James wasn’t sure what he was still doing here, in this tiny, dark, smelly house trailer in the Barrens. Perhaps it was because he had never witnessed childbirth before, he supposed. He had to admit, though, that it was more likely he was mesmerized by the small human paramedic kneeling at the foot of the mattress on the floor in this cramped bedroom. Brynne had arrived in the trailer and began to exude a confidence that was a breath of fresh air in the midst of the pandemonium that was the state of the residents before she arrived. She had immediately followed the little girl and Rebekah back to the bedroom where the grunts and groans of the sister could be heard. The paramedic had shooed all the family members from the room but the little sister and the girl’s mother. Rebekah had been allowed to stay, too. Though Brynne had shot him a sharp glance, she had said nothing of his presence in the doorway. Celeste pressed against his back, watching over his shoulder, her excitement and curiosity palpable at the surface of her mind.
“Okay, Jenny, sweetie, the baby’s almost here,” Brynne said calmly. “You need to take some deep breaths, and when you feel another contraction come on, I want you to bear down and push while Rebekah counts to ten. Then take another deep breath and push again for ten. Got it?” She rested a hand on the very pregnant belly of the girl lying on the bed.
“I’m tired,” Jenny said. “I don’t want to do this anymore.”
“I know, Jenny,” Brynne consoled. “It’s almost finished now. I can see the baby’s head.”
James glanced down and saw a wet, hairy, curved bulge slightly protruding from the girl’s vaginal opening. He couldn’t tear his eyes away, it was like nothing he had ever seen before. Was that the top of the baby’s head?
“Oh, oh no, here comes another … ahhhrgh!” Jenny wailed.
“Okay, Jenny, now push. Bear down and push hard!” Brynne urged.
Rebekah sat at the head of the mattress, her arms around the girl, counting down from ten quietly in her ear. She used a pillow to help lift up the tired girl’s upper body as she curled around her abdomen. Jenny’s face was red with effort, and her red hair was plastered to her forehead and the sides of her face with sweat. Rebekah watched Brynne’s face intently.
James returned his gaze to the foot of the bed where the hairy bulge began to grow and slowly push through the opening. Then he saw an ear, and the outline of a nose facing down towards the mattress. Suddenly there was a tiny head protruding from this girl’s pelvis. The skin tone was blue, and there was a sort of jelly and white paste liquid all over it.
“Okay, stop pushing for just a second,” Brynne said. “Jenny. Stop pushing. I have to clear the umbilical cord. It’s wrapped around the baby’s neck. Stop pushing!”
James watched as she slid a gloved finger along the line of the baby’s chin towards the ear, hooking down and underneath an inch-thick pulsing cord the encircled the baby’s neck. She applied a steady pull, creating some slack in the cord and then slipped the slackened, ropy umbilical cord around the baby’s tiny blue face and over the head until it was loose.
“Got it!” She announced. Brynne looked back up at Jenny. “Okay, sweetie. One more big push and you’re all done. I just have to slip the shoulders out, and the rest of the baby will come right out. You’ve got this. Just one more push.”
“Oh, gods,” Jenny wailed, tears flowing down her face. “Just get it out, get it out, get it out!”
Brynne nodded at Rebekah and the older woman lifted at the pillow behind the girl’s shoulders helping her push. She was whispering encouragement in Jenny’s ear and Jenny began to groan as she started to push again. Brynne used both hands to support the baby’s head and guided, angling the head and neck down towards the bed. Suddenly a shoulder popped free of the upper side of the birth canal, and Brynne angled the baby’s head and neck up. With a whoosh and a rush of fluid, as pressure was released, the rest of the baby came free. The whole baby’s skin tone was blue, but the arms and legs seemed to be feebly moving on their own though there wasn’t a sound from the baby’s mouth. He had expected crying or something. Brynne laid the baby down on the mattress below its mother and reached for a blue, rubber bulb syringe. Squeezing the bulb to remove the air, she stuck the soft rubbery tube end in the baby’s mouth then released the pressure on the bulb. She then pulled it out and squeezed the mucousy contents out on the sheets. The paramedic repeated the process with each nostril twice and on the second time around the baby coughed and then let out a tiny wailing cry. Everyone in the room seemed to sigh at once.
“Incredible,” Celeste whispered to herself behind him. “I’ve never … just incredible.”
“It’s a girl,” Brynne announced as she used a small, clean hand towel to wipe the baby off and dry her. The paramedic paused a moment as she got to the back where folded, gossamer-thin wings lay against the baby’s back. She carefully blotted at the delicate, insect-like membranes up to where they emerged between the child’s shoulder blades and then looked up at the new mother. “It’s a beautiful baby girl!” Brynne repeated.
Rebekah laughed and hugged Jenny then moved aside as her mother took her place and hugged her. James saw that the paramedic had also placed some clamps on the umbilical cord spaced about four inches apart. She took a pair of stainless steel bandage scissors and cut the cord between the two clamps, taking a few tries to get all the way through the thick membranes. Brynne then carefully wrapped the baby in a clean, dry bath towel.
