6.
~ The Point Man made one last plea to Becky to help Darcy. His former childhood sweetheart looking sad, but happy to see him.
"Are you going to yell at me again?" She asked in a baby voice that made the Point Man grind his teeth.
"No, Becky. But if Darcy lives, we can be a family. You and I. You know I think of her as mine." Arthur said gently.
He would tell Becky whatever would get his daughter the bone marrow. He felt sick to his stomach to lie to her like this. To promise her something he would never do. The idea of a life with Becky was too disgusting to picture.
"Alright." Becky said leaning over and kissing him.
Arthur couldn't believe he didn't hit her as soon as her sticky, dry lips touched his cheek.
"I'll do it." She whispered. Her breath on his ear making him uncomfortable.
~ Arthur had the clinic in New York run tests on Becky's blood sample and determined she wasn't a match.
"Are you sure?" Arthur asked. He felt like his body had been beaten. He had no strength left. He couldn't keep fighting for his daughter.
"I'm sorry, but an AB- blood type is very rare. Only 1% of the entire population has it." The lab tech said.
~ Arthur took another non stop flight back to Paris.
It was night when he finally came home. Ariadne was in their bed with the boys sleeping with her. Now that Darcy was in the hospital, they could spend more time with their other children. The nanny had been taking care of the boys most days. Picking them up from school and keeping them out of the way, as Arthur and Ariadne focused on Darcy full time.
Ariadne woke up as her husband climbed into bed with them. He didn't want to disturb the boys, so he molded his body around the sleeping children who were sprawled out like lazy cats beside their mother.
"How did it go?" Ariadne whispered in the darkness.
"Becky wasn't a match." Arthur told her sadly.
Their bedroom was dark and still as Daniel's light snoring was the only sound to be heard.
"How is Darcy doing?" Arthur asked.
"Not good. She's hurting from all the radiation. Doctors say if she doesn't get the bone marrow soon, it will be too late." Ariadne whispered.
They didn't want to wake the boys. Both of them were too tired to cry.
~ The next day was Ariadne's sonogram. With all of Darcy's problems, it had been hard to think about the new baby.
"The little one won't move." The sonogram tech joked as Ariadne's large belly was exposed to the ultra sound machine.
"Come on, move and let's see what you have." The lab tech pleaded.
The baby was in such a position that it made the sex very hard to see.
"He or she is very modest, and the cord is right there." The tech explained in frustration.
"Other then being modest, how do things look?" Ariadne asked.
The Point Man stood by her side as they watched the shape of a head, arms and legs come into view.
"Perfect. Everything looks good and the heart is beating strong. Unfortunately, we won't know if the baby will be visually impaired until birth. There are just no tests for that." The tech said.
"It's alright." Arthur said as he watched his son or daughter flex long fingers in Ariadne's uterus.
"Come on, show me." The tech pleaded. "Got it!" She shouted in joy.
"What?" Ariadne asked in surprise as all she saw was a mass of shadows.
"Right here. You have a girl!" The tech pronounced.
~ "Stop looking so smug!" Ariadne chastised Arthur as they went to visit Darcy in the cancer ward.
"Can't help it." Arthur laughed. They were still in the maternity ward and the Point Man walked a little straighter as they passed by the new babies in the display window.
Ariadne giggled as she smoothed her hands over her belly.
"What did you promise Becky?" She asked in a whisper.
"I told her we would be a family when she got out." Arthur admitted.
Ariadne looked at him. No anger was in her eyes, only understanding. Arthur shrugged.
"At this point, I'm willing to make any deal with the devil." Arthur explained.
The walked in silence for a while.
"I found out who my real father was." Arthur said suddenly.
"What?" Ariadne asked in shock.
Arthur nodded.
"I was in New York and I visited my mother's old dance company. Her friend Thomas-"
"The one with the body?" Ariadne interrupted looking happy and excited.
"Yes. The one with the body. He thought you were an actress or model by the way." Arthur said in a bored tone that humored his wife.
"Really?" Ariadne asked delightedly. "Did he say it just to be nice, or do you think he meant it?" She asked happily.
"Ariadne." Arthur said in exasperation that she was missing the bigger picture.
"Sorry. You were saying about your real dad." Ariadne said having the decency to look a little ashamed.
"He said that Althea Gross was in a nursing home at the time and the owners didn't want to take her off the program. They hired an NYU student from Britain. His name was Albert Castus." Arthur explained.
"Are you going to try and find him?" Ariadne asked.
"That man allowed me to grow up in a home where I wasn't loved after my mother died. I would never do that to my children. I would never allow them to think some... monster was their real father. After my mother died, why didn't he fight for me?" Arthur asked. He was still angry.
"Maybe he felt he couldn't." Ariadne offered.
"No." Arthur said stubbornly. "There is nothing I wouldn't do for Darcy or the boys. If he loved my mother even a little, he would have made an effort to keep me. He would have let me know I was his long before now."
