Chapter
Eleven: Brandy
No matter how hard she tried, Joanie
just could not figure out the story behind this young, black-haired woman she
saved from being digested within an anaconda. By her dress style (a large,
white long-sleeved shirt worn beneath a dark brown corset with the cuffs encased
by matching leather bracelets, black leggings, and grayish-brown boots),
Joanie imagined that she came from Fantasia or was part of this unusual realm
she still was unable to identify.
(Character Note: World of Disney Readers will recognize the description of this woman's attire as that from Genevieve. Her change of hair color was due to her Guardian abilities stripped by Yve Ette and the Skrulls in Marvel Mayhem, rendering her in a human state. Her black hair and brown eyes are representations of her original form as Sean Thomas, who bore the same features.)
The little boy, Benji, fell asleep waiting for his so-called “granddaddy” to wake up. To keep him warm in the cold, damp atmosphere, Joanie made a campfire directly at the
center of the semicircle she, Benji, and “Granddaddy” made within a small
clearing. She waited for several minutes before “Granddaddy” showed signs of
reaching consciousness with dry, heavy coughing.
From her right hand, Joanie conjured
a glass of fresh, ice-cold lemonade to give for the young woman to drink. Her
coughing was cured just about instantly. Once it subsided, she gazed up at
Joanie with weary brown eyes and hoarsely said, “Thank you.”
“No problem.” Joanie returned to her
side of the campfire whilst vanquishing the cup she conjured out of existence,
storing it within another plane until it could be useful for another time.
Facing the young woman again, she noticed how she looked to the sleeping Benji
with a warm, misty-eyed expression, as if she recognized him. “You know
who this lil’ fella is?”
The young woman’s smile grew faint, giving a nod. “I do.”
Joanie accepted her truthful answer
with a nod of her own. “Good. The poor lil’ thing was lost, so I gave him some
help in finding his ‘Granddaddy.’ Imagine my surprise when we found you.” The woman’s brown eyes hesitantly
focused on Joanie. “Now, I may be old-fashioned, but I don’t believe it’s a
term of endearment when a six-year-old black child refers to a twenty-something
white girl as ‘Granddaddy.’ So, you either had really good plastic surgery
and a really good sex change or you’re a sorcerer in
disguise.”
The dark-haired woman shrugged, smirking. “Pretty close to the second one, I guess.”
This answer satisfied Joanie’s
growing curiosity. “Then you are from
Fantasia.”
“Sorta.”
Joanie shook her head. “Nuh-uh. We’re not gonna beat around the bush on this, kiddo. Let’s
get straight to the point. Who are you really?”
The young woman sighed in
consideration of her next reply. “If I were to honestly tell you who I am, you sure as hell wouldn’t believe me.”
“Try me.” Joanie challenged.
With a snicker, the young woman
accepted the challenge: “Alright. Here it is: I am your future son, Sean
Thomas, in a reincarnated form that I named ‘Genevieve.’”
(Narrative Note: Chronologically, this is Joanie's first encounter with a reincarnation, either of Sean Thomas or herself. In Tales of the Disneyverse, she encounters "Jacqueline," the second reincarnation of Sean Thomas, during the dimensional rift tearing the Disneyverse apart; but that event occurs much later in her life at an elderly age. Whether or not Joanie's meeting with Genevieve influenced her future encounter with Jacqueline is undetermined.)
There was prolonged silence between
the two women. Genevieve sat and waited for some type of reaction to come out
of the otherwise blank Joanie. But, after a few minutes passed, Joanie smiled
and casually said, “Yeah, that’s just what I thought.”
Genevieve frowned in surprise.
“What? How…?”
“Oh, c’mon. This lil’ dude looks
just like a six-year-old you.” She briefly gestured to the slumbering Benji. “After
then, it wasn’t too difficult to make the connection. But what I can’t figure out is how you could be so
irresponsible to bring him into the Disneyverse and leave him all alone.”
Genevieve was caught off guard by
the accusation, stammering on an explanation. “I…He wasn’t…I was…I didn’t even know he was in the Disneyverse
in the first place!”
