Nc2
Sophie's car was an old beat-up mess, a typical piece of post-Pulse junk. It certainly wouldn't attract attention. Best of all, thanks to her medical clearance Sophie had a standing sector pass that would allow them unrestricted travel in and out of the city. On previous trips the sector police had more or less waved them through. But tonight might be different, Grace realized as she and Max climbed into the car, Max taking the front seat, staring grimly into the darkness as Grace introduced her to Sophie. Tonight the sector police were not likely to let medical personnel, especially not an obstetric nurse, pass without question. Grace assumed that her own identification would allow her through sector checkpoints with a minimum of hassle, but Max - well, Max was a problem. At least the heavy traffic would buy them a little time to come up with something.
In the front seat Sophie, not the least bit intimidated by the tough-girl act, was questioning Max about her sister, whose name was Jace. How far along was she? When had labor started? Max seemed to be answering more or less helpfully, but Grace was beginning to regret her promise to keep quiet about who Max really was. There was no telling what strange things might happen to a genetically-altered woman in childbirth, and in an emergency, God forbid, Sophie would need to know what she was dealing with. Well, Grace decided, if it came to that, she would force the issue once they got wherever it was they were going.
Eventually, Sophie and Max fell silent and Grace's attention drifted. For the first time that night, she could think past the next few moments, and she was realizing that she had no idea where this adventure was going to end up. Once the baby arrived, where would they go? How would they hide? In the back of her mind she had a vague idea that Logan would figure all that out. He was good at that sort of thing and of course once the emergency was over, Max would want to see him right away, wouldn't she?
Grace looked over the seat at the dark head in front of her. She was grateful for the opportunity to watch Max without being inspected in return. Truthfully, she couldn't keep her eyes away. How many times had she admired -- and envied -- the beauty of the girl in the photograph? Well, "beautiful" didn't even begin to describe the real live Max. Grace had never known anyone so smart, so sure, so self-confident. She intimidated Grace, which was silly. The elite training Max had undergone as a child certainly showed in her brilliance, but the deprivations showed too. All those ignorant, annoying comments about "your religion," for one thing. Grace supposed spiritual development hadn't been a high priority at Manticore, and manners apparently hadn't been either. Of course, under the circumstances ...
Grace suddenly realized that Sophie was speaking to her. "What?" she asked stupidly.
Sophie's eyes met hers in the rearview mirror. "I said, what're we gonna do about the checkpoint? Only a few more blocks." Grace returned her thoughts to the business at hand.
In the end, it was Max's scruffy appearance that inspired them. When they approached the checkpoint, she was sprawled in the back seat, head lolling. The cop stuck his head in the rear passenger window, then pulled it back out again quickly as the odor of cheap wine hit him in the face. Annoyed, he moved to the driver's window, where Sophie and Grace next to her were doing their best to look self-righteous and disapproving. The cop jerked his head in the direction of the back seat, and said, "Who's your friend?"
Sophie primly handed over her pass, along with their identification, Grace's first to reinforce the impression they were trying to create. "Some drunk," she sniffed to the cop. "The hospital won't keep her and neither will the city police. We're taking her back where she belongs."
"Why you?" asked the cop, mildly suspicious.
"We volunteered," Grace told him earnestly. "It's an opportunity for us to preach the gospel to those poor lost souls at the encampment."
"It's the Lord's work," Sophie added piously.
The cop took a last look in the back seat, where Max had begun to roll her head back and forth and moan theatrically. "Oh dear, I hope she doesn't vomit in the car," Sophie said to Grace, and at that, the cop hastily pulled his head back and waved them on. As soon as the checkpoint was out of sight Max sat up and spat in disgust out of the side window, glaring at Grace. "Nice rotgut," she snapped, reaching down to the floor and picking up the now-empty wine bottle which they had borrowed from a passed-out roadside drunk.
"I didn't ask you to drink it, I asked you to put some in your mouth. Besides, it worked, didn't it?"
"Pull over," Max ordered Sophie.
"Why?"
"Pull over," Max repeated, and with a skeptical glance Sophie pulled onto the shoulder, where the ancient car idled loudly. Max leaned over the front seat. "Out," she commanded Grace.
Grace eyed the wine bottle in Max's hand. "What are you going to, whack me and leave me by the road?" The attitude must be getting on her nerves, she decided. It wasn't like her to be this snippy.
