Page 23 of Dreaming of His Omega
“Here.” Traviel fished a couple of ice chips out of a cup and handed them to me. “Better than nothing.”
“I know.” I popped them in my mouth and my stomach felt a little bit better.
Traviel took the tray and emptied it out in the bathroom, before returning to sit down next to me. “Anything else I can do?”
“Yes. No,” I said with a sigh. “We just have to wait for the doctor.”
No sooner had I spoken when, Dr. Evans came in.
“Big Day. Let's get you checked out.”
Dr. Evans flipped open two stirrups from under my bed, and I struggled to scoot down to prop my feet up.
“Let's see. Okay,” The doctor muttered, poking a couple of fingers uncomfortably into me. “Well, it looks like you're already at about five centimeters! If things keep up this way, you should go pretty quickly. I'll be back in another twenty minutes or so to check. In the meantime, we'll keep an eye on your contractions, and the nurses will be in and out. If you need anything, you have the call button.”
“Got it,” I said.
“Great.” Dr. Evans peeled off his gloves and shook my hand. “I'll be back.” With a nod to Traviel, Dr. Evans left.
“This is really happening,” Traviel murmured, grinning from ear to ear.
“It is,” I agreed with a somewhat breathless laugh.
Another contraction started building and I leaned back sucking in a mouthful of air to breathe through it. I squeezed my eyes shut as it mounted.
“Okay,” I groaned. “I think I might want to get that epidural now.” Traviel didn't answer. My eyes flew open in alarm. “Travel?!”
I was alone.
Chapter Eight
Travis
The baby is coming! I looked around and realized I wasn’t in the delivery room anymore. Where the hell was I?! Where was Elarian? My legs were tangled by something. I kicked and twisted, then fell to the floor before realizing I had been in a bed.
Holy shit.
Mybed. Inmyhouse. In my real, boring life. Me. Travis. Human.
I sat up, covering my mouth with my hand as I tried to calm down. The dream wassoreal it was almost hard to shake, even now. Some of the details… My mind was racing as I tried to remember it all. All the elves and people were one thing, but the hospital itself… How did my subconscious know so much about giving birth? I returned to the living room and opened my laptop, intent on proving that all the machines and the setup around Elarian were just products of my imagination. Instead, my image search was full of pregnant women in delivery rooms identical to the one in my dream. The IV, the heart rate monitor strapped around their stomachs, the things for their feet on the bottoms of the beds… I knew for a fact I never looked this stuff up before. So how did I already know it?
I swallowed hard and started pacing. The obvious answer was that Vale Valleywasreal. That my dreams weren’t dreams at all. And yet… that was crazy. Utterlycrazy. I walked up to my window and pressed a hand against the cool glass, looking out over the dirty city street below me, so different from the Vale Valley I could see in my head.
“Are you out there, Elarian?” I whispered. Was Traviel still with him or, as he feared, had Traviel vanished when I woke up? Maybe I needed to go back to sleep again. This time though, I felt too restless. I’d never fall asleep like this. I rested my forehead against the glass. “I wish I could find a way to get to Vale Valley,” I said softly.
A strange sensation passed over me like a cool mist. A shiver ran up my spine. Suddenly, I had the eerie sensation someone was watching me. I looked around the room. Nobody. I looked back outside. There, standing on the sidewalk below, lookingrightat me, was a strange man with purple hair and a long goatee. Wisps of purple smoke curled around him.
“What the hell?” I murmured. All at once I realized who he was. The man I saved from the bus! I jerked away from the window. My thoughts were whirling. Was that the first night this all happened? Ever since saving him… was that when the dreams started? I racked my brain trying to remember. I looked out the window again. He was gone!
“No!” I slammed my hands against the glass. “Dammit!” Where did he go? In spite of my nap, I was still fully dressed from my trip to the grocery store, so I turned and raced for the door. I sprinted down the stairs, tripping as I got to the sidewalk. I looked this way and that for the strange man, but he was nowhere to be seen. What was happening to me? What was going on?
“Travis?”
I spun to see Ruby, from the coffee shop, standing on the sidewalk clutching a suitcase.
“Hey.” Not at all who I was hoping to see.
“Hey.”