“I don’t understand. I thought you
knew him.”
“I do…well, at least not yet, I don’t.”
“What does that mean?”
Genevieve rubbed her temples, a
headache developing. She never suffered such an ailment when coming up with an
explanation to this complexity when she was Guardian. Taking a slow, deep
breath, she divulged, “Benji is from a time in the future of a Sean Thomas from
an alternate timeline that I have not yet been to.”
(Narrative Note: In Tales of the Guardians, Lisa Buohler - the fifteenth reincarnation of Sean Thomas - met Benji while spying on Jatniel and Brandy, her future son-in-law and daughter. This is how Genevieve knew of him, since she is a few reincarnations after Lisa Buohler.)
She figured that to be good enough
for Joanie to process. Unfortunately, Joanie’s next response debunked that:
“Sorry. None of what you just told me makes any
sense.”
Genevieve sighed. “Yeah, I gotta
admit myself how convoluted it is. I can’t even tell which version of me is the
real me or not anymore.”
Joanie pitied the girl. Whatever she
went through prior to their encounter obviously took a toll on her. Yet she
pitied Benji much more, being only six years old and caught up in such a
topsy-turvy world where his grandfather is a young, beautiful blond Caucasian
woman. Not even Robin, who was close to Benji’s age when he first journeyed
into the Disneyverse, dealt with such lunacy.
(Authorial Note: "Cute sidekicks" have been a theme of mine in my stories, typically the family-friendly ones. Robin played this role in the first World of Disney story, and it has since been passed to Walter in Marvel Mayhem and Benji in this tale. All three are featured together in The Disney Access.)
For this, Joanie asked in concern,
“Does Benji know the difference?”
The look on Genevieve’s face when
posed that question was of heartbreak. Glimpsing back to her
grandson, she sullenly replied, “I hope so.”
A sudden agonized scream interrupted wherever direction their conversation went. Both Joanie and Genevieve instinctively stood up and
faced in the direction of the shriek. They also heard small moaning close by
and noticed Benji squirming himself awake.
“You stay with him.” Joanie
instructed. “I’ll go see who or what made that noise.”
Genevieve accepted her duty,
kneeling by her sleeping grandson while Joanie rushed away from the campsite.
Finally alone with the awakening Benji, Genevieve smiled on him, gently
stroking his face with her right index finger. His skin was so smooth and soft
to the touch, so much like a baby, which he practically still was at the age of six.
His tiny dark brown eyes, nearly the
size of buttons, slowly opened to see her crouching beside him. “Granddaddy,”
he whispered.
Genevieve’s heart warmed to the
point of tears hearing him address her that way. “Hello, my sweet lil’
grandson,” she whispered to him.
(Narrative Note: It is revealed in The Disney Access that Benji grows up being raised by Genevieve, alongside Jatniel and Brandy, when they accept her into their lives, following Benji's birth. Because of this, Benji only recognizes Genevieve as his "Granddaddy," since he was raised to believe that she is, in another body.)
Her tears fell onto his puffy
cheeks; he instinctively wiped them away. “Why are you crying?”
“I’m sorry, Binge.” Genevieve dried
her face. “I’m just so happy to see you again.”
“I’m really happy to see you again, too, Granddaddy. I wish you
didn’t leave.”
Genevieve grimaced at his words. “I
haven’t gone anywhere, Binge. What made you think I’ve gone anywhere?”
“Because you died and turned into
someone else.”
She was struck cold from his description
of the future event. It sounded a lot like reincarnation. But she knew that was
downright impossible. She was the last reincarnated form of the Guardian of the
Disneyverse. She could never reincarnate again, especially not after being
stripped of her power at the hands of Yve Ette and the Skrulls in the Marvel
Universe. That unfortunate circumstance was the reason why she felt so weak and
looked so differently than how she did with all her power.
