by Anna Lewis
“I have a therapist. He’s helped me through a lot of rough situations. Sometimes, I get lost in my head and try to imagine I live a different life,” he replied.
“Does that help?” she asked.
“Maybe about half the time. Sleeping helps me escape, but a lot of it is just stifling emotions for the sake of work,” he explained.
Anna Leigh shook her head.
“I can’t imagine living a double life. I can hardly handle a white lie,” she said.
“It’s rough and it requires a great deal of cunning on my behalf,” he said. “I’m sure that’s why Xander couldn’t trust me again.”
“It’s why I had trouble trusting you,” she said.
“I don’t blame you,” he said.
“I just don’t understand why you would agree to do that willingly. It seems so difficult,” she said.
“It paid my bills. I’ve saved enough to retire many times over and I’ve done good work for the Federation,” he explained.
“But was it worth all that?” she asked.
Elu fell silent as his fingers ran over her skin, causing her to shiver.
“It was worth being able to meet Xander and you. We would have never come to fruition had it not been for that project,” Elu replied.
“I suppose that’s true, even though it sounds pretty awful,” she said.
“I can’t imagine our child asking how we met,” Elu joked. “But it will be the greatest love story ever told.”
Anna Leigh smiled and wrapped her hand around his, pulling him in closer.
“Let’s call Xander,” she said while pulling out her phone.
Elu typed the number for the prison and then typed in Xander’s prison number.
“Request processing,” said an automated voice over the phone.
A beeping sound came through the speaker and then the video feed started, showing a guard setting up a camera in front of Xander. Anna Leigh smiled wide.
“You have fifteen minutes,” the guard said before moving out of the way.
“Hi, Xander,” Anna Leigh said.
“Hello, dear,” Xander said with a wide grin. “It’s so good to see you. How’s the baby?”
“The baby is doing well. It is getting pretty big right now,” she replied while holding the phone out further.
“Wow, look at that beautiful belly,” Xander commented. “Hey, Elu. What are you two doing today?”
“I’m just resting as the doctor prescribed and Elu is helping,” Anna Leigh replied.
“We’re going to watch a movie. I wish you could join us,” Elu said.
“Oh, I definitely miss doing that. Watching movies with a bunch of male prisoners can get pretty tiresome after a while,” Xander said.
Elu chuckled.
“I can only imagine,” Elu said. “But we’ll be seeing you soon.”
“I do hope so. My court date is coming up pretty soon,” Xander said.
“We’ll be there. I promise,” Anna Leigh said.
“Well, Elu has to be and you’ll be a key witness,” Xander said.
Anna Leigh shivered.
“Courtrooms make me nervous,” she commented. “The whole procedure is proper and makes me afraid to speak.”
“You’ll be great, darling,” Xander assured her. “It’s nothing to worry about at all. Just follow the steps my lawyer took you through last week.”
“I know, but I’m still scared I’ll mess something up,” she admitted.
“I’ve been in and out of courtrooms most of my career and sometimes I still get nervous,” Elu commented.
“Really?” Xander asked with a chuckle. “That sounds silly.”
“It does,” Anna Leigh added.
“I’m serious! There’s always a new procedure in place I have to memorize and it’s difficult to keep up with,” Elu said.
“See, that’s why I just don’t like going there. Those procedures seem complicated. Nursing feels natural to me. The procedures I have to follow in nursing just feel logical,” Anna Leigh explained.
“Well, it’s all logical,” Elu said. “But I can understand it feels strange to be under such pressure.”
“I’m slowly getting used to being here and being asked questions. It’s almost like a game,” Xander said. “I do have to go soon. We’re having dinner out in the courtyard today.”
“Well, that sounds nice,” Anna Leigh commented.
“It should be if it doesn’t rain,” Xander said. “Enjoy your movie and give that stomach kisses from daddy.”
“Of course,” Elu said. “We’ll see you soon.”
“Love you,” Anna Leigh said.
