The Course of True Love by Jayel

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The Course of True Love (9/14)
by Jayel

Magus and Walman sat in heavy silence on opposite sides of the campfire, each of them ostensibly on watch but actually just listening to Bess and wondering when the other would break down and say something. Baines had gone with Cameron to try to figure out the best way to find Danziger and Tara and let them know the caravan had stopped, and everyone else was more than occupied elsewhere. So the time for talk had definitely come.

"You know, this is as close to privacy as we're likely to find in the next few days," Magus finally began, poking at the fire with a stick and watching the sparks rise into the dark.

"Yep," Walman replied, the very soul of eloquence as always.

Maybe I ought to just poke him, Magus thought, gritting her teeth as she attacked the coals more vigorously, making them crackle and sing. "Yep," she echoed ironically.

"I'm sorry, Marcia, I just don' t have a single clue what you want me to say," he retorted, tossing another log on the fire and making some crackles of his own.

"Say what you think, Walman," she answered, looking up, knowing this was the closest thing to an opening she was likely to get from him. "Just tell me what's going on in your head--"

"And what if I don't know?" he interrupted. "I mean, there's just so much--here I think you and I are . . . and then Baines comes out here and drops this bomb on my head out of a clear blue sky--What am I supposed to be thinking right now?"

"It doesn't matter what you're *supposed* to think," she said gently. "Or what I want you to say--"

"Doesn't it?" he said, springing to his feet as if he couldn't stand to sit still another moment. "This whole thing is about me thinking and saying the wrong stuff, isn't it?"

"What are you talking about?" she asked.

"You know what I'm talking about," he retorted, looking pointedly over her head toward the edge of camp where Devon was talking with True. "One time I say the wrong thing, and the next thing I know, you're cozying up to Baines--Baines, for pity's sake!"

"And what is wrong with Baines, I'd like to know?" she demanded, getting up herself. "And where do you get off thinking whatever I do with Baines is about you, anyway--"

"Isn't it?"

"No!" she insisted. "No, it isn't . . . " Bess let out a particularly piercing wail, followed by shouts of encouragement from Morgan, Julia, and Alonzo, and Magus and Walman both stopped dead to listen until these subsided.

"Sounds like it won't be long now," Walman remarked.

"Yeah," Magus agreed, looking toward the Martin tent. "They're really lucky, you know? They have each other, and now . . . " She looked back at Walman. "Is it such a huge leap of imagination to think I might want that?"

"What?" he asked, mystified. "Of course not . . . "

"I want somebody who looks at me the way Morgan looks at Bess," she continued. "I want somebody who, even if I did something terrible and everybody in this group voted to leave me behind, would still come back for me and tell me he loved me anyway. I want to be special to somebody, Walman--"

"Marcia, you're special to everybody," he protested.

"No!" She shook her head, shaking off impending tears. "That isn't what I mean," she continued. "I know I'm *special*, that we're all special--we're all members of the group, and we depend on each other and care for each other and if anything happened to any one of us, the rest would never be the same. That's something I never would have known on the stations--I'm not sure any of us would ever have had that, and I know we should all be grateful, especially me." She held a hand out to him, and he took it and let her lead him back to the fire. "But sometimes it isn't enough," she admitted, still holding his hand without meeting his eyes. "I want just one person . . . just once, I want to be somebody's whole life . . . I want somebody to be my whole life . . . "

He squeezed her hand. "And you and I . . . we just ain't it," he finished for her.

She looked up at him and smiled, maybe not loving him but liking him more than she could ever remember liking anyone before, woman or man. "No," she agreed. "We're not."

He pulled her close and hugged her, not as a lover but as the warmest of friends. "But hey, that's okay," he said, holding her tight. "We had a good time, right?"

"The best," she agreed, pressing her tear-spattered face to his shoulder one last time before pulling away.

They sat together, side by side, in companionable silence for a long time, until the snow stopped falling and Devon and True had gone inside. "Hey, Magus," Walman said at last.

"Yeah?"

"What about Baines?" He turned and looked at her. "Do you think he might be the one?"

She seemed to consider this for a long moment, then shrugged. "I don't know," she admitted. "Maybe . . . I guess we'll just have to see."

He grinned. "I guess so." He put an arm around her shoulders and gave her another squeeze. "But if he isn't . . . you know, if he hurts you . . . "

"Yeah?" she prompted, raising an eyebrow.

"You know," he grumbled.

"Tell me anyway," she insisted with a smile.

He smiled back. "I'll make him wish he'd kept his butt in the Transrover."

***

In spite of his brave assertions to the contrary, Alonzo was actually a little nervous about watching Bess give birth--he knew that his doc was right, that judged strictly on aesthetics, this particular drama was likely to rank right up there with watching Grendlers eat semolina mush. But if Bess and Morgan's baby was coming now, he figured it was a pretty safe bet that his and Julia's Valentine would be along pretty soon. And no matter what, he was determined to be ready, even if it meant losing his dinner or even passing out cold. Julia might have to bear the pain alone, but that didn't mean he couldn't do everything possible to help. And that meant having at least a working knowledge of the process.

