Scientific Crescendo - Book 2: The Genetics Project 🪼✔

30: North Is Up

SIM
The first sound I heard was the sound of beeping. It was really annoying and kind of loud in my ears. I just wanted the sound to go away... it was too much in my ears... It was all white and blurry and so not cool.
"Sim? Hey, you awake?"
I mumbled but I turned, looking toward where I thought the voice was coming from.
"Hey, sweetie... How you feeling?"
I felt my eyes flutter open and saw Tamari looking at me with smiling eyes. I felt her soft hand on my cheek and I felt something in my hands. I jerked a little and my vision came back quickly with the fright that overcame me. I realized that my body was lighter and I looked around, putting my hands to my stomach. It was flat.
"My baby... Baby... Where is she?"
"Shhh, hold on a moment. She's fine... They have her in an incubator in the hospital. Everything is okay, sweetheart, you're okay."
"I want to see her. Please..."
"You will in due time. You're not strong enough to do anything right now."
Mom looked at me with love and hugged me to her, stroking my head.
"I was so worried about you, Sim-Sim... You don't know how much I prayed that you would be alright..."
"Oh... Okay."
There was a knock at the door and Dad walked in, bandages all over him and his hand was wrapped up in an ace bandage but he was looking okay.
"Hey, Sim-Sim, how you feeling?"
"Lighter... I want to see my baby."
"You will, I promise but we have to make sure that you're strong enough to do this. Plus, you need some nutrients of your own. You've been asleep for three days solid."
"Can I just see her? I don't want to hold her I just... I just want to know that she is safe. I just want to know how she is and what she looks like and... I want to just meet her... Did you name her?"
"No. We thought it would be best if you named her; she's your baby."
"C-can you get someone to just let me see her? Please."
Dad nodded once and then turned back.
"Are you well enough for some company? There's someone who's been wanting to see you."
"Y-yeah..."
Dad walked over and knocked on the window. He opened it up and I saw an eye.
"You're awake!"
"Tayla?"
The eye moved out and I saw that it was Tayla.
"Thank god you're awake now. I really thought that you were going to die."
"N-no, I'm fine..."
"I'm happy that you're alive now but I have ot go because I'm getting a view down here..."
"Okay. I-I still have to fix you, don't I?"
She waved her hand in dismissal. "Sim, you've been pregnant and tortured by a crazy man, I think the delay on the nanobot thingy is pretty understandable."
I laughed and Dad slipped out of the room as a nurse came in.
"I'll be where I was before when you're better."
I nodded and the nurse pulled the table around so I could eat.
"I'm going to go call Lottie and Leilani to let them know you're alright. They'll probably be coming soon to see Bay and Tarot anyway."
"Are they okay?"
Mom turned away and pat the bed as I started to eat some food.
"They are both in very bad condition. Tarot is in critical and still on the respirator but Bay is okay now. He hasn't woken up but the bleeding has stopped and his daughter is fine."
"He had a girl too?" I say, munching on a roll.
"Yeah. She premature though, so she's on some fluids and things to help stabilize her but she's strong."
"Did he name her?"
"Prudence."
"That's horrible name... well... I guess not, considering what I want to name mine."
Tamari smiled as something caught my attention. Dad walked in and was holding a bundle of blankets. I sat up as he walked over and sat on the edge of the bed, leaning over a little.
"Say 'hello, Daddy'..."
I looked at my daughter as she looked at me. She had a soft ginger down on her little head and her bright default blue eyes were staring at me with wonderment.
"This is your Daddy... What are you going to name her?"
"Um... I- I have a name but you guys might not like it."
"Oh?"
"Northern."
"It's a northern name? Isn't that the same as any other name?" Dad said, touching her with love and admiration.
"No... I mean, her name is Northern, North for short."
Dad turned his head and then grinned. "That's fine."
"That is a direction, Dexter." Tamari said with a frown.
"It's his favorite movie. It's about a boy who wishes for better parents so he goes out to find some. His name was North."
"He never watched that when I lived with you."
"I watched it before you married my Dad. It was a um... irony movie to my own life. I would dream of running back home to my dad, where I was loved and cared for but Gerald always made me stay and never speak a word... North was an escape and... she is... love... She will be loved and she will never be able to feel like I have felt or that Dad has felt or her uncles or anyone in his family. When she looks into the eyes of all the grown ups in her life, she will only, only find love. Because the only way to look is up, the only way to look is north."
"Northern Leoda... It's a good name."

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I finally got to hold Northern about two days later and Dad rolled another bassinet in.
"Say hey..."
I looked at the baby and smiled. Ichor cooed on the inside and then squealed when he saw me. My smiled faded and I stopped playing with North's feet.
"Dad, is there for you to get my laptop from the college?"
"Why?"
"So I can begin helping everyone. I need to get Tayla back to normal and I think if I use my nanobots on Ichor, I can get him back to normal too. I have ot use that computer though so..."
"I should be able to. I'll tell Tayla to reach in and grab it or something."
"Dad, that's not safe to do..." I said with a smile as I smiled then at Northern.
Dad picked Ichor out of the bassinet and he grabbed my hair.
"Hey, don't get mad... How is he feeling?"
"He's stable now but he has to be hooked up to an IV every few hours because his body heats up quickly. They havent' explained why yet but it's been working and he's been alright. I sleep in this bed right next to you and check on him every night."
"And Bay and Uncle Tarot?"
"They haven't woken up yet but Tarot is off the respirator now and seems to be recovering his healing abilities now. Seems whatever Gerald used on him didn't stop it like the first time, just hindered it so he could still do some things."
"Did Uncle Tarot really... really kill him?"
Dad kneaded his forehead and Ichor reached for me. I let Northern's feet go and held out my hands. He sat on my lap and leaned over on my chest, looking up at Dad.
"They say he exhausted every bullet that that gun held into Gerald's body. It was self defense as well as 1st degree but they aren't sure yet what to do... Because the whole situation, no matter what, is a self defense zone, but he didn't have to kill him like that. It was a hate thing but not at the same time so... until Tarot is ready to speak to the police about it, they can't do anything."
"I see... But Gerald is gone?"
"Forever, bud..."
I laughed. I laughed so hard that I started crying, the tears falling down my face and Ichor looked up at me. I was so happy... He was gone...
Gerald was finally dead.