A new day - Chapter 9
The pain of loss
Weeks had passed since Gine's arrival at the birth clinic, and as time went by her belly grew bigger and bigger. It had grown to the size where she couldn't even see her feet anymore. But her belly was nothing compared to that
of her roommate Cress, who was past her due date now. Her baby was very active, which took a great toll on her body. The last days she hadn't even been able to get out of bed. Gine couldn't help but assist her newfound friend with everything she did.
Eversince their first awkward meeting, the two had gotten to know eachother better. Ofcourse due to the great deal of time they were forced to spend together. Cress wasn't the was grumpy, blunt and at times downright rude, but all in all Gine had grown quite fond of her. She had gotten to know Cress better and found that she admired her in a way.
Cress had often told Gine of her own experiences on missions, and how she too had gotten kicked out of multiple teams. But not because of the same reason as Gine. Cress preferred being alone over always hanging out with her teams, and for some reason the officials had let Cress have her way. They gave her jobs she could do alone instead of putting her on a team. So she could often be found somewhere in space, out on her own.
On one particular evening, the two pregnant women sat in their room. Each on their own bed, minding their own business. Until Cress, almost bored to death, sat up and looked at her roomie.
"So Gine..."
"Yes...?"
"Who's the father ?"
"Uh..." Gine swallowed audibly. "Excuse me ?"
"You heard me..."
"I uhm...I don't know, Cress." Gine tried to sound confident, but failed miserably. Thus far, she had refused to admit to anyone who the father of her baby was. They'd both get in too much trouble for that.
"You're a terrible liar, Gine. I can see the pain in your eyes when he's mentioned. What happened ?" Cress stood up and sat next to Gine, putting her hand on her knee. "You know I wouldn't tell on you..."
Gine stared at Cress' hand. "Nothing happened, Cress...Nothing bad." She stood up, and went to look out the window. With her hands on her belly, she watched how several space pods passed by, leaving the planet behind them.
"Then why do you always look so hurt when they ask about him ?" Cress wondered.
"I..." Gine sighed and looked down at her belly. The baby seemed to respond to her nervousness. "I'm in love with him..."
"Oh gods...Feelings, really ?" Cress couldn't believe her ears. Who would ever be so stupid ? She knew Gine was nothing like other Saiyans, but this topped it all. "So that's why you're such a softie." She said, moving back to her own bed.
"It's not like I 'decided' to fall in love !" Gine bit. "It just happened... I mean...He's so..." She sighed again. The thought of him formed a faint smile around her lips. But that soon disappeared as she thought of what happened the last time she saw him. She sat back down, shaking her head. "The thing is, Cress, that it doesn't matter anymore. I'm pretty sure he'll want nothing to do with me... When I leave here, it'll just be me and the kiddo..." she said as she rubbed her belly, trying to ease the baby. He was kicking pretty hard. "If they let me keep him ofcourse..."
Cress snorted. "You're still thinking of keeping him ?"
"Ofcourse ! He's my son...A part of his father, and of me... After months of carrying him around, inside of me...Protecting him...He'll be so vulnerable once he's born. Why would I wanna abandon him right when he needs me the most ? I just can't...I won't..." Gine explained as she laid back down and under the covers to rest, her hands still on her belly in a protective way. "Don't you want the same for your son ?"
Cress laughed in disbelief. "You expect me to keep this little fucker ? The kid 's been draining my energy like crazy for weeks now. Yesterday he bruised my ribs, just by kicking ! Besides, we're Saiyans, we don't do that kinda stuff."
Gine looked back at her in disbelief. "So what if we're Saiyans ? There's no shame in caring, Cress. Love isn't a weakness. It's the only thing that's been keeping me going for the past months. The love for this little guy here." She said as she lightly tapped her belly. "And the hope that I might be able to provide him with a better life than I ever had." A hopeful smile apearred on her face. "I even thought of a name for him. Maybe you should do the same."
For a moment it seemed like Cress was giving Gine's words some thought. But then, she just huffed and looked away.
In her turn, Gine rolled to her side and closed her eyes. "Good night..." She whispered, and fell asleep only moments later.
In the middle of the night, a sharp, loud noise woke Gine from her sleep. She got up as fast as she could, which was rather difficult with a belly of that size, and went for the light switch.
Once the light was on, it immediately became clear what was going on. Cress was sitting up on her bed, her mouth open in shock, looking very pale and a pool of blood between her legs. The monitor on her belly was producing the sharp sound.
"Gods, Cress !" Gine yelped as the lights in the hallway shot on. The sound of someone running down the hall was heard.
Alarmed by the monitor's emergency signal, the head nurse barged in. She quickly realised the seriousness of the situation and stuck her head back out the door, calling assistance. "HELP ! I NEED HELP IN ROOM NINE !"
In a matter of seconds, the whole medical team assembled in the two women's small bedroom. As doctors and nurses gathered around Cress to examine her, she held out her fist to Gine, who ofcourse held it.
Gine could feel something being muffled in her hand, but didn't pay attention to it, as she saw the desperation and fear in her roommate's eyes. Cress needed her attention more now.
Sitting down on her knees to level her face with Cress's, Gine tried to comfort her. "You'll be fine... The doctors will help you..."
But she wasn't so sure everything was gonna be alright. By the sound of the medics, things were looking pretty bad.
