A Beautiful Experience

Ross

This is the most beautiful and at the same time the most terrifying experience I have ever had in my life. All I can do right now is stare into my beautiful daughter's eyes and imagine all the life she has ahead of her.

I can't even describe the relief I feel now that Kamila is okay. It seems like she's not too horrified about not being able to have children again, but seeing as how she just gave birth to four of them, and she's probably exhausted by the experience, she probably won't take it in for a while. . After a little persuasion, the other ET1s and I finally got her to relax, and she's now getting some rest.

Meanwhile, we've all entered a separate room that Mark's pack has set up as a kind of nursery, with small cribs and several rocking chairs, four larger ones for us ET1s and a smaller one that's perfect for Kamila, and one soft and relaxing lighting.

I look up for a moment, and the other ET1s are in the same state I'm in. It is an almost indescribable mixture of shock, pride, fear, happiness and love. The books and all the advice I received from packmates who are already parents was right: there is no way to prepare for this experience.

A daughter, there is so much to think about now that I am a father, and I don't even know where to start. I guess my immediate concern is how we are going to feed her, since she has three brothers and sisters who also need her mother's milk, but it seems like the doctors and nurses here in Mark's pack have everything under control.

I'm glad someone has it.

Tristan speaks first. —Are you thinking the same as me?—He asks.

“I wonder how I'm going to teach him to be a fair but strong leader,” Mark says, looking proudly at his little son.

I laugh. —I'm thinking about 'How many kids will I have to keep away?' over here—I say.

Everyone laughs, except Tristan, who goes wide-eyed and looks like he forgot to think about it. “Oh, great,” he says. —One more concern.

“We're all going to worry for the rest of our lives,” Mark says. —Everything changed forever the moment these little ones arrived. But I think we can handle it.

“I'm looking at these bright red hairs and thinking, 'Now I'm going to find out what my parents went through,'” Eli says.

Tristan laughs. “That might be more of a problem than mine here,” he says. —At least Reece also has a girl. We can unite to keep away all those undesirables who think they are good enough for our little girls.

“Here, here,” I say, pretending to raise an imaginary glas... in a toast without changing the baby's position. She looks comfortable, and I don't want to interfere with success.

“I can't wait for Kamila to wake up,” Mark says. —We need to name these babies, but she has the first choice.

We all nodded in agreement. “She did the hard part, that's for sure,” Eli says.

“So,” Tristan says, “what exactly happened out there?” He looks at Eli and rearranges his daughter in his arms, brushing aside her dark curls, which are surprisingly long for a newborn, I think, although I'm no expert. . It looks like this will be my first and only child, and I'm perfectly happy with that.

Eli rolls his eyes before beginning a long explanation about a group of renegades who took over an abandoned resort in the mountains somewhere, how they ambushed their vehicles, and how two of their men died in the accident. We all remained silent for a few moments as a sign of respect.

After a while, Tristan spoke again. “It must be a really old place,” he says. —I've never heard of a resort around here.

“It looked relatively modern,” says Eli. —Although that shitty van had many more miles than the poor vehicle could handle. I'm surprised it got me close enough to reach all of you.

“The Moon Goddess is definitely on our side this time,” Mark says. She smiles at her son and puts a finger on her little cheek.

The door opens, and Dr. Travesty walks in with some nurses. I want to get up but I don't want to bother my beautiful daughter. No one else gets up either, so everyone must be thinking the same thing.

"Kamila?" Mark asks.

"She's fine," the doctor quickly responds. —But with so many babies born at once, we need to give them a thorough checkup from time to time, so we'll need those little ones now, one at a time.

He looks at me, and the last thing I want to do is hand my new daughter over to someone, but I do it anyway, reluctantly. My arms feel so empty when the nurse takes her from me, and suddenly, a wave of fear washes over me as I wonder what it will be like when she gets married, and I have to say goodbye. What if she marries an ET1 from a distant pack? How can I live without her near me?

The nurse looks at me with a polite smile, and almost as if she can read my mind, she says, "You'll get used to this, ET1 Reece." But I understand how you feel. I remember when my little daughter was a newborn. I didn't want her to leave my sight. But I promise you, we'll only have it for a few minutes, then we'll give it back.

I nod and look at the others, who I half hope are bothering me about it. But instead, the looks on their faces say that they are all suddenly terrified of handing their respective babies to the nurses too.

“I guess we're in this together,” I say, laughing a little at their expressions. —And that's a good thing. Most new parents are alone.

“True,” says Mark.

“We'll make a good team,” Tristan says.

"To change diapers?" Mark asks.

Tristan nods. "Oh, good Goddess," he says. —I hadn't even thought about that.

The nurses laugh at this, and by then, they are done with my baby girl and the same nurse carefully hands her to me.

“It has pas...ed with flying colors,” says Dr. Travesty.

The other ET1s deliver their babies one by one, and fortunately, they all receive a good health report. But now, my little girl is starting to get restless, and it scares me.

"He's hungry," the nurse says. —For that, we will need Miss Kamila's experience.

We all nod, and I can see that all the babies are starting to move a little more, so we all try to compensate by rocking them gently.

“We'll start with this little girl,” the doctor says, nodding at me and my daughter. —Let's see if Kamila is ready to breastfeed.

I follow the doctor around the corner to Kamila's room, which is right next to the nursery, and I'm glad to see that she's awake. She looks like the Goddess herself lying there practically glowing with happiness.

"How do you feel, darling?" I ask him.

“Like I want to hold that little angel,” he says, holding out his hands.

I'm still a little clumsy at this 'handling newborn babies' thing, but I manage the transfer successfully. Giving it to Kamila is much easier than giving it to a nurse, and I sit next to the bed while another nurse helps Kamila reposition herself to feed the baby.

It's all a little awkward at first, and I really realize that Kamila is as inexperienced in all of this as I am, and she has the hardest part of it all. With a little help from the nurse, who clearly has a lot of experience with this sort of thing, unlike us, our little daughter is happily sucking in no time.

We both stare at her, mesmerized, her little hand clutching her mother as she eats. Kamila's smile is bigger than a thousand suns, and I have a smile that I can't get off my face too.

“I love you,” I say in a whisper so as not to upset our daughter.

Kamila looks at me, her eyes shining in the soft lighting. —I love you too, Ella Reece.

I gently lean in and give him a soft kiss, our lips lingering for a moment before the baby begins to move again.

The nurse approaches. “Looks like she's done for now,” she says. —With three others waiting, it's best to let everyone have their turn with Mom.

“Mom,” Kamila says. —That is the most beautiful word.

“You are the most beautiful woman,” I say.

She smiles wider, if possible, hands our daughter back to me, and says, "What are we going to call her?"

“I think I'll let you decide that,” I say. —The other ET1s agree.

Kamila shakes her head. "No," she says. —I want us to decide as a family.

“Okay,” I say. —I'm going to let the other babies and parents have their moment for now. We'll talk about the name a little later. I know the others were starting to get worried.

"The babies or the ET1s?" she asks.

“Both,” I joke. We both laugh and I kiss her once more before leaving the room. Yes, this is a beautiful experience.