CHPT 33

Ok, still don't own the whole CM thing. Just own my OCs that's all….well that and a fair amount of debt.

"Immogene, we have no time for the guessing games. What did you see?"

"Might I suggest we get back on the plane and get the hell off of the ground first?" Kong's deep baritone was heard to rumble as he helped Alecta up carefully.

"Ow!" That was the first word out of Alecta's mouth as she was finally standing upright.

"What is it Devika?" Kong was still at her side, one large arm around her shoulders, his left hand still holding onto her right one.

Alecta doubled over in his arms, 'Bad timing."

"Mac!"

"She's not bleeding, so she wasn't shot….Get her on the plane for safety, I can look her over once we are airborne."

Kong swept Alecta up in his arms and carried her back onto the plane, she was still in a fair amount of pain; everyone else followed close on their heels. Oleg and Mac were making sure that the girls all got on the plane safely.

"Radar,' Mac spoke to his pilot, 'do we have enough fuel to get to Istanbul?"

"We should, but let me run a quick check to be sure."

"You'll have to make it fast."

"Too right."

Radar went to go ahead and run his checks before they thought about taking off again.

"Sir, can I help?" Oleg asked quietly.

"Do you know anything about planes?"

"If you tell me what to do, I'll do it. We have to get mother away from this place."

Radar gave the kid a crash course in things that needed to be looked over; telling him what levels everything should be at for optimum safety.

"Sir…"

"You can call me Radar, most everyone does."

"Radar…..I think that everything has cleared the inspection." Oleg went on to show the man what he had seen; the man was impressed by the way Oleg retained so much of what he had been told so quickly.

"Very well, get back on the plane with the others and buckle up. I'm going to get you all the hell out of here."

"Thank you Mr. Radar." Oleg bowed his head slightly before racing back up the steps to the plane's interior. Radar merely shook his head, deciding that Oleg was a pretty awesome kid.

What nobody outside of Alecta knew was Radar's true identity. Like Simon, there was more to Radar than just an ordinary pilot. Radar was a clever little nickname that Alecta gave him so very long ago…..during the WWI era. Radar was none other than St. Christopher. And he had a duty to look after his travelers. He took his seat in the cockpit; he knew he might need a second pair of eyes, but the kid wasn't ready for this.

"Immogene?"

"Yes?"

"Would you mind terribly in helping me out up here?"

"Of course not. I'm coming."

"Radar, how fast can you get us to Istanbul?" Kong asked.

"At the average rate of speed, it might take about three hours."

"Alecta's having contractions. Try an above average rate of speed." Mac added.

"Just get us there as fast as you can, as safely as you can." Kong said, giving the poor man a little wiggle room.

After all was said and done, Radar got the plane safely into Istanbul within two hours flat. He had Immogene help him keep one eye on the meters on the plane while he kept an eye open for any turbulence that might cause a problem.

During the flight Kong had put in a call to a friend of the 'family', Selim Volkan, to have him meet them at the air strip. Upon landing, they quickly located Selim. He would be the guy that was nearly as large as Kong, and nearly as well built driving the discrete 'taxi'. As if.

"How is she fairing?" Selim asked upon seeing his friends.

"She is having contractions that are less than 10 minutes apart. Next question." Alecta was rather abrupt.

"Ah, yes. How could I forget how pleasant your demeanor is when you are in labor?" Selim grinned at Alecta as Kong cradled her in his arm. Just as she would have reached out to possibly try to strangle the smug man, Mac chipped in with his question.

"Are we going to the place near Sophia?"

"Not just now. It is….not….such a good place right now."

"What do you mean?"

"Hey! Pregnant woman with very impatient babies over here. Can we have this discussion a little later?" Alecta grew a little more…..crabby with every moment that passed.

Selim chuckled, 'She has a point my friend. We will take her to my place. It's in the old part of the city. We will be safe there. I have called ahead for my friend Bayezit to join us; he can lend us some help if it is needed." Seeing the look on Alecta's face as he mentioned Bayezit, 'And, to answer your question. Yes. He will be bringing his wife, Yildiz. She has been wondering when she might see you again. She misses you."

Everyone climbed into the van…it looked like one of those delivery vans like the messenger services use, only it was outfitted better inside for seating. Selim made his way as carefully and quickly as possible through the insane traffic in Istanbul's sometimes narrow streets.

"Why do you look so forlorn, Devika?" Kong noticed the disappointed expression on her face.

"I am missing the city."

"You have seen it a hundred times."

"But every time I see it, I find some new reason to love it more than the last time." She sniffled a bit.

"We will be to my home soon little one. And then, you can have the babies comfortably, in safety. And soon enough you will be back to your ways, panting the city red. Istanbul misses you too, never doubt that." Selim smiled at her from the rear-view mirror.

Alecta tried to relax and just calm down for the rest of the ride. But, damn it! She was missing her city.

