Chapter Nine
Chapter Nine
Lou woke to the sound of the 'seat belt sign' coming alive with a bright 'ding'. Orli was still clutching her hand, as he had been when she'd fallen asleep. His face was turned towards the tiny window, which showed their slow descent into London. The weather outside looked dismal, a spattering of rain coating the outer surface of the window, mist hanging over the peculiar, modern buildings of the international airport.
Orli turned to smile at her, shrugging non-commitally. "It'll be nice to see Sam again...and Mum. Actually it'll be more interesting than anything else to see Mum. But to tell you the truth, I sort of wish we were still in New Zeland." Orli said as the plane's wheels hit the tarmac. He felt Lou's hand tighten around his own, try as she might she still couldn't get the landing down.
"Why?" Lou asked, trying to distract herself from the familiar buzzing feeling in her stomach, that same feeling she got every time she boarded a plane.
"Well...I think I'll miss having you all to myself. You've got friends here...and soon you'll go crazy again from my Mother. In New Zeland it was just the two of us."
Lou nodded, sometimes she felt the same. "Well think about it this way; You've more of me to yourself now, than you will in a few months."
The plane scudded to a stop, and the airhostess stood in the aisle, holding the microphone to her waxy face, dribbling a string of watery 'goodbyes' and 'thankyous'. Orli helped Lou pull the overhead luggage down, and pulled her through the aisle towards the exit.
*
Sam was waiting for Orli and Lou when they got home, sitting in the living room of their alien apartment, listening to Orli's CDs. When Sam heard the key scrape in the lock she launched herself towards not Orli, but Lou.
"I'msohappytoseeyouguysit'sbeensolong!" She said in one continuous stream as she threw her arms around Lou. Lou patted Sam's shoulder gingerly, and cocked at eyebrow at Orli as Sam pulled her towards the living room. Sam deposited Lou on the couch, sitting down next to her and grasping her hand. "How is everything?" She said meaningfully.
Orli laughed and pulled Sam away from Lou. "Everything is fine Sam. Now where's my 'hello'? And how did you get inside?" He said hugging his sister.
"Mum's spare key. She wants to see you once you've settled in."
Orli rolled his eyes and didn't answer. He pulled his and Lou's luggage down the hall and into the bedroom, happy to have something to do that would make him temporarily forget his looming reunion with his mother, it would not be pretty. Ever since he'd called her - it seemed like a lifetime ago, but Orli was stunned to think it had only been a week- his mother had been niggling thought at the back of his mind, she'd not been pleased to hear about Lou's pregnancy, and even more disappointed to hear that Orli had married Lou.
"Orli, don't worry to much about your mum. Sam says she's not half as upset as she was." Lou said carefully. She'd quietly asked Sam how Orli's mother was feeling, and Sam had assured her that everything would be ok.
"I shouldn't have to feel guilty about marrying someone I love, Lou. And I shouldn't feel guilty about you being pregnant." Orli said, not meeting Lou's eyes.
Lou smiled, she removed a shirt from Orli's grasp and pulled him down to sit beside her. "My mum's worse than yours, remember? And what about my Dad? He tried to forbid me from marrying you! Orli, I'm sure your mum is going to get used to this, she just doesn't want you doing something stupid, knowing how impulsive you are."
"But this isn't an impulse!" He protested. "Impulse insinuates some sort of quick decision! I mean, for heaven's sake, it's not as though I just woke up one morning and thought 'hey, I'm going to marry someone today!' I've wanted this since I met you!"
She smiled and kissed his forehead, smoothing away his frown with her thumb. "You've no idea how romantic that sounds. You'll tell her that...and she'll understand." She said.
*
Orli's mother was sitting on the tiny balcony of the same house Orli had grown up in. She was smoking, and blowing the smoke up into the sky in an elegant fashion which Orli recongised keenly from his childhood. Orli gripped Lou's hand, and suggested she go and find Sam. Lou knew that Orli needed to speak with his mother in private, and so she left them.
"Hi Mum. I've missed you." Orli said hugging his mother.
She returned his hug, stubbing out her cigarette in a chipped bronze ashtray that Orli recognised from his youth. It still held the same position as it had when he was twelve, balanced on the stone railing of the balcony. His mother held Orli back from her embrace, inspecting him, as she always did when he returned home from distant journeys. "I've missed you more. Where is Lou?"
