Wearing Thin

Annabelle Grace Winn, barely twenty, stood across the altar from Dieter Adam Herrmann, a smile reflecting in her eyes. Their hands were held in the others, the gentle brush of fingers far more intimate, seeming, than a kiss or anything beyond that. Both had slight bumps along their arms, hairs standing on end in anticipation. There, they were married, together, forever, beyond death; nothing can break the bonds of death but love.

Her heart beat heavily within her chest, throwing her blood quickly throughout her body, causing slight dizziness; she felt faint, but continued to face her new husband, gazing into his eyes with the deepest compassion.

This memory flashed across the woman's eyes as they flew down the white hallways of the hospital, contractions fewer than two minutes apart. Her tummy was bulbous and abnormally sized from the child that had been growing within her for the past nine months.

Dieter's hand clasped Annabelle's tightly as they ran, the woman lying on a stretcher, his face flushed white, fear and excitement in his eyes. To the best of their knowledge, this entire ordeal would soon be over and done with, and they'd be able to leave within two days, we're they among some of the more fortunate of couples.

A nurse stopped him in front of the room they had just admitted his wife into and handed him a set of charcoal coloured scrubs before allowing him to follow the doctors into the room. Once by her side, he held her hand once again, refusing to leave her side. They had agreed to no cameras and no taping. The birth of their first child was to be their memory to cherish, alone and together. It was more personal to them than the average couple; just an agreement made, with no need to further explain.

It was only an hour of labour before the baby was born, presented to them for the first time in this world from the opposite end of the hospital bed. Anna took a look at the baby girl, turned to Diet, similes, and held his hand thigh yet still. Even as this event occurred, her grip relaxed before dropping altogether as she went into cardiac arrest.

She flat-lined, her heart stopping a moment before heavily thrusting blood through her veins once again. Diet was ordered from the room. When he refused to leave her side, both he and the baby were restrained and ushered into the hallway by two nurses, one of which continued down the corridor, no doubt to clean and clothe the babe in towels and blankets and warm fabrics to keep the child's temperature up.

Seated on a blue bench, Dieter's head rested in his hands as he held back the tears of fear. He stayed in the scrubs he had been lent, unable to gather the strength and move otherwise. It was nobody's fault. No one's. Everything happened for a reason. This... This would be merely but a mild setback on their plans to get home. Annabelle was perfectly healthy, as was the baby. They had said that! They had deliberately told him it was the perfect birth! This had been said but moments before his wife's heart had failed.

They had agreed to no cameras and no taping. The birth of their first child was to be their memory to cherish, alone and together.

Diet carried his daughter in his arms, the child suckling on the bottle he had heated for her, and cooed gently, smiling down at her with tired, sad eyes. He missed Anna more than he'd ever known, and he knew that only time would cause for his heart to heal, as well as feel the true, entire pain in the plain light of both night and day. But his child was here, now, and she was all he had left living of his wife and old life.

Five days had passed since the death of Annabelle Grace Herrmann, married five years, had been pronounced dead in the birthing wing of the IHC Hospital in northern Utah, where Diet's father and mother had immigrated to in his early years of life. Now, twenty-four and newly single, as bitter as the sound had become to his ears, Diet had all the frozen meals needed for a month and more than enough held from those in his urban neighbourhood, particularly from his friends and their wives.

Anna's mates, too, had come over numerous times in the past three days upon having received word of the woman's death. His home was the cleanest it had been, and there were numerous offers to watch the child when he returned from his leave.

The house was dark and silent, a retreat for anyone who had a baby in their hold; it really was a change of scenery.

"Daddy loves you, Lilli. I love you so much," he murmured, having ducked his face close to hers, the milk bottle now empty as Little Lilli stared up at her father with sleep eminent in her eyes. "Mommy loves you, too."

"Herrmann! Where's that wireless mouse I ordered? Markus said that you signed for it." Dieter's boss, Agent Steven Deterelle, marched into the young man's office, taking a moment to glance down at Lilli with a sophisticated air of nonchalance before turning his attention, once again to her father. Without looking up from his research, Diet had reached across the desk and picked up an open box, tossing it to the other man's grasp. His elder sighed as he causing it, shaking his head. "You have to go through everything I order? And when are you going to break down and pay a nanny?" he interrogated, raising his brow with feigned annoyance.

Without skipping a beat, Dieter had thrown at pen at his superior and responded without a care:

"When you raise my pay grade. And, yes, I have to through everything; you'll keep a faulty watch and wear it with pride. Then you'll find some way or other to pin it on me and I become victim to your naughty little schemes. Lilli, don't touch that, remember? Last time, Daddy had to pay Auntie Annie and Uncle Rick for a new light fixture."

The three-year-old had stopped where she was and smiled up at her father, his eyes finally leaving the computer screen long enough to return the gesture.

With a sigh, Deterelle turned and walked back out the door, his shadow only to be replaced by one with broader shoulders. "Diet-"

"Can I not get a decent moment to myself, my daughter, and research?!"

"... Take the day off, mate."

Agent Callumn Burk, an Aussie from Queensland, shook his head, moving to crouch beside his friend and coworker. "Lilli, do you want to go play with Agent Michaels?"

The little girl nodded enthusiastically and darted from the room, no doubt flying down the hallways to seek out her favourite female agent.

"Look; I already spoke with Gerard. You're on leave until this case is over. You aren't supposed to work civil cases; you know that. We're going out to a party; my wife promised there would be plenty of eligible women there, especially ones that meet your standards. Anna would approve. I'm allergic to 'no' and addicted to 'yes,' now get your big-boy knickers on and we're off."

Dieter knew better than to retaliate against Cal when he was determined; he was their best agent, and everyone knew it. "Alright."

Sophie Burk, wife to Callumn, often embarked upon journeys with the adventurous child whenever necessary, and whenever the child's father needed some time away. She had been one of Anna's closest friends and had been unable to have children, herself. So, when she'd found out that her allegedly fellow-barren friend was pregnant, it had been more than a mere celebration.

Even with this thought in mind, the scenery surrounding Dieter was unnerving, all the more. There were plenty of beautiful women, gathered here, but it had been a time since the man had last been on a date, much less had to impress a woman to get near to her.

"Relax, Herrmann. You're fine. You heard Sophie; you look like a stud, don't go home alone, and don't pick up your daughter for a week."

This was a common joke between the lot of them; it wasn't something he'd actually do, bed a woman before marriage, but that didn't mean jokes about men who did weren't allowed.