Author's Notes-::ducks thrown knives:: I know I know! You're all waiting to kill me because you think I'm offing Max. Well…just read this chapter and you'll get your answer! Yes, I am a wicked, wicked author. Anywho, you know the drill. It ain't mine; all of it belongs to the Longwinded Cameron and Chick the Bald. Remember, there's potential spoilers for everything up to and including "Female Trouble" and prolly "I and I Am Camera" but everything else never happened. Ben (aka Johnny) isn't dead or a psycho, Tinga has no children nor is she married, Brin's good, Manticore went down my way, blah blah blah… okay, here goes…please R&R!
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"She's flat lining!"
In the waiting area, each of Max's siblings heard the doctor's shout. Their advanced hearing had pretty much availed them to hearing most of what went on in Max's room, but they had chosen, out of respect for their sister and brother-in-law's privacy, to not listen. However, when Tinga had overheard the heart monitor begin to scream in warning of Max's dangerously irregular heartbeat, she had shot out of her chair. Tinga had been tense about Max's delivery, sitting a bit apart from her siblings, lost in her own thoughts. But now she was standing ramrod straight, every muscle and nerve in her body tense as she listened for her sister.
"Tinga?" Zack asked, rising from his chair.
Suddenly, he heard it too. His face turned pale.
Bling and Original Cindy watched as similar looks of horror and dread crossed each of the X-5's faces. "What's wrong?" Cindy demanded, looking worriedly at Bling, who could only offer a shrug.
Just then, the nurse carrying Jacqueline raced out of Max's room, bringing the newborn to the nursery. As she passed the waiting room, Zack stepped in front of her. "What's wrong with our sister?"
"What's happening?" Jondy asked.
Tinga stood mute.
The nurse looked at the entire assembly of people, and remembered the doctor mentioning something about the woman's large family. She peered down at the baby and tried not to hear the scream of the monitors and the shouted orders coming from the room she had just left. Sighing, she said with practiced sympathy and emotional detachment, "You sister suffered some complications in childbirth. She began hemorrhaging and she went into ventricular tachycardia, which means-"
"We know what it means," Krit said, somewhat bitterly. They had been taught extensive medical training at Manticore, in the event something catastrophic happened in the field.
"Will she be okay?" Brin asked as Jace and Syl quietly led Tinga to a chair. A few of their siblings watched from the corner of their eyes. They were afraid she was going to pass out. They knew her reaction went far beyond sisterly concern. It went far deeper. It was primal fear and the horror of painful memory upon painful memory coming back to haunt her with a violent passion. They all experienced it, being children of Manticore. But none of them knew quite how to comfort a sister who was reliving the pain of the death of her own child.
The nurse looked at the assembled and sighed, clutching the baby to her chest, "The doctors are doing everything they can."
"Can we see the baby?" Zane asked softly.
The nurse half smiled and held the baby girl up for her aunts and uncles to see. "Your sister gave birth to a little girl," she told them.
"What's her name?" Johnny asked.
"Jacqueline Eva Gabrielle Cale," Syl answered, as Original Cindy traded places with her next to Tinga.
"You okay boo?" Cindy asked softly. She knew Max was in the hands of Fate, or, as Herbal would say, the Almighty. As worried as she was about her Homegirl, Original Cindy knew worrying would accomplish nothing. Her efforts would be better spent taking care of her boo's sistahs girl. Tinga, however, was unresponsive. She just stared at the door to Max's room. When she became aware that the baby was being shown, she rose, to the surprise of Jace and Cindy, who, after exchanging glances, followed close behind.
Tinga stepped up to the nurse and pulled the blanket back slightly, to reveal her niece's face. Gently, Tinga kissed the top of the baby's head and whispered, "Don't worry baby girl, we'll make sure your mommy's alright."
The nurse smiled kindly at her and took Jacqueline to the nursery.
Max's siblings were left standing in the waiting room, feeling helpless and worried.
Inside Max's room, doctors and nurses were struggling to get Max's heart started again. Logan stayed as close to her as he was allowed. Max's Ob/Gyn knew that he would not leave unless under duress, so she told him he could stay as long as he didn't get in the way.
"Talk to her!" she snapped at him, as they once again waited for the paddles to recharge. She was pounding on Max's chest, performing CPR as a nurse squeezed the ambu bag to provide Max with oxygen. Another doctor was at Max's other end, trying to stop the bleeding. They had hung a few units of Max's own blood that her other physician had suggested they store, but it wasn't going to be enough to replenish all the blood she was losing. Their plan was to get her heart going again and then get her into surgery to stop the bleeding.
