Souvenir {Open}

It was good of Martina Kandless to to hire him back, after a second disappearing act. It was a kindness really. She had even given him the weekend to unpack, before starting work fresh on Monday. Tobias ordered a home measure of Old Grandad, and considered the drink before taking the first sip. Had it really come to this that he could only face Caroline with a stiff one under his belt? Yet it was the shame of himself that made him take the drink. That wasn't all true. Tobias had returned from his sabbatical with something more wild and wicked in his bones. The pulse of his vein was more vividly animal. He couldn't wind down.

The worst possible thing was that he had left Caroline to deal with the pregnancy alone for nearly eight months. He had sent her notes, had wished her well, but had not been able to speak with her. It had not been his choice, but then the last eight months had been somewhat of a haze. Tobias had not even known quite where he had spent the time. He knew that it had made him tired, and groggy, and that it was somehow his fault. Where he had been had sometimes felt like a prison. Other times, it had felt like the rehab centre he had stayed in when he was younger. It had been said that the finer details would come back to him.

Although he had taken care in dressing in nice clothes, the fabric still hung heavy and loose from his shoulders, and he had to make several notches in his belt to keep his trousers from falling. That favourite jacket of his was showing signs of it's last leg. At least he had shaved, but perhaps it had only hollowed him out. Tobias had felt regularly nauseated, with a combination of guilt and something more sinister in taste.

He lit a cigarette and sat a little straighter, as he turned for the door and waited for Caroline. Messages had been left on her phone that he would very much like to meet her and explain himself the best he could. Tobias knew she would not take him back, and he did not blame her.

To say that she was angry was an understatement. To say that she was furious would similarly be misleading. When one's partner and the father of one's babies, yes, babies, disappears for eight months leaving no way to contact him.... well, she was well-justified in feeling like a rumbling volcano.

Being a single pregnant woman would have been impossible if not for the grace of God and the intervention of her brother. Jaime had helped her make the appropriate preparations, and had agreed to the the babies' godfather. He'd even gotten excited enough to start suggesting names. It had distracted them both somewhat from the tragedy.

Her mood was so black that she had been tempted to just... not go. Screw Tobias and screw his hang-ups. She'd shredded each note. The only time she'd been weak was when she'd tried to tape together the first note.

But here she was, a blimp in a coal gray maternity dress and white knitted sweater, trying not to feel the weight of all that had happened. And was happening. It would have been simpler if he'd just stayed away. With her hair all a mess from the hat she'd been wearing and her boots squeaking from the wet pavement outside, she would have felt irritable regardless of the circumstances bringing her into the bar.

When she saw him from across the bar, her mind and her face went blank for just a moment. Then she gathered her anger to her like an armor and she approached him, ignoring the expressions of surprise and consternation that met her along the way. If she were a bear or a wolf, she would have growled.

"Put the cigarette out. Then we'll talk." Even with the excessive control she had placed on her powers, the words still came out like acid. The ground shook slightly- the volume wasn't loud, but the vibrations had to go somewhere. Glasses nearby rattled.

The power thing wasn't new. It wasn't even from the anger, though that contributed to the exertion she now had to go through. No, it was the pregnancy. It wrought havoc on her emotions and her ability to control her powers. During the second trimester, there were times she had to go seclude herself to meditate and protect others from the force of the sound waves she sometimes gave off.

Without hesitation, Tobias stamped out the barely smoked cigarette. He stood and brushed back his hair, and tried to smooth out his already smoothed shirt. The first thing he noticed was how round her abdomen was compared to the rest of her. The mother of his first born had never been that big, so did that mean Caroline was expecting more than one baby? Tobias amended the thought. Were they expecting more than one? In her mind, was he allowed to think such thoughts?

Tobias wanted more than anything to run to her and bury his face in her hair. Although his top half lurched forward, his feet were rooted to the spot. It was some comfort to know that he still thought Caroline beautiful, even in her anger. Words failed him. Anything Tobias would manage to say would be the wrong words. Despite a naturally deep voice, he squeaked out. “Oh. Hey.” and regretted it in an instant.

“Caroline. I'm so....I can't even begin...” Tobias approached her cautiously. The vibrations she had sent out were still echoing in his calves. The cowardly part of himself he had always hated, wanted to dissolve into the rough wood surroundings. “If I had been a better man. It's all my fault.” Could Caroline see the sincerity in his eyes? Could she feel his heartsick? Tobias wanted at least that much.

