"Quickly, tell me how it happened...", Jacques asked gently, and Sia spoke quietly, "It happened so fast...We were finally getting that worm creature...The weak spots didn't heal real fast as he kept getting wounded and more wounded, and then just as we got him in the throat, through the mouth and jaws, he went berserk on the defensive side, not clearly wanting to die like a coward, and before I knew it, his tail slammed into my Ketak. I tried to control it, but it was so fast and hard, and it crashed, with the shield glitching all the way, and I was thrown from it, sliding across the rocky and hard ground...".
Jacques grimaced, "Damn...Don't worry, you'll be back to your beautiful self as soon as the healers fix you up, and we'll save our baby girl. Jendayi, right? That's an amazing name...You will see that she will be fine, I promise...We will feel her kicking and growing as she should be, and have her be healthy and not in pain, and I will be there every day, I won't leave you ever again, and we will witness her birth, to hear her breath of life, to see her nurse from your breast, to feel her wonderful baby skin, smell her glorious baby scent.".
Sia gave a small smile, "You sound so sure, my love...I pray that you're right...I am really hoping that I'm not dreaming...I don't want this to be a nightmare...I want Jen to be safe...I love her so much that I couldn't imagine living without her already, like with you, Jacques...I love you...", pain continuously going through her and her daughter, so tired to the point of exhaustion that she can't keep her eyes open any longer before barely hearing the driver's call, "I see the lava lake! Almost there!", as she closed her eyes, her energy unconsciously trying to keep her baby alive with the warrior's aid, falling into shock from the blood loss, edging into a coma.
"Hurry it up, man! They're not going to make it!", Jacques shouted, sort of in a desperate plea even though he knew the pilot was pushing the Ketak as fast as it probably could go. "Please hang on, Sia... you'll make it... you'll make it...".
The warrior healing the best he could looked up at Jacques, "Prince Jacques, hold her a bit more firmly yet gently, while you use your crystal to see if you can add a boost to this Ketak!", and Jacques took off his crystal as he held Sia a bit more firmly yet gently, praying in Atlantean as the crystal glowed as it laid on the side of the Ketak, and with the shield more stronger, the Ketak became faster.
They zoomed over the lava lake, through the cavern tunnel, to the city where the Heart of Atlantis was alternating between red and blue beams, and Jacques realized that being the second born heir to the throne, the Heart was sensing that Sia and her daughter's in danger.
They zoomed to the healing center aka the hospital, and with stretchers and such, thanks to finding more advanced medicine scrolls and supplies they had uncovered in the past eight months, along with becoming known with them, Sia unconsciously cried out in pain as they touched her wounds and such, with Nola shouting, "Quick, get an IV in her! Jacques, permission to use your blood in a blood transfusion to the baby?!", as they got off the Ketak.
"Do you even need to as- whatever, yes, a million times yes! Whatever I can do to try and save them!", Jacques told Nola as they kept moving; Jacques continuing to pray to whoever was listening in the hope that both Sia and their new daughter could be saved. Even if the odds would be more against their child considering how young she was.
They went quickly to a room in the healing center, as the healers washed their hands thoroughly and swiftly, and went to work, with Jacques holding into Sia's hand as she unconsciously kept crying out in pain, with his other hand resting on the bed, his arm being injected in a major artery for the blood infusion to the baby, while the IV is carefully inserted into Sia's other hand.
"Good, good, you, heal the wound on the princess's back before we can lay her back comfortably to get to the baby easier! You, get a warm towel on that concussion knot on the back of her head!", Nola ordered as she put the IV bag up high on a stand, and with a blood runner machine on a dresser, with a bag on the other side of the stand, getting steadily filled with Jacques's blood.
"Can we save them?", Jacques asked as Nola sighed. "I don't know...", she admitted. She didn't want to lie to him or give him false hope. "Maybe we made it just in time, but we have to wait and see for a little bit; just to at least stabilize things...".
Jacques nodded, biting his lip as the healers kept working, healing the wound on Sia's back finally, laying her back gently with a warm, slightly crystal-touched towel on the back of her head on the concussion knot, and went to wrench the left arm back into the shoulder, earning Sia to shout unconsciously in pain, the crystal healing fast, with a Atlantean cast on her right broken arm, healing the cut on her right leg, and wrapping bandages around her sprained ankle on her left leg.
They then went to check on Sia's cuts on her chest, including the deep cut into the womb, and with a careful incision into the baby's foot, the tube of blood is attached to Jacques' blood bag, with a crystal and the blood runner working to make sure that Jacques' blood is related to the baby well enough without harm.
