Chapter the Fourth
Once they arrived back in Chicago, Thomas' first stop was Oscar, where Kate would spend the rest of her life until it was time for her to give birth. However, before she could begin her seclusion, Damien took her on carefully orchestrated outings around town so that his children wouldn't appear to come from out of nowhere. Then once her pregnancy was publicized, Kate was cloistered away, citing emotional reasons with the pregnancy coming so close on the heels of Peter's death; this kept Thomas' wife Caroline away from her, too.
There were also carefully coordinated phone calls between Kate and her boss and her colleague. She had been a career woman and had lost contact with most of her female friends who had gone on to have more traditional, married family lives. She also had no other close relatives or friends; the only sibling she had, a sister, had died when she was in her late teens. Peter had been Kate's only real relative, making life easier for Damien, who now only had to manage phone calls between Kate and two men, neither of whom was interested in long hours of conversation about being pregnant.
The next nine months for the expectant father were spent preparing for his children. Damien wanted the children close to him, so he had the two bedrooms across from his made over and after consulting with one of the architects at work, had a door put in between the two rooms so that the siblings could go quickly from one room to the other. Later, when they were older, he intended to move them up to the third floor, giving them the rooms that were behind the chapel so they could have privacy for themselves.
It was into Kate's fourth month of pregnancy when one night after work, Damien stopped by Oscar to have Kate sign papers giving him power of attorney, allowing him to sell her house. As usual, he put his hand on her belly and reached out to his children, only this time he felt a kick and knew that it was his daughter. "Delia, you just kicked your daddy." As if in response, she kicked again and Damien laughed and ended up spending the night at Oscar, enjoying this new way of communing with his children.
Damien knew that because Kate was having twins, she would probably go into early labor; however, the first of December came and went and she still had not given birth. He also knew the day she had conceived and figured that if her pregnancy went full term, she stood a very good chance of delivering his children on Christmas day; not surprisingly, he hoped she hung on until then. Many months earlier, Damien had finalized the staff who would be caring for his children, but he had planned to spend the first month at home with them. Not only wouldn't it look proper to be at work full-time given that the children's birth meant Kate's death, it would also provide an opportunity to bond with Delia and Alexander and to make sure that the people caring for his children were doing things the way that the new father wanted them done. Damien had also disposed of the three nurses who had helped with the birth up to this point since they weren't high enough up the food chain to ensure their silence on everything that had happened.
Eight o'clock on Christmas morning found Damien at the dining room table having breakfast with Thomas and Paul. "I'm glad that Caroline took the kids to California to see her mother, no Christmas crap to deal with." Thomas put a forkful of pancake into his mouth.
Damien was about to devour his own forkful of pancake, when he froze and his head whipped around and he looked up. Moments later, Kate screamed.
"It's show time." Paul smiled at Damien and Thomas went off to call the ambulance.
Damien went upstairs to wait with Kate and twenty minutes later, two smiling paramedics were in the room putting her onto a gurney and taking her downstairs. Damien had been able to get Kate to simply forget that she was pregnant and now, he was in her mind keeping her quiet, which he only had to do once the doctor gave her general anesthetic for her C-section. Damien rode with Kate, holding her hand, comforting and encouraging her. His first choice had been to have the children delivered someplace private where the charade of caring for her could done away with, but knowing that she was going to die, he wanted to make it all look as above board as possible, so rather than going to some private medical facility, the ambulance was on its way to University of Chicago Hospital.
Once inside the hospital, Damien smiled. Peppered among the assembled team waiting to usher the new generation of Thorns into the world were his people, who would make sure that things happened the way that Damien wanted them to happen. They knew to try their best to save Kate, but they would fight a losing battle and Kate Reynolds would make the ultimate maternal sacrifice: giving her life while bringing her children into the world. Paul and Thomas turned up and all three of them sat in the waiting area as Damien now had to do what billions of fathers before him had done.