Caroline felt her heart speed up, as it always had when she gotten full-force Tobias eyes on her person. One of the babies kicked in response and she remembered her armor. She listened to his feeble utterances with all of the disdain of an ice queen and all of the mounting fury of a fire demon. If if if. It pissed her off that excuses were all he offered.

"Yes." All she wanted to say died back into mere bile. If she kept up all of this anger, she would go into labor. There was no way she wanted her water to break there at the bar. In a much more composed manner, she continued, "Knowing where you were would have helped, but I suppose a clean break was in order."

For months, she had composed this exact situation in her head. All of that dwelling paid off as she regained her composure. Steel laced her voice and she folded her arms over her chest to keep from giving in to any residual weakness. "You would have been a liability. You are a liability. I don't want any offspring of mine learning from you, from your bad habits. Shared blood or no, I will fight you on this and I will win."

Even as she said it, she felt like a bitch. But she was fiercely protective of the lives she carried and Tobias had given up his right to be in the picture when he vanished. The work thing was something she would not begrudge him. For those like them, with powers that could interfere with employment, finding and keeping a job was very difficult. Besides, Martina had already made the decision and Caroline owed the headmistress some solidarity.

But the children were hers. She knew that she was not the most sympathetic mother, but her record would shine like a star next to Tobias's in court, if it went that far.

Meanwhile, they were attracting all sorts of attention. She ignored the stares. At this point in her pregnancy, she did not give a fig for what other people thought. She could feel her heart begin to race again, as she squared her shoulders and stared Tobias down.

Caroline's anger was so strong, Tobias could taste it. “You think I wanted to keep away from you?” he growled through clenched teeth. He scanned the room. A few old men, who looked the type to frequent the pub daily for hours at a time, and a middle aged couple toward the back were about all that were in the place. Which was lucky. If it had been during the evening, he would be making much more of a scene. He toyed with his nose ring, as he couldn't have a cigarette.

“I don't really know where I was, okay?” Tobias paused to think on the rooms he had been confined to, but every time he had tried to pinpoint the exterior, he developed a serious headache. “I went out for a jog one morning, yeah? Just a time for myself before meeting up with you...and I was...it was an extraordinary rendition to say the least. I'm sorry.” It was entirely his fault, and he knew it. If he hadn't acted so rudely toward that agent with the hangdog expression.

Tobias felt the monster rolling beneath the skin around his shoulders. At the clinic, there just wasn't a better way to put it, he had been regularly forced into shifting outside his cycle. Now the blood was having trouble settling down. “The only reason I was allowed to send you notes is because of our...your children.” Even when they had started talking, he could sense that Caroline was cutting him off, but he hated amending the statement. “Och, our children. I wasn't allowed to be here for the last eight months. Can't you at least give me the weekends?”

Caroline's hands tightened on her arms, the knuckles whitening. The ground began to tremor again and she turned her back on him. All of the stress hormone cycling through her system was good for nobody involved and just looking at him got her worked up. She struggled to keep control of her power as she said through clenched teeth, "Did you think I wouldn't understand forced detainment eight months ago? I don't want excuses or explanations anymore, Tobias. I've done my crying for you. And my worrying."

She sighed, but deep breathing wasn't helping her calm down. "I can't trust you to be there when you're needed, or wanted. Every time I think you can be relied upon to do what's right, you go right ahead and prove me wrong. I'm not giving you the chance to prove me wrong again, Tobias." She rubbed her arms where more recent scars mingled with the old.

Caroline turned, just enough to shoot him a steely glance. "Your apology is accepted, but I am standing firm. No. You have been successfully excised from our lives. Don't worry, we will have enough support without you." Sure, there would always be a void where Tobias had been, but she was tired of all of the bullshit. They had had a complicated dance and that would be impossible with children around.

The woman was ready to leave. She moved towards the exit, then paused. Her shoulders slumped slightly, then she turned and said (her voice still tight from the control she had to exert to keep from deafening everybody present), "For what it's worth, I do appreciate you sending word this time around. I recall that one had been a bit of contention between us after you came back from your last major disappearance. Thank you for showing us that much consideration."


Something changed in her features, surprise and panic flashing through, though she tried to mask it admirably. "Ah, excuse me." She reached into a pocket and pulled out a cellular phone, hitting a speed dial.

Her water had broken.

Tobias couldn't believe that she was making it out as though he could do more than a 'hello, I'm okay. I miss you.' Half the time he didn't even have proper dexterity. Never mind the fact that all communication was monitored. Even his family hadn't gotten any allowances. He had turned, tossing his hands up in defeat and frustration. He even snarled at a few people who hadn't had the decency to pretend they weren't eavesdropper.

