Ch 5

This one has uh, medical stuff


The weight continued to increase. Henry had given up on limiting his almost carnal need to feed himself constantly. It was strange though that it was only his swelling belly that was getting any bigger. He hadn't started to get a double chin or arm flaps or anything yet, and it didn't seem like he would. He went on his walks in the mornings before anyone could see him, and he started to shift his sleep schedule around so that he could work in the night when no one else was around. He stayed mostly in his room for most of the day sleeping, which he suddenly needed a ton of. He allowed glimpses of his midsection to Ian, who seemed to really enjoy seeing it. He never mocked Henry or told him to lose weight, he simply accepted him and joked about their 'baby'.

Maybe when Ian came back, Henry could turn this around with Ian's support. That was the hope he held onto. Seeing Ian and touching him and pressing against him... oh. Maybe Henry would lose the weight before they did anything together. It was getting harder every day it seemed for him to catch enough breath from even the simplest of tasks. Halfway through the month, he stopped his walks because he would be winded after just a few yards. His moods fluctuated wildly and he ran more blood tests. Everything was normal, even his sugar levels. He was 'healthy', even though he didn't feel like he was. It was almost as if his insides were getting squished to make room for all the fat he was forcing into himself. His belly continued to grow, and he continued to eat.

A week before Ian came back and Henry had adapted to his new nocturnal lifestyle. It wasn't like he hadn't done similar things in the past when he had been close to a break through in his work. This time, however, it was because he couldn't stop eating and he couldn't let anyone see him. He hated himself for allowing himself to get to this stage. Then he hated himself for being so hard on himself. He cried so much. He had never cried this much his life. It was getting exhausting to just lay there and cry.

It was getting exhausting to do very much at all. His belly kept growing. He looked like he was about nine months pregnant with triplets. His belly button was sticking out. His frame was small and so his midsection seemed to be taking over everything. Maybe it was. Maybe he was killing himself with food. Maybe the unhealthy food had messed with his body enough to make his hormones go crazy, causing him to cry all the time and then wanting to break things and having to pee every five minutes.

In the last week before Ian came back, Henry ate pickles with everything. He had taken to waddling out at night to stare at the dinosaurs around, just staring at them and what they were doing, which was mostly sleeping. The Indos always came up to him and spent time with him, sniffing at him a lot for some reason. He liked to sit by the Indo paddock in the soft grass, staring off into space and trying to breathe.

As the days ticked down to Ian, Henry felt the ability to breathe at all becoming harder and harder. He didn't do much of anything and finally his appetite settled down. He craved salad and steaks, and so that was what he ate. Twice a day. Nothing else.

Just two more days. He drank about three gallons of water. The Indos seemed concerned about him, rushing up to the fence and making soft noises at him.

Just one more day. He didn't want to eat anything, and he felt terrible. His forehead was warm.

Ian was coming back tonight.

Henry was beside himself with worry. Ian was going to see how big he had really gotten and hate him and Henry would hate himself even more. He was going to run off all the weight no matter how much he couldn't breathe.

That was the thing, wasn't it? He really couldn't breathe. Each breath was painful and short, he felt like he was constantly running a marathon. Just a couple more hours. All he could do was sit.

Just one more hour. How was Ian being here going to fix anything?

Twenty minutes. How was it not going to fix everything?

Henry heard the helicopter. He waddled painfully to the front door of the research lab, having to stop more than a few times to try to get as much oxygen as he could. He lurked inside, leaning heavily on a wall as he watched the flickering lights of the helicopter land. He could just make out Ian in the darkness, rushing under the blades towards the research center where they agreed to meet.

Ian.

Henry's eyes prickled with tears. Of course Ian could help him. The older doctor was walking swiftly up to the door, through the door.

"IAN!" Henry cried, lurching away from the wall. Ian dropped his bag and caught Henry up in his arms. Henry sobbed in relief, in pain, in confusion for the three previous months. Ian just held him, murmuring sweet nothings to him.

"Henry, my love, when is the baby due?" Ian said after a moment. His light tone didn't help Henry to feel any better.

"Don't. I can't handle much right now. I feel like I'm on the precipice of something, but I don't know what." Henry paused to suck in a few breaths.

Ian's face instantly turned concerned. "Hon, what's wrong? Can you breathe?"

