Chapter 4 Time Stop or Past by So Fast

Samuel had stopped by to visit Felina during lunch, as he did almost every day. And, as usual, he found her working in Lance's Vegetable garden tending to the tomatoes and cucumbers. She was nine months pregnant then and having a hard time getting around. The June heat also added significantly to her discomfort.

I feel like a Snorlax, she thought as she tried to reach around her belly to get to a tomato hidden on one of the back vines.

But Samuel had a different opinion as he watched her.

She's so beautiful.

"You're a song

Written by the hands of god

Don't get me wrong cause

This might sound to you a bit odd

But you own the place

Where all my thoughts go hiding

And right under your clothes

Is where I find them

Underneath Your Clothes

There's an endless story

There's the man I chose

There's my territory

And all the things I deserve

For being such a good girl honey

Because of you

I forgot the smart ways to lie

Because of you

I'm running out of reasons to cry

When the friends are gone

When the party's over

We will still belong to each other

Underneath Your Clothes

There's an endless story

There's the man I chose

There's my territory

And all the things I deserve

For being such a good girl honey"

She was humming a little tune to herself, as she often did when she was enjoying something. Suddenly, she stopped humming and grimaced as she laid a hand on her rounded abdomen.

Samuel quickly hopped off his bike and ran to her side. "What's wrong, Felina? Are you all right?"

"I'm fine, Samuel," she smiled. "The baby just kicked." She laid his hand on top of her belly where she had felt the baby squirming. The baby kicked again, harder this time. "There."

He grinned. "Feels like he's ready to come out, doesn't he?" Their child was due in a week.

"I'll be glad when he does. This heat is killing me," Felina said as she fanned herself with the broad brim of her hat.

"You don't need to be outside in this," he said as he led her back inside the house. "Have you thought about my offer some more?"

"Yes, and I'm not going to move in with you again," she said as she sat down at the kitchen table.

"But why not, Felina?" he said as he poured her a glass of lemonade. "I'm worried about you being alone in this house, especially with the baby due in just a few days." ( Lance was away on a Pokemon adventure, Miranda and their son Steven I mean Lance and Miranda's son. were visiting her parents. )

"Samuel, you worry too much. I've told you that I'll call if anything happens. And you do have your pager on, don't you?"

He lifted his lab coat. "I even sleep with it on."

Felina winced again. "My back's killing me. It's getting harder and harder to work, as big as I am."

Samuel smiled as he ran his hands down her curvaceous body. "I like how you look. Very voluptuous."

Felina rolled her eyes and rubbed her aching back. "I think I'm going to go lie down for a while."

"Do you want me to lie down with you?" he said hopefully as he helped her to her feet.

"Samuel, you know that making love can bring on labor."

"But I thought you wanted the baby to come out."

"Nice try, Samuel, but if Lance finds out that you were trying to bring me in labor he would kill you. And I don't want to have the baby on my birthday," she said with a smile as she pushed him out the door. "I'll be fine. I'll call you if anything happens."

He didn't have to wait long. Later that evening, ( around 11:39 pm. ) the harsh ringing of the telephone jarred him out of a sound sleep.

"Hello?" he murmured, half-asleep.

"Samuel?" It was Felina. "I think the baby's coming. My back's been hurting all night and now the pain's getting really bad."

Oh my God!

The shock of what she had just said snapped him fully awake, and the resulting adrenaline rush caused him to jump straight out of bed.

"Felina, I'll be right there! Just hold on!" he shouted into the receiver, then quickly slammed it down. He had no time to lose in getting over there. The baby was coming! Wait, he had to get dressed first! Even though it was a warm evening, he couldn't show up at her house, much less the hospital, in just a pair of boxer shorts. He quickly pulled on a pair of pants and shirt and bolted down the stairs, nearly falling down the last three ones in his haste to get to her brother's house. He rushed outside to his car and tried to open the door.

"Why won't this stupid door open?" he cursed. He then realized he was trying to open the car door with his house keys. He quickly found the right key and yanked open the door.

Unfortunately, he opened the door so fast that it shot back and hit him square in the left eye. Shouting expletives, he dropped the keys on the ground and ended up wasting several seconds hunting for them in the dark. After locating them, he jumped into the driver's seat, threw the car into reverse, and backed into the tree next to the driveway, crushing the right taillight.

By the time he reached Lance's house (which was only three minutes away), his eye was rapidly swelling and turning black and blue.

"Samuel, what in the world happened to your eye?" she exclaimed as she answered the door.

"Never mind that," he gasped, "are you all right?"

"My water just broke a couple of minutes ago and I've been trying to get..."

"Don't worry about that!" he shouted as he grabbed her arm and dragged her to the car. "We've got to get you to the hospital now!"

