Kai sighed happily as he rubbed his bump in one hand and clutched his birth plan in the other. When Kai was creating his birth plan, he was given the options to either give birth at home, in a unit run by midwives, or in a hospital. His family had explained to him that these options about where to have his baby would depend on his needs, risks, and on where he lived. If he was healthy and had no complications he could consider any of these birth locations.
If he had a medical condition, it was safest to give birth in the hospital, where specialists were available.
This was in case he needed treatment during labour. If he gave birth at home or in a unit run by midwives, he was less likely to need assistance such as forceps or ventouse. Kai had talked it through with everyone and had decided to have a hospital birth, seeing it as the best option for his daughter. There were also some great advantages of giving birth in a hospital. He would have direct access to obstetricians if his labour became complicated and direct access to anaesthetists, who gave epidurals and general anaesthetics.
There would be specialists in newborn care and a special care baby unit if there were any problems with his baby.
But there were some things Kai knew he should think about if he did have a hospital birth. He may go home directly from the labour ward or he may be moved to a postnatal ward. In the hospital, he may be looked after by a different midwife from the one who looked after him during his pregnancy and he was also more likely to have an epidural, episiotomy, or forceps or ventouse delivery in the hospital. He also talked through his many different pain relief options with the others.
Almost everyone knew that labour could be painful and it could help to learn about all the ways Kai could relieve the pain.
It was also helpful for whoever was going to be with him during his labour to know about the different options. It also allowed them to know how they could support him during the birth. Kai planned on asking his midwife or doctor to explain what was available so he could decide what was best for him. Deep down, however, he was considering not having any pain relief. With how this baby was conceived and how Morro was able to force himself on Kai in the first place, the brunette didn't want to be drugged up and light-headed.
He had read up on the side effects of the pain relief offered, and this only strengthened his argument.
If he had gas and air for labour there were no harmful side effects for him or the baby but it could make him feel lightheaded. Some people found that it made them feel sick, sleepy or unable to concentrate. There were pethidine injections, but it could make some people feel woozy, sick and forgetful. If pethidine or diamorphine were given too close to the time of delivery, they may affect the baby's breathing. If this happened, another medicine to reverse the effect would be given, but unfortunately, these medicines can interfere with the baby's first feed.
The last option was an epidural.
It numbed the nerves that carried the pain impulses from the birth canal to the brain. Like most things, however, there were some side effects to be aware of. An epidural may make Kai's legs feel heavy, depending on the local anaesthetic used, and there was the risk of his blood pressure could drop. Thankfully this was rare because the fluid given through the drip in his arm helped to maintain good blood pressure. Epidurals could prolong the second stage of labour and if Kai could no longer feel his contractions, the midwife will have to tell him when to push.
This means that forceps may be needed to help deliver the baby.
When people have an epidural, they will wait longer for the baby's head to come as long as the baby is showing no signs of distress. Sometimes less anaesthetic was given towards the end, so the effect wore off and he could feel to push the baby out naturally. He might find it difficult to pee as a result of the epidural. If so then a small tube called a catheter might have to be put into his bladder to help him. There were also reports of headaches, long term back pain, and tingles or pins and needles down one leg after having a baby.
Luckily they could all be treated.
Overall they all sounded horrible so Kai opted to suffer through a few hours of agony then go through any of that. He knew it would be hard, but he planned to have a water birth to help with the stress and pain. When the midwife had given him those pregnancy pamphlets all those months ago, Kai read through them all and believed a water birth would be the best thing for him. A water birth offered a positive birthing experience and more relaxed and comfortable labour.
It could also ease the pain of contractions and labour and aided mobilisation for the birth.
It allowed immediate skin-to-skin contact with his baby, a greater sense of privacy, and babies born in water could be calmer. The thing that interested Kai the most however was how if he had a water birth he was less likely to need medical interventions.
"Have we got everything?" Skylor asked as they walked up to Cole's car, who was letting them borrow it for the day.
