by Jana Janeway
It was near impossible for her to let it go, but as he doted on her, brushing her hair back from her face, grazing his knuckles across her cheek, her thoughts finally drifted and eased.
‘I love you.’
He smiled against her lips as he kissed them again. ‘I love you, too, baby. So much.’
Chapter Sixteen
Hearing voices out in the hallway woke Craddock from his fitful nap. He hadn’t planned on falling asleep – he wanted to remain awake, to keep an eye on Jessica as she slumbered, also fitfully – but his mental exhaustion had made it difficult to fight off.
Carefully disentangling himself from Jessica’s loose embrace, he left the bed and stumbled to the door; it didn’t surprise him in the least to see Marcy, Shea, Stacy, and Bibi standing there as he opened it.
His eyes landed on each of them, still slightly unfocused since he wasn’t fully conscious yet. “What?”
Marcy waved him into the hall – a silent request that he join them. There was a note of tension amongst his friends and family, suggesting two possible reasons for this impromptu meeting. This was either about the plan to rescue the Mitchell parents, or it was about Jessica’s pregnancy.
“We have good news, and we have bad news.” Marcy gave away nothing in tone or demeanor; she was in agent mode again.
“Good news first.” It was a stall tactic; he would have to face the bad eventually, but perhaps knowing the good first would buffer it a little.
“I looked it up, and I was right. The Doppler can’t pick up fetal heartbeats until at least eight weeks. She’s only six and a half weeks along, going by her menstrual cycle date.”
Some of the weight that had been pressing upon him lifted. “So it’s just because he isn’t old enough.”
She nodded. “We can try again in a week, if you’re both anxious.”
That was an understatement, but he didn’t think Jessica could handle another disappointment, like the kind they suffered earlier, if they tried too soon and failed. He knew he couldn’t.
Giving her a noncommittal shrug, he shelved that issue for the time being. “And... the bad news?”
Her eyes flashed with concern, but being the consummate agent that she was, the break in her façade was almost too brief to catch. “There is the potential for complications.”
By sheer will alone, he reined in his panic. “What are they, and can we prevent them?”
“The info was vague, as you can imagine – putting too much out there, on something as public as the Net, would obviously be a bad idea.” He nodded in agreement. “But closest comparison, it seems, would be the RH factor in Humans. They have a shot that can fix that, but Mengliads, unfortunately, do not.”
“So then what are our options?”
“The best course of action is for the expectant Mengliad mom, who suspects she might be carrying a Human child, to eat highly nutritious Human foods as well as Mengliad foods.”
“That’s it?” He scowled. “What good does that do?”
“The incompatibility, partly, has to do with the nutritional needs of the fetus. Mengliad biology is different. We’re a high protein being, whereas Humans need a variety of things. Vegetables, carbohydrates, etcetera. That’s where the clash comes in.”
“So if she eats vegetables and bread, the baby will be fine?” he asked incredulously.
“The info was vague,” she repeated, “but yeah, that’s the general consensus.”
“But wait,” Stacy interrupted. “Something doesn’t make sense. If the baby is Human, wouldn’t Jessica’s blood going into him through the umbilical cord change him?”
“No, because the umbilical cord acts as a filter.”
“What does that mean?” Stacy asked, confused by Marcy’s answer.
“For Humans, if a pregnant woman were to take drugs, or drink alcohol, they would pass through the umbilical cord and into the fetus, possibly causing Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, or various other forms of birth defects. Or death. For Mengliads, that possibility doesn’t exist, because the umbilical cord has a filtration system. But along with it filtering those things which might hurt the baby, it also filters the properties needed to convert a Human into a Mengliad.”
“That seems more like a flaw, not an improvement,” Shea muttered. “It seems it would be better for mother and baby, if that change could take place while in the womb.”
“But what if the mother’s blood purity wasn’t strong enough?” Marcy posed hypothetically. “There would be no way to correct that while the baby is in utero. It would likely die. If the baby remains Human until it’s born, the BTR can be done properly, avoiding the risk of a muddy conversion.”
