EIGHT:

Bloody Delivery

Author's note: I guess I should say that this chapter is a little bloody and graphic, but I think the title speaks for itself. I hope you can still enjoy the story, though.

After Edward and Foy had left, Ruth helped Anna back up the steps, Eddie following along behind them. When they got back inside Albert and Anna's room, George was kneeling by his son's bedside, cradling his limp hand in his. He looked up at Anna, Ruth, and Eddie when all three of them walked in, his face grave.

"What's wrong?" Ruth asked, rushing over to George's side. Anna struggled to keep up with her, leaning against her side for support.

George held up his son's hand, his own shaking. "It's his hand," he said, his face white. "Look. You can see for yourself. It's turning black and blue."

Ruth bent down beside him. "Here, let me see," she said, taking Albert's hand in her own. She gasped and her eyes widened in horror when she saw that George was right. Albert's hand was turning black and blue, mostly on his fingers and around his knuckles. "You're right." She turned his hand over, inspecting his palm, which was starting to turn blue in the middle. "I wonder what's causing this."

"A side effect from the poison, probably," George said, looking over the bed. "I could see it around his eyes and mouth, too."

Ruth looked up to see if he was right about that, too, and peered into Albert's face. "I think you're right," she said, standing up. "I have to get a closer look, though." She let go of Albert's hand and walked up to the head of the bed, peering into Albert's face. She ran her hand along his cheeks, which had became sunken and bony in just the past couple of days, and saw that George had been right again. She could see tinges of black and blue around Albert's eyes and mouth. They were faint now, but she could see them, and she had no doubt they would get darker with time. "Oh, Albert, honey, what's happening to you?"

Anna knelt down beside Ruth. "Wait, what's wrong?" she asked, grabbing Albert's hand. She gasped at the sight of it, feeling tears prickling the edge of her vision. "Oh, Albert!" Her lips began to tremble, but she struggled to keep them at bay. "What's wrong with you - ooooohhhhh!" Feeling a warm trickle of water spilling down her legs, she fell the rest of the way to the floor, her legs buckling out from underneath her.

Everyone in the room jumped at the sound of Anna's high-pitched, bloodcurdling scream.

"What is it, Anna?" Ruth asked, rubbing her hand over the towering mound of Anna's belly. "What's wrong?" Sliding her hand up Anna's shirt, she flipped it up, revealing the skin rolling along the peek of Anna's stomach like some sort of living creature crawling underneath her skin. Anna looked down at in growing horror, her moth gaping open and her eyes widening in fear.

"My water...just broke..." she gasped, her convulsing body withering on the floor. "The baby's...coming..."

Ruth stood up to her feet. "George, hurry! Carry her to the other room," she said, heading downstairs. "I'm going to get some towels and ice. God knows we'll need them."

Scared, Anna watched her leave, feeling helpless. She groaned when George, with a pained grunt, bent down and picked her up with surprising strength for a man of his age, and carried her to the bedroom Ruth had been talking about, stretching her out on the bed. Looking around her, she knew which room it was. It had been the old bedroom George and Elsie had shared when they had been married. George hadn't used it since she had died, however, and slept most of the time in that damn chair of his. Ever since, neither Albert nor Anna had felt right about going in it, not even to have sex, fearing how George would react, if, by some divine miracle, he ever got up out his chair and caught them.

Anna looked over at George. "Thank you..." she croaked, reaching out for his hand, not expecting him to take it. She was surprised when he did.

George looked as if he wanted to be somewhere else. "Is there anything else I can get you, Ma'am?" he asked

Anna shook her head. "No," she said, her her faint voice a weak whisper. "Thank you...though..." She winced in pain as another violent contraption rippled across her belly, and she shot up in the bed, gripping her contracting stomach. She screamed, her head falling back against the pillow.

Anna shook her head again. "No..." she wheezed. "Just you...being here...is enough...Ruth's...bringing me...what I need...OHHHHH!"

Still grabbing her belly, she twisted on the bed, another painful contraption ripping through her.

Ruth came into the room, carrying several towels and a couple of buckets of ice. She knelt down beside the bed, "Anything you need?" she asked.