"I see no injury to the baby thankfully. Sia must have healed anything on her. But half the water and the important stuff in the water bag is gone...The cord is mostly intact, evidence of being healed, but the placenta is loose... ", Nola replied, as it took over a half hour to heal Sia and hold on to the womb before Nola was able to inspect.
Jacques looked worried, "Is that bad?", and Nola sighed deeply, "We have advanced incubators for preemies, but not her age of the pregnancy...And the IV bag is helping Sia rebuild her blood loss, keeping the baby alive along with your transfusion, but...With the deep cut this open and the air and everything, the baby could get sick...And I don't know if she can fight that, especially with the fact that it's still 10 more months to full term for her and using you and Sia to keep her alive all those weeks...", with a frown.
Jacques looked torn, realizing that his new daughter isn't strong enough, and with the womb not fully intact, and even if the deep cut is healed, the baby wouldn't grow up right, and for Sia to keep fighting to full term, she couldn't have strength to give birth to their daughter, and possibly die from childbirth...Would he even handle having a sickly newborn that would be like Steve in his old life or save his mate when she is still desperate to see her daughter just once?
Just as he was making the hardest decision of his life, the door opened with Thaddeus supporting Abraham who is in labor, "Nola! We heard the news from Kida who was interpreting the danger the Heart was telling her, and now Rachel's coming, yet she is not breaking her water bag because she wanted to help the baby by giving her water antibodies and all as it breaks!", panting and groaning from contractions.
"Will... will that work?", Jacques asked as he looked to Nola. He was just hoping that this was something that maybe had happened before in a way so she might have some sort of experience.
"It never happened before at your daughter's age, as it worked on later ages, but we have to try everything we can to help your daughter, and if it helps Sia alongside on the sidelines, it's something. Get a divider, to give Abraham privacy, along with another bed, and get one of the water bag funnels and tubes, some of you, go!", Nola ordered.
The other healers nodded, going at once, obeying Nola, and soon, Abraham was dressed in a Atlantean hospital gown which is far more cozy and less scratchy than the current ones on the surface, resting on an adjustable bed, groaning and moaning from the contractions as the divider was put in place between Abraham and Sia, as Nola went to put dissolvable blue threads, stitching the loose placenta in Sia's womb not too tightly, but just enough to be strong enough to last the rest of the pregnancy and able to get off at childbirth later on as Sia unconsciously gasped and cried in pain, as the other healers went to tape the funnel at Abraham's thighs, right at Abraham's temporary vagina/prostate, with the tube of the funnel, taped at several points through the divider's slits, another stand with an antibiotic bag to help it along, and to Sia's womb, to the water bag.
"As soon as Rachel's water bag breaks, this tube will carry it all to Sia's daughter's water bag, and as soon as she's thriving, with the water bag as full as possible to protect her, we will heal her water bag's cut, take out the tube, and then stitch up the belly cut with the crystal on it afterwards.", Nola replied, looking at Abraham and Jacques between the divider.
"Jendayi. That's her name Sia gave her...", Jacques replied, feeling more hopeful, yet he knew that they're not out of the woods yet, and Abraham said between contractions, "That's a beautiful name. We will save them, Jacques. It will be any minute now as Rachel is pretty much ready to-", before he cried in pain as his first big contraction came, and felt the water bag of his daughter break, gushing out steadily.
"I think that was it..", Thaddeus said as he squeezed Abraham's hand. Everyone was hoping that this would work as Nola moved fast to try get her work done perfectly.
"Just have to wait a moment to see...", Nola whispered as Jacques squeezed Sia's hand and leaned to her ear, "Please... you have to fight too... please help give our daughter just a bit more strength for this...".
Sia was really out, yet her crystal glowed, giving a warm blue sensation down to her womb, to little Jendayi who is now experiencing feelings of determination and tiredness yet living the moment.
Altogether with Jacques's blood transfusion, and the water bag filling up steadily from the gift of Rachel's water bag, full of antibodies, she became stronger and bigger, and before they knew it, Sia's belly became a proper baby bump, with a hearty 6 month old Jendayi, moving lively and not in pain anymore, and Nola laughed warmly as she gently removed the blood transfusion from Jendayi's foot, along with the tube of the water bag, seeing that Rachel had completely given all of hers, and used her crystal to heal the cut of the water bag quickly before anything would overspill out into the womb.
Jacques looked between Nola and the baby bump, still bearing the deep cut, "Is...is she okay?", and Nola smiled, "More than okay, Jendayi's truly like her mother.", cleaning the deep cut and the womb lining before stitching the deep cut and healing it deeply every bit of stitch mark, and then the baby bump is now flawless as Nola checked once again with her crystal, and then nodded with a smile, "Her heartbeat is now stabilized, with her lungs developing good, and all intact with her body properly as it is. She is tired, yet she will be fine as she just needs the rest.".