“Love you, too, darling,” Xander said.
The guard stepped into view and cut the video feed, causing Anna Leigh to collapse back into her pillow and sigh.
“I don’t know how much longer I can do this,” she said, looking like she was on the verge of tears.
“It won’t be long now,” Elu said. “We’ll have this all figured out soon.”
***
As planned, Xander began complaining of intense stomach pains prior to his court date. He had visited the doctor twice for these pains, each time producing a diagnosis of general anxiety about his trial. On the third visit, he was ushered into a private room towards the back of the hospital wing where he sat crying in pain for a few minutes until a pregnant green woman with scarlet lips walked in wearing a white tunic. Her belly bulged.
“Darling,” Xander whispered while sitting up. “How did you get in?”
“Honestly, it was easier than I thought. I applied for an open nurse position and they handed it to me quite quickly,” she explained with a grin.
“Well, I’m glad you didn’t have to do anything too extravagant,” Xander said. “This whole thing has had me nervous from day one. How are your feet?”
Anna Leigh smiled, looking down at her stomach.
“I can’t see them anymore,” she joked. “But they’re doing fine for now. I’m wearing the special shoes they gave me that help reduce the swelling. The equipment here is much more extensive than back on the planet C'ezor.”
“Is it?” Xander asked.
“It’s been quite lovely for my first day, but it will also be my last,” Anna Leigh said.
She held up a syringe.
“This is the serum Elu told you about. It’s going to course through your system rather quickly and put you into a coma. You won’t know what’s happening,” she explained.
Xander cringed.
“I hate needles,” he commented.
“Well, you’ll have to get over that today, darling. Once I inject it, your body will be paralyzed and you’ll go to sleep, essentially. Elu is waiting in the west corridor where I’ll meet him after the doctor pronounces you dead,” she continued. “And then we’ll get you down to the crematorium where a transportation pod is waiting to take us to safety.”
“Who is piloting the pod?” Xander asked.
“It’s automated. Elu already set the coordinates on it,” she replied. “Are you ready?”
Xander shook his head. He looked at the white curtains covering the windows where shadows passed. Doctors and nurses rushed by to tend to other patients, wheeling medicine carts and other things back and forth. He gulped.
“What if this doesn’t work?” he asked.
“What do you mean?” she asked in return.
“I mean, what if I don’t wake up?”
Anna Leigh blinked back tears.
“Don’t say that,” she whispered. “You know I cry easily right now and–”
She bent over, clutching her stomach. Xander held her up and rubbed her back, his heart beating rapidly in his chest.
“What is it?” he asked.
“I think it was the baby kicking,” she replied. “It must have been just that. Let’s inject you quickly. I can’t stand for much longer.”
“This was a terrible idea. Why would they hire you when you’re this far along?” X
ander asked.
“I may have lied about that,” she admitted with a grin.
Xander shook his head.
“Look at you becoming an agent over night,” he teased.
Anna Leigh pushed his arm gently and then grabbed a disinfectant towel from the table nearly.
“I need you to stay still,” she said while wiping his skin. “This might sting a bit.”
As she pinched some skin on his forearm and positioned the needle, Xander leaned forward to inhale the sweet scent of her perfume. He was taken aback by the intoxicating aroma and stopped her hand from moving further. Before she could say anything, he leaned in to taste her lips. A soft moan greeted him and he was delighted to find she tasted as amazing as their first date.
Every moment spent alone in his cell he yearned to feel her touch. Each dream held only her beautiful form, her loving embrace, and her shining eyes. It was truly alarming to not have her body next to him every night and he lamented ever having been involved with such a scheme against the company. If only he had done things differently—honestly—then perhaps they wouldn’t be in such a situation.
As they kissed, he felt a pinch on his arm and pulled back to gasp, noticing she had jammed the needle into his skin while he was distracted. His brows furrowed together.
“Darling,” he whispered. “That hurt.”
