A Day In the Woods Chapt 15
Introduction:
The end of the story
Chapter 15
The weekend finished out and Eliot spoke very little to Mike or the rest of the pack. Monday morning came and he was back at work. His boss could tell something was wrong, but had become accustomed to Dr. Crane being some what of a recluse and not usually sharing his thoughts on things outside of work; today was no exception. Eliot finished out the day with the thoughts Of Beth still on his mind from the weekend. He knew that if he told Mike and the rest of the pack everything that had happened it was as good as signing a death warrant for her. Although he felt betrayed and hurt still, he couldn’t quite bring himself to do that. Not if she kept her word and never spoke of her work again and never tried any more experiments. If ….
One of the brief conversations Eliot had with Mike was the location to where they were to meet after work on Monday. The office of Dr. Nguyen wasn’t really a medical facility at all. Then again Dr. Nguyen hadn’t held the title of doctor for quite a few years having been stripped of that title back when Eliot originally knew him. His illegal operations on people gotten him banned medically then. Eliot had learned that his old friend was doing much the same thing again and that was why he sought him out; a nice quiet place to do the work that Eliot and the pack needed. As Eliot pulled in the parking facility Lee Nguyen greeted him.
“I thought I made it clear that we were to be alone for this Lee?”
Eliot cautiously approached his old friend, looking around as he stepped closer to him and shook his hand,
“I just thought that I should show you around and make sure everything you needed was here.”
Lee Nguyen still had a very pronounced accent even after all of the years he had been in the states. Eliot agreed to the tour of the facilities. He checked his watch and told him to make it quick. He had promised that only he and Beth would be there when they arrived. Considering how things had gone recently he didn’t want to push boundaries any more than necessary. Lee escorted him through the rooms he had available. His facilities had become much nicer than before. He was almost literally working out of a garage before. Now he actually had specific rooms for certain procedures. The equipment was older but still workable. Obviously Lee had invested some money into this. His work was much improved as well and therefore wasn’t drawing the attention from the media or police as no complaints were being filed this time around.
Eliot checked his watch again as Lee finished showing him everything that they would need. Eliot was vague in telling him exactly all he needed as he didn’t him to know what he was doing. The two men walked out to the garage and Eliot watched as his friend got in his car and drove away. Eliot stood and waited. No more than 10 minutes later Mike and everyone else showed up. They pulled into the garage in the van without windows. Eliot greeted them and showed them to the room. He instructed Susan to get undressed and wait for him on the table. As he was preparing things Mike tapped him on the shoulder and said that he wanted to talk to him for a minute. Eliot tried to play it off but Mike was persistent. He took Mike to another room and left Tommy and Susan there.
Once the two men were alone Mike asked him what was wrong. Where was Beth at and what was on Eliot’s mind that had kept him so distant. Without divulging everything to Mike, Eliot told him enough to satisfy his curiosities. He told him that he and Dr. McCallister were no longer together. He told him about Katarina but not about the experiments that Beth had been conducting. Eliot knew that Mike was concerned but he felt that he had quenched his thirst for what was wrong. He hoped he had at least.
The two men walked back into the room where Tommy and Susan were. The look on Tommy’s face was one of concern but Eliot and Mike both put his fears and hesitations to rest. Eliot explained to them how the procedure would go and what to expect. He would implant more than one fertilized egg into Susan’s womb in hopes that at least one would take. It wasn’t a terribly lengthy procedure nor was it too complicated especially in the facility that was adequately stocked for their needs. Eliot sedated Susan and then got to work on the procedure at hand. The pack all watched hoping for the best. Mike quietly explained to them why Beth wasn’t there as they were obviously curious. Once Eliot had finished He waited for the sedatives to wear off and then he cleaned everything up and he and the pack quietly left.
The next couple of weeks Eliot spent his spare time in the evenings at Tommy and Susan’s house. It kept his mind focused and off of Beth. Then he finally had an answer for Tommy; Susan was pregnant. The jubilation of the pack was overwhelming. Eliot was cautious though. This was territory that no one had ever been in before. What was the incubation period going to be? Was it 63 days for a canine or nine months for a human or was it some where in between? Susan was going to have to be closely monitored. She was going to have to have time off from work and not being a practicing medical doctor Eliot wasn’t in a position to write her an excuse for her work. That may raise suspicions as he didn’t want her doing anything more than necessary.
