I was disoriented and exhausted. I'd been pushing for a long time, I didn't know how long. It felt like forever.
"Come on Trude, one more push." was said to me, I thought it was Amber, it sounded like her at least.
"I can't." I whined weakly while both Amber and Ryan urged me on. I was weak and exhausted. I had been drifting back and forth between consciousness and unconsciousness.
"Come one Trudy. You can do it." I heard Ryan say. I did my best and pushed as much as I could, and of course I screamed out in pain from the effort. The next thing I know is Ryan holding the baby.
"It's a girl." I heard Amber say from somewhere outside the furniture store. I guessed she told the others because what I heard next was cheering. The baby was crying, I could hear her.
"You're awake." Ryan said as he sat down next to me on the bed. I just nodded. Amber was back in the room. She looked at Ryan and then at me.
"Whose is she?" Amber asked and I just shrugged my shoulders as an answer. Ryan handed me that baby.
"You don't know?" Amber prodded, she was obviously curious.
"No." I lied, I did know who the father was, he was sitting right next to me, but I didn't think it was any of their business. Ryan just looked at me. I knew he had a question for me.
"Okay. Well are you ready for the rebel?" Amber asked as she looked at me. I just nodded. I didn't feel like speaking much. Everyone came in, and Ryan refused to leave me, he was still sitting next to me on the bed. Everyone came in, Paul and Patsy first, followed by Zandra and a very reluctant Lex, he actually just poked his head through the doorway and then left again. After Zandra came Salene with Dal and Jack. Bob the dog wasn't allowed in.
"We have presents for you and the baby, Trudy." Patsy said as she handed me some chocolates. I smiled weakly and thanked her.
"Mine's a scale, so you can see if the baby puts on weight." Salene said as Jack put the scale on the floor. Dal had brought a basket that could be used as a cot.
"Thank you Dal." I said and smiled.
"Now, give her some room. Trudy and the baby need sleep." Amber said as she told everyone to leave. She also tried to get Ryan to leave, but it was impossible.
"I am not leaving, she's my girlfriend." Ryan told Amber and I just smiled, I didn't want him to leave so I said:
"It's okay Amber. I don't want him to leave."
"Okay. I'll be in the café." Amber said as she left.
"So, you going to tell me what you meant earlier?" Ryan asked me and I just shrugged my shoulders as I carefully put the baby down in the basket, with some help from Ryan. It didn't take me long to fall asleep. When I woke up, I wasn't in the furniture store anymore. I'd gotten my own room. It was in the kitchenware store. My bed was placed with the headboard against the wall that connected the kitchenware to the furniture store. The basket with my daughter in it was to my right, and Ryan was lying to my left. The bed was cramped, but I didn't mind. Ryan was snoring ever so slightly. My daughter was awake. So I picked her up.
"Hi baby. What should I name you?" I asked her, but she couldn't exactly answer me. And I didn't know what I should name her. I knew I'd have to ponder it for a while. I put my baby girl back into her cot as I rolled over and pulled Ryan's arm around me.
Zandra's POV
"Trudy?" I asked as I walked over to the kitchenware store.
"Come on in." I heard Ryan answer. So I entered the room.
"How is she?" I asked as I pushed the drape aside.
"She's fine. So is the baby." Ryan said as he looked over at Trudy and then to the baby that was in its cot.
"That's good." I said as I looked over at the two sleeping girls.
"Is there are reason for you being here Zan?" Ryan asked me, and there was but I didn't want to be the one to tell him, it had to come from Trudy. I was just thinking of what she had told me after the dance, and what we had talked about a couple of months back. When Trudy had thought she was just ill, she hadn't thought of the fact that she might be pregnant until I told her. I was trying to think of something to tell Ryan, so I said what I thought of.
"Well it's breakfast time, and I thought you might be hungry." I said as I retreated out of the room and headed to the café.
"Well I am hungry, but I don't want to leave Trudy and the baby." Ryan said to me before I left, so I'd told him I could bring him some food.
Well in the café, Amber came up to me.
"So did you know that Trudy was pregnant?" Amber asked me straight out, she knew that me and Trudy were best friends.
"That's my business and my business alone." I answered as I took two bowls and filled with some food that Salene had heated up, it was beans and tinned meat.
"Here's some food Ryan." I said as I entered the room he shared with Trudy. He had all his stuff in there, scattered around on a wicker chair.
"Thanks Zandra. You're the best friend one can ask for." Ryan said as he took the bowls from me, he set one down on the chair beside the bed and the other one he ate himself. Trudy was stirring, mumbling something.
"You're welcome." I said as I left again. I went to the kitchen to eat myself.
"Zan?" Amber asked as she sat down next to me.
"No." I answered as I ate my food. As I ate I saw Ryan coming out of the room with one of the bowls, so I guessed the Trudy was awake.