She smiled sweetly and started to inject the serum into his vein. He could feel the hot liquid coursing through him, immediately inspiring his body to begin convulsing. She held his head as she started injecting the rest. Behind her, the door flew open and two guards seized her before she could finish the procedure. Xander was left convulsing on the bed and a doctor sprinted into the room to tend to him.
“Nurse, get the CPR machine!” he cried out into the hallway. “We’re losing this patient!”
A smaller nurse in a white tunic came rushing into the room with a machine, pulling it up next to the bed. Anna Leigh screamed in the background while the guards pulled her from the room, carefully dragging her out into the hallway as she kicked. Elu was behind them with a ray gun.
“Let her go!” he cried.
From Xander’s limited view, he could see the guard and Elu grappling in the hall while Anna Leigh held her stomach and cried. Elu was overcome by the guard. Anna Leigh bit into a red nail. Xander continued shaking on the table until the doctor and the nurse strapped him to the bed. White foam gurgled from his lips, his throat swelling and cutting off oxygen to his brain. He felt like he was dying.
The doctor placed a tube in his throat to open his airways, temporarily allowing oxygen to fill his lungs. Xander gasped. It was all he could do to keep himself conscious. The serum began taking over his legs. They wouldn’t move. No matter how much he willed it, he couldn’t get his legs to kick. Not even a wiggle from his toe could be produced.
“Airways open. Nurse, find out what he was given!” shouted the doctor to the other nurse.
The nurse fled into the hall to ask the guards about his condition, but none of them knew how to reply. Anna Leigh stood on the sidelines crying. She raised a hand.
“I know what it is,” she squeaked.
“Tell me,” the nurse demanded.
“It’s Kuhlarai Inkaapa serum from the Venutian plant,” she explained. “I injected him so he would appear dead.”
“That’s a highly toxic poison!” cried the nurse. “What made you do that?”
“I was just trying to transport him out so we could–”
“We’re losing him again!” cried the doctor.
“Come with me,” the nurse instructed while grabbing her wrist. “We need you to create a counter injection that will bring him back.”
“I don’t think I can. I would need the rest of the serum and a laboratory,” Anna Leigh replied.
A guard came and grabbed her arm, trying to wrestle her towards the door. The doctor intervened.
“She’s the only one who would be able to help this man. Release her,” the doctor demanded.
The guard took a step back and raised his hands, heading back out to the hall as the other nurse retrieved some supplies. She lifted the syringe off the ground and handed everything to Anna Leigh who quickly laid them out on the table. Within minutes, she had produced a counter mixture that would help bring Xander back from his partially paralyzed state. He watched with wide eyes as she stabbed it into his chest and he heaved.
As Xander struggled against the restraints, Anna Leigh stood back and watched with a look of horror. Another guard entered the room and ushered her away while Xander’s vision returned to full functioning. He opened his mouth and croaked.
“No...” he whispered while she was taken. “No, bring her back.”
He tried hard to push against his restraints, but they were far too tight. The doctor leaned over with a small flashlight and waved it over his eyes that obediently dilated in response.
“Please,” he squeaked. “You must not let her be taken.”
“I can’t control that, sir,” the doctor replied. “We have to tend to your health.”
“But she’s pregnant. She can’t be taken away like that!” Xander cried.
As he spoke, a cry came from the hall and the guard yelled for the nurse to come quickly. She ran from the room. Xander couldn’t contain himself, his heart beating wildly as she returned to grab the doctor.
“Come quickly,” she instructed. “She’s gone into labor.”
***
Anna Leigh was wheeled into a neighboring hospital room.
“We don’t have all the equipment necessary to handle a live birth,” the nurse said to the doctor.
“We’ll work with what we have,” the doctor said. “Hello, miss. Can you tell me your name?”
He waved a small flashlight over her eyes and she squeezed them shut, wincing at the pain coming from her stomach.
