"Oh dear god," Hodson gasps.
She and Abe race to Maggie's side trying to avoid stepping on blood or broken stoneware. Maggie lets out a whimpering moan as another contraction takes hold of her body. The doctor snaps open her medical bag and gets out her stethoscope while Abe takes his gloves off. They both vie for a position on Maggie's belly for a moment before the both find suitable spots to work.
"She's in pre-term labor," Abe states.
"The babies are showing signs of distress as well," Hodson announces as she pulls her stethoscope out her ears and wraps it around her neck.
"I can calm the babies," Abe informs her. "But you'll need to stop the labor."
"We need to get her off of this floor first," Hodson instructs.
"There's a bed in her old bedroom upstairs," Guillermo tells them.
"We'll get something to cover the bed," Mrs. Cavendish states as she grabs Sharon's arm and drags the younger woman out of the room.
Ron hands Vicki to Guillermo before he enters the kitchen and kneels down next to Maggie, lightly touching her arm.
"Maggie, it's Ron," he calls softly and a moment later she turns pain and fear filled eyes towards him. "We need to get you off of the floor. I'm going to pick you up. You're bleeding so this might hurt. Are you ready?"
She nods and wraps her arms around his neck as best she can. He gently lifts her into his arms and she gives out an involuntary cry of pain. Very carefully, he carries the scared, bloodied woman across the house and up the stairs. Once he's there, he's not sure where to go until he hears voices coming from one of the rooms. He steps in to find that a queen sized bed been covered with several towels over the bedding and his wife and her grandmother hurrying around the room trying to find more things to cover the bed in. He gently lays Maggie down and backs off as Abe and Hodson go back to work on her.
Ron quietly shepherds Sharon and her grandmother out the door and back down the stairs. They then follow the sounds coming from the parlor and find Guillermo starting a fire in the fireplace as Vicki toddles around the room trying to catch dust motes that are floating through the weak morning sunlight.
"Thought I'd try to warm the place up a bit," Guillermo states without looking up from his work. "I checked the furnace and the pilot light hasn't been lit. This room is directly under Maggie's so in time it will heat the room above us. Ron, I'm sure the doctor will want her things. Would you please be so kind as to bring them in?"
"Sure," Ron responds and he heads back out the door.
With some effort, Guillermo stands back up after sliding the fire shield back in place and he turns to look at the other people in the room. Sharon has picked Vicki up and is holding the small child close to her. Both of the women look white as a sheet as they nervously pace around the empty room, kicking up more dust as they go.
Deciding that it's better to just keep busy instead of pacing, he leaves the room and passes Ron as the taller man carries the first box of medical supplies up the stairs. Guillermo ends up in the kitchen and starts puttering around looking for things to do.
The first order of business is to get the mess on the floor cleaned up. Guillermo finds a roll of paper towels, a garbage can and a bottle of cleaner and then gingerly gets down on his knees. The shards of stoneware are carefully cleaned up followed by the scrubbing of the tiled floor. After putting some serious effort into it, the last of the blood is finally cleaned up.
Just as the last used paper towel makes its way into the garbage, Dr. Hodson comes downstairs. Guillermo painfully gets off of the floor and then joins her in the parlor with the others. Ron is leaning against the wall near one of the windows watching the world outside, Sharon and her grandmother have paced patterns in the dust covered floor and Vicki is happily creating little dust devils. The only one missing is Abe.
"I've managed to stop her labor again," Hodson sighs. "She's resting now and Abe's up there keeping an eye on things. We've also patched up her wounds. Fortunately, none of them were very deep, but there are a lot of them. I'm putting her on permanent bed rest until the babies are born in a couple of months, so there's no way she's getting on any plane any time soon. If you want to return home or stay in a hotel or something, please do so, but I'm staying here."
"If you think for one moment that I'm just going to abandon my granddaughter here, you are out of your cotton picking mind, young lady," Cavendish states haughtily.
Dr. Hobson stands there and blinks at the older woman in a state of shock. Guillermo sighs and takes pity on the poor woman, knowing that she has no clue to what the Air Mage is capable of.
"The doctor is right," Guillermo interjects, earning him a glare from the old bat. "Maybe we should find a hotel to stay in for a while. After all, there's only one bed in the house and Maggie's in it."