When I'd finished my breakfast, I headed back to Trudy's room, I wanted to talk to her.
"Hey Zan." Trudy said meekly as I entered the room. Ryan was there, fussing over the baby.
"Hi Trude, Ryan. Do you mind if I talk to Trudy alone?" I asked and looked at Ryan. He nodded and took the baby with him when he left.
"Did you tell him?" I asked Trudy as I sat down on the bed next to her.
"I'm not sure if he understood what I meant though." Trudy answered as she yawned.
"Are you okay?" I asked Trudy concerned. She looked like she was sweating.
"Yeah. I'm just a bit cold." Trudy answered, which I found a bit odd. I put my hand on her forehead. It felt warm to me.
"Amber?" I called, which got both Amber and Ryan to come running in to the room. Ryan because he was worried something was wrong with Trudy, and Amber because I'd asked for her.
"What is it?" Amber asked as she entered the room.
"I think Trudy's ill." I said as I moved away from the bed.
"Zandra, go and get Dal. And ask him to bring the thermometer." Amber said, and I did what I was told. A few minutes later Trudy had the thermometer in her mouth.
"She has a fever." Dal concluded as he looked at the thermometer.
"That's not good." I said as I looked over at Trudy from where I was standing. Ryan had put the little baby in the cot and he himself was sitting on the wicker chair next to the bed.
"What's Trudy saying?" I asked, since I couldn't hear it clearly. All I could hear was mumbling.
"She's rambling about death." Dal said as he took the thermometer out of Trudy's mouth.
"What could it be?" Amber asked Dal who just shrugged his shoulders. This looked to bug Amber, but I kept my mouth shut.
"Let's go and see if we can find anything useful in the magazine shop." Amber said and took Dal with her, while Ryan nursed the baby that had started to cry again. I didn't want to stay in the room with Trudy since sick people made me feel sick too. I stalked around the mall for a bit. I soon enough ended up at the café, where Ryan was sitting trying to soothe the crying baby. It didn't work.
"She's probably hungry." I said as I sat down on a chair next to Ryan.
"Yeah, but it's not like Trudy can feed her." Ryan said and sighed as he did everything he could to try and get the baby to stop crying.
"Of course not, she's ill." I said as I looked at the curtain in front of the doorway to the store where Trudy was. Amber just walked out of the room.
"Dal do you really think it's safe to go there?" I heard Amber ask Dal. He just shrugged his shoulders as he said;
"I have to, Trudy needs the meds, or she might die." I didn't ask what it was about, I just kept quiet. The Bray guy who had shown up just before Trudy went into labor was still in the mall. We had voted him in to stay while Trudy slept after the birth.
I saw Dal head down the stairs, I figured he was heading outside to find something that was needed.
"Ryan you can go back into Trudy now." Amber said before she went back inside Trudy's room.
"Hang on Amber." I said and hurried over to her.
"What?" she asked a bit annoyed.
"What's wrong with Trudy?" I asked as Ryan came walking toward us.
"She has puerperal fever, it's a fever that new moms get due to lack of hygiene." Amber said as she entered Trudy's room. Ryan had already gone in there and was sitting next to Trudy. The baby was quiet for the time being because she was sucking at Ryan's finger. He had apparently given her a bath, because she was a lot cleaner.
"How do you treat it?" I asked curiously as I helped Amber and Ryan to change the sheets in the bed, they were soaking wet.
"With antibiotics, that's why Dal left. He went to his father's old surgery in sector 15." Amber said as we put Trudy back down on the clean and dry sheets. Amber had brought a bowl of cold water in to the room earlier and was dabbing Trudy's forehead with a cold cloth, to keep her from overheating.
"That's crazy. It's one of the many Loco hang outs." Ryan said as put the baby down, it wasn't a smart move, because a few seconds later she was crying again, so Ryan just picked her up again.
"I'll go and see if there are any antibiotics in the pharmacy." I said but before I had a chance to leave Amber told me that she and Dal had looked, and it'd been looted already. I still left the room, and Ryan had apparently followed me. Because when I headed down the stairs I spotted him walking around along the railing on the second floor. Me, I was searching for Lex, who'd gone awol with the kids. It didn't take me long to find the kids, they were playing with a ball and the dog. Lex however was bothering Jack about batteries for the laptop.
"Where're the batteries nerd." I heard Lex say and just rolled my eyes as I entered the room where they were.
"Lex, there are none left." Jack said I snickered as I entered the room.
"Now Lex, play nice." I said smirking.
"I always play nice." Lex said smirking as he walked towards me. He tried to kiss me, but I moved away so he kissed air.
"I GOT IT!" was heard and echoed throughout the mall. It was Dal, he had obviously found the medicine needed to save Trudy. I hurried up the stairs and followed him into Trudy and Ryan's room.