Dr. Elwood had been the obstetrician for the last seventeen Family births. A remote cousin by marriage, Dr. Elwood understood, at least more than a normal doctor might have, the problems implicit in just about everything a Family member did.
Which meant that, when he held Haley Stone's first child in his hands, he made sure that the nurses had cleared all extraneous family - all of them - out of the room before he spoke softly to Haley.
"Is it possible you - ah - indulged in some way during your pregnancy, Miss Stone?"
Her cheeks were already flushed, but he thought her expression might have been a bit guilty. "I never do drugs, Doctor. Is my baby all right?"
"Your baby is perfectly healthy, Miss Stone. And you know as well as I do that I didn't mean drugs."
"Ah." Her hand went to the necklace around her throat, the one with the wide white stone that seemed to pulse in time with her heartbeat. "I - ah... My baby?"
"Your baby is perfectly healthy, Haley. But ah, seems to have been born with more than one set of genitalia."
"More than..."
The doctor held up the child, and Haley gasped. "Oh, oh, dear Lord, the grannies are going to kill me."
Written to
wyld_dandelyon's
prompt.
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