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“You’ll wanna get a weighted belt.”
Wade hadn’t really understood Gale’s friendly warning at first when he mentioned to his boss that his and Ember’s daughter had just reached 5 months old. Now, recounting last night’s ‘floating’ escapade, the cloud woman’s words were actually a wise omen.
“I turned my back for a second, and she had seemed to vanish! I started to panic, like she evaporated right under my nose.” Wade mentioned, gripping his daughter just a little tighter. He then loosened his grip with a chuckle. “But then her diaper fell right in front of me like it fell out of the sky! I looked up, and she was crawling on the ceiling!” His shuddering laughter forced tears in the corner of his eye. He bounced the infant, Misty, in his arm and tickled her pillowy belly. “Miss Misty was a nakey baby! Weren’t you?”
Misty rolled with giggles in reply. Fat drops of drool moistened her new, weighted bib.
“We start to see cloud-children her age begin to float. The control over the floating doesn’t happen for another few months, however.” Ember’s obstetrician-turned-Misty’s-
pediatrician adjusted her glasses on her long, branch-like nose. Dr. Bushwhick had been by the couple's side since Misty’s surprise conception. As a doctor with a strong background in child development, she claimed the case for her own, eager to spearhead any potential findings. The fact that Misty adored her was merely a bonus. “I suggest the bib stay on for a while until Misty’s a little older and can control her cumulous qualities a little more precisely. Aside from the floating scare, there’s nothing of any major concern?”
“Nothing I can think of!” Wade responded, grateful for Dr. Bushwhick’s dedication and willingness to see them outside of her normal hours for potential emergency situations. “The oils blend formula you’ve recommended is still working, and Misty loves the slush solids so far. I sometimes wish she’d take her naps a little easier, but I think that’s just some of mom’s temperament showing up.” Misty babbled as if offended, but showed no hard feelings when Wade blew raspberries against her chubby cheeks.
Before the father-daughter pair could get up from the exam table, Dr. Bushwhick cleared her throat. “Mr. Ripple, before you go, I was hoping I could ask you something. A favor of sorts. You’re more than welcome to decline of course.”
Detecting the obvious nerves in the doctor’s voice, Wade flashed her a reassuring smile, nodding his head to show how attentive he’d be. “Of course, Doc. What can we do?”
Spindly wooden fingers picked nervously at the doctor’s unruly leaves. “I was wondering if you and your wife would consider submitting Misty as a case study.”
Taken aback, Wade shifted Misty to his hip, unconsciously moving the baby farther from the trusted doctor as if she were ready to pluck the baby from him herself. “Study? Like tests and stuff?” He asked, unable to mask the quiver of worry in his paternally driven tone.
“No, no!” Dr. Bushwhick blurted out, shaking her hands out from her torso. “Not invasive testing at all!”
Wade cocked a brow, giving the doctor permission to explain herself without interruption. He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t intrigued by her sudden proposal.
Clearing her throat, now much calmer than before, Dr. Bushwhick began. “My colleagues back at my Alma Mater, Mineral Medical University, are on a development research team. I probably shouldn’t have without your explicit permission, but I mentioned to the head of the team, a close friend of mine, about my work with Misty. Mr. Ripple, you don’t need me to tell you that your daughter is truly special, and I’m not saying that in a ‘my kid is always special’ way. Misty is very likely the first baby of her kind, at least as far as we know, since no other case of a steam infant has ever been recorded and released.
The element developmental psychology team wants to have Misty as the subject of a longitudinal case study. This just means the team would meet with Misty periodically throughout her life, at least until you or Misty herself object at any point. These meetings are solely observational, meaning the researchers would just observe Misty in as natural of an environment as possible and record her behavior. And of course, any medical findings would also be recorded, like her visits with me.”
This last statement made Wade pull back slightly and place his free arm over Misty’s body, a movement the doctor picked up quickly. She put her hands up in a ‘surrender-like’ gesture, her next words through apologetic teeth. “We don’t expect anything bad! They would be like the same checkups and recordings we’d do for any other child.”
“Misty isn’t ‘any other child’,” Wade argued, a surprising twinge of pride coating words that were intended to be stern. “You said so yourself.” He smiled to ease the tension in the exam room.
Dr. Bushwhick reflected his smile, no doubt relieved. “That’s very true. What I mean to say, is that we wouldn’t do any exploratory exams or tests without initial concern behind it. If I’m being honest, Mr. Ripple, I personally doubt it would be an issue.” She breathes deeply, and the next few words feel like hers, not mandated med-speech. “I would personally advocate for Misty’s study because she herself has defeated all odds. YOU have defeated all odds, yourself and your wife. Her existence had felt impossible, but here she is, living- no, THRIVING. She marvels us every time she visits our office.”
Misty let out a triumphant giggle like she knew she was the praised subject of the conversation. Wade takes her small hand and kisses it sweetly. “She seems to have that effect on people.” He says only half joking.
“This little baby is proof that maybe the world doesn’t work the way we had thought it did for so long. She’s also a sign that there will be more children like her. In my practice, I’ve already seen a few more inter-elemental couples wanting to conceive in just the past few years. Though few are as outwardly opposing elements like yourself and Mrs. Lumen, our world is changing- evolving. And Misty is the sign of our first step.”
There was a silence between all parties in the room, even Misty bringing her panting-like noises to a stop. Wade took a moment to truly see his daughter, this beautiful, for lack of a better term, miracle. A total opposition to what their surroundings had told him. He pondered the doctor’s words, remembering the fear but undeniable joy their little ‘surprise’ gave them the moment they saw her slight, but ever-present figure on Ember’s first ultrasound. Misty was their gift, but what if she could be a gift to the rest of the world? Before he knew it, fat tears were rolling down his cheeks, a flick of his wrist flinging them aside before he spoke again.