After another 15 minute drive they arrived at Selim's building. He wasn't lying when he said that it was in the old part of the city. To anyone from the outside, you would have doubted he even had running water. He did; it was the electricity that was a little sketchy. He gave up trying to have a TV a long time ago, he could never get the damned thing to work very long….and even if he did, the current coming through the circuitry would fry the thing. His lighting was dim, at best, and sometime it flickered. He kept a shit ton of candles on stand-by….and lanterns. But outside of the issue with the electric, Alecta had always loved his home. Old pictures of his family on the walls…..grandparents, great-grandparents and so on; pictures of different sights in Istanbul, various other paintings and sketches that lined the walls. In one room he had his own little office. It heavily resembled Alecta's from before. It looked like the office of some mad professor. Papers and old books, scrolls, and maps all littered the desk top. His shelves were full to bursting with books on various historical topics and curiosities. The large window in the office looked out onto a scene that was capped off by a distant view of 'Sophia'. Alecta had always loved this apartment. She could remember when they were in love; it seemed so long ago now. She would wander around the apartment when he was off at work at the university. She would head into his office and shuffle through the papers and books, she was so fascinated. He would come home and find her sleeping sprawled out in his desk chair, having fallen asleep watching the way the sun changed against the walls of the Hagia Sophia in the distance. He would make some remark about how she only loved him for the view from that window. She'd make the joke that he was correct. He would carry her to bed. Most of the time they didn't even have to do anything, just fall asleep curled up together; having stared at each other until they lost the fight and both of them fell asleep.

At the very thought of all this she became even more morose. She missed those days…..the days when she could believe it when a man said he loved her….because he meant it. It was the days when she didn't have to worry about such demons as vampires clawing their way out of the grave to ruin everything she held dear. God! She missed Istanbul for so many reasons. It had been home to her before, in her old life. She had loved the city since it was first Constantinople. Matter of fact, she had known Constantine. She was ambivalent about him. She didn't hate him, but their paths only crossed on rare occasions. Sometimes when she had nothing to do but travel, she would find herself at the Musei Capitolini in Rome, just staring at the colossal sculptured head, as if expecting it to blink or for him to speak to her. Sometimes, even now, in her mortal form, she missed the old life. There were friends she had that were no longer there. In some cases it had been centuries since she'd seen one of them….but it felt like one minute they were pacing the halls of some villa or ancient thoroughfare and laughing at something one had said to the other or in some cases, plotting….and the next minute she looked up and they were just….gone. There were only a few people in the world that could even begin to grasp what nearly 8,000 years of this could do to a person, and those numbers got smaller every time she thought about it.

"Alecta, the contractions are only about five minutes apart at most. I don't think we have the time to give you anything." Mac broke through her melancholy thoughts.

"It's fine, I've done this before. Wait! Where's Bayezit and Yildiz?"

"You didn't even notice them enter? My good man, Bayezit, I do believe you're losing your touch." Selim joked with the man. Bayezit grinned sheepishly. Yildiz took it upon herself to shoo all of the men, except Mac out of the room. Immogene staid with Alecta, at her side, holding her hand. After Yildiz chased the men out of the room, she busied herself getting a large pitcher filled with hot water to fill the basin in the room, as well as grabbing some towels. Mac busied himself opening the medical bag that he kept close by at all times. Cossette, Ivory, Oona, Lakshmi, and Isis came into the room finally. Ordinarily Mac would have taken issue with so many people being in the room at a time like this; but under the circumstances, the extra hands would be useful.

Immogene carefully studied Alecta's face, 'What has you so….blue?"

"So many things."

"Like what?"

"Hotc….Aaron had really wanted to be in the babies lives. He wanted to be there. And because of the argument and the way it made me feel I left, and now he's not here." Immogene could see the tears pooling quickly in Alecta's eyes. "I've become such a wreck. In these past few weeks, I've grown so used to him being around. You know me better than that."

"Well, if he hadn't have shot his mouth off, we would likely be in America right now…..or at the very least he could have come with us and he'd be here now, too. This isn't your fault. You had every right to feel some anger about the way he spoke to you."

"Maybe. But I can understand. He was terrified for Jack's safety….and Henry's. Aaron has lost a lot of the last few years…."

"Mac can we get the babies out quick, these hormones are making her mushy. She's starting to take his side in the argument."

"Give me time; it's not like pulling the string on a ship in a bottle. You just keep her calm. Since I don't have my usual monitors and other appliances, I need you to make sure she doesn't get herself worked up. We don't need her blood pressure to spike for God's sakes. Cossette, go grab a couple lanterns to give me more light."

"Yes sir." Cossette disappeared into the living room, asking Selim for the needed things. Coming back into the room, Cossette, with Selim's help hung the lanterns up above the bed a bit to grant Mac as much light as they could.

"That should be good enough. Thank you."

"Anything you need, let us know."