Anna was grateful Ruth and George were there for her, but she was getting tired of being asked that. She wasn't a helpless maid! "It's...so...hot..." she moaned, realizing, for the first time, how hot she was. She knew it wasn't that hot out, and that it was a regular temperature both inside and outside, but she was burning up. She wouldn't have been surprised if she had been running a fever.

Ruth nodded. "Raise up," she said, putting her hand under Anna's head.

Anna did so, groaning as her belly constricted in protest. Pulling her hair back and tying it into a ponytail, Ruth pulled her shirt up off her stomach, taking her bra off just before she laid her back down on the bed. Then, she slid her hand under belly, pulling her pants off of her legs.

"Is that better?" Ruth asked. Bending down, she took some ice out of the bucket and wrapped it in a towel. Raising back up, she laid it on the top of Anna's heaving belly, tying the towel together at the top, and began to rub it all over her breasts and belly as she ran a towel over her forehead with her other hand, running it across her face.

Anna nodded. "Yes," she gasped. "Thank you, Ruth." She began to wheeze. "I very much appreciate all your doing for me...AAAAHHH!" She screamed, bending over her belly, still clutching it in a death grip. She felt blood splatter out underneath her, coating the sheets. At once, Ruth grabbed another towel and laid it out underneath Anna, but it wasn't long before it, too, was soaked in large, sickening amounts of blood.

Panicking, Ruth turned to George. "Go get Doctor Harper!" she told him, grabbing Anna's hand. "Tell him the baby's coming!"

As silent as ever, George nodded and left the room. Ruth watched him go before turning back to Anna."It'll be okay," she said, wiping a wet rag over Anna's perspiring forehead, which was crinkled with lines of pain. "You going to be all right."

"I...sure...hope...so..."Anna said, groaning with the effort it had taken her to speak. "Because...right now...it's not...looking like...I'm going...to...OHHHHH!"

Anna's creams of pain went on for the rest of the day, and long into the night. She was still screaming the next day, and still hadn't given birth to the baby, yet. They were beginning to fear something was wrong when Doctor Harper, growing worried, bent down at the foot of Anna's bed, spread her legs, and peered into her vagina. "I see it's head!" he announced with relief. "Keep on, pushing, Anna!" He looked over her undulating belly at her."It's almost here! I see it's crown! Just push harder!"

Screaming, Anna pushed with all her might, bearing down harder on her belly. She tried to look down to see if she could see the baby's head, but she couldn't see anything past her belly, not even the tips of her toes.

"It's coming!" Doctor Harper cried. "I see the rest of it! Just a couple of more pushes Anna - there you go!"

Still screaming, Anna gave three more pushes, and then they all heard a bloodcurdling wail that, for once, hadn't came from Anna.

Doctor Harper held the baby up over her belly. "It's a girl!" he said, walking over to the side of the bed. He gave the baby to Anna, who cradled it in her arms, not for sure what to do with it.

Anna peered into it's round, puffy, face, which was red from crying. The baby was a girl, and she looked just liked her mother. She had inherited Anna's blond hair, and her pointy, yet strong, determined chin, but she had no doubt gotten her shining, oval face and her dark, brown eyes from Albert.

"She looks just like you," Ruth said, but Anna barely heard her, lost in the bewildered gaze that was staring back at her in wonder.

"What do I name it?" Anna asked no one in particular, still unable to look away from the new life she held in her arms, the new life she had created. "I...don't want to name it without Albert..."

Ruth laid a hand on her shoulder, peering down at the baby. "Wait until you talk to him again, then, if he feels like it, " she said, running her hand over the top of the baby's head. "If it's any consolation, I think it would be better if you did."

Anna, for the first time, managed to tear her gaze from the baby at last, and looked up at Ruth. "You really think so?" she asked.

Ruth nodded. "I think so," she said, smiling back at her.

Anna went to smile back when she felt another, sudden, unexpected pain shoot through her stomach, causing her to double over in agony again. She almost dropped the baby but Ruth grabbed it just in time.

Anxious, Ruth peered into Anna's contorted face. "Anna, what's wrong?" she asked.

"I think...another one's...coming..." Anna gasped. "OHHHHH...AHHHHH!"

Ruth looked over at Anna's belly, which, she noticed for the first time, hadn't shrunk a bit since she had given birth."It's not over, yet, Doctor!" she said, draping her hand across the top of Anna's belly. She gasped when she felt something kick her hand. "We got another one coming!"

