He will not hear her first cry. He's always known that.
"Hold on, Jess."
Sam, his desperate entreaties are too far away. He tries to hold on to his voice because there isn't anything else but all he sees are steel surfaces and feels the cold air that slithers over his skin. Harrison and other nurses work quietly and efficiently around him. Pain radiates out from the base of his spine and his fingers close convulsively over the steel of the gurney...somewhere it registers to him that where there was the curve of the gurney, there isn't anything anymore but air ...his mind registers what his body already knows.
He's phasing.
There's a needle in his arm and Jesse prays it isn't too late, hopes it's enough because he wants to see her. Wants to hold her. They will not risk a governor, will not risk affecting her powers. Sam, face pale, eyes large saucers are filled with pain and he wants to say it's okay. Eckhart is near, he is sure. Sam, he knows will keep the child safe. It's almost comforting when the darkness swallows him.
~~~
"Eve."
Jesse whispers her name reverently. It's his gift to her that is not of Genomex nor of Mutant X. It is theirs, part of their family - his mother's name. In his arms his daughter scrunches her face and cries her approval.
"She likes it," Sam says. He looks so tired, dark circles under his eyes. Little wonder, as he has not left Jesse's side.
"Indeed," Eckhart murmurs.
Eckhart hasn't left either, watches them with a fascination that disturbs Jesse. Impeccable in his dark suit, the pale eyes have never left them.
"It would seem she knows what she likes already," Eckhart continues before he sees the moment that Eckhart catches himself, his lips twist and his hand closes over the cane before a mask slips over his face.
"She has your eyes," he says. Jesse looks at his daughter, at the shape of her eyes. They're a match to his, like the smattering of blonde hair. He wonders if they will indeed be blue before he remembers another girl with blue eyes entangled in something she knew nothing about. All that mattered was that she loved her mother. Catherine didn't have her mother's...or Adam's eyes.
"Dr Harrison will need a complete set of tests, bloodwork, DNA ..." Eckhart's list interrupts Jesse's reverie, brings him back to his reality.
"I trust you will cooperate," he finishes.
Eve gurgles, unhappily Jesse thinks as he rocks her. She rolls her head toward Eckhart who stops and just looks. Nothing has ever scared him more.
"When you're ready," Eckhart relents. He leaves before Jesse says anything else.
"It'll be okay," Sam whispers. "She'll be okay."
Jesse nods, knows that Eve will be. He understands now the lies that fell from his mom's lips about his father, knows already the lies he will one day tell Eve without a second thought.
~~~