CH32
It is now one month later: (late July)
Natalie and Kate are now deep into their seventh month of pregnancy and they were both beginning to tire of not being able to see their own feet. Their backs are beginning to hurt. Kate doesn't know what Natalie and Jim are doing but Kate is presently moaning in one of the guest bedrooms as Rick rubs her feet with both of them still in bed.
"Don't stop, whatever you do don't stop." Kate was loving it.
"I believe you said that last night too." Rick points out, remembering what he was doing at the time. He was doing his best to make Kate scream with her third orgasm of the evening. There was a time when he could make Kate come till she almost literally lost her mind, however her being 7 months pregnant meant some things were off the table for now.
"Shut up." Kate counters. However her mind is now on what they had done last night too. Kate remembered her fifth orgasm of the night while she was on top. Rick being on top now was out of the question.
Rick and Kate are working their way to the kitchen after taking a shower with a little fun being involved. Kate is feeling great as she found Natalie and Jim in their kitchen. "Hi you two."
Kate steps up next to Natalie who is doing the cooking and steals a piece of bacon. "Do I need to ask why you are so happy this morning?" Natalie is already pretty sure of the answer.
Kate just smiles for her answer. "Where are the boys?" She asks, meaning her sons.
"Same place all the dogs are. Still outside camping or exploring." Natalie tells her.
"Anyone else up?" Kate knew everyone was in the Douglas house out in Victoria.
Kate has to admit the house is lovely. Five bedrooms with five bathrooms mean that having the boys outside camping gives everyone a bedroom. The kitchen, dining room and living room are open to each other. All the rooms that face into Cordova Bay are nothing but windows from floor to ceiling.
The beach is rocky, not that it matters, since the water is too cold to swim in anyway.
The back patio has a dining room table, a grill and a fire pit off to one side with built-in seating. Plus the house is surrounded by tall mature trees. How they built the house without killing off all these trees is amazing.
"You and Rick are the last actually. Alexis and Amanda are out for a walk, likely with the dogs following them. Alex and Allie are there." Natalie points behind Kate, who turns and finds them both in a quick set play pen. "The others are around here somewhere." Natalie suddenly let out a moan of pain.
"You alright?" Kate is around the counter and in the kitchen holding onto Natalie in a flash. Well as fast as a just short of 8 month pregnant woman could move.
"It's just a Braxton Hicks. I'll be fine." Natalie assures Kate.
"I remember those, I had them with the boys. The girls didn't give me that much trouble. It happened often enough that Rick took me to the Evergreen and into their medical facility. There is a series of movements that they taught Rick how to lessen the pain. You can send Jim up and have them teach him or let Rick teach Jim how to do it. You don't have to be naked, but it helps." Kate warns her, since it could be embarrassing.
"Let your husband see me naked, yeah I don't..." Natalie lets out another moan of pain.
"That does it, embarrassing or not," Kate informs Natalie. "Rick, find Jim and come into the kitchen. Now babe." Kate calls out using her communication disk behind her ear.
"Kate?" Natalie wasn't a fan of Kate's proposal. Besides she was a Marine; pain was nothing new.
"You're a Marine, I get it. It took me years to accept help when I was in pain. All I was doing was fooling myself. Let Jim help you into a bikini or something, but you are letting Rick help you. I'll finish breakfast." Kate tells Natalie what is going to happen.
Rick comes jogging into the kitchen with Jim not far behind him. "Where's the fire?" Rick asks looking at Kate and then at Natalie. "Is she in labor?" Rick sees Natalie doubled over and how she looked to be in pain. Rick's question had Jim hurrying to take Kate's place. "Braxton Hicks." Kate tells Rick and Jim.
Rick looked confused as to what to do. If it was Kate who was having them he knew just what to do, but this was Natalie. Jim would kill him. "Let Jim take her upstairs, help her change into a bikini, and then teach Jim how to handle them." Kate tells Rick.
Jim had Natalie in one of her bikinis and lying on her back in bed. "You need to make sure she drinks a lot to keep her as hydrated as you can. Long leisurely walks are another good thing, unless her feet are swollen. If she has more than 4 in an hour after we do this, get her to a doctor, it may be early labor." Rick proceeds to help Jim move his hands around Natalie's enlarged belly.