"NO! This food baby is taking over my whole body!" Henry growled.

"Come on, let's at least get to the bedroom," Ian said, grabbing his bag and putting his other arm around Henry to help him walk the distance. Henry sat heavily down on the bed, kicking his legs over to get into a laying position. Ian slid up next to him, cradling his midsection and nuzzling against his neck.

"I've missed you so much, love," Ian murmured.

"I've missed you too," Henry panted. His just breathe mantra had stopped working in the last week.

"Listen, we'll get you taken care of. You're going to let me take you to the human hospital and they'll fix you all up. But right now I need sleep." Ian said, nuzzling his face around to kiss Henry. The younger doctor missed the feel of his lips.

"Yeah, let's sleep," Henry agreed. He couldn't really do much of anything anyway. Everything would be fixed tomorrow.

The pain was what woke Henry. He gasped and slapped a hand to his midsection, feeling movement?! No, no, no, what? He sat up and had a moment of panic when Ian wasn't there beside him. Then he heard the sound of the shower and relaxed a little. A midnight shower. Of course.

The pain stabbed Henry right in the gut. He cried out, but Ian couldn't hear him. He started to feel woozy and light headed. Was this room always this small? He knew he couldn't breathe, but it felt like the room was squeezing down on him now. Henry got up and wobbled unsteadily. He wrapped both arms around his belly and curled over it in pain.

This was it, then. He was going to die.

Stumbling and almost falling, Henry staggered to the door. He couldn't leave his body for Ian to find. He had to go outside into the open. Was it always this hot in the research center? More stabbing pain and Henry started crying. He concentrated on his steps, holding his belly with one hand and the wall with the other. The tears made it hard to see after a second.

Burning pain. Stabbing pain. Low in his abdomen. It hurt so much, and he couldn't breathe. All of his organs were being squashed. The cool night air hit him and almost made him fall over. He let out a loud gasp in the quiet of the night, and was answered by the Indos. They made raptor-like noises in their distant paddock, and Henry had to go to them. He staggered his way up the path towards them, stopping once to vomit nothing and once to gasp for air. He wasn't going to make it.

He had to keep going, though. He felt so hot. He felt so weak. He felt like he was going to die. Keep going.

Henry tripped and fell, managing to land on his side. He sobbed, the action robbing him of what little breath he had left. A loud noise from right above him stirred him. The Indos were looking down at him, trying to reach him through the fence.

"Ladies," Henry gasped, dragging himself to the fence and pulling himself up. Stabbing pain, followed by burning. The alpha emitted raptor noises of alarm. Henry smiled sadly.

"I guess... I just had... to see you one last time," he said. He had managed to get himself to the gate, so of course he opened it and staggered inside. The alpha lowered her head as Henry fell forward. He really couldn't breathe. He was gasping for every breath.

Ian.

He had at least gotten to see Ian one last time. He felt himself being dragged along the ground. He just held on to the alpha's face as she took him somewhere. He felt himself being lowered carefully onto something soft and wet. A nice open spot in the grass. The dew was getting him wet.

Ian.

Tears welled up and rolled down his face. Henry automatically reached down to where his phone usually resided in his lab coat pocket—and found that he was wearing his lab coat. When had he put it on? He pulled out his phone and called Ian. The Indos sniffed him for a few moments and then lay down around him, watching him closely. The alpha nosed around Henry's middle, making his shirt ride up. She then very intently began to lick over the bump.

"Ian." Henry's voice came out as a croak.

"Henry, where in the fuck are you?!"

Henry smiled. "I just wanted to tell you... that I love you." It was the first and last time he would say those words.

"HENRY! WHERE ARE YOU?" Ian's voice was loud enough to catch the attention of the alpha, and she leaned her head down to peer at the tiny screen.

"The Indos?! HENRY?!"

"I can't breathe Ian. Please don't miss me. Dissect the growth at … autopsy... if you'd like." Henry's eyes closed. He was losing strength to hold up the phone.

"HENRY! STOP IT! YOU'RE NOT GOING TO DIE!" Ian screamed through the phone. "Stay there! Stay there! I'm going to... I-I don't know, but I'm going to come to you and-"

The phone slipped out of Henry's hand. He exhaled and knew no more.

