PeaceMaker

Annabeth looked at him with confliction in her gaze, her head quickly spiraling to Alice once she groaned again. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw it, the reflex of Justin's hand trying to move in her direction. Trying to help her.

He wanted to save her.

She moved aside, allowing him to pass and immediately Justin swooped down and gently lifted Alice off the ground into a princess carry. 

"B-be careful…" Annabeth called out, immediately standing up on her position on the ground, rising to their side to assist in the little she could. 

Justin simply nodded his head, his eyes glued on Alice's pale face. "I know," he replied, his steps immediately going forward with her laying in his arms. 

Quickly, they ran into the mansion, a sense of panic running through both of them, especially Justin. He looked down at Alice and then back up again and then back to her. "Alice, Alice, hello?"

After a second of silence, she began to stir. "No... let go of me… let go-"

"Are you ok? How do you feel? Where does it hurt?" He asked, ignoring her immediate refusals. "Can you hear me? How do you feel? Don't worry, you'll be ok."

Alice laid there in silence for a moment, shuddering when she felt another contraction. "Hard… it feels hard," she thought to herself, "my st-tomach is tight… it hurts... They're getting worse… bigger… harsher. Ahh!!" 

Justin looked down at her with concern again as they moved up the stairs that lead up into the mansion's first floor, out of the basement. "D-Don't worry…" he muttered as he looked down at her, "everything will be fine, you'll be fine, the pain will go away soon…"

Alice simply listened, her lips quivering as another wave of pain washed over her. It was more painful than the last and it lasted longer, like dull knives hacking away at her body. Dull knives that were slowly sharpening. Excruciating pain in her back and around her uterus. It didn't seem like it was going to reduce. 

It wasn't going away.

"As soon as we get up there, go get some servants," Justin asked, turning to Annabeth that ran quickly behind him. In her eyes, there was still an immense feeling of fear and confusion but she seemed to have pulled it together, her pace more steady than earlier. 

She immediately nodded her head to his comment. "You go into the large guest room while I get the servants. I'll alert mother and father about the situation and we'll get a physician as quickly as we can."

"Understood," Justin nodded, looking up ahead as they reached the last few steps to the first floor. Seconds later they reached the floor and ran to the guest room, pulling the door open immediately and rushing inside. 

Justin slowly placed Alice on the bed, his hold so ginger on her body that she couldn't even feel it. Not though the waves of pain she was feeling. 

Annabeth stood there for a moment, watching Justin kneel down on the ground beside the bed, his hand brushing back a few of the strands on Alice's face behind her ears. On his face was an anxious expression, worry, nervousness. It was genuine. 

She cocked her head to the side, gazing at his face. 

She had never seen him make a genuine worried or nervous expression. Especially towards someone that wasn't himself. 

Justin turned back, his dazed eyes locking with Annabeth. It was like it took him a moment to realize that she was still there. "Why are you still here?! Go GET HELP!" he yelled, his voice quivering in anxiety. 

Annabeth stared at him blankly for a moment before nodding her head again. "Justin.." she called out. 

"Yes??" he replied with a hurried tone, " what is it??" 

"Look after her well," she muttered, "do not hurt her."

Justin froze, maintaining eye contact with Annabeth as her words repeated in his head. 'Look after her well…' he thought to himself as his hands shook in a fretful manner. They stayed in a lock with Annabeth for another moment before turning to look at Alice and her pale face. Her beauty, still visible in such a pained state. It was worrisome… it made him feel like he had to treasure it… to protect it.

He turned back to Annabeth. 

"Promise me," she called out, her eyes holding a glare of command, and some... Just a little sprinkle, of trust. 

He nodded his head, his head turning back to Alice and watching her with worried eyes. "I promise."There was a little smile that crossed her face when he had said that. The tiniest smile that she herself wouldn't even admit she made. But when she stepped out of the room, she felt it linger on her face. 

Quickly, she ran to the quarters of the servants, banging on every single of one the rooms that held at least 10 servants behind their doors. "COME OUT! COME OUT1! TO THE GUEST ROOM, NOW!!" 

She ran to the front of the halfway and stood there for a few moments as the servants poured out of the rooms, running out frantically into the hallway. "Y-Young madam!" they greeted in unison.

"Follow me," Annabeth instructed, running down the hallway at a speed so fast that some servants struggled to keep up. 

As the long line of people flowed behind her, she ran to her parents' room and once there turned back to the servants. "Go to the large guest room, Alice is in labor,"

Despite the alarmed faces of some of the servants, she showed no hesitancy in her command, and immediately, the servants did as they were told, moving towards the guest room as Annabeth opened the door to her parent's room. 

Once inside, she moved quickly to the large bed in the middle of the room and shook the first body she touched on the bed. The only body on the bed. "Wake up! Mother, wake up!!" she called out shaking her mother awake immediately, "we have a huge problem right now, there's something going on with Alice, she's in labor and we need a physicia-"

"Woah..Woah.. What in the- take your time Annabeth.. I-I don't understand you," Mrs. Crowly stuttered as she woke up, sitting up in her bed. 

A flash of annoyance passed through Annabeth's eyes. "THERE IS NO TIME!! SHE'S IN LABOR!"

"Lay- what now?" said Mr. Crowly, his voice turning her head to the left side of the room where he woke up from his sleep on a sofa. 

"I- why the fu- I SAID LABOR! ALICE IS IN LABOR!!" Annabeth screamed. 

"That pregnant girl?"Mrs. Crowly muttered absentmindedly. She sat there for a moment in silence until her eyes widened in surprise and bewilderment. "SHE'S IN WHAT?!" 

"SHE'S IN LABOR!! We need to get a physician to her at this moment! We don't have many people in this place that are capable of actually making someone give birth," Annabeth exclaimed. 

Mrs. Crowly immediately jumped off the bed, rushing to the door and slipping on a random coat. "Where is she?" she asked. 

Annabeth hurriedly followed her as they walked down the hallway, the scrambled movements of Mr. Crowly closely following them. "The guest room. She went into labor while she was outside and me and Justin had to hurry in with her and take her to the guest room."

Mrs. Crowly took a turn in the hallways, heading down the one leading to the guest room. She could spot it from the end of the hallway by all the movement that surrounded the door. Even Maria and Jena were now hovering by the door, peeking in and out every time a servant would rush in and run out with bloodied sheets. 

"Oh my gosh... " Mrs. Crowly muttered as she looked at one of the bloodied sheets on a servant that passed her. Her pace quickened as she ran to the room, pushing past the servants and into the room where she spotted Alice. 

Pale, huffing in exhaustion and squirming in the bed with little gasps of pain, and by her side was Justin, holding her hand as he whispered something she couldn't hear. 

"This…" Mrs. Crowly mumbled, her eyes trailing to the pool of blood on the sheets Alice laid on top of. "So much…" She turned to her husband who was standing by the doorway, a blank expression plastered onto his face. "DON'T JUST STAND THERE, CALL THE PHYSICIAN!!" she yelled at him, immediately forcing him out of his thoughts and watching him turn and dash down the hallway. 

Annabeth walked towards Justin and Alice, standing beside him. "How is she?"

Justin turned to Alice looking down at her, "She's in a lot of pain," he muttered as she squeezed his hand. He gave her a reassuring smile, squeezing her hand back. "But it's ok. She'll be ok," he nodded, his second hand holding Alice's hand. "You'll be ok Alice.. I know it."