Monday, November 26, 2029
“Hey Honey, how are you feeling?” Willow quietly asked Pepper after she woke up.
“Uhhghh. I don’t know. I’m in pain,” Pepper replied groggily with eyes nearly closed trying to adjust to the bright lights in the recovery room. She lifted her paws and rubbed her eyes with her palms. She looked to her left arm and looked at the IV going into her after it was tugged against her arm.
“Hey, where’s Shade?” She asked after looking around.
“He’s downstairs getting some water and food. He said he was beyond hungry and probably slightly dehydrated,”
“Ah okay,” she replied, “and Saoirse?”
“Sleeping peacefully in the nursery. They’ll bring her out after you wake up fully,”
“Ah okay,” she replied then fell back asleep.
Willow chuckled then walked over to the covered window and pulled the thick blinds away to look outside. The city glowed brightly from all of the light pollution of the city. Even up on the eighteenth floor Willow could clearly hear horns blaring from the heavy traffic of the 405 highway not even two-hundred feet away from the hospital. Even though Laguna Beach has it’s own hospital, Pepper and Shade decided they would rather give birth at the further away hospital in Santa Ana, due to them having better facilities. Willow shook her head at just how many people lived in this city, it was mind-boggling to her. Sure Orion City had over 900,000 people, but this city, Santa Ana, had over 1,450,000 people in it.
She closed the blinds and sat back down. Before she knew it she had fallen asleep. Just eight hours before, she was in Greenwood. After getting a call from Shade about Pepper having gone into labor she quickly boarded a plane and took the two hour flight to Las Angeles, then took a taxi from the airport to the hospital. She’s been up ever since, it was just past one AM when she fell asleep.
***
Wednesday, November 28, 2029
“Morning mom,” Pepper said as Willow and Shade walked into the hospital room.
“Pepper! You’re awake!” Shade replied then rushed over to her. He leaned down and kissed her for a few seconds before lifting back up.
“Yeah. I woke up just a few moments before you two walked in. I was about to call for a nurse,”
“You okay?” Shade asked.
“Yeah, but I need to pee. How long was I asleep for?”
“About 50 hours I think,” Willow replied, “you woke up for about three minutes after labor and your surgery then passed back out.”
“Ah. I don’t remember anything after leaving the house. How is Saoirse? And you Shade?”
“I’m good. Saoirse is good too. She’s been in the nursery since birth. They won’t let me hold her. Hospital rules state that the mother gets to hold the baby first, other than doctors and nurses,”
“Well that’s a stupid rule!” Pepper replied pressing the nurse call button.
A few minutes later the nurse pulled the sheet back uncovering Pepper’s naked body, the gown was opened in front since it wasn’t tied shut. Pepper looked at her stomach and carefully traced her fingers over the stitches on her belly. She ended up needing to have an emergency cesarean section after Saoirse decided to get stuck inside of her and wouldn’t pass through the cervix properly. It caused Pepper untold amounts of pain and eventually passing out from it. Two hours after she arrived at the hospital she was rushed into the operating room to have the c-section.
A bit later Pepper and the nurse headed out of the bathroom and got her back in bed where Pepper would remain for the next week.
***
A couple of hours later, a nice meal and a few checkups, Pepper was finally holding their pup in her arms. Shade stood next to the bed smiling at the beautiful wolf-otter pup.
“Damn, she’s beautiful,” Pepper said then looked up at Shade.
“Yeah, she is, just like her mother,”
“Shut up Shade,” she replied turning red and batting her paw at him.
“She is a beautiful pup,” Willow responded.
“Thanks,” both Pepper and Shade replied then chuckling at each other.
***
Monday, December 10, 2029
Finally back home for a few days Pepper and Shade attempted to fall into their new roles of parents and were doing their very best. With a lack of sleep at anytime, both were exhausted but carried on. Willow had returned back to Greenwood days before Pepper was released to go home.
It was a bit past one in the morning and both had finally managed to get more than three consecutive hours of sleep during the night for the first time, but wouldn’t make it to their fourth hour. Saoirse woke up crying loudly, jolting both Pepper and Shade out of bed. “Which cub is crying now?” Pepper asked groggily. “Uh, sounds like Sky…”
“Ah shit…” Pepper responded with a chuckle then slid out of bed after the continued wailing knocked some sense into her.
“Oh, yeah,” Shade replied a bit embarrassed that they both forgot about their newborn so quickly. He then sighed after looking at the clock, 3:32 AM.
He got up and walked over to Pepper and asked if she needed anything, to which she replied that she didn’t other than sleep. “Yeah, we won’t be getting much of that anytime soon,” he replied, “Im’ma go pee then try to get some sleep. I gotta be back at work today.”
“Alright,” she replied then kissed him. Saoirse looked up at her parents while she suckled on her mom’s nipple.
***
Five hours later Shade walked back into the house while nearly dragging himself. Pepper walked over to check who had entered and was surprised to see him.
“Everything okay?” She asked worried.
“Ah yeah. California apparently has a very strict law,” he replied.
“What law is that?” She asked.
“Both parents get 12 weeks of paid maternity and paternity leave. It’s a state law. Apparently if a company that denies it or allows an employee to work during those 12 weeks can get heavily fined, like $250,000 per day per employee,” he explained.
“I didn’t know that,”
“Yeah, as soon as I walked into my cubicle, my manager rushed out and asked what I was doing here. After hearing me out he made me read and sign a document stating that I had forgot about the law. He made me clock out and sent me home right after,” he explained.
“Ah well, I’m glad that you’re home. We can spend more time together again while…” she started but was stopped when Saoirse woke up and started crying again, “while she’s asleep,” she finished.
“Sit down, I’ll take her,” Shade said.
“I don’t think so Shade, you dragged yourself into the house. You sit down and rest, you had to deal with the traffic out there,” she replied then headed off to get Saoirse.
***
For the next twelve weeks the two had finally settled down into parenthood while Saoirse finally settled down in a much better sleeping and feeding pattern during the nights, only waking up every five hours for changes or feeding or both.
Their neighbors would help out if they needed it. Often times asking if they needed any supplies or food and would get it for Pepper and Shade and being paid back by the new parents.
Shade got into surfing a little bit with the help and training of the surfer dude next door. He wasn’t good at it but did have fun trying to learn it and having a few good waves in their backyard ocean. Shade told Pepper they should get a boat, who denied that idea fairly quickly, not because she didn’t like boats, but they were damn expensive, even a used boat cost $50,000 and new ones started at $75,000. Shade made quite a bit of money working for the cartoon company but they just didn’t have it in the budget because of the nine million dollar house they were paying a mortgage on. Shad was joking at the time but did say that should look into boats in a few years.
The two new parents would have a lot of new learning to do over the next few years through the thick and thin of their new life.
