Planetbound
Copyright© 2026 by D M Arnold
Chapter 10: I’m In Labor
Suki brushed her hair in the apartment’s bathroom. She walked into the bedroom carrying her hairbrush and holding a clip in her teeth. Nyk looked up from a box on the floor. In the box was a polymer fiber sack. He dipped into the sack and withdrew a handful of clear crystals.
“What are you going to do with those?”
“We’re going to need some money -- and not just to put away for that summer house. Do you think your uncle would know how to go about finding a market for raw diamonds?”
She clipped her hair into a ponytail. “He’s more likely to know than I.”
“What’s the best way to get to Jonathan’s shop?”
“City bus, I imagine. I don’t know what route, but you can check the MTA website.”
“I’ll do that in the morning.” Nyk returned the box to its hiding place in the closet. He hopped onto the bed. Suki slipped off her robe and lay beside him. He rolled against her back and slipped his hand around her belly. She stroked it and guided it so he could feel the baby kick. He kissed her shoulder. “Bon’noka, korlyta.”
Nyk stepped off the city bus and walked a block and a half to Jonathan’s shop. He stepped through the door and saw Suki’s uncle sitting behind a counter. “Nick Kane -- I didn’t expect to see you again so soon. I hope nothing’s wrong with that setting.”
“The setting’s fine. I came because I thought you might help me.”
“I’ll do my best.”
Nyk slipped a carton from his pocket. “I have some items I’d like to sell and I hoped you might have some ideas on how to find a buyer.” He handed the box to Jonathan.
“What have we here?” He opened the box and his eyes popped. “My goodness...” He picked up a crystal and held it up to the daylight. “I’ve been in this business for ... well, for longer than I care to admit. I’ve never held an uncut diamond.” He looked at the crystal through a lens. “I’m no judge of raw stones, but I can’t see a flaw! How did you come by these?”
“I’d rather not say. I assure you they’re not stolen -- they’re mine, free and clear.”
Jonathan picked up another crystal. “This one’s nearly as nice.”
“There are more where those came from.”
“More?” Jonathan looked up at him. “Nick, I run a small retail shop. I’m not a cutter or lapidarist -- my trade is in finished gems. I’m in no position to buy these from you.”
“I’m not asking you to buy them. I was hoping you’d have some ideas.”
Jonathan picked up a third stone. “Look at this -- a perfect crystal.” He replaced the cover on the box. “If you’d be willing to let me hold onto these for a while, I’d like to show them to my supplier when he comes by. He might have some ideas.”
“Keep them as long as you like.”
“Nick ... Nick...” Nyk felt Suki shaking him. He opened his eyes. “Nick -- I think I’m in labor.”
“Are you sure?”
“No -- I’ve never been in labor before. It started with a cramping feeling in my lower back.” She grimaced. “There it is again.”
“How often?”
“About twenty minutes.”
“Put your bag together. I’ll wake your folks.” Nyk slipped into a pair of jogging pants and a shirt and headed down the stairs. He rapped on Suki’s parents’ bedroom door. “Yasuko ... Yasuko...” Suki’s mother opened the door a crack. “Yasuko, Suki thinks she’s in labor.”
“I’ll wake George and he’ll bring the car around -- then I’ll be up.”
Nyk climbed the stairs. Suki was brushing her hair. “Do I look all right?”
“Does it matter?”
“It matters to me.”
“You look great. I’ll help you downstairs. Your father’s getting the car.”
Nyk escorted her out the front door and into the car. He helped her into the back seat and sat beside her. She held his hand and leaned against him.
Suki lay on her back in the hospital bed. A nurse entered. “I want to start an IV.”
“Is that necessary?” Suki asked.
“It’s a precaution. If we need to give you any meds in a hurry, it’ll be there.” The nurse began preparing an IV. catheter. “You’ll feel a prick.” She inserted it into a vein on the back of her left hand. “You say you don’t want an epidural?”
“I don’t.”
“I hope you’ll let the doctor administer a cervical block.” The nurse jotted some notes on a chart and left the room.
