing that he had not yet introduced Alan to who he had just been talking to. "I apologize. I should have introduced you sooner. Doctor Alan McMichael, this is Doctor Helen Magnus."
"It's a pleasure. I believe I was at one of your lectures a few years back," Alan said as he shook her hand.
Before anything more could be said, Doctor O'Neill (after excusing himself from Helen) took Alan aside and whispered, "Doctor Magnus may be able to help you with what you are attempting to do. She could help bury certain information so that it will never see the light of day."
Alan had to give that some thought. Though he was uncertain of letting someone else in on the plan. Because if more people knew a secret, the harder it would be to keep.
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The future was always changing. It had been one of the first lessons he had learned after becoming a ghost. He also could see future possibilities. Some were good, others were bad, and two were truly horrible.
The two truly horrible ones involved either history repeating itself or the premature death involving drowning.
He was interrupted by the entity known only as Mr. Jordan. After waving the future possibilities away, Mr. Jordan said,
"The future is always changing. Do not torture yourself with what might come to pass."
A/N 2: Again, apologies on the long wait. I do not own Helen Magnus or Mr. Jordan. I picture Mr. Jordan as Thomas Lennon from the new version of The Odd Couple. The movie that I got him from is titled Here Comes Mr. Jordan, where the character was played by Claude Rains (Captain Renault from Casablanca) There's also a poll that is directly involved with this story. Quite an important bit. I'd love to hear what you think of this chapter, hope it was worth the wait. The next update should not be as long. SSD
