Knight Awakening

by Zanetti, Rebecca

  Jax awkwardly patted Penny’s shoulder. “Um, Doc? We’re gonna need to get a move on.”

  Marcus settled his hand at the base of her spine. “She’s not usually this emotional,” he said.

  Jax stepped back. “I completely understand. The first time somebody sticks a gun to your head is terrifying. It’s okay, Doc. I’ll head back to check on everyone, and you guys take your time. It’s all good.” He backed away from the crying woman, looking like he’d rather defuse a bomb with his teeth. “Bye.” When he opened the door, he ran out into the rain.

  Marcus looked down at the sobbing woman. “Penny?” He reached down and lifted her chin. “I’m sorry.”

  She blinked, her eyes bloodshot from crying. “For what?”

  “Everything. I’m supposed to protect you, and now you have a bruise on your temple. You’re crying and you’re scared.” He flattened his hand across her lower back, easily spanning the entire width. “It’s okay?”

  She blinked and sniffed. “None of this was your fault. I’m usually more in control, but this last week has been a lot. I’m never this emotional.”

  “It’s okay.” He gently brushed the tears off her face, but more fell. “I’m sure you’re worried about the pregnant women, too. They’ll make the journey just fine.” There was no way he could know that, but it seemed like he should reassure her. So he did.

  She frowned. Then she stilled. She looked to the left and then the right, her mouth moving as if counting. “No. That’s not possible.” When she tried to step back, he let her.

  “What?” he asked.

  She scrunched up her face. “I haven’t menstruated since we started sleeping together.” She said the words slowly.

  He wasn’t sure where to go with that statement. “You said you couldn’t get pregnant?”

  “I can’t,” she said, biting her lip. “But I’m usually regular. I have been stressed, so that could be it.”

  It seemed like he should get her away from the dead body. So he took her hand and led her to the door. “Why don’t we talk about this in your clinic? We need to finish packing, right?”

  Dumbly, she nodded.

  All right. He opened the door and walked out with her, trying to somewhat shield her from the rain. She lifted her face so the drops could run across her tear-stained face, turning her head so they washed over the bruise forming on her temple.

  He wanted to kill Larry all over again.

  Lynne and Jax ran toward them, going by the playground.

  “What?” Marcus asked, keeping Penny’s hand in his.

  Lynne gulped air, and the rain matted her blond hair to her head. “Maureen is in the clinic and I think she’s in labor.”

  “No,” Penny said, setting her feet. “Maureen is not in the clinic and she is not in labor.” She paled beneath her smooth skin. “Enough for one day. Honest. Maureen has to be just fine.”

  Lynne winced and took her other hand. “I’m sorry, friend. Moe is there and she needs your help.”

  Penny shuddered with another breath.

  Marcus tightened his grip. “Come on, Doc Penelope. You’re needed.”

  She looked up and resignation darkened her expression. Shaking it off, she finally nodded. “All right. Lynne, get our research back out of the bus, and get ready to work. We need to save this baby.”

  40

  Just when you think enough has piled on you, you walk beneath a falling piano.

  —Marcus Knight, Journal

  Penelope held tight to Marcus’s hand as Lynne and Jax ran ahead. “I can’t do this,” she whispered, ducking her head against the rain.

  He set up a brisk pace, his hold warm and his skin rough. His large form shielded her from most of the rain, and he pulled her tighter into his side. “I’m sure there’s a right thing to say, but I don’t know what it is. So here’s what I’ve got. You’re her doctor.”

  Penny tripped over a boot somebody had dropped and had to jump to regain her balance. “That’s it? I’m her doctor?”

  Marcus shrugged, wiping rain off his forehead. “Yeah.”

  Well, she’d never expected roses and rousing speeches from Marcus, and his view did hold truth. A simplistic, basic, real truth. “All right, Marcus.”

  They entered the clinic and she plastered on her calmest expression before entering the first exam room, which was the only one that still held a bed. “Maureen,” she said, walking forward to see her friend on the bed, panic in her blue eyes. Greyson Storm stood on the right side of the bed, and Raze Shadow stood on the left. “It looks like you’re caught between a rock and a hard place.”

