DUCKING THE SLINGS AND ARROWS OF LOVE

Lesson 5: Kittens Don't Wait for Anyone

"Feral!" The Commander barked into his radio, his eyes staring at the incredible mess Hard Drive had made of the downtown area

Crashed cars due to non-functioning traffic lights and destroyed property was everywhere. It would be hours before this mess could be cleared away enough for traffic to flow smoothly again.

The SWAT Kats had managed to nab the techno thief but not before he did the damage Feral was staring at now. Grumbling under his breath and about to roar orders, his radio had interrupted him.

A way too familiar voice yelled at him from his radio. He blinked in shock, realizing she had gotten his dispatcher to patch her through. Her first few words let him know how she managed to go around regulations to make the call.

"Ulysses! Get your tail over to the hospital now! I'm in labor and need you and I don't care what you're doing...you will not be late for this!" Callie shouted. "Owww...damn...that hurts!" She interrupted herself to cry out in obvious pain. "Get here now!"

Her voice vanished and the apologetic voice of his dispatch returned to say, "I'm sorry sir, but she insisted it was an emergency!"

"It is, send Steele out here to monitor this mess and a chopper to pick me up ASAP!" Feral barked.

"Yes sir!"

He roared orders to his enforcers then paced back and forth tensely while waiting for the chopper. It arrived some ten minutes later. As it landed, Feral was already ducking down to get on board when the door opened in his face.

Hissing in anger and rubbing his sore nose, he scowled at Steele who had used the chopper to get here faster.

"Uh, sorry sir, I..." Steele began to apologize.

"Shut up! Just get this mess cleared up!" Feral ordered, shoving Steele out of the way and climbing aboard the chopper.

"To Megakat General Hospital on the double!" He ordered the pilot.

With alacrity, the pilot sent the chopper skyward then racing at top speed toward the hospital.

Less than five minutes later, they were airborne and made it to the hospital in ten minutes. The pilot dropped him off then returned to headquarters as ordered.

Feral hurried through the ER entry point for Life Flight and got into an elevator, taking it down to the maternity floor. Upon his arrival, he headed at nearly a gallop, to the nurses station.

"I'm looking for my wife," he said, breathlessly.

"Oh yes, Commander...follow me..." a nurse said, coming from around the station to his side then leading him down a hallway at a quick pace. "It's okay, you still have plenty of time," she reassured him.

He nodded in relief. On the way to Callie's room, he heard many sounds of females in labor, some screaming and others moaning with male voices trying to soothe them in several of the rooms he passed. He paled a little at what he was going to face in moments himself.

The nurse stopped at a door. Opening it, she walked in with him on her heels. The room was filled with people doing things to someone laying in the bed in the center of the space.

Callie hollered and her face was red, sweat falling down her forehead as the medical personal did things around her. She was hooked up to a fetal monitor, her legs were up in stirrups and a doctor was at that end checking something. A nurse or doctor, he didn't know which, was taking Callie's vital signs.

In a corner was another group of doctors and nurses waiting with an isolette and warming table beside them.

"Here Commander, take that off and put this on," the nurse that had led him here said briskly as she helped him pull off his coat then pull on a medical gown. When he was suited up, she guided him to the head of the bed.

"Callie?" He called to his wife.

Her eyes opened, saw him, and reached a paw to him before gritting her teeth against another hard contraction.

He grimaced as well as her paw gripped his like a vice, cutting off circulation but he refused to make a sound as he did his best to offer what comfort he could.

It seemed a ridiculously long and painful process but less than an hour later their son made his appearance. He was weighed, cleaned up, and checked out before being handed over to the father to hold.

Feral nervously held his new son in his huge arms. Staring in awe at the tiny face, he felt giddy and overwhelmingly happy . Turning his face toward his exhausted wife, he grinned at her.

"He's beautiful, Callie...thank you!"

"You're welcome, love," Callie sighed, smiling wanly at him. In just a few hours, Ulysses wasn't going to be quite so happy as he was now but she didn't want to spoil this moment for him. Time enough for him to learn what taking care of a kitten was going to be like.