It was now six weeks since Toivos was born. Sahuna had finally decided to leave them the previous night thanks to Sara starting her new job later today. Since she and Jaal would both be out of the house for most of their time now, and Toivos would still need to be around Sara for most of the day, she figured that they wouldn't have much need for her anymore. At least not on the constant basis that she had been there for them until now.
She had already agreed to come back the moment that they wanted her help again, but in the meantime, she liked the thought of going back to the Resistance, feeling like she had new purpose on that front, and feeling like she could do good there again.
Sahuna had left the three of them in a teary goodbye, already upset for having to leave her favourite grandchild.
Before Sara could start work though, she had to take her son to one of the many checkups required of a newborn. She thought it was likely even more frequent for Toivos than a typical baby thanks to his unique status, but she would gladly take him if it meant that they would know that he was okay and developing well.
Lexi had been coming to them for all of his appointments up until now, but when Sara was scheduling this one, Lexi had stated how busy she had become, and requested that Sara come to her this time if she could.
Sara and Jaal only shared some slight hesitation to the idea. Things had seemed to calm down more and more as time went by, and they had slowly been testing Sara going out into public with the baby with no issues thus far.
In its own way, even knowing how busy Lexi was at her clinic was reassuring. Just being conscious of the fact that there were already so many other couples pursuing the chance to have their own baby made them realise that Toivos was quickly becoming a fact of reality, and not this strange and scary idea that people would want to fight over.
They had decided that they were both okay with Sara having to go for this reason. She still had her own security detail for when she had to be out in public anyway, so they figured she'd be safe enough judging by how well things had been going.
When they finally made their way to Lexi's office, Sara could clearly see what she had been talking about. There wasn't an empty seat left in the waiting room, filled with couples looking for Lexi's newfound expertise in mixed species fertility.
Pretty much from the moment Sara and her guards walked through the door, the whole room had fallen silent as people stared at her in wonder.
It was incredibly awkward, and Sara just stood there for a second, before giving her best attempt at a smile and wave and muttering, "hi," under her breath, clearly embarrassed.
That led the receptionist to greet her immediately, which was also strange, since it was usually the other way around.
"Ryder, we've been expecting you," the young Turian said. "Dr. T'Perro already has a room ready for you. Follow me."
Sara just let out an awkward laugh, as she looked over the room again quickly before following the receptionist, glad to be out of that situation.
She almost felt guilty for getting special treatment, but she was sure it was for safety more so than fame or preferential treatment. Especially with how everyone in that waiting room knew who she was and seemed to be treating her like she should have been on some kind of pedestal or something. She hated the attention. She felt was misplaced to begin with, but she could at least kind of understand their sentiment. She figured that she was probably just the visual representation for all of their hopes and desires. At least it was only an awkward experience, and not a threatening one.
As they got to the examination room, the receptionist opened the door, and waved her in. "Here you go," she said, as she ushered Sara in. "Your guards can wait outside. Dr. T'Perro requested that Professor Herick be in attendance today, just so you're aware, and they should be here shortly."
"Oh, okay. Thank you," Sara said. Herick had been there for most of Toivos' appointments, so it wasn't all that strange, but she hadn't been expecting him this time thanks to being at Lexi's office. It kind of worked out though, because Sara had been meaning to talk to him about something anyway.
As fate would have it, he had been the first one to enter, so that was convenient.
"Sara, how good to see you."
"You too, Professor. I wasn't expecting to see you today."
"Ah, I suppose I do probably seem out of place here, but Lexi has been asking for my help on a few cases since this is all pretty new still. She wanted to get some readings on Toivos' immune system today, to try to see what kinds of things he might be susceptible to. That kind of stuff is more my specialty, so she figured I could be of some use at your appointment today too."
"Yeah, that sounds important, so I definitely won't be stopping you," Sara said with a laugh. "Though, now that you're here, there has been something I've been meaning to ask you about. I just know how busy you are, so I've been putting it off, not wanting to waste your time, but it is something kind of important to me, so do you have a minute?"
"Of course, Ryder. Anything for you."
"Do you know anything about AEND?," she asked hesitantly.
"The neurodegenerative disorder? I little bit. Funny that you mention it actually. We've been getting some reports of possible treatments. Why?"
"What? You can't be serious?"
"I am, but that doesn't answer my question. Why are you asking, Ryder?"
Sara let out a sigh, and scratched her head, unsure of how to go about this. Her father had brought Ellen here selfishly, taking up a spot that someone healthy could have had. She didn't know what the ramifications might be for that, but nothing changed the fact that Ellen was already here. If there was a possibility for a treatment, that was a good thing.
"What if I said that I know there's someone in cryo right now who was in the end stage phase of the disease?," Sara said, still trying to keep it vague and stay hopeful.
Herick just looked surprised and started nodding, catching on to where she was going with this.