Doctor Harper knelt back down at Anna's feet, getting ready. "I think you might be right," he said. "Push, Anna! Push!"

Anna groaned. "Easy...for...you...to say..." Anna gasped, her head rolling over her shoulders."You're not the one...trying to...pop...out...a kid...OWWWWWW!"

"Hold on, Anna'," Ruth said. "You're going to be all right. Just push. There you go!"

Anna pushed with all her might, but the baby still didn't come. She pushed for the rest of the day and night, her energy and strength waning. This birth was proving harder than the last, and Doctor Harper and Ruth feared the worst.

"How you holding up, Anna?" Ruth asked, still sitting by Anna's side on the bed.

"I can't...move..." Anna said, her voice a hoarse whisper. Ruth had to bend over her head in order to hear her.

"Want to get up and move around?" Ruth asked. "I'll ask Doctor Harper to bring a birthing stool for you if you need it."

Anna nodded. "That would...be...nice..." she said, panting. "Help...me...up..."

Ruth did so, grabbing her by the armpits and sitting her up. She slid her off the bed, Anna clinging to her arm with one hand and groping at her heaving belly with the other, moaning and groaning.

"Could you get her a birthing stool, Doctor Harper?" Ruth asked. "She wants to take a break from lying down and stretch her legs a little."

Doctor Harper nodded. "I think I might have one in the office," he said, turning to leave the room. "I'll be back with one as soon as I can." Ruth watched him leave, guiding Anna around the bedroom.

"Could...somebody...go...check...on Albert..." Anna gasped, her breasts heaving. "I'm...worried about...him...oh... my... God...it hurts...it hurts...like hell..." Wheezing, she knelt over her belly, resting her hands over her knees. Ruth leaned over her, patting her back.

"Don't worry about, Albert, Anna," Ruth said, holding her up. "I'll have George go check on him." She pulled a strand of hair off of one of Anna's shoulders, inclining her head at George. Knowing what to do without asking, he nodded and left the room. He didn't come back for awhile. "You need to worry about yourself and the baby right now."

"You're right..." Anna said. "You're right...the baby's more...important...right now..."

"That's right," Ruth said. She walked Anna back and forth across the bedroom while they waited on Doctor Harper to get back, letting her lean against the wall every now and then when she got too tired.

Anna rested her back against the wall "This...is...harder...than...I thought...it would...be..." she said, looking down at her protruding belly.

Ruth stood beside her, putting one hand on her belly while keeping one hand behind her back to hold her up in case she was to fall. "It was for me, too," she said, kneading Anna's belly with her fingers in order to loosen up the tighten skin. "it always is, the first time, but I think it gets easier the second time."

"Ahhhh...thank you...Ruth..." Anna panted. "That...feels...good...AAAAAHHHHH" All of a sudden, Ann screamed, and fell to the floor, taking Ruth down with her.

"What is it?" Ruth asked, placing her hands on either side of Anna's belly.

"Nothing...just...another...contraption..." Anna gasped. She laid in the floor, spreading her legs and drawing them up to her belly. "I can't...get...up..." She stretched her arms out across the floor, her heart pounding.

George came in seconds later. "What happened?" he asked, when he saw Anna lying in the floor. "Is she all right?" He rushed over Ruth and Anna, out of breath by the time he reached them.

Ruth looked up at him. "Yeah, I think so," she said, squeezing one of Anna's hands. "Another contraption just hit her pretty hard and she fell." She looked up into Anna's sweat-covered face. "You are all right, aren't you, Anna?"

Anna nodded. "I'm fine..." she wheezed. "It just..hurts..." Her eyes rolled up to the ceiling, and she turned her head, noticing for the first time, that George was back. "Did... you check...on...Albert...?"

George nodded and bent down beside her. "Yes," he said, groaning as every bone in his tired body protested the strain of the movement.

"How...is...he...?" Anna asked, not in the least bit worried about herself.

George was silent for a moment before he answered. "About the same," he said. "He's still turning black and blue but he's just the same."

Anna swallowed. "Thank you...for telling...me the...truth..." she said, taking a deep, raspy breath and closing her eyes. "Did he... ask about me?"

George nodded. "He spoke a little bit," he said. "He did ask about you."

Anna opened her eyes. "Did he...ask...about...the baby?" she asked.

