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The next day, the search was on for someone a little bit more understanding of her situation than a doctor. Violet didn't know the specifics of this birth, but she was already showing as if she was in her second trimester and not even barely a month along, which she was. For all she knew, her baby could come within 3 months if she continued to grow at this accelerated pace. Violet decided that she was going to take a personal day, because from the way everything turned out to all the worries on her mind plus feeling extremely drained, she just didn't have it in her to teach her class.
Her husband had already left for work, telling her to take it easy and he'd be home for dinner. He gave her a kiss and left her all snuggled with Mystic in their bed. Mystic was itching for a walk. He had been let out for a morning pee but he hadn't had his walk yet. As much as he loved snuggling up with his mom, he couldn't sit still and kept poking her with his nose. "ugh, not now!!" Violet said with a sigh of annoyance. Normally Mystic would give up at this point, give into the warmth of the covers and settle back down. But this was different.
After 10 more minutes of Mystic's best whining performance ever, his persistence paid off. He licked Violet's face in victory as she reluctantly climbed out of the bed, muttering something about a kennel the whole time.
But even with as drained as she felt, she could feel herself gaining more energy as she stretched and put on some real
clothes. She hadn't taken Mystic to her Starbucks in a very long time, so she decided that that's what she would do. She grabbed a book as she figured she could catch up on some reading while Mystic just sat there and looked cute as he waited for strangers to pat his head.
She didn't feel up for a shower, so people would just have to do with seeing her hair a little bit greasy. She found her comfiest sweat pants and a long sleeved shirt to wear as it was early Autumn in Chicago.
After what felt like years of waiting, Mystic was finally on his leash, ready to walk. Violet soaked in the October sun, its morning rays giving off the illusion that it would be a warm day. It wasn't too bad though, she could still get away with not wearing a real jacket and her sandals kept her feet warm enough. She smiled to herself, feeling grateful to her dog for insisting that she come outside now to enjoy this weather while she could. Pretty soon it would be snow boots, hats, scarves, winter coats, ear muffs, and people driving like assholes in the snow. She reminded herself that now would be a great time to look for a house in the suburbs. Of West Palm Beach. She chuckled out loud at the thought, causing another nudging sensation in her belly.
"good morning, my little angel. Guess you're awake," she said, patting her stomach. She instantly felt the inside of her belly rise and fall and, as always, was both incredibly awed and a little freaked at the same time. Even though she knew her situation was extraordinary, how was she going to explain it to her friends? Not to mention her mother, who was great but a bit old fashioned. She had just found out one day ago that her baby had wings. Who would believe that? Maybe she'd text Jayde later. Jayde was her best friend since childhood, living her dream of being a rock star. They checked in every week and texted constantly, but it had been a few days since Violet had texted her friend. Jayde was on tour right now, making her way around the US yet again.
She always sent Violet her tour journals, which consisted of poems and lyrics, pictures, and whatever else she thought of to put in there. Violet's journals weren't half as cool, but it was a pact they both had made to show each other their lives in the times when they were apart.
Violet longed for her best friend at that moment. The feeling was so strong that even Molly could feel how much her mom missed her, and vowed to do something about it. But it had taken all of her energy to get her mom up and to the Starbucks. There was someone very important that she would be meeting today, someone who was going to be very beneficial to this whole scenario. The woman who was going to deliver her into this world. And she was there now.
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The woman dressed in white sat in the back of the Starbucks, nursing a white chocolate mocha and watching the door. Her cards had brought her here today, telling her there was someone she was going to meet. She just didn't know who.
A woman strolled in with a baby strapped to her front like a kangaroo. "nope, not her," she sighed as she took another sip of her drink. A couple came in, and at once the woman's hairs on her arms and neck stood up. The woman was listening intently to the man drone on about something, laughing in all the appropriate places. But it was obvious that it was nervous laughter. The woman glanced around the room, continuing this charade, when she locked eyes with the woman in the back. Although every alarm bell was sounding off inside her head, she merely placed her card underneath her palm and glanced down at it, as if signaling to the woman that this was her chance. The woman gave the barista her order and then told the man she was going to the bathroom.