"Don't think I haven't considered it," Max began, but Sophie interrupted. "Do I need to separate you two?" she asked ominously, and after a moment Max opened the rear door. "Please get out," she said sweetly, with a dark look at Sophie. "I need to navigate." Grace heard the sound of the wine bottle hitting the roadside gravel as they switched seats. Well, better that than her head. With a last warning look, Sophie pulled back out on the highway and they traveled on in silence, deeper into the mountains.
At last, Max directed Sophie to turn up a nearly invisible dirt road that was little more than a rough path up the side of a steep hill. The car bounced and jolted until Grace was sure the bottom would tear out. Finally Max pointed to a patch of scrubby bushes and Sophie maneuvered the car behind them. After they got out Max circled the bushes critically, checking for telltale glints of chrome or other visible signs of the car. When she was satisfied that the car was completely concealed, she pointed up the mountain. "This way."
It was a long, breathless hike up the mountain to the cave where Jace waited for them, standing with hands on hips, grimacing in pain. Max rushed to her, but stood respectfully away as Sophie quickly examined Jace, then patted her shoulder. "You're doing great. Just hang in there," Sophie reassured Jace.
"How long?" Max asked.
"It'll be a few more hours. Can you stand it?" Sophie asked Jace.
"Yes," said Jace firmly. "My back aches. But I'll deal with it."
"What can we do?" Grace asked.
"You can wait," Sophie said cheerfully, beginning to unpack her supplies.
Max had been roaming the cave, appraising their surroundings. Now she jerked her head towards the mouth of the cave. "You're gonna help me keep watch," she commanded Grace, who obediently followed her. Why not? she thought. Maybe it would bring the tension down a notch or two.
"I'm really thirsty. Think you could find some water, little sister?" Jace called after them.
"No problem," Max smiled back. The bag of supplies lay near the mouth of the cave. Max rummaged through it and handed a bottle of water to Sophie, then turned her attention to Grace. "You take the first watch. Don't fall asleep," she added rudely, turning to go.
"Just a second. I need to speak to you privately," Grace said quietly.
Clearly irritated, Max stepped outside. Not used to having her orders questioned, Grace thought. So much for easing the tension. And this would make it worse. "I'm thinking maybe you should give Sophie a little of the medical background," she began.
"That's need-to-know information. I'll tell her if there's a good reason."
Grace sighed. "Max, have you ever been around when someone had a baby?"
"No."
"Well, I have," Grace told her. "Most of the time it goes just fine. But when something goes, wrong, it goes wrong fast, and the person delivering the baby really, really needs to know exactly what they're dealing with."
"You promised. Isn't keeping your word part of your job description or something?"
"All right." Grace backed down reluctantly. "But if something goes wrong, and you don't tell her, I will."
At that, Max threw a look of pure disgust at Grace and stalked back into the cave, leaving Grace to sit alone in the cold darkness until Sophie called her back inside.
With Grace's kitchen matches, they had lit a small fire, which provided more illumination than warmth. Grace immediately saw that Jace's labor was quite quite a bit further along. She now seemed oblivious to the cave, the cold, the two strange women. Max was rubbing her back. When Grace entered Sophie stood up, stretched, and sipped some water. "Not long now before we get real serious," she said, pulling Grace aside. "How well do you know these girls?" she asked quietly.
"Not very well. Max is ... a friend of a friend." Grace's heart suddenly sank. "Is there a problem?"
Sophie shook her head. "No. In fact, this is one strong girl. Her labor's advancing very quickly, but as far as I can tell it's not putting much of a strain on her or the baby. Is she some kind of athlete or soldier?"
"I think she's had some military training."
"Well, it shows." There was a pause, then: "Do you mind if I ask you something?"
"Sure."
"What's your issue with this Max? You sure are up each other's backsides."
"Long story. I'll tell you another time."
Sophie closed the water bottle and returned to Jace, signaling Max to take a rest. As she did so, her sleeve fell back, revealing an intricate dark green tattoo around her left wrist and arm. Grace had seen it so many times before she didn't give it a second thought, but it caught Max's attention. "Nice tattoo," she said admiringly.
"Thank you," said Sophie, and held her arm out to Max.
"What's it for?"
Sophie smiled. "I belong to a ... religious sisterhood. We all wear these."