George could no nothing but nod again."Yes," he said.

Anna stared back at George, not taking her eyes off of him, that way, if he lied, she would know. Not that she thought George would ever lie to her to her, but she couldn't be too sure, not in the west."What...did...you ...tell him...?"

George shrugged. "Nothing, really," he said. "I just told him you had one, a girl, and that you didn't know what to name it, but you didn't want to name it without him."

Anna managed a weak smile, imagining the look of horror on Albert's expression when his father had told him the news. "What...did...he say...?" she asked.

"Nothing, " George said.

Anna looked a little disappointed. "Oh..." she said. "Well...that's okay...I guess...at least...he's still...alive..."

About that time, Doctor Harper came back, carrying a birthing stool. "What happened here?" he asked, seeing all of them sitting on the floor.

Ruth stood up. "Anna had another bad contraption and fell," she said, going over to Doctor Harper to help him sit the birthing stool beside the bed. "I think she's going to be okay, though."

"Bring her over here if she's ready," Doctor Harper said, motioning to George.

"You ready to get up, Miss?" he asked, grabbing Anna by the arm.

Anna looked over at him and nodded. "Yes..." she said, her voice small and weak.

"All right," George said, looking over at Ruth. "Come over and help me, Ruth.

"Yes, sir," Ruth said, running back over to George and Anna. She got on Anna's other side and grabbed her arm, throwing it over her shoulder, and she and George helped Doctor Harper carry her the rest of the way to the birthing stool.

"Here you are, Mrs. Stark," Doctor Harper said, helping George and Ruth ease Anna down on the birthing stool. "Just sit down there...easy now..." Anna straddled the birthing stool with her legs, leaning her back against Ruth's stomach for support. Ruth grabbed her arms while George grabbed her by the waist, and Doctor Helper knelt down in front of her, grabbing her by the legs. He spread them apart. It took all four of them to balance her on the stool to keep her from toppling off the stool from exhaustion.

Anna had labor pains for the rest of the day and well on into the night. Doctor Harper suspected something was wrong. It had been almost four days now since Anna went into labor.

"Something's wrong," Doctor Harper said, inspecting Anna's vagina. "With the baby I think, not Anna, I hope. We should've been seeing the baby's head by now."

"I agree," Ruth said. "Is there anyway you can check to make sure?"

Doctor Harper looked up at them, his expression grave. "You're not going to like it," he said.

Ruth was still helpful, despite the seriousness of the situation."Tell us," she said. George just nodded in silent agreement.

Doctor Harper sighed. "Very well, then," he said, taking a deep breath."Don't say I didn't warn you, but I would have to cut Anna open."

Ruth gasped. She and George gaped back at Doctor Harper in horror.

Doctor Harper shook his head at them. "I said you wouldn't like it, now didn't I?"

Ruth gave Doctor Harper a helpless look. "Isn't there any other way?" she asked, shaking her head.

"Well, I could just stick my hand in there and pull the baby out, or turn it the right way so she can push it out, but it would be very painful for Anna. Then, if she still can't get the baby out, we'll cut her open."

Anna groaned. "I don't... care...just...do it..." she said, gasping for breath. "Whatever...it...takes...just...get... the little bastard...out of me...I can't...take...it...no more..." She was running out of air.

Doctor Harper nodded. "If you say so," he said. "Give her a towel to bit down, so she want bite her lip bloody. "

Ruth put the towel in Anna's mouth and she bit down on it, hard, her eyes widening in hear.

"Okay, on the count of three," Doctor Harper said, rolling the sleeve of his shirt up his arm. "One...two...three..."

Anna screamed as, just as he had promised, George shoved his hand into her vagina, and began to explore it. "Um, just as I feared," he said, shaking his head with regret. "The baby is turned the wrong way."

Ruth gasped. "Isn't there anything you can do, doctor?" she asked.

Anna cried out in relief as Doctor Harper pulled his hand out of Anna's vagina, her body sagging. "Well, like I said, I can cut her open," he said, looking up at look of horror on Ruth and George's faces. "Or, I can turn it around." He shrugged. " It's as simple as that. If Anna still can't push the baby out after that, I'm afraid I'm going to have no choice but to cut her open."

Ruth sighed, looking down."I guess you got to do what you got to do," she said, glancing over at Anna. "But I think it's really up to Anna, don't you?'

