CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO (OFF THE RADAR....)
Brass opened the car door having come around the vehicle. He waited patiently for Weena to climb out of the car, offering his hand when things got dicey, holding his amusement admirably for the woman's difficulty.
"Center of gravity a little off these days."
"Do you find this amusing in any way, shape or form, Jim Brass?" The brown eyes sparked the fire of battle as she halted her attempts to push herself erect, one hand on the car door. She had jerked free of his 'support' hand.
"Since I don't want to get beat up right now?" The man's innate sense of humor came to the fore, the fear he had felt for Weena's safety and that of his kid, having abated somewhat on the ride over. "..Eh..no."
Weena's eyes narrowed as she managed push herself free of the car without assistance. "These people will laugh at me." Her mood had deteriorated. The woman scowled darkly at the Emergency Room entrance. "There is nothing wrong with me."
Brass held his opinion on that one. "Not to worry, baby." He pursed his lips thoughtfully. "If they try anything, I will beat THEM up for you. I'm a cop." He boasted. "I've had training for just such an eventuality."
"You are not amusing." She snapped her belief, jerking yet again from his touch. Brass had been supporting her arm.
"Sure I am." He pooed pooed such a notion. "You're just a little pissy right now, that's all."
"I am not!" Weena replied waspishly.
"Then why can't you appreciate my finer points?" Brass spread his hands, his look an innocent one. "Come on, this will only take four or five hours at the most and then we can go home."
"Four or five hours??" Weena was dismayed, pulling up short just inside the sliding glass doors.
"It was a joke, Weena." He reassured her then, glancing into the practically empty waiting room, muttered to himself... "I think."
The 'intake' session was speeded a bit by the flash of Brass' badge and since there were only two other people in the area, waiting..the man didn't feel so bad for the misuse of his credentials.
He was stunned when, asked for insurance, Weena drew a complete blank. She obviously had no concept of what 'insurance' was. She pulled the man down by his jacket front, whispering, wanting to know if this place would accept her 'bank' cards?
"Put it on my tab." The man pulled out his wallet with all the pertinent information, sliding it over to the 'desk lady'. "Jim Brass, LVPD. I'm good for it."
"NO!" Weena would hear none of it, getting upset again. "I do not wish your 'tab' to be involved. I have my own 'tab'. Surely this will suffice!" she showed her band card which she had produced miraculously from her purse which was held snugly across her lap. " I wish MY 'tab' to be involved only."
"She's a little 'tab' happy tonight." Brass explained. "Calm down." He instructed Weena. "I have this covered. The nice man will take care of you..I..will take care of this." He 'shooed' her away. "I'll see you in a few minutes, k?"
"I have my very own 'tab' and I wish to utilize it!" She seemed pretty adamant about the fact.
"You're so bossy." He crinkled his nose at her. "I'm getting turned on..go away now."
She eyed the male nurse suspiciously. "I do not know this man."
"Oh, we're old friends. He's ok." Brass smiled happily at his new 'old' friend. "Top of his class in 'taking care of pissy females'...go with him."
Weena clearly did not want to do so. "..If you say I must."
"I say you must." Jim kinda liked having all this new found 'power'.
He watched her being wheeled away, waving his fingers as she glared back at him. He handled the check in shit and then...eventually, the 'desk lady' buzzed him through to the back emergency section.
He found the nurse's station, inquiry of Weena..Alexis Wright. After a ridiculously long delay which pissed Jim off, the same guy that had pushed the woman back, came sauntering down the hall, as if he had all the time in the world.
"Hey! Your wife is fine. She has been taken over to the Women's Center. It's on the North Side of the building. You probably drove past it on your way here." He smiled engagingly at Jim. "They took her right up to the delivery OR. I just left her."
Jim blinked. "..WHAT?"
"She's doing great!" The man continued, breezily flapping his gums. "I tell ya, not sure you'll have time to get over there. I mean she was dilated big time, if ya know what I mean."
Brass grabbed the front of the man's white coat, pulling him up close and personal. "What the fuck are you saying? Are you talking about the woman that came in with ME?"
"Well...yeah." The man seemed puzzled and a bit alarmed. "Hey, don't kill me..I'm just the messenger, dude! She's really ok...really! I promise!"
Brass..eased his grip on the man's clothes, his senses reeling. "The woman that came in with me..Alexis Wright. She has been taken to a delivery room? WHY?"
"Well.." the man made a 'duh' face. "So she can deliver the kid? You got her here just in time, man! Good job! But, you could have said something. We would have gotten her back a lot sooner than we did, you know!"
Jim didn't understand but..he pushed the guy in front of him. "Show me!" He insisted. And the guy..lead the way.
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"Get that jacket off, roll your sleeves up and..scrub!" The head nurse reminded Jim of his old drill sergeant
"Yeah, whatever! I just want to SEE Alexis Wright." Jim repeated for the hundredth time, it seemed. "Just see her..not going to operate or anything drastic. Give me the room number and I'll just.."