Logan nodded dimly and inched closer to Max's ear, bringing his lips close. "Max!" he hissed in her ear, his voice choked by tears and fear at the thought of losing her. He spoke her name over and over, a litany, a prayer, to get her to wake up. Sharply, he clapped his hands close to her ear to wake her. No dice. "Dammit!" he growled. He looked up at the doctor, who was still performing CPR. She nodded in encouragement before returning her attention to the task at hand.
Once again, Logan tried to rouse his wife. "Listen to me, Max Cale! Wake up! Please wake up, sweetheart!" Desperation filled his chest and despair filled his soul. He couldn't lose her. Not again. He had to get her back. "You can't leave Max. Do you hear me? We have a baby girl who needs her momma and I'm not going to let this take her mother away. You need to fight honey. Fight harder than you ever have before."
"Clear!" a nurse yelled, and everyone stepped back as the doctor zapped Max's heart with 300 joules.
"Another amp of epi, push it, and charge again," she ordered.
"Continuing CPR," the nurse declared, resuming compressions on Max's chest.
"How're we doing?" the doctor asked her colleague.
"We need to get her stable and in the O.R. ASAP to get the bleeding under control," the other doctor said.
"Time down?" a nurse asked.
"Five and a half minutes," another replied.
"Push the epi, and zap her again," the doctor ordered.
"Fight Max," Logan murmured repeatedly, in a litany, "Fight."
"Charging."
"Fight."
"Clear!"
"Fight!" Logan yelled, almost as a military order. The tears streamed down his face as he watched his wife's body leap off the table as electricity coursed through her body.
Everyone in the room held their breaths waiting for something to happen, their eyes glued to the cardiac monitor. Hours seemed to pass as they waited.
"Please, please, please, please, please," Logan whispered, looking at Max's face. She looked like she was only sleeping. "Come back."
"Come on back," the doctor said. "Come on dammit."
"Max!" Logan yelled.
*BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!* The heart monitor sprang to life. And so did Max.
"We've got a heartbeat," a nurse announced. "Resps are good."
"Okay, let's get her to the OR," the doctor said. She walked over to Logan. "Mr. Cale, your wife needs immediate surgery to keep her from bleeding to death. We need you to consent to the surgery." She took a breath, "Also, please be aware that your wife's condition is serious. If we can't stop her uterus from hemorrhaging, we may need to perform a radical hysterectomy."
Logan felt numb, "I-I need to consent to that too?"
The doctor nodded.
Logan looked to his wife, who was now swaddled in blankets, the sides of her bed up, the nurses waiting to transport her. He knew how devastating this kind of operation was to women. His mother had had one and it had left her depressed for weeks. He knew how important having all their reproductive organs was to women, and he didn't want to be the one responsible for his wife having to lose something that innately important. However, by the same token, he didn't want her to die. Trying to make the decision he thought Max would make were she able to, Logan looked squarely at the doctor and said, "Do what you can to stop the bleeding. Make the hysterectomy your final option. Your last resort. My wife has some medical training, so I'm sure she understands the risks."
The doctor nodded and Max was rolled out of the room. Logan jogged along as far as he could, looking down at his wife, praying she would be all right. "Just a little bit more. Hang on just a little longer sweetheart," he whispered. He watched her be rolled into the operating room and he felt the tears stream down his face.
He didn't know how long he had been standing there. It felt like hours. He was overwhelmed. His wife was in there, fighting for life. His baby was presumably in the nursery. And he could do nothing. He, for the umpteenth time throughout the entire pregnancy, felt helpless. Max was the one who had to do all the work, and he could no nothing but wait. Again.
Suddenly, he felt a gentle hand rest on his shoulder. He turned and found himself looking at Tinga. Her eyes shone with tears, reflecting her own understanding. She truly did understand the pain of childbirth, more so then perhaps many of the others. Although her baby had not survived, she knew the turmoil Logan was feeling. Without speaking, she wrapped her arms around him and held him. His body felt stiff and rigid at first, but she continued to hold on fiercely, hoping she could give him some of the strength he needed. Finally, she felt Logan's body relax. He wrapped his arms around her and let her hold him, comfort him, be a sister to him. She led him to a couch and held him again, rocking him as a mother would. Her siblings looked on in quiet respect.
Logan did not sob. Instead, he wept quietly. Tinga smoothed his hair. Eventually, she persuaded him to take a catnap.
"I want to go see the baby. I need to hold her," he protested.
"I know," Tinga said softly. "But rest a little first." Nodding dimly, Logan swung his long legs over the end of the couch and lay on his back, his head in his sister-in-law's lap. Reluctantly, he shut his eyes and was instantly claimed by sleep.