It took over an hour for the children to be born. Delia and Alexander then had to be given the usual check-ups, all unnecessary but done anyway, and once Damien knew they were back there, all he wanted to do was see them. But Taggart came out, his cap in his hand looking appropriately despondent and Damien knew that the enjoyment of having his children would have to be postponed. Taggart put a hand on Damien's shoulder and gave him the bad news and Paul and Thomas were by Damien's side, providing unspoken support. Damien asked to see Kate and no sooner did he step into the room, when the tears that he was relieved that he didn't have to shed, flowed profusely from the nurses. Damien realized that Kate's public birthing and death allowed for more than an ample supply of sympathy from people, which would be good for both him and his children. He pulled the sheet down from Kate's face, held her hand, kissed her on the forehead and stood for a bit until he decided that he had done enough grieving and then pulled the sheet back up to cover her face.
Taggart escorted Damien into the nursery and he waited alone and for now, gone was any pretense of caring about Kate. The doctor soon returned with a tiny pink bundle, but even without the color of the blanket, Damien knew that it was his daughter. Taggart placed her in Damien's arms and the world dissolved away until there was just her. "Hello, Delia, I'm Damien; I'm your father. Didn't I tell you that we'd eventually get to meet?" Delia scrunched her tiny face, blissfully unaware of what was going on around her. He held her and she seemed both heavier and lighter than he had imagined. Damien had no idea of how long he stood there, but he became aware that Taggart was now attempting to hand him Alexander and Damien kissed her on the cheek and grudgingly allowed the doctor to take Delia, who was handed off to a tearful nurse.
Wrapped in a blue blanket, Alexander slept away, as unaware as his sister was that they had had a change of address. "Hello, Alexander, I'm your father, Damien and you are a very special little boy, who isn't a little boy at all." Damien handed his son to Taggart and very carefully moved Alexander's hair and nestled beneath his thick, dark locks, were three tiny sixes. Damien kissed his son's head and another nurse eventually came in to take away Alexander. Damien soon joined Thomas and Paul out in the hall, where both of the Thorn children were now on display in the window. The only other parents who had given birth were staying away from the new father and widower.
"I called Anna and she'll handle everything to do with the funeral and she says congratulations." Thomas resisted the urge to slap Damien on the back.
Damien nodded. It was becoming exceedingly difficult to look sad. At least at home, he could retire to his room and contemplate his new role in private with a big smile on his face.
"So, did you look?" Paul glanced over at the new father, who let an ever so slight smile sit on his face. Paul, like Damien, was trying to control his happiness.
"What about her?" Thomas was staring at Delia, who was sleeping. Damien turned to him and two seconds later, was trying to locate Taggart so he could look at his daughter. A few minutes after Damien had disappeared, a nurse came in and took away Delia. Damien then rejoined Thomas and Paul in the hallway.
"She has it?" Paul sounded as shocked as Damien looked.
"I knew she'd be...special. She's his protector, in theory, but I never thought that she'd have the mark as well. I looked, three times to be certain, but it's there."
"It could be so that the poor girl doesn't feel left out. It's going to be hard enough for her growing up in a world dominated by men, her father the Antichrist, her brother the Antichrist in training." Thomas paused. "Or maybe it's so you'll care for her." Damien looked at him. "Maybe Satan figured that if she didn't have the mark there was a chance that you wouldn't want her. This way, you'd know that Delia was yours and you'd be predisposed to look after her."
"I also had the doctor take some blood. Given this new turn of events, I want to know what's going on inside of them."
Damien, Paul and Thomas stood and watched the nurses return the babies from having their blood taken and all Damien wanted to do was go home with with his children, but he knew that wasn't going to happen. Both Delia and Alexander were the picture of health and they would be able to go home tomorrow in the afternoon. Taggart opened the door and Damien followed him. Again, Paul and Thomas waited for the new father to find out whatever it was that Taggart had to tell him. Nurses came and again took away Delia and Alexander and then brought them back. Thomas and Paul exchanged looks. It took half an hour, but Damien finally emerged from his conversation with Taggart.
"What is it?" Paul followed Damien out into the waiting area where he grabbed his coat and put it on and then made for the exit; they were taking Damien home. In the car, Damien was silent and stared out the window, a smile on his face, finally being able, albeit temporarily, to show unadulterated happiness at the birth of his children. Neither man could remember ever seeing him like this, but they took it in stride, as they did everything that had to do with their boss. Once at the house, Thomas took aside the staff and explained that Kate had died and to give Damien some space. Paul followed Damien to his room and they both waited for Thomas, who closed the door behind him.
"So, what did Taggart find out?"
