Chapter 18

Skye 

Skye falls asleep while watching the movie with Sebastian. When she wakes up again, she’s back at the hospital. Dr. Graylen is in the room with her. “A…Angela?” she whispers.

“Ah, Skye, you’re awake,” Angela says, “Sebastian went to go and get something to eat from the cafeteria. He’ll be back soon.”

“O…okay, A…Angela?”

“What is it, sweetheart?”

“C…could I h…have something to e…eat?”

“Of course, what would you like?”

“I don’t k…know.”

“I’ll be right back with something for you.” She leaves the room.

As she waits for Angela and Sebastian to return, she slowly pushes herself up into a sitting position. Sebastian comes back first, “Skye, how are you feeling?”

“B…better, I d…didn’t m…mean to f…fall asleep.”

He smiles at her. “It’s okay, you were tired.”

“A…Angela w…went to get s…some f…food for me.”

“That’s good.”

Angela comes into the room, carrying a tray of food a few minutes later. “Here you go, sweetheart,” she says, placing the tray down on the bedside table.

“T…thank you,” Skye whispers as she begins to nibble on the food. She manages to finish most of the food over the next twenty minutes. “Finished,” she mumbles, pushing the tray away.

“You ate almost all of it,” Sebastian states.

She nods. “I haven’t e…eaten s…still l…last n…night.”

“I know, did you have fun yesterday?”

“Y…yeah, I h…have t…to get an u…ultrasound d…done t…today.”

“Why? Is everything okay?”

“Y…yeah, A…Angela w…wants to m…monitor t…the b…babies c…closely.”

“Oh, okay.”

“D…do you w…want to c….come with m…me?” “Do you want me to?”

“Y…yes.”

“Okay, then I will. When is it?”

“S…soon, A…Angela s…should b…be here a…any m…minute n…now.”

Angela comes into the room as if on queue. “Skye, are you ready?”

Skye nods, “S…Sebby is c…coming t…to.”

Alright.” She helps Skye into a wheelchair and they set off towards the maternity ward of the hospital. Sebastian follows quietly behind.

Eventually, they enter a room. Angela helps her onto the examination table. “Skye, could you lift your shirt?” Angela asks.

Skye does what she asked, Angela squirts some gel onto her abdomen and begins to use the probe. “A…Angela, is s…something wrong?” Skye asks when Angela doesn’t say anything.

No, your babies have grown well in the last month or so.”

Skye looks relieved. “T…that’s g…good. I t…tried r…really h…hard to e…eat more.”

“I know, you did well.”

“How m…much longer d…do I h…have?”

“Just about six weeks.”

“W…will I be a…able t…to go h…home b…before t…then?”

“I believe so. You need to tell someone if something is painful though, okay?”

“I w…will.”

“Good, if everything is still okay tomorrow, I’ll send you home.”

Skye’s expression brightens. “O…okay!”

Dr. Graylen finishes up the ultrasound and they make their way back to Skye’s hospital room. Shortly after returning, Anne comes into the room to do some physical therapy “Hello, Skylar,” she says.

“Anne!” Skye responds, sounding excited.

Anne smiles at her and asks, “Are you excited for physical therapy today?”

“Y…yeah, it h…helps w…with p…pain.”

“That’s what it’s supposed to do. Are you able to sit on the floor today?”

“I t…think so. I need help g…getting u..up t…though.”

Anne walks over to her and helps her onto the floor. “Now, straighten your leg as much as you can.” Skye tries to straighten her leg fully, but can’t. “Skye, it’s okay if it’s not all the way straight. I don’t want you to hurt yourself.”

Skye straightens her leg out as far as she can. Anne reaches out and begins to do gentle exercises with it. “T…that f…feels g…good.”

“Let me know if anything I do hurts too much, so I can stop.”

Skye nods and lets Anne work with her leg for about an hour. “T…thank you,” she says softly to Anne before she leaves.

Sebastian

The next day, Sebastian arrives at the hospital early to take Skye home. When he comes into her room, she’s signing her release papers. “Remember,” Angela says, “you told me you’d tell someone if anything starts to hurt,”

Skye nods. “I w…will, I p…promise.”

“Good, now shoo.” Angela motions them out of the room.

Sebastian takes Skye’s hand and leads her to his car in the parking lot. “I’m happy you’re finally coming home,” he says.

“M…me t…too,” she answers, “Were the boys g…good for y…you and A…Alice?”

“Yes, they were. They wanted to come see you, but Angela told me no. Something about how the boys might’ve gotten you sick since you’re only part wolf.”

“T…that’s t…true. I m…missed them.”

“They missed you too. Facetime is nice and all, but they don’t quite understand how it works.” They continue to talk about Gray and Theo until Sebastian pulls into the driveway. “We’re home.”

Skye slowly gets out of the car and begins to hobble towards the house. When she enters the building, Gray and Theo pounce on her. “Mama!” they shout, “You home!”

“Y…yes, I’m h…home.”

The twins look at their mother’s slightly protruded stomach. “Mama, big tummy!”

She flushes red in embarrassment. “I…there…uh….”

Sebastian scoops Gray and Theo up in his arms. “Your little brothers or sisters are in your mom’s tummy right now,” Sebastian states.

“In mama’s tummy?” Gray asks.

“Yes, that’s right. They have to grow before they come into the world.”

“How’d they get in mama?”

Sebastian looks at Skye for help. She shrugs and doesn’t say anything. “Well,” he begins, “when a mama and a daddy love each other very much, their love plants a seed in the mom’s belly and that seed eventually grows into a baby.”

“What about Theo and me? Was we a seed too?”

“Yes, you used to be a seed too.”

This answer satisfies Gray and Theo and they run off into a different room of the house to play with some toys. “S…Sebby,” Skye whispers, her hands over her face, “why’d you tell them that?”

“They asked,” he answers, “I couldn’t just lie to them.”

“I k…know, I j…just wasn’t e…expecting…I didn’t….” Her voice becomes softer and softer as she continues to talk.

“I made it age appropriate, didn’t I?”

“Y…yes.”

“Children are curious, they’re going to ask questions you may not want to answer.”

“I k…know, i…it’s h…happened b…before.”

His expression softens. “Let’s go watch that movie.”

“O..okay.”

They walk into the living room, where he puts a DVD into the disc slot. Afterwards, he sits on the couch. Skye moves closer to him and rests her head on his chest. She quietly watches the movie play, not quite understanding what’s happening.

When the movie is almost over she whispers, “S…Sebby, i…is o…over?”

“Almost,” he answers softly. He looks over to her and sees that she’s struggling to keep her eyes open. “Sleep, we can talk about the movie tomorrow.”

“K…” Her eyes close and she drifts off to sleep.

Sebastian laughs softly as he watches her. “Let’s get you to bed.” He gently picks her up and carries her up to her bedroom. He tries to put her into her bed, but she clings onto him, refusing to let go. He sighs and lays down on the bed with her, managing to untangle himself from her, so he can take his shoes off.

Once he’s laying down again, she immediately closes the distance between them and curls up into his body. He drapes his arm around her and pulls her closer to him. Soon afterwards he falls asleep.