"Inside with Sam. I think we need to talk alone..." He said.
She smiled and noticed his wedding band for the first time, it's soft silver seemed transformed, a cold, foreboding symbol of certainty that she was starkly aware of. She couldn't take her eyes from it. "That's a lovely wedding band, Orlando."
Orli frowned and let his mother pull the ring from his finger. She examine it at closer quarters, squinting to read the writing inside. "What do those words mean?" She said finally.
"It's elfish, it says 'Eternity'." He explained.
She smiled and slipped the ring back onto it's finger. "That's lovely. Was it a beautiful ceremony?"
"Yes. It was small, only a few friends. And quick. But Lou left me speechless - she looked so beautiful. And I felt about as good as she looked." He murmured.
His mother released his hand, letting it fall to Orli's side. She smiled sadly at him. "You're right, we do need to talk-"
"Mum, look, I'm sorry you-" Orli started, but she shushed him.
"Don't interrupt me, Orlando. If there is one thing I've taught you, it's don't interrupt. I'm very...sad at what's happened while you were away, but not for the reasons you think." She paused, and Orli felt confusion seep into his veins, he had been sure he'd judged his mother's intention for their reunion correctly, but now began to question his judgment. "I always thought you'd marry a nice English girl, strange and archaic as that sounds. The way I saw it, you'd be married a few months, and after discovering that you'd soon have a baby, you'd come rushing over to tell me first. I'd be present at a large, traditional ceremony...and everything would be beautiful. And I'd get along so well with your wife." She finished wistfully.
"Things haven't turned out like that Mum." Orli said.
"Well, that's obvious. I don't dislike Lou, Orli. I think she's lovely. I worried, because I've seen you go through a lot in your initial separation from Lou...and I didn't want to see you hurt again. I know now, she's the right one for you...I wish you had of waited until you returned home before having a ceremony though, I would have loved to be there."
Now I understand...Orli thought, the realisation of his mother's negative reaction finally dawning on him. "I'm sorry you couldn't be there...but I had to marry Lou that way, and it was perfect. The only thing I would have loved more was having you and Sam there with me to share in that."
She stroked his cheek fondly, and smiled, brushing happy tears from her eyes as Orli hugged her again. "Everything is alright then. Isn't it?" She said.
"Everything is alright." Orli replied. The relief in his voice was audible as Lou and Sam came out onto the balcony to see mother and son hugging. Over head the sky crackled, announcing the imminent arrival of a London storm, and Orli's mother led them inside, asking if they had any ultra-sound photos with them, just as Lou pressed the package into her hand.
**
Lou was blissfully alone on the roof her and Orli's London studio penthouse. She flipped idly through the pages of a National Geopgrahic from the early eighties, and although the reading wasn't the most riveting, the scene was blissful, if for not other reason than Orli's absence. He and Sam had been pestering him all afternoon, asking if she alright, did she want a cushion, a glass of water, the remote control, a backrub...the final straw had come when Orli had offered her to cook her lunch. Lou shuddered at the memory, and as she was extremely pregnant, allowed herself the luxury of not feeling guilty about dissing Orli's cooking. She couldn't quite place her finger on it, but ever since New Zeland, she couldn't stand Orli's cooking. While in the past Lou had viewed Orli's concoctions as just mildly peculiar, now she couldn't stand them. It had come to the point that as soon as Orli entered the kitchen Lou's heart rate increased. He'd been mortally offended the first time Lou had threatened to throw up if he didn't remove a meal from in front of her - it had been chicken pickle curry- and order pizza. But his disapointment had evaporated when he'd caught Lou having her ceremonial midnight snack- Oreo and potato sandwiches.
"How are you feeling today?" Sean asked as he began making tea.
Lou groaned and fell into an over stuffed chair in the lounge room, knowing that if someone had asked her to get up, she would have gladly ended their life for the opportunity to stay in the chair. "I'm feeling like I've got a watermelon strapped to my stomach. I'm feeling like I miss being able to see my feet. But mostly I'm just very happy." She said with a strange mix of angst, pain, and joy. "And very hungry." She added meaningfully.
Sean sighed and poked his head of the kitchen to say "The usual?"
