Delivery Day...

The digital clock next to my bed red 1:35pm when I awoke from my nap because of a pain so sharp within my body that I wanted to scream. And then it was gone. I exhaled and touched my belly. "You're not playing around, huh?" I ask my stomach. "You're ready to come out? Here? With no pain killers? Just like your dad, a pain in the ass." I get out of bed and go to the bathroom. Before I have time to sit on the toilet and do my business I get a contraction again, and I grab at the sink in front of me, letting out a deep, hollow groan. When the pain subsides I run to the door and bang on it. "MY CONTRACTIONS ARE GETTING STRONGER!" I yell. "Get a doctor! Please!"

I pace around the room and wait for someone to come. I begged for someone to come. A doctor, anyone with a profession in the medical field! I get a contraction seconds before someone enters my room. A middle-aged woman, tall and slim in a white lab coat comes and helps me balance as I bend over and groan again. "Lay down so I can check you," she says. Her voice is kind yet affirmative, I could trust her. I laid down and she checked my dilation. "Five centimeters!" She exclaims. "We need to take you to a different room." And that's what she did. Halfway through the escort, I had to stop because I was hit with another contraction, and Blue scooped me up in his arms and carried me to a room that resembled one I'd already seen. I was laid on hospital bed, and as I looked to the right, I was faced with my own reflection. The wall next to me was complete glass.

"What's this for?" I asked the lady, tapping on the glass with the knuckle on my index finger.

She looked at me, pressed her lips together and pushed a button on the wall. That room was completely empty except for a couple of chairs and a coffee table. "This room was used for wounded or infected soldiers. Their comrades would watch from that side of the room to prevent being infected by some airborne virus." She stopped herself, then added, "That was years ago and both rooms have been purified dozens of times. I assure you, you and baby are completely safe." She grabbed my arm and hooked me up to a bag of fluids. I groaned, feeling another contraction. "They're coming in strong," she said. "Baby's coming out any minute now."

"Really? I can't get an epidural or anything?" I asked, feeling myself sweat.

"Not until that whole bag of fluids is gone. Health protocol." She patted my hand and sat on a stool next to me. "I'm Barbara, and I'm so sorry about your predicament."

"That I'm being held captive by some guy that can't accept karma?"

"That you let something that isn't human impregnate you."

My stomach churned and I pulled my hand away from her. Now, I couldn't meet her eyes. "Arthur is the most human, passionate, kind person I know."

"Then why did he abandon you and your child?"

"You're not one to judge. You work for a psychotic serial killer that killed countless people over money, including children. Arthur's first son was one of his many victims." I gritted my teeth as I spat out the ending of that sentence. My whole body tensed up as I received a contraction.

"Ella, breathe!" She said urgently.

"I'm breathing," I spat, not realizing I'd held my breath throughout the contraction. I exhaled and inhaled sharply, nearly choking on air. "They're getting stronger. I need Arthur with me. Get me Arthur!" Barbara nodded and exited the room. I looked up at the bag of fluids and hoped to God it would all drain before I was fully dilated so I could get something to ease my pain. I went through two more contractions before Barbara entered the room again. "Where's Arthur?" I asked, and before she could answer, the door to other room opens up and Arthur is pushed inside. His eyes immediately lock on me and he runs to the glass, pressing his hands on it.

"You bitch!" Arthur swears to Barbara. "You said I'd be with her when she delivers!"

"And you are," she answers.

"I want him in the room," I ordered. "I want the father of my child to be in the room when I deliver the baby!"

"Manta's orders. I can't break the rules." She sounded horrified as she said it. Maybe Manta has someone hostage and she's here because he made her. "He's in the room, only a couple feet away. That's all you two will get." I gritted my teeth and felt my hands heat up. I pushed the urge to throw a fiery punch at her, remembering it wouldn't just hurt her, it would hurt the baby. Barbara excused herself and left the room, saying she'll be back randomly to check on my dilation. When she left, I looked at Arthur through the glass, and he was staring right back.

"I'm so sorry," I say.