(Authorial Note: My idea for Genevieve exhausting her ability to reincarnate comes from a similar plot device in Doctor Who, when the Eleventh Doctor exerted all twelve of his regenerations before awarded with a new set. Much of Doctor Who inspired World of Disney since the second story in the series, The Marvelous World: World of Disney 2, with the "Guardians" and "reincarnations" mirroring "The Doctor" and "regeneration.")
Before she had the chance to be
spoiled any further by what her grandson knew, Joanie rushed back to the
campsite, her face registering much uneasiness. “Um…we have a serious problem.”
“What is it?” Genevieve queried.
“There’s a girl not far from here
who’s pregnant.” Joanie revealed. “She’s about to go into labor!”
Genevieve’s heart skipped a beat, stricken
by a sudden memory. “D-Does this g-g-girl have d-dark blonde
hair?”
Her accuracy amazed Joanie. “Yeah.
She actually does. Why?”
“Oh, no.” Genevieve nervously
muttered, rushing in the direction that Joanie just came from.
After watching her hasty departure,
Joanie looked to the fully awake Benji, holding her hand out to him. “C’mon,
sweetie. I got a feeling we’re in for one heck of a bumpy ride.”
--------------------
Through tears and sweat that drowned
out her vision, Christina could see her unborn child squirming within her
protruding belly, hands and feet poking through her quivering skin. The pain
was unbearable, and without the necessary medicine to dull it, she might as well have been dying. All she could do was scream in the most bloodcurdling way
possible. It pierced the eardrums of Adrienne and Hercules, who were completely
useless to her.
(Authorial Note: In real life, during the production of this story, Christina Renee - the inspiration for "Christina Thomas" - was pregnant with a baby boy who she delivered one day after Christmas in 2014 and thirteen days before World of Disney 3 was published on FanFiction.net.)
As her breathing grew heavily and
her sweating became more profuse, Christina caught sight of another figure that
entered the picture – a dark-haired woman dressed like she was ready to be the
squire in a jousting tournament. When she got close for Christina to make out
her features, she flew into rage the second she recognized her.
“Genevieve!” She roared. “This is
all your fault! Yours and Natalie’s! You
and that freak put me here in the
middle of Star Wars, and now I’m going
to have our baby on Yoda’s swamp world!”
“Star
Wars? You’ve got to be kiddin’ me!”
Another woman entered the scene
along with a small child. Christina’s vision was still too blurry to see who it
was. All she could determine was the woman’s hair, which was blue and in a
style reminiscent of Linda Hamilton in The
Terminator. Whoever she was, she sounded very confused and amazed all at
once when she heard Christina mention where they were.
(Authorial Note: The Terminator is another science fiction franchise that has much influence on World of Disney, specifically with its themes in time travel and changing fate.)
“I mean, we’re on the Dagobah in the Star Wars galaxy?” She exclaimed. “How is this even possible?”
After a few blinks to get the tears
and sweat out of her eyes, Christina’s vision cleared enough to realize that
the blue-haired woman was in fact her mother-in-law, Joanie Navarro-Thomas. But
she looked incredibly different from the last time Christina had seen her. She
was in youthful form!
“Ohhhh, man.” Christina groaned.
“I’m in so deep that I’m starting to hallucinate a young Mrs. Thomas!”
As daunted as Christina was to
witness the young Joanie, Genevieve was even more so once she caught sight of Adrienne’s younger self. The young,
scantily-clad Jedi Padawan voiced – in a dignified tone that vastly differed
from her more “outspoken” older counterpart – her concern over the labored
Christina: “We must find a better place for her to deliver the child.”
“Way ahead of ya, kid.” Joanie said.
She snapped her fingers and, in the
blink of an eye, the space around them transformed into a completely new
atmosphere. No longer were they in the cold, damp swamp but inside of Yen Sid’s
workshop in Fantasia. Rather than the base of a large tree, Christina sat at
the base of the master sorcerer’s worktable.
With the exception of Donald’s
nephews (Huey, Dewey, and Louie), they were greeted by a group of people who
were total strangers to Joanie, especially one living snowman that gave an
enthusiastic “Hi” before introducing himself as “Olaf.” Never the one to ignore
a friendly gesture, Joanie returned it with a smile and a wave.
