xp_logs | Whiteout - Kurt and Terry

Kurt and Terry are delivering supplies to the snowbound, and get a little more than they bargained for.

It had all been fairly routine, so far. There were a lot of people who were snowed into their houses, but not injured, and who didn't particularly want to leave. All they needed was to be brought food and blankets and for someone to check on them every so often just to make sure everything was okay.
This house, however, seemed to be empty - at least the lower half - though Kurt and Terry had been told to expect someone there. Kurt looked around, frowning, then looked to his teammate.
"We have the right place, yes?"
"That's what the list says," Terry confirmed, cocking her head to the side to try to catch some kind of sign that there was anyone in there. The wind whipped outside, and the house creaked with the force and the cold. There was a faint moan but human or elemental, Terry couldn't tell. "Upstairs maybe?"
"We should look", he agreed, already turning towards the stairs. "They may have had an accident."
"Hello," Terry called out as they climbed the steps, projecting her voice just a little to be sure she could be heard above the wind. "Is there anyone here? We're with the Red Cross. We're looking for Jason and Donna Clay."
There was a brief silence, then an unmistakable call from one of the bedrooms. "In here!"
Hearing the urgency in the voice, Kurt started to run.
Terry ducked around Kurt when he stopped in the doorway then stopped dead herself, clutching the load of supplies to her chest. There was a woman lying in the bed, covers kicked off onto the floor and sheets in disarray. She was struggling to sit up, to see them around her swollen belly, face pale with pain and alarm and dewed with sweat. The room was freezing and she was alone.
Terry exchanged glances with Kurt. Well...now what?
He wasn't completely unused to situations like this, as it happened, and he started forward again after a moment. "Mrs. Clay? We are with the Red Cross, as my colleague said... we are here to help."
Terry followed Kurt like a shadow, eyes wide. She had no idea what to do. This wasn't exactly covered in their training beyond a video and a couple of pamphlets. Where was Clarice when Terry needed her? "Where is your husband, Mrs. Clay?" She wanted to ask if the woman was all right but had no idea if that was even the right question.
"He left. The phones are out. We couldn't call anyone." Panic fluttered through the woman's voice. "He was going to go find someone with a car or something." Her face twisted with pain. "It's too early," she moaned.
"Please try to stay calm, Mrs. Clay", Kurt said soothingly, moving to the side of the bed. "How long ago did it start?" He might not be a midwife, but you didn't grow up in a gypsy camp and learn nothing.
"I...I don't...maybe about one? I don't know." She clutched convulsively at the sheets and stifled a scream. "He said he'd come back if he couldn't find someone right away."
Terry glanced at her watch. Nearly four. "Give me your hand, we'll help you get through this," she said, softly, mouth dry with fear. "My name's Terry. This is Kurt."
Kurt glanced quickly at Terry, knowing as well as she did that something had very likely happened to Jason, but then smiled reassuringly at the woman in the bed. "Everything is going to be all right. We will try to get you out of here, but we will stay until that happens."
The woman started to sob, squeezing Terry's hand so hard she was sure to leave bruises. "This isn't how it was supposed to happen!"
"Is this your first baby, Mrs. Clay?" She didn't look all that much older than Terry herself and some tiny part of Terry's brain was making rapid notes to tell Bobby--adoption figured heavily in the mental scribblings.
Mrs. Clay nodded tearfully, looking between them. "You... you work for the Red Cross?"
Terry smiled, "Yes, ma'am. We're part of the Red X division. We're mutants. Kurt here is going to go let the medical team know about what's going on." She really hoped he didn't mind getting arbitrarily ordered off like that but with his abilities, it would be easier for him to go find help than her. "I'm going to stay right here with you, okay?"
Kurt nodded his acceptance - it only made sense, after all. "I will be back before you know it", he said reassuringly, and backed out into the hall before he teleported away, to save the woman the smoke and sulphur smell.
"Let's get you more comfortable then," Terry murmured, her American accent fading a bit, the Irish becoming more pronounced. "Do you know if you're having a boy or a girl?" she asked to distract the woman as she helped her sit up a bit and adjusted the pillows behind her. Noting how cold her skin was, Terry dragged the blankets up from the floor and arranged them to cover her torso.
"We didn't ask", the woman answered, allowing herself to be distracted as far as she could. "We were going to wait and be surprised..."
"Do you have any names in mind?" Terry checked her watch again, nervously then jumped as another contraction made the woman gasp and shudder. "Go ahead and scream out, it's okay. Keep breathing." Hurry up, Kurt!
A minute later, Kurt was back... alone. "They could not spare any doctors to send with me", he told the woman apologetically. "But they know you are here, and what is happening, and I can always go back to see if that has changed. And I know how to help you."
Terry could see the panic returning and squeezed the woman's hand. "Donna, it's okay. We're going to be all right. Take a deep breath." She didn't know anything about lamaze techniques but she knew how to control breathing. Using a calm voice, she made the woman breath with her for a minute or so. "Kurt's going to tell us what to do and we'll get through this just fine."
Kurt nodded, moving forward into the room once again. "You are not having any problems, except that it is a little too soon. But everything is going to be all right. I promise."
Terry disentangled her hand from Donna's carefully. "Just try to relax right now. We'll get things warmed up and prepared just in case. You just lie back." She stepped back and then grabbed Kurt's elbow, hauling him out of the room. "So? What the hell do we do?"
"You have to stay calm, for one thing", Kurt told her. "Or at least pretend to be, or there will be no way she can be. As for the rest, nature will take care of a lot of it. We are just here to make sure nothing goes wrong."
"But what do we do? There's no heat, there's no phones, there's no doctors." It took a lot of willpower to keep her voice from rising with alarm. This was not what she'd signed up for. "Can't you teleport her to the hospital or something? Sure this is no place for her to be having a baby!"
"If I could, Terry, I would already have done it", he said patiently. "But when she is already in labour... it might not be safe."
She knew that. She'd known that. She just was really hoping that he'd have had a different answer when she actually asked. Since he hadn't, she took a deep breath and nodded. "Okay, so we should make the room warmer if we can, right? And...what else? Just wait?"
"Warmth is good. And then... yes. We can only wait for nature to take its course, and help it along when it really starts. And when the baby is born, we stay with her. I am not sure a very new baby could take teleporting, the way I do it. Especially if it is premature."
Terry bit her lip, trying to figure out what they could do. "So...let's start there then. Warming up the room. And we should check on how far along she is? Um...maybe you could go see why the heat is out?"
Kurt nodded. "If there is anything I can do about it, I will. If not... I do not suppose you saw a fireplace in that room?"
Terry shook her head. "No fireplace, do you think we could move her to a different room? There's a fireplace in the living room, that will help."