"Kate had these with the boys. We were told that it was likely because they were twins since Kate didn't have them with the girls. She scared the crap out of me when she first started having them." Rick admits.
Jim soon has Natalie moaning from what his hands are doing for her. "Get her something to drink and make sure she has water on hand constantly from now on. And get her back on her feet. You can rub her feet later tonight to take the pain in them away." Rick tells Jim and goes back downstairs.
"How's mom?" Jenn asks as soon as Rick enters the kitchen since he hasn't had breakfast yet.
Emily is with her, though Tom and Don are missing. Since Kate is with them in the kitchen, Rick assumes that Kate has told them.
"She's fine. Jim knows what to do when the next one happens." Rick assures them.
"So it's not early labor?" Jenn is worried about her.
"No, it's Braxton Hicks alright. Just like what Kate had with the boys." Rick adds. "They should both be back down here soon." Kate walks over to Rick and kisses his cheek. "Thanks babe. She doesn't need to put up with them when there was an alternative." Kate kisses him again.
"I take it you're not having any this time?" Rick turns his attention to Kate and how she is feeling. "Not this time thankfully." Kate is happy about that too.
"MOM!" Kate heard James voice and it sounds like he is scared and crying. Kate turns her head away from Rick and looks outside. "James, what's wrong?" The sound of Kate's voice had Rick's attention. "James honey, talk to me."
"Guinness is limping mom, he's limping bad." James is simply crying now. "James, where are you? Tell me where you are honey." Kate needs to know where he was first.
"In the woods." James answers back.
They're surrounded by woods so his answer isn't really helpful. "Rick, Jenn, L, Alexis, Amanda, Tom, Don. We need to find James and Guinness now! Spread out into the woods and look for them.
Rick and Kate go outside to look for James. They hear Jenn and L calling for Caesar and Zoe. It strikes Kate as a good idea; the puppies would be where Guinness and Maggie would be so she started calling for Maggie. It doesn't take very long after that for James to be in Kate's arms and Guinness to be in Rick's.
Rick finds the first door he could find and ends up back home. "Lucile, alert our vet." Rick walks down the stairs to get to a car. "OH GOD!" Lucile shows up and watches Rick go down the stairs and quickly makes the call.
The boys are sitting on the sectional with Kate's arms around them silently crying. "Is Guinness going to be okay mom?" James whispers softly. "I'm sorry mom, really sorry." He is sure it's all his fault.
The girls are wiping their own tears away. They may not lived at home when Guinness and Maggie were just puppies, but that doesn't mean they don't love them.
"He'll be fine honey, you'll see." Guinness needed to be fine. Kate and Rick both know the dogs won't live forever. One day her boys will know the pain of losing a close companion they love. It took Kate a long time to see this for herself. Kate just didn't want that day to be today.
"Can we go see him?" Levi asks, since he wants to see if Guinness is better. "We need to wait for your father to take him to the vet." Kate whispers into Levi's ear.
"I'll be right back mom." Alexis turns, runs, and finds Amanda. She stops her just after she has opened a transmat wall. Amanda sees the look on Alexis' face. "I'm going with you. I love you and I'm going with you." Amanda steps through with Alexis. "Lucile I need the keys to the car." Alexis calls out. Lucile shows herself in front of both of them. "The keys are in the kitchen." Lucile tells her and watches Alexis run up the stairs.
As Alexis and Amanda run down the stairs for the garage. "Directions to the vet are in the GPS unit. …And I expect an update." Lucile sits on the floor at the front door and lets the tears that she doesn't have flow.
"I need into the computer on the Evergreen." Lucile disappears in an instant and goes to work on designing a little modification to what Jim and Natalie already are having built. She sends the update into their computer.
Alexis and Amanda find Rick sitting out front, alone. "Dad?" Alexis stop in front of Rick with Amanda standing behind her. "I don't know much, I do know that there was blood." Rick had always told his children the truth. Lying only caused more problems.
"Oh god!" Alexis is ready to collapse. Alexis watched her mother's friends die and it hurt, but this was the first time this type of fear and pain hit so close to her heart. Rick stood and wrapped his arms around his daughter. "Have a little faith Alexis."