~ The cancer ward had a horrible smell to it. It hit the nose right away and seeped into the clothing. Ariadne held her large belly more securely as they wandered down the brightly colored halls meant to cheer the kids up.
~ "You're going to have a little sister." Ariadne told Darcy. The little girl was looking painfully thin and her skin was gray. Gone was the happy child she had been a few months ago. She looked like some kind of ghost now.
"A girl?" Darcy asked. A tired smile coming to her face.
Ariadne nodded as Arthur tried not to cry at the sight of the once energetic child.
"So you have to get better. I need your help. Dominic and Daniel have each other, this baby needs her big sister to help her and tell her what to do. Okay?" Ariadne asked.
Darcy said nothing. Her gray eyes looking worried and thoughtful.
"Mommy, I've been thinking a lot about this." Darcy said after a while. "If I die soon, I want Dominic to have my iPad. I think I want Daniel to have my stuffed animals. The new baby can have all my Barbie dolls and my old room. It's the kind of room she might like."
"Darcy, you're not dieing." Arthur growled.
"A little boy died yesterday. His name was Will. He died and he was younger then me. He planned out his funeral and everything. He left his brothers all his toys." Darcy explained. "He felt better about dieing when he did that."
"Darcy." Arthur said sternly as if she were in trouble.
"I want to be buried with my bear. The one Daddy gave me when I came to live here. I like that bear."
"Darcy!" Arthur shouted as Ariadne started to cry silently.
"I think I want to be buried in my ballet costume. The one with the pink and red roses. We can put the sash around my head so no one will see I don't have any hair." Darcy explained.
Arthur couldn't take it. He could handle being shot at in dreams. He could handle a girlfriend who had a child with his own father, a blind son, a ruined company, an estrangement from his wife, and finding out his whole life was a lie.
He could not handle burying his daughter. He left Darcy and Ariadne. The Point Man on the verge of losing control.
He was out in the hall trying to collect himself when the tell tell click, clack of the leggy spider woman's heels echoed down the hall.
"Well, what's wrong now?" Sadie sighed. Her make up slowly coming back as her eye lids were painted with a dark liner. She rolled her eyes in exaggerated exasperation.
Arthur sniffed and held the tears back.
"Not now, Sadie." He said. There were times he could not stand this woman, and he hated her now more then ever before.
"Arthur?" Ariadne said slipping out of their daughter's hospital room. The Point Man turned his face away from his wife. He was crying now and didn't want her to see.
"Sadie, what are you doing here?" Ariadne asked the spider woman.
"I'm here to see Petit Singe." Sadie explained showing a large shopping bag. "We were going to play with Barbie." She said as if that were obvious.
"Now is not a good time, Sadie." Arthur said gravely. He still couldn't face his wife. Couldn't look at her at all. He pretended to have a great interest in the window as Ariadne stood behind him.
"Darcy isn't doing so well." Ariadne explained.
"Well, why not?" Sadie said petulantly. As if she were a child who didn't get her way. "I thought you were going to get her that bone thing."
"Sadie." Ariadne chastised as Arthur looked at the spider woman murderously.
"What?" Sadie asked not understanding.
"Darcy, has a very rare blood type. We can't find a match. It's hard to get anyone with an AB- blood type now." Ariadne explained as if Sadie were a child.
Sadie harrumphed.
"Oh stop acting like Darcy is so special. It's not that rare. I'm AB- negative and you don't hear me bragging about it." The spider woman said looking over her shopping bag.
Ariadne eyed her old friend.
Arthur slowly turned and glared at Sadie.
Their savior felt the Point Man and Architect's eyes on her. She looked up to see them eyeballing her like cannibals.
"What?" Sadie asked.
~ "Well, is it going to hurt?" Sadie complained loudly.
A quick blood worked revealed Sadie was a match for Darcy. The spider woman was rushed into a small surgical ward and the Architect gave her a paper gown.
"Yellow?" Sadie barked close to tears at the sight of it. "You know I don't like this color. This gown will make me look so fat!" Sadie whined.
"Shut up and strip!" Ariadne barked as she was ready to pull her own hair out.
"Fine!" Sadie said bitterly. The leggy spider woman not caring about the view the staff had of her. She striped herself totally naked. Even her underwear was felled as Ariadne rolled her eyes.
"Ma'am, you don't have to be nude for this." The male tech said in embarrassment. His eyes glued helplessly to Sadie's body.
"You sound just like my yoga instructor!" Sadie told him as Ariadne helped her into a gown.
The spider woman saw the needle they would use to take the bone marrow out of her spine.
"That's what they use?" She cried out in horror.
"Yes, now get on the table!" Ariadne almost cried. Her hands going to her hair again. Ready to pull it out. Tears had made her make up run.
"Alright fine! Lucky for you I dated Eames, so I'm used to being drilled with large things!" Sadie barked.
"Sadie! Get on the table for the love of GOD!" Ariadne pleaded.