And actually, once things really got underway, he found he was too engrossed and thrilled to be a part of what was happening to even think about being nauseous. Bess seemed scared but happy--her face glowed like an angel's even while she was screaming. Julia was as capable and efficient as always in a medical emergency, but he noticed her businesslike demeanor melting into a look of sheer wonder and joy more than once. And Morgan, God bless him, was an absolute rock. He sat directly behind his wife the whole time, holding her up and murmuring encouragement without the slightest hint of hysteria. "Not much longer now, sweetie," he promised after a particularly lengthy contraction, kissing her cheek. "Look, you can see the top of the head--oh my God, Alonzo, you can see the top of the head!"

"I know," Alonzo agreed, knowing he was grinning like an idiot but completely incapable of wearing any other expression.

"Come on, Bess, one more push," Julia ordered gently from her position on the floor. "Morgan's right; we're almost there."

"Okay," Bess agreed, laying her head back against her husband's shoulder. "But this hurts a really lot . . . "

"I know, baby, I know," Morgan soothed, stroking her sweat-damp hair back from her face. "Just one more--"

"I'd say two," Julia admitted. "But only one more for the head."

"Okay, I'm doing it," Bess cried, her nails digging into Morgan's wrist as she pushed. "Is it coming?"

"Yes, of course it's coming," Julia answered, almost laughing. "Can't you feel it?"

"Oh yeah," Bess agreed through gritted teeth. "It has your head, Morgan honey--"

"I think it only seems that big, Bess," Alonzo joked, handing Julia a clean, thick towel.

"One more, Bess, I swear," Julia promised. "Just one more--"

And then a beautiful baby Martin dropped into her arms.

"He's out!" Morgan yelled. "You did it, sweetie--he's beautiful--"

"He?" Bess asked weakly. "It's a boy?"

"Oh yeah," Alonzo answered, unable to take his eyes off the squalling little life who seemed determine to squirm away from Julia's attempts to wipe his face. "He's a boy . . . "

"Is he okay?" Morgan demanded. "He seems so small--"

"He's perfect," Julia promised, getting up. "Here . . . " She laid the baby on his mother's breast, and almost immediately his screaming faded to an irritable whimper.

"I think he likes us," Bess said tearfully, stroking the little cheek. "Oh God . . . Morgan, look . . . "

"I see him, angel," Morgan answered, though his eyes just then were closed in silent prayer. "Julia's right . . . you guys are perfect."

***

Julia managed to stay the cool, calm representative of medical science she had been genetically engineered to be through the rest of the birthing process and even through her briefing of the rest of the Eden Project. But once she and Alonzo found themselves alone again in the privacy of the medtent, she burst into happy tears.

"Hey, doc," Alonzo soothed, pulling her close. "What's wrong? Were you hoping they'd have an ugly baby?"

"Of course not," she scolded, smacking his chest before sinking gratefully against it. "Nothing's wrong . . . everything's just so . . . "

"I know," Alonzo agreed, patting her back. "I feel exactly the same way." He cuddled her close for several minutes until the real tears were gone, leaving no more than a mild case of the hiccups in their wake. "Better?" he asked, turning her face up to his.

"I'm great," she promised, kissing him briefly on the lips. "But you want to know a secret?"

"Always," he teased.

"I was scared to death," she confessed. "I had never delivered an actual baby before. My specialty was Syndrome--all the 'births' I witnessed were in VR."

"I'm glad Morgan didn't know that," Alonzo joked.

"So am I," she agreed with a giggle. "But it went okay, don't you think?"

"You were perfect," he promised. "No one could have done a better job."

"Oh, I doubt that," she demurred, but she was pleased nonetheless. "I'm glad you were there with me."

"So am I," he said truthfully. "It really was beautiful . . . except for the icky parts."

"Yeah, except for those," she retorted with a grin. "So do you think you can stand one more?"

"What, you mean ours?" he said. "I wouldn't miss it for the world; you know that."

"Good," she said, obviously relieved. "I was afraid that after you saw Bess give birth . . . "

"Hey, the only reason I wanted to watch Bess was so I'd know what to do when Valentine comes," he said. "We're in this together, remember?"

In answer, she put her arms around his neck and kissed him hard. "I know," she said at last. "And I am so glad . . . "

"You know, when Valentine decides to finally show up, our only doctor is going to be otherwise occupied," he pointed out, gently caressing her cheek.

"Yeah, I've been thinking about that," she admitted. "I talked to Yale, and he said he would be happy to do what he could . . . but I'd really rather it was just us."

Alonzo's brown eyes widened. "What, you mean just me and you?" he echoed.

"I could tell you exactly what to do," she promised. "You'd be great, I know you would--"

"Yeah, but, doc--what if something goes wrong?" he asked doubtfully.

"If something goes wrong, you're going to be as able to help me as Yale would," she answered. "Don't worry; we'll go over all the possibilities long before the time comes--"

"Then we better do it soon," he interrupted. "If Bess' due date was wrong, yours probably is, too."

She just looked at him for a moment, stunned. "You're right," she said at last. "I honestly hadn't thought . . . "

"Hey, it's okay," he promised. "Don't be scared . . . "

"I'm not scared," she said with a smile. "Whenever it happens, I know we're going to be fine."

End of Part 9

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