Max looked sharply at Grace. "Don't tell me you're part of this ... sisterhood too." Something about her tone made it sound silly and childish.
"I join them sometimes," Grace said defensively, thinking, Now why did I tell her that? It's none of her business.
Max gave her a look of disbelief. "What kind of religion do you belong to anyway? Sisterhoods? Love affairs? Sounds too weird for me."
"MY life is too weird for YOU?" Grace began incredulously, but Sophie silenced them with a sharp glance and a nod at Jace, who was beginning to moan. "Take this outside and settle it now, because soon we're going to have work to do," she commanded, pointing to the mouth of the cave. "And make it quick," she called after them.
Outdoors, the air was still and cold. It was too early for moonlight, but stars glittered here and there between the trees. The two women stood side by side. Max said,
"I thought you were going to tell on us as soon as you got the chance."
"She's fine right now. Doesn't mean I won't do it later." After a moment: "Anyway, that's not what this is really about. What do you want to know? Ask."
"Are you in love with him?"
"I don't know. It wasn't very long," Grace said honestly. At that Max folded her arms, and huddling against the cold continued, "Is he in love with you?"
"He never said." That was the truth, or part of it, anyway.
"Why did it end?"
"He believes you may be alive. I left him, and he didn't try to stop me."
"It was very noble of you to get yourself out of the way." At this, Grace opened her mouth angrily, then saw that Max relatively sincere. She said more gently:
"I said, he didn't try to stop me. I wasn't being noble. I was just trying to deal with the reality of the situation."
"Which is?"
Grace felt her throat tighten, but managed to say, "He loves you. What do you think I was going to do, hang around and beg him to choose me instead? That's not what I'm about." She looked down at the ground, hoping Max wouldn't see the tears spilling onto her cheeks. She was angry with herself. This was not the time to start falling apart, so she changed the subject. "You haven't even asked how he is."
"I know how he is," Max said softly. So she's been watching him, Grace thought, wondering again why Max hadn't simply gone to him for help. Then the sound of vomiting came from the cave, and Max hurried away in alarm. Wiping her nose on her sleeve since nothing else was handy, Grace followed. "What's wrong? Is she all right?" Max was demanding anxiously.
Sophie eased Jace back into a sitting position, smiling. "Nothing's wrong. We're just getting very, very close to showtime. Ladies, think you can stop fighting long enough to boil some water?"
Relieved to have work, they heated water, warmed a blanket, put a cool cloth on Jace's forehead. Before long, Jace cried out that she wanted to push and Sophie took her hand. "You just hang on to me and go," she said confidently. A moment later, however, it was Sophie who cried out at the fierce pressure of Jace's grip. Grace shot Max a warning look and Max hastily reached out, saying, "I've got you, sister." Jace closed her eyes and held on to Max, hard.
Sophie rocked back on her heels, shaking out her hand. "Damn," she told Grace. "I've met some strong women in my time but this girl's got them all beat."
"Sorry," whispered Jace with a little smile, then cried out again, much louder this time. Max looked over her shoulder several times and belatedly Grace realized that the cave was unguarded, even as they were at their most vulnerable. Jace could not run if they were discovered now. "I'll watch," Grace told Max, and for once Max, absorbed in her sister, simply nodded in agreement.
So at the entrance Grace kept watch, hearing Jace's cries and Sophie's words of encouragement, and a last, a baby's wail. Immediately two voices asked, "Is it all right?" Then there was a heart-stopping silence until Sophie declared, "She is just fine. A big strong girl like her mother."
"It's a girl," Max laughed. "Jace, you have a little girl!"
The dark woods were still and silent, so Grace risked a look over her shoulder to the firelit cave. Max and Jace were laughing and crying at the same time as Sophie placed the baby in her mother's arms. Jace, face shining, whispered, "Max - meet Max."
Max was watching the baby, her face transformed with pleasure. The bitterness and exhaustion dropped away for a moment, revealing a lovely, happy, excited girl. Then Max grew serious and determined again. Holding one of the baby's tiny hands, embracing her sister, she looked into Jace's eyes. "I promise you," she said softly, "we'll do whatever we have to do to give her a better life than we had." Tears spilled from Jace's eyes and splashed shining in the firelight onto the baby's face. Seeing this, Sophie took charge. "Time to rest now," she told Jace authoritatively. Max hugged her sister again, then, suddenly seeming to realize that they could do nothing for the time being, wandered to the entrance of the cave. Grace quickly turned away, hoping Max hadn't seen her watching.