Tinga stared down at him for a while, before returning her attention to her siblings. Zane and Johnny were, true to form, playing cards. Even back at Manticore, if things had been rough, those two had always come up with a game to keep themselves occupied. Tinga wondered if Johnny was going to try to talk to the Blue Lady later to make sure she'd protect Max. She wondered if she should do it herself. Krit had fallen asleep himself, and was pillowed on Syl's shoulder. Her sister smoothed their brother's hair absently, obviously lost in her own thoughts. Jace was at a payphone, undoubtedly calling home to check on her son. Brin was sitting with Zack, obviously trying to be a support for him, but their big brother was a stubborn SOB. Zack was obviously distraught over his baby sister's condition. They all knew his love for Maxie went beyond brotherly love, but they also knew that Zack had accepted his place in Max's life-and Logan's-long ago. Tinga managed to catch his gaze and mouthed, "It'll be okay." She could see in Zack's eyes that he wanted to believe her. He held her gaze for a few more moments before returning his to the bizarrely patterned carpet.
Tinga noticed that Original Cindy was also on the phone, most likely talking to Kendra. The normally stoic, hard-assed black woman was looking downright distraught herself and Tinga smiled warmly at her when their gazes briefly met. Cindy nodded in appreciation and understanding before returning her full attention to her conversation.
"You're a lucky woman, Maxie," Tinga thought to herself as she gently eased Logan's head out of her lap and set it down on the couch as she rose. She found herself walking towards the nursery, and didn't realize that was her destination until she found herself staring at the infant whose nameplate read "Baby Girl Cale." Tinga made a mental note to remind Logan that his first order of business should be to update the nursing staff on his daughter's name. Then she felt a large hand on her shoulder.
"Here," Bling said, handing her a cup of coffee. "It's still fresh. Brewed last month with Seattle's finest horse piss."
Tinga smiled gratefully and sipped the noxiously strong and bitter liquid, letting the heat of it burn her throat in a perversely soothing manner. She looked up and Bling, then back to her niece. "She's gonna be okay right?"
"Yeah," Bling answered. "You're sister's a strong woman. She's gonna be fine."
"Right," Tinga answered softly, still watching her niece yawn and squirm slightly in her sleep. "Fine.
Just then, a surgical nurse burst through the OR doors. Bling was at Logan's side in a flash, waking him, as Max's siblings jumped to their feet. They watched as the nurse walked up to Logan, who was rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
"What's wrong?" he asked, his concern thick in his voice.
"Your wife has lost a lot of blood," the nurse began.
Panic overwhelmed Logan and he sank back into the couch. Bling stood at his side, his hand on Logan's shoulder, while Original Cindy, who had hurriedly hung up with Kendra, sat beside him. Tinga, for her part, remained near the nursery, listening to the nurse's words thanks to her supped-up hearing.
"Is my wife going to die?" Logan asked brokenly.
The nurse simply said, with practiced professional concern and sympathy. "The doctors think they are going to be able to stop the internal bleeding and there's a chance they might be able to avoid hysterectomy. But the more immediate concern is replacing all the blood your wife lost." The nurse looked to the assembled, who she was informed were the patient's siblings, most of them, and continued. "Your wife's Ob/Gyn has talked with a hematologist, and given your wife's recent, and long standing medical history, they want type-specific blood that is a genetic match."
"They want our blood," Krit murmured. For a moment, each of the X-5s was transported back to Manticore, where they had been experimented on as children. Each briefly remembered the horror and fought the fire of the memories that threatened to suck them back in.
"Then we'll do it," Zack said firmly, ever the CO. He was grateful Logan had found doctors for Max who believed the cover story, and with some well-placed donations to the hospital, did not do invasive digging into Max's genetics and blood work. Such experimentation would be dangerous to them all, even in this time of national recovery that was finally Lydecker-free. Zack made a mental note to break into the hospital and yank Max's file after she recovered and was sent home.
"Two units each should be sufficient," the nurse said with a smile, interpreting their looks of dread as a fear of needles. Mentally, she was wondering how people of such varied ethnicity could all be genetic matches for the patient and each other. If she hadn't known of the match, she would have thought them all adopted. "This way." With that, she turned and led them off to the blood bank, where she was under specific orders to get the blood drawn, and get it back to the OR, without screening. The doctor said the patient's siblings had already been screened.
"Thank you," Logan murmured sincerely to his brothers and sisters-in-law, as they filed behind the nurse, trying their hardest not to feel as though they were lambs being led to the slaughter, as they were so used to. He watched them depart and noticed how Zack gently touched Tinga's elbow and led her away from the nursery glass. Logan then began to fully realize how much this must have been affecting Tinga, given her history. He admired her strength and courage. Especially since he found himself considerably lacking those traits at the moment.
"She's gonna be fine boo," Original Cindy said gently. "You heard the woman."