Nyk looked at the fetal monitor display. Suki grabbed his hand. “Another one...”
He stroked her arm and looked at her face. She was breathing slowly and deeply, her eyes closed. Nyk could see the contraction build, peak and recede on the fetal monitor. She opened her eyes.
“I thought you were supposed to be panting and blowing.”
“When it’s your body, you can deal with it your way. I’m using meditation techniques.” She reached up and hooked her arm around his neck, drew his face near hers and kissed his cheek. “I’m also using what I learned from our Floran lovemaking technique -- to divide my mind and force the sensations to the back.” She kissed his cheek again. “It works for this, too,” she said and gripped his hand. “Another.”
“They’re coming fast, now.”
She nodded and closed her eyes. Nyk could see her body relaxing -- the only tension her clenched jaw and her grip on his hand.
“It’s amazing,” he said as he caressed her abdomen. “I can see him moving down.”
The nurse returned and felt under Suki’s drape. “About six centimetres. She’s doing well -- most moms-to-be are begging for an epidural by now.”
Suki’s obstetrician, an older woman with grey hair, entered her room. “Sorry to get you out of bed,” Suki said.
“It’s not the first time.”
Suki closed her eyes for another contraction. She let out a moan as it peaked, then gasped and panted. “That was a good one. The worst part is resisting the urge to push.”
The doctor nodded. “You’ll have your chances to push.” She checked her. “Eight centimetres. Almost party time -- I’ll go put on my scrubs.”
Nyk walked into the waiting room. Yasuko was pacing and George was reading a six-month-old Readers’ Digest. “Shouldn’t you be in there?” she asked.
“Her doctor is administering a cervical block. She brandished the biggest needle I’ve ever seen. I got a bit lightheaded and the nurse thought a change of scenery would do me some good. So far, it’s been textbook.”
“Nick -- She couldn’t have done this without you.” Yasuko smiled. “I’m looking forward to being a grandmother.”
“I’d better get back in there.” He returned to Suki’s room. The doctor was sitting at the foot of her bed.
“She’s almost there,” the nurse said. “She just hit nine.”
Nyk looked into Suki’s face. She was panting. “I want to push so badly.”
“A couple more and we’ll have you push,” the doctor said.
Suki took a deep breath and clenched Nyk’s hand. He watched the monitor and felt her relax as the contraction passed.
“Push on the next one,” the doctor said. Suki closed her eyes and grimaced. Her face reddened and veins in her neck protruded. “I see a crown.” Suki gasped and panted. “Another push like that and you’ll shoot the little sucker across the room.” Suki grimaced again. The doctor took a pair of forceps, gave a tug and held the newborn infant. Nyk heard the baby cry. “It’s a boy.”
Suki held her son as Nyk sat beside her. Her parents entered her room. “How do you feel?” Yasuko asked.
“Tired and sore. The block is wearing off. I plan to nurse him. They’ll get us started on that shortly.”
“Six pounds thirteen ounces,” her mother said. “Not a bad size. Have you thought about a name?”
“I’ve known from the start what I’d name him. I’m naming him after Nick. We’ll call him Nicky -- until he’s a little older.”
“Sukiko...”
“Yes, Daddy?”
George handed her a flat box. “This is yours.” She slipped the cover from the box and removed a layer of cotton wool. Inside was the golden Kyhana crest. “I know we haven’t always seen eye-to-eye. Today, I’m proud of you. You stood your ground, did what you thought was right and damned conventional wisdom. And it was right -- you turned adversity -- something terrible -- into something very good.” He brushed a tear from his face. “He’s an adorable little boy. I’m proud to be his grandfather,” he said as he took her hand. “I’m proud to be your father.”
She reached with her free arm and hugged him. “Thank you, Daddy.” She handed the box to Nyk. “You’ll keep this safe until we can find a proper home for it?”
“You can trust me.” He regarded the object and traced the three katakana characters with his finger.
“Your dad and I are heading back to the house,” her mother said. “I’ll finish getting the nursery ready.”
“Mom ... Daddy -- thanks for being here.”