"If she can stand to move downstairs with our help, then yes", Kurt said decisively. "I will look for something to burn while I try to get the heat working... you go and find out if she thinks she can walk."

Terry nodded and went back into the room. By the time Kurt came back, Terry had managed to get Donna to her feet and bundled into a dark blue robe that was too long for her. "All right then, love. We're going to just take a little walk downstairs and set you up where things are a little warmer," she was saying, more for the sound than anything.

Kurt came to Donna's other side, taking her arm to help her downstairs. When they got there, there was a small but healthy fire burning in the grate - he'd managed to find several fallen branches of a good size that were dry enough to burn, and they'd do for the time being.

~~~~~~~~~~~

"Get out of my house!" shouted the pregnant woman and then just screamed, crushing Terry's hands in a grip that Terry would swear wasn't completely human. Did pregnancy give you super powers?

"It's all right, Donna, we're almost there. Just breathe, okay? Deep breaths. It's okay." Terry was fairly certain her calm, supportive tone was getting them absolutely nowhere but given that the baby had apparently finally decided it was really and truly done with the whole womb thing, they didn't have much other choice. "Kurt, how are we doing here?"

"It is all going as it should", Kurt said reassuringly. "...as far as I can tell..."

Donna screamed again as the contractions hit their strongest point and the baby's head just crowned. Again she ordered them both out and again Terry reminded her that that wouldn't actually stop this. "You're doing great, love, did you hear Kurt? We're doing great."

Kurt nodded, moving to the end of the couch to check on things. "You do not want to be alone during this, Donna, do you? It will be over soon."

"I want Jason! He was going to be here! I'll kill him when I see him again!" Sweat had matted Donna's hair to her face and caused her nightgown to stick to her chest. Terry fed her ice chips and encouraged her to push just a little more.

The baby was very close to birth, and Kurt stood ready to catch it at the end of the couch. "Come on, Donna", he urged with a reassuring smile. "A little more effort, and your baby will be here. Just a little."

Shoulders were the hardest, that's what the doctors had said. Tilt down for the first shoulder, then up for the next. Once they were eased out, the baby slid easily into Kurt's hands, wet and slick, covered in blood and fluids. Donna lay back, gasping at the effort, too exhausted even to be interested in her accomplishment.

Kurt, conversely, was smiling as he found a spot low down on the umbilical cord and pinched it hard, cutting off its blood supply. "Well done, Donna. You have a fine baby boy." The baby was small, naturally, but seemed healthy.

Rescuing her hands from Donna's now slack grip, Terry reached out and took the little boy from Kurt, rubbing away the blood with a soft towel, clearing his nose and mouth and rubbing his little back so that the baby coughed, gasped for air and then let out a healthy cry. Crooning softly at him in Irish, Terry made a face at Kurt and asked him for some warm water to wash up. Hearing the baby cry roused his mother and she managed to sit up a little bit as Terry lowered him to Donna's arms. "They say you should nurse him if you can."

His hands free, Kurt headed for the kitchen in search of some water - fortunately, there was still some left in the kettle that was undoubtedly warmer than what came from the taps, and even with no electricity, the fire was still burning high enough for him to heat it up a little. He held out the bowl to Terry when he returned. "Here. I hope it is enough."

"Thanks." Terry took the bowl from him and dipped a clean washcloth in it, wiping off Donna's legs and pulling down her gown again. Basic anatomy told her that there would be more mess to deal with soon but that could wait for a bit. The baby was nursing enthusiastically and from the look on Donna's face she'd forgotten that anyone else was even there, so enchanted was she by the tiny child in her arms. Terry smiled and rolled her stiff neck, "When do you suppose we can move them to a hospital or get a doctor out here?"

"I would not like to risk teleporting the baby", Kurt told her. "But I can go back to the base and find out if they have a doctor to spare now. Or perhaps they can send an ambulance here."

"A doctor would be good," Terry agreed. And a nap. Mother of God, she was tired. She checked her watch and rolled her eyes. "Find someone to stay with her too. We need to be getting back soon."

"I suppose we do", he said with a nod. He'd be notifying whoever he could find that her husband seemed to have gone missing and might be stuck somewhere, too. "I will be back very soon, then."

"Okay. Maybe she'll name him after us," Terry suggested with a tiny smile then gave Kurt a quick hug. "You did good. I'm glad you were here."

Kurt blinked, then grinned and hugged her back. "I am glad we were here", he agreed, before stepping back and vanishing in the usual cloud of smoke.