To her surprise Max sat down next to her. "I told you it would go all right," she said cheerfully.
"I'm glad it did. Congratulations," Grace said.
After a while, Max said, "Look, I gotta ask you. Why did you do this?"
Grace was astonished. "Did I miss something here? Did you actually give me a choice?"
Max shrugged. "You didn't have to go all out like this. You could have given me a hard time."
"I told you. I care about Logan, and he cares about you."
"I'm on the run from a government agency. You get caught doing this, you're gonna have plenty of time to read those big-word theology books. That is, if they even let you have them." Max stared hard at Grace. "That's a pretty big risk to take for a guy who let you walk out the door."
Grace ran her fingers through the pine needles that carpeted the ground. She wasn't sure she wanted to continue this conversation, or rather, interrogation. Max was relentless. And smart. Grace didn't owe her any explanations, but on the other hand she didn't have anything to hide either. So ...
"Logan told me your story. Eventually," she added dryly, remembering how long he had held Max's secrets in his heart. "Anyway, it reminded me of this doctor at the hospital. Famous fertility guy. He's the man, if you can afford him.
"One night I rode out to the encampments with Sophie to deliver a baby. Someone else showed up -- this doctor, and he'd brought company. A husband and wife. They hung around for a while, but something seemed to be wrong. They were arguing with each other and arguing with the doctor. Finally, they left, and he left right afterwards. He looked really angry.
"I found out later that his practice was a little more diversified than I knew. He was also arranging adoptions on the side. For the folks who couldn't afford any better, he was trolling the camps for young single girls in trouble, or families with too many kids. No genetic screening or prenatal care, but cheap and available.
"But for the people with money, he was going out to the camps and soliciting girls for genetic testing. Not just to weed out the bad stuff, but to select for the good stuff. The custom stuff that his clients wanted. The girls had nice places to live, good food, the best medical care. Sometimes he just bought their eggs and sent them on their way. A few of them actually carried the babies for women who couldn't, or didn't want to.
"So, the couple that Sophie and I saw that night. She couldn't carry a baby to term; they'd tried, but she had just lost another one, and she was a wreck. So he offered to get them a baby right away, that night. Only when they arrived, the husband didn't think the girl looked healthy enough and smart enough to be the biological parent of his child. He refused it.
"I never found out what happened to them. But the good doctor is still in business to this day."
"Figures you'd have a problem with genetic engineering." Max sounded defensive. "Isn't that the official position of the Church? They get to play God, but no one else does?"
"First, not my church. Second, I work at a hospital. Every day I see the reasons for trying it." Grace said. "What I have a problem with is seeing these kids exploited to turbo-charge some adult's power trip. With playing God when you think of God as some kind of supreme control freak. I know it's strictly amateur hour compared to where you've been. But, you asked." She rose, brushing leaves and pine needles from her jeans, suddenly feeling shy. "Anyway. End of sermon." Her hands were cold. She rubbed them together, watching the stars through the trees.
There was silence. After a while, Max asked, "Do you ever talk to any of the mothers, the ones that give up their babies?" Something about her question reminded Grace of the afternoon in the hospital courtyard when Logan had asked her about her conversations with the dying.
"Once in a while. Most of them don't really look back. Some don't care. The rest truly believe they're doing the right thing for the baby, so they just want to get it over with, and get out. Talking about it is the last thing they're up for."
"How about the parents?"
"No. They're thrilled. People don't usually come looking for me to spill their guts about how thrilled they are."
There was a longer silence, and then Max said, "Sometimes, Jace talks about giving up the baby. Find a family. Smart, rich, loving. Give her what we never can."
Grace was speechless for a moment. Finally she said, "What do you think?"
"Believe me, I can think of a lot better things for a kid to do than play escape and evade all day. So. If she needed you, could you help her find the right people?"
"I could try. If that's what she really wanted."
Max said abruptly, "I'm starting to see why you two hit it off so well." It took Grace a moment to realize that she was no longer speaking of Jace.
Max rose and turned back towards the cave in one quick movement. "Go to sleep. We're moving out before dawn." And then she was gone. After a moment Grace followed her into the firelight.