Lou grinned. "You're great Sean." She called as he grumbled into the pantry to find the ingredients for Lou's usual; boiled potatoes and Oreo cookies. He flirted with the idea of telling Lou they were out of Oreos, but then realise the precarious position that would place his life in. Not to mention he didn't feel like walking all the way down to the supermarket to get oreos for Lou, because he knew Lou would wheedle it out of him.
"So, what have you been doing all day?" Sean said as he set down a tray with two mugs of tea, and Lou's sandwich on it, down onto the coffee table.
"Nothing. I never do anything. I'm three weeks overdue, and my ankles are killing me the minute I wake up. Every second minute Orli asks me if 'I'm ok', and Sam is no better." She said sipping her tea.
Sean laughed as the mental image of Orli in a nurse's outfit popped into his head. "He said he would be the perfect nurse for you. Where is he, by the way? You've not killed him, have you Lou?"
Lou rolled her eyes and poked her tongue out at Sean. She took another bite of her sandwich, chewing the strange ingredients slowly, non-plussed to find she still thought it tasted delicious. "No. Smart arse. I sent them out for a walk with the dog. They should be back in a few minutes." Lou said, somewhat dejected. And at the that exact moment the front door opened and Orli walked in. He threw his keys on the hall table and threw himself down on the couch beside Lou.
"I'm back." He said, inspecting what Lou was eating. He poked his tongue out and made hacking noises. He pointed at the sandwich. "I don't understand how you can eat that but not my food! It's very offensive." He said with a highly offended sniff.
"I just can." Lou said defensively.
"Explain it to me." Orli said, sipping Lou's tea.
Lou smiled and tried to articulate what she was thinking. "Well...it' sort of as though I want a boiled potato, and the baby wants a Oreo cookie. So we end up with this peculiar hybrid food." She summed up.
Orli and Sean nodded thoughtfully. Orli shrugged and wandered off into the kitchen to make himself something for dinner. Outside the dark was gathering, and Orli felt contentment well up inside him as he saw the lights of the buildings around their apartment flick on. "Are you staying for dinner Sean?" He called.
Sean wrinkled his nose at the thought of Orli's cooking; he might not be pregnant, but he knew what sub-standard cooking was, and recognised that Orli's cooking was not exactly up to sub-standard standards. "Ah, no thanks, Mate. I'm going to head out. I was just dropping in for a quick hello." He said carefully.
Lou finished her sandwich and heaved herself up out of the couch, waddling into the kitchen. "I'll stay for dinner. As long as you don't cook." She said to Orli, eyeing the carrot in his hand lustfully. That would go very nicely with some marmalade...
"You never say anything nice to me any more. You don't even notice when I buy new clothes or get my hair cut. It's like I'm just a maid for you, you don't even find me attractive any more." He said sulkily as he replaced his ingredients back in the pantry. Orli sighed, pulling out the phone book to find the number of the local Indian restaurant. He was surprised he didn't know it by heart.
"Excuse me?" Lou said with surprise as she followed Orli back into the lounge room. He sat down on the edge of the couch with the phone in his hand, Lou stood beside the couch. " Since when do you buy new clothes?! And you haven't had a hair cut for three months! I don't find you attractive any more? Orli, look at my body!" Lou said with disbelief.
Orli tried not to laugh " You're lovely. What's wrong with you?"
Lou laughed bitterly and pushed her hand into the small of her back harder, it was the only thing that seemed to help her back pain.
"Lovely? You must be blind! I have cankles, and back pain twenty-four seven. I have to put up with you getting annoyed at me only eating weird good, not to mention gravity!" She finished.
Sean laughed openly, and Orli only shook his head in disbelief. "What's gravity got to do with the price of fish in Russia, Lou?" He said kindly. The hormones must be getting to her, poor dear.
"Gravity is slowly eating away at my body." Lou replied seriously. "Look at my body. Look at my breasts!" She said sadly.
Orli frowned and tried not the laugh, Lou was obviously serious. Orli noticed Sean trying to ignore the last statement Lou had made as he edged his way out of his seat. Sean shook his head, waving goodbye and quickly shut the door behind him.
"What's wrong with your breasts?" Orli asked.