"You'll scrub up or you won't see anyone." End of discussion, it seemed to Jim's way of thinking.
"I'm a cop, lady."
"I'm a nurse...which in this place? Trumps your 'cop' card."
Jim sized the woman up. He..walked over to the sink and..began the ritual.
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Jim tiptoed into the room which was lit softly with the one light over the bed. He had missed all the action, apparently. Fucking 'scrub' nurse!
Weena lay, in the hospital bed, looking a little too pale to his way of thinking. Her hair had been twisted to one side, braided in one long strand over her shoulder.
She had a blue flowered hospital gown on and an I.V. going out of her right arm over to a bag of clear solution hanging on a metal pole by the bed.
Brass didn't know exactly what to do. He examined the sleeping woman meticulously. The slight bulge where his kid had been could no longer be discerned under the layer of white sheet and green hospital blanket.
The man looked around the room searching for something he knew he would not find.
He looked back only to find..the brown eyes trained sleepily upon his face. He..smiled. "Hey."
"I...miscalculated." She swallowed, her throat dry.
Jim hurried to the table, seeing a container of water. "Here baby." He helped her to take a few sips.
"That tastes so good." She lay back, sighing lightly.
"Are you..ok?" He was on pins and needles. Where was his kid? Had something gone wrong?
"I feel foolish. I misjudged the stages." Weena sought him out. "Forgive me."
"..Why? I mean..for what?" His blood ran cold. "What ..what happened?"
The nurse came into the room pushing a glass 'crib'. She smiled at Brass but her real intent was for..Weena. "Well, here you go, Mommie. All scrubbed and ready for a bottle."
Brass craned his neck to see over the woman's shoulder but then..she had lifted the small bundle, turning around to face them. "Who is the lucky parent?"
She waited expectantly. When Weena did not ask, Brass...did. "Can I...hold him..eh..her?"
"You haven't told him?" The fact seemed to amuse the nurse. "It's a little boy. 6 lbs, 9oz. 18 inches long! Perfectly healthy and very..VERY...hungry."
She handed the tightly wrapped bundle over to Jim Brass. Who took the baby, cradling it in his arms. "Did you scrub?" The nurse held up a warning finger. "Nurse ..
"Rachet?" Brass interceded.
"...Holstein." The nurse scolded his sense of humor. "Is a stickler for 'germs'..."
"I scrubbed." Brass assured her but was more interested in.. "Hey buddy." He had uncovered the tiny face, taking in the miracle in his arms with all due reverence. "How they been treating ya?"
Weena watched from afar, her gaze a critical one. Nothing more so far.
Brass crossed, leaning that she could see the baby. "Look at this..do you believe it?" The man grinned at all the squirming and twisting that was going on under the blanket. "Weena." He sought her out, his expression a worried one. "Why didn't you say something? Why didn't you tell me?"
"I did not know." The woman took the bottle from the nurse's hand, when offered, looking at it as if it were an alien thing.
"How could you not know, baby?" He was stumped but he didn't want to upset her. "Hey, it doesn't matter." And..it didn't. Not now. "You are ok, right and...this little guy is just fine! Aren't you, fella." He wanted to examine every inch of the baby to make sure of that fact but he felt kinda awkward with the nurse in the room.
"Your milk will come down soon but he is hungry." The nurse motioned to the bottle. "Want to feed him, Dad?" She grinned at Brass.
Weena quickly handed the bottle over. "Yes..you do it."
Brass situated the bottle and the kid. Who was just about to voice his opinion on 'room service' in this place, if his twisted, red face was any criteria on which to judge. "Ok, ok...here ya go..open up." Brass eased the nipple between minuscule lips which latched on to the object like super glue to your fingers. The man's smile widened, and his eyes were gentle on ..his son. "Well, there ya go. Nothin to it, right sport? You and me..we make a great team already."
The nurse smiled. "You have the call button. I will give you some alone time. I'm just down the hall." She exited.
"What did she mean?" Weena whispered urgently. "My 'milk' will come down from where? Is there a cafeteria on an upper floor?"
Brass tore his attention from the baby. "Are you serious?" But, seeing her anxious face, he knew she..was. "Your milk, Weena..." He motioned. "To feed the kid."
She looked at her breasts, her hands squeezing the mounds together. Brass' brows went up but..he kept quiet. "Oh.." She sighed. "They are..sensitive." She winced, releasing her breasts. "Why can I not feed it with..that? It seems sufficient." She had indicated the bottle.
"Because Mother's milk is better for the baby." He said. "Where's your mom? When will she get here, Weena?"
"I shall call her."
"Good idea." He concurred, the baby catching his wayward attention. "Look at you..you're a little piglet. You were starving, weren't you, buddy." Brass had a question. "What are we...you..going to call him? He has to have a name."
