Chapter 44

By the time Beatrix got to Whitmore Medical Center, Caroline was already unconscious.

"Shit!" she hissed, running in just before Stefan Salvatore.

The man entered behind her and raised his eyebrows in surprise. Beatrix put her hands on Caroline's belly and began to siphon immediately, sending that the twins were moving around inside.

"What the hell happened?" said Stefan, coming over. "Valerie had just siphoned not too long ago."

"They're ready to come out," said Beatrix, biting her lip. "Alright— call the doctors that have been treating her and have her be prepped for her C-section, I'll need to go with them to get acquainted with the OR. Call Valerie. Get a whole wing shut down, if possible, to avoid anyone coming in and seeing.

"Sure," said Stefan, speeding out into the hallway. He pulled at two doctors who immediately kicked up a lock on Caroline's bed and began to roll it out, walking silently toward the nearest Operating Room. Beatrix felt her heart rate accelerating.

For one, she'd been far too busy these past months. She'd studied as much modern medicine as she could, but it was very different to actually be here. She really hoped that she had studied enough.

After scrubbing in and being given her gown by the other doctors, Beatrix moved forward and examined Caroline, looking up and seeing Stefan and Valerie outside the window, looking in worriedly. "Call Alaric," said Beatrix when she saw him. "His babies are ready to come into this world, and we can't wait much longer."

Stefan immediately picked up his phone, and Beatrix tried to concentrate on the task at hand instead of the phone call. It didn't seem like Alaric would make it within the next half hour.

"Alright," said Beatrix, looking around at the other doctors and nurses. She held her hand out. "Scalpel?"

"Here you are, Doctor," said one of the nurses, handing it to her. It gave Beatrix a thrill, remembering when she had done this decades ago. Perhaps, after this, she would go back to Medical School.

"Preparing to make the incision," Beatrix stated as she brought the blade down onto Caroline's belly. But when she pressed in, it didn't work. She tried to press slightly harder, but blood simply pooled out without an incision able to occur.

Behind her, the heart monitors were going haywire. They began to sound erratically as both babies' heart rates began to increase rapidly. Beatrix held up the scalpel and stopped cutting, letting out a shaky breath as the heart monitor began to beep normally again.

She looked up as Stefan and Valerie ran into the room. "What happened?" Stefan asked frantically.

"The babies don't want to be born," said Beatrix, setting the scalpel down. The tray of tools suddenly flew to the floor, and they all leapt away from it. "They want to stay inside to feed off of Caroline as a source of magic. The womb is too comfortable for them."

She started to pull Caroline's gown back over her tummy, but Stefan still looked confused. "So that's it? We leave them there?"

"Of course not," said Beatrix. "Valerie and I simply need to work out a spell first."

"A spell?" asked Stefan. "For what?"

"Oh," said Valerie pensively. "I think I see what you mean... if we create a magic source out here..."

"The babies will want to follow it," finished Beatrix. "But we need help. Are the other Heretics still around?"

"Mary Louise, Nora, and Beau are," said Valerie. "I will call them." She then darted out of the room.

"Good," said Beatrix, motioning for the other doctors to clean up. "We'll reconvene when the spell is ready. Right now, I need to get her back in her room and siphon a little so that the twins don't try and desiccate her again."

Stefan gave a grave nod. "What do I tell Alaric?"

Beatrix winced. "Maybe don't tell him yet. When he gets here, he can be informed of everything. No need to worry him the entire time he's waiting for his flight."

"Alright," said Stefan, coming over to help her wheel Caroline's bed back to her room. "So... how have you been? Everything was rushed when you arrived. You get a breather now."

The Heretic half-smiled. "I've been rushed for awhile now... lots to do. I've been... struggling. But I'm still alive."

Stefan bit his lip. "I... I am sorry, for your loss. I know that none of us even remotely liked him, but if he meant something to you, then that's still a loss. And it sucks that you had to experience that type of pain."

"Thanks, Stefan," said Beatrix gently. "Er— how are things with you?"

He hesitated. "Um... everything is fine." But it was clear he was lying. Something was bothering him and he didn't want to mention it. Beatrix had a terrible feeling it had to do with Elena. After all, she was still asleep...

They reached Caroline's room, they positioned her bed how it had been, and Beatrix waved her hands over her, beginning to bring her back She awoke with a gasp, and Stefan took her hand, sitting down with her and beginning to explain what'd happened.

"What do you mean they don't want to come out?" she said, sounding very concerned.

"They want to stay where the magic is," Beatrix chimed in. "They're getting a very steady stream of your blood and it's leaving them with a warm, comfortable, and magical place to reside in. Why would they ever want to leave?"

Caroline drew a deep breath. "So what do we do?"