-------------------
Whereas the emergence of these new
arrivals took them and everyone else by surprise, Victoria and Anne-Marie were
no more taken aback from the presence of the young Joanie Navarro-Thomas. It was not so much as the fact that
Joanie had been deceased for some time in that point of Fantasia’s timeline but
the idea of her generally being there that unsettled both women. The only true
relief Victoria got out of this situation was in seeing Genevieve among the newest
additions to the workshop.
(Narrative Note: Joanie's death occurred in the ninth tale of Tales of the Disneyverse, after suffering from ailments that supposedly threatened her connection to the Disneyverse itself, hence the dangerous rift that was a focal point in the miniseries. The acknowledgment of her death in this story puts it roughly some odd years after the events of Tales.)
She did not have the chance to
reunite with her lost friend before Joanie got to work on getting Christina,
who was heavily into her labor, much to Victoria’s panic. Hercules carried
Christina off her feet with ease, as Joanie instructed him, “Take her into the
bedroom across the hall and lay her on the bed. Make sure to put plenty of
pillows beneath her for support.”
“I’ll help.” Victoria offered.
“Me, too.” Anna also volunteered.
Genevieve watched the two women
leave with Christina, Hercules, and Joanie. Her eyes shifted to
Natalie, who clutched her chest with a very disconcerted look drawn on her
face. “Nat, you O.K.?”
“I’m just…I feel…anxiety.” Her voice
was shaky. “It’s not me. It’s…Sean. He’s worried for Christina.”
(Narrative Note: Sean and Natalie's emotional connection was evident in Marvel Mayhem, revealing that their fusion went beyond physical merging. Essentially, they are one in the same, albeit a few slight differences in personalities and the possible fact that Sean does not share Natalie's Guardian abilities in his form.)
“Then maybe you should be in there
with them, so that he can be.”
Anne-Marie suggested.
Taking her advice, Natalie rushed
out of the workshop. Seeing the way the emotions of Sean Thomas “melted” over
to her amazed Genevieve. She only knew about this “amalgamated reincarnation”
when she first met Natalie in the Marvel Universe. It was very rare for a reincarnation to fuse with the original host like
Natalie and Sean had. Once he inhaled the reincarnation dust – fragments of
Genevieve herself stolen from Yve Ette and the Skrulls for the “Super Skrull”
they created in them, a new reincarnation cycle began between the live cells in
Sean’s body necessary to give birth to a new form that would have certainly
been Genevieve’s successor.
“Hey, look what we’ve got!” She
heard one of the nephews jubilantly shout. “New players for our game!” She
realized he referred to Olaf, Kristoff, Sven, and Benji, who were the only
ones left in the workshop with her and Anne-Marie.
“You fellas wanna play, dontcha?”
Louie invited.
“Oh, most definitely! I love to play games!” Olaf excitedly
accepted.
“Uh, sure, I’m up for one.” Kristoff
said. “What game exactly are we playing?”
“The Monopoly of Life – it’s a game
our Unca Scrooge created.” Dewey said.
(Pop Culture Note: The game's title, "The Monopoly of Life," is a cross between two of the games that inspired it, Monopoly and The Game of Life. Although both bear a few similarities, they were made by two separate companies: Milton Bradley and Parker Bros./Hasbro.)
Genevieve observed for the boys’ fun
in setting up the game, but for only a brief time. She was soon summoned by
Anne-Marie to have a private conversation out in the hallway, right in between
the workshop and bedroom. By the look on Anne-Marie’s face, she might as well
have been called to the principal’s office.
“How did you manage to bring Joanie
– the younger Joanie at that – to
Fantasia?” She started with that stern tone in her voice she was all too
familiar with in the time she was
her.
“Hey, it was by total accident that I even discovered her. I was snake food on
Dagobah for one second and then, in the next, I’m sitting across a campfire
from her.”
“You convince her to return home and take everyone else back to theirs
as soon as Christina has given birth to her child. And do it as soon as
possible.”