It was the noises of the Indos that roused Henry. Oh, he wasn't all the way dead yet. Maybe it would be slow and painful.

"Henry, Henry, HENRY." Ian?

"Ian..."

"Oh thank fuck. Henry, I'm going to get this thing out of you right now. It's obviously not from you overeating." Ian's sentences were so nice and clear when he was concerned. Henry peeled open one eye to see both Indos and Ian looking down at him. He inhaled and coughed up blood. He could taste it.

"Shit. Fuck."

Henry heard tools being rummaged around and noticed a bright light pointed at his belly.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I couldn't find any lidocane-"

"Hmmmm..." Everything was so slow and it felt like he was moving through water even though he wasn't moving at all.

Sharp pain to his midsection.

Henry didn't even have the strength to cry out.

"Stay with me, Henry, stay with me. I'm cutting through the top layers-"

The Indos alternated between soft raptor noises and louder Rex noises. Henry looked up at the alpha, who was looking right at him. Did she look concerned? He smiled as his eyes fluttered closed. Maybe he would just go to sleep...

"Henry, PLEASE!" Was Ian crying?

"Huuuggghhh," was all Henry could manage. He looked down to see a pool of blood below his belly. Ian's gloved hands were working into it. Fascinating.

Consciousness started to fade. Just sleep. Ian gasped and Henry felt the pressure that had been building inside of him for three months leave him in an instant. It was out? He could rest now.

"Henry! Henry, it's -"

Henry inhaled fully, and exhaled fully. He stilled.

He was going to miss Ian.

Glimpses of stainless steel walls. People he didn't know. Gowned up. Doctors. One was already working on his midsection. The dream?

Darkness.

Rest.

Nothing.

He could almost feel Ian sitting next to him sometimes. He could almost feel tears falling onto his face from above. He could almost smell Ian's scent. It was infuriating because Henry wanted to touch, not almost touch. He couldn't though. He couldn't do anything. He was asleep, he was awake, was there a difference?

Time. What was time? How much had passed? Was he really dead? It felt like he could be. Sometimes he wanted to just dip into the darkness and float away, but then Ian was almost there and he changed his mind.

He had had enough. No more almosts.

Henry opened his eyes.

He was in a hospital room. The lights were dim; the window opened onto darkness. Nighttime. Henry slowly looked around, feeling like he was getting over a headache that had lasted years. Machines, curtains, two chairs.

Ian was in a chair, asleep. Henry's heart fluttered. He could breathe, too!

"I-n." It came out as a croak, but it was enough to rouse the older doctor.

"H-Henry?!" Ian was up in an instant, engulfing the smaller doctor in his arms. Henry weakly attempted to do the same. He felt wetness on his face. Ian was crying.

"Ian," Henry said, almost normally.

"Henry, my love, my little Chinese-American snacc," Ian said, touching all over Henry. The smaller doctor nuzzled against Ian, who slid up onto the hospital bed with him. They cuddled, Ian curling protectively around Henry.

"What happened?" Henry asked, looking up at the older doctor.

"What's the last thing you remember?"

Henry stopped and thought about it. What had been a dream, and what was reality? He chose the thing he felt was most likely reality.

"Operating on me..."
"Yes, after I cut out the-" Ian stopped himself. "What do you remember before that?"

Henry thought again. "Indos... blood. Dying?"

"No, you didn't die. Remember your little baby bump?" Ian asked, running a hand down the hospital blanket where Henry's torso was. Flat.

"Yes..?"

"Okay, so it doesn't seem like you have too much amnesia. Here's what happened. You went to the Indo paddock the night I got back for some godforsaken reason and almost died. The Indos didn't want me anywhere near you until you called out for me."

Henry cracked a small smile. Ian chuckled.

"Well, despite your best efforts to die, I managed to get to you in time and preform a C-Section on you. I got the baby out and called the hospital. They sent out an ambulance and got you into the operating room as fast as they could. They had to repair all the damage the baby did to your body. And uh, the big incision I made on your beautiful tummy," Ian said. Henry was silent, processing it all. Ian had saved him. He'd gotten the baby- wait, what? Baby? ...food baby?

"They put you in a coma for two weeks to allow your organs to heal. You were on a respirator until two days ago while your diaphragm healed. Your lungs had been at 15% capacity..." Ian trailed off, and Henry could hear the tears in his voice.