“Do you want to hold her?” Brynne asked, offering the baby to the new mother. Jenny had tears in her eyes as she took the proffered baby from the paramedic at the foot of the bed, nestling the newborn into her new mother’s arms. Brynne placed her hand on the girl’s belly, seeming to feel for something. “There’s just one more thing to do here, Jenny. You’re going to feel a few more lighter contractions as I massage your uterus. That will help you deliver the placenta, the afterbirth. It won’t hurt as much, I promise.”
“Ok, Brynne,” the girl said looking up from where she had been gazing at her baby’s face. “Thank you for helping me.”
“I’m glad I was here to do it,” Brynne said, smiling as she continued to use one hand to massage the girl’s abdomen. “Do you know what you want to name her?”
Jenny looked at her mother and then back to Brynne. “I’ve always liked the name ‘Ellie.’ Aaaand … uh … I wondered if you’d be okay if I made her middle name ‘Brynne,’ if that’s alright?”
Brynne smiled at her. “I’d be honored to know another Brynne was in the world. Thank you, Jenny.” The paramedic looked down between her patient’s legs and used both her hands to do something, which James couldn’t see clearly. She wrapped something up in a red plastic bag, tying a knot in the top to hold it closed. She pulled the lower edge of the sheet down to cover Jenny’s lower half after gathering up all the soiled towels used to soak up the birth matter. “All done!” she announced taking off her gloves.
Brynne stood up, looking at James with a flushed smile on her face. She turned back to her patient. “Jenny, I know you and your mother already said no, but I’d like to ask you again to reconsider and let me take you in to the hospital.”
Jenny clutched her baby to her tighter. “No, no hospital,” She said firmly. “I know what happens there. There are experiments done there on people like us, like little Ellie.”
The girl’s mother spoke up, too. She had a slight accent that sounded vaguely like Russian or some other Eastern European accent. “The midwife will be back tomorrow. We called her. She will check in on the baby and my Jenny. She will take care of us like she always has.”
James had known the answer even as Brynne asked it. “I will send a driver to pick her up tonight. I can have her back here first thing in the morning, Brynne. It’s probably the best we can do,” he said.
“Thank you, Lord James,” the mother said, bowing her head in respect as she said it.
“Well, there are a few more things I can do here even though I’m not a maternity nurse,” Brynne said. “The rest of you
clear out of here while I help Jenny and her mother get this new baby to nurse and get some food in her. I know that much.” She looked up from her patient and saw everyone still standing in the doorway. “That means you, too, ‘Lord James.’” James sensed a bit of sarcasm in her voice as she said it. He also sensed the firm disposition in her mind and knew she wouldn’t take no for an answer.
“Come, everyone,” He announced. “Let us go out and announce the birth to the whole Barrens. This is an occasion for celebration.” He shot a wink in Brynne’s direction and turned from where he stood in the doorway, gently ushering the small gathering down the short hallway and out into the rest of the trailer home.
———
Later James watched as Brynne came out of the small house trailer in the woods and walked carefully down the rickety steps in the night. There was a small amount of light cast by a lamp beside the door, but it didn’t carry far. James could see her peering out into the darkness at the shapes she could see congregating there. He stepped forward into the small pool of light around the door so she could see him.
“Well done, Brynne,” James said, smiling at her. There was a murmur of assent from the crowd of Barren dwellers that had gathered among the trees near the trailer. He had talked to most of them, and the word had spread rather quickly through the community of the remarkable skill of this human paramedic. Even he, who had seen her in action before, was impressed. Seeing a new life enter the world, especially in his world of unlife was a remarkable thing to witness. The fact that he had just happened to bring this human paramedic here at the right moment to assist with the birth when their midwife had been away was a fortuitous accident. It had raised him even higher in their eyes. The skeptics about the Station U project among the leaders here, and there had been more than a few, were changing their minds. The Barren’s leader, August, had been very pleased to hear that Brynne could help with the baby. He had been the first to shout the praises of the human after the successful birth of the Fairy child.
August stepped up next to him in the light at that moment. He held out a pewter mug to Brynne. “Here, Paramedic Brynne, you must join us in a birthday toast to young Ellie!” Brynne started to shake her head in protest. “I insist. You are one of us now, and you must join us in this tradition for luck!” James saw Brynne smile wanly in his direction as she took the mug from August.
The Barren’s leader raised his mug as he turned to the crowd, standing next to Brynne. James raised his with the others in attendance. “To Ellie, Jenny, and our new friend and protector, Paramedic Brynne Garvey. She has helped us bring new life to our community. We offer her wishes for a long and prosperous life.” August looked at Brynne next to him as he spoke the final words of the toast, “To life!”
