unfortunate ➸ primeval

Chapter 10

Clara and Nick helped the woman onto the bed that the operating theatre had to offer, with Nick trying to console her. "This woman is a trained health professional," he lied, gesturing to Clara, who shot him a glare.

"Well, she doesn't look like a nurse," the woman panted.

"No, she's not," Nick shook his head. Clara still stared at him; she had no idea where his lie was taking him. "She's a scientist."

"What?!"

"But I used to volunteer at the zoo when I was a teenager," Clara added, thinking she would be helpful. The woman just looked at her incredulously.

"Clara, how many babies have you delivered?" Nick prompted, catching the woman's look.

"A fair few," she nodded.

"What kind of babies?!" The woman shrieked.

"Um, I've done a couple of lions, some tigers, two zebras and I was even allowed to deliver a giraffe once," she answered. "Oh, and of course the offspring of the experimental rats at uni. Almost forgot." The woman cried out in both pain and in frustration.

"See? Now, don't worry, the principle is exactly the same," Nick comforted. "Only hopefully your baby will have a shorter neck." Clara shot him a look, to which he returned with a shrug.

As the baby was getting closer to being born, the woman had been propped up on the bed with her legs apart, a sheet over the lower half of her body. Nick had hold of her hands and was standing just behind her head, acting as her breathing coach, while Clara was at the bottom end, checking for any sign of the baby.

"I didn't want it to be like this!" She groaned through a contraction. "I wanted it to be beautiful!"

"Breathe," Nick calmed.

"It hurts!" She whined.

"You're going to get through this, and in a little while you're going to have a beautiful baby," he continued.

She nodded. "It's going to be a girl."

"A girl," Clara echoed with a smile on her face. "Aw. Don't actually think I'd want to know, but," she shrugged.

"No, I just know it will be," the woman panted. She looked up at Nick. "What's your name?"

"Nick," he answered with a small smile.

"You're a nice man," she told him.

"Sometimes," he smirked, catching Clara's eye and she flashed him a smile.

"Clara," Nick caught her attention and nodded in the direction of the wall. Clara looked down and saw another Diictodon had burst through the wall. Leaving her position, Clara bent down and picked up the small creature, but it started making a loud noise.

"Stick it back through the anomaly," he whispered to her. Yet Clara stood there, holding the creature and listening to the noise it was making. "What are you waiting for?" Nick hissed.

"It's a distress call," Clara muttered.

"It's alright," Nick assured the woman when she started looking around wildly. "It's fine."

"It's just a hunch," Clara said, bending down next to the hole and holding the Diictodon close to it so its call would echo throughout the hospital. "Maybe it'll attract the others."

"Alright," Nick agreed.

"Oh god!" The woman screamed, her face contorting in discomfort.

"Clara, I think you're needed here," Nick called to her urgently.