Sophie's car was an old beat-up mess, a typical piece of post-Pulse junk. It certainly wouldn't attract attention. Best of all, thanks to her medical clearance Sophie had a standing sector pass that would allow them unrestricted travel in and out of the city. On previous trips the sector police had more or less waved them through. But tonight might be different, Grace realized as she and Max climbed into the car, Max taking the front seat, staring grimly into the darkness as Grace introduced her to Sophie. Tonight the sector police were not likely to let medical personnel, especially not an obstetric nurse, pass without question. Grace assumed that her own identification would allow her through sector checkpoints with a minimum of hassle, but Max - well, Max was a problem. At least the heavy traffic would buy them a little time to come up with something.
In the front seat Sophie, not the least bit intimidated by the tough-girl act, was questioning Max about her sister, whose name was Jace. How far along was she? When had labor started? Max seemed to be answering more or less helpfully, but Grace was beginning to regret her promise to keep quiet about who Max really was. There was no telling what strange things might happen to a genetically-altered woman in childbirth, and in an emergency, God forbid, Sophie would need to know what she was dealing with. Well, Grace decided, if it came to that, she would force the issue once they got wherever it was they were going.
Eventually, Sophie and Max fell silent and Grace's attention drifted. For the first time that night, she could think past the next few moments, and she was realizing that she had no idea where this adventure was going to end up. Once the baby arrived, where would they go? How would they hide? In the back of her mind she had a vague idea that Logan would figure all that out. He was good at that sort of thing and of course once the emergency was over, Max would want to see him right away, wouldn't she?
Grace looked over the seat at the dark head in front of her. She was grateful for the opportunity to watch Max without being inspected in return. Truthfully, she couldn't keep her eyes away. How many times had she admired -- and envied -- the beauty of the girl in the photograph? Well, "beautiful" didn't even begin to describe the real live Max. Grace had never known anyone so smart, so sure, so self-confident. She intimidated Grace, which was silly. The elite training Max had undergone as a child certainly showed in her brilliance, but the deprivations showed too. All those ignorant, annoying comments about "your religion," for one thing. Grace supposed spiritual development hadn't been a high priority at Manticore, and manners apparently hadn't been either. Of course, under the circumstances ...
Grace suddenly realized that Sophie was speaking to her. "What?" she asked stupidly.
Sophie's eyes met hers in the rearview mirror. "I said, what're we gonna do about the checkpoint? Only a few more blocks." Grace returned her thoughts to the business at hand.
In the end, it was Max's scruffy appearance that inspired them. When they approached the checkpoint, she was sprawled in the back seat, head lolling. The cop stuck his head in the rear passenger window, then pulled it back out again quickly as the odor of cheap wine hit him in the face. Annoyed, he moved to the driver's window, where Sophie and Grace next to her were doing their best to look self-righteous and disapproving. The cop jerked his head in the direction of the back seat, and said, "Who's your friend?"
Sophie primly handed over her pass, along with their identification, Grace's first to reinforce the impression they were trying to create. "Some drunk," she sniffed to the cop. "The hospital won't keep her and neither will the city police. We're taking her back where she belongs."
"Why you?" asked the cop, mildly suspicious.
"We volunteered," Grace told him earnestly. "It's an opportunity for us to preach the gospel to those poor lost souls at the encampment."
"It's the Lord's work," Sophie added piously.
The cop took a last look in the back seat, where Max had begun to roll her head back and forth and moan theatrically. "Oh dear, I hope she doesn't vomit in the car," Sophie said to Grace, and at that, the cop hastily pulled his head back and waved them on. As soon as the checkpoint was out of sight Max sat up and spat in disgust out of the side window, glaring at Grace. "Nice rotgut," she snapped, reaching down to the floor and picking up the now-empty wine bottle which they had borrowed from a passed-out roadside drunk.
"I didn't ask you to drink it, I asked you to put some in your mouth. Besides, it worked, didn't it?"
"Pull over," Max ordered Sophie.
"Why?"
"Pull over," Max repeated, and with a skeptical glance Sophie pulled onto the shoulder, where the ancient car idled loudly. Max leaned over the front seat. "Out," she commanded Grace.
Grace eyed the wine bottle in Max's hand. "What are you going to, whack me and leave me by the road?" The attitude must be getting on her nerves, she decided. It wasn't like her to be this snippy.