  Maureen barked out a laugh, looking at her fiancé and then her brother. “They promised to get along right now.”

  The two soldiers looked furious, neither accustomed to being helpless.

  There was too much testosterone in the room. Penelope smiled at the big brutes. “Gentlemen? I need you both to step outside temporarily, just while I do a quick examination. I’ll call you if anything happens.”

  It was rather sweet how they both looked down at Moe for permission to leave. She nodded. “It’s okay.”

  Raze patted her hand, and Grey leaned down to kiss her forehead, and then they walked out and shut the door quietly.

  Maureen exhaled. “Thanks. They were freaking me out.”

  A knock sounded and Lynne poked her head in. “I have the box for you.”

  Penelope strode to the door and took the box. “Will you put the rest back in your lab? I’ll talk to Maureen and then come see what you and Nora think. I want all three of us on this.” She spoke quietly and then turned back to Moe while taking the fetal monitor out of the box. “Tell me what’s happening.”

  Maureen lay back and patted her stomach. “I’m having cramps and contractions again. Isn’t it too soon for this? I’m only a few months.”

  Scorpius had affected pregnant women at all stages of pregnancy. Penelope leaned down and listened with the device. The baby was far enough along to have a heartbeat, and it was slower than it should be. “We can’t keep giving you the same drug as last time.” It usually only worked for a few days.

  Maureen levered up on her elbows, her blue flannel shirt matching her eyes. “Why can’t there be something that can make her develop faster? I mean, can’t there be something?”

  Penelope sat and held her friend’s hand. “Wouldn’t that be great?” She patted her. “Let me take a quick look.”

  She lifted the drape over Moe’s bottom half and checked her out. “You’re not dilated and your cervix is thick. So far, so good.” She smiled, although that was normal for a Scorpius problem. “I want to watch you for a couple of hours, and if the baby’s heart rate slows more, we might have to talk about experimental medicines.” That was an understatement. “The baby won’t make it if she or he is born now, Moe. Even with a full neonatal unit, it’d be too early.”

  Maureen’s jaw firmed. “Then we’d better try some of those cures you guys have been working on late at night. She’s a she, by the way. I just know it.”

  “Okay.” Penelope kept her tone reassuring, but panic made it difficult to breathe. She had to figure this out. “I’m going to consult with Lynne and Nora. Do you want Raze or Greyson in here? Or neither of them? I can give them doctor’s orders to stay out.”

  Maureen smiled, the sight sad. She tucked her legs beneath the blue blanket. “Send them both. It’s fun to watch them be nice to each other.”

  Penelope forced a smile and walked out, gesturing to the pacing men that they could go back inside. She hustled to the lab to find Lynne and Nora debating two of the concoctions they’d created the other night.

  “No,” Lynne said. “Sample A is too strong. Remember? We tried something similar early on, and the double dose of antibiotics was worse than using a super-antibiotic. Plus, that one is known to cause problems with a fetus, and that was before Scorpius.”

  “I’m aware,” Nora said, her dark eyes flashing. “But Sample B is too str
ong with the vitamin Bs for a developing fetus. It’s a strong shot, and if it were just B, we’d be okay. But you know it isn’t. The fetus might not miscarry right now, but development will immediately stop. We conducted trials with a nearly identical sample, and it killed the elderly.”

  Penelope dropped into a chair. “So A is too strong, B is too deadly, and C must be just right?” She couldn’t even smile at her lame attempt at a joke.

  Both Lynne and Nora nodded.

  Penelope sat up. “Really?”

  “It’s the perfect combination,” Nora said, and Lynne nodded.

  Penelope looked at them. “So what’s the problem?” There was definitely a problem, or they wouldn’t look so concerned.

  “We can’t get it to the fetus,” Lynne said quietly. “Even with the super-antibiotic attached, there’s no transplacental transfer. We didn’t have much time to try anything, but the trials we conducted with an attempted transfer between cells didn’t even work.”

  “We don’t have the equipment to inject directly into the fetus, even if we had an ultrasound machine. Which we do not.” Penelope’s heart hurt. Everything hurt. She put her head back.