Selim went back out into the living room with Bayezit and Kong. Kong was pacing. He didn't like not being in there with her. He trusted Mac; that was never an issue. But Kong had always been a trifle over protective of the girls, especially Alecta; pacing was all he could do. He didn't even pay attention to the fact that Selim was trying to ask him questions. He was vaguely aware of hearing the other man's voice, but for the life of him, he couldn't tell you what Selim had just said to him. That is, until Selim stood in his path, causing him to stop pacing. Kong just gave him this funny look as if trying to figure out why the man was even here in the first place.

"My friend, my apartment is old. The floor is original. And in one day you're going to manage to do what history could not, by wearing a hole into it. What has you so preoccupied? What has our dear girl gotten herself into this time?"

Kong began to tell him of the recent developments; the foreigner that was after her, without saying his name. Nobody ever really wanted to speak his name out loud; doing so would be like inviting him into your home, that's not something that sane people wanted. And he also told Selim about the relationship between Alecta and Agent Hotchner, and their fight. He stated that everyone knew why Agent Hotchner had behaved the way he did about the argument. But they were still angry with him nonetheless.

"Of course you are. This is not shocking to me." Selim smiled at Kong slightly. Kong merely rolled his eyes at Selim.

"Come, sit, eat, and drink. We have some Rakiya and other things that might interest you. You need to sit. My floor cannot take much more."

"Shut up." Kong said as he walked over to the divan to sit down. Selim only snickered as Kong walked past him.

Kong, Selim, Bayezit, and Alecta's other children were sitting around the living room of Selim's apartment…eating and drinking…talking over things. Immogene and Yildiz were still in the room with Mac, helping him to deliver the babies.

It seemed like it was days; days and days, before the people out in the living room heard a baby wailing. It had been only two hours in reality. Kong stood, dumping his dishes all over the floor, walking at a quick pace to the door, Selim grabbing at his arm.

"Stay out here until you are called man. We will only be in the way." The last bit that Selim was trying to say was cut off by the sound of a second baby crying. At that time, all bets were off. Kong barged into the room, he would not be stopped.

Mac was just handing the second baby over to Yildiz and Cossette to be taken care of.

"Gentlemen, it seems as though the doctor was mistaken when he predicted the sex of the babies. I have delivered two girls, not one of each."

There was a loud cry heard, Kong looked around immediately; his eyes falling on Alecta. She was still in great agony.

"Mac, fix it. Why is she still hurting?" Kong was in nearly as much distress as Alecta.

"Take the baby….take the baby." Mac told Cossette and Ivory.

Yildiz was saying something too quickly in Arabic for Mac to understand.

Mac quickly got back over to Alecta, checking her over to try to find out what the problem might be.

"Ah! Here we go. Here it is."

"What man! Just fix it."

Mac got back to work, there was the cry of a third baby heard.

"And here is that little boy that we were told to expect. You're such a little gent aren't you now? Letting the ladies go first."

Immogene's eyes were wide, 'Three?"

"Yes. Three. The other two must have been hiding their sister."

Everyone looked over to Alecta as Mac handed off the third unexpected little bundle. She was very weak, as could be expected. Mac set about getting her taken care of now that the babies were delivered.

Immogene, feeling the pulse in Alecta's throat, 'Her heart is beating entirely too fast for my liking. Mac! Make it snappy."

Mac finished getting her all done up, leaned over and felt her pulse for himself.

"Run a bath of cold water. Do not put ice in it…"

"My friend, you are in Istanbul. What ice?" Selim arched an eyebrow at Mac.

"Run the water as cold as you can get it within reason. We need to put her in there to slow her heart rate a bit. Someone help me get her wrapped in a sheet."

Rachel stepped forward and helped Mac wrap her mother in a sheet; it was much like wrapping a cocoon. Selim and Bayezit ran ahead to the bathroom and began filling the tub with cold water as instructed; Kong began carrying her on back to put her in the tub. Alecta was barely able to hold her eyes open; it had been a stressful day. Flying from Ireland to Russia, being shot at, then the contractions started, and now she has had triplets. Really! And to think it wasn't even 5p.m. yet.

Mac had her set down in the tub; with her sitting in it the water was up to her neck. Rachel was told to stay with her mother for the next few minutes, keeping watch over her while Mac talked with Immogene to find out what the hell had happened in Russia.

"Who the hell was shooting at us back there?"

"First, you cannot tell her what's going on; she has had enough to deal with today….shit this week as a matter of fact."

"Immogene….."

"Fine. When I raised my weapon and lined my shot up….when I looked through the scope….."

"Woman!"

"The shooters were Sergei and Yuri."

"What!"

Post AN: So, that wraps up chapter 33 for me. I had debated about making it last longer, but this seems as good a spot as any to cut it off. There will be a chapter 34 coming soon enough. I couldn't think of any quotes (or find any) that appealed to me for this chapter; nor could I think of any song lyrics either for that matter.

Until next time then, let me know what you think if you would. Thanx.