"You're killing us with the suspense, you do know that, don't you?" Thomas took off his coat and put it over one of the chairs.
"They don't have human blood cells."
Paul turned and looked at Damien, "What do you mean?"
"I mean, Taggart drew some blood and I looked and saw their blood cells. I even made him take more blood with me watching. He put the blood under the microscope again and...they have jackal blood cells, like me."
"How's that possible?" Thomas raised an eyebrow at Damien.
"Taggart doesn't have any idea and neither do I."
Of course, both Thomas and Paul would have been hard pressed to explain how Damien had come into the world, so any discrepancies having to do with the birth of his children were perhaps apropos.
Thomas and Paul stayed for a late lunch and then left, leaving Damien alone, which suited him just fine since he wasn't in the mood for any conversation. He spent the night drifting in and out of sleep, anxious at the thought of having his children home with him.
...oOo...
The next day, Thomas drove Damien to the hospital and after a careful car ride home, Thomas pulled into the driveway where another guest was waiting to join the Thorn household, this one of the four-legged variety. "I hope you like dogs." He smiled at Damien, who opened the door to the house and the dog trotted in as if he had always been there.
The nannies were waiting to take the babies, but Damien told them to wait in the children's rooms and he would bring the children to them. Thomas ran up to the third floor and unlocked and opened the door for Damien and came back down and put the keys back in his pocket. "Is there anything else you need...another arm, perhaps?" Thomas smiled at Delia, who lay in the crook of her father's right arm; Alexander was nestled in his father's left arm.
"I'm good. I'll come by the office tomorrow at some point."
"Don't rush, enjoy this, they grow up fast." Thomas spoke from experience; he had four children, his last child, Aaron, had only been born last year. Thomas told Damien to call if he needed anything and then Thomas left the new father alone with his children.
Damien brought Delia and Alexander up to the chapel and closed the door without closing it all the way. The minute the babies were in the room, they seemed to feel the presence in there and both children closed their eyes and were quickly asleep. "Do you know whom you're feeling? That is God, Satan, my Father and your Grandfather. Thank-you, Father for my children." He closed his eyes and let the serenity of the room relax him. The last nine months had taken a toll and he was exhausted; he would sleep well tonight.
Damien delivered Alexander to Louise and Delia to Teresa and went into his room, closed the door and smiled from ear to ear. He settled at his desk upstairs and did some work, until he realized that it was nearly five and thought that he might be able to catch either baby about to be fed. He stopped to look in on Alexander first and found Louise just about to give him his bottle.
"Care to do the honors?"
Damien sat in the rocking chair and Louise handed Alexander to him and then the bottle, which Alexander happily sucked back. He would have to wait to feed Delia, but Damien went downstairs and had an early dinner.
At eight-thirty, Damien decided that the day had gone on long enough. He went to his children's rooms to spend some time with them before he went to bed. Alexander's dog was asleep by the crib and Louise, who had been reading, got up and left the new father with his son. He picked up Alexander, who slept through his father's attentions. Damien sat for a while and then kissed Alexander on the forehead, put his son back in his crib and moved over to Delia's room.
As with Alexander, the dog lying beside the crib did not lift his head as Damien made his way over to his daughter. Delia's room was devoid of nanny as Louise must have told Teresa that Damien was coming around to see his children and wanted privacy. As he had done with Alexander, Damien took Delia and held her, but as he looked at her, he suddenly realized that he knew next to nothing about girls and he wondered if she wouldn't be better served with some kind of mother, but that would be something to which he would have to give serious thought before he decided about whether he would marry. At nine-thirty, Damien realized that he was exhausted and that he should leave his daughter alone to sleep so he kissed Delia, put her back into her crib and left, leaving the dog to do his job of guarding his mistress.
Damien was too tired to do any work tonight, but he knew that while he wouldn't be in the office everyday, he would be keeping up with everything that was happening at Thorn. He stripped, got into bed and shut off the light. It was over. Kate was dead, he had the daggers and it had only been the so-called birth of the Nazarene that had precipitated the hunt for him. As he lay there, he thought that they now stood a good chance of being able to sway the human race from their fixation with the christian god and be moved to love a God who was much better choice for them than one who was disgusted by the very beings whom he had created. Damien closed his eyes, turned over and went to sleep.