"Ah. Well in that case, I'd say I'd have to look into it more, but from what I read, the studies sounded promising. It was based off of information already discovered in the Milky Way, and cross referenced with the Heleus resources that you scanned for all of us. We've done that with a lot of disease treatments actually, and a lot of them showed potential."
"Wow. You know, there were so many times I almost wanted to quit searching for that stuff it had become so monotonous and annoying. Now I'm really glad I didn't. That sounds pretty amazing."
"Yes, well, we're glad you didn't either. It's all rather exciting. But I don't want to be making you any promises. There haven't been any official developments of treatment plans yet. I think we'd still need quite a bit of time to actually come up with something functional."
Sara just nodded her head still happy with the news even if it wasn't quite what she had wanted to hear. It was still better than she would have ever thought at this point, and keeping Ellen a secret wasn't doing her any favours in getting better, so at least this way, maybe more progress could be made.
"Yeah, I get it. That's okay. At least that's something."
Herick seemed to be lost in thought for a moment, before finally speaking again. "Say, Ryder… didn't your mother have AEND?"
Sara just lifted the corners of her mouth slightly, in a confirming smile that didn't reach her eyes. There really was no happiness behind it, just affirmation of his suspicions.
Herick nodded solemnly, finally fully understanding where Sara had been coming from, and went to rub her shoulder in comfort. "I'll look into it as soon as I have the time, Sara. I promise."
"Thanks, Professor. That would mean a lot to me."
He nodded, as they both smiled at each other. That's when the door finally opened again, as Lexi came in, wasting no time.
"Hello, Sara," Lexi said, happily, giving her a quick hug, before moving to get her tools ready.
"Hey, Lexi. Man, you sure weren't kidding about being busy, were you?," she reciprocated with a laugh, wanting to quickly move on from her conversation with Herick.
Lexi let out a small laugh and sigh, while nodding her head almost stoically. "I think that's putting it lightly, to be honest. My practice has already outgrown its capacity. I've asked for more office space, and put out job offers for more doctors and staff. Thankfully Professor Herick here has been gracious enough to help me until I can manage to hire some more people to help pick up the slack."
"Well, I don't envy you for being this busy, but I tend to think of this as a good thing."
"Oh, don't get me wrong. This is fantastic. It's just come with a lot for one person to keep up with."
"Yeah, that's fair."
"You know, it seems like Toivos' arrival may have come just in time," Lexi continued, as she was getting everything ready for his checkup.
"Oh yeah? How's that?"
"Well, as it so happens, you were not the only one who was pregnant already, you just happened to be the furthest along. I've gotten a few patients that are even as far as four months gone at this point."
"Seriously?"
"Quite," she said with a happy nod in Sara's direction. "They had all just gotten off of their blockers thinking that they wouldn't need them anymore being in a mixed species relationship. They all had these strange symptoms that they couldn't explain until they saw Keri's broadcast, and came to me immediately. It was unfortunate that you didn't learn about him until being in labour, but at least it prevented other people from suffering the same fate," Lexi said with a laugh.
"Hmm, well in that case, I'm really glad we went ahead with it," Sara said.
"Yes, it certainly was a good call. Of course those cases only make up a small percentage of my patients, but there have already been a few pregnancies that are a direct result of your broadcast, and plenty more hoping for just that soon enough. They're definitely all keeping me on my toes."
"Sounds like it."
"Yes, but anyway, let's have a look at the man of honour, shall we?," Lexi finally said, directing her attention to Toivos who was still in Sara's sling.
"Oh yeah," she said, finally taking him out of it.
The movement started to wake him up, and make him slightly cranky, so Lexi figured they should try to make this as quick as possible. She gently took his weight and height, and was happy that he had made good progress.
Professor Herick took a few scans, and they got Sara to hold him gently so they could draw some blood for testing. They only needed a few drops to get a proper analysis, but that still meant that they had been required to prick a spot on his foot, eliciting a cry of pain.
After Lexi was satisfied with everything they had gotten from him, she told Sara that she could start nursing Toivos now, because breastmilk had natural painkillers in it, as well as the fact that it would just be comforting to him anyway.
Sara obliged immediately, because watching her son be in pain for the first time had been enough for her to nearly want to start crying herself. She was willing to do whatever it took to get him to be comfortable again, and that was a relatively simple thing to do.
Sara just sat in Lexi's chair, caressing his head as he suckled, and lulled himself back to sleep, while Lexi made notes on his file. Sara heard Lexi finish up and say thank you to Herick for his help, which is when the Professor excused himself, and Sara waved goodbye, before he told her that he would be in touch.
As soon as he left the room, this is when Lexi finally turned back to Sara. "Okay, so now that he's done and out of the way, that just leaves me with you," Lexi said with a laugh.
"What? What about me?."
"It's been 6 weeks now since he was born, so we should be doing your postpartum checkup, if you're okay with that."