"Oh, thank the Kings...And Sia?", Jacques replied, crying in relief and joy, and Nola replied, "She's in a coma, but it's not life-threatening, thank goodness. She had exhausted her limits to save the baby, and with the IV in her, she will have less urgency to focus on the baby. Best to wait, and we'll have a mess pad for her if she needs to use the toilet, and massage her throat for some soup and all, for her and the baby. My best guess is that she will wake up in a couple of days. You did great, Jacques...Rest back in this chair, and don't worry, you won't have to leave her, just be patient while we can put another IV bag for you in place of your blood loss in your transfusion. You must be feeling dizzy at least.", taking out the needle of the blood transfusion from Jacques's arm.
Jacques took a huge sigh once more when the needle was removed, "I feel somewhat awful, but that's probably with all the fear and stress and then having to give blood on top of things just made it worse...". He then turned his head to Thaddeus and Abraham. "How are you two holding up now?", he asked.
Abraham gave a small smile, "Pretty much in labor...Never imagined I would be in this position...", before softly crying out in pain at a contraction, and Nola went over, "Breathe, Abraham, let's see how far you are along.", as the other healers gently removed the water bag funnel, and worked on getting another IV for Jacques, as he was sure that at least an hour and half had passed since they got here from the Ketak.
Thaddeus kissed Abraham on the temple, "It's okay, Abram, everything's going to be alright...", as Nola checked, and replied, "Only half dilated. Let's roll you out to another room so Sia and the baby couldn't be disturbed with the noise, as I'm sure Jacques would just want to be alone with them, as soon as the IV for him is in.".
Jacques replied, "You're right about that, and Abraham, you got this. You're going to be having your twins in your arms soon enough, and I'll see them when I could need a bathroom break or something.".
Abraham gave a small chuckle, "Thank you, Jacques, and it's great to have you home again. I know Vinny and Kory will be overjoyed to see you, as soon as Nola gives the clearance, of course.".
Nola smiled, "You're not wrong about that, Abraham.", as she and another healer, along with Thaddeus, rolled Abraham's bed out of the room, heading to another room as Abraham took deep breaths from the contractions, and as soon as they are settled in, Nola checked again, "Just a bit smidgen past half dilated. I suppose Rachel doesn't want to go too fast to scare you or cause issues too much eagerly, Abraham, and if it's anything like what I heard about surface births by listening to your stories about your previous wife, it would take a long while before you are set to push.".
"After all the stress and fear everyone had before, she might just be wanting to give everyone a break for half the day...", Abraham suggested. "She is quite clever after all...", Thaddeus joined in with a small tease.
Abraham chuckled, "Just like us, you mean.", kissing his husband on the lips before moaning in pain from another contraction, and Thaddeus rubbed his arm, "Exactly.".
So, it has been taking five hours since then, between taking small snacks, walking around, having brief naps, and using an exercise ball, and checking on the progress of the dilation every half hour.
Meanwhile, Jacques, now all better from being rejuvenated by the IV bag, is being visited by Vinny who is carrying Korbyn, with a duffle bag of bottles of pumped breast milk from the kitchens in the palace since with the IV in place in Sia's hand, the natural breast milk is off limits for now just until she gets uncomfortable sooner or later with them being full, until Nola gives the clear for Kory to suckle while Sia is in her coma.
Vinny smiled, now fully dressed as a Atlantean boy, with a couple of tattoos to remind him of his past family, different with his hair, tan, and eyes, of course, but he became part of Atlantis happily, "Look, Kory, look who's here! It's Papa!".
Korbyn squealed happily, reaching out for Jacques, squirming with a pout at his big brother, gesturing for him to put him down on the floor, and Vinny chuckled, "Alright, alright, Kory.", gently putting him down, looking at Jacques, "Don't move, Papa.", with a wide smile, and Korbyn, from his butt, moved into crawling, squealing happily as he went straightforward to Jacques, giving him the joy to see his son crawling.
Jacques gave a small smile at the sight; he still needed to keep himself from getting too excited considering his sacrifice earlier with blood; last thing anyone needed was a blood pressure issue, "Has he been doing this before I arrived?" Jacques asked Vinny.
Vinny smiled, "For at least 3 months. And now, Mom has been helping him how to stand, but he couldn't quite get it yet.", as he came closer, as Korbyn made it to Jacques's feet, tugging at his pants, looking up at him with his gummy smile of only one baby tooth.
Jacques chuckled as he picked him up, "Oh, Kory...I'm so proud of you, you're a fantastic crawler...Don't worry, you will get the gist of standing up soon enough...", taking in his baby scent as Korbyn babbled happily, hugging his face.