He clutched his whiskey glass and slung back the remains, when a shock of fear crossed over the heavy scent of alcohol. The barman let out a hiss of surprise. Tobias had turned at the same moment to see Caroline's water breaking. There was fluid everywhere. He let out a curse. “Can someone call hospital?” Tobias asked loudly as he rushed to Caroline's side.

With him, he dragged a low chair. “Do you need to sit...or move around?” Tobias asked quickly. His ex had had to walk around to help the labor along, but he wasn't sure about Caroline, what with being gone for eight months. “Is there anyone calling an ambulance?” He would have picked Caroline up in his arms and carried her to his car, if he had still had one, but his jeep had been locked in storage and he hadn't had even a minute to collect it.

The waitress waved her hand while speaking into a landline to an operator. Tobias nodded in thanks, and raked a large hand through his hair. The other hand found a sturdy grip against Caroline's arm. “Please, let me help you with this.” His tone was low and pleading, and what there perhaps a sheen of mist glossing over his icy eyes?

Caroline's phone clattered to the floor as the first real contraction hit. She gritted her teeth, but there was a roaring that was not just in her ears. The pain and fear were making it hard to calm down. That in itself was making it next to impossible to control her abilities. Despite the months she had spent meditating out in the woods, nothing could have prepared her to deal with all of this at once.

The roar was just ambient whitenoise dialed up a couple notches. She sat down, breathing heavily. In through her nose, out through her teeth. Caroline looked at Tobias and made up her mind. Of all of the people present, she did still trust him the most. Furthermore, he was Gifted and would understand not being completely in control.

"... nEED t... GEt pEopLE... oF hERE." Like a child spinning the volume dial back and forth, her power caused her own speech to phase in and out, loud to silent and back again. The vice-principal had decided that leaving the bar to try to walk to where Jaime's vehicle was parked would be bad (it was several blocks away at the apartments). If things went south, she didn't want to have an incident in the streets. And the streets were dangerous enough as it was.

Something occurred to her. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small container of foam earplugs. She pushed them at Tobias. Hopefully, the intent would be clear. Talking was too difficult to manage.

Back during the middle of her pregnancy, she had a week where she wound up breaking every single bit of glass in her apartment because of resonant frequencies. It had been alarming enough, and it had taken plenty of patience to figure out how to counteract that. Caroline prayed that her power didn't destroy the bar. Relations between the school and the town were not particularly friendly anymore- this would only make matters worse.

She couldn't reach her phone, which was on the floor a foot away from the chair. The ringtone flared up suddenly, and Jaime's voice. "Carolina? Hola? Que paso?" The rest of it went murky and unclear.

Most of the people who had lingered to eavesdrop during the conversation had already scattered because they didn't want to get caught up in any more of these strange peoples' drama. Those who didn't had scattered once Caroline had started speaking. It seemed they had been warned enough about the goings on in the school on top of the hill.

The bartender had locked up everything before hiding in the back room. His waitress, shaking because everything was happening so quickly, said, “They're on their way. I'm going to leave now!” She ran out of the bar, too, and didn't here Tobias ask:

“What?”

Tobias stuffed the ear pieces further in, because his hearing was already sensitive enough thanks to those freaks with needles toying with his DNA. His nerves were shot too. Lately, quick movements and an upset in routine had Tobias feeling trapped like an animal in a cage. Irrational. “They're all out.” His voice was too loud. He smoothed down Caroline's hair, partly for her own comfort and partly for his.

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught the face of the mobile phone flashing. Tobias quickly removed one of the earplug and picked it up. “Emilio? Hello? Caroline's going into labor. We're at the pub. An ambulance is coming I think.”

The last they had spoke, Tobias had rude and aggressive towards Caroline's brother. He had hoped that could be forgotten for the sake of Caroline's comfort. “Do you want the phone?” he asked her, holding it out like it was a bomb.

He was trying so hard, but it just... it just reminded her that this was too late. She'd grown cold since he'd left. She gritted her teeth and closed her eyes, shaking her head. It was futile to try to speak coherently.

The doctor had told her that the contractions would be relatively spaced out until right before stage two of labor. As such, she was surprised when the second contraction hit. A cry was wrenched out of her, amplified several times and altered to the point where it no longer seemed human. The sound hit the resonant frequency of about seven glass tankards hanging over the bar. They shattered and she clamped her mouth shut. That was bad. She didn't want to destroy this place, even if some of their worst fights had taken place within.

