February 9th, 2037
...
It was a very cold winter: between the New World and The Seraphyne's methods to science and resource conservation, the climate had begun to change. Winter was cold, bitter, and snowy.
A blizzard took place on this very special day for The Seraphyne and The Gravesend family. Amongst the freezing temperatures, warmth and creation would take place inside their grand mansion.
The room was quieter than Ivory remembered.
By the sixth child, there were no frantic footsteps or whispered excitement beyond the doors. The physicians moved with practiced confidence, exchanging only the words they needed. They had done this five times before, knew Ivory's body and how to work with her. These were the same doctor's Ivory had five times before, and she trusted them.
Ivory closed her eyes as another wave of pain spread through her body. Her fingers tightened around the edge of the bed until her knuckles turned white.
"You are doing well," one of the physicians assured her.
She almost laughed.
Doing well.
She hadn't slept through the night in years. Between pregnancies, nursing infants, raising children, watching them grow and seeing their training, and learning to navigate a world she had never chosen, the years had slipped away faster than she could count them.
She was tired. Her body didn't want to produce five children, especially her soon to be sixth.
The door opened quietly. Ivory turned to see Blue step inside.
"How long?" Blue asked as he looked at Ivory.
"Not much longer," the physician replied.
Blue nodded once.
He walked to her bedside without another word.
The sixth baby was the longest she had ever been in labor. Lyra was only a few minutes; Cassian, her second child, and first born son, was a couple of hours, Kael was a half hour because he was a C-section, Orion and Elara were six minutes. Seraphyne babies generally came right out. This child was 15 hours. Countless epidurals didn't always help.
Ivory was in pain and often cried because of it.
Ivory looked up at Blue brushing damp strands of dark hair away from her forehead.
"I thought you'd be in another meeting."
"I was."
"And?"
"It ended."
Blue reached for her hand—not tightly, not possessively, but enough for her to know he was there.
Years ago, she would have pulled away. Now she simply looked at him. She really needed comfort, and the physicians told the other members to not be in here because the sixth child was rather complicated. This was the first birth where Ivory experienced High Blood Pressure and had become a temporary Pre Diabetic. Ivory was 33, and childbirth got more complicated after 30.
It was a rough patch; Blue was there the entire time to make sure she was okay.
Blue studied her face. "You've become weaker with each birth," he pointed out.
"I've become older," Ivory said gently.
"You are still young," Blue rubbed her cheek.
She looked away. "Not compared to you," she said quietly.
Silence settled between them.
Outside the room, somewhere in the palace, she could hear faint laughter.
Blue and Ivory heard their children sit outside and chatter amongst themselves. Ivory knew they were waiting for their youngest sibling to be born. Blue and Ivory wanted the gender to be a surprise, so the children had been predicting if the sixth would be a boy or a girl.
Lyra was old enough to understand she was about to become a big sister again.
Kael had spent the morning asking impossible questions.
Elara had insisted on making blankets for the baby herself.
Cassius wanted to know when the baby would begin training.
Serene —
Ivory smiled to herself before realizing her mistake.
There was no Serene yet.
This child had no name.
Not yet.
Another contraction forced the thought from her mind.
She cried out, the pain sharper than before.
One physician moved closer.
Another quietly asked Blue to step back.
He didn't.
"Blue," Ivory managed through clenched teeth.
"I'm here," Blue held a cloth to her forehead as he took his free hand and rubbed her right hand.
She wasn't sure why those words comforted her.
Perhaps because, despite everything, he had never missed the birth of a single one of their children. Even through his cruelty, gang life, and new rule, Blue always took time off work and completely took over everything for Ivory. He knew how to treat the mother of his children, even though he was a cruel man.
The GYN had Ivory ready, and she said she thinks the baby was coming. The GYN nodded and told Ivory to start pushing.
The room blurred into commands, measured breaths, and exhaustion.
Ivory no longer knew how much time had gone by; only that she wanted it to end.
She started to push, and after a few moments .... at last, a small cry filled the room!
The room exhaled.
The nurses carefully lifted the newborn and wrapped the small baby.
"A daughter," the GYN said as she placed the baby in Ivory's arms.
Ivory's shoulders sagged with relief while Blue remained perfectly still.
For a long moment, Blue simply looked at the small infant, then took the baby and held her close to him. His hand held onto the baby's small head.
"She's a little underweight;" the GYN said, "we want to keep her here for a week to help her gain a few pounds."
"Do what's needed," Blue said and then turned to Ivory, "Our sixth," he said quietly.
Ivory looked into the baby's tiny face.
Perfect.
Completely innocent.
She reached out, touching the child's hand with one finger.
The tiny fingers instinctively wrapped around it.
Ivory smiled as the baby recognized her own mother. Blue placed the baby back in Ivory's arms, and Ivory rocked her back and forth. Ivory noticed her eye color was different from the others.
"She has green eyes," Ivory replied.
"Just like her mom," Blue nodded and smiled.
"What will you call her?" the physician asked.
Blue looked at Ivory, "What were you thinking, Dear?" he asked.
"Serene."
"Serene..." Blue repeated, "I like that."
It suited her. Ivory felt that the name sounded peaceful and would give hope. She wished that she could have one child that wasn't poisoned by Blue.
Blue looked at the infant for another long moment before speaking.
"The Dominion is complete."
Ivory's smile faded.
She looked from the baby, to Blue, then toward the closed doors beyond which five other children waited.
Six children, futures, and lives planned long before they could choose them.
For the first time since Lyra had been born, Ivory didn't think about the future with excitement. She wondered whether any of them would ever truly belong to themselves. She looked down at Serene, and felt something different with her. She knew that Serene was not like her siblings, that she was different. Special.
Outside, snow began to fall against the palace windows.
Inside, the youngest child of the Dominion slept peacefully in her mother's arms, unaware that history had already begun writing her place within it. Blue had opened the door and let the other children inside, and they all crowded around their mother and their youngest sister, Serene --- an innocent and compassionate baby.