Chapter 43 A/N I don't own Merlin.
"In those stables, please hurry!" he said frantically.
"Don't worry, I'm here to help." Cassie said gently when she found the man's wife lying on a few bales of hay.
She quickly set down her medical bag and did a cursory examination of the mother before crouching down between her legs and wincing. "I-I have to perform a Cesarean. I'm so sorry, it's going to hurt." Cassie said, digging through her bag to find the knife and the gauze and prepared to make the first cut vertically along the abdomen.
"No!" the man cried, stopping Cassie from moving an inch. When she looked back and saw a pair of golden eyes she realized why her hand wouldn't move. "I will not let you kill her."
"If I don't do this, your wife and child will surely die! Stop using your magic unless you want the three of you dead!" she hissed, refusing to look away from his golden eyes.
"She'd better not die." he warned in a low voice, releasing his magical hold on her wrist.
"I will do my best, I will do all I can, but I cannot promise anything." Cassie told him, taking a deep breath before moving the knife closer to the pale woman's abdomen.
"Have you done this before?"
"No. But I have studied how to do it, and I have delivered a few difficult births successfully. Now let me concentrate. Take her hand, comfort her. Don't look away from her." she said, adding the last gently before pressing down firmly and slicing open her abdomen. Cassie got past the first layer of tissue before the bleeding increased. "Forget what I just said, go into my bag, take out one of the blunt metal objects and heat them with your magic, press the hot metal to where the blood is coming out, it'll stem the bleeding while I can deliver your child."
"What?" he said, startled.
"Now! It may save her!" Cassie said quietly as he scrambled to find what she spoke of and follow her directions. He frantically heated the dull blade and pressed it where he saw blood leaking, his face growing paler after he smelled the burning skin.
"I might be sick." he said quietly, pressing his lips together.
"Don't, she needs you, just focus on that." Cassie said once she got through the first four layers and made a small incision in the uterus and used a pump to help drain some of the fluid.
"Okay," he nodded. "Won't that hurt him?"
"I need more space so I can remove your baby from the womb." she answered quickly "I have to take the head out, hold the incision open with your other hand."
"Why are you doing that?" he asked as Cassie used her fingers to free the amniotic fluid from the baby's mouth and nose, proceeding to free the baby by wiggling him back and forth.
"Drop that and bring my bag closer, find the scissors and heat them up so they're sterile." Cassie told him as she finally delivered the rest of the babies' body and the afterbirth.
"Cassie! We've been looking all over for you!" Owaine said as he, Gaius and Merlin walked into the stables.
"Tend to the baby, make sure she's warm and get her breathing, have Merlin help you." Cassie ordered, motioning for Gaius to help her cut the umbilical cord. "I don't have enough sutures, did you bring?"
"Yes, I did." he said, looking at her handiwork. "This is remarkable!"
"Not now, Gaius." Cassie said, her flushed face growing hotter as she thread the needle and catgut through the uterus carefully. "Uhm, you, come back and heat the probe again." Cassie said, embarrassed that she never caught his name.
"What?!" he said, panicking slightly.
"Go out to the fire and heat it." Cassie said, nodding expectantly at him
"R-right. Y-yeah. I-I'll do just that." he stuttered out, quickly taking the probe and hiding his eyes as he left the stables. "H-here." he handed the probe to Gaius who had caught onto Cassie thinking and was cauterizing the bleeders as she sutured.
"We've got this, Gaius. Go see to the baby. She needs you more." Cassie told him as she finished suturing the muscles and moved on to the second outermost layer. "Gaius, we need some more sutures. I'm running out." Cassie called over her shoulder as she continued.
"Merlin's going, he knows where they are." he told her as he gave the baby girl some warm goat's milk.
"Will she be okay?" the man asked worriedly.
"I don't know." Cassie answered truthfully, sighing in relief when Merlin ran back in with the sutures. "Take him to meet his daughter while I finish up here, Merlin" Cassie told him, waiting for both of them to leave before muttering under her breath: "Áfyle se blÓd, áfeorme bæn, ond gerenne, ĝefanga bæm bónlocum." (roughly translated means replenish the blood, clean the wound, clot the blood, and join the muscles) She felt her magic swell up inside her and out towards the unconscious woman, giving her some color back to her pale visage while the angry red scar from the stitched skin showed vibrantly. "Owaine, help me give her some of this tonic. It'll help replenish the blood and then go to my chambers and bring the potion I make for the pregnant women. It'll help with some of the nutrients. Did you bring something for the pain, Gaius?" Cassie asked as she dampened a cloth and started to clean her abdomen with it, swaying slightly where she knelt.
