Wally West
Happy Harbor Hospital
March 21st, 2016
Sylvia had been in the hospital for the past two days, and we were finally checking out, but it didn't feel right. She had gone into premature labor, apparently due to extreme stress, but it didn't seem right. Someone like her can handle stress, especially when a loved one passes, she was all to experienced with that, especially now. I was positive that it all happened for a different reason, so now that the doctors have stabilized her and the baby is fine and still our little unborn daughter. They told her that for the rest of her pregnancy, she has to stay off her feet, but we all know she won't do that because, as frustrating as it is to me, she refuses to believe that regular pregnancy guidelines for regular women don't apply to her because of her altered physiology.
When Dick had come to get me from the living room of the Cave, I had immediately known that something was wrong. I saw her hit the floor, and I had gone into full panic mode. My heart dropped and I picked my pregnant girlfriend in my arms, rushing her out of the Cave and running her to the Happy Harbor Hospital. When Sylvia regained consciousness in the emergency room, she was immediately crying out in pain. It pained me to see her like that, and all I could do was hold her hand, no matter how tight her grip got. It was a while before they gave her sedatives and medication to reverse the labor. She was crying for a while, telling me that she wasn't ready. She kept telling me that she couldn't do it without her dad. Before she drifted asleep from the sedative, she told me she was afraid, so I just crawled into the hospital bed with her and told her how much I loved her until she slipped into some much needed sleep after hours of agony.
At this point, I'm not trusting regular doctors. I went to the nurse's station and requested copies of the medical documents recording everything about this hospital visit. When I returned to the room, there she was, just walking around, getting dressed. Alfred had been here, he went to our place in Miami and grabbed us some clothes and necessities since we didn't know how long she'd be in the hospital. Like she wasn't even cold in the sterile hospital air, she walked around in a very loosely fitted dress that ended at her lower thigh, just an inch or two above the knee. The short sleeve dress had thin, burgundy and white stripes. I remembered her wearing it just the other week, the two of us laying in the sun on our balcony. Everything was so peaceful until I was starting to notice how different this pregnancy was. Considering Sylvia is what she is and I am what I am, it's not surprising that the baby would be different, but I never expected there to be complications like what happened the other night. After the death of Jason, Tula, of Artemis, I didn't want to lose anyone else, especially not her.
"So, where are you taking me?" Sylvia asked as she pulled on a black knit sweater. I grabbed her socks and shoes off the table in the corner and handed them to her.
"I'm taking you to Caitlin and Cisco. I want a second opinion," I told her, grabbing our things up from around the room.
"Aw, worried about your little girl?" She laughed, rubbing her stomach.
"Yes, but I'm a bit more worried about the mommy carrying my little girl and since your dad isn't here to talk some sense into you, I'm going to have to drag you to Central City myself and make you realize that you're not invincible right now, as much as you seem to think you are." The second I finished talking to her she went silent. Like the words that came out of my mouth were a shock to her. She had that look in her eyes that it made you feel like gears were turning behind her eyes. I knew that look, it was the face she would make when she was thinking a little too hard on something she thought she understood. Her eyebrows would knit ever so slightly and the left corner of her mouth would just barely dip down into a miniscule, half frown. In silence, I grabbed our two bags and took her hand, forcing her to sit in the wheelchair a nurse had brought around. I wheeled her down the hall to the elevator. As we took it down to the ground floor, I texted Dick and made sure he was waiting for me. He was in civvies, sitting in the front seat of a black sedan. There were a few of those in the Cave Hangar for when the residents there needed them.
"Ready?" Dick asked as Sylvia took her seat in the back. I climbed into the front seat, glancing at my girlfriend in the rearview mirror.
"Yeah, let's go," I told him. The car began to move and Sylvia was dead silent. She just leaned to the side against the door, folding her arms on the little ledge and resting her head on it. I heard her sigh as her big green eyes watched the landscape rolled by. Her long, raven hair was in disarray from the hospital visit, strewn around all over. She pulled the majority of it to the side and I almost chuckled to myself. Her hair was covering her pregnant belly, reminding me of how she would sit like this in the car back when we were all just middle schoolers when Dick and I had just started out and Sylvia hadn't been taken yet. Back when she was just a regular human having sleepovers with Bette and being annoyed by her little brother. We pulled up to Mount Justice and drove down into the hangar. I got out of the car first, opening Sylvia's door and offering my hand. She took it as Dick grabbed our bag from the trunk. Without warning, a bleary-eyed M'gann flew into the room, rushing towards Sylvia. Dick put his hand up for her to stop.