"Yep, got my birth plan and everything." Kai smiled as he held up the bullet-pointed and laminated piece of paper.
"It doesn't matter how prepared you are, that baby will have plans of her own." Skylor teased.
"You're just chickening out of getting in the birthing pool with me." He laughed. When it came to choosing a birthing partner, someone to support him through the labour, Skylor was his first choice. He would have asked Nya, but with her current state he didn't think she would be in any condition to support anyone and he didn't feel comfortable asking Cole, Jay, or Zane. He knew they loved him and he loved them. It was just super awkward for him to ask them to basically watch him give birth to someone else's child.
"I can just send one of your boyfriends in with you, seeing as they find the experience of giving birth so magical." She warned and Kai winced slightly. The last few weeks, Cole, Jay, and Zane had talked about nothing else except how beautiful childbirth true is and how they wished it was them luckily enough to carry a baby. When he heard this, Kai was super tempted to play the video the midwife showed his antenatal class of someone giving birth.
It scared Kai to death and he was certain his boyfriends wouldn't find it so beautiful then.
"Please don't." He begged and the best friends burst out laughing. Kai suddenly stopped, however, and looked back to the entrance of the apartment. Skylor followed his line of sight and scowled angrily when she saw Wendy walking out to her car in scrubs and with an arm full of folders. She made eye contact with the pair but said nothing.
"In the car Kai we don't wanna be late." Skylor pushed and they quickly got into the car and drove off. Wendy watched them drive off, looking slightly concerned, as Jay walked out. He was carrying some leaflets for a play he had offered to help out with.
"Is... Is everything well with Kai?" She asked the ginger-haired man, catching him off guard for a second.
"He's fine." He replied, checking that he had all the leaflets.
"What are those?" She asked.
"Just a play the local school's putting on, I don't really wanna go but nothing can beat good old-fashioned family fun." He chuckled, only to gasp when he saw the sorrowful look on Wendy's face. "Oh God, I'm sorry, that was really stupid." He quickly apologised but she raised her hand to stop him.
"No, no, it's all right, honestly."
"You sure?"
"Yeah, I'm sorry but I've got to get going; I have a training course today and I'd hate to be late." She smiled weakly and headed to her car. She put her bag on the roof while she put the files in the back of her car, but when she stood up again she saw Nya staring at her from around the corner of the apartment building, completely out of view of Jay. The nurse gulped fearfully as she got behind the wheel of her car and drove off. She was so scared of the noirette that she completely forgot about her handbag on the roof of her car, even as it fell off the moving car.
As soon as the bag hit the ground, it opened and spilt its contents all over the car park.
Jay noticed the bag and ran after her car, but he wasn't fast enough.
"Wendy wait! You've dropped your bag!" He shouted after her, but there was no way for Wendy to hear him as she drove away. As he shouted after her, Jay failed to see Nya sneak over to the open bag and snatched Wendy's apartment key from the scattered objects...
Wendy sighed heavily as she drove down a strangely empty road to her work. She was gripping the steering wheel tightly as she thought back to the way Nya was staring at her earlier. There was nothing but angry and disgust in the young girl's aqua blue eyes and it terrified Wendy. She had only ever seen that look in two other people. Her son Morro and her husband, who was Morro's father, Varo. Varo was a professional stage magician and school teacher.
While studying nursing, Wendy served as his professional assistant for a while, and eventually, a relationship began, and they soon married.
When their son Morro was born, it had been the happiest day of her life. That all changed, however, when Wendy discovered that Varo had been beating Morro from birth until he was five years old. That was when she had packed up and divorced the man. Since then she had made it her mission to raise her son right so he could do something good in the world. Sadly, it seemed she had failed. She wasn't at stupid as people liked to believe when it came to her son.
She knew that Morro was involved with a bad crowd since he was a young teen, but he had promised her that he had put that life behind him.
She could only just allow herself to believe that Morro was capable of theft and drug dealing, but never rape or murder. Her little boy wasn't capable of those crimes.