"Two weeks?!" No wonder he felt like absolute shit.

"Yes, the baby displaced most of your organs and it takes a while for the body to recover after something like that."

Why did Ian keep talking about a baby? It was starting to get Henry angry. Also, his organs had been displaced?! How had he not died earlier?

"What baby? What are you talking about?" Henry demanded, pushing weakly against Ian in an attempt to sit up more.

"Uh... do you want me to show you, or to explain first?"

"Explain? Explain what?" Henry was getting strange feelings now. What in the world had happened to him?

"Explain what someone did to you three months ago."

"Three months...?" What? What had happened three months ago? Ian had left, sure, but what else?
"Well, since you explained it so nicely to me, I will explain it back to you." Ian slid off the bed and cleared his throat.

"Remember how you were thinking about introducing baby dinosaurs to the park in a new way?"

Suddenly Henry knew. And he was horrified. And confused. And curious.

"Someone implanted a dinosaur embryo into me?" he whispered.

Ian nodded, walking to the chairs. "Not only an embryo, but that organ you talked about too."

Henry sat in stunned silence, staring straight ahead and feeling a bit flush. The implications of that were absolutely terrifying, and yet... Henry was a scientist. He wanted to know how, and why, and who-

His dream three months ago. That hadn't been a dream at all.

Ian picked up something wrapped in a blanket and cradled it in his arms as he came back to Henry. The geneticist felt his heart pumping, eyes wide. It couldn't be.

"Uh... so... meet our baby." Ian unwrapped the top part of the blanket, revealing a very small dinosaur head, eyes closed in sleep. He handed the creature to Henry, who took it and stared at it.

It had the big head of a Rex, but Henry could also see the beginnings of a large dorsal spine. Tucked up against it's belly were long legs that ended in distinctive raptor claws. It looked really tiny and wrinkly and sickly. Henry continued to stare at it, his mind reeling and becoming blank and then reeling again.

"So I guessed T-Rex, Spino, and Raptor. Is that what you think?"

Ian's voice snapped Henry out of it and he shook his head, holding the creature out.

"Take it. Take it and get it away from me. That's not my baby. I can't have babies."

Ian took the dinosaur, but didn't move from the bedside. The creature started to stir a little. "Henry, like it or not, we have to take care of him. He was really premature when you gave birth."

"Gave birth?! Birthed him?!" That thought didn't compute. Not one bit.

"Yes, you carried him and you birthed him, with help from me. You're his mommy and I'm his daddy," Ian said, cradling the tiny form and rocking him gently.

"Ian, STOP! This isn't happening, I don't know what that thing is, but it did not come from my body!" Henry's heart rate monitor started beeping faster.

"Henry, you have to accept it. You were pregnant and successfully gestated a baby dinosaur in your body."

Pregnant—he had been-but it was only a joke. And for only three months? No, no—NO NONOONO, it wasn't true, it couldn't be true. It wasn't a baby inside him, much less a dinosaur. That was science fiction, but reality wasn't science fiction.

….but it made sense, didn't it?

His heart rate continued to climb. He almost didn't notice when nurses rushed in to check on him.

"Dr. Wu! So glad you've come back to us!"

"Dr. Malcolm, what did you do to him? His blood pressure needs to remain consistent!"

"I, uh, I didn't-"

"You're going to have to leave the room, Dr. Malcolm. We need to see to our patient."

"I'm not leaving him. I'm staying right here. I already talked to the doctor about it."

Henry heard the words floating around him, but they didn't really process. He had almost died. He had been in a coma. These he could accept. That Ian said he had been pregnant with a dinosaur, and that a mystery person had used his own inventions to do it was what he could not accept. How could he? He was a scientist. This was an experiment that did not make any sense and went against his wishes and bodily autonomy. No one on the islands did anything without his authority. No one had the knowledge to do this to him, either. So then who had managed to do this to him?

A tiny, pathetic squeak of a noise caused everyone to quiet. Henry looked up from his thousand yard stare to Ian, who was uncovering the baby dinosaur again. He was attempting to move around, maybe get out of Ian's arms.

"Give him to me."