"Uh, I guess so," Sara said, hesitantly, wishing that she had been given some warning for this. She figured Lexi had probably just been too busy and forgot to mention it though.
"Great. So, first and foremost, have you resumed normal sexual activity?"
"Jesus, Lexi…"
"It's important, Sara. I wouldn't be asking it otherwise."
Sara just huffed out, embarrassed, and cleared her throat, before answering. "Not exactly."
Lexi just furrowed her brow and looked at her more pointedly, needing a straight answer out of her.
"No, okay. No, I haven't."
Satisfied with that, Lexi finally nodded her head in acceptance. "Well, that's probably for the best, since we haven't discussed birth control."
"Oh shit, I didn't even think about that," Sara said, in shock.
"Yes, well, not that another baby wouldn't be a blessing, but I'm sure you're not exactly planning on getting pregnant again already, so I'll prescribe you something more temporary for now, unless you were thinking permanent?," Lexi asked.
Sara just thought on that for a moment. She and Jaal hadn't even really had time to discuss it, but she would have been really surprised if Jaal didn't want more, and she didn't particularly think that she was done either. Though the thought of more kids at the moment was too overwhelming to contemplate right now, but someday.
"No. Temporary sounds good," she finally replied.
"Alright. I'll prescribe you something, and I suggest you start taking it immediately. It should be effective as soon as you start taking it, so you can resume normal sexual activity as soon as you do so, though it doesn't hurt to wait a day just to be safe. Most people tend to think that if you're breastfeeding, you can't get pregnant again, but I couldn't tell you about how many cases of 'surprise baby' I've read about from people practicing that form of birth control," Lexi said with a laugh.
"Hmm, well, that's good to know I guess. I think I've had enough 'surprise baby' for a lifetime," Sara said with a small laugh as well, still embarrassed. She waited another minute before finally asking something. "So… does this mean that enough time has passed then?"
"For what?," Lexi asked, as she sent the prescription to Sara's omni-tool.
"To have sex? Lexi, I've been married for 6 weeks, and I haven't been able to consummate it! I'm practically dying over here!," She finally said more excitedly, glad that Lexi had brought this up, even if it was embarrassing.
Lexi had to let out a laugh at that.
"Well, I'll give you an examination to be sure, but most people at this point are ready. As long as the bleeding's stopped, and it doesn't hurt, you should be fine. Just take things slow and be gentle at first."
"Okay. This is such a huge relief. Thanks, Lexi."
"Of course. You know, I'm not just here for Toivos, right? I'll always be here for you too," Lexi said with a smile.
Sara huffed out a laugh. "Yeah. I guess it's been easy to forget that with how much my life has started revolving around this little guy," Sara said.
"Which is great, but it's important to remember yourself too. Your well being is just as important as his, if not more so, since you have to be the one responsible for him. Take time to do things for yourself, okay. I'm always available to answer any of your questions, just give me a call if you need anything."
"I'll keep that in mind."
"Good," Lexi said, with a smile.
They took the time that Toivos needed to finish his feeding as their chance to catch up. They gushed about Sara's son in a non-medical way, which Lexi had been wanting to do for a while, and Lexi told her more about her patients - keeping everything anonymous of course, so as not to betray doctor/patient confidentiality. It had done a lot to ease Sara's nerves, and she couldn't wait to tell Jaal all about it.
As it turns out there was a lot that she wanted to tell Jaal about from her appointment this morning. The good news about a potential treatment for her mother was amazing, and she knew that he would be thrilled for the prospect. He would be excited for the chance to meet Ellen, even if it was only something to hope for at this point. Ultimately that was the more important thing, but Sara had to admit that she was particularly excited for the other new development.
Sara's examination had gone well, and Lexi had assured her that she was healing fine, so she had given Sara the go-ahead to do as she pleased in her private time with Jaal.
Sara had been slightly nervous at the prospect of starting that part of their relationship again. She was worried that it would hurt, or that it would feel different. But it had been 6 weeks. That alone was enough for her to not care as much about any of that, and she was sure that Jaal would be ecstatic.
He had made it clear that Sara's recovery was the most important thing, but she could tell that he had been missing the intimacy, even with trying to find it in other ways.
At any rate, things were finally starting to look up. Even if there were people that would still think of Toivos as a threat, it wasn't stopping other people from pursuing the same endeavor. It warmed Sara's heart to think he wouldn't be the only one of his kind soon, and that there would be other people leading the charge on the fight for acceptance. But she also began to realise that maybe it was a fight that never needed to be fought as hard as she had feared in the first place.
As she left through the same waiting room, the same crowd of people now looked at her warmly, like she was their peer, rather than some untouchable prophecy. It made Sara incredibly happy, and finally gave a genuine smile to the people she passed in the waiting room.
It gave her a newfound invigoration to start her first day at her new job on an extremely bright note. She was happy for where their lives had landed them, and finally excited, rather than scared for what the future might hold.