“Anna Leigh Black,” she replied. “I’m so sorry about earlier. I was just trying to rescue my–”
“None of that now, Miss Black. We need to get you ready to push,” the doctor explained as she propped her legs up into stirrups. “Nurse, she’s nearly eight centimeters. Get the BP machine.”
The nurse quickly attached a plastic tube to Anna Leigh’s finger, watching the screen for changes in her condition. She recorded them into her touch pad.
“BP is rising,” she informed the doctor.
“Get a saline drip and some morphine,” the doctor replied.
“No morphine!” Anna Leigh cried. “I don’t want any drugs at all.”
“Are you sure?” the nurse asked, concern filling her face.
“I know it’s going to be painful—Ah!—but I swear I can handle it,” Anna Leigh replied.
The nurse nodded.
“Nine centimeters,” the doctor announced. “You’re getting ready to push, Miss Black.”
“Where is Elu?” Anna Leigh asked while holding up her legs. “He needs to be here for this.”
“I’m afraid he’s in custody at the moment. He pulled a weapon on a federal guard,” the doctor replied.
Anna Leigh grabbed his shirt and pulled him in close to her face that was growing redder by the minute.
“Get him, now!” she growled.
The doctor reeled back when she released his shirt and turned to the nurse who immediately scrambled from the room to find Elu. Within moments, he was standing right next to her while she grimaced, holding up her legs and whispering words of encouragement.
“I can see the head,” the doctor informed them. “Keep pushing, Miss Black!”
“You’re doing great,” the nurse said. “Just a little further and you’ll have your baby girl!”
“A girl!” Elu cried tearfully.
Anna Leigh cried out and gasped, breathing as deeply as she could. Another contraction took hold of her stomach and she winced while taking a deep breath, focusing on pushing her pelvic muscles forward. She screamed and gripped Elu’s hand.
“I won’t survive this!
” she cried.
“Yes, you will, darling,” Elu replied. “You will survive this. I promise.”
“But we got caught!” she wept.
“Don’t think about that. Focus on your muscles and on your baby girl. She’s about to be here born, Anna Leigh,” Elu instructed.
“I’m trying!” she cried.
“You’re doing great. Keep going!” the nurse shouted. “She’s almost out!”
“Shoulders!” the doctor cried triumphantly. “And she’s out!”
Anna Leigh gasped and relaxed into the hospital bed, utterly exhausted by the entire ordeal. She sighed heavily and held out her arms to accept the little aqua-colored child with antennas. The little girl cooed and gurgled, green slime still covering most of her body as the nurse wrapped her in a warm blanket.
“She’s beautiful,” Anna Leigh whispered with tears streaming down her face. “Oh, Elu, look at her.”
Elu nodded, leaning over to kiss her forehead.
“That she is,” he replied.
“Congratulations,” the doctor said while patting Elu’s back. “She’s a beautiful baby girl.”
“Thank you,” Elu said.
“Miss Black, would you like me to wash her off in the sink?” the nurse asked.
“Yes, please,” Anna Leigh replied. “Can you also tell Xander it’s a girl?”
“Of course,” the doctor replied.
* * *
“Sir?” asked the doctor from the door.
Xander looked up from the bed, raising an eyebrow out of curiosity.
“Is Anna Leigh alright?” Xander asked quickly while sitting up.
The doctor eased him back down and patted his shoulder.
“She is doing great, sir. It’s a baby girl,” the doctor replied.
Xander smiled wide, beaming with joy while trying to contain his excitement. His chest was hurting where the needle had penetrated his chest plate, but his legs were finally coming back to full function.
“That’s wonderful news,” he said.
“Indeed it is, sir. Will you be needing anything?” the doctor asked.
“No, thank you,” Xander replied.
The doctor nodded with a smile and left the room. Silence fell over Xander, his thoughts filled with all sorts of questions about what would happen to them. Their plan had been spoiled. It wouldn’t be long until the Federation caught wind of his escape and they would be punished heavily for their efforts.