Okay, I know it took me too long to update everything. I can justify it! I was sort-of grounded, and I have to come to the library (30 minute maximum times) to use the computer.

On with the story!

Chapter 4

Sadie's POV

Nine horrible long months passed. Anubis never visited me, but why should I have expected him to? After all, I had been avoiding him for more than half a year.

Anyhow, the day came. At first, it was just a slight downward pressure. The baby, I soon realized. Soon, I felt as if my butt was cracking.

Tawaret appeared by my bed. The hippo goddess was helping me as a favor for bringing Bes back. I was thankful for her, but she made me stay in bed for forever! At least, I was allowed to stay in bed—I hate hospitals, normal or magical.

I assume you've seen enough TV and movies to get the rest: screaming, blood, pain, more screaming. And of course, Tawaret kept telling me to 'push', just like on TV.

Through it all, I noticed a shadowy figure standing by me. It was him, Anubis. For a moment, my pain abated, only to be replaced with shock and guilt.

How was he able to materialize? Am I dying right now? Questions flooded my head, which was already blurry from pain and screaming.

Does he know—did he know?

Then I caught a glimpse of his eyes. They were full of hurt, more than I had ever seen before. And they wouldn't meet mine.

He knew.

A few hours later, the baby was finally born.

A feeling of exhaustion hit me like a wave. I discovered that Anubis had been holding my hand the whole time, channeling magic to relieve my pain.

His eyes finally met mine. I felt a temporary surge of anger. Why was he sad? It wasn't like he was giving birth, or that he could have raised the child with me!

"That's exactly why."

That's exactly why. That's exactly why. Had he been reading my mind, or was I just hallucinating? I shook my head. The whole childbirth-situation was making my mind too fuzzy.

Tawaret brought me the baby, a girl. She was clean and wrapped in a black blanket. "Black?"

She chuckled. "Black's a good color, remember? The soil."

I nodded in agreement, and looked at the baby. She was cute, but not in a babies-are-cherubic way. Her huge brown eyes seemed… wrong, but still perfect. (Listen to me. 'Wrong, but still perfect'? I'm getting old.) They were too big, and the color didn't coordinate with her pale skin or her strawberry blonde hair.

"Are her eyes… like that?" I asked Tawaret, but she was already gone. She has that godly-senior-center to run, I tried to remind myself.

But something else seemed wrong. The baby wasn't crying, and hadn't cried yet. Weren't babies supposed to cry after they were born?

I dismissed that as 'normal', and stared back at her. Holding her close, I whispered, "Katie." It was Gran's name, but still oddly fitting for the baby.

For once, I closed my eyes.

Hope you enjoyed it!

Yeah, I chickened out from writing in Anubis's POV. I wrote it, reread it, tossed it out. Rewrote it again and it was STILL OOC times a million!

Thanks for all of you who provided name suggestions—Tatiana Eleyna, Harley Girls RULE, ThaliaGrace1, IamSoRandomlol (thanks for the big list!), luv2read, Karate girl, HunterofLight123, sadiekane1998, DaBaquery333, and of course-Cyril Cliffette!

Keep on reviewing! Next chapter will be written as soon as I get 40.