“Do you need a ride?” George asked.
“I’ll find my own way home,” Nyk replied. George nodded, slipped his arm around Yasuko and headed down the corridor.
A nurse entered with a clipboard. “Here’s the paperwork for the birth certificate. I need the spellings of the names. Mother is Sukiko Kyhana?”
“Yes.”
“Father?”
“Unknown.” The nurse looked at Nyk. “He’s not the father. The child was conceived in a rape.”
“And you carried him anyway,” the nurse replied. “God bless you. I need the child’s name.”
“I’ll fill it in,” Suki said and handed the infant to Nyk. “Where?”
“There,” the nurse pointed. Suki jotted the name on the document and handed the clipboard to the nurse. “An unusual spelling.”
Nyk handed the child to Suki. “May I see?” He looked at the document and saw she had written the name Nykkyo Nicholas Kane Kyhana. He looked at Suki, his vision blurred with tears.
The nurse took the clipboard. “One of the pediatric nurses will be by to help you start feeding...” she looked at the document.
“Nicky,” Suki said. “We’ll call him Nicky.”
Nyk looked at her. “You didn’t have to do that.”
“I wanted someone on this planet to use that beautiful name.” She stroked his face. “You told me, when the time came, I must follow my heart. The time came, and so I did.”
Nyk rapped on the door to Suki’s hospital room. “Howdy, stranger,” he said. She opened her arms and embraced him. “How are you feeling today?”
“I’m feeling okay. We go home tomorrow.”
A nurse entered pushing a bassinet. “Feeding time. If you’ll excuse us...”
“He can stay,” Suki said. She opened her gown. The nurse handed Nicky to her and Suki offered him her breast. “Thank you -- we’ll be fine for a while.”
“He really latches on,” Nyk said.
“Yes. I think we’re getting the hang of this.” She stroked the baby’s hair and back.
“He has your color.”
“He’s a little jaundiced -- not that you’d know. I doubt you’d know if I were jaundiced.”
“Is that normal?”
“Normal enough.”
Nyk heard a rap on the door. He cracked it open and saw Yasuko. “It’s your mom.”
“Come in, Mom.”
Yasuko stood in the room. “I’m sorry to interrupt.”
“It’s okay. Giving birth is a great way to lose your modesty.”
Yasuko looked at the tag on the bassinet. “Nik...”
“It’s Nee-KEE-Yo. For now, we’ll call him Nicky.”
“Where on Earth did you come up with that name?”
“It came to me...” she said looking into Nyk’s eyes. “ ... from outer space.”
“I thought you were naming him after Nick.”
“I did. Nick’s name inspired me.”
“I hope you’re not starting a family tradition of oddball names.”
“Oh, no. That tradition’s already established.”
“What do you mean?”
“Yasuko ... Sukiko ... Nykkyo -- they’re all odd names.”
“My name and yours are not odd.”
“Not in Japan -- but they are unusual here.”
“What do you think of all this?” Yasuko asked Nyk.
“It’s Suki’s choice. I think it’s a fine name.”
Nyk cradled Nicky in his arms. “Okay, little buddy. I’ll take you on a tour of your new home. Here’s your room -- your bed. I know it looks big, but you’ll grow into it. This is the kitchen. It’s probably not too important to you right now. When you’re ready, here it is. Over here’s the bathroom -- we’ll spend a little time in here every day. Now, this is Mommy and Nick’s room. You’re welcome here, too. There’s just one rule. If the door’s closed, knock first.” He heard Suki giggling from the living room.
“What do you think?” she asked, holding the golden pendant against the wall.
Nyk shrugged. “It’s up to you. I have no taste when it comes to such.”
“I think it needs something to balance it. Daddy had the dagger hanging with it.” She looked up. “I don’t want that.”
“What if it were in a frame? It might protect it -- for the many generations to come.”
“That’s a good idea. I’ll look for a frame -- I’ll bet Mom has some in the basement.” She set the crest on the table and put her arms around Nyk. “I never imagined I’d have the pendant.”
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