SWEETEST EMBRACE
By
A.j.
Timeline: Years after
Author's E-Mail: jetfixer@interaccess.com
AUTHOR'S NOTES:
Becks, don't read this in the morning. Other stuff at the end.*WARNING!* *WARNING!* *WARNING!*
This is a *depressing* story.<Insert standard disclaimer here.>
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^(Means they ain't mine.)
*Dedications*
This is to my Geometry buddy, Colleen. She sits and bears each period with more aplomb and attention than I, and is a true inspiration.Note: This is the fourth story in my Jayel universe stories. It's the last one.
The Sweetest Embrace
by A.j.The dune-rail bumped and jostled its way over the ragged terrain, giving the passenger more than a few bruises along the way.
'Why do I get myself talked into these things?' John Danziger wondered as he deftly avoided a fallen tree. 'We come to scavenge whatever's left of the Earth ship, Uly says, "One of us should go to the Bio-dome and see if there's anything left," and I get stuck driving for three days, alone, to check on the old shack. Life just doesn't get easier as you get older.'
He sighed heavily, but kept moving. He was less than half-an hour away from the place where Eden Advance had spent their first winter, and in spite of himself, John was beginning to get anxious. It had been nearly nine years since he had last seen the place and he silently wondered if it had changed any.
His thoughts started to drift back through those years until they arrived, squarely, in the three months spent at the dome. They had been the worst and best months of his life. There he'd gotten to know the people who had become his family for the past ten years. They'd all had some bad experiences there, a frozen Terrian and a dead Grendler popped into mind, but they had also achieved a sense of family and commitment.
The trees started to recede as he neared the clearing that had once been his home. He slowed the rail and sat there for a minute. Standing, majestically, as it always had, was the Bio-dome. The glass and metal glinting merrily in the afternoon sun, beaconing its weary traveler closer. John smiled and realized it was good to be home.
Starting the engine, again, John drew closer to the circular building. He noticed that the security systems they had set up to keep Grendlers and penal colonists out, were still up, and in working order. He pulled up in front of the control beacon and punched in the code. The laser system opened and allowed the tired mechanic entry. He pulled the rail into the protected area and reset the perimeter. After completing the task, he removed his knapsack and canteen from the rear and moved towards the front door.
He didn't make it that far. A glint of metal caught his eye as he passed the entrance to sleeping quarters. It brought him up short. His curiosity piqued, John stopped and looked around for the shine. He didn't have to look long as he soon found the source. It was a small metallic bracelet. It was the bracelet that Uly had given his mother on her 35th birthday.
He slowly picked up the chain of metal. It had once been a chain for one of the vehicles that had snapped. Uly had taken it and put on small bits of metal. It had been fashioned into a bangle bracelet that didn't look half bad. Devon had never taken it off.
Devon Adair was here.
That little revelation hit John like a brick in between the eyes. It had been nearly four months since he had last seen her. The night of True and Uly's wedding, she had come to his home and told him that she had accepted that they would not be a couple, but that she still loved him. He had also found out that she had been pregnant with someone else's child.'Is that why Uly sent me?' his brain questioned. 'He had to know she was here. Did he want me to see his sibling and know that I should get on with my life like she did with hers?'
After the night she had visited, John had sunk into a downward spiral. That night, he had realized that he *did* love Devon Adair, more than he had ever admitted to himself. But therein lay the problem. He was still married to Tara, who he also loved, and he had no idea where to find Devon. He had tried to guilt the information out of True, Uly, and Julia, but to no avail. It had depressed the hell out of him. This scout, unofficially, had been set up to make him feel useful.
'Uly set this up. He must have finally caved.' John's face broke into a smile who's wattage could have been compared to that of a small sun. 'She's here.'
And then he heard the scream. It stopped his blood cold. He had only heard that scream twice in his life, and he had stayed up at night praying he would never hear it again. The first time he had heard it, it had emerged from his mother's lips the day his father had died. The second was when it had come from his own lips the day Elle had died. That scream was the epitome of loss, grief, and hopelessness.
Not caring what he stepped on or what he broke, John turned all his energy into finding the person who had let loose the shriek. Deep in his heart, he knew who it was, but his head did not want to accept it.