"Mr. Crystal." A middle aged woman stepped out the door. She led all three of them to where Guinness was resting comfortably with one of his paws heavily taped up.
"Guinness stepped on something sharp and slit one of his pads wide open. It may have been glass or a metal, something really sharp. He has a few stitches in his paw and his medication has made him groggy." The vet starts off with. "Guinness. … Hi boy." Alexis strokes his head and can see his that his eyes are open.
"I'm sending you home with some antibiotics to help prevent any infection. I'm also sending home with some Silver Sulfadiazine. It's a cream that I want you to spread over the wound 3 times a day, then re-wrap the area each time. I'll send home some wrapping and wound cleaning solution for you to use each time. Do your best to keep him off his feet for at least a week. By that I mean no unnecessary exercise beyond relieving himself and letting him eat and drink. Try to keep Maggie from getting him up to play with her. He will likely sleep the rest of today," the vet tells him.
Rick pays the bill and carries a very tired Guinness out to the car. Alexis and Amanda are right behind him. "We're on our way home Lucile. He's alive and will be fine in a while." Alexis does as Lucile asked of her.
Rick carried Guinness inside. "Oh Guinness." Lucile put her face where Guinness could see her and tried to pet him even though she couldn't touch him. "He'll be fine. One of his pads has been sliced open." Rick takes him to his bed that is at the end of the sectional in the living room and lays him down to sleep.
Rick put the directions and his drugs on the kitchen counter, while watching Alexis strokes Guinness' fur, while sniffling. "I'm going to go tell the others. You two okay here?" Rick asks Alexis and Amanda.
"We'll be fine, we'll make sure Guinness stays in his bed dad." Alexis promises; she was too scared to let Guinness stand on his own.
"Watch over them Lucile." Rick is gone in an instant and back in Jim's and Natalie's home in Victoria, Canada.
"Dad?" Jenn spots him first which lets the rest of them know that he is back. "Guinness is home sleeping most likely. Alexis and Amanda are watching over him. He must have stepped on something that sliced one of his pads open with took a couple of stitches to close. The vet guessed a piece of glass or something metal, something sharp. We came home with drugs to give him, he's supposed to stay off his feet as much as possible for a while." Rick tells them.
"See Guinness is fine, it is nothing you did James, you did nothing wrong." Kate hugs James and kisses his head.
"Where are you going?" Kate watches Levi get up and go to the door leading to the patio. "To find what hurt Guinness, before it hurts Maggie or Ceasar or Zoe." Levi answers and goes outside forgetting to close the door.
"You heard him, we police the grounds." Tom says and follows little Levi out the door with everyone including a pregnant Kate and Natalie right behind him. They don't find any sharp metal objects, however they do find some really old beer bottles that had likely been there for years.
"All this because of some loose garbage from years ago." Natalie drops the last of it in the trash. "I'm sorry guys, really sorry." It is their property and being here had hurt someone.
"It's not your fault. This could have happened in any one of the parks that we take them to or in our own kitchen, or even the roof. It was just bad luck that it happened here, nothing more. He's not dead, he's just hurt a little." Kate contradicts Natalie' view of what happened or where her imagination might be taking her.
Alexis and Amanda never did return to the house in Victoria. Everyone else stayed till the next day as planned since most of them had work to go to, except for Rick and Kate.
It was the end of the following day. Kate is sitting on the sectional doing some early reading for the start of another year of college. "Hi mom." Amanda suddenly shows up after getting off work. "Hi Guinness." Amanda sits on the floor next to him and starts petting him, getting Maggie to show up wanting attention too. "How's he doing?" Amanda looks at Kate.
"He seems to know that he shouldn't get up and Maggie has been leaving him alone for the most part. He's due to have his bandage changed in a couple of hours as well as his drugs and cream." Kate tells her. "How was work?"
"I thought it would never end." Amanda hadn't really wanted to be there. "I'm sorry if I was a problem." Amanda had called Kate almost every 2 hours to ask about Guinness.
"You're never a problem sweetie." Kate counters. "Are you staying for dinner?" Kate changes the topic.
"If Alexis does, thanks." Amanda wants to spend the evening with Alexis after checking on Guinness. That has Kate smiling since Alexis has been doing what Amanda had all day long, and was likely to show up the second she got off work too.