"Don't think I haven't considered it," Max began, but Sophie interrupted. "Do I need to separate you two?" she asked ominously, and after a moment Max opened the rear door. "Please get out," she said sweetly, with a dark look at Sophie. "I need to navigate." Grace heard the sound of the wine bottle hitting the roadside gravel as they switched seats. Well, better that than her head. With a last warning look, Sophie pulled back out on the highway and they traveled on in silence, deeper into the mountains.
At last, Max directed Sophie to turn up a nearly invisible dirt road that was little more than a rough path up the side of a steep hill. The car bounced and jolted until Grace was sure the bottom would tear out. Finally Max pointed to a patch of scrubby bushes and Sophie maneuvered the car behind them. After they got out Max circled the bushes critically, checking for telltale glints of chrome or other visible signs of the car. When she was satisfied that the car was completely concealed, she pointed up the mountain. "This way."
It was a long, breathless hike up the mountain to the cave where Jace waited for them, standing with hands on hips, grimacing in pain. Max rushed to her, but stood respectfully away as Sophie quickly examined Jace, then patted her shoulder. "You're doing great. Just hang in there," Sophie reassured Jace.
"How long?" Max asked.
"It'll be a few more hours. Can you stand it?" Sophie asked Jace.
"Yes," said Jace firmly. "My back aches. But I'll deal with it."
"What can we do?" Grace asked.
"You can wait," Sophie said cheerfully, beginning to unpack her supplies.
Max had been roaming the cave, appraising their surroundings. Now she jerked her head towards the mouth of the cave. "You're gonna help me keep watch," she commanded Grace, who obediently followed her. Why not? she thought. Maybe it would bring the tension down a notch or two.
"I'm really thirsty. Think you could find some water, little sister?" Jace called after them.
"No problem," Max smiled back. The bag of supplies lay near the mouth of the cave. Max rummaged through it and handed a bottle of water to Sophie, then turned her attention to Grace. "You take the first watch. Don't fall asleep," she added rudely, turning to go.
"Just a second. I need to speak to you privately," Grace said quietly.
Clearly irritated, Max stepped outside. Not used to having her orders questioned, Grace thought. So much for easing the tension. And this would make it worse. "I'm thinking maybe you should give Sophie a little of the medical background," she began.
"That's need-to-know information. I'll tell her if there's a good reason."
Grace sighed. "Max, have you ever been around when someone had a baby?"
"No."
"Well, I have," Grace told her. "Most of the time it goes just fine. But when something goes, wrong, it goes wrong fast, and the person delivering the baby really, really needs to know exactly what they're dealing with."
"You promised. Isn't keeping your word part of your job description or something?"
"All right." Grace backed down reluctantly. "But if something goes wrong, and you don't tell her, I will."
At that, Max threw a look of pure disgust at Grace and stalked back into the cave, leaving Grace to sit alone in the cold darkness until Sophie called her back inside.
With Grace's kitchen matches, they had lit a small fire, which provided more illumination than warmth. Grace immediately saw that Jace's labor was quite quite a bit further along. She now seemed oblivious to the cave, the cold, the two strange women. Max was rubbing her back. When Grace entered Sophie stood up, stretched, and sipped some water. "Not long now before we get real serious," she said, pulling Grace aside. "How well do you know these girls?" she asked quietly.
"Not very well. Max is ... a friend of a friend." Grace's heart suddenly sank. "Is there a problem?"
Sophie shook her head. "No. In fact, this is one strong girl. Her labor's advancing very quickly, but as far as I can tell it's not putting much of a strain on her or the baby. Is she some kind of athlete or soldier?"
"I think she's had some military training."
"Well, it shows." There was a pause, then: "Do you mind if I ask you something?"
"Sure."
"What's your issue with this Max? You sure are up each other's backsides."
"Long story. I'll tell you another time."
Sophie closed the water bottle and returned to Jace, signaling Max to take a rest. As she did so, her sleeve fell back, revealing an intricate dark green tattoo around her left wrist and arm. Grace had seen it so many times before she didn't give it a second thought, but it caught Max's attention. "Nice tattoo," she said admiringly.
"Thank you," said Sophie, and held her arm out to Max.
"What's it for?"
Sophie smiled. "I belong to a ... religious sisterhood. We all wear these."
