But Freya’s unique body was not normal.
From her ‘different’ bone structure, to the unique way her body tissues reacted to nutrition and starvation, to the way her muscles worked in general – she was too different.
Dr. Hawthorne delivered the bad news – a C-section was the only safe option for the baby.
The reason it was bad news?
Painkillers didn’t work on Freya.
Anesthesia drugs, in general, didn’t work on Freya.
And while she had a significantly higher pain tolerance than the average person, being cut was still being cut – surgery was still surgery.
Freya agreed without hesitation, but when Lily asked Sam how it went later on, he disclosed that it was rough. Really, really rough. Like, he had to hold her down with his astral limbs and her body began turning gray, her hands enlarging and shifting, in a primal instinct to make the pain stop, even though she told the doctor to keep going…
That kind of rough.
The only good thing about the situation was that with a little bit of blood, Freya was perfectly healed afterward. And she had a new crying baby to focus on and be happy about. But she took the whole ‘I went through hell to give birth to you’ to an entirely new level.
Still, Dr. Hawthorne really stressed that she should probably stay in the hospital overnight, for both her and the baby, which was normal anyway, but she refused. She just wanted to be home with her new infant, promising to go in if they suspected something was wrong.
And despite the horror she’d gone through, she still made an effort to keep up with Eden’s needs for as long as possible…
It was longer than any normal woman could have managed. Growing ten times faster than a typical baby meant eating ten times as much, and sleeping in much shorter spurts, making it impossible for Freya to get any shuteye at all. And there was definitely no such thing as getting the baby on a schedule – not when she was growing like this.
It was again the reason why Lily was holding Eden in the kitchen, because she fully expected the baby to wake up in the next ten minutes even though she just ate.
Thankfully, the little infant didn’t seem to mind that Lily’s chest was completely flat, with Lily’s surgery for the new implants still being a little over a week away. She personally couldn’t wait to get them in, feeling naked without them even when she was fully clothed. No one else seemed to mind, but she certainly did. She liked the way she looked and felt with a larger chest, in addition to liking how her clothing fit.
In contrast, while Freya’s body was back to its normal skinny self, the vampiric super’s already swollen breasts had turned into bazookas in the last couple of days in her body’s attempt to essentially feed ten babies at once. It did make Lily a little envious, being that she was as flat as a pancake, though she felt a little guilty for feeling that way after everything Freya had been through.
Glancing down again at Eden’s cute peaceful expression, Lily focused on the tiny blemish below her right eye, the heart-shaped birthmark that was a very real reminder that this little girl was Sam’s deceased daughter, who it turned out had the unique superpower that was now officially classified as reincarnation.
That, and the little girl’s vibrant teal eyes.
When Lily initially found out that Eden would have teal eyes, she assumed it would be some natural cross between blue and green eyes – not literal teal. An impossible teal – something she didn’t think could occur in real life.
It was almost as if Eden had been born with colored contacts like Lily’s mother frequently wore, but the varied colored specs in the little infant’s irises made it clear they were very real.
It was mesmerizing whenever Eden opened her eyes, like a thousand times more mesmerizing than someone who had naturally icy blue eyes. Lily couldn’t wait until her niece was old enough to actually hold another’s gaze, as opposed to this constant eat-sleep cycle she was currently on.
Lily sighed heavily, feeling mostly content, only to glance up abruptly when she saw movement in the corner of her eye – Rose, silently climbing onto the counter.
It still amazed, and startled, Lily whenever Freya’s young lookalike seemed to appear out of nowhere like that. Had Lily not physically laid eyes on her, then she literally wouldn’t have had any idea the eight-year-old girl traveled down the stairwell by the kitchen entrance and moved to climb on the counter barely ten feet away.
And even though she was only eight, Lily wasn’t at all concerned about her otherwise dangerous activity. Because her being a clone of Freya also meant the tan-skinned little girl had better senses and reflexes than a cat.
However, once Rose had retrieved the baby formula, a bottle, and turned on the warm water, Lily finally spoke up.
“Oh sweetie, I don’t think Eden will need to eat for at least another five or ten minutes. Your mommy just made sure she was fully satisfied before laying down.”
Rose shook her head, measuring out the formula in a very uncharacteristic and precise way for someone her age. Which wasn’t too surprising to Lily, even if noticeably unusual, since she was well aware that Rose was very intelligent. However, Eden’s birth seemed to have a more pronounced effect on Rose’s behavior than before.
At the very least, she was certainly taking the whole ‘big sister’ thing very seriously.
Her young voice was confident and matter-of-fact as she responded. “No, she’s already hungry again.”
“Rose, sweetie. It’s important that Eden sleep when she wants. We don’t want to wake–”
Unexpectedly, the little