She left Genevieve’s side to end the
conversation on her note, only
offending Genevieve more than she had with that harsh demand. “Why?” She boldly
questioned, stopping Anne-Marie in her tracks and redirecting the daggers she
called her “eyes” back to her. “What’s the rush?”
Anne-Marie scowled at her. “In
fifteen life cycles, you’ve really
become that naïve, haven’t you?”
Genevieve did not take her words too
kindly. “Nix the attitude and just tell me what it is that I’ve missed.”
“The event. The very one that will
end Fantasia’s existence, leaving many to die and so few to scour the
Disneyverse for a new home to restart their lives. That is what you have missed, Genevieve. And that is the nightmare you have brought our mother, wife, daughter, and grandson into. I just pray, for
their sakes, that there’s still enough time to get them away…or their demise
will be on your head.”
If Anne-Marie’s words – delivered in
the cruelest way she could muster – were not enough to press the knife of guilt
further through Genevieve’s heart, the realization of her actions was.
----------------------
“How are you feelin’, sweetheart?”
“LIKE I’M GONNA KILL YOU, IF YOU ASK
ME THAT AGAIN!”
“Good. That means you’re not even
close to dying.”
Joanie smiled over the distressed
body of the expectant mother Hercules lied on the comfortable bed inside
Yen Sid’s master bedroom. The bed itself was large and wide enough to provide
comfort for everyone, particularly Christina, who desperately needed some. It
was colored in a dark shade of blue that matched with Yen Sid’s robe. The
pillows that she instructed Hercules to set beneath Christina were all gray,
matching the color of Yen Sid’s beard. All that was missing were a pair of
glaring eyes on the headboard and one would swear they were lying atop of Yen
Sid in the form of a bed.
(Authorial Note: "Yen Sid in the form of a bed" was imagery inspired by the character-based decorative beds found in a Disney Parks resort, specifically those in the rooms found on the "All-Star Resorts" property.)
Lifting Christina’s sweat-drenched
striped pink shirt, Joanie exposed her large bump, which madly trembled from
the activity within it. “My, my,” she observed with a smile. “That little one’s
certainly ready to come out.”
“Ya think?” Christina roared.
Joanie held her right index finger
over Christina’s extended belly button, which glowed in a light bluish hue.
Christina felt the effect almost instantaneously. It was like a cold compress placed outside and inside of
her, numbing the pain away. Her breathing and heart rate steadied.
“Oh, man.” She whispered in relief,
looking down to see her entire belly glowing underneath Joanie’s gentle hands,
which rubbed every portion of it. “What’ve you done?”
“Calming your baby girl and easing your pain.” Joanie said.
“How did you know that I’m having a
girl?”
“Oh, I knew it the second that I
heard her crying inside of you. Here, listen.”
The glow over Christina’s bump intensified
in brightness. She felt an odd tingling sensation go through her just as she
heard muffled wailing from her ears. It sounded like the call of a baby whale
lost from its family and crying out in fear. Christina’s lips quivered and
tears streamed from her eyes.
“She’s scared.”
Joanie acknowledged this with a
despondent nod. “As all babies are just seconds before they’re born, I’d
imagine. It’s an unusual world she’s seen inside of you, and the one she’s
coming into will be just as much.”
(Authorial Note: Birth has played a constant theme in World of Disney, from the rebirth that occurs in reincarnation to actual birth depicted in this story and The Disney Access. Joanie's description parallels with how many characters feel in traveling between worlds through the series.)
Christina sighed in despair. “I
didn’t think this world would be the
one I’d welcome my baby in.” She looked off into the nearest corner of the
room, seeing Natalie anxiously stand there and keeping her distance, as she
wisely should by Christina’s standards. The sight of her, still donned in
Sean’s red plaid shirt and her grey leggings, made Christina think of her
husband and his “condition.” “I still can’t believe you have magic powers like
him.”
“Him?” Joanie questioned.
“Sean.” Christina clarified.
“Oh.” Joanie satisfyingly smiled. “So
I was right to think that you’re his
wife, and this lil’ blessing I’m about to help you give birth to is my future
granddaughter.”