Barreling through the doors that lead to the greenhouse, John stopped short at the scene in front of him. Lying in a pool of blood, on the floor, was Devon. She was panting and trying with all he might to release a child from her body. Standing silently, John watched the interplay her muscles as she pushed. In his heart something broke.
Sensing his presence, Devon turned her head and met his blue gaze with her own, pained one. The utter shock that she felt broke through the haze that the pain had afflicted on her.
"...john?" she whispered.
Her soft inquiry broke his revere, and he sped to her side."Devon... Why haven't you called Julia yet?" He picked her upper body off of the dirt and cradled her in his arms. Drawing a hand over her sweaty brow, John looked into her huge blue eyes.
"Gear.. on.. table over... there." She waved her hand over to the gardening table, not six feet away. "C-couldn't reach..." She was panting heavily and was clearly exhausted.
"Devon, how long have you been in labor?" "What time is it?" Her tired body settled back into his larger one. It fit perfectly. He had found his other half.
"It's about 2:00."
"Oh," she sighed. "I've been in labor since about 5:00 yesterday morning.""WHAT!?" John screeched, almost dumping her out of his lap. "And you didn't call Julia immediately?"
"N-no, John. They weren't so bad to begin with. I thought I'd get a little gardening done, but the pains started to be real bad, I can't move. What are you doing here?"
"Uly, myself and some others came to salvage whatever was left at the... ship. He sent me out here to get some old stuff from the bio-dome. He knew you were here, didn't he?"
"Y-yes. I don't know why he sen--AAAAAA!" Devon's whole body wrenched in a splitting pain that started somewhere in the very center of her being.
John held her as she flailed her arms and legs, trying to push the baby that was inside of her out. He didn't know what to do, there was so much blood, it wasn't right. The pain ended and Devon collapsed into him. He knew she couldn't take much more of this. He had to call Julia.
"Baby, I gotta go get the Gear. I'm gonna call Julia and she's gonna be here as fast as she can." He picked up her limp, swollen body. She was a dead weight in his arms. He picked his way over rows of vegetables and over to the cleaning table where the Gear sat, untouched. He shifted Devon's weight so he could reach the metallic gismo and he deftly set it on his head, activating it along the way.
"Danziger to Julia. ANSWER ME DAMN IT!" He could hear the panic entering his voice, and tried to quiet it in his next attempt. There was no way he could help the woman in his arms if he got hysterical.
"Julia, pick up! It's important!" "What *is* it John?" The blonde woman's image appeared in front of him. "I'm trying to give Mia a bath and you are *not* helping. I thought you were on a salvage to the Venus with Uly."
"Julia, Devon's in labor and there's something wrong." His eyes flashed in worry and pain.
"How do you--? Oh my God he sent you to the Dome, didn't he? Are you with her now?"
"Yes, I'm carrying her to her room. I found her in the greenhouse. Julia, she's covered in blood and exhausted and she's been in labor for almost thirty five hours. The baby isn't coming."
"Oh, God, I'll be there as soon as I can. Get her into bed, change her clothes and try to stop the bleeding."
"Julia! How can you get here so fast? It took the scout almost a week to reach the ship, and that was using the tunnels. You can't get here in time!"
"Shows what you know." Julia's panicked eyes flashed with slight humor. "I'm not taking the tunnels. I'm grabbing a Terrian express. Be there in twenty." With that the signal was cut.
Removing the eyepiece, John looked down at Devon's face. Her eyes were closed and her breathing rapid and shallow. This wasn't good. He had to check her out.
He moved out of the main area and looked around for her room. He swung each door open as he came to it. The first was a store room that held crates, jars, and other paraphernalia. The next door, which had held most of Julia's medical equipment those so many years ago, was decorated with all kinds of baby stuff. There was a crib, a rocking chair, and small wooden dresser. It was all decorated in pink. The baby was going to be a girl.
As John came to the last door, he wondered whether Devon had a name picked out for her daughter. She probably did. All thoughts of baby names flew from his head as Devon's body jerked and clenched in his arms. What really worried him was that Devon only let out a small moan. She was leaving, he felt it with every fiber of his being. Devon wasn't going to survive this.
