by T. J. Quinn
“If it brings a bit of color into this place, then I’ll be happy.”
"You're bringing more than just a bit of color, girl; you're bringing new life, believe me,” the older woman said, hugging her.
“Thank you.” She hugged her back. “Do you need any help with the dinner party you’re organizing?” she asked her.
“No, sweetie. The boys are helping me. You already have a lot of work as it is.” She assured her. “All I want from you is to get there and have fun. It will be great to have the whole family gathered again.”
Sasha nodded. She had been introduced to Asgar’s family before and she had been welcomed into their family with opened arms, and that had felt simply great.
When the announcement day arrived, despite all the work and the stress, Sasha was more than happy, she was pleased and the feeling of fulfillment rushing through her veins was amazing.
The entire day had been perfect. The happiness of all those attending had been obvious, especially when the king had announced the near birth of his first child, with a ravishing Eleanor standing right beside him.
The queen’s pregnancy was the sign the people had been waiting, regarding their hopes for a new future. That was celebrated all over the planet, especially, when a couple of weeks later the pregnancies of Rosalind and Erin were also announced.
Sasha was very happy for her friends, but she was starting to get worried as well. Ever since her conversion, they had been trying to get her pregnant as well.
Asgar was eager to add a baby to the family and she had to admit she felt the same, but even after a couple of months, there was no news to announce.
In fact, she had been having her period more often than usual and after Eleanor’s baby girl was born, she was forced to admit something was wrong.
And that brought back all her demons. Would Asgar still want to be with her if she was incapable of having children? After all, the drogons hadn't gone through that much trouble to get infertile women.
Trying to control her nerves and her fears, she decided to pay a visit to Erin and Susan, the human doctor that had arrived with the last group of women.
Erin’s pregnancy was quite evident and she felt happy for her friend.
“Sasha… what brings you here?” Erin asked her, a bit surprised.
“I need to talk to you, as a doctor,” she explained, with a frown.
“Sure, tell me, what’s troubling you?”
“I’m not pregnant.”
“Have you been trying to get pregnant?” the other woman asked, cautious.
“Yes, ever since Asgar converted me,” she admitted. “But it’s not only that. I’m having my period more frequently than ever. Sometimes even two weeks apart.”
“I heard you had a nasty fall, right before you were converted. Do you think that might have affected you?”
“Right now, I’m not discarding any possibility,” she stated.
“Alright, let’s take a look at you,” she said, inviting Sasha to get on the examination table, and pulling out the scanner.
She was an expert handling it now, and she loved the device since it allowed her to see with great detail what happened inside the human body.
She brought the scan over Sasha’s pelvis and started to check. “How damaged was your pelvis with the fall?” she asked, with a frown.
“According to Oydis, it was severely damaged, especially the bones. She said it looked as if it had been shattered into small pieces.”
Erin turned the scan for her to see. “And she was right. All these darker lines here are the scars on the bone. It’s amazing your body was able to heal that,” she confessed, astounded. “But that seems to have healed perfectly. Let's check the rest." She pressed a few buttons, and the scanner stopped showing bones to show organs. "Your ovaries seem perfectly fine, and these here are follicles with eggs.” She pointed at a few white dots on the screen.
“What could be the problem then?” Sasha asked, with a slight frown.
“Let me enhance this part here and check your fallopian tubes,” she said, pressing a few more buttons.
Erin remained a few moments in silence, looking thoroughly at the screen, zooming it several times and then un-zooming it, as if she was looking for something.
“Back on Earth… did you ever have surgery in this area?” she finally asked, breaking the thick silence.
“No, never. What’s the problem?” she asked, worried.
“You don’t have fallopian tubes. I can’t tell if you were born without them or they were cut as a consequence of the fall. There is some scarred tissue here, so I can tell there was damage here,” she explained with a stern tone.
“What does that mean exactly?” Sasha asked, sure she wasn’t going to like her friend’s answer.
“This is why you can’t get pregnant. Your eggs don’t have the way to get to the uterus,” Erin explained.
“Shouldn’t it have been restored like the rest of the body?” she asked, frowning.
“It should have… but perhaps, it didn’t because the drogons don’t have them. Their reproductive system is completely different from ours,” she replied, clearly worried. “It seems the body only restored what it considered vital.”
“And the tubes didn’t seem vital,” Sasha concluded. Her worst fears had been confirmed.
“The extra bleeding is probably your body readjusting to all of the changes.” Erin concluded.
“Is there anything we can do?”
“If we were back home, this would be solved with fertilization in vitro. I would take your eggs and fertilize them in a tube, before putting them back inside you,” she said. “But I’ve discussed this with Fritjof and he said the idea of tampering with nature wouldn’t be well received. Besides, this would never work on a drogon female, due to their reproductive systems.”
“I see… well… now I have the answer I wanted.” She tried to paste a smile on her face, but simply couldn’t. She felt her whole world had been crushed into a million pieces. “Thank you for your help, Erin.”
