She was in the hospital, in the delivery room. It had all white walls, a white bed, and the general air was of orderliness and cleanliness. It felt as though Sam was in for a checkup, however, she had a very different reason for being there.
She was about to bring a new soul into the world.
Beside her was a nervous husband. He's faced ghost after ghost, saved the world twice, and yet he couldn't deal with the fact that he was soon to be a father. He was beside himself with cheer, of course, yet still could not shake off the fact that he would soon be responsible for an innocent life. He's never had such a responsibility before.
Of course, there was always the flour sack incident, but that was different. Comparing crushed wheat to a human life is a bit extreme.
The doctor seemed a nice woman, though a bit young to have delivered too many infants. She had a pale face, freckles, black, round glasses, and tight black curls in a side-pony, up to her waist. It was flipped to her right side.
"How far apart are the contractions?" she asked, in a sweet voice.
"Um, about five minutes," Sam responded.
Danny wasn't listening. His head was swimming. He didn't care how far apart the contractions were, even though they were so close. He just knelt down, with one foot on the floor, as if he were proposing. He stared at a spot just below the hospital bed.
Jessica and Rachel slowly came in, to check on the two. The girls knew their siblings well enough to predict everybody's reactions to the circle of life. Jessica walked over to her brother, knelt down, and hugged him. It shook him out of his trance and shocked him, but he slowly hugged back. He was shaking.
"This is so painful," Sam winced.
"Well, get used to it," Rachel replied. "Jesse said that a woman could be in labor for as long as 24 hours." Sam groaned, and leaned her head back down. Jessica slapped Rachel on the arm. "Ow!"
"You deserve it," Jessica said, under her breath.
"Okay ladies, it's time for you to go now. You can come back after the baby's born," the doctor said. The girls shuffled out. Sam's breath quickened. She was trying to do the proper breathing technique, but it was hard to focus, and she felt a bit light-headed.
"Alright, Sam, take Danny's hand!" She grabbed and squeezed like a madman. Or woman, for that matter. She had the crazy eyes, anyway.
"Okay, on this contraction, push!"
Sam obeyed. Once she felt her bearings, she screamed. It really was unbearable pain, one she never felt before. She forgot why she even had to go through it, what it was for, where she was… and she just barely registered Danny's hand. All there was… was pain.
"Okay, again, push!" Again, with the voice. She trusted it to make the pain disappear. It had to, it was too much.
"Alright, once more!" Sam did as she was told. With one final effort, the burden was gone. She was free. She was hurtled back to the present, and realized that Danny's hand was no longer in danger of destruction. In front of her, she could see a slightly dazed husband cutting an umbilical cord. Sam tried to lean to the side, to see what gender her baby was, but fell back on the bed. It was too much at once.
Danny walked back to his beautiful wife, with his daughter in a pink blanket.
"Lilith," Sam whispered excitedly.