Two hours and thirty-two minutes later…

“Another big push,” Doctor Jenkins advised. “Just one more.”

“You can do this.” Susan added. Her sister’s face was a mask of concern.

Kerry felt like shaking her head. Like screaming the word out loud. As if doing so would alter the outcome. She. Did. Not. Want. This. Her body had other ideas.

Her belly was tight. Since her active labor had started, there was less pain, but only if she obeyed and pushed. If she bore down, there was a strange sense of relief. Like scratching a terrible itch. To ignore her body was to suffer. At this point though, her child crowning, ignoring it was an impossibility.

The door burst open and Cadon walked in.

“Thank god!” she groaned. “I thought you were going to miss it.” She panted.

Zaire followed in behind him.

“Only one other family member permitted.” Doctor Jenkins said, looking at Zaire.

Kerry was panting, sweat dripped off her brow. “Susan.” She gasped. “Thank you for being here but I need you to leave.”

“What? Why?” she frowned.

“I can’t explain things right now. I love you.” Susan groaned, clasping a hand to her belly. “Please, I need them here. I…” she groaned some more. She desperately needed to push.

Susan didn’t look convinced, but she nodded anyway. “Okay. I love you.” She said. “You can do this. I’ll be in the waiting area.”

Kerry nodded, gritting her teeth. “My brother and I are very close.” She said, looking in Zaire’s direction. “He and Susan aren’t talking.” No one really seemed interested, so she forced herself to drop it.

“I brought your brother,” he announced. “I know how close you guys are.”

“Thank you! Glad you could make it, Zaire.” She needed to push.

Zaire nodded.

“You stay over there, please,” Doctor Jenkins instructed, looking at Zaire.

Even though she was panting, the need to push was becoming overwhelming. Kerry grit her teeth and gave in. Cadon took her hand. Her other fisted the sheet. She felt perspiration dripping from her brow.

She could see Doctor Engels and his team, waiting in the wings, ready to take her tiny gasping baby from her and to attach him to a multitude of machines where he would spend the next few weeks, months even, fighting for his very existence.

Zaire paced on the far side of the room. Ready to heal her son when he was born. Would it work? So far it hadn’t. The thought was washed from her mind as the need to push became unbearable.

She had no choice in the matter. Kerry bore down. Her teeth were clenched. She groaned, the sound deep. She felt her son being born. One minute there was extreme pressure and the next it was gone. She shouted as it happened.

Doctor Jenkins nodded to her Obstetrician, Doctor Engels.

“Is he okay?” Cadon yelled, letting her hand go.

Kerry was breathing heavily. Pulling herself onto her elbows, ignoring her body’s protest. Ignoring all the aches and pains.

Doctor Engels rushed over. He got to work right away. It looked like he was suctioning. There was a slurping noise.

“Please,” she moaned the word.

Then there was a gasping noise and a tiny squeak. Her son was alive. He was still alive. Zaire stepped forward, but the nurse, Anne, put a hand on his chest. “Please stand to the side. Let the doctors do their job.”

“Please let me see him,” she asked, trying to see what they were doing.

There was so much activity. She thought she heard another squeak. “Let my female see her son,” Cadon growled.

Doctor Engels ignored them. He kept on working for another half a minute. It could have been less than that because each second felt like a lifetime. Then he held up her son.

Kerry gasped at how beautiful he was. Tiny, incredibly so. Although Doctor Engels used two hands, he could have just as easily have used one. He was perfect in every other aspect. One little foot gave a tiny kick and she sobbed, tears coursing down her cheeks. His skin looked paper thin and he was gasping.

“He is in respiratory distress,” Doctor Engels announced, taking him to the incubator they had ready.

Kerry wanted to shout to him to bring her son back. Every instinct told her to go to him, to be with him. She even tried to get out of bed. Doctor Jenkins pushed her back, her eyes soft and filled with pity. “Doctor Engels is one of the best in the country. Your son is in good hands.”

Cadon squeezed her hand. “Zaire and I will stay with our son. We’ll do what needs to be done.”

“Immediate family only,” Anne said, lifting her brows.