Christina was impressed by her
accurate perception. “How do you know all of this?”
“I had a bit of an adventure a few
years back that brought me into this future where I met him and her.”
Christina nodded with recognition of
the story. “Genevieve told me about that – said that you were brought out of
1977 and into 2010 through some invention of Bunsen Honeydew’s.” She snickered,
shaking her head. “I thought she was out of her mind. But, with the things I’ve
seen in the past hours, I believe every word of it.”
(Authorial Note: Although The Disney Access is meant as World of Disney's milestone story, in some aspects, World of Disney 3 has been more so, as it brings back the first story's main protagonist - Joanie - and returns to a few aspects that established the whole series. In this sense, it functions as a centerpiece to the past, present, and future, revisiting the old and ringing in the new all at once.)
Joanie giggled. “You think you’ve had a crazy day? I just earlier
met a lil’ dude who’s my future great-grandson, and now I’m about to help my future
daughter-in-law give birth to my granddaughter.”
“Oh, yeah?” Christina smirked.
“Well, I found out my husband has been possessed by a reincarnated spirit with
magic capable of bringing me to the Star
Wars galaxy.”
Joanie shook her head with an
excitable chuckle. “I still can’t wrap my head around the plausibility behind
the actual existence of Star Wars,
one of my all-time favorite films.”
Christina shrugged. “Ya got me. Even
I’m havin’ difficulty understandin’ it.”
She never felt so relaxed in the
last few minutes conversing with Joanie. Her pain-numbing magic was miles ahead
any painkillers the doctors would have given her if this birth happened in
a hospital.
Unfortunately for Christina, the
soothing moment came to an abrupt end with the arrival of Natalie, who gathered
the courage to join her at bedside. “H-How’s it goin’, b-baby?” She stammered,
clearly feeling awkward in her address.
“Screw off!” Christina growled.
“Hey!” Joanie scolded her. “Be
nice!”
“She’s
the reason I’m layin’ up in here and not at a hospital!” Christina fumed.
“I’m sorry, O.K.?” Natalie
defensively said. “I thought I had my power under control, and…I didn’t.”
“You damn right you didn’t!”
Christina snapped. “Have you any idea
what I’ve been through since you took me and my baby out of our home? I’ve been
chased down by Sand People in the blazing hot twin suns of Tatooine and went
into labor in the swamps of Dagobah!”
Natalie innocently shrugged and tittered.
“At least your knowledge of Star Wars
has grown from this.”
There was a fire that sparked in
Christina’s eyes as she glowered towards Natalie. “You have ‘bout five seconds
to get away from me, before I put my foot so far up your—”
“Sorry! Sorry! Bad time for a joke,
I get it.” Natalie quickly said. “Just…what can I do to make things right,
Christina?”
“Bring Sean back here, so that he
can see his daughter be born!”
Hearing of this capable feat from
the young Native American woman, Joanie was reminded of what Christina told her
about Sean Thomas being possessed by a reincarnated spirit. Realizing Natalie
was that spirit, she then felt urged to ask, “How did that happen?”
“It’s too complicated to explain.”
Natalie sulked.
“Hate to break it to ya, sweetheart,
but there’s been a lot of ‘complicated’ stuff I’ve witnessed today.” Joanie
said. “Heck, my whole life has been complicated since I first got involved with
this place – the Disneyverse.” She added with a sense of regret, “Guess all
that complication’s caught up with my future generations.”
Suddenly, Christina let out a loud,
agonized scream. Her labor pains returned and were more intense than ever.
“What the hell!” She cried. “I
thought you numbed it!”
Joanie gave a bashful half-smile.
“D-Did I forget to mention it was temporary?”
Christina wanted to strangle her,
which not only would have helped her get over the burning in her abdomen, but
the fury she had towards her absent-minded sorceress mother-in-law. The pain
practically paralyzed her; all she could have done was grasp onto the bed
sheet, twisting it fervently.
Joanie’s glowing hands now
shook. “O.K. We need to deliver this baby right
now.”