The ambulance arrived, which saved her from further damage to the place. Everything started losing focus as she was loaded onto an ambulance. This was not really in the plan, but as far as non-plan things went, it was not the worst-case scenario. The woman tried to focus on breathing and not hurting anybody as the vehicle sped towards the hospital.

The hospital was ready for them. Between Caroline, Jaime, and the doctor, they had come up with an option that would maximize the safety of everyone involved, as well as preserve the equipment from the harmful effects of amplified sound.

Tobias remembered this hospital briefly. That heart attack had been a shock in itself, but it had been explained to him, in his confinement, that it was due to an imbalance in his shifts. During the full moon, there was always the first hours of massive organ failure as everything rearranged. To undergo that outside those specific days and it could easily kill him in an instant.

Still he couldn't help but be on edge. The wolf rolled around his shoulders and pulled anxiously at his skin. Tobias was shunted around by the EMTs and it didn't help to try to explain he was the father. Because he hadn't been. He had been the donor. The fault was not his entirely, but perhaps if he had had a better temper he would not have been carted off by the agency to be observed. He had finally been allowed to leave with a condition: a monitor that would observe his dietary intake (which included any stimulants such as drink or cigarettes), metabolism, and heart rate. He also was obligated to meet with an agency representative, who would contain him during the shifts.

Tobias gripped Caroline's hand tightly, as she was shuttled from bar to ambulance, and from ambulance to hospital. He was partly trying to comfort her, but the medical equipment pushed his heart rate up. “Where are your brothers?” he asked Caroline. He was sure they would have been here by now. The ear plugs were still in and he spoke a little loudly. His large fingers flexed around his palm and tightened. The monitor around his bicep began to hum low. If his blood pressure got too high it would start beeping in a rapid, and highly annoying fashion.

Focusing on Tobias's hand in hers actually helped some. The volume stopped swinging to such extreme polar opposites. She reminded herself to breathe. Another contraction tore through her, but she was better prepared this time around.

Tobias's question would have just pissed her off a few minutes ago, but her priorities has shifted somewhat due to the reality of the situation. She took a deep breath and said as calmly as possible, "JAIme will be here. He mAY have to buM a Ride. Tobias-" She halted, frowning at a hum that wasn't similar to the rest of the hospital noises. Her eyes traveled, seeking the source of the unexpected noise.

She would have continued on to tell Tobias that Emilio wasn't ever going to arrive when Jaime made an appearance. He was wearing scrubs, so she assumed he had come right from the clinic at school. Jaime nodded at Tobias. "Hola, Tobias." He smiled at Caroline. "Todo va a estar bien. Que estes tranquila. Voy a esperarse en la sala."

He fell back as she was wheeled down the hall. Caroline realized in the midst of all of the movement that he had opted to let Tobias be present for the birth though that role had been Jaime's since the inception of the plan. The plan helped with the fact that she was not in control of this situation. The lack of control could easily send her into a panic with all that had happened in her life. Her fingers tightened around Tobias's hand, her eyes wide.

There was not time to express gratitude to Jamie, as he was whisked away with Caroline. He had always liked Jamie best out of the brothers because of his forgiving nature. Now he was allowing Tobias a seat that Caroline would not have given him, had she had her reason. He turned to shout a thank you over his shoulders, but the double doors had already swung shut.

The florescent lights made his eyes water, but it was a small irritation to what Caroline was going through. His other hand rested on the gurney. “By Jay-zus...this is really happening!” He was beginning to feel insanely giddy. The monitor on his bicep hummed again, slightly louder this time, and Tobias breathed slowly through his mouth. They were in a room now. One of the nurses pulled the curtains for some form of privacy.

Tobias pushed a thick lock of hair from his face. “What do I need to do? Should I do something?” No one was listening to him, they were all preparing for the births. Anxiety began to trickle in with the giddiness. “What am I supposed to do?” The grip he had on Caroline's hand trightened so much, that his knuckles turned white.

Another contraction. It seemed that the babies, who were late, had decided to make up for the delay. Sweat beaded on Caroline's face and she tried to remember the exercises in breathing that she had been practicing. They were wheeled to the room, which was still undergoing last-minute preparations. Right from the getgo, it was different from most hospital rooms because of the soundproofing that covered the walls. Even some of the more sensitive equipment had been similarly armored against Caroline's erratic powers.

Most of the nurses pulled out ground-crew type earsets with mics. One of them offered an extra set to Tobias while Caroline was changed into a hospital gown. She was loath to relinquish Tobias's hand, but she had to admit that his tight grip was beginning to hurt. Not as much as the contractions, but enough. Another nurse asked her again if she still wanted to forego the epidural. A moment's hesitation and she nodded. As a rule, painkillers were a measure taken too little or too late. She reached for Tobias's hand again. So much for wanting nothing of the man. Now, in the thick of it, she needed his presence.

