Page 51 of Raven's Instinct
“I remember that stage,” Kendra said with sympathy. “It will be past before you know it!”
Gil was streaking around. “I’M THE MONSTER. I’M THE MONSTER!”
Just then, Amy realized Kendra was there and took off in a beeline for her. “MAMA!”
Their paths collided, just behind Addison, and they ricocheted off of each other. At any other time, it would have been little more than a minor, harmless pileup. At any other time, Addison would have had the balance to easily stay upright. It should have been nothing more than a comic arm-flailing moment followed by a directive not to run around inside.
Instead, Amy went bouncing off into the back of Addison’s knees. Not used to her new and changing center of gravity, Addison over-compensated when she tried to stay upright, and she fell backwards instead, stumbling over Amy, directly into Gil. She twisted, trying to avoid crushing them in her unexpected fall.
Gil shouted as he went down onto his belly, Amy cried, and Addison gave an involuntary yelp of pain and surprise. Kendra watched it all happen too fast to stop any of it, and could only be there to try to untangle everyone afterwards.
“I’m okay, I’m okay,” Addison assured her, prematurely, as it turned out, because when she tried to stand, she gave a hiss of agony. “Maybe my ankle. It’s…oh.”
“What is it? What’s wrong?”
“ARE YOU OKAY?” Gil demanded in a panic. “I’M SORRY TEACHER ADDY!”
Amy wailed.
“I think…I think…oh…” Addison doubled over.
“That’s not your ankle,” Alan observed, coming to help. “Why don’t you lay down?”
“IS SHE HURT? TEACHER ADDY, I DIDN’T MEAN TO HURT YOU!” Tears ran down Gil’s cheeks.
Kendra looked around, trying not to feel as panicked as Gil sounded, and fetched a pillow from the reading corner. “Should we call an ambulance?”
“No, no,” Addison insisted, followed by a low, pained, “Ohhhhhh…”
“I think that’s more of a yes than a no,” Alan chided her. “You’re in labor.”
“That can last days,” Addison objected. “There’s no reason to be dramatic. This will…ohhhhhh…probably be fine in just a few…ooooooooo.”
“We’ve gone from oh to oo,” Alan said firmly. “There’s nothing wrong with going to get checked out after a fall.” He took the pillow from Kendra and got it under Addison’s head. “Just in case, let’s call a ride. They can send you home if they feel like it’s safe.”
“I couldn’t quite make it through my last day,” Addison observed wryly. “So embarrassing.”
Cherry showed up then with Ryan, who had needed help in the bathroom. “What happened? Addison, are you alright?”
Kendra pulled up her phone. “Sorry, I had it turned off, it will be just a moment.”
“Not that I’m going to die in the meantime,” Addison said, “But you can use miiiiine…Ohhh....”
Kendra made the call to the dispatcher and explained the situation as Alan caught Cherry up. “Addison Carmichael. Yes, she fell, and she’s in labor.”
“Medical East,” Addison said. “I’ve got a birth plan there.”
“Medical East,” Kendra told the dispatcher. “Okay.”
Cherry called Roderick and told him to meet them there.
When Kendra had hung up, Addison added, “There’s an RN there who is a shifter. It was always our plan to have her deliver the baby. We’re not that early. Everything’s just fiiiiiiii-oooooo-fine.”
Kendra had her doubts.
37
ALAN
