The Lion’s Mate

“Yes, but the doctor told us cross species babies, and really shifter babies, come when they feel like it. If Chloe thinks she’s –” An agonizing pain shot through her; she let out a yelp and dropped the phone in her lap. She crossed her arms over her stomach and leaned forward.

Through the phone, Mark was yelling her name. Annie groped for it and put it to her ear. “Leah!”

“Mark, I’ve got the phone,” Annie interrupted his yelling.

“What happened? Why did she cry out?”

Annie explained what had happened in the nursery. She assured him that there was no blood but neither she nor Leah knew why she was hurting.

“Is it labor pains? Is she having contractions?”

Annie looked at Leah, who had relaxed though her face was stark white. “Leah, do you think you’re having contractions?”

“I don’t know. Maybe. I’ve never had a baby before,” Leah growled.

“She doesn’t know and I’m not asking her anymore questions.”

“Ok. I’m at the hospital by the emergency room. I’ll run in and have them prepare for her arrival.”

“Ok. We’ll be there in five.”

Annie ran three stop signs before reaching the hospital. At some point, a police officer had begun following them with his lights flashing, but Annie did not stop. She pulled right up to the door of the emergency room where Mark and a gaggle of medical personnel waited with a gurney. She exited the car to meet the police officer and explain, who ran to help them get Leah out once he realized what was going on. As they ran inside, Annie yelled her thanks over her shoulder.

Once inside, one of the nurses halted and stopped Mark and Annie from following Leah to the back. Mark’s raised voice echoed. “What the hell? She’s having my baby!”

“Sir, I understand that, but we have to find out what’s going on. If she’s just in normal labor, we’ll come get you to put on your scrubs. If she needs other medical attention, you can’t be back there at this time.” The nurse’s expression changed from hard to understanding as she looked at Mark and Annie. “I understand you’re scared. I’ll come back as soon as I can with information.”

Mark and Annie watched her as she disappeared through the double doors. Mark heard a cry from Leah and nearly stormed the door, but Annie took his hand and held him beside her. He looked at her, completely lost.

“What do we do now?” he asked.

Annie’s tilted her head in sympathy. He sounded like a sad little boy. “Now we wait.”

*****

Mark paced almost the entire time they waited. He had debated whether or not to call his parents but had decided against it. He didn’t know anything to tell them at that moment, so calling them would only make them worry. When he had more information, he’d call.

Mark wasn’t a religious man, but he did believe a higher power had created the world and all in it. As a child, he had learned about Aker, the Egyptian god of the horizon personified as two lions with their backs to each other and the sun in the middle. He had never really worshiped this god, or any other specific god; he had always believed that meditation and becoming one with nature was the closest to god he’d ever get. But he couldn’t shift and run through the woods to find peace. His peace, his life, was in an operating room where he couldn’t get to her.

After what seemed like an eternity, the nurse with the kind face returned. Mark marched up to her and nearly ran into her in his haste. “What’s going on? She’s been back there forever.” Annie had moved to his side and clasped his hand in hers.

“I’m sorry for the delay. Leah and the baby are fine. We were forced to do an emergency C-section.”

Mark breathed a brief sigh of relief, but a new terror entered his brain. “Why? What was wrong?”

“The baby had the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck.” Mark and Annie gasped simultaneously in fear, but the nurse held up her hands. “She’s fine now. Her heartbeat dropped and we had some trouble stabilizing her. Although her birth weight is healthy, she has a respiratory infection. This isn’t uncommon in cross species babies.”

“So she’s ok?” Mark asked, stepping closer to the nurse to take one of her hands in his.

The nurse smiled and patted his hand with her free one. “She’ll be fine, but she will need to stay in the NICU for a few days, maybe only two. But I can assure you the danger has passed.”

“The NICU? That’s . . .” Mark looked at the nurse, then at Annie.

The nurse nodded. “It’s scary, I know. But we have a doctor here who not only specializes in cross species babies, he’s a shifter himself. He’s with her now and will come out to talk to you as soon as he can.”

“Can we see her?” Annie asked.

“You can look through the window, but that’s all. You won’t be able to hold her for a couple of days. Only the mother can,” the nurse informed them.

“What about Leah?” Mark questioned.

“I’ll take you back to see Leah in a few minutes. She’s getting her stitches.” Annie grimaced, and the nurse chuckled. “Unpleasant but necessary, dear. The doctor can talk to all of you at the same time once I take you back.”

“Can we look through the window now?” Mark asked, antsy to see his daughter.

The nurse smiled at him. “Of course. Follow me. Please speak in low voices if you speak.”

Mark and Annie nodded, then smiled at each other as they followed. The danger had passed, as the nurse had told them. They followed the nurse, who moved more quickly than they’d expected. After a myriad of twists and turns down hallways that all looked the same, they reached the NICU windows. Like a child outside a toy store, Mark pressed his face against the glass to catch a glimpse of his daughter.

The nurse chuckled again. “There she is.” She pointed to a baby in a clear bassinet under what looked like a heating lamp.

“Why is she under that lamp? Isn’t she hot?” Annie asked. She didn’t know a lot about babies, but that didn’t look normal.

“Cross species babies need sunlight, almost like a plant,” the nurse explained. At Annie’s skeptical look, the nurse winked. “You’re a shifter. Shifter babies are a lot like human babies in what they need. But cross species babies are more, for lack of a better word, delicate when they’re first born.”