The birth.
It's a day like any other. She's woozy, from the moment she gets out of bed. Sluggish and a bit disoriented, but this far into the home-stretch, and she isn't expecting any different. It's a day like any other. She struggles to tie her shoes, laughs and rolls her eyes when Adam finally gives in and does it for her. She takes a walk along one of the easier trails, taking it slow and stopping to rest much earlier than she'd had to even last week. Getting bigger by the moment, she thinks, with a strange mix of terror and affection. With less than a month until her due date, it is finally sinking in.
She's going to be a mother.
Around lunch time, the cramps start. She's had them off and on for the last month or so. Nothing to be worried about, they tell her. Her body's practicing for the big day. By the afternoon, she's forgotten them almost completely. She's standing outside the Compound, an open book in her hand, when a wave of nausea slams into her and she doubles over in pain.
"Ah, God," she cries out, a flood of warmth between her legs, and she thinks -- Not yet. Not yet, three more weeks.
But her hand comes away bloody, bright and angry red, and she moans, stumbling toward the doors of the Compound with an arm curled around the swell of her belly.
Oh God... Oh God... Adam!
She's going to be a mother.
Around lunch time, the cramps start. She's had them off and on for the last month or so. Nothing to be worried about, they tell her. Her body's practicing for the big day. By the afternoon, she's forgotten them almost completely. She's standing outside the Compound, an open book in her hand, when a wave of nausea slams into her and she doubles over in pain.
"Ah, God," she cries out, a flood of warmth between her legs, and she thinks -- Not yet. Not yet, three more weeks.
But her hand comes away bloody, bright and angry red, and she moans, stumbling toward the doors of the Compound with an arm curled around the swell of her belly.
Oh God... Oh God... Adam!