"We'll need to channel enough magic outside your body so the babies are drawn to it," Beatrix said. "That way, when I try to bring them out, they won't resist."

She let out an irritated groan. "Funny, I didn't hear one medical word in all of that. Could someone just call Bonnie? I feel like she should be here."

Beatrix refrained from looking at Caroline. Stefan came to her rescue. "I'll call her. But maybe, er— Beatrix could go into more medical detail if that makes you comfortable."

"Yes, please," Caroline insisted. "By the way, where is Valerie?"

"She's... getting help," Stefan said hesitantly.

"What do you mean 'help?'"

Stefan made a face. "Uh... Nora, Mary Louise, and Beau..."

"Oh, that is just perfectly reasonable— putting my life and the lives of these babies into the hands of the people who tried to kill me!" Caroline shrieked.

"To be fair," noted Beatrix awkwardly, "you put the babies' lives in my hands and I kind of helped try and kill them. Not to mention I helped kill their biological mother."

"But Klaus trusts you!" Caroline said. "You've been a parent before, you helped raise his daughter, too. You've actually been to Medical School, and you're a siphon. The other Heretics..."

"Aren't going to do anything medical," Beatrix promised. "They just need to be chanting a spell to draw them out. At this moment, they're getting a lot of nutrients from you. But because of their siphon nature, they're also being fueled by your magic. See, in a normal witch mother, like mine, and the Parker mother, the siphon babies would be able to be nurtured by the magic, but due to the weakness in the mother's bodies, they know to hold back a bit and be patient. My mother had no idea I was a siphon because whenever I was feeding off her magic, it wouldn't cause side-effects. You are infused with a very specific kind of magic that they are drawn to and because your body is not as fragile, they are not stopping. Doesn't help that there is two of them. They don't know that they're hurting you. They just want the magic."

Caroline nodded slowly. "So if the Heretics do better magic, they'll want that, and then they'll be okay with getting out."

"Exactly," said Beatrix, patting her shoulder reassuringly. "Don't worry, it will be alright."

When Valerie returned with the other Heretics, they wasted no time in greetings, and quickly wrote down the spell they intended to use before wheeling Caroline back to the Operating Room.

"I'm going to put you to sleep just to make sure the babies aren't tempted to feed off of you if you get anxious," said Beatrix as the other doctors and nurses set up their materials all around the room. Caroline nodded worriedly, and Beatrix put her ungloved hand on her forehead. "Somnus uspat."

She went unconscious, and Beatrix put her other glove on. The Heretics moved around Caroline, linking hands while Stefan waited outside, calling Alaric.

"Start the spell, please," said Beatrix as she came to observe her tools.

Together, the other Heretics began to chant. "Phesmatos sequitos in lucema infantesi mortuous. Venis ad vitur. Venis ad essendier. Factuo partis viventia... Phesmatos sequitos in lucema infantesi mortuous..."

"Scalpel," said Beatrix, holding out her hand. The nurse handed it to her, and she brought it down where she had before, concentrating on the procedure and not the chanting all around her. "About to make the incision..."

Make the incision three centimeters above the pubic bone, carrying it down to the fascia. The bright white fascia will be surrounded by the yellow sub-q fat if this is the mother's first Caesarean section.

"Vitals are steady," said Beatrix as she cut in with one clean swipe. "Good. Ready to use blunt traction to spread the sub-q fat and expose the fascia..."

Suddenly, Beau's neck began to bleed, and he let out a gasp. "Oh my God, Beau!" said Nora.

"It's his scar," said Valerie as he staggered back.

"Out of the room," said Beatrix immediately. "Rayna Cruz— she's on her way. I need to get this underway."

The Heretics rushed out, and Beatrix forced herself to concentrate.

Use the scalpel to nick the fascia bilaterally to lateral to the midline.

"Rat-toothed pickups," said Beatrix, holding out her hand again. "Curved mayo scissors."

Both instruments were handed to her as she handed the doctor across from her the scalpel.

She dug in both the pickups and the scissors to extend the already made fascial incisions, making sure to curve in the direction of Caroline's head in order to minimize any bleeding. Hopefully, this would discourage her body from trying to heal itself and undo her work.

Avoid the inferior epigastric vessels. Use two hemostatic forceps to grasp the superior aspect of the fascia. Separate the rectus muscle from the fascial layer. Grasp the inferior aspect of the fascia using the hemostatic forceps. Spread lateral to medial.

"Use the Mayo scissors," Beatrix motioned to the doctor across from her. The woman nodded and began to sharply dissect the underlying rectus off the fascial layer.

"Metzenbaum scissors," she said next, taking the pickups in her left hand and taking the new scissors to enter the peritoneum sharply. "Use the bladder blade to keep the bladder out of the way."