  Lynne patted her hand. “We’ll keep thinking. Moe’s okay right now, right?”

  “Yeah.” Penelope leaned up and looked through the box of supplies, but she couldn’t see anything that would help Maureen. A box caught her eye, though. She took the box and stood. “Would you two keep an eye on Maureen for a few minutes?”

  Lynne’s eyebrows rose. “Are you kidding?” Her gaze dropped to the box holding the pregnancy test.

  Penelope nodded. “Yeah. It’s impossible. Doctors said I’d never have kids, and I’m sure I’m late because life has been so stressful.” Now she was babbling. “I’ll be right back.” She hustled out of the room and ran smack into Marcus. “Hey.”

  He caught her arms to keep her from bouncing back onto the ground. “Hey.” His gaze dropped to the box. “Oh.”

  “Yeah.” She turned and hurried toward the back door, not surprised when he fell into step. “It’s impossible, but I just have to check.”

  “Okay.” He opened the back door, and rain wafted inside.

  She jogged toward the portable outhouses across from the showers. “Um, stay here.” She pointed to a distance a little bit away. If he were right outside, she’d never be able to pee.

  He leaned against the last shower, his gaze inscrutable.

  She went in the somewhat stinky port-a-potty and quickly took care of business, careful not to drop the pregnancy test into the hole. Now what? Should she stay inside and wait or go outside with Marcus? It stunk in there. She pushed open the door and took the test over to him.

  “Well?” he asked.

  She rolled her eyes. “We’re supposed to wait for three minutes.”

  “Oh.” He pulled her back beneath the tent set up by the showers. “Is there a chance Scorpius changed your body? That it somehow fixed what was keeping you from conceiving?”

  Her mouth opened and then closed. Scorpius affected the body in weird ways and had even changed the eye color of some survivors, just like Ebola had. Endometriosis included swollen tissue and scar tissue. Was it possible the bacteria had altered that? “I don’t know, Marcus.” The world suddenly tilted.

  He settled her with a hand on her shoulder. “Take a deep breath, Doc. It’s okay. You’re okay.”

  She watched the rain splatter against the rough cement and counted in her head. Finally, she lifted the test to see a plus sign. “Oh.”

  Marcus looked over her shoulder. “Huh. Well. I guess we’d better figure out how to save pregnancies.”

  She whirled on him, her brain misfiring. “That’s it? That’s all you have to say?”

  He looked at her, his eyes almost all green. “No. I have a lot to say, but I need time figuring out the right words. For now, I’m happy, and I want a baby.”

  A baby. The terrified woman inside the clinic was having a baby. “Marcus. I don’t know what to do.”

  He brushed the wet hair away from her face. “What are your options?”

  She sighed. “A magical fairy that can develop Maureen’s baby faster? It was her idea.” Penelope’s shoulders slumped. Her mind buzzed. “Wait a minute.”

  “There you go,” Marcus murmured.

  “Okay.” She took his hand and started running, leaping through the clinic door when he opened it. She slipped on the old tile, and he grabbed her to keep her from falling. “Thanks.” She shook free and hurried into the lab, sliding across the floor. “We need a magical fairy.”

  Lynne and Nora looked up from research papers, identical looks of concern on their faces.

  “Penny? You have more obstetrics experience than we do, and you have to keep yourself sane,” Lynne said gently. “Take a deep breath.”

  Penelope waved that thought away. “Listen. We have steroids, right? I’ve injected more soldiers lately than ever, and we have a surplus.”

  Nora tapped her lips. “Okay. I kind of see where you’re going. Betamethasone is a corticosteroid, and it has been used in antenatal treatment to accelerate fetal organ maturation.” She looked at Lynne. “It crosses the placenta in active form, right?”

  Lynne nodded. “Sure. So do dexamethasone and other steroids. But all that means is that they speed up fetal development. That wouldn’t help us in this case.”

  “Not my point.” Penelope could barely think. She was pregnant. Concentrate, damn it. “My point is that corticosteroids cross the placenta.”

