Daughter of the Moon

Chapter 5

14 weeks pregnant...

At this point, Ruby felt as if she had everything; a loving husband, great friends, a steady job and a family on the way... or so it seemed. Late one night as she and Graham slept in bed spooning each other and Ruby lay awake wondering what in the world young Oliver Locksley meant when he looked at her and said "bye, bye, baby". In the middle of the night, Ruby got thirsty, so she decided to slowly get out of bed so as not to disturb a deeply slumbering Graham and get a glass of water.

But the minute she got up, she found her self standing in a small pool of blood on the hardwood floor of the bedroom. As Ruby stared long and hard at her blood stained feet, she screamed at the top of her lungs due to being so paranoid and worried about what may have caused this to happen.

Unfortunately yet fortunately at the same time, her scream wasn't loud enough to wake up Graham. He continued to sleep as soundly as a bear during hibernation; which somewhat made sense since he loved wolves. Why else would he be married to one? Ruby frantically shook him awake and told him what had happened.

"Oh my bloody hell. Literally" Graham responded as his eyes widened when his gazed transferred from his wife's cotton white feet drenched in blood to the terrified look in her eyes.

Ruby began to hyperventilate as continued to stare at her blood soaken feet. Graham was quick to assure her that everything was fine and that they would see Dr. Whale immediately.

"But I don't think I can make it" Ruby said through gritted teeth from the blinding pain and trauma. All she could afford to think about was the health and safety of her children.

"We'll ask him to make a house call if he can. But I think he'll want us at the hospital to get a better look at things" Graham advised as he placed her arms around his shoulder for support.

Graham placed a quick call to the hospital and asked for Dr. Whale's services. The former mad scientist met them at their house and helped Graham in escorting Ruby to the hospital where they would hopefully receive a definite answer as to why Ruby started to bleed.

~X~

Since it was the middle of the night and Ruby was afraid of going full wolf at her emergency appointment with Dr. Whale, she just wore a red Pretty Pushers gown that she found online and thought it would be a beautiful and useful alternative to the traditional unisex and paper thin hospital gowns; especially if she were to go into labor or give birth at night.

As she sat up on the examination table, Ruby started to ponder all of the possibilities for suddenly bleeding when she assumed everything was going so well. She used her phone to research some of the potential causes and the list looked somewhat like this:

1. Sex

2. Pap Smear or internal exam

3. Miscarriage or ectopic pregnancy.

Out of all three options, Ruby figured that the third one seemed to offer the more logical explanation. She and Graham had not engaged in sexual activity since Valentine's Day and Dr Whale reported no problems with her pap test the previous year. So it had to be the either a miscarriage or an ectopic pregnancy. Even though it may not have been the healthiest decision, upon finding out she and Graham were expecting a baby, Ruby read some stories on the Internet about families who experienced miscarriages, still births and ectopic pregnancies. It all seemed so sad, so Ruby began to pray extremely hard at night for a healthy baby.
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Dr. Whale ran a few tests, asked Ruby some questions and then randomly left the room afterward without giving them an answer as to what the issue was and if it was anything to be concerned about; which the parents to be were very concerned about. Husband and wife exchanged a worried glance. But they continued to remind themselves and each other that whatever happened was for the best.

~X~

Dr. Whale returned ten minutes later with a laminated sheet from the ultrasound that he took moments before. Graham sprung frantically out of his chair and stuttered as he asked Dr. Whale how everything looked; although, due to the worried and apologetic look on the doctor's face, Graham could already tell that there was bad news.

"I'm so sorry it took longer than you expected. But what we've got here is a very complex situation and it's not the easiest thing to explain" Dr. Whale began. Even though it was a big part of his medical profession, it broke Dr. Whale's heart every time he had to deliver bad news.

According to the ultrasound and numerous other tests that Ruby had to undergo in order to get a better understanding of why she bled in the middle of the night, one of the babies had unfortunately passed away in the uterus and due to Ruby being a werewolf, it was a bit more complicated than the average miscarriage. The easiest way Dr. Whale was able to explain it was that since both babies inherited a portion of Ruby's werewolf genes they would be wild in the womb; which meant that one of them would be inferior to the other and possibly get killed.

"Oh my goodness. Which one was it?" Ruby asked as tears streamed down her pale face.

"Do you see her? Right there" Dr. Whale said as he pointed to the black and white image of the baby girl in the sonogram.

Ruby and Graham were relieved to discover that their daughter had survived But all the same, they were devastated because it meant that their son was the one who passed. As Graham put an arm around his distraught wife to comfort her, she collapsed in his arms and cried harder than she ever had in her entire life.

"I'm so sorry for you loss. I wish there was something I could do to help bring him back. However, I'm afraid it's just not possible" Dr. Whale said.

"Thank you, Dr. Whale" Graham replied with a nod of his head.

Another pregnancy risk Ruby and Gtaham had learned about in relation to the werewolf genes was that there was a high chance of their daughter being born premature, so Ruby had to be ready for anything to happen.

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Later on in the night as Graham and Ruby were preparing for bed, Ruby stared long and hard at the night sky. She watched as the moon slowly drifted from one place to another and the stars aligned perfectly as if they held hands. She remained devastated over the loss of her son, but she believed that there had to be a reason for it happening. This little life that she had within her for a short period of time had all of a sudden left and she felt as if she had known him for so long; and now she never would.

"May you always run free beneath the moon's pale light. Goodbye, Lucas Graham Humbert" Ruby said as her gaze remained focused on the moon and her hand was placed firmly on her stomach in an attempt to feel her daughter's movement and connect with the soul of her recently departed son.

"Lucas Graham. I like that name. Even if we never get to meet him, at least we can take comfort in knowing that he'll know who he is once he moves on toward the after life" Graham said as he emerged from the bathroom.

For the rest of the night, Ruby just lay beneath her husband's warm and comforting embrace. as she drifted off to sleep, she began to wonder what Lucas would have looked like and what kind of personality he would have had if he survived. She also began to envision what her daughter would look like. Even though she did not have a name yet, Ruby was hoping it would come to her once they met.