Max looked sharply at Grace. "Don't tell me you're part of this ... sisterhood too." Something about her tone made it sound silly and childish.
"I join them sometimes," Grace said defensively, thinking, Now why did I tell her that? It's none of her business.
Max gave her a look of disbelief. "What kind of religion do you belong to anyway? Sisterhoods? Love affairs? Sounds too weird for me."
"MY life is too weird for YOU?" Grace began incredulously, but Sophie silenced them with a sharp glance and a nod at Jace, who was beginning to moan. "Take this outside and settle it now, because soon we're going to have work to do," she commanded, pointing to the mouth of the cave. "And make it quick," she called after them.
Outdoors, the air was still and cold. It was too early for moonlight, but stars glittered here and there between the trees. The two women stood side by side. Max said,
"I thought you were going to tell on us as soon as you got the chance."
"She's fine right now. Doesn't mean I won't do it later." After a moment: "Anyway, that's not what this is really about. What do you want to know? Ask."
"Are you in love with him?"
"I don't know. It wasn't very long," Grace said honestly. At that Max folded her arms, and huddling against the cold continued, "Is he in love with you?"
"He never said." That was the truth, or part of it, anyway.
"Why did it end?"
"He believes you may be alive. I left him, and he didn't try to stop me."
"It was very noble of you to get yourself out of the way." At this, Grace opened her mouth angrily, then saw that Max relatively sincere. She said more gently:
"I said, he didn't try to stop me. I wasn't being noble. I was just trying to deal with the reality of the situation."
"Which is?"
Grace felt her throat tighten, but managed to say, "He loves you. What do you think I was going to do, hang around and beg him to choose me instead? That's not what I'm about." She looked down at the ground, hoping Max wouldn't see the tears spilling onto her cheeks. She was angry with herself. This was not the time to start falling apart, so she changed the subject. "You haven't even asked how he is."
"I know how he is," Max said softly. So she's been watching him, Grace thought, wondering again why Max hadn't simply gone to him for help. Then the sound of vomiting came from the cave, and Max hurried away in alarm. Wiping her nose on her sleeve since nothing else was handy, Grace followed. "What's wrong? Is she all right?" Max was demanding anxiously.
Sophie eased Jace back into a sitting position, smiling. "Nothing's wrong. We're just getting very, very close to showtime. Ladies, think you can stop fighting long enough to boil some water?"
Relieved to have work, they heated water, warmed a blanket, put a cool cloth on Jace's forehead. Before long, Jace cried out that she wanted to push and Sophie took her hand. "You just hang on to me and go," she said confidently. A moment later, however, it was Sophie who cried out at the fierce pressure of Jace's grip. Grace shot Max a warning look and Max hastily reached out, saying, "I've got you, sister." Jace closed her eyes and held on to Max, hard.
Sophie rocked back on her heels, shaking out her hand. "Damn," she told Grace. "I've met some strong women in my time but this girl's got them all beat."
"Sorry," whispered Jace with a little smile, then cried out again, much louder this time. Max looked over her shoulder several times and belatedly Grace realized that the cave was unguarded, even as they were at their most vulnerable. Jace could not run if they were discovered now. "I'll watch," Grace told Max, and for once Max, absorbed in her sister, simply nodded in agreement.
So at the entrance Grace kept watch, hearing Jace's cries and Sophie's words of encouragement, and a last, a baby's wail. Immediately two voices asked, "Is it all right?" Then there was a heart-stopping silence until Sophie declared, "She is just fine. A big strong girl like her mother."
"It's a girl," Max laughed. "Jace, you have a little girl!"
The dark woods were still and silent, so Grace risked a look over her shoulder to the firelit cave. Max and Jace were laughing and crying at the same time as Sophie placed the baby in her mother's arms. Jace, face shining, whispered, "Max - meet Max."
Max was watching the baby, her face transformed with pleasure. The bitterness and exhaustion dropped away for a moment, revealing a lovely, happy, excited girl. Then Max grew serious and determined again. Holding one of the baby's tiny hands, embracing her sister, she looked into Jace's eyes. "I promise you," she said softly, "we'll do whatever we have to do to give her a better life than we had." Tears spilled from Jace's eyes and splashed shining in the firelight onto the baby's face. Seeing this, Sophie took charge. "Time to rest now," she told Jace authoritatively. Max hugged her sister again, then, suddenly seeming to realize that they could do nothing for the time being, wandered to the entrance of the cave. Grace quickly turned away, hoping Max hadn't seen her watching.
