Loss?

Hi, nice to meet you, Scarlet Cray, Junior Executive at Evolution Marketing Solutions, you might have heard of me. Nah, that sounds too ostentatious. Maybe something humbler? Yeah, they wanted to give me a senior role, but I didn't want to go so high so quickly, really wanted to connect with my work first, you know? Damn it, that's still bragging. Humble bragging, but still bragging.

I have a million ideas of how I should tell Elise, and all of them suck. Maybe I should be worried that I don't know how to present good news when I just got hired by a marketing company... Nah, it'll be fine, it's just excitement, Lauren said the job's easy, but telling your girlfriend you got the job in the most fun way possible? Now, that's a real challenge.

I open the front door with a giant smile on my face, only to be greeted by... Nothing. I wander through to the kitchen, not a peep. Wow, not like I was expecting a parade, but no one being home is pretty anticlimactic. I check the living room, nothing, then I decide to at least see if Elise is home. I hurry up the stairs and open my door to find my room... Completely empty. Alright, did the rapture happen while I was on the bus? At this point I'm genuinely thinking if I need to check for ransom notes.

I walk further down the hall and knock on Rouge's door, no response, that means either she's not in or she's in there with Trish... Either way opening the door is not a good idea. Oh well, guess it's a party for one. I return to the kitchen and pour myself a glass of wine. I know it's a Thursday, but I've only got one actual school day left, and I just got a job, if that doesn't deserve a celebratory drink, what does? I should call Mum and see what's going on, maybe they planned a surprise party? That'll be the day, though it would be my luck for people to forget to invite me to my own party. Actually, I'm not sure I can claim to be unlucky today, karma was swung back in my favour.

Oh, shit, forgot to turn my phone back on after my interview. That's probably a bad sign for future responsibilities, but hey, today's not the day for responsibility. As I down the remainder of my wine I reactivate my phone and wait for it to boot up, at which point there's a knock on the door. So everyone's out and now we get visitors? If it's a salesman I swear, I'm hitting them with this bottle. I head to answer the door, only to be greeted by a surprising face.

"Trish?" I ask, confused at my friend's sudden appearance, and her exasperated expression. "Hey, Rouge isn't here, but I got news, do you want a-"

"Scarlet, you need to come with me." Trish cuts me off, a look of desperation in her eyes. "Something's happened, I said I'd bring you to the hospital. We have to go, now!" She explains hurriedly. The hospital? Hospital? Why? Who? What's going on? Elise? Is Elise okay?

My voice remains silent as a million questions run through my head, the only sound is of those of my phone's ringtone, as the barrage of backlogged messages finally reach it.

*

Trish drops me off at the front door as she parks the car. I rush through to the reception desk, but there's no one there, I can hear someone on the phone in the back office, damn it, I don't have time right now.

"Scarlet!" A familiar voice calls out to me. Rouge rushes over to me and grabs my hand. "Come on, Trish told me you were on your way." She pulls me down the hallway towards the ward, she seems calm on the outside, but I can tell, she's scared.

"How could this happen?" Is the only question I can get out as we make haste through the halls of the hospital.

"It's unlikely, but not uncommon, we just have to hope she got here in time." My sister explains as we make our final turn, right into our waiting mother.

Mum freezes for a second at the sight of me before pulling me into a hug. her body trembling, he voice sobbing, she's a wreck. Truthfully, I imagine I'll be similar when the shock wears off.

"What's the news?" Rouge enquires as Mum pulls away.

"Not much, she got here early, which is good, but we don't know what the effects are going to be yet." She explains, before breaking down again. Rouge and I pull her in for another hug, right now, hugs might be the only thing we have to get us through this.

I should've had more wine.

"Ms Cray?" An authoritative voice echoes from behind us, causing us all to turn to face it. It's a doctor, not that it'd be surprising to see a doctor in the hospital or anything, but right now the sight makes all of our breathing stop. "We managed to mitigate a lot of the harmful issues, obviously this is still not ideal circumstances, so we're going to continue monitoring them, but we're optimistic there won't be any further complications." He informs us in a calm tone.

"Does that mean..." Rouge begins before her voice gives out.

The doctor smiles kindly at my sister's attempt at a sentence. "Yes." He answers, knowing what the question would have been.

"Minerva's going to be okay, and so will her baby girl."

*

Premature babies are terrifying, even if it's only a couple of weeks, they look so delicate, so tiny, so vulnerable. A little piece of innocence in a big scary world. I stare at the incubator housing my new-born niece and part of me is scared to even move, like the ripples I'd make in the air might be enough to hurt her. Yet... There's another feeling as I watch her sleep. Serenity. What else could possibly matter right now? This little one is the most important thing in the world right now.

Welcome to the world Sienna Cray.

Thanks for stealing my thunder.

"She's so perfect." I blurt out, turning to Rouge, Mum, and Minnie. Jasper's here as well, but he's passed out, taking the chance to sleep now so Minnie can sleep soundly later, I guess.

"Well, she should be, she made a dramatic enough entrance." Minnie answers, chuckling at my reverence. It's probably easier to appreciate how adorable babies are when you're not involved in the whole birth aspect.

Mum grins alongside her, as she strokes the new mother's hair. "Girls, why don't you go an let everyone in the waiting room know what's gone on? They must be distraught by now." She decides for us, well, she's the expert on having kids, probably a good idea to listen to her. "Here, take this." She adds, handing Rouge a small slip of paper, I look closer and see it's a photograph, I guess Mum took one of Sienna while I wasn't looking.

Rouge and I follow Mum's orders and exit the room, making our way to the waiting area, unable to contain our joy. "You think you'll have any? Kids, I mean?" I ask my sister as we walk.

Rouge snorts at the question. "Fuck no! I look after enough infants as it is." She responds, nudging me. Wow, walked into that one, I guess. We turn the corner into the large waiting room, there's a lot of groups of people huddled together awaiting news or treatment, but the place could've been packed for all it'd matter. I could pick Elise out of any picture.

We almost run to meet the group. Elise and Trish I expected, Camille makes sense, I guess she came to support everyone. There's one face that doesn't belong, however. Why in the fuck is Jenny here? I look to my sister who clarifies for me. "She was the one who brought Minnie in, apparently she was at their house waiting for Jasper."

Jenny's the one who helped Minnie? She's the reason Sienna's okay? Damn it, that's something even I can't criticise. We approach the group and their faces flash to us in anticipation. Rouge hands me the photo and nods her head to deliver the news.

"So... Meet Sienna." I reveal, showing the picture to the stunned silence of everyone, but that doesn't last long, Elise throws herself into my arms for a giant hug, I can see Rouge leaning into Trish too. I hand the photo to Camille who shows it to Jenny. She looks... Happy, I guess, I suppose not that long ago she had no family... Now she has a niece... Well, half-niece, let's not go crazy just yet.

Looking around at the emotions on everyone's faces, I'm not upset I lost the grand reveal of my interview result. How could I be?

What more could I want?