Logan nodded, feeling as though his head was attached to a rubber band that was about to snap. He looked from his wife's friend to his best friend and said, "I want to see my daughter." They nodded and offered to walk him down to the nursery. He declined, knowing he needed to gain some strength on his own, and not leach it from his friends and family. Slowly, he made his way toward the nursery. "I've got to tell them her name," he thought, as he saw the sign on the side of his daughter's cradle that read "Baby Girl Cale." He tapped on the window and the nurse who had taken his daughter when Max had arrested saw him. She indicated that he come inside.
Logan anxiously gowned up, per the nurse's orders. Since Jacquie was a premature newborn, they were giving her oxygen, monitoring her levels and lung capacity, and trying to keep her as germ-free as possible. Her father, on the other hand, probably could have used some oxygen himself. He was a wreck. He was anxious and excited to see and hold his new baby daughter, and yet at the same time he felt immense pain, heartache, worry, and guilt. Max should have been sharing this moment with him. Instead, she was fighting for her life, a few hundred yards away on an operating table.
Ushered in by the nurse, Logan slowly made his way towards Jacqueline's plastic bassinet. Before looking at her, he turned to the nurse. In a voice that was strong and quiet, he said, "My daughter's name is Jacqueline Eva Gabrielle Cale."
The nurse smiled kindly, "One of your sister-in-laws told me. I just wanted to double check with you." She touched his arm gently. "I'll change it right away. Don't worry about picking her up." She leaned into the cradle and removed the baby's oxygen tube from her nose. "Her levels are fine, and her lungs seem fully developed. Your baby, despite coming early, is in perfect health."
Logan smiled gratefully and watched the nurse move away to attend to the other babies. Finally, he let himself get a good look at his daughter. She was sleeping. She was clean. She was perfect. She had Max's coloring, and, from what he had briefly seen, his wife's raven colored hair that he was sure would be as thick and luxurious as Max's as Jacquie aged. However, Logan could see in his daughter's face the Cale family features. Truthfully, he hoped she had inherited more of Max's family traits (sans the genetic defects and Max's cat-like need for very little sleep). He was even willing to have a daughter with Zack's pig-headedness. Maybe she had even inherited some of the traits his mother had passed onto him. One thing he did not want his child to be was a Cale in anything but name.
Gingerly reaching into the bassinet, Logan lifted his daughter into his arms, amazed my how feather-light and delicate she was. She was warm, and he could feel her tiny body breathe as he held her close to his chest. He walked across the room and sat them in a rocking chair. Breathing in her unique baby scent, Logan closed his eyes and smiled. Peering down at his daughter, Logan whispered, "Hey baby girl. Welcome to the world. I wish your mommy could be here right now, but the doctors are fixing her up. She went through a lot to make sure you got here healthy and I know she's not going to go anywhere until long after she sees what a great job she did keeping you safe and warm." He struggled to keep his voice from breaking. "We both love you very much. I can't believe we made you. You're so perfect."
Just then, Jacquie woke up. But, rather than crying, she stared right at Logan, as though she recognized him as her father. He was shocked to find himself staring back into reflections of his own clear blue eyes. He remembered Max saying how much she wished their baby would have his eyes. She loved his eyes. "I can't wait till your momma can see you," Logan whispered to his baby, who had fallen back asleep. He closed his eyes and rocked them both.
Max's eyes were closed too. She was on the table in the operating room down the hall from where he husband and daughter were, bonding together, her daughter sleeping contentedly in her husband's arms, her husband taking what solace he could from the presence of his new born baby girl, while down the hall his wife was being operated on. She was intubated, with a machine breathing for her, heavily anesthetized, her skin pale and ashen. Above her, a team of doctors and nurses worked tirelessly to stop her internal bleeding. They were closely monitoring her vital signs, for fear of her flatling again. Several times during the surgery, her blood pressure had fluctuated dangerously and they had hooked her up to a heart/lung by pass to take the stress of her heart.
Finally, the doctors were able to stop the bleeding. With a sigh of relief, they began stitching her up, glad they had not been forced to perform the radical hysterectomy. One of the doctors ordered a few units of her sibling's blood transfused before they took her off by-pass. Two units were hung, and half an hour later, she was taken off the machine. She was wheeled into the recovery room, where they decided to take her off the ventilator to see if she could breathe on her own. She could and she did. Hanging another unit of blood, the nurses and orderlies wheeled Max back into her room.
She was wheeled past her siblings, who had stood, watching her with concern on their faces. Logan had seen her be wheeled past also, and he ran out of the nursery, in his haste forgetting to put Jacquie back in her bassinet. A nurse ran after him and kindly took the baby. Max's family was informed that the surgery had gone well, that her uterus had been left in her body, that all they could do now was wait and see if the transfusions helped. They were informed that she was sleeping now, and that it would be best of they went home to rest. They all refused, and told Logan to go in and sit with her. He did. He held her hand and smoothed her hair and watched as unit after unit of her siblings' blood was transfused into her. He talked to her and kissed her forehead.