"M'gann, why don't you slow down?" Dick said in a soft voice. "She has to avoid stress," he informed her. Sylvia chuckled.
"Jeez, Dick, I'm fine and you know what?" She yanked her arm from mine. "I can walk on my own you know?" She barked at me. I put my hands up in surrender and grabbed our bag from Dick.
"Are you going to be okay?" M'gann wondered, sniffling a bit afterward. Sylvia just went ahead and hugged M'gann, holding her tightly like she did the other night when Artemis died.
"I am going to be fine," she told M'gann as she pulled away, giving the Martian a smile before letting go. "Wally's taking me to S.T.A.R Labs to sort this all out, everything's gonna be fine," she promised her, but even I felt like that was an empty promise. We didn't know what was going to happen.
"Okay, well come back to the Cave the next time you can. We all miss you guys hanging around here," M'gann told Sylvia, and she just nodded.
"See you later, M'gann." She hugged the Martian once again and took my hand. I was starting to realize that Sylvia was figuring out that she should be worrying right now, like I have been since I found her collapsed on the floor of the mission room, right here in this facility. Dick had hugged his sister and vanished off to run the training in the missions, taking M'gann with him.
"Here we go, I guess," I exhaled deeply, walking my girlfriend to the Zeta Tube. I programmed it to take us to S.T.A.R. Labs, and off we went. When we came out on the other side, Caitlyn was already waiting for us with a wheelchair.
"Hi, guys," She said, gesturing for Sylvia to take a seat. With a sheepish expression, Sylvia let go of my arm and took a seat. She seemed uncomfortable being wheeled around, but I was happy to push the chair as we followed Caitlyn. It was an awkward silence. But when we met up with Cisco, he seemed more chipper than usual.
"And how is the little Lena?" Cisco asked as he ran over nearly tickled Sylvia's pregnant belly. I couldn't help but laugh. Sylvia was grinning from ear to ear, back to the state she was in earlier.
"She's settling down, tried to escape the other night, not too happy about that," Sylvia explained. I was honestly just glad that she still had a sense of humor.
"Well, we definitely don't want that, so that's why Walls brought you to us," Cisco smiled, walking over to the medical equipment they seemed to all be setting up. Caitlyn came over and handed Sylvia a pair of S.T.A.R. Labs sweatpants and a tank top for her to put on.
A few hours later
We had Sylvia set up on a bed in the other room. She started to feel really tired, so we let her sleep. Cisco handed me a glass of water, but I just held it, waiting for Caitlyn. When she came back from checking on Sylvia, she took a seat across from me, next to Cisco.
"So? What's the verdict?" I asked. Caitlyn sighed.
"Wally, we discovered some very important things that will help us to everything we can to try and ensure that Sylvia can carry to full term," Caitlyn began. "What's happening in the womb, isn't necessarily her physiology, though anyone else with her physiology without her mindset would come into problems with what doctors like to call a hostile uterus triggered by stress, like the other night. But she can handle it. What's really putting a strain on Sylvia, is Lena's own physiology. Sure, she shares some factors with her mother, but she has more in common with you and Barry than anything. Since we've never experienced a speedster fetus, we didn't know what we were supposed to be watching out for. Sylvia is having trouble because Lena's high metabolism is already established, and it's making Sylvia weaker because she's not keeping up with the baby's dietary needs in addition to her own. Basically, she needs to eat a bit more like you and Barry to keep up," Caitlyn finished and I released a sigh of relief.
"So I just need to get my girlfriend to eat more, that's actually a lot easier than some crazy medical protocol," I was starting to feel a bit better about Sylvia's condition. I honestly just feel really guilty whenever she gets sick, the baby kicks to hard, or when I think about her going into premature labor the other night. She wouldn't have any of this pain if I hadn't gotten her pregnant. Though, I don't regret anything with her, I still feel bad that it's kind of my fault.
"I know you only came here for your baby, but we also found out something else that you should know," Cisco said, catching me off guard.
"What?" I just looked at him.
"Upon Cisco's request, I cross examined your DNA sample that we took today, your baby's, Bart's, and Barry's. All three of your meta-genes for superspeed are identical," Caitlyn said, Cisco was just grinning from ear to ear.
"And?" I wasn't really in the mood to hear about me having a slower speed than Barry. Cisco was starting to get more and more excited, unable to sit still.
"Wally, we think you have the same speed capabilities as Barry," Cisco told me. The second the words came out of his mouth, the glass of water in my hand slipped, crashing upon the linoleum.