"No." She whispered in horror when she recognised the car as Jay's. It had to be Nya. Jay had no reason to chase her like this, so it had to be Kai's sister. "Oh my God." She whimpered as she started to speed up, but so did the car. Now the driver was flashing their lights at her, signally for her to pull over.
"Please just leave me alone Nya! Please!" She begged as her breathing became more and more fast-paced and she could swear there were black spots in her vision. In a risk to escape, Wendy drove past a red light just before the traffic started moving. Unfortunately, the car chasing her also passed the red light and continued following her. Wendy started to panic even more as tears welled up in her eyes.
"Just leave me alone!" She cried, but it was clear the driver of the other car wasn't giving up. "No, please, oh God!" She sobbed as she reluctantly pulled up and started hyperventilating as the car pulled up behind her and the driver got out. She cautiously reached into her pocket and clutched the pepper spray she always kept there. Maybe if she could spray Nya, she could drive off while the noirette was painfully distracted. Wendy was so scared and panicked, however, she couldn't look up to see who it was until they gently knocked on the driver side window.
Wendy tearfully looked up and gasped when she saw Jay staring back at her in worry.
"Wendy? Are you ok?" He asked through the glass, but when she seemed to struggle to speak he motioned for her to roll down the window, which she did. "Y-You drove off with your purse on the roof of your car, it fell off when you started driving; I've been trying to catch up with you ever since, could you not see my front lights flashing?" He asked, holding up her handbag for her to see.
"I-I-I t-thought you were Nya!" She gasped as the adrenaline started to fade.
"What?" He asked in confusion.
"S-S-She's been watching me and following me a-a-and she'd been trying to intimidate us into leaving!" She screamed and Jay's eyes widened in shock. "I thought you were going to run me off the road!" She sobbed loudly as the stress of the past few months finally caught up to her and she started wailing loudly.
"It's alright, it's alright." Jay soothed as he helped the woman out of the car so she could get some fresh air, but he couldn't keep the worried frown off his face...
Misako sighed tiredly as she entered her and Wendy's apartment and kicked off he boots and discarding her coat. It had been a long day at work and she was hoping to sit back and relax until Wendy returned. She knew that when she got home, Wendy would do nothing be complain about how it was unfair how Kai was refusing her the opportunity to meet her grandchild or how Nya was harassing her. Misako did understand where Wendy was coming from.
Nya was a scary person, even to her, but there wasn't much a girl fresh out of high school could do to them.
As Misako went to grab a drink, however, she saw a silhouette standing in the hallway leading to the bedrooms. At first, she thought that perhaps Wendy's training course had finished early, but when she looked over she was shocked and frightened to see Nya standing there, scowling at her.
"What are you doing here?" Misako asked fearfully as she tried to back into the living room, but Nya followed her.
"Waiting for you." The noirette scowled as she looked the older woman up and down. "You look a bit shaky for someone who's not scared of me."
"You shouldn't be here."
"We've all done things we shouldn't have done, haven't we? Some worse than others." She sneered and Misako took the moment to try and run for the door, only for Nya to block her path and push her back. Misako tried to grab the phone, but Nya suddenly pulled it out of the socket. "Go ahead and try, and see how far it gets you!" She roared as Misako started to shake in absolute terror.
"I mean, who would you call anyway? Where would you run to? Everyone here hates you and Wendy almost as much as we do."
"We don't have to do this, I haven't done anything to you," Misako said in a shaky voice, trying to ease the situation, but Nya just cackled.
"You're not welcome, you shouldn't even be here, and yet here you are, wandering around like nothing's wrong." She sneered as an enraged glare edged onto her face. "Like what Wendy's precious son did to my brother never really happened."
"Listen, I would happily go anywhere, but I can't leave Wendy on her after everything that's happened."
"Aw, such a good friend aren't you?"
