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Reece
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I waited with bated breath as the seconds ticked by. I was waiting for the sound of the baby moving through my Little Bunny's belly. I was waiting for the moment that Griffin announced when he was officially brought into the world. I was waiting for it all, and it felt like time was almost standing still.
It took what felt like five minutes for the sound of the baby moving to be heard. And then for Griffin to start talking again it felt like ten minutes had passed. Time was moving so slow right now. I don't know why, but it was.
“Here we go, here comes baby number three.”
There was that sound again. That distinct sound of a tiny little baby moving through the womb as he made his way into the world. I don't think that I would ever forget that sound. No matter how many hundreds of years I managed to live with my mate by side, I don't think that I would ever let the memory of that sound ever leave me. It was a sound filled with happy memories for me.
.....
“OK. Here he comes.” The sound of the baby coming out was distinct too. It was almost like a little popping noise. It was like the skin around my Little Bunny's belly had tried to keep the baby inside. Like her womb was not ready to give him up even though it was time for him to come out into the world. “Here he is. Here is Baby C. He arrived just at twelve thirty on the nose. Twelve thirty in the morning on January the first, two thousand and thirty.”
Griffin once again helped the baby up for us to see. He wasn't squirming or crying like his brothers had been. Instead, he was just sitting there with a contented sort of look on his face and Griffin propped him up.
“That is it. All three of your boys are here.”
After showing us our third baby, Griffin lowered him down and started to clamp and cut his umbilical cord just like he had with the others. He was getting him ready for the man to take him to the nursery with his brothers. Soon, all three of them would be together again.
“Here you go, William.” Griffin said as he handed my baby boy off.
“King Reece, Queen Trinity, what is Baby C's name?” He walked over like Reba had and asked us his name so that he could notate it in his chart and on his bassinet.
“His name is Zayden. Zayden Issac Gray.” My Little Bunny answered like she had the last time. Once again, there were tears pouring down her cheeks as she looked at the baby.
“Thank you, Queen Trinity. I will make sure that it is written on his bracelet.” The man, William, turned to take the baby to the bassinet and then left the room.
“You did it, Trinity. You made it through it all. All the babies are here and they're perfect.” I kissed away the tears on her cheeks when she turned to face me then. “Our boys are here. You made it.”
“You're right, Reece. They are here. And they're so wonderfully perfect.” She was a step away from sobbing right then and there. I don't know why, she was happy but she was still about to cry her eyes out. “Don't worry Reece. They're all happy tears.” She was trying to reassure me, but it was a little awkward for me to see her crying when she was supposed to be happy.
“I love you.” I whispered as I wiped away the tears.
“Alright you two, we are going to finish up here and then move you to recovery. It will take a few more minutes.” Griffin was calling out to us as I was about to kiss my wife again. “We need to get them taken care of and then you can see the boys again. Reece, if you would like, you can head to the nursery to see them now.” Griffin was offering me as he continued to work.
“No, I will stay here with my Little Bunny. I don't want to see them again before she has the chance to. That wouldn't be very fair to her.”
“That is so sweet.” The nurse, May, cooed at the words that I had just said.
“Suit yourself.” Griffin laughed a little bit as he went about his work. “This part of the process is just a little boring that it's.. Wait a minute.” He sounded shocked and a little scared when he said that.
That was the last thing that I needed to hear right now. I did not need fear or nerves or anything else negative like that coming from the man that currently had his hands buried inside of my wife's belly.
“What is it? What's going on?” I asked him at the same time that my Little Bunny spoke.
“Is something wrong, Griffin?” There was fear in her voice as well. She was picking up on and amplifying the emotion that she had gotten from him.
“W..well, I wouldn't say that something is wrong really. It's just unexpected.”
“Unexpected doesn't exactly sound like a good thing, Griffin. What is happening?” I could feel the panic building within me. What was going on? What was happening to my Little Bunny? Was she going to be OK? What was wrong? So many different questions kept running through my mind at the moment. I knew that this had to be bad. There was no other excuse for the reaction that Griffin had given. And, oh Goddess, I didn't know if I was going to be able to handle the news. Whatever it was, it was going to be hard on us all.
For a moment, Griffin turned to look directly at me and Trinity. He was giving us a look that I couldn't quite explain. It was weird. He was thrown off and unnerved, both of those were true. However, he was also giving us a look that was filled with excitement and happiness.
“Well, Reece, Trinity, how happy are you that you have three babies?”
“What?” Both me and Trinity said that one word at the same time.
“What do you mean, Griffin? I don't understand.
“Well, are you happy to be having so many babies at once?” He asked me with that strange look still firmly in place.
“Yes, we are.” I answered him in a serious tone.
“I am as happy as I could be.” My Little Bunny added her affirmation next.
“That's good. And how would you feel about having a fourth baby?” He said with quite a big, and quite an awkward, smile on his face.
“What?”
I couldn't believe what I had just heard. What did he mean by a fourth baby? That just didn't make any sense at all! We were only having three babies. That was it. There was nothing at all that could change that. I mean, all the babies, or rather their souls, had gone to the underworld with Trinity. She knew how many babies she was carrying. There was no fourth baby. Yet, here was Griffin telling us that there was.
In my shock and surprise, I let go of my Little Bunny's hand and leapt to my feet. I was walking around the other side of the curtain before I even realized what was happening.
“What are you talking about?” I asked Griffin as I turned to look at his hands that were buried deep in Trinity's belly.
That was not a sight I ever should have seen. There was blood all over Griffin's arms and that apron-like thing that was covering his scrubs. There wasn't any gore that had been flung across the table at me and Trinity, but there was blood and lots of metal tools coated in the same red substance.
“Oh, Goddess.” I clapped a hand to my mouth and held back a gag.
“Oh, come on, Reece, you've seen blood and gore before.” Griffin laughed at me.
“Yeah, but that wasn't my wife.” I said as I tried not to hurl. “Hurgh.” I felt the gagging start as I just stared at the way he was still reaching into my wife's body. If I hadn't known that she was very much alive, I would say that an injury like this had surely killed her. “Hurgh!” I had to fight to hold back the vomit once again. “Urrkgh.” I was gagging almost uncontrollably now and it was not a good thing.
“Come on, King Reece. You need to sit down and relax.” Another of the nurses, not May but someone I didn't know, grabbed me by the shoulders and pushed me into my seat. Another one of the nurses was running across the room and grabbing a small cup of water from the sink. She was apparently trying to make sure that I had something to calm me down just a little.
I just couldn't get over the sight that I just saw. It was worse than any horror movie that I have ever seen before. Nothing in my entire life, not even the people that I had personally torn apart, could have ever prepared me to see something like that happening to my wife and mate. It was awful. It was horrible. It was the most disgusting thing in the entire world. And to think, just moments before that I was happy with what had been going on. I was overjoyed. Now I am traumatized. And now I was an emotional wreck.