"Samuel, what happened to your car? It didn't have a broken tail light yesterday."

"Get in! No time for that now!" He had opened the car door and was trying to shove her into the passenger seat.

She turned around to face him. "I'll go with you if you promise me two things. One, that you won't get us killed on the way to the hospital, and two, that you'll have that eye looked at when we get there. People are going to think that I hit you on the way over."

-

"We make it here under seven minutes, see I told you, I'd get you here in."

"Yes Samuel, The hard part is truly over."

Once at the hospital, Felina was whisked away to the birthing rooms. Samuel Oak refused treatment for his eye (which by now was purple and nearly swollen shut), Professor Oak stopped at the nurses' station to find which room she was in.

"Excuse me," he asked the nurse, "which room is Felina Ivy in?"

"Fill these out," the nurse responded without even looking up from her computer. She handed him a huge stack of insurance forms.

He didn't have time for that! His son was about to be born!

He repeated his question, and this time the nurse looked up from her computer. "Oh, Professor Oak!" she smiled. "What are you doing here? And what happened to your eye?"

"Lance Stone asked me to look in on his little sister Felina while he was away on his Pokémon journey." A lie, but one he had been using for months to throw off suspicion about the baby's true paternity. "Which room is she in?"

"Room 2," she said as he started down the hall. "Hey, wait! You can't go in there!" He froze in his tracks. "Why not?"

"Hospital rules state that only the baby's father, relatives, or the mother's labor coach are allowed in rooms during delivery."

But I'm the baby's father!

"I'm the baby's father!" he shouted out loud to her not noting what he just said. About being the baby's father.

The nurse gave him a funny look.

"I mean... I'm Professor Felina Ivy's Labor coach."

But final the nurse gave him a look that clearly said that she didn't believe a word he was saying, but she decided to give him a break. After all, the poor man had somehow ended up with a black eye trying to get over here.

"All right, go on then."

He was already opening the door to Felina's room by the time the nurse had finished speaking.

The obstetrician looked up from the foot of Felina's bed.

"Hello, Professor Oak," she smiled in recognition. "What are you doing here? I thought Pokémon babies were your specialty, not human ones. And what happened to your eye?"

He wished people would stop asking him about his eye.

"I'm the baby's father... I mean Professor Ivy's labor coach!"

Felina looked at him like what did he just said, because it was supposed to be a secret. Oh my, I can't believe he just said that, he going to get…

The doctor gave him the same look that the nurse had given him moments earlier.

"Would you like to cut the umbilical cord when the baby arrives, Professor?" The obstetrician waved a pair of scissors in his direction.

"Uh, no, that's all right," he said anxiously. Things certainly had changed a lot in the past forty years.

"Oh... here comes another one," moaned Felina. Samuel rushed to her side and took her hand.

"I'm here, Feli... Professor Ivy."

Her face contorted in pain as the next contraction started. They were coming faster and faster now.

"Breathe," said the nurse standing behind him.

Huh? He was breathing. What was the nurse talking about?

"Tell her to breathe," the nurse ordered. "You're her labor coach, tell her to do her breathing exercises."

Professor Oak panicked. What in the world had he done? He didn't know the first thing about being a labor coach. Matter of fact, he had never actually been in a delivery room before. And Pokémon didn't usually have difficult labors; most of them were hatched from eggs, so there was really nothing for him to go on there.

The pain of her crushing his hand brought him back to his senses.

"Please give me something for the pain...anything," she moaned as the contraction subsided.

"Sorry, Professor Ivy, you're too far along for that now. It won't do any good," said the obstetrician briskly as she readied the delivery instruments. "But we're now to the point where if you give me a couple of good pushes when the next contraction starts, this baby will be here shortly."

The doctor stationed herself at the foot of the bed. "All right, Professor Ivy. I want you to push as hard as you can. Let's see if we can get this baby out here."

"Did you hear that, Felina?" Samuel said excitedly. "The baby's almost here!"

Felina smiled weakly at him. Then her face contorted again and she gripped his hand.

"Okay, Professor Ivy...push!" ordered the doctor.

Felina sat up and pushed as hard as she could. Sweat rolled down her forehead and into her eyes.

"Great, Professor Ivy! Here's the baby's head! Looks like he or she has your dark hair Professor Oak!"

"Did you hear that?" Samuel told Felina excitedly as he tried to peer around the bed to see what the baby looked like.

"Okay, one more big push and we'll see if you have either a son or a daughter," said the doctor brightly.

Samuel looked at her like why are you saying it's going to be a Boy or Girl We are have a little boy named Brandon Elyison OakIvy.

"I can't...I'm so tired," Felina gasped. She couldn't take any more of the pain.

"Please, one more push, Felina," Samuel urged her. "I'll be right here to help you."