"Yes, I don't have any salve for the sutures, however." he told her, taking out a vial and handing it to Owaine.
"Merlin, Owaine. Would you two help carry her up to my chambers. Gently." Cassie said, warning them with one look that anything too harsh would severely hurt her.
"We'll bring a stretcher." Merlin said with a nod as Owaine slowly lowered the woman's head and followed him.
"Will she be okay?" the man asked, his voice breaking as he looked at his wife.
"I've done everything I can. But the Cesarian is dangerous, I won't lie. She might not make it. And even if by some miracle she does, I don't know if you'll ever have more children." Cassie told him gently. "What's your name?"
"Thomas."
"You may stay in my chambers tonight, Thomas. My betrothed and my friend will take your wife up there. I have some soup from our dinner that you may have and a cot as well." Cassie told him as softly as she could as Merlin and Owaine slowly carried his wife up to her chambers and they followed behind in the dark of the night.
"I-thank you. For everything." Thomas said, looking at her with gratitude as she nodded in reply.
"Gaius, can you go up ahead and wake Alex. Thomas' wife should have the bed, Alex and Taran can sleep with Owaine tonight." Cassie asked him.
"Yes, of course. I have an extra cot in my chambers, I'm sure Merlin won't mind for tonight." he told her before going on ahead as she and Thomas slowed their stride a little.
"I won't say anything about earlier if you don't say anything about tonight." Cassie whispered, looking around frantically for any one who might hear.
"I don't understand." he said, his brows furrowing as he held his daughter closer to protect her from the slight wind that had picked up. "You want no one to know you can-"
"I promised I would do all I could for her. And I did, I used magic." Cassie admitted in a whisper. "I truly hope she lives, Thomas. There has been too much death recently." she said in a normal voice, walking further ahead to go up to her chambers and get a change of clothes on unsteady legs.
"Is she settled?" Cassie asked Merlin and Owaine when she crossed the threshold into her room.
"She began shivering so I put a blanket over her." Merlin said quietly as Thomas entered the room.
"Give me the baby, she needs to nurse and the first feeding is the best. I'm sure your wife will appreciate it as well." Cassie said as she took the baby from her father's arms and went up the stairs to her bedchamber, closing the door for privacy and laying the baby on her mother's chest, letting her find her way to the breast to feed.
"I've already made up the cot so you can stay in my room tonight, Cass." Merlin said when she came down to the main chambers about a half hour later.
"Thanks, Merlin. I'll stay in the servants' quarters off of Morgana's room tonight. There's no need for you to take the cot." Cassie said with a tired smile as she handed the baby back to her father.
"No, it really is no bother, Cassie." Merlin told her.
"The bed in the servant's chambers is perfectly fine, Merlin. I'll just grab a dress for tomorrow and be out of your hair. There's some soup on the table which you are welcome to. And if your wife wakes up, please do feed her. Give her this potion tomorrow around midday, there's a basin in that room to wash and these are to wrap your daughter in. This is to pump some breast milk, it will be quite painful if she gets an infection. I'll be in tomorrow to show you how this works, it's quite complicated and painful if you do it wrong. Gaius and Merlin are just next door, in case of any emergency, although I don't foresee one. I'll be back to check on her tomorrow morning. Both hers." she corrected, smiling down at the babe in his arms. "Your daughter is truly beautiful. There's a makeshift crib in there, use it. The bed is big enough for the two of you, but I would advise against jostling her too much. She is still recovering and very weak. The chambers are yours while she recovers." Cassie said softly, not wanting to wake the baby.
"Thank you, Cassiopeia. Truly."
"No need, Thomas. Get some rest. We all need it." Cassie said gently, turning to go out the door towards Owaine's room to check up on the boys while Merlin and Gaius followed.
"You okay?" Owaine asked as soon as the door to his chambers closed behind her and she let out a long breath.
"Exhausted. Needing a bath. But other than that I am perfectly well, thank you. Did they fall back asleep quickly?" Cassie asked him, looking past him onto the bed at Alex and Taran's sleeping forms, before taking the shirt she'd used the other night.