Shea conceded the point by shrugging; Stacy, however, wasn’t satisfied just yet.
“Then how does the nutrition get through?”
“Mengliad biology is different. More advanced. It breaks down what the mother consumes and delivers to the baby only what is best for it. But in order for that to happen, she must consume the necessary ingredients to start with.”
“Like carbohydrates and vegetables, because the baby might be Human.”
“Exactly. The bottom line here is,” Marcy concluded, “we need to keep an eye on her.”
“And we should keep Jessica in the dark as much as possible,” Shea said, interjecting his concerns. “The stress isn’t good for her.”
Craddock shook his head. “She can read me. If I construct a wall so that she can’t, she can tell and becomes upset.”
“Do the best you can,” was Marcy’s advice. “Stress affects Mengliad babies just as much as it does Human babies.”
Nodding, Craddock then asked, “What’s the other part? You said nutrition is part of the incompatibility,” he reminded her. “What’s the other part?”
She seemed reluctant to tell him. “In some cases, the mother’s body thinks the baby is a virus.”
“Oh God,” he whispered. “So she could miscarry?”
Marcy dropped her gaze. “It’s possible, but it’s rare. Try not to think about that, alright?”
His mind and stomach twisted and rolled. “Keep researching, okay? I want to know as much as possible.”
“I will,” she promised. “Just tell her we’ve determined that a more rounded nutritional approach is what’s needed, then try to change the subject.”
“To what?” he asked, heavy on the skepticism. He just knew any change in topics would be transparent to her.
“Not to be crass, but maybe try to seduce her?”
That usually did work, at least in the past, but new concerns surfaced at the thought. “Would that cause her or the baby… harm?”
“No,” she assured him, “and in fact, it might actually be good for her. Sex relaxes a person.”
When Shea groaned, Craddock redirected the conversation back to where it had been before. “Okay, so what do Humans eat while pregnant?” The question was directed at Shea and Stacy.
“How should I know?” Shea asked in return. “I’ve never been pregnant!”
Stacy sighed, rolling her eyes. Men could be so dense sometimes. “It’s not rocket science! Just… use common sense. Fruits, vegetables, whole grain breads… you know, like that.”
“Do we have any of that here?” Craddock enjoyed Human food on occasion, especially since meeting Jessica – she was an amazing cook – but he really had little knowledge of what was considered nutritious to Humans.
“If we don’t,” Marcy answered, “we’ll get it. Another thing we should get is prenatal vitamins. Humans take those when they’re pregnant.”
“Okay, yeah, good, do that,” Craddock said, his mind attempting to latch on to various key points as it raced. They would do all they could to prevent complications now, and deal with any issues that might arise later. “Let me know when you have all that ready.” His gaze shifted over to the door that separated him from his wife. “I’m going to go back in with Jessica now.”
He could hear them murmuring amongst themselv
es as he reentered the room, but since they weren’t speaking to him specifically, he tuned it out and quietly closed the door.
She was still asleep, but he had already known that. It was good that she was; he needed time to think. Finding a way to minimize the possible concerns without constructing a wall would be difficult. He couldn’t very well seduce her every time those worries entered their minds.
A smirk tugged at his lips with the thought of it, but then faded as quickly as it had appeared. Sighing, he climbed in beside her once again and snuggled up to her. When his movements woke her, he threw the mental wall up instantly.
‘Why are you blocking me? What happened?’
‘Nothing.’ He relaxed his mind, but forced it onto the positive aspects of the news he had been given. ‘Marcy did some research, and she says there are simple, preventative measures we can take to keep Junior healthy, if he’s Human. It’s a good plan, and won’t hurt him if he’s Mengliad.’
‘Seems too easy.’ She scowled at the ceiling. ‘What aren’t you telling me?’
The fight to read the thoughts he was protecting became futile. He abruptly pushed a new image to the forefront, of her beauty and sex appeal, and then he started to softly kiss her neck.