To her surprise Max sat down next to her. "I told you it would go all right," she said cheerfully.
"I'm glad it did. Congratulations," Grace said.
After a while, Max said, "Look, I gotta ask you. Why did you do this?"
Grace was astonished. "Did I miss something here? Did you actually give me a choice?"
Max shrugged. "You didn't have to go all out like this. You could have given me a hard time."
"I told you. I care about Logan, and he cares about you."
"I'm on the run from a government agency. You get caught doing this, you're gonna have plenty of time to read those big-word theology books. That is, if they even let you have them." Max stared hard at Grace. "That's a pretty big risk to take for a guy who let you walk out the door."
Grace ran her fingers through the pine needles that carpeted the ground. She wasn't sure she wanted to continue this conversation, or rather, interrogation. Max was relentless. And smart. Grace didn't owe her any explanations, but on the other hand she didn't have anything to hide either. So ...
"Logan told me your story. Eventually," she added dryly, remembering how long he had held Max's secrets in his heart. "Anyway, it reminded me of this doctor at the hospital. Famous fertility guy. He's the man, if you can afford him.
"One night I rode out to the encampments with Sophie to deliver a baby. Someone else showed up -- this doctor, and he'd brought company. A husband and wife. They hung around for a while, but something seemed to be wrong. They were arguing with each other and arguing with the doctor. Finally, they left, and he left right afterwards. He looked really angry.
"I found out later that his practice was a little more diversified than I knew. He was also arranging adoptions on the side. For the folks who couldn't afford any better, he was trolling the camps for young single girls in trouble, or families with too many kids. No genetic screening or prenatal care, but cheap and available.
"But for the people with money, he was going out to the camps and soliciting girls for genetic testing. Not just to weed out the bad stuff, but to select for the good stuff. The custom stuff that his clients wanted. The girls had nice places to live, good food, the best medical care. Sometimes he just bought their eggs and sent them on their way. A few of them actually carried the babies for women who couldn't, or didn't want to.
"So, the couple that Sophie and I saw that night. She couldn't carry a baby to term; they'd tried, but she had just lost another one, and she was a wreck. So he offered to get them a baby right away, that night. Only when they arrived, the husband didn't think the girl looked healthy enough and smart enough to be the biological parent of his child. He refused it.
"I never found out what happened to them. But the good doctor is still in business to this day."
"Figures you'd have a problem with genetic engineering." Max sounded defensive. "Isn't that the official position of the Church? They get to play God, but no one else does?"
"First, not my church. Second, I work at a hospital. Every day I see the reasons for trying it." Grace said. "What I have a problem with is seeing these kids exploited to turbo-charge some adult's power trip. With playing God when you think of God as some kind of supreme control freak. I know it's strictly amateur hour compared to where you've been. But, you asked." She rose, brushing leaves and pine needles from her jeans, suddenly feeling shy. "Anyway. End of sermon." Her hands were cold. She rubbed them together, watching the stars through the trees.
There was silence. After a while, Max asked, "Do you ever talk to any of the mothers, the ones that give up their babies?" Something about her question reminded Grace of the afternoon in the hospital courtyard when Logan had asked her about her conversations with the dying.
"Once in a while. Most of them don't really look back. Some don't care. The rest truly believe they're doing the right thing for the baby, so they just want to get it over with, and get out. Talking about it is the last thing they're up for."
"How about the parents?"
"No. They're thrilled. People don't usually come looking for me to spill their guts about how thrilled they are."
There was a longer silence, and then Max said, "Sometimes, Jace talks about giving up the baby. Find a family. Smart, rich, loving. Give her what we never can."
Grace was speechless for a moment. Finally she said, "What do you think?"
"Believe me, I can think of a lot better things for a kid to do than play escape and evade all day. So. If she needed you, could you help her find the right people?"
"I could try. If that's what she really wanted."
Max said abruptly, "I'm starting to see why you two hit it off so well." It took Grace a moment to realize that she was no longer speaking of Jace.
Max rose and turned back towards the cave in one quick movement. "Go to sleep. We're moving out before dawn." And then she was gone. After a moment Grace followed her into the firelight.