“If you manage to convince Asgar to try this, I’m more than willing to do it. I’m not very fond of tampering with nature either, but with you, I don’t think that’s the case. We would be giving nature a small help.”
“Thank you. I’ll think of that.”
She returned to the house feeling miserable. That fall had had consequences she never even considered. How the hell was she going to explain that to Asgar? How would he react to the hard fact he would never be a father?
At home, she went straight to the back door of the property and exited to the deep woods that grew behind it. She needed time to think and make a decision.
Asgar arrived home soon after Sasha, hoping to find her in the house, but the thick silence that greeted him told him she wasn't around.
Worried, he sniffed the air and quickly sensed her scent on the gardens.
He had arrived earlier that day because he could tell something was wrong with her. She had been more silent than ever, and her smiles weren’t as bright as they used to. He knew she was troubled and he wished she would share her problems with him, but he also understood why she didn’t.
She simply had never learned how to do it. She had been forced to take care of herself at a very young age, since her parents had never cared for her.
He was walking out the door to look for her when his communication device buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out, surprised to see Eleanor was calling him.
“Eleanor, how are you?” he greeted the queen.
"Hello, Asgar. I'm sorry to trouble you, but I need to talk to you. Is Sasha around?" she asked, in a very serious tone.
“No, she isn’t. I believe she’s out in the woods again. She seems to have developed a taste for them lately,” he replied, with a deep sigh.
“I guess she’s just trying to escape her demons,” she said, with a sad tone.
“Do you know what’s going on?” he asked her. Eleanor was Sasha’s b
est friend and if someone knew what was going on, that someone would be her.
“I think I do. Erin just came to visit me, and though she feels she might be betraying Sasha’s trust, she has her best interests in mind.”
“What happened?”
Eleanor quickly explained what the doctor had told her. “I know Sasha very well. She’ll think she has failed you and her response to that will be to close herself up in her armor, shutting you out,” she concluded. “She should know by now, she’s the one that matters for you, but she’s not used to being loved.”
Asgar rubbed his eyes and sighed. “I know…”
"There's a way to solve her problem if you're willing to act outside the ways of your people, but Erin is the best person to explain that to you,” Eleanor added.
“Thank you for calling. This will save me a lot of time trying to guess what’s going on with her.
“I know, and that’s the only reason I called you. I don’t want her to suffer over this when there’s no reason for it.”
“Again, thank you. But, let’s keep this conversation between us. Sasha doesn’t need to know about it,” he asked her.
“Yes, I totally agree with that. Good luck with my stubborn friend.”
Asgar spread his wings as soon as he ended the call and went looking for his válkana. It didn’t take him much to find her, sitting under a tree, with her eyes closed. He could see the stains of tears on her cheeks and his heart ached for her.
“I thought I would find you here,” he said with a soft tone.
She opened her eyes startled and quickly wiped her face. “Oh… I didn’t realize it was so late,” she said, jumping up.
“It’s not late. I arrived earlier,” he said, closing the distance between them and pulling her into his arms. “What’s going on? Why were you crying?” he asked her, gently.
“No… I wasn’t…”
“Love, I can tell when you’re lying. I can also tell there’s something wrong, but I still can’t guess what’s going on in your mind,” he said, cradling her face and locking his eyes with hers. “I love you, more than life itself and nothing will ever change that, don’t you know that?” he asked her, printing all his love in his words.
She closed her eyes, trying to hold back her tears, but she couldn’t and soon she was sobbing with her face buried in his chest.
“I can’t have babies… the fall… damaged my… ability to have babies…” she finally confessed, amongst sobs and whimpers.
He kissed her, deep and passionately, before he let her go. “It doesn’t matter. All that matters to me is you. I can live without children, but I certainly can’t live without you. Nothing matters more to me than you. I need you to engrave this truth in you, so you’ll never doubt it again,” he said, with a passionate tone.
“I want to believe it… so much…” she confessed.
"I know… and I also know you will someday,” he assured her. "Now, let's go back home so that you can explain the whole thing to me."
She nodded and they flew back to the house.
There, he prepared them two cups of hot mungát and invited her to explain the whole situation to him.
“So, Erin thinks this was caused by the fall?” he asked, at some point.
“She thinks so, but she can’t be sure. I could have been born without them,” she replied. “Though the tubes don’t look very important, they are actually essential for a woman to get pregnant, since they connect our ovaries with the uterus.”
“Is there a way to replace them?”
“Not that I’m aware of.”
“How did you solve this kind of problem back on Earth?” he asked, remembering the queen’s words.
“With a procedure called fertilization in vitro,” she replied, wriggling her hands around her cup.
“How does that work?” he asked, curious.
“You take a few eggs out of the woman’s ovaries and fertilize them with the man’s sperm in a tube. Once the embryo is formed, the fertilized egg is returned to the woman’s womb,” she explained. “Erin told me your people consider it tampering with nature, so I’ll understand if you don’t agree with it,” she said, anticipating the words that would shatter her dreams.
