Anna finished her broth and looked at the waitress.
"That's not going to happen to me." She said, put the money for the broth on the table and stood up. "I'm sorry it happened to you. If one day, I come back here after my son is born, I'll help you get your son back. I know the restaurant doesn't give away cereal bars." Anna said, as after a week of going there, the waitress started to leave the cereal bar, which helped sustain her and her baby, and Anna walked towards the entrance of the restaurant, when she felt a liquid running down her legs.
She stopped. Had something happened to her baby? She felt the waitress approach her.
"Are you all right?" She asked worriedly.
"I think I peed, but it was strange, because the urine just came out."
The waitress put her hand over her mouth.
"Your sac has ruptured. Your baby's coming!"
Anna felt the first wave of pain after she said those words, and she cringed, clutching her belly. The wave passed, and she looked at the waitress, she was holding a cell phone, talking to someone while looking worriedly at Anna.
"What are you doing?" Anna asked, not knowing whether to go back to the room she shared with four immigrants, or to stay there. She didn't understand what was happening to her body.
"I've called an ambulance. Your child can't be born here."
"No. He'll be born at home. I have to leave..."
The waitress held her arm and looked into her eyes.
"Trust me, young lady. You don't want to go through this at home."
Anna knew she was trying to help her, but she couldn't forget her son was a werewolf.
"Promise me you'll stay with me! That you won't let them test my son when he's born, please?"
"But... Why? The tests are important for the child's health..."
"It's a religious issue." Anna lied and another wave of pain almost knocked her senses out.
The waitress looked worriedly into the restaurant. She turned to Anna, determined.
"I'm going with you, and I won't let them do any tests on your baby." She said, making up her mind.
Anna understood that she would lose her job, and was ready to withdraw her request, because she didn't want to harm this woman, when a new wave of pain swept over her, and the ambulance arrived.
The waitress went with Anna, and held her hand on the way.
At the hospital, she handed over her own health insurance and said that Anna was her daughter. She showed some documents to the receptionist, and then two nurses came and took Anna inside. They didn't allow the waitress in and she shouted that the baby shouldn't be poked with needles when it was born, or she would sue the hospital. Anna smiled through the pain, which was now constant. The doctor arrived quickly and after the examination, he looked worriedly at Anna.
"Miss, I'm sorry, but we need to perform an emergency caesarean section."
"Why? I don't want to!"
"I don't... I don't know how to explain it, and we don't have time either. Would you give us your permission?"
"If I insist on normal birth, what happens?" She asked through tears.
"Neither you nor the baby will survive."
Anna nodded in the affirmative.
The doctor began the procedures and five minutes later, Anna heard the unmistakable cry of a baby. She turned her head to look and saw the nurse smiling at the baby in her arms, she reached out to ask for the child, and felt a jab in her arm. She looked at the doctor who had just applied something to her. His eyes were worried, but she didn't have time to ask. She closed her eyes and fell unconscious.
...
Anna woke up and saw a small blue package in a cradle next to her. She struggled to sit up, feeling too much pain to do so, and saw the baby. Her son. She bent down and picked him up. After holding them in her arms, counting each of their fingers and toes, she looked around. The room she was in was a small apartment. She hadn't known that the waitress's health plan could provide such comfort. There was even a small bathroom. She looked again at the baby in her arms.
"Hello, my little wolf." She said, without stopping to admire Adam's features, which other people would probably only notice when he was growing up.
The door opened and a nurse came in with a bottle and was surprised to see Anna sitting with the baby in her arms.
"You mustn't strain yourself. I'll leave the bottle with you, and I'll get the doctor." She said, approaching and after handing Anna the bottle, she left. But Anna didn't have long to be alone with her son. The waitress entered and approached, looking down at the baby.
"What a beautiful child!"
"Is that strange? All babies are beautiful!" Anna said, proud of her own son.
"No. Newborn babies usually look like a knee. Your baby is abnormal, so beautiful!"
"I think that's a compliment..."
The two were interrupted by the arrival of the doctor.
"Ma'am... There were some unexpected complications during and after your delivery. You had a hemorrhage and I hope you recover quickly. You're young, and although you're malnourished, you're in good health. But you'll need to stay here for observation."
Anna nodded.
"I must insist that you allow us to do the tests and vaccinate your son..."
"No tests, but you can vaccinate him." Anna said, because she knew that a vaccine wouldn't harm her son and that if she refused, they would probably call social services. And she would be left without her son.
The doctor looked at the nurse, who, as soon as she saw his gaze, approached Anna.
"I'm going to take him to get his vaccinations." She said, holding out her arms for Anna to hand over the child. She hesitated for a few seconds, but then accepted that every mother goes through that short period of absence and handed the baby over to her.