Chosen by Fate, Rejected by the Alpha

Shawn     

~~     

I could sense that Dietrich was heading toward the bed with Reinhold and the doctor. I could sense that the kids, caught awkwardly in the middle at the moment, were huddled near the wall so that they weren't in the way. I could sense and knew all of this, but I was more focused on those boys at the moment. They were my priority.     

"Hallo ihr Kleinen, mein name ist Shawn." I was kneeling before them, the two little boys that were not even two yet. "Es ist in Ordnung, Jungs." I spoke soothingly to them, to get their attention. "It is OK." I repeated again in English this time. "Shhh, Es ist in Ordnung, meine Kleinen." I reached for them as I spoke, the two of them crying hard as they begged again and again for their mother.     

"Mama!" They said the word together as they both latched onto me. They could sense in me someone that was there for them, that would help them.     

"This is amazing." The nurse spoke in thickly accented English. "They have been so inconsolable."     

"I have them from here, you do not need to worry about it anymore. I will stay with them."     

"Ja, Dankeschön." She nodded at me as she thanked me and rose to her feet. "I have to get back to work. I will check on the children later."     

"Of course. I will take care of them for right now."     

The nurse, smiling and nodding at me before hurrying from the room, looked extremely relieved to be free of the toddlers at the moment. I do not think that she is very patient with children. I wasn't sure, but that was the impression that I had in that brief meeting.     

"Shh." I patted the backs of the two boys as I held them against my chest. "Shh, es ist in Ordnung." I told them again, reassuring them that things were going to be OK. I was only guessing at the moment, but they had to be, Dietrich was here now and he was going to help their mother.     

Just as I thought about this, I focused on the whispered voices across the room. I had not yet paid any attention to what the doctor, Dietrich, and Reinhold were talking about. Now that I had the boys in my arms and they were calming just a little, now only sobbing softly into my shirt, I was about to transfer focus a little.     

"She has suffered massive trauma to her head, the damage to her brain is unknown at this moment, but it will be extensive." The doctor was telling Dietrich in English.     

"And what are her chances of survival?" Reinhold asked, his voice thick with emotion at the sight of the woman on the bed.     

"At this point, I would say that they are pretty low. No higher than-." At that moment, a loud persistent tone filled the room. I knew what it meant, and so did my children. They all four hurried toward me, to get out of the way.     

"We need to leave the room." I told them. "They have work to do." I rose to my feet then, still holding those twin boys in my arms. "Come on, there is a waiting room down the hall." None of the kids spoke, they just nodded at me and walked down the hall in my shadow.     

We took our seats in the waiting room. There was no one else there, we had full privacy as we sat down.      

"I will go get some drinks." Luther said as he started to fidget. "Dad, would you like a coffee for you and Papa?"     

"Yes, please. And see if they have juice pouches for these two." I stroked the boys heads and he nodded.     

"I will help you." Bret jumped to his feet and followed after his brother.     

"Daddy?" Ember leaned in close to me and put a hand on one of the boy's heads. Fauna, sensing that the boys needed reassurance, did the same on the other side of me.      

"Yes, sweetheart?" I asked her in a quiet tone of voice.      

"Is their mommy going to die?" She asked it so plainly, so matter-of-factly that I didn't know how to respond.     

"I don't know, sweetheart. But things are really bad at the moment." That was all that I could manage at the moment.      

"What will happen to them?" Fauna's voice was filled with sorrow as she asked me that question. "Where will they go?"      

"They will come with us." Ember said to her, not bothering to ask my opinion on things. "Daddy and Papa don't let little kids without families suffer. That is why they took us home. Right, Daddy? You will care for them, won't you?"     

"Yeah, of course he will." This was from Bret who had come back with four juices and a bottle of soda. "Dad and Papa won't let them be sad anymore."     

In the midst of all of this, Fauna and Luther were just looking at me. Once they were all sitting again, they stared at me like they were waiting for me to agree with the younger kids. I knew how I would want things to play out, and that was for them not to lose their mother. However, that didn't look likely at the moment.     

"If things come to that, I will talk to Papa about it. I don't want to let them be abandoned, but they might have other family that could take care of them, that want to take care of them. We need to wait and find out what is going on first."     

"OK." Ember's quick agreement seemed to be the sentiment from all of them. Well, at least I knew that if we did bring more kids into the family, the others wouldn't be opposed to it. And that is a positive in my opinion, considering my current predicament.     

I wonder what they would say if the new babies joining the family were not twin boys but twin girls, and that they were currently growing in my belly. I was sure that it would be a shock to them all. And that it would cause a bit of a stir.     

"Shawn?" Dietrich called out to me. "Children?" He looked so tired when he came walking toward the waiting area.     

"Dietrich." I whispered his name because the boys in my arms had fallen asleep about forty minutes ago. The other kids were nodding off or reading and playing games on their phones while we waited for someone to come tell us what happened. "What happened? Is she alright?"     

"No." There were tears in his eyes, one escaping and rolling slowly down his cheek.      

"Oh." I gasped and Fauna whimpered a little.     

"Papa?" Ember rose to her feet. "Their mommy died?"     

"Yes, pudding, she did. She was hurt really badly, and because she was a human, she wasn't able to get better."     

"That is sad." Ember looked like she wanted to cry. "What is going to happen to the boys?"     

"I don't know yet, honey." He responded softly.     

"Aren't we going to take them home?" Bret asked. "We can't let them go without a family. They will come be our family and we will protect them."     

"You..?" Dietrich seemed unable to continue as the tears streamed down his cheeks. "We don't know if that is possible yet." He finally said something similar to what I had told them. "They might have more family."     

"They do not." Reinhold spoke from behind Dietrich. He had been listening in, and he too was filled with some intense emotions. "The girl was an only child, and her parents are nearly ninety now. They are too old to care for the children. Her father has Parkinson's, and her mother has a hard time caring for just the two of them. The boys cannot go to stay with them."     

"What about his family? Did he have anyone?"     

"His human family is long gone, and he was a bit of a loner in our community. Neither of them has anyone to take the children."     

"Papa?" Bret, voice thick and emotional. "We're not going to just leave them here, are we? We're going to take them home, aren't we?"     

Dietrich looked at me at that moment, speaking to me mentally as he needed to hide things from the children.      

"Is this what you want, Liebe? I will care for them if that is what you want, but with your current state, should we do this?"     

"Yes, Dietrich, this is what I want. I can't leave them here. I can't leave them knowing that they have no one in the world that will understand them the way that I can. And I do not mind that I am pregnant, I will still take them home and raise them as my own."     

"If that is what you want, sweetheart, then I agree." He nodded at me and then spoke out loud to the rest of them. "We will take the boys home. We will make them a part of our family so that they do not have to be alone."     

"That is good." Fauna looked relieved. "I don't want them to be lonely like I was." She was crying now, remembering how her life had been before we adopted her.      

"None of us want to let them feel lonely." Luther had one tear streaking down his cheek as well. Bret was a little older than the twins when we got him, so he didn't remember it much, and Ember was just three weeks old when we brought her home. She definitely had no memories other than with our family.     

"I am glad that we are bringing them home." Ember leaned forward and kissed each of the boys, still fast asleep, on the back of the head.     

Hallo ihr Kleinen, mein Name ist Shawn - Hello little ones, my name is Shawn     

 Es ist in Ordnung, Jungs - It is ok, boys     

Shhh, Es ist in Ordnung, meine Kleinen - Shh, it is ok, little ones     

Ja, Dankeschön - Yes, thank you