The woman in the back watched as the man's eyes followed her possessively all the way back to the bathroom. There was a break in his glare when the barista asked him if he wanted whipped cream, and that was when she slipped her card into the woman's back pocket, never taking her eyes off the man.
She knew that that wasn't her girl, but she was still in trouble, and she couldn't just sit there and do nothing. And then she felt it.
A beautiful woman with dark hair and beautiful eyes walked in with what appeared to be an Alaskan malamute. At first she was stunned that anyone would be so brazen as to bring a dog into a place of business with a sign on the door clearly stating 'no pets allowed.' but then she saw the barista's reaction to the dog and smiled to herself. The barista had broken into a huge smile, finishing up the man's drink and running around the counter so he could pet the dog, who was rapidly wagging his tail.
The woman herself was a vision. She could see that the woman was clearly pregnant, although she was failing to understand how she was that far along already, or appeared to look that way. She could see that the woman's belly was protruding, but she could sense a hesitation.
The woman who had been in the bathroom had texted her while she was in there. Just one word, "help." Coming out of the bathroom, the scene suddenly changed. The dog saw the woman coming out of the bathroom and went over to say hello to her. The man who was waiting for her, obviously pissed that a dog had been allowed into the place, yelled at her not to touch the dog. She didn't listen and reached down to pet him anyway. The man, who had been holding two hot coffees in his hand, threw one at his partner. Coffee spilled everywhere, the woman screamed as the drink she ordered burned her skin, and everyone in the place was either calling the police, recording the scene with their phones, or helping to clean the woman and the floor up.
The man obviously didn't think anything of this. Just as he was about to get ready to throw his other drink (after taking a sip and ringing the bell, of course), his hand got caught on something. Violet had grabbed him. "you have two options. You can let go of the drink in your hand slowly and carefully and you won't get hurt, or you can try and burn me and see what happens." the man's face faltered a bit, but he didn't skip a beat as he snarled through clenched teeth, "look here, bitch. You let go of my arm right now or I'm going to call the police and have you arrested."
Violet snorted. "you know, that's a good idea. Can somebody call 911 and tell them that there's a crazy pregnant lady trying to stop a guy from throwing hot coffee on his wife? Oh wait... You can just tell them when they get here."
The man wiggled his drink out of his hands, trying to make it fall onto Violet's head. Instead, she stepped to the side and it only got her legs as it splashed to the floor. "better me than that poor lady again," she thought as she put his arm down, still holding on to it. "now, I'm going to hold onto you until the police get here."
"A little bitch like you is going to hold onto me until the cops get here? Are you delusional?" He tried to haul off and smack her, until Mystic, his fur smelling like coffee and sticky, showed up, teeth barred. "now, look at what you did to my dog. I had just given him a bath."
"I don't give a shit, if he comes near me I'm suing you."
"Good luck with that," Violet scoffed as she let go of the man. Someone had already locked the door and was standing in front of it so she wasn't afraid of him getting away. Plus, Mystic was the best guard dog ever. She knew that everyone was safe from this guy now, especially his soon-to-be ex wife (she hoped). "now, before the police get here, you are going to clean this place up. You are going to apologize to your wife for throwing coffee at her, and then you're going to give my dog a bath." "like FUCK I am!!" the man screamed belligerently, lifting his arm to hit her. She calmly looked him in the eyes as her dog growled severely at him, causing him to rethink his desire to smack her in the face. "are you finished with that? You don't have a lot of time left," she stated as she could hear the sirens in the background.
He took one last hard look at her, contemplating what he could get away with, before deciding that she and that stupid dog of hers weren't worth it. "come on Kathryn, let's go," he said sternly as the sirens got closer.
"No."