And Max dreamed...
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"She's flat lining!"
In the waiting area, each of Max's siblings heard the doctor's shout. Their advanced hearing had pretty much availed them to hearing most of what went on in Max's room, but they had chosen, out of respect for their sister and brother-in-law's privacy, to not listen. However, when Tinga had overheard the heart monitor begin to scream in warning of Max's dangerously irregular heartbeat, she had shot out of her chair. Tinga had been tense about Max's delivery, sitting a bit apart from her siblings, lost in her own thoughts. But now she was standing ramrod straight, every muscle and nerve in her body tense as she listened for her sister.
"Tinga?" Zack asked, rising from his chair.
Suddenly, he heard it too. His face turned pale.
Bling and Original Cindy watched as similar looks of horror and dread crossed each of the X-5's faces. "What's wrong?" Cindy demanded, looking worriedly at Bling, who could only offer a shrug.
Just then, the nurse carrying Jacqueline raced out of Max's room, bringing the newborn to the nursery. As she passed the waiting room, Zack stepped in front of her. "What's wrong with our sister?"
"What's happening?" Jondy asked.
Tinga stood mute.
The nurse looked at the entire assembly of people, and remembered the doctor mentioning something about the woman's large family. She peered down at the baby and tried not to hear the scream of the monitors and the shouted orders coming from the room she had just left. Sighing, she said with practiced sympathy and emotional detachment, "You sister suffered some complications in childbirth. She began hemorrhaging and she went into ventricular tachycardia, which means-"
"We know what it means," Krit said, somewhat bitterly. They had been taught extensive medical training at Manticore, in the event something catastrophic happened in the field.
"Will she be okay?" Brin asked as Jace and Syl quietly led Tinga to a chair. A few of their siblings watched from the corner of their eyes. They were afraid she was going to pass out. They knew her reaction went far beyond sisterly concern. It went far deeper. It was primal fear and the horror of painful memory upon painful memory coming back to haunt her with a violent passion. They all experienced it, being children of Manticore. But none of them knew quite how to comfort a sister who was reliving the pain of the death of her own child.
The nurse looked at the assembled and sighed, clutching the baby to her chest, "The doctors are doing everything they can."
"Can we see the baby?" Zane asked softly.
The nurse half smiled and held the baby girl up for her aunts and uncles to see. "Your sister gave birth to a little girl," she told them.
"What's her name?" Johnny asked.
"Jacqueline Eva Gabrielle Cale," Syl answered, as Original Cindy traded places with her next to Tinga.
"You okay boo?" Cindy asked softly. She knew Max was in the hands of Fate, or, as Herbal would say, the Almighty. As worried as she was about her Homegirl, Original Cindy knew worrying would accomplish nothing. Her efforts would be better spent taking care of her boo's sistahs girl. Tinga, however, was unresponsive. She just stared at the door to Max's room. When she became aware that the baby was being shown, she rose, to the surprise of Jace and Cindy, who, after exchanging glances, followed close behind.
Tinga stepped up to the nurse and pulled the blanket back slightly, to reveal her niece's face. Gently, Tinga kissed the top of the baby's head and whispered, "Don't worry baby girl, we'll make sure your mommy's alright."
The nurse smiled kindly at her and took Jacqueline to the nursery.
Max's siblings were left standing in the waiting room, feeling helpless and worried.
Inside Max's room, doctors and nurses were struggling to get Max's heart started again. Logan stayed as close to her as he was allowed. Max's Ob/Gyn knew that he would not leave unless under duress, so she told him he could stay as long as he didn't get in the way.
"Talk to her!" she snapped at him, as they once again waited for the paddles to recharge. She was pounding on Max's chest, performing CPR as a nurse squeezed the ambu bag to provide Max with oxygen. Another doctor was at Max's other end, trying to stop the bleeding. They had hung a few units of Max's own blood that her other physician had suggested they store, but it wasn't going to be enough to replenish all the blood she was losing. Their plan was to get her heart going again and then get her into surgery to stop the bleeding.
Logan nodded dimly and inched closer to Max's ear, bringing his lips close. "Max!" he hissed in her ear, his voice choked by tears and fear at the thought of losing her. He spoke her name over and over, a litany, a prayer, to get her to wake up. Sharply, he clapped his hands close to her ear to wake her. No dice. "Dammit!" he growled. He looked up at the doctor, who was still performing CPR. She nodded in encouragement before returning her attention to the task at hand.