"I've tried telling her, but it's not sinking in, she's still grieving! She's not thinking right!" Misako cried in desperation, but Nya just shook her head, trying to dislodge the echoing pain in her head as Misako continued. "She and I haven't done anything to you so please Nya, I don't want to fight, I just want all of this to stop."
"Do you know what they do to sheepdogs when they go bad?" She asked out of the blue, but Misako couldn't find an answer. "They shoot them, cut the bloodline, breed it out." She continued and Misako felt her heart racing in fear. "It's savage but very effective and better for everyone in the long run."
"I don't know what you want me to say, just please don't do this."
"I want you to say that you know what happened that night, I want proof." She snarled as she got up into Misako's face.
"What proof could I possibly have?" She whimpered. "Please Nya, let's just be rational."
"You know! Of course, you know!" Nya shouted as she grabbed Misako by her collar.
"How?! I'm not a mind reader!"
"You've known Morro since he was a kid! You must have known what he was like!"
"Yes, but I wasn't there!"
"He must have said something! He had to have admitted it to someone!" She all but screamed as she threw Misako away from her. "So come on, what did you all do? Have a big laugh about it afterwards?!"
"No!"
"He went out that night knowing what he was gonna do! It wasn't a one-off, it was premeditated!" She hissed in anger as she remembered what her brother had said happened that night and all the crimes Morro had committed. "Who else did he hurt?! What else are you and Wendy covering up for him?!"
"Nothing, I swear to you! I wouldn't defend him or anyone for raping somebody! It makes me sick just thinking about it, but I can't just make something up to stop you attacking me!" She cried, trying to make the teen see reason. "I don't know what happened that night, nobody does apart from Morro and Kai."
"You helped Wendy bring him up."
"Yes and now he's dead and we're all just broken, but hurting me isn't going to change that!" She exclaimed. "I told Kai that I believe him, I didn't want to believe it but I do, but it will kill Wendy if she ever let herself believe that Morro could rape somebody; I wish Morro never got involved in crime, I wish that he'd never met Kai, and for Wendy's sake I wish he was still here." She said honestly. Despite everything Morro had done, she knew he and Wendy loved each other.
Wendy had put all her heart and soul into caring for her son.
She had spent her whole life caring for people. She became a nurse to help people in need. Misako knew Wendy wouldn't hurt anybody and she was worried about her because all of this was making her ill.
"Please don't make things any worse, she doesn't deserve any of this." Misako pleaded, but this only made Nya angrier.
"What about my brother?" She growled. "Did he deserve to have his entire life ruined?"
"M-Maybe his whole life doesn't need to be ruined." She suggested. "Maybe he can get through this, people do."
"No, you don't get to be one of the good guys after what he did," Nya muttered in anger, more to herself than Misako.
"I'm not trying to be." She replied, hoping she could calm the noirette down and then she would leave. "I'm just saying that we've all been damaged and maybe we just need to stop." She said as Nya's eyes wandered around the apartment, zeroing in on a bag of golf clubs abandoned in the corner.
"You up for a game of golf?" She suddenly asked as she walked over to the golf clubs, picking up the biggest one. "We could have a little knock about together, couldn't we? Put it all behind us? I never had Wendy down as much of a golfer." She hummed in amusement as Misako paled and gulped. "When are you gonna get the message? What's it gonna take to get rid of you both?" Nya snarled before she suddenly slammed the club into the coffee table, breaking it into.
"THAT'S FOR KAI!" She screamed as she started swinging the club all around the apartment, smashing anything in her path. Outside in the hallway, Skylor was heading home when she heard the sound of breaking objects coming from Wendy's apartment.
"STOP IT!" Misako cried in vain as Nya continued her assault, all but destroying everything in the kitchen.
"THAT'S FOR SKYLOR AND ALL THE OTHER PEOPLE THAT BASTARD HURT!" Nya bellowed before she fell still and glared at something behind Misako. The older woman turned around and her eyes widened when she saw Nya was staring at a picture of Morro at his high school prom in a silver jewelled frame. "BUT THIS! THIS IS FOR ME!" She screeched as she swung at the picture, shattering it to pieces. With almost everything in the apartment destroyed, Nya turned her full attention to Misako.