"...It is the Sire's prerogative." Weena hedged her bets, having no idea what she should call it..
"Yeah?" Brass was..amazed. "Really?"
"Yes." The woman nodded shortly. "I...I did not do very well, did I." She could not stop looking at the scrunched up little face. "It...looks like a miniature troll. Why..does it look so..wrinkled? Did I do something incorrectly?"
"Hey!" Jim took exception. "The kid is beautiful! Watch it! You'll give him a complex or something! Kids are supposed to look like that!"
"Truly?" Weena made a face without being aware of it. "I never did."
"Well, Miss Beauty Queen..." Brass sat back into the rocker, getting more comfortable with the bottle. He pulled the nipple from the tiny mouth, putting the baby on his shoulder. "Good for you!"
"What are you doing? Do not break it!" Weena put her hand out to ward off such a catastrophe, just in case, her expression an alarmed one, to say the least.
"You haven't been around a lot of kids, have you." He threw her an 'are you stupid?' look. "I'm burping him. He'll get gas, dummy!"
Jim laughed at the tiny but heartfelt 'burp' his efforts produced.
"How rude." Weena rolled her eyes, shaking her head.
"You're a nut case, you know it?" Jim snapped. "Leave the kid alone! You're going to warp him or something!"
She...teared up. "I ..k-know!" Her hands covered her mouth to hide the trembling of her lips. "I...I will be a horrible mother! I sense this!"
Brass sighed. "You're not a horrible mother.." He smiled at her 'mood'. "You're a 'new' mother. Give yourself time, baby." He suggested. "Everything will come at it's own rate of discovery. Don't be so hard on yourself."
"You...you know now!" She pointed to the baby he held so confidently in his arms. "You know instinctively...why do I not as well?"
"Because I've had Ellie." He reminded. "I was around when she was a baby. And my sister has kids..didn't your brothers have any children?"
"..Yes but..I never met them." She stated. "Children were...discouraged on my...in my world."
"A lot of people believe that now adays." He nodded, returning the bottle to the greedy little mouth with all due haste. He watched the baby nurse. "They don't want to bring a kid into a world like ours. Can't say I blame them most times. I've seen a lot of shi...caca." Brass grinned down at the baby, who watched him with big blue eyes. "Have to watch our language for a few years, don't we, sport...can't say I disagree with them."
The quiet settled about the room.
"He smells good." Brass leaned to take in the wondrous scent. "Hey..." He caught Weena's attention. "He smells like you."
"Perhaps it is something to do with the birthing process." She imagined.
"Yeah...OR..." the man suggested right back. "You two use the same lotion!"
"..oh." She sat back on her pillow to contemplate his logic.
"You must be pretty wiped, huh?" He could see she was exhausted. "Want to grab some sleep?"
"I must watch over the child..it is my duty."
"Yeah, well..I'm here." Brass knew he wasn't going to leave. "So, I'll take first watch. You lay back and get some rest."
"It does not seem...right." She stated her point of view. "It is my responsibility."
"No..that's the way it's done..you do all the hard crap and I get the easy part." Brass joked. "You did the 'labor' thing..now this?" He held the baby up slightly. "Is my gig."
She lifted hopeful eyes.
"It's a rule." The man promised, showing her his 'scout's honor' fingers.
"I do not know this rule but I think, perhaps..there are many rules of which I have no knowledge...in this area of expertise." She seemed most forlorned.
"You're just tired, baby." Brass walked over to the bed, kissing her forehead. "This little guy is just fine, so...take some 'mommie' time, hum? I'm not going anywhere..bet on it."
"You have work, surely."
"Fuck wor...eh" he looked at the baby who...looked right back at him. "You're cramping my style junior." He grinned down at the curious face. "Work can wait." He leaned again, holding the baby securely close to his warmth. He kissed the woman gently. "And believe it or not?" He kissed her again, more..intimately. "I mean that this time."
"Well.." Weena glanced at the child, pulling the blanket down a bit to do so. "He...he is no longer blue. That is a good sign, yes?" She shifted troubled eyes. "And...and he..his...nose is..rather...fetching as noses go. It is a noble nose. His eyes are very ...blue."
"Like his old man's." Brass boasted.
"Perhaps in time..he will grow to be a brave warrior!" She took hope. "Surely all warriors had such humble beginnings."
"Oh yeah..most warriors these days?" Brass sought the rocker. "They don't just grow on trees. They come up the hard way..makes em strong and invincible."
She nodded thoughtfully. "I am fatigued, Jim Brass. I shall sleep now."
You do that." Jim had something to occupy his time and energy. "Me and the warrior here..we're going to get better acquainted."
Weena felt..better. She lay back and...closed her eyes.
Jim hummed an old Irish lullaby he had sang to Ellie when she was a little girl. The man had forgotten all the words but..he remembered the melody just fine.
The woman drifted off long before the baby did. Of course..the baby was getting better acquainted with...his Sire.