Lou narrowed her eyes and sighed. "Their combined weight is heavier than a small child Orli. Don't pretend you haven't noticed. I see you looking at me! You think I'm ugly!" She gasped, her hand covering her mouth.
Orli choked a laugh and instantly felt guilty as Lou waddled quickly from the room, down the hall to the bedroom. Orli waited a few minutes before following Lou into the bedroom. She was sitting on the edge of the bed, wearing her traditional pyjama pants and an old singlet, stretched across her stomach.
She carefully swung her legs into the bed, pulling the covers over her body, she finally noticed Orli leaning against the doorframe smiling at her. "Don't even look at me. I'm a crazy fat woman with strange food cravings, and veiny breasts." She said dramatically. She pulled the covers over her head.
Orli grinned and remained silent as he undressed and climbed into bed. He pulled the covers away from Lou's face, and smiled down at her. "You're not crazy. You're not fat, you're pregnant, and you're allowed to eat weird things. And your breasts are lovely." He said softly.
"No they're not."
"Yes they are." Orli protested. Lou gave him a 'come on give me a break, I'm not stupid' look, and Orli conceded. "Ok, they're a little...different how they used to be, but you always said you wanted to see what it was like to have big boobs." He laughed.
Lou glared at him and closed her eyes, pretending to be asleep. For the first time since she'd been distracted by Sean's arrival she noticed the anxious feeling in her stomach return, only a little stronger. It seemed to pulse in her belly, coming a little stronger each time, and then lapsing, only to return.
"Lou, the point is that you're beautiful to me, because you're you. You're amazing because you're having my child, and you're my wife. You make being pregnant look good." Something about the way Orli said that made Lou open her eyes. She was entranced by Orli's eyes as he continued. "You are perfect in every single way possible, and I love you, and our baby, you're two people's worth of love in one. And soon enough, God willing, you'll be split in two..." he paused. "that sounded wrong-"
Lou pressed a finger against Orli's lips, pulling him towards her. She kissed him deeply, feeling neglected lust bubbling up inside her. Orli responded instantly, silently thanking Lou for not taking his stupidity literally...
Orli had to curb his lust before it engulfed him, pulling back to reality to ask Lou "What, what hurt? What do you mean?"
Lou shook her head and got up, moving quicker than Orli had seen her move for at least three months. She waddled quickly into the bathroom, gripping her stomach, and shut the door. Orli frowned, finally realising something might be seriously wrong. He came around the side of the bed, and knocked on the door. "What hurt Lou? What happened?" He said loudly through the door.
"I don't know. Ow." Lou's muffled voice said through the door.
"Would you open the door then?" Orli said, anxiety welling up inside him. Part of his mind was busy trying to convince him to remain calm, the other half was racing a million miles an hour, trying to think of a way to break down the door, just so he could be closer to Lou, or work out what had happened...he began to think of all the horrible things it could be. That didn't help. Orli pounded harder on the door, jiggling the doorknob. "Open the door baby, please open the door." He said. Lou didn't respond, and Orli pounded rhythmically, laying his head against the door. He almost fell face first onto the tiles when Lou opened the door quickly.
Lou grabbed Orli's shoulders, digging her nails into his skin. He winced at the contact. "This is it, Orli." She said breathlessly. Lou stood for the second, in the middle of the room, trying to compose her thoughts. She grabbed the overnight bag that was sitting on the chair next to her bed, where it had been sitting for almost three weeks now.
Orli stood, gaping after Lou as she moved from place to place, changing her clothes quickly and slipping into her shoes. She pulled on a jacket, and turned to see Orli still standing with one hand on the doorknob, gaping like a gold fish, in his pyjamas.
"You know, traditionally this is the moment where the husband flies into a mad hurry...you know the deal, screaming, ambulance. I'd even settle for a word?" Lou said with mild irritation. She clutched her stomach as the dull pain returned slightly doubling. She dropped the bag with a gasp.
His eyes darted to the phone, his head turned to search their room for the phone, as his feet carried him towards Lou. "What happened? Is it painful?" He asked.
"Yes. It's very painful." Lou gasped. She tried to smile, but was having trouble clearing her mind, blood was racing through her veins at a hundred miles an hour.
Orli got down on his knees, he covered Lou's hands in his own, where they rested on her stomach. "Fuck! I'm sorry, I don't know what I'm doing Lou! Is this supposed to happen?" Orli murmured.
