Cloned

Chapter 5

Hannah POV

-8 1/2 months later-

Emily was now 38 weeks pregnant and walked around or rather waddled around with a beaming smile on her face.

"Two weeks to go" she said to practically anyone who asked her, looked at her or passed in her general direction. Everybody had commented on her and how quickly she had gotten pregnant after Charlotte's death. Some people said that she wasn't respecting Charlotte and that she had forgotten her too quickly. Others said that it was nice that James had a mother who was happy and hadn't decided to go and get herself drunk the whole time but was carrying on with her life. Only Liv, Emily and I knew the truth.

Liv and I continued working in the lab and neither of us showed any signs that Emily's pregnancy had anything to do with us. She was very excited about the birth of the child though. She and Emily would spend hours together talking about the child. Liv was excited because this was her greatest ambition and she wanted to see how alike the two children were.

James had long since returned and also asked continuing questions about his new sister. He said a lot of the time he missed Charlotte.

I was making a cup of tea and Emily was sitting on the sofa with a book on her lap.

"Milk? Sugar?" I called back to her.

"Both" she replied, absorbed with her book. I started to pour out the milk when I heard a cry from behind me. Emily was on her feet and her trousers and the sofa were drenched.

"My waters!" She cried out. " but it's two weeks early" I picked up the phone to call Liv. When Emily said that she needed to go to the hospital immediately. Together we some how managed to get her in the car. I then proceeded to drive like a mad woman much like when I first heard the phone call about the crash. We were there in record time. I went and left her with the doctors before calling up Liv. She was so upset that she couldn't come but was in the middle of a stricly timed experiment and couldn't come away. 

The birth was quick. The baby was born in about 3 hours and was healthy although premature. She was fairly small although only a few days were spent in the incubator. The head nurse of the prenatal unit, Kate, was very pleased at how she progressed and said that she would be fine but to come back if there were any problems.

James was very careful with his younger sister and said that he would take care of her. He did indeed act as an older brother should. One night he was tasked with the project of drawing his family tree. He did Emily, me, his grandparents, himself then he said it would be difficult the next bit.

"Mummy, do I draw Charlotte on?" He asked quietly. Emily was on the sofa with baby Madeline. Eventually decided after a long debate. Emily didn't know what to say. After your sister dies to you still say you have one or do you just say you don't.

"Have you drawn Maddie?" She asked.

"Yes but Charlotte was my sister too." He replied.

"Then draw her on as well" said Emily. I could hear she was trying to keep the tears back.

"Ok, but I will draw her on a cloud along with Jeremy my hamster." He said happy his question has been answered. Emily was silent.

After James had gone to bed, I asked Emily about it.

"It still hurts, Hannah. A lot. I thought that having Maddie would take all the pain away but she hasn't. I still think she will walk through the door and that question: Is Charlotte still my sister? I don't know the answer." She replied. Her eyes were filling up and her voice sounded squeaky.

"It will get easier as Maddie grows older. She won't be Charlotte. I told you that before we did the cloning. She will make the hole easier but she isn't a replacement. James won't see Maddie as a replacement. He can't forget Charlotte any more than you can. Anyway, his birthday is coming up in the next few weeks. 8 is a big number and his 7-8 year old self won't see having Maddie as a birthday present." I said to her disbelieving look as if she couldn't believe that I was thinking about something as small as a birthday when she had Maddie.

"Yes, we should start thinking about that." She said quietly.