James watched as Brynne raised her mug to the others and took a sip. Her eyes flashed in surprise, as she tasted the ale. She looked at her mug and took a longer drink from the cup, a warm smile on her face. James knew the brewmasters here brewed a concoction known among the Unusuals as Fae Nectar. It was an ancient recipe, and few humans had ever tasted it. It was also notoriously strong and intoxicating. Once upon a time it had been used to drug men to lure them to the beds of Fae women to reproduce. The drugged men would have little memory of the event, but the fairy community would gain a much-needed boost to their genetic lines from the hardier humans among whom they lived.
He walked over to Brynne as she continued to take long sips from her cup. “Careful with that,” he said as he approached. “It’s called Fae Nectar, and it’s stronger than its taste would indicate. I don’t want to have to carry you back to the Expedition.”
“It’s delicious,” Brynne said. “And, I guess I needed a drink after that remarkable birth. I have to say the wings caught me by surprise. Does Jenny have them as well? I couldn’t tell the way she was laying in the bed after the delivery.”
“She does,” James confirmed in a low voice. “She’s Fae. What you might call a Fairy. They can fold their wings against their backs and blend quite well in the human world if needed but usually live in isolated communities like this one. Most of the people here are Fae of one sort or another.”
“Fascinating,” Brynne said as she took another cautious sip. She swayed a bit as she did, bumping into James.
“Whoa!” He said with a laugh, taking the cup from her. “I think that’s enough. I told you it is strong stuff.”
“I should know better than to drink on an empty stomach,” Brynne chastised herself. “Any chance we can get a something to eat? I’m famished.”
James checked his watch. It was already nearly five o’clock in the morning. Dawn would be coming soon. “I think we should be going anyway,” he said. “We can stop and get you something to eat on the way home.”
He looked around and found Celeste talking with a few of the Barren’s leaders nearby, including August. Rudy would be with the SUV in the parking area. James walked over to where they were standing; glancing over his shoulder to make sure Brynne was following him. He spoke up as they approached. “August, my friend, I’m afraid we must be going as the hour is late and the day approaches.”
“Of course, my Lord,” August said bowing to James. “I understand. We have kept you and your companions long enough. Thank you for all your assistance and for showing us the talents of Paramedic Brynne. We have learned much this evening. You watch over us, as always.”
“I thank you for your excellent hospitality, August. I will make sure to follow-up on the things we have discussed tonight for your community.” James looked at Celeste as a woman came up and gathered their mugs from them. “Shall we go? Brynne here needs to get home, and we need to be back before dawn.”
Celeste nodded, “Lead on, James. We’re right behind you.” She took Brynne by the arm to steady her, and they followed James down the path into the woods.
Rudy was leaning against the hood of the Expedition looking at his smartphone when they got back to the parking area on the road. He stood as they approached, took the key fob out of his pocket and used the remote start to fire up the SUV’s engine. He saw Celeste with an arm around Brynne and quirked an eyebrow at James.
“Fae Nectar,” James said in explanation.
“Damn,” Rudy said. “And I missed it. I guess that means that things went well?”
“Remarkably so,” James confirmed. Celeste was helping Brynne climb into the back of the Expedition as he got into the passenger seat. He waited for Rudy to climb in behind the wheel before continuing. “The birth proceeded without any problems, and our Brynne here was amazing. I had meant merely to show her the Barrens and introduce her to some of the leaders in an attempt to get them used to the concept of human paramedics and healers. She took it way past that point. August called her ‘one of them’ and toasted her with the whole gathering. I’d say it couldn’t have gone better if I’d scripted it.”
“Wow,” Rudy said as he pulled out onto the back country road that had brought them here. “So, where to now? Back to the city?”
“First we need to get Brynne something to eat,” James said. “She had a bit too much nectar on an empty stomach. I want her to remember this night’s events. It’s important.” He looked down the road toward the glow of the city lights on the horizon. “Is there any place to stop and get her something on the way back?”
“I know just the place,” the werewolf said. “There’s a great diner off of Route 40, and it’s only a slight detour. It’s kind of near the paramedic station so Brynne might know of it.” He craned his neck to look in the rearview mirror. “Brynne, have you ever eaten at Hank’s Diner?”
“Oh, I love that place!” Brynne shouted, slurring her words a bit. “That would be perfect. I can have pancakes and eggs and biscuits and bacon and coffee. Ooo, I think I could use some coffee.” She laughed. “Rudy, did they tell you the baby had wings? Real, honest to God wings? It was the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen. I mean, I’ve helped deliver babies before but never anything like that. W
hat a rush!”
The paramedic kept talking nearly nonstop, describing every aspect of the labor and birth to the others. They all smiled and let her ramble on as they cruised through the early morning hours back to town. James would have ordinarily been annoyed by such drunken banter but found himself smiling as he listened to her voice. She was a remarkable, professional woman with prodigious skills. Yet here she was learning of a new world all around her and expounding on all she had seen and learned with child-like delight. He let out a little laugh before he caught himself.
“What?” Rudy asked from the driver’s seat.
“Nothing,” James said. He gestured down the road ahead. “Keep driving and let’s get our chatty paramedic something to eat.”
CHAPTER TEN