  “Well, yeah,” Lynne said, rubbing her forehead. “You’re way out of my area of expertise, but if I remember right, all steroid hormones circulate in the blood and are bound to plasma proteins.” She sat back and frowned, a myriad of expressions crossing her face.

  “Like your blood,” Penelope whispered. “The blue blood right from the heart. Everything I’ve read about you, in your medical records, indicates that your plasma proteins are off the chart. And blue.”

  Nora stood up so fast she kicked her chair over. “This could work.”

  Marcus stood in the doorway. “What could?”

  Penelope turned, her heart galloping. “Use Lynne’s blood to bind the steroid, vitamin B concoction and a super antibiotic. The steroid will then, theoretically, cross the placenta and surround the baby with all three, once we inject the mother.” This might work. She grabbed his hand. “I think we have a chance.”

  His smile was slow and sweet. “See? You’re her doctor.”

  Lynne clapped her hands. “Let’s get to work.”

  41

  I don’t deserve Penelope Kim, but I’m keeping her.

  —Marcus Knight, Journal

  Marcus leaned against the doorframe, watching Penny sleep, her head against the wall and her body in the flimsy plastic chair next to the examination bed. Raze slept sitting with his back to the wall on the left side of the bed, and Greyson to the right. A lantern sitting on the counter lit the room nicely.

  Maureen smiled at him from the bed. “Everyone is out.”

  Marcus returned the grin. “You look like you’re feeling better.” He crept closer, careful not to disturb anybody.

  She wore a flannel but pushed the blanket down. “Check this out.”

  He looked down and barely caught himself before gasping. Her belly, the lower part of it, was blue. Well, there were blue patches. “Is that okay?”

  Maureen rubbed her skin. “We think so. The heartbeat is strong again, and I’m not cramping. In fact, I feel better overall.”

  “You’d get even better if people let you get some sleep,” Greyson said grumpily.

  “No shit,” Raze said, his blue eyes open and already completely focused.

  Penelope stirred, and her gaze caught Marcus. Her instant smile was sweet. “Morning. Right?”

  He nodded. “Can Maureen be moved? Jax is worried the president is going to make a move since Larry didn’t check back in, and they’ve had almost two months to plan an attac
k. He wants to get on the road in about ten minutes. People are loading up.”

  Raze and Greyson stood, both looking down at Maureen.

  She sat up and gingerly slid her legs to the side. “I can make it. It’s okay.”

  Marcus held up his hand. “You don’t have to go, yet. We spent the night retrofitting a cool van for you with a bed and a bunch of magazines to read. I worked on the shocks myself, and the ride will be as smooth as we can get it.”

  “I’ll drive,” Greyson said.

  “No. I’ll drive,” Raze countered.

  Maureen sighed and rolled her eyes. “If you two don’t knock it off, I’ll have Penny drive and make you guys walk.”

  Marcus brushed Penny’s hair away from her pretty face. “No. Penny is riding with me in a truck. Period.” He smiled at her. “I loaded all of your belongings in the back, so you can have anything you want. Lynne added your office materials to her boxes, and she’s really organized, so no worries there.”

  Penny patted his hand and stood. “Everyone out. I want another quick examination of Maureen before I decide whether or not to release her.” She smiled and winked at Marcus. “I’m her doctor, you know.”

  Marcus gestured the other men out. “The rest of the Brigade is here, and you should meet these guys. I thought we were a bunch of crazies. They have the best stories, and they’ll be good to have in case we have to fight on the way.” He closed the door as they left. “I’ll wait here. You guys go look at the van.”

  Both men took a couple of steps and then rested against the wall.

  Oh. Apparently they weren’t leaving Maureen any more than he was leaving Penelope. Vinnie and Nora walked inside, and Vinnie hurried up to Raze and gave him a kiss. “We’re all packed and ready. I think I should drive.”

  Raze tucked her close. “Fine by me. I’d rather take point, anyway. That way we can cover the van. I assume you studied the schematics of the caravan?”

  “Definitely. It’s a good plan, Marcus.” She leaned around Raze and smiled at him. “I’m so glad you’ve decided to continue meeting with me. We’ll destroy those triggers for sure. Plus, I think Lucinda likes you.”