A pain roughly and size and shape of a steak knife buried itself in Lou's gut. She jerked forward, grabbing Orli's hands. "I don't think so..." She said quietly. She could see her tousled reflection in Orli's eyes as his inky pupils widened with the realisation of their communal worst fear. "You'll be fine, you can do this. Orli, I think I better go to the hospital..." Lou said unsurely as another blade shifted through her body.
Orli couldn't tear his eyes away from Lou's pained gaze. He'd seen her in pain before, and had more than once been the cause of it, but this was an entirely different Lou he saw now. This was his wife, the mother of his child, this was a woman was clearly questioning the safety of her unborn child. "Go into the lounge room. Sit down in the lounge room. I'm going to make this better."
Lou took a deep breath as lighting pain pummelled her flesh. "Good, because I don't think I can..." She squeezed his hand and walked slowly out of the room, down the hall.
Orli remained crouching on the floor for a second before reacting. He grabbed the phone, punching his mother's number in. Sam answered, and he said simply "Hospital, ASAP." before hanging up. He was still struggling into his jacket when he emerged from the bedroom to find Lou pacing around the lounge room with her fingers splayed over her swollen belly. In silence he hustled her towards the door, grabbing his car keys and slamming the door behind them. He didn't dare to look at Lou until they exited the elevator into the car park.
"Everything is going to be alright. Isn't it?" Lou sniffed. Orli stopped abruptly, turning towards Lou, taking her in his arms. She sniffed into his jacketed shoulder, and Orli felt her entire body tighten as pain once again riddled her.
"Don't dare think it won't. How can anything go wrong, this is you and me, Lou." Orli said lightly as he kissed her brow. He held her for a second longer before moving to pull Lou towards their car.
Lou laid her head back against the headrest of the passenger seat, trying to concentrate on the distant sensation of Orli's hand rubbing her leg, trying to block out the realisation that something was definitely wrong.
*
"Hello, Mr Bloom. My name is Georgia." said the matron calmly.
"Please, Orlando." Orli said quickly, shaking her hand. Orli wanted to know what was wrong, not what this woman's name was. And Georgia could sense it. He sat down in the seat offered by Georgia, separated from her by the massive wasteland of her glass desk.
"You're wife was due three weeks ago? Yes?" She asked.
"Yes, three weeks and four days..." Orli said anxiously. Please god, let there be nothing wrong...those words kept repeating in his mind.
"Has it been a healthy pregnancy? Any problems along the way..." She prompted.
Orli frowned deeply and scanned his memory for any problem they'd encountered along the way, his mind leaping forward to try and form a link. "Nothing. Everything has been perfect from the beginning...she eats Oreo and potato sandwiches..." He said helplessly. Georgia could tell he was trying not to cry.
"That's perfectly normal. For me it was French onion dip with twizzlers." She joked, trying to lighten his mood, knowing he was on the verge of breakdown.
Orli offered a watery smile. "I'm sorry Matron, for seeming rude...but where is the doctor?" He asked.
Georgia smiled and clenched her teeth, not liking the answer she would have to give. "In Thailand." She said slowly.
Orli's jaw dropped, this truly was his worst nightmare. "This is truly, my worst nightmare..." He said, shaking his head. "Why is our doctor in Thailand?"
"Your baby was supposed to be born three weeks ago...and he had the holiday all booked...We've found a replacement, and he's on his way. I know it's not nice to have a doctor change at the last moment, especially not with the condition your wife is in-"
Orli's head snapped up. "What condition is she in exactly?"
Georgia sighed deeply, clasping her hands together in her lap. "Louise is...She's not well, more importantly, you're baby isn't well. We need to get her out, and fast. You see, the baby is breach, which means-"
"I know what it means. " Orli said lifelessly.
"And the umbilical cord is tied around her neck. If we deliver your child naturally, there is little chance we'd be able to get her out in time to stop the choking..."
"Oh god..." Orli said, tears welling in his eyes. He couldn't help but be thankful that Lou wasn't hearing this...but thoughts of her flooded into his already confused mind, and he saw a mental picture of her, as he had left her, lying in her sterile hospital bed, eyes tightly closed, face periodically twisted in pain. He could tell she'd stopped herself from screaming out to save him the torture. "What are you going to do then? To save my family?"