Her train of thought crashed when a different sort of pain flashed within her womb. She screamed, causing the air around them to pulse with the force of it. Something felt wrong and it was both excruciating and terrifying. A doctor was shouting something at her, trying to get past the interference in the air, but it wasn't coming through. Instinct was beginning to kick in- she was pushing, but there was so much blood. Why was there so much blood?

The blood heightened Tobias' senses to just the left side of extreme. There was just too much to be getting on with, from the birthing to the sudden vacuum between his ears. It was unnerving to see everything moving without sound. There was a tear down his spine that landed heavy in the ankles, warning him that he would shift soon. The changes hadn't been so flippant before Tobias had been toyed with, but now everything was out of whack.

This madness with Caroline had sobered the forethought of his mind, and if Tobias had had any thought of reconciling, it had all been quashed with new life literally pushing forward. His damp hand relaxed some as the first baby crowned. He remembered they were having twins. Flashes of a happier time surfaced, cooling Tobias' fever. “We had made this out of love,” he mouthed, because the thought could not be contained behind tight lips.

The first born came out with a smooth assurance. Long and with a thatch of dark hair, her face squinted as it was turned toward a shaft of shameless sunlight that crept through the curtains, which had been haphazardly shut. There was a breath and Tobias could feel the unsure scream turned into a hiccup. “It's a girl!” He turned to Caroline, overwhelmed and giddy. “By Jaysus, it's a girl! Did you know?” Before she could answer, Tobias swooped low and kissed her full on the mouth.

Then, quite suddenly, he was pulled away. Two nurses were shoving him back out of the room, and he had caught a glimpse of dark red, splashed against Caroline's inner thighs. It was too much blood. The second birth was complicated. The head nurse slammed the door in his face, as another spun away from him and ran down the hall for more medical equipment.

Tobias yanked off the headphones he was given, along with the earplugs and the hollow air around him was a stale death in comparison to the mocked silence of the room. The heart monitor, squeezed tight against the pulsing muscles of his right arm, started to beep like a trigger happy fire alarm in a stank-ass apartment on the low end of the world.

The nurse that had run to get more medical equipment didn't make it past him before Tobias slung her into the wall. “What is happening?” Her wide eyes teared up in shock over her blue paper mask. Tobias let go and stepped back. “What is happening?” He said again in a forced calm. The beeping persisted.

“Not now. Not just now,” and she ran back into the room. Tobias heard the door lock. It didn't stop him from banging against the door with his shoulder and the beast in him surfaced cruelly. His face was now half masked with a demonic and inhuman quality. At least the floor was empty and he began to pace, as fingernails thickened into claws and regressed back into the pale flimsy things they were. He shook his head again and again, breathing deeply, until the wolfish side of him cooled and collapsed like a flan in a cupboard.

After a time, when the screaming stopped, and he had anchored himself to the floor in front of the door, and there six crumbled ends of Wild Woodbines beside him, the door opened. The doctor's gown was splattered with placenta and blood. “What are you?” He asked Tobias, who stood.

“Is she okay?” Tobias asked in turn, craning his neck around the man. The doctor pushed him back.

“She needs rest. She lost a lot of blood. The second born...he had clawed at her insides. We had to stitch her up. She'll be okay. What are you?”

Tobias huffed. He had cottoned on to the word the doctor had used. “Half wolf. Why?”

“The second born appears to have a mild form of circumscribed hypertrichosis...and given your, ehm, condition, and the boy's wild nature, we'll need to monitor him and your daughter for a few days time.”

Tobias felt himself numb. He had a son. Two daughters now, and a son. “Will they be okay? Are they healthy?”

“We think so, but again, we need to monitor them. I believe we have your records on file? We'll cross analyze your blood samplings with the children.”

Although the doctor gave him a minute to hold each child, he had stressed that Caroline needed rest and Tobias must wait outside until the nurses gave the all clear. He examined his son, trying to find traits that would signify his suffering, other than the mild vellus hair spanning across the infant's upper extremities. Tobias had never known another like him, would this bond him tightly to the child more than it would with his daughters? When the nursed to the twins away to be monitored, Tobias said to the doctor, “My other daughter...she's ten now. She doesn't have any blood disorder that I've got.”

The doctor only gave him a soft smile and told him to wait in the guest lounge until Caroline was ready. Tobias picked up the cigarette butts and did as he was told.