neutral_omens | (no subject)

Entry tags:

anathema,
uriel

(no subject)

Date: August 19
Status: Private (Uriel, Anathema) -- Complete
Setting: The Hospital Wing
Summary: An ache needs treating.

Uriel was not used to aching. In fact, she couldn't recall ever feeling it before. Pain, sure, too often in fact, but never just... aching.

Now, however, that was the case. There was an ache in her back, nothing too bad to bear, but very annoying nevertheless. And it just continued.

It had to do with her stomach, she decided. Her body was almost completely unused to bearing any extra weight, seeing how she was very light and had never been anything else. Now, however, she had a rather sizable stomach to carry around, complete with a baby inside it. She wasn't even halfway through yet, but with the size of her body, there was practically no space for the baby inside her, so she seemed to be much further along. And felt like it, too.

Anyway, the backache she could have taken without much of a complaint. However, one day, it was accompanied by a headache which much exceeded the limits of discomfort her backache had set. While she could indeed bear the ache in her back as long as it did not get any worse (what, she suspected, it just might do later in her pregnancy), she wanted to get rid of the headache. Maybe they had some painkillers that would be safe for her to take in the Hospital Wing.

So, angrily muttering under her breath about the annoying Presence that healed her when she didn't want to be healed but didn't do anything when she was aching, she made her way to the second floor. And knocked on the door.

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Sitting at her desk reading a medical text she had borrowed from the library, Anathema looked up as she heard someone knocking at the door. Getting up, she went over and opened it, peeking out to see who needed her.

A familiar face stared back at her and it took her memory a while to figure out where she had seen this woman before. The BBQ. Yes, she remembered now.

"Uriel is it? Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Hopefully, yes," Uriel said, smiling faintly. "I've come to discover lately that my head is apparently fond of aching. It might be a side effect of the pregnancy, or it might be because of something else, I do not know. As I am unaccustomed to such things, I wondered whether you would have anything that might help me."

"Anything for headaches? Well, let me have a look. I'm pretty sure I have some panadol around here somewhere..." The paracetamol was the key. It was the safest drug to take when one was pregnant.

She started to rummage around in one of her drawers, certain she had some around in there for when she suffered headaches. She smiled as she found them, and handed one to Uriel. "I don't think it would be too good to have more than one while pregnant, so come back if it wears off alright. Oh, and don't take them constantly either, as that isn't too healthy."

"Thank you." Uriel took the pill, truly grateful. She miracled a glass of water and took the pill right away.

Then, she glanced around in the apparently empty infirmary. "If you don't mind me asking," she said, "has there been a lot to do around here lately?"

"A lot to do? Not really, no. It's pretty quiet around here. Mainly people come here for small cuts or bruises, nothing that can't be treated with a bit of time and ointment to stop infection. And yet again, most things can be miracled away by Gabriel if they stay in here long enough."

She went back to her desk, picked up the thick book she was readign and showed it to Uriel. "So, I spend most of my time reading. Medical texts can be quite interesting if you are interested in knowledge of any kind."

"Well, I suppose that's good," Uriel said. "Gabriel heals most things, you say? I never would have expected him to take over for Raphael, you know. But I suppose he is the best choice. I certainly cannot heal anything but the very mildest injuries." She smiled, a bit embarrassed. As an angel she really should have been better at healing.

"I often read while at the front desk, too. There's never much to do if nobody comes there. Lately, though, I've mostly moved from the library books to baby magazines for obvious reasons." She grinned.

"Well, not all things. Mainly he helped with Pepper after the BBQ. Whether or not he heals small things liek bumps and bruises I don't know. He works nights, when I finish. I never really knew Raphael, he left before I got here."

Anathema smiled at that comment and looked at Uriel's expanding belly. "Yes, I can understand that," she said. "How far along are you?"

"19 weeks," Uriel replied, smiling proudly. "It probably looks like more, though, since I'm really not very big myself. There's not much room for the baby." She placed a hand over her stomach. "Soon I'll be halfway through," she said happily. "Assuming I can carry to full term, of course. My doctor said it might be possible that I give birth early because I'm so small."

Her smile faltered a bit. It wasn't that she wasn't eager to see her child, but she was also frightened. Premature birth might cause problems.

"Well, if the baby is born only a few days to a few weeks early, it should be fine. It's when it is really early that complications arise, so hopefully that won't happen. Either way, you have Gabriel and me here to help, unless you go to a normal hospital."

Anathema smiled reassuringly, hoping to ease some of the fear of something happening to the baby.

"A normal hospital is not really an option for me," Uriel replied, smiling faintly. "Not unless I want to explain just why my child happens to have wings. It is not exactly normal for humans to be born with means for aerial travel, so they just might get suspicious."

Anathema blinked. "The baby has wings, now? Is that uncomfortable? And yes, I can see how a normal hospital would be out of the question."

"Well, according to the one ultrasound I dared to have, it does," Uriel replied. "Thankfully I managed to convince the doctor that it was some kind of an error in the device rather than a deformation. And if you mean whether it's uncomfortable for me, well, why would it be? I may feel more 'kicks' than I would otherwise because the baby has three pairs of limbs instead of two, but otherwise the wings don't disturb me."

Then, she grimaced. "Although I fear to think what kind of problems they may cause at the time of the birth. Just imagine if they got stuck..."

Imagining having a baby trying to come out, only to be caught up by wings made Anathema shudder. That was not a good thought, and was making her feel rather uncomfortable. She really wanted a child of her own, if for nothing other than carying on the family tradition, even if Agnes' books had been destroyed.

"Well, hopefully that won't happen to either you or the baby."

"Do you know if it is a boy or girl yet, or didn't the ultrasound show that?"

"I don't know what it is," Uriel replied. "The ultrasound was too early for that. Now it might be possible to find out, but I don't dare to have another ultrasound with a human doctor." She smiled. "I'll probably have to ask the Doctor to help; he said his tool could do ultrasounds."

"The Doctor? I don't think I have met him yet. I am still pretty new here. But if he has a tool that can do an ultrasound so you can tell the sex of your baby, it sounds like he can't be a bad guy."

Uriel chuckled. "He's definitely not bad guy, no matter what Loki thinks," she said confidently. "A bit crazy at times, maybe, but then, who isn't? He's probably saner than I am, at the very least."

"Well, in a way all peopel are a littel crazy. SO if he didn't act that way every now and then, I'd be scared," Anathema replied, winking slightly.

Uriel chuckled. "Yes. And the average level of craziness in the Manor is even higher than the average outside it." She grinned. "Although I think the Doctor has enough craziness for more than one person. Not that it's necessarily a bad thing."

"Builds character I think. He must be a very interesting person to meet."

"He is. I hope you'll meet him so you can see it for yourself." Uriel smiled, then turned half towards the door to leave. "Anyway, thank you. I feel a bit better already."

"It would be good to meet him yes."

Seeing that the pill must have taken some kind effect, Anathema smiled. "Good to hear. If you need any more you know where to find me. Just...try not to take too many. It could cause wheezing in a newborn, which could lead to asthma. It was nice talking to you."

"I'd like to think that the child's genes should protect it from illness," Uriel said, smiling faintly. "But I'm not going to take any risks, so don't worry. I'll try to manage without medicines. And it was nice talking to you, too."

With this, she left.

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