When Elisa finally woke up, she blinked at the small amount of sunlight that was managing to get through the drawn blinds.
She went to raise a hand to her eyes to shield them, only to flinch at the unfamiliar pull in her midsection that the action caused. She wasn't in pain, but it felt like someone was sitting on her belly…
Elisa's eyes flew open, and she ran her hands over her abdomen.
The baby! Was the baby alright?
She looked around, but realized that she was alone in the room. She reached out and frantically pressed the nurse call button that was standard issue on every hospital type of bed.
"How's my favorite patient?" Doctor James' voice called from the door.
"The baby," Elisa breathed out in her panic.
"She's fine," Doctor James said, approaching the bed. He pressed the button that would slowly raise the bed into a more reclining position rather than being flat. "For being a full month early, as we saw on the ultrasounds, she's big, her lungs are fully developed and she's strong. We've already learned to keep an eye on that tail when she's really upset."
"It should be registered as a weapon," Margaret said, carrying the baby into the room. "Sorry, I would have been here earlier, but I had to wrestle this little girl away from her grandparents."
Elisa anxiously held out her arms. She knew she was being ridiculous, but she needed to hold the baby and see for herself that she was going to be okay.
Margaret didn't argue, and carefully laid the baby in the waiting arms of her mother.
Elisa laid the baby on the bed beside her, and opened the blanket. She was certain that every mother, from the beginning of time, had done something similar. Her daughter may have her coloring and a more "human" face, but everything else was pure gargoyle. Four small taloned fingers on each hand. Three large taloned toes on each foot, with the high arch and single spur on the backs.
Elisa gently lifted the baby, despite the twinge from what she finally remembered was the incision site from the C-section. She laid the baby girl on her own chest, and marveled at the small, delicate wings and small tail that poked out from a diaper that had a hole cut out of the back.
Finally, she felt like she could breathe.
Elisa let out a sigh, and reclined back on the bed, baby still held firmly to her chest.
"Thank you," She said to the two of them. "Thank Kiersten, too."
"Oh, we will," Margaret sent her an evil grin. "As soon as she wakes up herself."
Elisa frowned. "What?"
"Turns out that Kiersten was in labor while we were delivering your baby," Margaret grinned. "So, your baby and the doc's son," she jerked her thumb over her shoulder to the doctor, "Share a birthday."
Elisa chuckled. "Congrats, doc."
Doctor Bradley James, medical professional and army medic bad-ass, blushed like a school boy.
"Thanks," He chuckled.
"Wait," Elisa said, shaking her head. "She was in labor and no one knew?"
"She didn't want to take our attention from you," Doctor James said. "As soon as you were finished being stitched up, she admitted that her water had broken and she was in labor."
"And young Carter Bradley James was born two hours later," Margaret said with a grin.
Elisa cringed. "Ouch."
"Tell me about it," Margaret said in sympathy. "Didn't even have time to give her an epidural."
"She's a strong woman," Elisa said in awe.
"Yup," Margaret said, lifting the blanket to cover both mother and child. "I want to be her when I grow up."