Lois Is In Labor

A cramp caused Lois Lane to pause. She held a hand to her swollen stomach, wincing, skin taut and warm under her fingers. The pain passed, and she kept moving. Found a stairwell too it. Down the steps another door, no lock.

The reporter paused, bloated belly aching again. Balled her fist into her palm, focused on her breathing, counted until it went away...

Okay, so I'm in labor. Lois thought as the pain receded. Labor can last hours. I don't have time to wait to push a baby out right now. Clock's ticking, so time to get moving.

Moving as gracefully as she could with her full-term belly, Lois poked her head out first to make sure the coast was clear before she slid out the door. It looked like a hospital. She moved down the hallway, ears alive for any sound, but it was quiet except for the hum of the air conditioning.

The reporter kept moving, conscious of how exposed she was. There was a large window into a dark room on her right. She crept up to it, peeked in...

It was a nursery. Or would be. Rows of empty clear plastic cribs set with baby baskets, just waiting for newborns. She passed nurses desks, what might have been delivery rooms, patient rooms full of medical beds and monitors. All new, shiny, some of the equipment still wrapped in plastic, dust-free. Like an entire maternity ward where everyone had stepped out for a moment.

Or hadn't arrived yet, Lois thought as she felt another contraction. She suppressed a moan, just trying to breathe as her body instinctively bent over, waiting for the terrible moment to pass. They were definitely getting closer together, but she wasn't sure how long she had.

The diagrams of pregnancy progression and fetal development on the wall weren't helping either. Lois circled the entire floor, and saw no one. But movement was helping a little with the cramps...and it gave her time to think.

Okay, so if you don't see anything...maybe try to see what isn't there. What's missing? She paused, considered. No waiting rooms. Storage closets, bathrooms, staff lounge, but no space for family or friends to visit. No cameras or computers. No elevators either. Elevators...

Lois circled the entire floor again, paying special attention to room layouts, how long the hallways were...and yes, there were dead spaces, parts of the floor where there was room for rooms, but just blank walls in the hallway. The reporter walked up to one such stretch of wall, knocking gently.