"Louise has lost a lot of blood...the baby is ready to come, but we're not ready for her just yet. We've also noticed some slight complications in her breathing patterns, caused by the umbilical cord, it's slowly stopping the flow of blood to her brain, which could be responsible for Louise being over due." Georgia explained delicately. She could see Orlando deteriorating in front of her eyes, this was always the part of the job she hated.
"Lou's lost blood...oh god...she's going to be all right though? She's safe, isn't she?"
"The sooner we can deliver your baby, and safer both of them will be. We've Louise's permission to perform a c-section, in the event of it's desire, and it is desired. Greatly. But I simply am not qualified to make such a complicated delivery, and I want the best for you, your wife, and your child. We're waiting for Dr. Boubakov, he's on his way. He's an excellent doctor, he's worked in a private hospital for the past four years in Ireland, though he's originally from Russia. It's luck that he was in London for a exchange residency...he's the best person you could wish for in Louise's situation. Mr Bloom, do you have any questions you want to ask me?"
Orli knuckled away his tears. "Yes, two. If things don't go as planned, I want you to save Lou. She comes first, nothing else matters..." He said stiffly.
Georgia nodded slowly. "That's a big decision to make, and legally, we have to obey your wishes," She said. "but that's a last resort...what else did you want to know?"
"Lou had a...a accident a few years ago. She almost got brain damaged, and she was unconscious - the doctor said that it was unusual given her type of brain trauma- for a while...does that have something to do with this?"
Georgia thought carefully before answering, sensing the importance of her response to the man before her. "I'm not really qualified to say this...but unless she was profoundly brain damaged -she is obviously not- or her reproductive organs were hurt, it shouldn't make any difference. Breach birth is not hereditary, and very rarely can be passed as anything but chance. It comes down to how much your child moves, really. As for the umbilical cord...it's not exactly an un-heard of occurrence."
Orli nodded silently. He got up numbly, not feeling his feet carry him down the hall to Lou's room. He felt relieved to know Lou's accident, caused by him, and was not effecting the birth of their child.
Lou was clutching the bed linen, teeth gritted and fighting for mental silence as Orli came to sit beside her bed. "Hey." She said breathlessly.
"Hey beautiful." Orli smiled. He brushed a stray lock of hair away from her face and ran his thumb along her bitten lips.
"You know what's going on. Sounds like I'm about to get a whole new scar, soon as this Boubakov arrives." She grimaced. Lou could tell by Orli's glistening eyes he had heard the news, he looked as though he were on the edge of a complete meltdown.
Orli nodded and stroked Lou's cheek. "This Boubakov...the Matron says he's the best we could wish for."
Lou nodded and tried to smile. "I'm really worried Orli."
"Shhh...I know you are. I'll take care of you baby, don't worry." He said, more to himself than Lou.
Lou gripped Orli's hand, placing it on her stomach. "Who will take care of her?"
"I vill." said a thick voice from the door. An extremely hairy, pale man was coming into the room, standing at the foot of Lou's bed with Georgia beside him. He carried in his hand file containing a copy of Lou's recent ultra-sound and all her relevant details.
Orli stood to shake the hand of the doctor. "It's nice to meet both ov you." He said in a thick Russian accent, with just a hint of Irish.
"It's over soon Lou. All over soon. And I'll be right beside you the whole time." Orli cooed. He wiped Lou's tears away as Georgia and a nameless nurse moved to push Lou's gurney out of the room.
Georgia was mid-nod when Lou replied. "No, I don't want you there."
"Lou, you're my family. If something goes wrong, I want to be there." He said loudly, but the second he met Lou's eyes his anger fell away. Orli rushed forward to seize Lou's hand as she was pushed through the door.
"Orli, please-" Lou pleaded, her breath coming faster than before. " Just agree with me, for once. I can't be thinking about our baby if you're there." She said desperately. She gazed intently at Orli for a lifetime before he relented, letting her hand go. He kissed her brow gently before nodding for Georgia to take Lou away.
"Wish us luck." Georgia said, trying to keep her tone light. She pushed Lou's gurney down the hall quickly, turning the corner into the operating theatre. We're going to need it.