‘I’m a little incapacitated here.’
‘I know. I’m just being affectionate.’
‘Whatever it is you’re keeping from me, I’m still going to want to know what it is… after we’re done. This won’t make it go away.’
He eased up a little, but continued to nuzzle her as he held her. It was for her benefit, but the guilt he felt in keeping something so important from her started to bother him.
Sensing this, she requested of him, ‘Then just tell me.’
‘It’s a concern…’ His gentle kisses changed from affectionate to consoling. ‘Marcy was optimistic, but…’
‘But what?’
‘I’m scared,’ he admitted. ‘I know I balked at the idea of being a dad at first, but now I want it more than anything, and I just can’t stand the thought…’
When he started to choke up, he trailed off, his embrace of her becoming almost desperate.
‘You’re not weak,’ she insisted, knowing he was berating himself. ‘And please, enough of this macho man crap, okay? I told you before, I don’t need you to protect me from the truth.’
‘I just wanted to save you the stress.’
‘And pile it all on yourself so that you can have a nervous breakdown?’
‘I thought I could handle it. I want to handle it.’
‘You can and you will,’ she assured him, ‘but with my help. Okay?’
He nodded, acceding. “So, now what do we do?”
“We follow Marcy’s advice to the letter.” ‘Veggies, grains, fruits, prenatal vitamins… all of it. When Junior is old enough, we do the heartbeat gizmo and keep track of him.’
‘And… the no-stress thing? You really need to be calm. Marcy and Shea both said so.’
She scoffed. ‘What does Shea know?’
He laughed. ‘Point taken, but Marcy said it, too! And now I’m saying it! No stress! That’s an order!’
His pretending to be forceful made her smirk. “Yeah, yeah. I’ll keep calm, even if our situation goes from bad to…” ‘…to worse.’
The slightly lighter atmosphere dissipated when she began crying once again. Fluctuating hormones would obviously be a factor during her pregnancy. He needed to be strong for her, whether she admitted it or not, political correctness be damned.
‘Don’t cry, baby. I’ve got everything under control. We have a plan of action. Marcy is doing more research… I’m right here with you, the whole way, okay?’
As he said these reassuring words to her, he dropped his hand to her abdomen and his head to rest atop hers. She knew he was scared, too, but his confidence did help her.
Working to compose herself, she took in deep, calming breaths, and as she did so, she slowly stopped crying.
It killed him to see her like that. He would rather her be angry, though he preferred it if that anger wasn’t directed at him. Still, it showed off her fiery spirit, which was one of the many things he loved about her. When she cried, he just felt like a failure.
‘You’re not,’ she insisted. ‘You’re my rock.’
‘And you’re mine. You’re stronger than you give yourself credit for.’
She laughed at that. ‘I sure don’t feel like I am… at the moment.’
‘Then I’ll be strong enough for both of us, okay?’
‘The rock and the basket case!’ She laughed again. “You know I love you, right?”
“I do know.” ‘You know I love you, too, right?’
‘I do. You tell me every day, and show me in a million little ways.’
‘Seems fitting. I love you in a million ways.’
She smirked. ‘Oh yeah? Name them.’
‘Not now.’ His smile grew as he kissed her hair. ‘As your rock, it’s my job to make sure all things are taken care of. Which is exactly what I’m going to do.’ He moved to leave the bed. ‘Pull together an appetite, ‘cause I’m bringing you one of everything that helps make Human babies healthy!’
****
“It’s too risky.”
“It’s not. Trust me, this’ll work.”
“It’s our best hope, really. We don’t have anything of value that they want.”
Craddock entered the kitchen after catching just a few short sentences of the seemingly important conversation.
“What’s going on?” His eyes landed on Marcy out of habit. She usually had the scoop on whatever was transpiring in almost every given situation.
“We have a plan to rescue the Mitchells,” she answered.