"She's hemorrhaging ! We need to perform a C-section !"
"It's too late !"
"They'll both die if we don't do it now !"
And so it happened that in a matter of minutes, Cress's lower abdomen was cut open to deliver her baby, without sedation. The adrenaline in her Saiyan blood kept her conscious, even if she was very weak now. All she could do was groan in pain.
As one doctor got the baby out seconds later, not a sound was heard. Gine held her breath in anticipation. All she could see from the baby was his little tail, that hung lifeless from the table the doctor had put him on.
"Is...he..." Cress muttered weakly. The rest of the medical team was already hard at work again, trying to stop the bleeding.
To Gine's relief, a loud, healthy cry was heard soon after.
"He's alive, Cress ! He's okay !" Gine smiled widely as she turned to her roommate. But what she saw was shocked her. Cress was staring lifeless at the ceiling.
"NO ! Don't give up !" Gine yelled as she grabbed her dead roommate 's shoulders and shook her. "Not now !"
Tears welled up in her eyes as the head nurse tried to pull Gine away from Cress' s body. "She's gone, Gine...There was nothing we could do..." She had the most difficult time trying to hold Gine back, who struggled to get back to her friend. "Calm down, think of your own baby !"
"NAAAAAAH ! LET GO OF ME !" Gine screamed, her aura flaring up as she punched the nurse in the face, immediately regretting her actions. Out of breath, she watched as her victim's nose started to bleed.
"Well that was uncalled for..." The nurse said, her voice muffled by her hands that covered her mouth.
"I...I'm sorry..." Gine brought out. She stepped back and dropped down on her bed, tears streaming down her face. "I lost control..."
"It's okay..." The nurse huffed as she whiped the blood from her nose. "I'm used to working with you Saiyans...And I know she was your friend. But maybe it'll comfort you a bit to know hat we'll take good care of her son. For now..."
"For now...? What do you mean ?"
"Well..." The nurse continued hesitantly. "He's being sent back to a low-class birth clinic, where he belongs." And without any further ado, she left the room. The rest of the medical team followed, carrying Cress's body out, covered with a white sheet, on a stretcher. Apparently, someone had already left with the baby earlier. In all the commotion Gine hadn't noticed that up until now.
The exhausted Saiyan sighed. As she looked down at her wrist, Gine realised she still hadn't looked at what Cress had put in her hand. She opened it and saw a small, ripped off and rolled up piece of scroll. Opening it, a list of boys names became visible. One of them was circled.
Determined to fulfill her deceased friend's last wish, she got up and walked out the room to the hall. "Hey," she said as she saw the head nurse again. "I believe Cress wanted me to deliver this to you guys..."
The nurse looked at the paper and laughed melancholically as she saw the contents of the note. "I see..."
Gine nodded and turned to go back to her room.
"Wait, Gine..."
At the sound of her name, Gine stopped in her tracks. "Yes...?" She replied, without turning around again.
"You wanna see him before they take him away ? Someone else is now tending to him but I'll come and get you when she's done."
"I'd love to !" Gine replied and finally returned to her room.
It felt empty now, with Cress gone. Gine had always known the day would come where she would be staying alone in here, but not in this way. What happened today was one of the most horrible things she had ever witnessed, and it made her feel sick, drained. They had their differences, but Cress had been the only friend Gine had left. And now, she too, was gone. It was hard to believe. She had always seemed so strong.
Gine had never been able to put her finger on it, but now she realised that was what she admired about Cress. Her strong, independant character.
As more tears started to roll down Gine's cheeks, a series of strong kicks in her belly woke her from her thoughts.
"I know, I know..." She sighed, laying down on the bed again, her hand on her belly. "I need to rest..."
About half an hour later, she had just started to fall asleep as someone knocked on the door. After Gine gave permission to enter, the head nurse opened the door.
"He's ready..."
Without saying anything, Gine got up and followed the nurse down all the way to the end of the hall, where they took a left to another unit. This was clearly where they kept the newborn babies. Instead of rooms, there were multiple large wards here. Behind the glass windows, the infants were held in incubators, closely monitored by more nurses.
The head nurse stopped by the last window to the right.
"This is him..." She said looking at the nameplate, as to double check herself. "We gave him the name she wanted."
"Well...Hello little Turles..." Gine smiled warmly as she placed a hand on the glass. "He sure takes after his mother, doesn't he ?"
He sure did. His hair stood up in the same way, it even had the same two horn-like strands to the top of his head. The only difference was that it wasn't as long as his mother's hair, it missed the ponytail.
The things the boy must have inherited from his father were his eyes and his slightly darker complexion. Cress had been more pale.
"He seems healthy too," Gine stated, noticing the blush on his cheeks. "for a moment I thought he was a stillborn, like her first one..."
"That's what I thought," the nurse admitted. "but he pulled through, luckily."
The two women just stood there, staring at the peacefully sleeping baby, when suddenly another voice sounded down the hall.
"Hey you, Gine !" It was one of the guards that had brought her in. He held up a scroll in his hands. "The date for your trial just came in !"
Gine said nothing as she walked over to the guard, eventually taking the scroll from his hand. Shaking with nerves, she opened it and read that her trial would be held exactly two months from now.
"So they finally found a date for judgement day..." She sighed down-hearted.