Doctor Engels was working hard, together with two other doctors, one at each side. He attached what looked like a hose, to her son’s nose. “His breathing is shallow, his heartrate elevated.”

“What does that mean?” Kerry shouted.

Doctor Engels went on. “Notice the blue discoloration around his—”

“What is happening?” Cadon growled, walking around her bed and towards the incubator.

Doctor Engels continued to ignore them, putting those little heartrate monitor pads on her son’s chest. Quick beeping noises could be heard. Her son’s heart. It was racing. Far faster than when he had been inside her. Too fast. She didn’t need to be a doctor to know that.

Cadon touched the obstetrician on the shoulder. “What is happening?” he repeated.

Doctor Engels jumped at the contact. “I’m trying to stabilize your son. As expected, he is in respiratory distress. The oxygen is helping, but…” He let the sentence die.

“But what?” Cadon widened his eyes, his fists were clenched.

“Let me do my job,” the doctor said, sounding stressed, he turned back to her son.

Cadon looked in her direction. This wasn’t going well. She could feel it. She could see it written in Cadon’s gaze. Her boy might be alive, but he was fighting for his life. Holding on by a thread. “But what?” Cadon shouted as he turned back to the obstetrician.

“Please, sir,” Doctor Jenkins tried. “I know this is stressful, but you need to stay calm and out of the way.”

“Let Kerry’s brother see the child, he—” Cadon tried.

“No!” Doctor Engels instructed in a firm voice. “All of you stay back. Every second is vital right now.” He yelled some orders to the doctors at his side for what sounded like drugs. They rushed to a cart and returned with the items while Doctor Engels was busy with something. She couldn’t see what. Then he hung an IV line, taking a syringe from the closest doctor. He pushed the drugs into the IV line.

The second doctor returned and more drugs were administered. Her son’s heartrate seemed to increase with every passing moment. Kerry tried to get out of bed, but Doctor Jenkins wouldn’t let her. “Do something,” she pleaded, not sure who she was talking to.

Zaire stood poised, waiting for Cadon to give the word. The problem was that it might not work. Zaire’s power might be ineffective and then what? He might end up getting in the way of the doctors for nothing. It was a distinct possibility.

Doctor Engels made a noise of frustration. “The infant is still in distress and appears to be cyanotic. He—”

Her heart fell from her chest as she heard the fast beeping become a solid noise. A solid line on the monitor. “He’s crashing!” Doctor Engels yelled.

Kerry screamed as she watched him start to perform what looked like CPR. One second the doctor was working on her baby and the next he was being hurtled across the room. Cadon was roaring like a lion. His face was contorted, his eyes a glowing golden color. Zaire was also moving. Doctors were scattering. Doctor Jenkins was screaming for security.

There was a flash of bright light. Quick and brilliant. If you blinked, you’d have missed it. If you didn’t know what it was, you might think the overhead UV lighting was experiencing a surge.

Immediately, the beeps picked back up. Impossibly slow, picking up though with every passing second. Her son made a whimpering noise. And then a mewl.

Kerry was crying, she was out of bed, sheets around her feet in a tangle.

Cadon made soothing noises, using his hand to cup the little one.

“Out of the way!” Doctor Engels yelled, too afraid to approach though.

Cadon nodded and moved back. He locked eyes with her. They were bright with excitement; he closed the distance between them and gently lifted her back into bed. “He’s going to be fine,” he whispered.

“Was that you?” She already knew the answer, but she had to ask.

“Yes,” he sounded shocked. “At first I thought it was a last remaining reserve but if I feel for it now, it’s there.”

“It’s back?” she asked.

“Yes, I think so.”

“You’re sure he’s okay?” Kerry was smiling. She knew the answer to her own question but had to ask anyway. Her baby’s heart was beating steadily now, neither too fast nor too slow.

“It must have been the adrenaline you administered.” The doctors looked baffled.

“I can’t believe the change.” Doctor Engels was frowning. “It’s miraculous,” he announced.

She threw her arms around Cadon. “Thank you.”

“I love you,” he whispered. “I think my love for you both is what brought my powers back. It has to be.”

“I’m just so happy and so grateful.” Her voice hitched with emotion.