"That can easily be fixed," Cavendish huffs. "We'll simply buy the furniture we need."
"I don't think that will be necessary," Hodson replies. "Dr. Manning told me that Maggie hired a moving company to move all of her furniture that's been in storage and is having it shipped here. It should be here in a few days."
"And how is that going to do us any good right now?" Cavendish snidely asks. "A few more furnished rooms won't hurt. Now I wish to see my granddaughter, if you don't mind."
"Actually, I do mind," Hodson replies. "She's sleeping right now and I don't want anyone disturbing her."
"Yet you let that husband of hers be up there with her," Cavendish snarls, grinding out the word 'husband' between her teeth. "Would you mind explaining that?"
"I already did," Hodson points out. "He's monitoring Maggie and the babies since I don't have the equipment to do it. Once she's feeling up to visitors, you will be first on the list. That's of course provided that she wants to see you. I don't want any one or any thing upsetting her. Do I make myself perfectly clear?"
She casts a steely gaze around the room with a penetrating stare until she agreements from everyone except Vicki. She's off chasing dust motes again. With a huff, Cavendish gives a jerk of the head to Sharon before she marches out of the door. Sharon goes and gives a quick kiss to her husband, gets the keys to the car with the car seat in it from him, picks up Vicki and then follows her grandmother out the door. Once they hear the car engine start and the crunch of the tires pulling away, the remaining few let out a breath they didn't realize they were holding.
"Dear god, but that woman's a pain in the ass," Hodson mutters.
"Tell me about it," Ron and Guillermo answer in unison.
"What are we going to do about the heat?" Hodson asks, chuckling quietly with the two men.
"I'll contact PG&E about coming out and lighting the pilot light," Guillermo offers. "They're office isn't open yet, so for now I think we can keep warm by trying to get this place a little cleaned up."
"Where do we start?" Ron asks as he pushes himself off of the wall.
"I think the bathrooms and bedrooms should be our first priority," Hodson states. "We'll need those first. Maggie's room and the adjoining bathroom looked fine when I was up there, so we can skip those."
"And I just finished cleaning up the mess in the kitchen," Guillermo adds. "I saw some more cleaning supplies in there, too. Who wants to do what and what should we do first?"
"Let's get the bathrooms done before we start on the bedrooms," Hodson suggests. "After that, I think it might be a good idea to make a shopping list and go to the grocery store. I sincerely doubt that Maggie planned on having company any time soon. And while I like take out as much as the next person, it's not good for any of us to do it too often."
"Sounds good to me," Ron replies with a shrug.
Before they can get to work though, they hear a car drive up to the front of the house. Ron answers the front door shortly after they hear the knock. Standing there is a strange man in a blue jacket over a blue button up shirt with PG&E sown over the breast and he's holding a clipboard in his hand.
"Hi, I'm here to light the pilot light for the furnace," the new comer states.
"Yes, of course," Guillermo happily replies. "Please follow me."
A short time later the pilot light is lit but they're warned not to use the furnace until they get the ducts cleaned. They're also reminded that they should have the flues looked to before they light any more fires in any of the other fireplaces. Guillermo gets started on making those calls while Ron and Hodson start cleaning. A few hours later, the front door opens and Sharon and Mrs. Cavendish come in carrying several bags each with Vicki in the lead.
"Well, we've got four beds ordered and they should be delivered this afternoon," Sharon announces as Vicki toddles up to her father and he picks her up. "There's bedding and stuff in the trunk of the car that still needs to be brought in and we also brought lunch."
"Wonderful," Ron gratefully rumbles just before he soundly kisses his wife. "I'm starved."
"And you're dirty," Sharon states in surprise. "What have you been doing? And why is there blood on your neck?"
"We've been cleaning," Ron tells her. "The blood's probably Maggie's. Now which of these bags is the food?"
Sharon separates the food bags from the rest and they head off to the kitchen. Once everyone is eating, they fill each other in on what's been accomplished. Not only are beds on their way, but night stands, a dining room table with chairs, lamps and an entire living room set has been ordered, but only the beds will be delivered today. A company that cleans air ducts is scheduled to arrive the next morning and a chimney sweep the day after that. They're just finishing their meals when a scream pierces the air that's so loud it shakes the windows.
"Maggie's awake," Guillermo observes as the doctor tears out of the room. "And she doesn't sound too happy."