Once again, Logan tried to rouse his wife. "Listen to me, Max Cale! Wake up! Please wake up, sweetheart!" Desperation filled his chest and despair filled his soul. He couldn't lose her. Not again. He had to get her back. "You can't leave Max. Do you hear me? We have a baby girl who needs her momma and I'm not going to let this take her mother away. You need to fight honey. Fight harder than you ever have before."
"Clear!" a nurse yelled, and everyone stepped back as the doctor zapped Max's heart with 300 joules.
"Another amp of epi, push it, and charge again," she ordered.
"Continuing CPR," the nurse declared, resuming compressions on Max's chest.
"How're we doing?" the doctor asked her colleague.
"We need to get her stable and in the O.R. ASAP to get the bleeding under control," the other doctor said.
"Time down?" a nurse asked.
"Five and a half minutes," another replied.
"Push the epi, and zap her again," the doctor ordered.
"Fight Max," Logan murmured repeatedly, in a litany, "Fight."
"Charging."
"Fight."
"Clear!"
"Fight!" Logan yelled, almost as a military order. The tears streamed down his face as he watched his wife's body leap off the table as electricity coursed through her body.
Everyone in the room held their breaths waiting for something to happen, their eyes glued to the cardiac monitor. Hours seemed to pass as they waited.
"Please, please, please, please, please," Logan whispered, looking at Max's face. She looked like she was only sleeping. "Come back."
"Come on back," the doctor said. "Come on dammit."
"Max!" Logan yelled.
*BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!* The heart monitor sprang to life. And so did Max.
"We've got a heartbeat," a nurse announced. "Resps are good."
"Okay, let's get her to the OR," the doctor said. She walked over to Logan. "Mr. Cale, your wife needs immediate surgery to keep her from bleeding to death. We need you to consent to the surgery." She took a breath, "Also, please be aware that your wife's condition is serious. If we can't stop her uterus from hemorrhaging, we may need to perform a radical hysterectomy."
Logan felt numb, "I-I need to consent to that too?"
The doctor nodded.
Logan looked to his wife, who was now swaddled in blankets, the sides of her bed up, the nurses waiting to transport her. He knew how devastating this kind of operation was to women. His mother had had one and it had left her depressed for weeks. He knew how important having all their reproductive organs was to women, and he didn't want to be the one responsible for his wife having to lose something that innately important. However, by the same token, he didn't want her to die. Trying to make the decision he thought Max would make were she able to, Logan looked squarely at the doctor and said, "Do what you can to stop the bleeding. Make the hysterectomy your final option. Your last resort. My wife has some medical training, so I'm sure she understands the risks."
The doctor nodded and Max was rolled out of the room. Logan jogged along as far as he could, looking down at his wife, praying she would be all right. "Just a little bit more. Hang on just a little longer sweetheart," he whispered. He watched her be rolled into the operating room and he felt the tears stream down his face.
He didn't know how long he had been standing there. It felt like hours. He was overwhelmed. His wife was in there, fighting for life. His baby was presumably in the nursery. And he could do nothing. He, for the umpteenth time throughout the entire pregnancy, felt helpless. Max was the one who had to do all the work, and he could no nothing but wait. Again.
Suddenly, he felt a gentle hand rest on his shoulder. He turned and found himself looking at Tinga. Her eyes shone with tears, reflecting her own understanding. She truly did understand the pain of childbirth, more so then perhaps many of the others. Although her baby had not survived, she knew the turmoil Logan was feeling. Without speaking, she wrapped her arms around him and held him. His body felt stiff and rigid at first, but she continued to hold on fiercely, hoping she could give him some of the strength he needed. Finally, she felt Logan's body relax. He wrapped his arms around her and let her hold him, comfort him, be a sister to him. She led him to a couch and held him again, rocking him as a mother would. Her siblings looked on in quiet respect.
Logan did not sob. Instead, he wept quietly. Tinga smoothed his hair. Eventually, she persuaded him to take a catnap.
"I want to go see the baby. I need to hold her," he protested.
"I know," Tinga said softly. "But rest a little first." Nodding dimly, Logan swung his long legs over the end of the couch and lay on his back, his head in his sister-in-law's lap. Reluctantly, he shut his eyes and was instantly claimed by sleep.