"Orli?!" Sam called to her brother, but he didn't hear her. Orli shuffled down the hall, following Lou's tracks. He pressed his hands against the windows of the swinging doors, peering through the glass to see Lou disappear through a second set of doors. Through the double layer of frosted glass he saw Lou's distant and pearly figure laying flat on the operating table, people rushing around her. The last thing he saw before Sam pulled him away was someone slipping something that looked like a mask over Lou's face.
***
"Are you happy to be home?" Lou said yawning.
They wandered slowly through the airport, and soon Orli forgot even the slightest feeling of not being happy to be home. The very nexus of London seemed to bustle around him, pulling him and Lou into the crowds, enticing them to remember what they both loved about England. As they collected their luggage from the carousel Lou felt the all too familiar sensation that someone was looking at them. A bulb flashed somewhere the background, and she heard Orli groan, rolling his eyes. For all the romance London meant, it was also sickening to notice the amount of effort it's population placed in gossip. Photos of Orli's return to his homeland would be in at least one magazine by the next day.
He heard Sam her departure at the front door, and called his farewell. Lou wandered into the bedroom, sitting on the bed next to where Orli stood, folding clean clothes into piles, and throwing dirty ones on the floor.
The incident had never been discussed between either of them, but ever since that night, Orli had let Lou decide what they would have for dinner, ordering in on the nights she couldn't be bothered to cook, and enlisting Sam's help on the nights Orli couldn't be bothered walking down to the local Chinese to pick up an order.
It had been at least a month since Orli had offered to cook Lou anything, but the distant memory of the last time she had ingested anything from Orli's invention was enough to spur Lou to hustle Orli, Sam, and their dog out of the apartment, but not before securing the promise that they would be gone at least an hour. And so she had wandered slowly about their home, doing general little bits and pieces, half hearted cleaning that Orli always missed, checking the cupboards for anything interesting to eat, before finding herself out on the balcony roof reading the National Geographic she'd found wedged atop the fridge, where she'd remained for a good forty five minutes before she'd become suddenly anxious.
Not the sort of anxiety the comes from remembering you've left the stove on when you're already at work, or the kind of anxiety that comes from finding toothbrush bristles on your tongue. This was the kind of soft, friendly anxiety that wakes the butterflies within your stomach, causing them to flutter to life, whisking their velvet wings against the walls of your insides. It was a sort of watered down anxiety, too warm, to pleasurable to insinuate that anything could be wrong. Lou smiled fondly at the jitter feeling coming from the pit of her stomach. She ran her hand over her nine-month pregnant stomach and returned her half-strength attention to an ancient article on lemurs. But her plans were put on hold by this distant sound of someone knocking on the front door. Lou glared at the door, throwing the magazine too and floor and beginning the arduous task of heaving herself from the comfort of the couch, and waddling towards the door. She pulled it open with one hand, pushing the other into the small of her back as Sean wandered into the apartment. They hugged and kissed, and she led him into the kitchen.
"Ow." Lou said suddenly. She stopped kissing him, pressing her hand against her stomach. "Ow, ow, ow. That hurt. Why does it hurt?" She said unsurely.
She couldn't help but smile through her pain as Orli's body seemed to burst to life in three different directions.
Boubakov shook Orli's hand quickly, snapping his file shut. "Mr Bloom. I'm a big fan, and am looking forvard very much to meeting you, but this can wait until after your vife's operation. Matron, are ve all ready?" He said briskly. Georgia nodded. Dr Boubakov smiled stiffly, and turned on his heel to walk from the room. Georgia stared after him, not sure what she could say to the two people before her. Orli stood holding Lou's hand beside the bed, his face unreadable. Georgia couldn't help but wonder what he was thinking. Periodically Lou would shut her eyes, pushing her head back into the pillows behind her. Georgia felt a pang of sympathy noticing the muscles in Lou's wrist when she clenched Orli's hand harder.
Orli turned to Georgia "I can be there, can't I?" He said.
Georgia could see the shock in Orli's eyes, his jaw dropped and he took a step towards Lou, about protest, but Lou waved him away. "Orli, if something goes wrong...it'll be less painful, for everyone, if you're with your family." Lou said. She brushed at her tears and gripped the railing of the gurney as pain stabbed through her again.