An Unexpected Child Ch. 14

The Warden and Dr. Lana Mumford walked into his master bedroom together. Awaiting them were Anais, NOVA, Cherice, Bruce, the Mistress and finally the baby girl they were waiting for.

"Is that...?" Warden asked upon seeing the newborn in Mistress's arms.

"Yes." Dr. Mumford replied. "Just look at her."

Neither Warden nor Mistress wanted a child in their lives... and yet, here she was. This was clearly a comely babe, as her nearly-perfected facial features and tuft of very dark hair would suggest. At this point, it was sort of hard to tell whom she'd be taking after. Nevertheless, Warden found himself searching for any visual clues as to determine that she was indeed his daughter, as much as he'd hate to admit it.

"Heh heh. Don't get too immersed." Dr. Mumford chuckled.

"Why?" Warden asked.

"Because I have to ask right now: Did either of you come up with a name yet?" Dr. Mumford prompted forward.

The new father found himself stumped on what to answer. He had been so preoccupied with the idea of this child being the "Chosen One" and with the circus that he hadn't even a brief thought on what would be a good name for the future messiah. He looked up to his baby momma and hand-cued her to answer Dr. Mumford.

"I already had a name in mind before I even had my daughter." she answered confidently after getting the message from Warden.

"You did?" Dr. Mumford asked again. "What is it?"

"Her name..." Mistress began. "...is Marguerite Diane Kanellis."

"Ah..." Dr. Mumford happily gasped in awe. "I don't believe there is any name better than that one."

Warden cocked his head in surprise and walked closer over to Mistress.

"I didn't expect you to come prepared for this..." Warden confessed. "And I certainly didn't think you'd choose a name like that...why?"

"Do you remember when we were talking about our parents after the maze was over?" Mistress asked out of thin air.

"Of course I do. That was six months ago."

"Well, after the ladies and Bruce and I had found out her gender, I found myself thinking of that same conversation where first, we were discussing our dads. And then the part about our mothers really stood out to me. This whole experience reminded me of my mother, Marguerite, having to raise me all by herself for the first eight years of my life."

"Eight?"

"She died before I turned nine years old. I don't know what happened that day, but all I know was that after that, I was alone..." She found herself reaching the early stages of crying, but managed to fight back.

"But where did 'Diane' come from?"

"It came from your mother, Warden. The mother you said you never got to know."

Then Warden found himself on the verge of tears.

"Is this uncomfortable for you two?" Dr. Mumford asked uncertainly.

"Oh no, it's fine." Mistress assured her.

"Okay then..."

Out of the blue, Jailbot came in with Alice and Jared.

"Oh, you guys!" Warden shouted dramatically. "I'm so glad you came in!"

"Sir!" Anais hissed in a near-whisper. "You'll wake up Maggie."

"Oh, she'll be fine." Warden laughed. "After all, she did cry herself to sleep. Or so I think."

"Oh, she cried herself to sleep, alright." Dr. Mumford chuckled. "It just took a little while for her to settle down, especially after cleaning off all the blood."

Warden then waited until Dr. Mumford was silent to put his arms around Mistress.

"It's not like me to say this, but..." Warden began. "I'm very proud of you and I'm sure your mother would've been, too, for what you did today. God rest her soul..."