He rushed over to the bed that was set up in the corner of the room. He set her down on it very gently and brushed the hair out of her face.
"Okay, love, I have to do this. This isn't how I ever imagined this moment, but it's necessary." With a quick gesture, Devon was no longer wearing her gray maternity dress, leaving her in only her bra and a pair of blood soaked underpants. He removed the caked undergarment and examined her as best he could. Blood was still flowing.
Julia had told him to stop it somehow. There was only one way he knew how to stop bleeding, apply pressure to the wound. Searching frantically around the room, he spotted a blanket folded neatly on a dresser. He grabbed it and carefully pressed it against her.
She moaned lightly and turned her head away. "No, baby, you gotta keep your head this way. I have to see you. Come on, Dev. Wake up. Give me hell for taking off you clothes. Please baby." She turned her head back and tried to open her eyes.
"That's it, baby. Open your eyes for me. Julia's gonna be here in a few minutes. She needs you to be awake."
"It hurts."
John flinched at her words. "I know baby, but you gotta hold on. Think of how this little one'll feel if you don't welcome her into this world. Hold on, Devon."Her eyes held his and with great determination, Devon pulled herself back.
"I'll try, John." She said in an almost steady voice.
"Good." He allowed a small smile to enter his face.
With a bang, Julia entered the room and headed straight for Devon. She was fallowed, a few seconds later by True. They were both streaked with dirt. Julia hadn't lied, they *had* hitched a ride with a Terrian.
John immediately gave up his spot at the end of the bed to Julia who removed the blanket and gave her own examination, waving the dia-glove over Devon's distended abdomen.
"Oh, God. The cord's wrapped around the baby's neck. I need to do a c-section, now. Shit, I can't use anaesthetic, she's so weak it might just kill her."
"WHAT!?" John nearly jumped off the bed. He had been holding Devon up in his arms, making her focus on him. "You can't do that! She's in so much pain right now, and you're talking about giving her *more!?!?*"
"DAD!" True gripped his arm and looked him in the eyes. "Devon and the baby will die if we don't do this. We have to." Tears were streaming down her face.
"j-john?" Devon forced a whisper out of her lips.
He dove for the bed. "What is it, baby?" "d-do it. save my baby. i know i'm not gonna make it..."
"No, baby, you're gonna make it. You have to."
"no, john. this is it. take care of my girl." "Devon, you're *not* going to die. We had this conversation before, and you came through it. *You* are going to raise your daughter, not me."
"john, promise me. promise me you'll take care of her. promise me you'll tell her about me. i need to know you'll be there for her. Promise Me."
With those words, she took all the strength she had left and gripped his hand. Her blue eyes never wavered from his. He realized this was *it.* This time there was nothing he could do. She was going to leave him again. This time forever. When he realized this, he knew there was only one thing he could do.
"I promise you, Devon. I love you." She smiled softly said, "i've waited so long to hear those words. i love you...."
And with that she was gone.
Julia flew into action. She cut into Devon's body like lightning and reached in. A few seconds later her hands emerged with a limp body."DAMN IT!" She screamed. She rushed over to the dresser and cleared it with the swip of an arm. With infinite gentleness she set the baby down and started resuscitation.
True moved over to her father. He was clutching Devon to him and sobbing. She didn't know what to do. She'd always know her dad had loved Devon, hell *she* had loved Devon, and that person had just been taken away. She set her hand on his shoulder, trying to comfort him, but knowing that it would never be enough.
And then a piercing wail erupted in the room. It wasn't as strong as it should be, but it was there. John gently set the lifeless body down on the bed, and closed her eyes. She was gone from this husk. He stood carefully, the tears still coming down. He looked over to the dresser and saw Julia holding the little girl. He slowly made his way over to them and held his hands out. Julia put the little girl down into them.
John pulled the little one close and stared down in to her eyes. They were blue.
And here is the sweetest embrace, the embrace of death.
-The End-
This text file was ran through PERL script made by Andy. Original text file is available in Andy's Earth 2 Fan Fiction Archive.