"Don't be sorry, you have nothing to be sorry about. It's me who should be sorry. I dragged you into all of this. This shouldn't be happening."

"What shouldn't be happening?" I asked, a little confused. Contraction.

"This! You shouldn't be in a holding cell about to give birth. I shouldn't have let things get so serious so fast. We shouldn't have done all of this. Because of us getting together, look at all the trouble I've gotten you in. Even when I was gone I was still a problem."

"Sure, there are things that I'd rather not live through again, but the only good thing that came from all of this situation is this," I say, rubbing my stomach. "Do you really regret being with me that bad?"

"Regret, no, not necessarily. I just.. I don't think our worlds should have collided. Things would've been easier for you, for both of us."

I can't believe he was saying any of this right now. I'm in labor! "Isn't that people told your mother? But she's still madly in love with your father, and lives with him to this day. Isn't that why your people rejected you at first? Because you were different? Sure, the situation is different for me because I'm not Atlantean or a king but I don't need to be royal blood of a different species to know what love is. What you're saying is extremely inconvenient, given the timing!"

"Don't you feel that way?" Arthur asked. "Have you ever thought about what if we didn't meet?"

"Arthur, of course I felt that way before. When you left and my pregnancy progressed. I wished I could go back in time and reset all of this. But I wouldn't know what it's like to meet someone like me. To love someone like me, or to love at all! All I wanted, from the moment we met, was you." I gulped and looked down. "But I see this is only one sided." A contraction hit me and a burst of water gushed out of me. I started to panic! The contractions were getting stronger with each minute that passed, and now they were a minute apart.

Barbara entered the room, gasping at the wet floor. She made me lie down and spread my legs so she could check me. "Congratulations!" She exclaims. "Ten centimeters dilated! That was fast, I guess baby really wants out, huh?"

I groaned in pain as a contraction hit me. "This hurts, Barbara! What do I do?!" The door flew open and Black Manta stepped in the room. He stood at the corner of the room, far from me. "Get out!" I yelled. "I can't deliver my baby with him in the room!"

"Afraid I can't do that, miss," Manta said. "I can't sit here and admire the miracle of life?" His smirk made my stomach uneasy.

"Fuck you," I muttered through gritted teeth. I looked at Arthur after a contraction passed, seeing his eyes dart from Manta to me. "I'm okay," I said to Arthur, and his eyes settled onto me. "Our baby's going to be fine." He smiled weakly, his face flushing red and his eyes tearing up. Somehow, he didn't believe that.

Then, my body began to push without me willing it to do so. I felt pressure down there, feeling my baby move down my body. "That was fast," Barbara said. "You're already crowning. Good job, mama!"

I cringed and groaned. "It stings!"

"That's called the ring of fire. It's your body's way of saying to wait." She chuckled. How is she finding this amusing?

My body told me to push, so I did. That stinging sensation was back but somehow I managed to push past it, no pun intended. Barbara and Arthur let out a victorious chant and I felt my baby being pulled out of me. I exhaled and let my body fall back on the bed I lay in. Panting like I ran a marathon, I felt exhausted. With what ever strength I had left, I sat up, seeing Barbara clean off my baby on a table behind her. She turned around and gave me my child, laying it on my chest. A sense of fulfillment overwhelmed me, so much so that I cried heavily.

Kissing my baby, I looked at Arthur, who was on his knees with emotions. His face was red and tears streamed down his cheeks. I pulled the front part of my dress down to reveal my breast, in hope my baby would latch. And it did. And at that moment I let out a laugh that sounded like I'd won the lottery. Finally, I'd found out the gender. After I'd tried (and succeeded) to get my baby to latch, I'd moved it's legs to reposition it and spotted his genitals. It was a boy.

"It's Thomas," I said to Arthur. His face lit up and he lowered his head, sobbing uncontrollably. "You have a son, Arthur. Our boy! He's beau.." Thomas was ripped out from my grasp by Black Manta and everyone had rushed out of the room. All they heard was Arthur and I's deafening scream as they left. For a second, I heard Thomas scream, too.