The assistant doctor nodded. "Bovie." Beatrix handed back her scissors and pickups to take the bovie and take down the bilateral peritoneal adhesion bands. She spread the rectus muscles and then handed back her instruments, putting her hand inside of Caroline and beginning to palpate against her uterus.

At that moment, the monitors began to sound loudly again. "Damnit," said Beatrix loudly, looking up as Nora, Mary Louise, and Beau made their way out of the hospital. "The magic source! It's not lingering anymore, they're going into distress again." She faced the nurse as Valerie ran into the room. "Push point five milligrams of atropine."

"Pushing point five milligrams atropine," the nurse said. When it was done, she announced, "Atropine on board."

"Good," said Beatrix, letting out a slow breath as she looked up at Valerie. "We can wait here, a bit, because Caroline won't die. I want to give Alaric a chance to show up."

"You sure that's alright?" said Valerie worriedly.

"Yes, it's fine. In a normal mother, I couldn't leave her open like this. But the uterus is ready to be cut into, and I don't want the twins wanting to leap out until you've kept up the spell a good few times. I can help you for a bit."

Valerie nodded, and Beatrix removed her gloves, taking her hand. The two began to chant, "Phesmatos sequitos in lucema infantesi mortuous. Venis ad vitur. Venis ad essendier. Factuo partis viventia. Phesmatos sequitos in lucema infantesi mortuous. Venis ad vitur. Venis ad essendier. Factuo partis viventia... Phesmatos sequitos in lucema infantesi mortuous. Venis ad vitur. Venis ad essendier. Factuo partis viventia. Phesmatos sequitos in lucema infantesi mortuous. Venis ad vitur. Venis ad essendier. Factuo partis viventia..."

The door opened, and Stefan came in, coming to crouch beside Caroline and take her hand, entering her mind to likely give her some comfort.

The two Heretics did not cease their chanting. Over and over again, they kept at it, wanting to give the babies a real reason to want to get out. The aura around Caroline needed to be stronger than what Valerie could have managed on her own, and with the two of them, the twins would not object once the procedure continued, even if Valerie was the only one chanting.

The door opened once more, and Bonnie Bennett came in. Beatrix refrained from looking at her as she announced that Rayna Cruz had arrived at the hospital.

"How is she?" Bonnie asked quietly, looking up at Beatrix, who would not meet her gaze. Instead, she kept chanting with Valerie.

"They're waiting a bit to get the babies out so that Alaric can get here," said Stefan. "What's wrong?"

Bonnie winced. "Beau... didn't get away."

Valerie and Beatrix both stopped chanting. "No," breathed Valerie quietly. "No... no that's not possible."

Stefan cast her a sad look. "I'm so sorry, Valerie."

She let out a shaky sigh. "And what about the others?"

"I don't know," said Bonnie. "But I think Rayna's somewhere inside this hospital."

"Where's Damon?" asked Stefan.

Bonnie bit her lip, as if to say, 'where do you think?' "Not to make things worse, but my magic doesn't work on Rayna, and I don't think Damon can take her alone. Stefan... you have to go."

Stefan scoffed. "What are you talking about? I'm not going to leave her."

Beatrix moved back to get another pair of gloves. "Bonnie can help Valerie. We can't wait any longer for Alaric if Rayna Cruz is inside this hospital."

"Damon needs you," Bonnie pointed out.

"I don't care what Damon needs!" Stefan snapped.

Beatrix frowned at him. "Listen," she said coldly, "I don't know what made you hate him as much as I do, but I will not have you getting mad inside of my OR, not when I have a woman open on the table."

Bonnie decided to add on. "He's so determined to make things right that he's going to get himself killed. Do you honestly think I would do anything to put Caroline at risk?"

Once more, the doors burst open, but this time it was Alaric, and he looked shocked. "What the hell is going on here?"

"Stefan, go!" said Beatrix sharply as she took back the scalpel. "We'll take it from here."

He left, and the Heretic forced herself to ignore the baleful look coming from Alaric. Focus on the procedure, focus on the procedure...

Make a low transverse incision on the uterus with the scalpel. Stay on the incision line and go down layer by layer into the uterus.

Beatrix made certain to enter the hysterotomy bluntly, feeling as she went, while Bonnie and Valerie began to chant. Alaric took Caroline's hand, looking over the placed barrier at what Beatrix was doing, though he quickly crouched down to not look when he saw all the blood pooling out.

"Suction," she said once they opened and started getting amniotic fluid flowing out with the blood. The assistant suctioned, and Beatrix helped to clear out the surrounding blood.

"How are we doing?" asked Alaric nervously.

"Almost there," said Beatrix, not looking at him so that neither of them would feel uncomfortable. She had helped kill his wife almost a year ago and now, she was helping his twins be born, who she'd also tried to kill before...

