Page 9 of Snapped
Chapter 6 | Welcome to the world
Two eggs, four slices of toast topped to the breaking point with butter and peach preserves, along with more slices of ham than Aiya could count, and yet she still felt hungry. Rubbing her large round belly, she sighed. “I’m going to be too big to fit through a door if this kid doesn’t pop out soon.”
Sawyer reached out, patting her tummy with the palm of his hand while Maeve wrapped an arm around her. “Hush now, you’re beautiful regardless of your size. Ian will come when he’s ready and not one minute before.” Her wife tried to reassure her.
A nasty retort was on the tip of her tongue, but Aiyan chose that moment to shuffle into the kitchen, collapsing onto the bench across from them. “Rough night?” she asked her twin.
He simply nodded, grabbing a cup and filling it to the spilling point with coffee. Aiya swore she could see the coffee entering his body and slowly trickling down, his skin going from pale white to a glowing peach with every sip. Eyes a little brighter, he grabbed a plate and began filling it from the bowls of food covering every square inch of the table.
“Everything okay, Aiyan?” Sawyer asked.
Shaking his head, Aiyan met Sawyer’s gaze. “He had another nightmare last night. It was…” Aiyan trailed off, staring blankly at the wall behind Sawyer. “…different.”
“Normally, I can calm him with a kiss or shake him awake. This time, the dream seemed to try and, I don’t know, pull him under?” Aiyan sighed, running a hand through his disheveled hair.
“Is this the first time it’s been so bad?” Raven asked from the doorway. Sliding onto the bench beside Aiyan, he waited for a response.
“Yeah.” The sadness in Aiyan’s tone spoke volumes.
“Tell you what, I’ll seek him out later and find a quiet place for us to talk. He still hasn’t made peace with it all yet, Aiyan, everything he endured while Cillian had him. It can’t help that his entire life changed at the same time he was taken. Leaving the only home he ever knew, you two getting married, being here without any of his family aside from Sawyer.” Raven had one arm wrapped around Aiyan for support.
“That doesn’t make any sense. We love each other, and he’s happy here, wants to be here with me. Why would our marriage trouble him? Raven, I don’t understand.” Aiyan was exhausted and frustrated, grasping at straws, desperate to help his husband put the horrible event behind them for good. He and Raven had spoken about it on more than one occasion. Not being able to help Kaden overcome his demons weighed heavily on Aiyan, which was understandable.
Before Raven could respond, Aiya gasped and the attention of everyone in the kitchen was now solely on her. “Aiya—” Sawyer was cut off when a tiny three-year-old tornado blew into the kitchen, his father on his heels.
Running straight over to Aiya and pushing his way between her and Maeve, Apollo climbed up onto the bench and laid a hand on Aiya’s belly. Smiling wide, little blue eyes sparkling, he smiled at Raven. “Papa, it’s time.”
“Dammit Pol, what have we told you about running inside?” Tanis sounded exasperated, completely oblivious to what was happening.
He reached for Apollo, but Sawyer waved him off. “No, wait.” Leaning around Aiya, he spoke directly to the little boy. “It’s time for what, Pol?”
“To meet Ian, of course.” He responded very matter of factly.
“Sawyer,” Aiya’s voice trembled. “Either my water just broke, or…” She let the sentence trail off.
“Or what?” Aiyan asked, quickly standing.
Raven ducked and looked under the table. Sure enough, there was a puddle of liquid directly under Aiya, pooling on the concrete floor at her feet. Personality shifting from best-friend-offering-a-shoulder-to-cry-on to serious-and-ready-to-deliver-a-baby, Raven stood and started barking orders. “Sawyer, carry Aiya to the room we’ve prepared for the delivery. Maeve, go with them and find the parents.” They both nodded, Sawyer standing and scooping a dazed Aiya into his arms effortlessly, rushing out of the kitchen with Maeve on his heels.
Apollo jumped down and tried to follow, but Tanis stopped him. The little boy threw a fit. Screaming, arms and legs flailing, he shrieked and smacked Tanis’s chest. “I have to go with them, Daddy! Ian wants me there; put me down!”
“Boy, I will whip your a—” Tanis was cut off mid-curse by his husband.
“Babe, go with them.” Raven’s words were met with an angry glare. “Please,” he begged. Tanis stood and eyed him for a minute. Finally, he conceded with a curt nod and left the kitchen to follow Sawyer with Apollo still banging his fists on his chest, hollering to be put down.
“Aiyan, come with me.” The two of them quickly gathered everything Raven would need to deliver Ian before meeting Aiya and her “entourage” in the delivery room, as Maeve had dubbed it.
Preparing to welcome a child had sent Maeve in search of as many texts as she could find to get ready for the birth. A very old text from before GWI,What to Expect When You’re Expectingthat was so worn in places, the words were unreadable, wrote of such a room. A delivery room that was in a building devoted to only medical care called a hospital. This was where women would go to give birth two centuries ago. Aiya and Maeve had laughed at such a concept. Of course, prior to GWI there were also horrifying diseases like Cancer, HIV and Alzheimer’s that had no cure. These infections were puzzling enough without trying to figure out exactly what a delivery room was.
Had they not known exactly where Aiya was, all they needed to do was follow the screams. Raven knew early on the birth would be difficult for her, what with her tiny, barely five-foot frame that’d been taken over by the fetus. Raven smiled, shaking his head when he saw a very irate three-year-old standing outside the door of the delivery room. An equally irate, though much larger, version of said three-year-old was standing with him. Raven knelt down in front of his son, kissing his forehead and promising to let him into the room as soon as Ian was born.
“Trust me son, you do not want to see where babies come from,” Tanis joked, shuddering.
Another scream, much louder than the others, and a few choice words Raven did not want his son repeating poured out of the room. Something crashed against the wall just as he was beckoned. “Raven! Hurry!” Sawyer shouted.
Tanis paced the hallway outside the delivery room while Apollo grumbled and bitched. Eventually, he worked himself into a tirade of epic proportions, for which Tanis was grateful, since the boy passed smooth out right after. It seemed like days went by while Tanis waited in the hall along with Rian, Mia, and Gabry. He’d just sat down when Pol’s head popped up, punctuated by the shrill cry of a baby. The look of wonder on his son’s face at the sound washed away all the anxiety, anger, and exhaustion Tanis felt. At times, it was more than he could wrap his mind around. Knowing that his son already had a match at the age of three, a match not yet born, confused Tanis. He trusted his husband though, so when Raven shared his dream, Tanis could only take him at his word.
Apollo squealed, jumping down and running toward the door as it opened. Raven squatted and caught him before he made it into the room. “Shhhhhh. Ian is very small and sensitive to lights and sounds. You don’t want to scare him or make him cry, do you?”