Victoria, who had been standing by
idly with Hercules, Anna, and Adrienne, forced herself to rush onto the bed and
position herself at the feet of Christina. “Bloody hell,” she whispered in her
anxiety. “I’ll do it.” She removed her long, silky red robe, setting it beside
her, before removing Christina’s blue jeans and underwear.
Watching her actions, Christina felt
unsettled by Victoria’s position as midwife. “Do you know anything about childbirth?”
There was notable sweat coming onto
the young Englishwoman’s forehead, her soaked bangs sticking against it. “Well,
um…no. I’m actually quite ignorant of the task. B-But I do know what to do…somehow.”
(Authorial Note: I chose Victoria to be the midwife in this scene to convey some irony in the fact that Victoria was nothing more than a servant for Christina to abuse, as seen in Marvel Mayhem, only to be the one capable enough to help her in delivering her baby. Add this onto the fact that Christina essentially distrusts Victoria and Genevieve for lying to her about being otherworldly reincarnations of her husband, and it's really ironic for the former to be in this position.)
Her words did nothing to ease
Christina’s concern or the increasing pain in her abdomen. She continued to
feel her daughter’s anxious pleas to be born. “Oh, god. I’m gonna die. I’m
gonna die.”
“No, you’re not.” Natalie said,
remaining at Christina’s side. “Don’t talk that way. You’re going to be
alright. I’m right here for you.”
Christina aggressively shook her
head. “No. NO! I don’t want you here! I need Sean! I NEED SEAN!”
In her suffering, Christina felt a
strong, masculine hand hold her right hand and another rest on her sweaty
forehead, drying it and gently stroking her hair back. She then heard a calm,
soothing, and familiar voice tell her, “I’m always here for you, baby.”
She looked to the speaker and saw
her husband right beside her, standing where Natalie was just a second ago and
wearing the same plaid shirt and leggings. Joanie had the honor of witnessing
the transformation between woman to man right in front of her; she found it astonishing
and a tad bit weird at the same time.
Christina lightly touched her
husband’s face with her free hand, momentarily distracted from her pain. When
it returned, she let go of his face with the one hand and squeezed his with
the other. “Push, baby! Push!” He instructed her, and she obliged to his
command.
Victoria’s eyes lit with
excitement. “I see the head!”
“C’mon, Christina!” Joanie
exclaimed. “Just a couple more!”
Christina held her breath and gave
two more attempts.
The cries of a newborn soon filled
the bedroom.
“Oh, bless me!” A tearful, overjoyed
Victoria cried. “She’s beautiful!” She gathered her robe after gently pulling
the crying newborn out of Christina, cleaning and wrapping her in it. The tears
continued to fall from Victoria’s eyes looking on the baby girl, distant
memories she never knew to possess flowing back into her. “Hello again, my
darling,” she whispered to her.
Anna and Hercules smiled at the
scene. Hercules never before witnessed the miracle of childbirth, being a
demigod born of the clouds that shrouded Mount Olympus. The natural human way was beautiful to him. His
attention was distracted by the sniffling he heard and saw come from Adrienne,
whose face was amassed with her own tears, more so than it was back on Dagobah.
Learning his lesson from before, he
carefully considered his question before he asked it: “What’s wrong?”
Adrienne shook her head. “I…I don’t
know. I’m just…filled with so much happiness. I know that I am supposed to be happy for them, but…I
feel like…”
“You feel like that it’s your child who’s been born.” A voice
spoke at the bedroom doorway. Hercules, Anna, and Adrienne saw it to have been
Genevieve, who entered unexpectedly. “And that’s because it is your child.” She looked to Victoria,
who handed the newborn over to Christina shortly after cutting the umbilical
cord. “She’s our child.”
Christina held her new daughter
close to her bosom, rejoicing with her husband in seeing their baby for the
first time. “Brandy,” she softly said, naming their child at the moment she saw
her.
Joanie
smiled through her tears, blessed to be involved in her granddaughter’s birth.
“That’s a beautiful name.”(UP NEXT: Enter Taryn!)
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