Doctor Harper nodded in agreement. "Yes, I do," he said, staring back at Ruth. "You're right. I think we ought to let Anna decide." He looked back up at Anna. "Well, what do you, say, Anna?"

"I don't...care...what...you do...just get...the ...damn...thing...out...of...me..." Anna panted, her belly heaving from the effort it took for her to speak. Ruth put the towel back in her mouth, looking down at the pool blood of that had spilled out underneath Anna's legs.

Ruth spun around to look at Doctor Harper. "Hurry, Doctor!" she ordered, her eyes wide with fear and and her voice shrill with fright. "She's loosing a lot of blood!"

"Very well," Doctor Harper said, pulling his hand back. "Once again, then. On the count of three. One...two...three..."

Anna screamed as, once again, Doctor Harper plunged his fist back into her vagina. This time he kept in there longer, struggling to turn the baby around without hurting it or Anna. Anna's moans and screams were still muffled by the towel in her mouth, but they were still audible, and it was hard for her friends to listen to them.

At last, after what seemed like an eternity, Anna felt Doctor Harper's hand slide out of her vagina, and she could've cried with joy if she wasn't so damn exhausted. "There, I got it turned the right way," he said, picking up a nearby towel to wipe the blood off of his hands. "Now all you got to do is push, Anna. Then we'll see what we've got to do next."

Screaming, Anna pushed with all her might, using up what little strength she had left, but the baby still didn't come. She pushed for the rest of the day and well into the night, the last of what little strength she had waning.

Ruth was loosing hope. "She just doesn't have the strength, Doctor," she said, shaking her head.

Doctor Harper sighed and looked away. "I'm afraid you're right," he said, standing up and walking over to the bed. "Bring her over to the bed." He got his medical equipment ready and walked over to the side of the bed. "I'm going to have to cut her open."

George helped carry Anna, who, much to their surprise, felt weightless despite the immense size of her enormous belly, to the bed.

Doctor Harper went over to the nightstand, where he laid out his medical equipment. "I'm going to give her a shot of morphine before I start the procedure," he said, taking a needle out of the first aid kit. "You two might want to hold her down, in case she has another contraption and she wants to move on me."

Ruth and George did as Doctor Harper had, going to either side of Anna, Ruth holding one of her arms down and Doctor Harper the other and waited while Doctor Harper prepared himself for the surgery.

"Now, try be still, Anna," Doctor Harper said, holding the needle over Anna's right arm. "I'm going to give you a shot of morphine, okay?" He looked up at Anna, to see if she was listening, and looked back down at the needle again when he saw nod, her eyes wide with fear. "You're too weak to have the baby right, now, and I'm afraid the only we're going to be able to get it out is if we cut you open, so that's what I'm going to do, okay?"

Anna nodded. "Just...do...what...you have...to..." she whispered, before she was out like a light.

Anna didn't know how much time had passed when she woke up, but when she opened her eyes, Doctor Harper, Ruth, and George were standing around her bed, all of them looking down on her with dismayed, terrified looks on their faces.

Anna struggled to push herself up, but let her head fall back against the pillow with a wince when she felt a painful twinge in her side. Looking down, she felt the line of stitches running down her right side, grimacing. "Why?" she asked, and glanced up at friends, giving them a questioning look. "What happened? "

"Anna, I'm sorry, " Ruth was saying, shaking her head. Tears were spilling down her face and Anna knew the worst had happened. "I'm so sorry...Doctor Harper did everything he could..."

Doctor Harper walked away from the bed. He came back a few seconds later, carrying a still bundle in his arms. "I did everything I could Anna, I promise you, but I couldn't save it, " he said, handing the bundle out to her. "I'm sorry." Anna reached her arms out toward it, and cradled it in her trembling hands, pulling it to her chest. She stared down at the pale, wide-eyed lifeless face peering back up at her, taking in the youthful, oval face, the small patch of black hair sticking up from the top of it's mostly bald head, and it's small stature, knowing that, without a doubt, it had inherited all these distinctive features from it's father, and began to weep.

Author's note: I'm very sorry I had to kill Anna's baby, but I had to for story reasons. I wish I could give you more information about it but I don't want to give too much of the story away. I hope you can still enjoy it, though.