Chapter 13
Mags looked at Lucy Gray's belly, she was thin but her thighs were a little thick and her breasts were of a medium size.
How the hell was she pregnant?
"I am pregnant?" asked Lucy Gray confused.
'There is no time for questions,' said Mags, 'I need you to open your legs, put your feet on the edge of the bathtub."
Mags helped put her in a good position for childbirth. She was in the bathtub, that was good, many women in District Four give birth in tines.
"Woof, look for a knife and some alcohol. I think there is an emergency first aid kit in the kitchen " Mags began to give orders "You" she pointed to the Avox, I didn't know her name, "Bring clean towels and wire. Tigris, call an ambulance."
Everyone did what Mags ordered.
At this point, she was grateful for her grandmother's teachings regarding childbirth.
Lucy Gray began to climb as Tigris and Mags encouraged her, Woof went out waiting for the ambulance at the entrance of the building.
Mags had her hands near the birth canal and opened her eyes frightened to notice something.
'Lucy Gray, hold on!' said Mags.
"What?
'I feel the cord around the neck,' replied Mags. Carefully and trying not to cause pain, he quickly untie the cord "Ready, this is the last effort."
Lucy Gray lifted up again and the baby came out. Mags quickly pulled him out of the water.
She was a boy.
The newborn began to cry, demonstrating that he had strong lungs. He moved his little arms and legs.
Mags indicated to Tigris where to place the tapes in the cord so that Mags could cut it. The bathroom door opened to the paramedics.
They worked fast, they helped Lucy Gray get out of the bathtub, but she turned away from the pain when she kicked out the placenta on the bathroom floor.
Avox covered Lucy Gray with a bathrobe and the baby wrapped in towels.
The paramedics put her in the emergency camel. Mags and Tigris followed him, it was a tense ride in the elevator where the paramedics asked questions.
'I didn't know that I was pregnant,' said Lucy Gray, cuddling her newborn baby, who cuddled like a kitten.
When they reached the ground floor, the other twenty-three victors were there. Some already ready to go to the party and others still half dressed, all shocked and with expressions of astonishment.
Mags got in the ambulance while Tigris told him she and Woof would take a taxi to the hospital.
• •
A baby.
Lucy Gray just got a baby.
Her son.
She kicked the hand of one of the paramedics inside her vagina, then raised the blanket to see her in the middle of her legs.
'I think you has an uterine prolapse,' said the paramedic.
"What is that?" asked Lucy Gray, dizzy of pain.
"Her uterus is loosing," replied the paramedic, and then looked at the driver. "Tell the hospital to have a surgeon and a doctor ready."
Oh, no.
Lucy Gray looked at her baby.
She needed to live for this child.
• •
Coriolanus was in the middle of the Victory celebrations looking for Lucy Gray.
On the way he saw many victors whispering to each other.
'... they took her out in an ambulance with a baby in their arms,' said Garnet McCarthy of the One to other victors. "I didn't know Everdeen was pregnant."
'Lucy Gray Baird?' interrupted Coriolanus.
The four victors shook up nervously.
'Yes, Mr. President,' said Honorius Perthsiret, 'we all saw Everdeen bear in a camel and a newborn in arms. Nobody suspected she was pregnant, we all had breakfast together this morning and she was thin as usual."
'I saw her thinner than usual,' McCarthy added.
Coriolanus said nothing, he sought Lysistrata who was at the party.
Apparently, his former partner read his mind because she took out her cell phone and started telling him what she knew.
'They are already finishing an emergency surgery for uterine prolapse,' she said with a glance at her phone. "They didn't remove her uterus, but the ovaries because they showed multiple cysts in them. But everything's fine."
"What about the baby?"
'He's a full-time child,' Lysistrata read the message on his phone. "It is 35 centimeters tall and weighs 2.6 kg. A relatively healthy baby, he has strong lungs and his reflexes are fine."
'How did this happen?' asked Coriolanus.
"Cryptic pregnancy," replied Lysistrata, "and I envy O'Connor. It's the first time in seven years that I've seen something like this and I'm getting lost."
"Did you say it was full term?"
"Yes, so if I don't fail, the baby was supposed to be conceived at the end of July."
End of July.
Lucy Gray took a post-day pill in front of him.
He was Everdeen's son.
• •
Woof left the hospital with Tigris to get things for Lucy Gray's baby.
Since no one knew about this, not even Lucy Gray herself, she shouldn't have had anything for her son. So Woof skipped the Victory Tour party to go buy basic things as a gift.
Woof always thought ridiculous those baby bassinet. with many bright ribbons that presented the Capitol, but at these moments it seemed to him the most adorable things.
So Tigris and he bought a white baby bassinet. with heavenly fit, which they filled with a full baby hood and diapers. They also fixed a balloon that said, "It's a boy."
They returned happy to the hospital, where they informed her that Lucy Gray had been transferred to a private room, where Mags was feeding the baby Everdeen with a bottle.
"How is she?" asked Woof, holding the baby bassinet.
'Dr. O'Connor says he will wake up from anesthesia in a couple of hours,' replied Mags.