Tinga stared down at him for a while, before returning her attention to her siblings. Zane and Johnny were, true to form, playing cards. Even back at Manticore, if things had been rough, those two had always come up with a game to keep themselves occupied. Tinga wondered if Johnny was going to try to talk to the Blue Lady later to make sure she'd protect Max. She wondered if she should do it herself. Krit had fallen asleep himself, and was pillowed on Syl's shoulder. Her sister smoothed their brother's hair absently, obviously lost in her own thoughts. Jace was at a payphone, undoubtedly calling home to check on her son. Brin was sitting with Zack, obviously trying to be a support for him, but their big brother was a stubborn SOB. Zack was obviously distraught over his baby sister's condition. They all knew his love for Maxie went beyond brotherly love, but they also knew that Zack had accepted his place in Max's life-and Logan's-long ago. Tinga managed to catch his gaze and mouthed, "It'll be okay." She could see in Zack's eyes that he wanted to believe her. He held her gaze for a few more moments before returning his to the bizarrely patterned carpet.
Tinga noticed that Original Cindy was also on the phone, most likely talking to Kendra. The normally stoic, hard-assed black woman was looking downright distraught herself and Tinga smiled warmly at her when their gazes briefly met. Cindy nodded in appreciation and understanding before returning her full attention to her conversation.
"You're a lucky woman, Maxie," Tinga thought to herself as she gently eased Logan's head out of her lap and set it down on the couch as she rose. She found herself walking towards the nursery, and didn't realize that was her destination until she found herself staring at the infant whose nameplate read "Baby Girl Cale." Tinga made a mental note to remind Logan that his first order of business should be to update the nursing staff on his daughter's name. Then she felt a large hand on her shoulder.
"Here," Bling said, handing her a cup of coffee. "It's still fresh. Brewed last month with Seattle's finest horse piss."
Tinga smiled gratefully and sipped the noxiously strong and bitter liquid, letting the heat of it burn her throat in a perversely soothing manner. She looked up and Bling, then back to her niece. "She's gonna be okay right?"
"Yeah," Bling answered. "You're sister's a strong woman. She's gonna be fine."
"Right," Tinga answered softly, still watching her niece yawn and squirm slightly in her sleep. "Fine.
Just then, a surgical nurse burst through the OR doors. Bling was at Logan's side in a flash, waking him, as Max's siblings jumped to their feet. They watched as the nurse walked up to Logan, who was rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
"What's wrong?" he asked, his concern thick in his voice.
"Your wife has lost a lot of blood," the nurse began.
Panic overwhelmed Logan and he sank back into the couch. Bling stood at his side, his hand on Logan's shoulder, while Original Cindy, who had hurriedly hung up with Kendra, sat beside him. Tinga, for her part, remained near the nursery, listening to the nurse's words thanks to her supped-up hearing.
"Is my wife going to die?" Logan asked brokenly.
The nurse simply said, with practiced professional concern and sympathy. "The doctors think they are going to be able to stop the internal bleeding and there's a chance they might be able to avoid hysterectomy. But the more immediate concern is replacing all the blood your wife lost." The nurse looked to the assembled, who she was informed were the patient's siblings, most of them, and continued. "Your wife's Ob/Gyn has talked with a hematologist, and given your wife's recent, and long standing medical history, they want type-specific blood that is a genetic match."
"They want our blood," Krit murmured. For a moment, each of the X-5s was transported back to Manticore, where they had been experimented on as children. Each briefly remembered the horror and fought the fire of the memories that threatened to suck them back in.
"Then we'll do it," Zack said firmly, ever the CO. He was grateful Logan had found doctors for Max who believed the cover story, and with some well-placed donations to the hospital, did not do invasive digging into Max's genetics and blood work. Such experimentation would be dangerous to them all, even in this time of national recovery that was finally Lydecker-free. Zack made a mental note to break into the hospital and yank Max's file after she recovered and was sent home.
"Two units each should be sufficient," the nurse said with a smile, interpreting their looks of dread as a fear of needles. Mentally, she was wondering how people of such varied ethnicity could all be genetic matches for the patient and each other. If she hadn't known of the match, she would have thought them all adopted. "This way." With that, she turned and led them off to the blood bank, where she was under specific orders to get the blood drawn, and get it back to the OR, without screening. The doctor said the patient's siblings had already been screened.
"Thank you," Logan murmured sincerely to his brothers and sisters-in-law, as they filed behind the nurse, trying their hardest not to feel as though they were lambs being led to the slaughter, as they were so used to. He watched them depart and noticed how Zack gently touched Tinga's elbow and led her away from the nursery glass. Logan then began to fully realize how much this must have been affecting Tinga, given her history. He admired her strength and courage. Especially since he found himself considerably lacking those traits at the moment.
"She's gonna be fine boo," Original Cindy said gently. "You heard the woman."
Logan nodded, feeling as though his head was attached to a rubber band that was about to snap. He looked from his wife's friend to his best friend and said, "I want to see my daughter." They nodded and offered to walk him down to the nursery. He declined, knowing he needed to gain some strength on his own, and not leach it from his friends and family. Slowly, he made his way toward the nursery. "I've got to tell them her name," he thought, as he saw the sign on the side of his daughter's cradle that read "Baby Girl Cale." He tapped on the window and the nurse who had taken his daughter when Max had arrested saw him. She indicated that he come inside.
