Translucent

Last

"If she phases now, I don't think she'll make the journey" Jonathan stated with such a saddened voice that he could have been crying.

"And the baby?" Jai asked, his voice quivering like a leaf in the breeze.

"I don't know, Jai, this is new territory for all of us" he sighed.

Rhiannon watched the conversation play out in the hallway from the floor in the room adjacent, the contractions getting worse and dilation complete. The baby was coming and she'd already phased through the bed once. They had placed her on the floor, thinking that is was a better place than leaving her in the bed to compromise the birth further.

Laurel was wiping sweat away from her brow at this time, Jonathan recently graduated from medical school with honours, making for an amazing tag team. Rhiannon cried out at the pain, her entire body fighting to birth a child and stay on this plane of existence, a seemingly impossible task. She had stayed here this long, she was refused to fall at the last hurdle.

"Stay with me, Anna" Laurel tried to reassure her but she looked equally stricken by the affair. None of them knew the consequences of phasing with another life inside her but Rhiannon was hopeful. When Laurel had confirmed that she was pregnant, Rhiannon had been a year and a half without incident. She was so hopeful.

But as she felt the thick, viscous tendrils of the other dimension, she was positive that this would be the end for her and her baby. 

The transition was smooth but for the first time, she felt pain in this reality. Watching the transparency of her body and clothing, she could see everything that her body was doing, the baby being pushed fiercely through her vaginal canal, the umbilical cord still attached to the precious child's belly.

She could see now that she was giving birth to a beautiful girl and though she could feel the pain of her body stretched and adapting to release him, it had dulled significantly.

She couldn't breathe but she could still push, using all the strength she could summon to help this child into the world. She lost track of the time passing, her only concentration landing on the faint, paced heartbeat that she couldn't recognise as hers or her daughter's.

She was still so very hopeful.

As she finally emerged from her, her fetal form attempted to stretch into the whiteness, truly escaping from her mother's strong grasp but Rhiannon was still determined. She reached out as fast as the air would let her, arms outstretched, fingers desperately clawing for her baby girl. 

She could still hear her heartbeat.   

As her hands began to cradle her, she felt the pull again, the awful tug of change that was so sickening that her stomach was hovering in her throat. She pulled the baby closer to her body, dangerously fast and dangerously close, feeling gravity beginning to affect her body again and she clung to her for dear life.

Let her come back with me, she prayed to whatever God she thought would listen.

The transition this time was harsh, her body crashing to the floor like a sack of wet sand. She cried out at the pain of her bones cracking against the hardwood. Her vision was still bleary, eyes still ringing but she ignored all of that as she felt the weight in her arms. 

Small coughs and tiny cries emitted from her grasp and she felt the tears streaming down her own face as she lazily patted the child's back. 

She had a right to be hopeful.

"Anna!" the stampede of feet rushing through the house was a background noise to Rhiannon as she tried to reorient herself with the world, not knowing how long she was away for but knowing that she was at least gone long enough for the day to have turned to night.

Jai was the first to rush in, tears running down his face in streams and holding his wife for dear life, much like Rhiannon had with their child. Laurel and Jonathan were next, with towels, cloth and shocked expressions. The baby began to cry more confidently now, she and her mother now gaining back the breathe they had missed out on.

Jai's smile was brighter than the sun, even with puffy, tearful eyes and he pressed his forehead against her. She returned it just as fiercely.

"I knew you could do it" he whispered so softly and Rhiannon smiled wider.

"I knew we could do it" she replied, her voice hoarse.

Allowing Laurel to take the baby and clean her of the mucus, wrapping her in a comfortable blanket, she returned the baby to her mother. Jonathan and Jai had moved Rhiannon back onto her bed, discerning that she would be going nowhere anytime soon.

"She's beautiful" Laurel smiled warmly, pride in her eyes as she admired her oldest, most beloved patient, student and friend.

"Thank you, Laurel" Rhiannon replied, still a little breathless "And you, Jonathan. A fine, young man you've become".

Jonathan's cheeks flushed at the compliment.

"Thanks, Anna" he shrank away much like he did all those years ago.

Rhiannon exhaled her surroundings, never feeling more blessed than she was now. A husband, a beautiful daughter, loyal friends and a life. A real one.

"Did you decide on a name for her?" Laurel asked, and both Jai and Rhiannon looked at each other. They had been arguing about it for months, narrowing down lists of 100s of names, trying to find something they both loved equally. 

But at this moment, they both knew exactly what her name was and exactly what she was going to be, Jai knowing in agreement with Rhiannon's voiceless request.

"Yes," she smiled, looking down at the girl that survived the relentless storm. 

"Her name is Hope".