"Quite. Alex didn't even make it back before he fell asleep again." he said with a soft chuckle. "You can stay here tonight, you know. No need to take one of my shirts when you could have me." he told her seductively, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her closer.
"Thank you, but no. Taran really is a crier and I need some sleep. It's been a long night; first the Afanc then the Cesarean. Whew!" Cassie said with a shake of her head after she wiped her brow comically, eliciting the soft chuckle she so loved. "I hope Morgana doesn't have a nightmare, that'd be the last thing I need. I'm going to go now, goodnight, Owaine." Cassie said, standing on tiptoes and kissing him tenderly before turning to leave the room.
"Goodnight, my Queen." he told her softly before she reached the door, making sure both boys were tucked in before making his way to the couch to sleep.
"How was your night?" Cassie asked after Thomas opened the door to her chambers in the morning.
"No sleep at all. She's got some color back, though." he said hopefully.
"I just need a few minutes with each." Cassie told him with a smile, going up to the room and closing the door to check his wife over. "I never asked what your wife's name was." Cassie told him as she finished looking her over and went back down to the main room.
"Isabelle." he answered, looking at her expectantly.
"Well, there's not much change to Isabelle. More rest and the potion at mid day like I said. And some of that soup if she wakes up. I'll be quick with your daughter, wouldn't want to wake her up when she's sleeping so peacefully."
"Okay." he said, taking his wife's hand gingerly as she looked over the sleeping baby.
"Okay, I've cleaned this, remember to do so after every time you pump. This part here goes over her breast and this tube is used to gently suck. The milk should fill the cup and then you can transfer to this one so your child can drink. From what I've seen, try doing this every two hours or so. At least for now." Cassie explained, placing the guttus over one of his wife's breasts and gently sucking until the weight of the milk could be felt. "Now you try, remember, suck gently." she said, quickly transferring the milk into another bottle and cleaning everything once to show him how to do it before letting him take her place on his wife's other side.
"Where did you learn?" he asked quietly as he finished transferring the milk into the bottle.
"Gaius taught me most of what I know about childbirth when I got the position as Court Midwife. This is something I saw a few women use when I was younger in Reccopolis when they couldn't feed their child and they couldn't refuse to tell me how it works." Cassie answered evasively, holding up the ceramic pot and tubing.
"I meant magic." he whispered quickly.
"In my homeland it's not illegal. There was a woman who taught me everything I know. Edurne, she was a healer, and a kind woman. And a sorceress." Cassie said quietly after a pregnant pause, fussing with the baby who had woken while she taught Thomas how to express the breast milk and was grabbing onto her finger.
"I'm glad she taught you. I wouldn't have both my girls otherwise. We've been through so much, Belle and I. Best friends for years before I got the courage to tell her how I felt about her. And even longer for her to admit she loved me back. The moment we can, we'll give you your chambers back. And I'll find a way to pay you for everything you've done. I mean it." he told her solemnly, looking into her eyes.
"I don't want payment. You're going to need the money more than I, seeing as I'm not entirely sure how long Isabelle will need to recover before you can continue your journey and you'll need to find someplace to stay here. I have more rounds to do. There's some goat's milk in that water barrel to keep it cold. Just warm it up before giving it to your daughter, if not do what I taught you just now to feed her. This milk should still be warm enough by the way. I've done everything I can, but if she doesn't wake up sometime today or tomorrow, I'm afraid there's little chance she will. Excuse me." Cassie told him gently, handing the baby over to Thomas before turning to gather some supplies.
"Won't you need it for your son?" he asked with a furrowed brow.
"The goat's milk? I've found a wet nurse for Taran. And he's not my son, his parents died a few days ago, I'm only taking care of them until I can find a family for them." she said softly
"Oh. Um, thanks. You're a good person." he repeated as Cassie walked towards the door.
"Don't mention it, please." Cassie said, looking over her shoulder tense, only relaxing at his slight nod and leaving the room.
(Another one of my most likely, probably not so medically accurate birth chapters because, I've had you waiting far too long and I had no clue where to go from the ending of my last chapter. Hope you liked! You've read, now review, favorite, follow. Let me know what I can do to write better, still new-ish at this, Chem major that's seriously wishing I did art or english or something, Physical Chemistry is killing me!"