The quiet authority in Henry's words caused everyone to look at him. He kept staring at the baby until Ian came and handed him over. The geneticist cradled him and stared intently at him for a moment while the small creature struggled weakly. Ian and the two nurses watched in silence. Henry slid a finger into the baby's mouth, feeling around it. No teeth yet. The baby started to chomp on Henry's finger, quieting down instantly. Henry's heart rate slowed down. The nurses went about checking vitals and administering medication before leaving.

Henry continued to look at the pathetic creature as the reality of the situation settled around him. Someone had put this baby in him, and it had grown. In him. He was a surrogate mother to this tiny creature in his arms. He had given birth by C-Section in the Indo paddock. He had given birth. This baby was his baby. He had been pregnant, and that's where all the hormones and insatiable hunger had come from. Somehow his body had adapted and acted enough like a real mother's body. To a dinosaur. His organs had to move out of the way for the growing baby, and his lungs had probably gotten all squished upwards, hence not being able to breathe.

The dinosaur was pretty, Henry had to admit. He was pale and wrinkly, but Henry could see his body was all gray, no brown in sight. The little sail was a muted green, and there was a green line down the length of his tiny body. Henry estimated he had to weigh ten pounds (4.5 kilos) at most. There were interesting blue markings on his face, and more blue along his back. His little belly was pale blue, and his big eyes were a vibrant green. Even though some parts of him looked washed out right now, Henry knew his colors would only get brighter as he grew. The baby closed his eyes and fell asleep in Henry's arms.

Finally the geneticist looked up at Ian, a tiny smile playing on his lips. Ian's face lit up.

"He is beautiful," Henry said. Ian grinned.

"Isn't he? But, uh, I'm glad you're awake now so you can care for him properly," Ian said as he went to the bag on the chair. He pulled out a tub of something and a spoon.

"I went to your researchers and asked about what the baby dinos eat, specifically what I thought the ones that little guy is made of eat." Ian handed Henry the tub. It had weird pink stuff in it that Henry recognized immediately. They formulated a strict and nutritious diet for all new dinosaurs hatched on the islands. It was essentially a paste with added vitamins and minerals, refined over years of testing. Each species had their own dietary needs and so the caretakers mixed specific foods for them out of the available ones. Ian opened the tub and handed Henry the spoon.

"He takes it okay from the spoon. The syringe didn't work too well," Ian said. Henry dipped the end of the spoon into the pink stuff, which had a gray tinge he assumed from the spino fish diet added in. He gently offered the spoon to the tiny dino, who sniffed, then opened his eyes and mouth. Henry turned the spoon upside down and ran it across the little guy's tongue. The dino started working his mouth open and closed, his little tongue assisting the paste back. Henry continued to feed him. Ian slid up next to him again.

"Aw, my little family. Not uh, just because you're short and he's small."

Henry pursed his lips. "I don't think I'm going to be able to fully process all this for a while," he said, gazing down at the dinosaur. It was a lot to take in, even with a fast processing brain like his own. He was feeling more and more protective of the little life in his arms as he kept looking at him, though. He looked up at Ian.

"We need a name."

"We do! I was calling him Archibald, but obviously since he came from you, you should uh, name the little guy," Ian said.

"Archibald?" Henry looked back down. No, that wasn't quite right. Henry ran through a list of names in his head. Sometimes, to himself, he had named a few of the babies after they'd hatched. Like for the Indos, he had named the alpha Thyme and her sister Rosemary. He never told anyone the names, but no one else seemed to want to call them actual names anyway.

"Kuhan," Henry said after a moment.

"Kuhan? That sounds pretty cute," Ian agreed. The baby yawned and settled his big head back, closing his eyes again. Henry smiled down at him and curled him protectively against him. His eyes started to droop, too.

"My god, what a cute picture. As a matter of fact," Ian slid off the bed and pulled out his phone.

Henry sleepily blinked at him. "No, come on Ian," he protested. Shit, had they given him sedatives?

"Oh I think so. Proud momma and baby is like, uh, one of the most important pics you can take!" Ian held up his phone and snapped a few pictures. Henry's eyes closed slowly.

"I'm not a momma. Just delete them," Henry yawned again. "-after..."

"No," Ian said gleefully. Henry felt the drugs working. He settled back to let the inevitable sleep overtake him. The last thing he saw before slipping into the void was Ian's smiling face.