Dark Rider

They had to ask for directions from a couple of passing nurses to find the NICU, it didn’t take long to find it, but as they grew closer, they slowed. Now thinking of, what the kids looked like? What if they were in pain? Rider suddenly came to the conclusion, delayed but better late than never, that he was now a father. “Well,” Rider looked at A.J. after shaking away his shock; he stared back at Rider with the same blank expression. “I’m scared.”

“I am to,” A.J. agreed as he pushed open the door and trailed through until he found a nurse. “We’re here to see the Bouvier babies.”

Rider stayed mute as the nurse went through the routine of sterilization. Ending up in scrubs, shoe covers and face mask, not to mention the hairnets made of the same material as the scrubs, Rider and A.J. were allowed to walk in the incubation room. Dozens upon dozens of incubators lined up the walls, a couple people dressed the same as them stood noiseless in there spots as the two deathlike walking men took to the six incubators to the left side of the room. “This is baby number one,” the nurse stood in front of the first incubators and waited as Rider and A.J. took in the new addition to the family, “The first little girl.”

“Lucille Marie,” Rider whispered as he watched the tiny tot move uncomfortably with the many, to many tubes sprouting from different areas. “Kassie said the first little girl would be named after her grandmother, Lucille Marie Callahan.”

“It fits her,” A.J. said softly as he smiled at the beautiful child, who had a few, not very many, black hairs coming from the sides of her head. “Though, she does kind of look more like Grandpa Ed, with the missing hair.”

“She’s adorable,” Rider managed to mutter past the lump in his throat, his first born baby girl. She was just as beautiful as her mother. He glanced away from the incubator to the second one, needing to look at all the babies. “She’s also named after D, in a nice—less evil way.”

“That’s good to know,” A.J. glanced up at Rider with his eyebrows furrowed, he couldn’t understand but then again he could. Lucifer wasn’t evil; he just had an evil job. Mumbling lowly, A.J. made the connection to the names, and kind of shivered when he realized. “Lucille, Lucifer—“

“This is baby number two,” the nurse announced as she backed up to let them look at the child, she smiled a weak one as she watched the two men gaze at one of the weakest children. “Baby girl number two.”

“Shaylah Grace,” Rider murmured as he watched his tiny daughter lie on her back, motionlessly. “She’s one of the worse ones, isn’t she?”

“Yes,” the nurse regretfully had to say to the father, she could tell from her many years in the NICU, she knew the grief stricken families by body languages and expressions. “The first to have the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck…”

“She’s doing okay though, right?” A.J. felt like a vulnerable twelve year old again, asking about Kassie when she was in the ICU, the difference now was it wasn’t her, but her own children.

“I can’t say for sure, sir,” the nurse said sympathetically as she moved back once again, trying to coax them away from the pitiful showing of their fading family member. “This is the third baby, the first little boy.”

“Joshua Scott,” Rider felt horrible for telling the names to A.J. and the nurse without Kassie being there, but he had to—in his mind, he needed a name to each face, each of his children. His first son, Joshua had Kassie’s dark brown hair, not much at all; a few hairs but you could see it on top of his pale skin.

“I like that,” A.J. said quietly as he knelt closer to the incubator to get a good look, his smile slowly made way to his face, he was happy to see his little cousins.

“This is the fourth baby, the third girl,” the nurse moved backwards once again and nodded her head towards the incubator, where a bald little girl laid, peacefully sleeping.

It pained Rider to see his children wrapped in cords, but he knew that being born so early that it was necessary; he wished deeply that all of them would miraculously recover and be newborn babies without a problem wrong with them. But he knew that wouldn’t happen, his sons and daughters were sick and unhealthy. “Theodora Denise,” he murmured the name that he and Kassie had came up with, months ago.

“Out of all of them,” A.J. couldn’t help but let a few tears slide down his face from shear joy and a little bit of panic. He placed his hand on the plastic glass covering the incubator lid and laughed a little through the tears. “Your little girl is the bald one.”

“My poor baby,” Rider figured if A.J. was man enough (or just couldn’t hold it in anymore) to cry in front of a man and a woman, who he didn’t know, he could let a few tears to fall as he witnessed one of the most precious things in his life, it was natural and he felt no shame, he had children. Something he never thought he would have, ever. “I’m sure you’ll give her hell when she gets older.”

“No,” A.J. shook his head almost frantically as he pulled his hand from the glass. “Never in a million years.”

“Good, I’d have to harm you,” Rider laughed weakly as A.J. leaned against him and put his arm across Rider’s shoulders, patting it roughly he laughed.

“Not even if you tried,” it was the first time in a long time that they joked around, it felt nice for them to find joy in childbirth of their new babies of the family.

“This,” the nurse hadn’t wanted to interrupt their moment but she knew they would have wanted to see the fifth and sixth baby. “Is baby number five, the second little boy.”

“Beau Garrett,” Rider moved towards the fifth incubator and smiled as he spotted his second son, he was bald as a jaybird but he was yellow as the tube coming from his somewhere underneath him. “Why is he yellow?”

“Jaundice,” the nurse told him simply. “It’s set off by the liver; newborns are partial to it on their first day. It’s where the liver is overloaded by retiring blood cells, in most cases the blood cells retire daily and get replaced by others, but when overloaded it sets off a yellow tent to the skin. It’s treated by feeding frequently, phototherapy which consists of a blue light, or in serious cases blood transfusion. Little Beau isn’t too bad, he just needs time.”

“Good,” Rider blew out a breath he had been holding while the nurse explained. “Do any of the other babies have it?”

“The third girl, Theo was it?” the nurse smiled as she looked over his shoulder towards the third incubator. “She has it, but not much at all. You can barely see any discoloration in her skin.”

“Good,” Rider nodded to the fact that they would get better by it, neither had it that bad but it still uneased him.