“In your case, that doesn’t apply,” he replied, surprising her. “You would be correcting a problem, not changing things just because you want to. I’m sure Brynjar will agree with me on this.”
“Are you sure?” she asked, her heart thundering hard in her chest, trying not to get too excited about the idea.
“Of course, I’m sure,” he confirmed. “Is Erin able to perform the procedure?”
“Yes, it’s her specialty,” she replied, breathing hard, trying to calm herself down.
“Then, I’ll inform the king and we’ll start the preparations for it.”
“This procedure is usually done using two eggs, in case one doesn’t survive the whole process,” she added, trying to give him all the possibilities.
“What if they both survive?” he asked, with a slight frown.
“Then you get two babies instead of one,” she replied, with an amused expression.
“Can you have more than one baby at a time?” he asked, surprised.
“Yes, there have been women that have delivered more than ten babies at a time.” She informed him.
“That’s amazing. Our species only manages to have one baby at a time.”
“Considering that possibility, do you still feel the same way about it?” she asked him.
“Yes… this doesn’t change a thing. It only improves it.” He assured her.
She jumped over to where he was and hugged him tightly. “Thank you… this means so much to me…”
“So… I’m not enough for you?” he teased her.
“It’s not that…” she slapped his shoulder in protest. “I just don’t want to fail you in any way.” She admitted.
“Even if this doesn’t work, you won’t be failing me in any way. You’re my other half, my heart, there is no possible way you can fail me. Please believe that.”
She cupped his face and claimed a passionate kiss from his lips, sliding her tongue deep inside his mouth, determined to take his breath away and to reignite his passion.
It worked perfectly and before she took her lips away from his, he was carrying her to the bedroom and making love to her as if there was no tomorrow.
The following day, Asgar asked for a council meeting and exposed his problem to his friends. Fritjof had been informed by Erin of Sasha's problem and he was able to inform the rest of the members of the council better. At the end of the meeting, they had established that any method beneficial for the women that allowed them to reach their goal of raising their population numbers would be accepted.
After that, life turned into a chaotic turmoil.
Sasha and Asgar had to go through several exams to determine the best time to harvest her eggs and they also needed to determine the best moment to implant the embryos. They also had to figure out how to get Asgar’s sperm, since the fertilized sperm of the drogon men didn’t come out with masturbation.
It had to be taken while they were making love and then transported to the lab as fast as possible. They had to do it in a hospital room so that the sample would arrive as quickly as possible. The whole process took almost a month.
The day they had to harvest both the eggs and the sperm, Sasha had to admit she felt a bit awkward, knowing everybody knew what they were doing and why.
“Are you nervous?” he had asked her.
“Yes… I guess I am… a little bit…” she admitted.
“I know how you feel. But I also know we can do this.” He teased her, pulling her into his arms as his lips swooped down to take hers in a kiss wrought to steal her breath away and swirl her senses. Any coherent thought escaped her mind and the rest of the world disappeared, leaving just the two of them, entangled in their wild passion.
The waiting period of three days to see if the ferti
lization had been a success was the longest one in her whole life. She wanted so much for this to work she wasn’t sure what she was going to do if it didn’t. Asgar had done all he could to distract her and keep her mind busy, but nothing had worked.
When she finally received the call from Erin, she was about to climb the walls. “It’s ready. Both eggs have turned into two beautiful embryos and I’m ready to put them inside you. You'll have to stay in the hospital, at least for a week, while we make sure they have been implanted successfully." Her friend explained.
“We’re on our way.” She assured her, ending the call and immediately calling Asgar.
He had gone to the palace for the weekly council meeting. “I’m sorry to interrupt you, but Erin has just called. I’m on my way to the hospital.” She told him, while she was leaving the house. She had learned how to drive their vehicles a few weeks ago, so she just jumped into the one she called hers and drove away, with the communication device on speakers.
“I’ll meet you there.”
“No… I’m sure there’s no need for you to leave the meeting. I just wanted you to know.” She assured him.
“Of course, I’m leaving the meeting. You’re more important to me. Drive carefully and we’ll meet there.” He replied and ended the call.
Fortunately, the hospital was very close to his house and it only took her a few minutes to get there.
Erin was already there, with her huge belly. They hugged and Sasha took a step back to look at her friend. “When are you having the baby?” she asked, smiling.
“Any day now… since it has been hard to determine the conception moment, we haven’t been able to establish how long the pregnancies last. So far, they’ve all been different.” She explained.
“Well… if this works, we’ll know exactly.” She said, with a scowl.
“I know, sweetie… I know.” The doctor gave her a naughty smile. “Now, let’s get this done before this little fellow decides it’s time he comes out.”
“You’re having a baby boy?” she asked, happy.
“Yes… he finally allowed us to see his full body. And I know everybody wants baby girls, but I’m so happy with my baby, I can’t explain. I had always wanted my first child to be a boy.” She confessed.