63 days from conception came and went and still no delivery for Susan. Eliot would borrow Lee Nguyen’s facilities as necessary. No x-rays were available but he did have older ultrasound machine that was working. For a back alley doctor Lee Nguyen had come a long way. He even employed a few medical students as well. Either ones that had dropped out or ones that hadn’t quite earned their degree yet but were anxious to do more than the university would allow them to. Eliot followed and documented the progress that Susan made. Weeks turned into months. 3rd month came and went, then the 4th, 5th and 6th. Susan became more obviously pregnant. As Susan entered her third trimester Eliot grew more worrisome. Even though he had no reason to expect anything was wrong, he also was unsure of what to expect. At 4 A.M. Eliot got the call shortly after Susan’s 8th month had begun. She was in labor, heavy labor. He had the pack bring her to Nguyen’s facility and he would meet them there. Even at the early hour there was activity at the facility. No longer did they have the privacy they had once had. It was the least of their worries right now.
Susan’s labor lasted for another 5 hours. After it was over Tommy was holding his newborn son, Jean was holding the daughter that the ultrasound didn’t show. For all intents and purposes the two children looked like any other newborns. Susan was fine, a c-section was needed but other than that – there seemed to be no complications. Lee Nguyen was talking with Dr. Crane – he was curious as to why secrecy was needed for something as simple as a pregnancy. He left it at that. He had stopped trying to figure out Eliot Crane years ago. Once things had been cleaned up Eliot and the pack made their way home, with two new additions to the family. He knew that his work was still ongoing as he was going to have to see about the welfare of the children. Until he knew for sure they couldn’t afford the chance of them going to a regular pediatrician and everyone being found out.
Once they were all back home Mike made a call to Eliot. He was obviously ecstatic from everything that had happened. He wanted to make sure there were no loose ends that needed to be taken care of though. Eliot hadn’t heard from Beth since the last weekend they spent together, he had no reason to believe she was up to anything else. Mike also told Eliot that he could expect to be a very busy man. Since the twins seemed to be healthy he was going to post the happening to the network; an underground network of the lycan societies across the world. It was a significant event and would have obvious ramifications for the rest of the societies. Eliot understood and knew that was the reason why he had documented everything so far and would continue to do so.
Beth McCallister walked into her home. It had been eight and a half months since she and Eliot had broken up. She wondered if he had continued with the experiment they were doing. She was sure he did. She wondered if it was successful. She had no reason to believe it wasn’t, all of her tests showed that it should have worked. She couldn’t help but think how everything turned out. How long did the incubation last and how did the child turn out? She poured herself a glass of wine as she would after any day at work. She couldn’t clear her curiosities though. As she sat back in her chair she turned the television on to catch up on the news. She watched the world events as she finished her glass of wine. She decided to get up and fix something for dinner when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She was startled and screamed as she looked up. She felt a hand across her mouth and then her vision adjusted, it was Mike.
She was still startled. Why was he here and what did he want? Then she wondered if Eliot had told him, told the pack everything. He took his hand from her mouth and Beth sucked in a deep breath,
“Wh … what do you want? Why are you here?”
Mike circled her and Beth felt uneasy. Then he told her all that happened. He told her about the birth of the twins and how Susan was just fine. He told her everything that Eliot had told him. As he told her everything he knew she realized that Eliot hadn’t told him everything. He also did something that she didn’t expect – he thanked her for all of her work she had done to get them to where they are now. It wouldn’t have been possible without her. He wasn’t quite sure what all had happened between the two of them but he got the feeling that there was something he wasn’t being told. Mike wanted to make sure that everything was ok, that the pack’s secret was safe. They talked for a while longer and then Mike assured Beth that he was satisfied. Then he also assured her that she didn’t want him to show up at her house again. Beth felt a lump in her throat and watched as Mike dropped off of her balcony and then disappeared into the woods behind her house.
Well all there ya go. I know – no sex once again. Hope it meets with your approval. Who knows – maybe there will be a follow up to this with the kids growing up and all? Guess I will have to see what I get for responses before deciding to do another series like this. Hope those that have followed this have enjoyed it. Thanx again for the support everyone.