When the assistant was done suctioning, Beatrix held her hand out to stop her. "Okay, that's enough. Reaching in to try and bring out baby number one."

Valerie and Bonnie continued to chant as Alaric stood. Beatrix moved her dominant hand in, locating the first baby's head and wrapping her hand around it, bringing it up to the level of the hysterotomy in the maternal cephalic position, avoiding flexing her wrist. "Apply fundal pressure," she told the assistant. The woman pressed down on her wrist as she began to pull the first baby out. "Deliver IV oxytocin to help the uterus contract."

"Delivering IV oxytocin," said the nurse as Beatrix pulled out the first baby girl. She and the assistant quickly clamped the first umbilical cord in two places before cutting, and Beatrix held up the baby for Alaric to see before handing her off to one of the nurses to be weighed and cleaned.

"Now, for baby two," said Beatrix. Once more, she dug her hand into Caroline's uterus and enclosed her palm around the second little girl's head, pulling her out and clamping and cutting her umbilical cord as well. She held up the baby for Alaric to see, and right as she handed her to the nurse, the first baby began to whimper and cry. Valerie and Bonnie stopped doing the spell, and Beatrix set down her tools, putting both hands back inside of Caroline to extract the placenta, ensuring that nothing of it remained inside of the uterus.

"Nice and healthy placenta," she noted. "Even though it's a vampire placenta, it can still be used for some stem cell research, so save that... okay, mama, time for you to heal."

She put her hands over the part of Caroline's belly that wasn't cut open, seeing the nurses had cleaned both twins and were handing them to Alaric to hold as they cried.

"Are they okay?" Bonnie asked.

"Yeah, they're okay," whispered Alaric as he looked down at them.

He looked up at Beatrix and she quickly looked away, beginning to chant. "Consano medeor opravit, děloha cos curar. Vyléčit sana spravit instaurabo sarcio, matrix corporis tělo. Consano medeor opravit, děloha cos curar. Vyléčit sana spravit instaurabo sarcio, matrix corporis tělo..."

She looked down and saw that little by little, Caroline's body was healing itself up. Each layer of her uterus repaired itself from where it had been cut, and Beatrix aided it by pulling back together where the incisions had been made. Within a few minutes and another series of chants, she was completely healed.

"Closing now," said Beatrix, ensuring the wound had closed properly. She removed her gloves and bit into her wrist, coaxing it into Caroline's mouth to help strengthen her a bit. She removed her own gown, which was stained with blood and amniotic fluid, and helped the other doctors move Caroline's bed back into her room for her to wake up once her body felt ready and fully healed.

Before Beatrix could leave, Alaric came up to her, the twins still in his arms. "I... I wanted to say thank you," he whispered. "You really came through."

"You don't need to say you forgive me," she mumbled quietly. "But a thanks is enough. This... was a good experience for me. It reminded me of the good I can do. I'm going to go back to Medical School in the fall. I want to be able to do this kind of stuff again."

Alaric offered her a smile. "How... how do you do it with all the blood?"

"I dunno, I've always managed to have quite a bit of self control. Maybe because I was sired by an Original. It doesn't affect me too much. If I concentrate enough on the procedure, nothing will faze me."

She turned back to Caroline, and bit her lips. "Good luck to you two, then," she said, though she didn't get to finish as Valerie and Bonnie ran in.

"Rayna got Stefan," said Valerie worriedly. "She— she marked him with her sword. He's on the run now."

"Give me his number," said Beatrix, pulling out her phone from the pocket of her scrubs. "I'll find him."

"Where will you go?" asked Valerie.

"I have someone who can help him," said Beatrix as she typed in Stefan's number from Valerie's phone. She didn't look at Bonnie before speeding out of the Hospital, and dialing Klaus's number.

"Beatrix," he replied. "Are you still in Mystic Falls?"

"Yes, but I will be on my way soon. I think someone will need your help. Stefan Salvatore's been marked by Rayna Cruz."

"Absolutely not," said Klaus immediately. "I will not have you bringing him to my city where my daughter sleeps at night."

"What if he can help with the Strix? The more people on our side, the better. The sireline de-linking will happen. But if we have an extra friend—"

"The prophecy, the prophecy! How can—" he then stopped. Beatrix could tell he must be smiling. "Bring him, love," he decided. "I have an idea. Meet us at the St. James Infirmary."

She hung up and dialed Stefan's number next.

"Who is this?"

"It's Beatrix," she answered. "Tell me where you are, and I'll meet you there. We need to go to New Orleans."

Since I'm not a surgeon yet, all credits for how I binge-learned about C-sections go to Dr. Kerry Campell, M.D. who, in 2017, made a 14 minute OB/Gyn Surgical Techniques YouTube video regarding how they work. Thanks, Doctor. Happy 500 pages!