'What about this lovely child?' asked Tigris, smiling at the baby.
He had abundant and loose black hair, his cheeks were chubby. A healthy baby and recover.
A miracle, considering what Lucy Gray has lived through the last few months.
The three stayed in the room until Lucy Gray woke up. She cried of joy when she saw her son, with the help of a nurse she sat on the bed so that she could embrace her son.
The nurse told her he was a perfectly healthy baby.
"You're good at hiding," laughed Lucy Gray with her eyes shining in tears. "You hid from me for months."
'And what's his name?' asked Woof.
'My name is for a poem and a song,' said Lucy Gray, 'landscape with the fall of Icarus was my husband's favorite poem. It's a bit tragic, like mine, but it's suitable for us. And Denim will be second, it's a blue tone, like Erik's eyes."
"Icarus Denim Everdeen," Tigris smiled. "It's perfect."
Lucy Gray kissed her son's forehead with a smile of satisfaction.
• •
Coriolanus learned that Lucy Gray would be in the Capitol for a whole week recovering from surgery at the same time as she began taking medication to stimulate lactation.
The next day he learned the name of the child.
Icarus Denim Everdeen.
Icarus, like the prisoner who flew too far into the sun and fell into the sea.
Coriolanus ordered that the birth certificate of the child be considered a citizen of District Twelve, irrespective of whether he was born in the Capitol, was the son of two citizens of the twelve and would be recognized as such.
She read the report, saying that the baby was born between 37 and 38 weeks, and from Lucy Gray's statement months ago that she took the emergency contraceptive and that the arrival of her period all indicated that he was Erik Everdeen's son.
The day after the party, all the victors went to the hospital to bring her gifts.
The news of the unexpected birth came to important people who also brought gifts.
Coriolanus went to visit her three days after giving birth.
When we entered the room there was nobody, possibly whoever turned either Casino, Flanagan or Tigris must be looking for food. The room was full of gifts like flowers, sweets, some plushies.
Lucy Gray was deeply asleep, and to her right was a children's bedroom where Everdeen's son slept.
Coriolanus approached, dressed in celestial clothes.
He saw his hair black and skin still pink by birth.
The baby opened his eyes and saw light brown eyes.
He was the son of Erik Everdeen.
He killed his father, but left off a offspring.
"Enjoy your next eighteen years of life, child," said Coriolanus to the newborn, "For you will be thrown into the Arena of the Games."
The child seemed to see it, moved his arms and one of his hands grabbed his dark hair. At the second he began to cry.
Coriolanus retreated a few steps to the baby's screaming cry, and that woke up Lucy Gray who rose up shocked, she looked at him for a few seconds before focusing her attention on her son.
Making a squeeze of pain, she took the baby in her arms.
'Oh, no, it's hairing again,' said Lucy Gray, trying to get him hair loose. 'Come, my love, open your little hand.'
She trembled afraid to apply force, after seconds she managed to get the baby to let go of him grip on his own hair, but he continued to cry.
Without worrying about the presence of Coriolanus, Lucy Gray opened her shirt leaving one of her breasts uncovered, the baby clung to one of them to start breastfeeding freneticly.
Lucy Gray squeezed relieved and finally looked at Coriolanus.
'I apologize if I have not received it properly, Mr. President,' said Lucy Gray seriously with the baby still clutched to her breast.
"It was a matter of conversation your condition."
'Even I was surprised,' smiled Lucy Gray, looking at her baby. 'Dr. Monroe told me that my chances of conceiving would be null because of the sequences of Carolina Scarlet's death, but... here it is. Erik's last gift.
Coriolanus tightened his fist at the mention of Everdeen.
"Thanks to the stars, the pediatrician said that Icarus Denim is healthy." Lucy Gray with her eyes fixed on the baby. "Your father may have died, but we have each other."
Coriolanus left the room.
With this change of scenario, things would be different,
Lucy Gray, with Everdeen's son in existence, was no longer fit to be his wife.
But that didn't mean he't have it in his hands.
N/a: And the baby came. And let it be noted that my favorite Discovery Home show was "I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant."
Both Lucy Gray and Snow are clinging to the idea that Icarus Denim is Erik Everdeen's son, so there will be no DNA test.
In a first idea, I was thinking Lucy Gray would give birth in the Presidential Mansion, hidden in a room, but better to say in the bathroom of the Tribute Center, surrounded by people who appreciate her.
Despite being born in the Capitol, legally Icarus Denim is a citizen of District Twelve.
And yes, Snow threatened a newborn to send him to the Games Arena. And since Lucy Gray's ovaries were stripped, in Snow's mind, she could no longer give him a child, so she's no longer fit for the role of wife, so he downgraded her to being his mistress.
Here is the timeline:
March 3, 34.A.D.D Haymitch Abernathy is born ( he is a Pisces).
March 19, 34.A.D.D. Calla Violet Nightingale-Clade (Pisces) is born.
April 15, 34.A.D.D. Icarus Denim Everdeen (Aries) is born.
And it's a good time to remember that Billy Taupe's niece ends up marrying Snow and Lucy Gray's son *insert evil laughter*.