Logan anxiously gowned up, per the nurse's orders. Since Jacquie was a premature newborn, they were giving her oxygen, monitoring her levels and lung capacity, and trying to keep her as germ-free as possible. Her father, on the other hand, probably could have used some oxygen himself. He was a wreck. He was anxious and excited to see and hold his new baby daughter, and yet at the same time he felt immense pain, heartache, worry, and guilt. Max should have been sharing this moment with him. Instead, she was fighting for her life, a few hundred yards away on an operating table.
Ushered in by the nurse, Logan slowly made his way towards Jacqueline's plastic bassinet. Before looking at her, he turned to the nurse. In a voice that was strong and quiet, he said, "My daughter's name is Jacqueline Eva Gabrielle Cale."
The nurse smiled kindly, "One of your sister-in-laws told me. I just wanted to double check with you." She touched his arm gently. "I'll change it right away. Don't worry about picking her up." She leaned into the cradle and removed the baby's oxygen tube from her nose. "Her levels are fine, and her lungs seem fully developed. Your baby, despite coming early, is in perfect health."
Logan smiled gratefully and watched the nurse move away to attend to the other babies. Finally, he let himself get a good look at his daughter. She was sleeping. She was clean. She was perfect. She had Max's coloring, and, from what he had briefly seen, his wife's raven colored hair that he was sure would be as thick and luxurious as Max's as Jacquie aged. However, Logan could see in his daughter's face the Cale family features. Truthfully, he hoped she had inherited more of Max's family traits (sans the genetic defects and Max's cat-like need for very little sleep). He was even willing to have a daughter with Zack's pig-headedness. Maybe she had even inherited some of the traits his mother had passed onto him. One thing he did not want his child to be was a Cale in anything but name.
Gingerly reaching into the bassinet, Logan lifted his daughter into his arms, amazed my how feather-light and delicate she was. She was warm, and he could feel her tiny body breathe as he held her close to his chest. He walked across the room and sat them in a rocking chair. Breathing in her unique baby scent, Logan closed his eyes and smiled. Peering down at his daughter, Logan whispered, "Hey baby girl. Welcome to the world. I wish your mommy could be here right now, but the doctors are fixing her up. She went through a lot to make sure you got here healthy and I know she's not going to go anywhere until long after she sees what a great job she did keeping you safe and warm." He struggled to keep his voice from breaking. "We both love you very much. I can't believe we made you. You're so perfect."
Just then, Jacquie woke up. But, rather than crying, she stared right at Logan, as though she recognized him as her father. He was shocked to find himself staring back into reflections of his own clear blue eyes. He remembered Max saying how much she wished their baby would have his eyes. She loved his eyes. "I can't wait till your momma can see you," Logan whispered to his baby, who had fallen back asleep. He closed his eyes and rocked them both.
Max's eyes were closed too. She was on the table in the operating room down the hall from where he husband and daughter were, bonding together, her daughter sleeping contentedly in her husband's arms, her husband taking what solace he could from the presence of his new born baby girl, while down the hall his wife was being operated on. She was intubated, with a machine breathing for her, heavily anesthetized, her skin pale and ashen. Above her, a team of doctors and nurses worked tirelessly to stop her internal bleeding. They were closely monitoring her vital signs, for fear of her flatling again. Several times during the surgery, her blood pressure had fluctuated dangerously and they had hooked her up to a heart/lung by pass to take the stress of her heart.
Finally, the doctors were able to stop the bleeding. With a sigh of relief, they began stitching her up, glad they had not been forced to perform the radical hysterectomy. One of the doctors ordered a few units of her sibling's blood transfused before they took her off by-pass. Two units were hung, and half an hour later, she was taken off the machine. She was wheeled into the recovery room, where they decided to take her off the ventilator to see if she could breathe on her own. She could and she did. Hanging another unit of blood, the nurses and orderlies wheeled Max back into her room.
She was wheeled past her siblings, who had stood, watching her with concern on their faces. Logan had seen her be wheeled past also, and he ran out of the nursery, in his haste forgetting to put Jacquie back in her bassinet. A nurse ran after him and kindly took the baby. Max's family was informed that the surgery had gone well, that her uterus had been left in her body, that all they could do now was wait and see if the transfusions helped. They were informed that she was sleeping now, and that it would be best of they went home to rest. They all refused, and told Logan to go in and sit with her. He did. He held her hand and smoothed her hair and watched as unit after unit of her siblings' blood was transfused into her. He talked to her and kissed her forehead.
And Max dreamed...