Everyone looked nervously from the woman to her husband as the tension in the room hit an all-time high. "what did you say?" he asked through clenched teeth.
"I said no," the woman said calmly, only her flushed cheeks giving away any emotion. The woman in the back of the room and Violet silently cheered for this girl, both not even realizing the shield they were building together to keep this creep from her.
"You are going to come here now or I am coming over there."
"Like hell you are."
"Don't say I didn't warn you, you little bitch," he said venomously as he took a step towards her. The whole Starbucks was now on this wavelength of silently pleading for the man to stop in his tracks. As soon as he got close enough to brush her skin, there was a knock on the door.
"police, open up!!" an officer shouted. Whoever had been standing near the entrance of the door unlocked it and 5 officers stepped in looking like they had all stepped off a Hollywood movie lot. But the heat they were all packing brought reality back in. "what seems to be the problem here?" one of the officers asked Violet, who was attempting to wipe the remains of the second hot coffee off her legs. Mystic was attempting to help but she had to make him stop due to the 1st degree burns that had made their way to her skin. "well... If you shift your attention to the middle of the room, you might see something," she answered, not caring about formalities at the moment. The officer scoffed a little bit, reluctantly listening as his eyes shifted to the middle of the room where a woman stood with an army of people behind her, obviously burned pretty badly. Off to the side he noticed a guy standing all by himself, an arrogant and yet slightly afraid look on his face. He knew by instinct alone that this was the asshole who had caused this mess. He and Violet shared a glance as he sauntered over to where the guy was standing, quickly read him his rights, and cuffed him, not even bothering to utter another word besides asking his partner to please dump this piece of garbage into the back of his car. There was a drunken homeless guy in the backseat already, gleefully singing show tunes while taking turns between barfing and peeing on himself. The officer didn't even care about the clean up afterwards as long as that asshole had to sit in that backseat for as long as it took to take care of his soon-to-be ex-wife (he hoped).
He was surprised that this woman was still standing. She hadn't uttered a word and he wondered if she was going into shock. Quickly he went over to her and definitely felt something around her. Being a cop he was taught to be practical, but he was still very intuitive and had a gift for feeling things out. This made him very good at his job and while he sometimes got flack for his "hocus pocus," his partners stayed with him because he never lead them astray. He didn't understand how he knew things, but he certainly was grateful that he had this gift and did not take it for granted.
The woman looked at him now, her eyes wide. She cleared her throat to speak, her voice a little shakier than it had been before. "need... Help... Sitting... Down," she said, her feet faltering. The officer watched as everyone in the place stood around her, not saying a word. He was almost going to ask why no one was helping when he felt a sensation he could not describe. As he gave this woman his hand, he felt an incredible warmth radiating off of her. Although she was getting exhausted, she was still standing up. The officer understood now what was happening.
As he gently took hold of her to move her so she could be more comfortable until the paramedics arrived, he saw the group mind at work. No one was talking, no one was even moving a muscle. They were all concentrating intently on this woman, still in protective mode even after the immediate danger was removed. But he could move within the circle, could help this woman get comfortable.
He checked her shoulders and back for burns before wrapping his arm around her. The back wasn't nearly as bad as the front of her was, especially the arms. But she didn't complain as he moved her to a comfortable seat. As he moved her he could feel all of the love these people were sending this woman. The energy seemed to move with her, as if she were surrounded by it. It was only as she was being put in the chair, a sweater being wrapped around her shoulders that the people in the room started acting normal again.
People blinked and looked around, as if being awakened from a dream. Aside from Violet and the woman in the back of the room, no one had even realized what they had participated in. Everyone was so protective of this woman that they had all sent their energies out, creating a barrier between her and whoever wanted to harm her. But now everyone was back to talking, taking orders, and going on with their lives. But Violet couldn't shake the nagging feeling she was getting. So without even thinking, she walked right back to where the woman was sitting, sat down and introduced herself. (you already read this for group on 6/8/2013)
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