"LEAVE ME ALONE! PLEASE!" The archaeologist shrieked as the noirette charged at her, blinded by rage. From outside, Skylor heard everything and rushed in without thinking. She entered to find Misako and Nya struggling over the golf club, surrounded by destroyed furniture and items.
"NYA WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Skylor screamed as she tried to break them up, but it proved unsuccessful. As the three women struggled, Nya suddenly bucked up her arm and elbowed Skylor in the face, knocking her into the sofa.
"SKYLOR?!" Nya cried, finally leaving Misako alone as she rushed to her girlfriend's side. Her nose was bleeding pretty badly, but thankfully it wasn't broken. While Misako made an attempt to clean up the aftermath of Nya's rampage, the noirette got a cold cloth for Skylor. "I... I'm so sorry." She apologized, feeling very ashamed for harming her girlfriend, unintentionally or not.
"Shut up." The red-haired woman spat. "What the hell were you gonna do to her?"
"Come on Skylor, you've seen what they've done to our lives, I never meant for you to get hurt." Nya tried to defend herself, but Skylor wouldn't let her.
"Oh, so it's alright for her to get hurt is it?!" She exclaimed, gesturing to Misako as the older woman fished out the picture of Morro from the shattered glass of the picture frame. She wished she could travel back to those simple times.
"Please, just go." She told the couple as she stood up. "I want this to be over."
"This won't be over for as long as you're here; do you not get that? Are you stupid or something?" Nya hissed before turning the Skylor. "I've been telling them this."
"You need sleep and I need pain killers, so for fuck's sake, move it or else I won't be the only one with a bloody nose." She warned as started to drag the younger Smith sibling out of Wendy and Misako's apartment. Just as they were about to leave, however, Nya whipped back around and glared at Misako.
"You stay away from me and my family, you've done enough damage." She threatened before following the red-haired woman outside, leaving Misako alone in the ruined apartment as she stared down at the picture of Morro in despair and hate...
"How do you feel after your visit?" Cole asked his pregnant boyfriend as they sat in their usual booth in the cafe across the road from their apartment building. When Kai and Skylor returned from the hospital, they had met up with Cole outside, who offered to get them some coffee and something to eat. Skylor declined, saying she wanted to get a bath before Kai or Nya hogged it for the rest of the evening.
"Yeah, kind of." Kai shrugged, quietly sipping his hot chocolate. "I mean, I'm just gonna ignore the intense end of the ward 'cause I really don't wanna end up down the hall with the machinery so I'm just gonna focus on my playlist, choose what pyjamas I'm wearing, and everything will be fine." He smiled, only for it to fade when they saw Jay walk into the cafe with a still shaking Wendy. Jay failed to notice his two boyfriends as he helped Wendy into a chair.
"Sit down and I'll get you some water." He said calmly.
"No, no, I can't! I'm supposed to be doing my course!" She exclaimed, still in a panic.
"Well you're in no fit state to be driving, so they're gonna have to cope without you." He insisted, refusing to let her endanger herself or anyone else.
"You two look cosy," Cole growled, and Jay finally noticed them.
"S-She got herself in a panic because she thought that somebody was following her so I'm just trying to calm things down a bit." He paled slightly, scared of what the pair would think of him for effectively siding with the enemy.
"Was somebody following you?" Kai asked, not really interested.
"No, it was just a misunderstanding." Wendy whimpered, refusing to meet their eyes.
"Why don't we take this outside?" Jay suggested, grabbing their drinks and walking outside before Wendy could answer. The nurse said nothing as she followed the ginger-haired man to the outdoor seating area with Kai and Cole watching them.
"He's in for it when Wendy fucks off." Cole snarled at their boyfriend's supposed betrayal.
"Just leave it, Cole, you know what Jay's like," Kai said with a tired sigh.
"Stop being so brave Kai, this is our boyfriend we're talking about!"