She looked into his eyes and pushed as hard as she could. As she started to push again she hit Samuel, in the same place where his eye was hurt.

"Oh my Samuel! Are you all right?" Felina said looked down at him.

As he felt to the floor Felina stop pushing, she looked down on the floor to see if he was oh okay. Samuel was fine, but his eye was a total different story.

"I'm fine just continued, to push." Samuel told her as he got back on his feet.

"One more push, Professor Ivy," the doctor coaxed. Felina willingly obeyed.

"Congratulations, Professor Oak and Professor Ivy. It's a Girl!" The doctor held up the crying, squirming baby.

All three of them - the baby, her mother, and her father - were crying.

At the first glimpse of his daughter, Professor Oak screwed up his face. "Is she supposed to look like that, all red and wrinkled?"

Felina giggled tiredly. "Samuel, that's exactly how all babies look when they are born." She fixed her eyes on her newborn daughter. "Isn't she beautiful?"

"I think you'll see a difference when we get her cleaned up, Professor," the nurse said as she took the baby.

Samuel then realized that he probably should say something nice to atone for his previous comment on the baby's appearance. "Well, it looks like Friday the twenty-nine is our lucky day, after all."

"Actually," Felina nodded her head in the direction of the clock on the wall, which read six minutes after midnight. "I guess it a happy birthday to me."

We have a daughter, Felina put her left hand on her neck, she noticed that their baby daughter had the same mark on her neck was the same, but Felina had the mark on her left arm and Samuel had it on his right arm. She not evil, she a Charmed One like me. ( Of course Samuel was a Charmed One, Samuel was Felina's Whitelighter but he never toll her that. So if you think about it their daughter is both Witch and Whitelighter. She a Whitelighter-Witch. )

-

After everyone had left, Felina lay in bed and watched as Samuel fussed over their daughter. He was clearly smitten.

"The chin and mouth are yours, Felina, but the hair is definitely mine. And the eyes, hmm...I think they look like mine, too. Speaking of which," Samuel gently laid the baby in her bassinette and replaced the ice pack on his injured eye.

Felina giggled weakly. "I wonder what everyone at the lab is going to say about your shiner?"

"I'll tell everyone that I got in the way of Primeape's fists. Which reminds me." He looked out the window and saw the sun coming up over the horizon. "I'm going to have to go back soon." ( Samuel and Felina's daughter was born on 12:07 am. )

He sat down on the edge of her bed and kissed her. "I know we discussed names, but is there one that you think best suits her?"

Felina leaned over and gently stroked the baby's cheek. "Yes. I know the perfect name for her."

"What?"

"Will your nickname in high school was Sammy right?"

"No! We are not naming our daughter... Sammy IvyOak."

"What? What is wrong with the name Sammy? It your nickname Samuel!"

"Maybe the name April, but not Sammy!"

"April?" Felina looked at him like he was crazy or something.

"Oh Okay maybe not April but what about Sam...mie...Sasami."

"Sasami...?"

"No..." He started to talk but Felina cut him out.

"Sasami IvyOak That would be the perfect name for her. But she needs a middle name?"

"Well... What about your middle name after all if she was a boy, she would have my middle name. So how about it? Oh come to think of it I don't even know your middle name."

"My middle name..." she said confused like her middle name was bad or something. ( Even though Lance had given Felina her middle name, and her father had given Felina first name. )

"Yes, Felina... Ivy your middle name." he look at her scared to says what her middle name is.

"It... Ser..eni..ty..." she said look away from his eyes.

"Serenity? Your middle name is Serenity, Felina Serenity Ivy."

"Yes, It Serenity! Oh okay happy now. But you are not giving your daughter that name."

"But why? Sasami Serenity IvyOak is a perfect name for our daughter." he leaned over and gently stroked his daughter's cheek.

"Oh Fine. I know you are not going to give up on naming her, Sasami Serenity IvyOak." she watched him stroking their daughter's hair. Well then she ...My little Sammy.

-

Later that evening, he watched in fascination as Felina held their sleeping daughter in her arms.

"Why don't you hold her, Samuel?" Felina held the baby out to him.

"I? Me? I don't really know...how?"

"It's very simple. All you have to do is to remember to support her head like this. Now you try it." She handed him the baby.

He awkwardly took the baby, afraid that he might drop her. He couldn't remember ever-holding Randy when he was this little. The baby opened her eyes and regarded her father for the first time. His heart melted at the sight of his daughter's big pink eyes...eyes that looked just like is own.

"See, she likes you. She very much loves her daddy," Felina said reassuringly.

He tenderly kissed the baby's forehead. "Welcome to the world, Sasami Serenity IvyOak. And Happy birthday to you and your mommy." Samuel stands there in silent for moment. ( Felina and Sasami's birthday are the same day which is June 30. )