“But some of us aren’t quite sure it’ll work.” The man who said that looked frustrated.
“Okay.” Craddock sighed as he dropped his head. When he looked up again, he stared directly at Marcy. “What’s the plan, and what are the concerns?”
“It’s tricky to explain in full detail,” she said, “but the gist is, we hack into the Registry’s computer’s mainframe and hold their entire world hostage until they release them.”
Craddock nodded. “And the concerns?”
“They could trace us as we’re hacking in,” the man from before answered, “and we’d have six dozen agents on our doorstep in a heartbeat.”
“Not if you know what you’re doing,” someone else insisted.
“And what if you make a mistake?” the first man argued.
“I know what I’m doing, Quinn, okay?” the second man shot back. “What, do you think I’d put this entire house in danger?”
“Not intentionally,” Quinn said, a bit more civilly, “but mistakes can happen. I’m not so sure we should be taking such a risk.”
Craddock allowed his gaze to wander past the two men arguing. When it landed on Shea, standing calmly off to the side, his heart lurched.
Shea knew about the plan? How had that happened?
“Craddock? Your thoughts?”
He quickly gave Elsa, who had asked for his opinion, his full attention. Not entirely sure how to answer, he suggested, “Maybe we should take a vote?” He glanced up at Shea, briefly, noting the grateful expression he wore.
“I think that’s a good idea!” Kiffen exclaimed. She then began hunting through the kitchen drawers.
“Secret ballot?” Elsa asked, and Kiffen nodded as she continued her search.
Most seemed to be in agreement that a vote was a good way to go, but there were also a few grumbles of protest. Elsa shushed them.
“This is a democratic way to do this. You’ll have your say.”
Finally locating a pad of paper and several pens, Kiffen began handing them around.
“Yes is for moving forward with this plan,” Elsa instructed, “no is for not.”
Craddock accepted his piece of paper and pen, and as the others took theirs, he made his way over to Shea.
“How you
holdin’ up?”
Shea let out a sharp sigh. “I’m anxious,” he whispered, “and I want to smack some sense into that Quinn guy, but otherwise… okay, I guess. How’s Jess?”
Both men wrote ‘yes’ on their ballots.
“I think she wants to start smacking people, too.” It was meant as a joke, but his seriousness remained. “She’s frustrated. She’s disbelieving that eating differently could prevent any future problems.”
“Did you attempt to convince her?” Shea asked, still whispering.
“Yeah, but she knows me too well, ya’know? I did what I could to hide it from her, but she can read my general feelings as well as my mind, and what I put forward.”
“If it’s just a general sense of things, couldn’t you just tell her your feelings have to do with something else?” Stacy asked, joining in on the quiet conversation.
“Sometimes,” Craddock answered, “but that can be harder to do when there isn’t another plausible subject to use.”
“Kiff will collect your votes,” Elsa said, “then we’ll tally them up.”
“What if it’s a tie?” Quinn asked.
Craddock was all set to answer, but Elsa beat him to it.
“Then we’ll ask Jessica for the tie-breaking vote.”
“Well, we all know what her vote will be,” Quinn grumbled.
“Let’s just count ‘em up, ‘kay, Quinn?” Elsa replied patiently. “Then we’ll go from there.”
“I wonder what Quinn’s vote will be,” Craddock whispered towards Shea. His brother-in-law ignored the sarcastic lilt in his tone.
“He’s been like this the whole time.”
After Kiffen collected their papers, Craddock asked, “Has anyone else been against this plan?”
Shea shrugged. “Not openly.”
They continued their whispered conversation as the votes were counted.
“So then maybe this will be a go,” Craddock offered optimistically.
“Maybe. You knew they were doing this, didn’t you?” The accusation was posed mildly.
“We did,” Craddock admitted. There was no point in denying it.
“We? Jessica knows, too?”
“Yes, but only that they were considering devising a plan. That’s why we didn’t say anything to you,” he explained. “We didn’t want you to get your hopes up if it all fell through.”