"But this is just the start." He muttered sadly. "One by one people will start to forget, start treating them like nice people like nothing ever happened." He sniffed with unshed tears at the thought. Cole's anger faded from his face as he took Kai's hand in his own.
"Try not to think about it, we were having a good day; let's just focus on the good stuff." He tried to reassure the brunette. "That midwife was great, wasn't she?"
"She was alright, bit too bossy."
"She'll have met her match in you then." He joked and Kai chuckled. "Jay, Zane, and I will all be on the gas and air ourselves before this is all over." He added but this time Kai's smile seemed more forced. "Don't let them ruin it for you Kai, don't give them another second." He told Kai, who nodded but keep his amber eyes from glancing at Wendy and Jay, both still sitting outside. They could feel either Kai or Cole staring at them, but made no move to acknowledge it.
"Look, I don't want to cause trouble for you, you didn't have to stick up for me back there," Wendy said, worried that she was causing a rift between Jay and his lovers.
"But you were a mess, and you needed help." He insisted before sighing. "Look, you know if it comes down to it, I can't choose you over Kai."
"I know and I wouldn't want you to."
"I don't know what it's like to lose a child so I can only imagine how much pain you must be in, but might it not be better if you found somewhere else to live?" He suggested, but Wendy quickly shook her head as tears welled up in her eyes.
"But it's a free country, isn't it?" She sniffed weakly.
"Yes, but you can't carry on like this can you?" Jay asked, feeling very sorry for the nurse. "You can't live in fear; it's bad enough dealing with the grief, why would you put yourself through all this extra trauma?"
"Where else would I go?" She sobbed. "That baby's all I've got left of my Morro and I don't care what people are saying about him, he was my son and I loved him!" She cried, causing a few people to look over, but no one said anything. "I can't leave! I'm scared of what will happen to me if I let go!" She sobbed loudly and Jay could do nothing but offer her some tissues to try and dry her eyes. They stayed like that for at least another hour until Wendy regained her composure and began her journey home.
Kai, Cole, and Jay waited a couple of minutes before following her.
Cole and Kai made a point of glaring at Jay, but neither of them said anything. When they reached their shared floor, however, they were all shocked to see Misako carrying trash bags filled with the items and furniture Nya had destroyed.
"Misako?! What's happened?!" Wendy cried as she rushed to her best friend's side.
"What do you think Wendy?" Misako snapped, still trembling slightly from her earlier confrontation.
"What's she done now?!" Wendy exclaimed in shock, fear, and a hint of anger.
"This is never going to end, why can't you see that?" She demanded. "You can't will something to be true when it's not."
"Don't you dare!"
"YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENED! Stop burying your head in the sand, I can't keep defending you!" She shouted before taking a deep breath. "Look, I know you want to be near your grandchild, but just look at how many lives have been ruined because of this!" She said and gestured to Kai, who was watching all of this in silence with Cole and Jay. "Staying here is just making things worse, it's prolonging the agony and we're hurting people!" She exclaimed before turning to a stunned Kai. "I'm sorry for what happened to you Kai, I'm so sorry."
"Misako!" The nurse cried in betrayal.
"Stop it, Wendy!" Misako snapped in frustration. "Morro raped him! I know it and you know it!" She insisted, sounding more and more tired with every passing second. "I can't cope with this Wendy, if you can't admit it then I can't stay, I can't do this anymore." She sighed sadly. Wendy might be her best friend and needed her, but Misako was not prepared to have her life in danger just because Wendy couldn't face the truth. "I'm leaving and I want you to come with me." She said before heading into the apartment to pack her bags.
Now almost completely abandoned, Wendy collapsed to her knees in front of Cole, Jay and Kai.
She started wailing loudly at the loss of her son and now the loss of her best friend. The three men all looked uncomfortable, but none of them could find the words. Kai looked the most affected by her cries, rubbing his bump as his bottom lip quivered and he rushed inside, followed by his two boyfriends...