“Would she get a choice, Y’know, when she’s older?”
Dr. Bushwhick’s smile grew, the flowers towards her roots opening. “Of course! We’ll even use a pseudonym to maintain everyone’s privacy. You or Misty can back out of the study at any time, though we’d encourage it to continue until she reaches puberty at least.”
“Don’t make me think about that just yet. She’s already growing up too fast for me.”
Both adults shared a chuckle before the doctor slipped a twiggy digit into Misty’s grasp. She looked up to Wade with sincerity. “Being the first is always scary. You don’t know what to expect. Everyone looks to you like you have all the answers, when you have no guidance from people before you. 'Firsts' are always challenging. But they're also beautiful, maybe even a little exciting. There’s no guidebook or instructional manual for raising a steam child like Misty, or any mixed element child for that matter. Your daughter and the information we can gain from this study can be the start of that guidebook, so other parents can feel safe, so they won’t feel alone.”
Alone. Wade knew the feeling all too well, and if he could spare anyone else that displeasure, he was sure he would. “I’ll talk to Ember about it tonight. We’ll hopefully have an answer for you by this week if that’s okay.”
“Please take your time. I know it’s so much to ask of you. Hell, I wouldn’t be mad if you said no, and I know exactly why you would. I just really hope you’ll really consider it.”
With that, Wade and little Misty took their leave, exiting the office with far more to consider than a rogue floating baby.
——————————————-
“They want to do what?!” Ember asked, her shift into violet hues matching the exasperation in her voice. The highest point of her flame nearly grazed the ceiling of the train cart they were currently taking home.
Wade patted an apprehensive hand on her knee, reeling back when more steam than expected resulted from the contact. “Dr. Bushwhick said it’d be a great way to track the development of mixed-element kids. Give us a better understanding.” He did his best to advocate as quietly as he could, not wanting to catch any more attention from fellow passengers.
“Don’t tell me you’re actually considering this?!” Ember huffed. “Turning our daughter into a spectacle! She’s just a baby!”
“She not just a baby, Ember! She’s special. The first of her kind, as far as we know.” Wade took Ember’s hands into his own, awkwardly shifting his arms so as to not smother the baby in question that was strapped down to his chest. “I was really skeptical too, trust me! But the doctor really struck a chord with me after explaining it. Misty can be anonymous the whole time, and it’s not like she’s gonna be on TV or anything. Just trusted doctors and scientists monitoring her development.”
“You know that makes her sound like an experiment, right?” Ember retorted, her anger dying down just enough to regain her coloring. “What if they want to do some crazy tests on her? What if…” she paused, looking at her giggling baby, and dropping to a whisper. “What if they hurt her?”
Overcome with empathy, Wade’s posture softened, an arm enveloping his wife to his side. “Oh, Em, they won’t hurt her. Dr. Bushwhick assured me that they’ll only be observing her behavior, just watching her as she grows up.”
“So stalking her? Yeah, that’s so much better,” Ember’s biting sarcasm left an argument still floating heavily in the air. “I just don’t want our daughter to be paraded around like some ‘freak of nature.’ You know as well as I do how cruel people can be.”
“I know, but these aren’t regular people. They want what’s best for Misty like we do. They want to know why and how she’s just so amazing.” In a feeble attempt to lighten the mood, he wiggled his eyebrows and let his fingers crawl up Ember’s arm to her shoulder. “Maybe they’ll find out it’s because she’s got the best, most beautiful mother in the world.”
A minuscule smile accompanied Ember’s eye roll, but she still tensed under his touch with internal conflict. Wade felt this and strengthened his tone. “Ember, think about the other people like Misty. Think about the parents like us, who are just winging it right now. Don’t you wish we had some kind of advice? We could give that to other people.”
Before the next rebuttal could leave Ember’s lips, the train came to a halt at the next station, and out of the many passengers that entered, two caught her eye. An air-man and water-woman took a seat across from them, their hands met in a tentative hold. They shifted their eyes around the train, noticeably at unease with the anticipation of backlash. Their gaze stopped abruptly at Wade and Ember, then immediately towards Misty.
Always somehow a step ahead of anyone else, Misty began to pant and flap her limbs in excitement. She returned the couple’s stare but added a friendly flare and gummy grin. All parties involved melted and smiled back.
“She’s so cute.” The water-woman gushed, latching onto her gentleman’s arm, ringing him into her admiration. from their mouths exploded a tirade of compliments and comments on Misty's cutest attributes. The water-woman took a long pause, the contemplation of what to say next read heavily on her face. “Did you two…adopt?”
Ember was able to hide her wince. She had heard this question before, and though she was annoyed, she pushed a grin past it. “Nope. Trust me, that labor was very real.” Ember braced for the following sneer or scoff in disgust and judgment, but was surprised when she received neither. Instead, both young adults lit up and glanced at each other, the grasp of their hands growing tighter.
“See?” The air-man practically squealed, not managing to hold a whisper. “I told you it was possible!” His hands traveled to the woman’s flat midsection. Her hands met his there, but their eyes never left one another.
Ember could see tears brimming in the corners of their eyes. She knew that stare, and she knew those tears. She and Wade felt and experienced those exact gestures. That wave of hope and joy crashing through all disbelief. The hint of fear that was slowly drowned out by uncontainable glee. She most certainly recognized that look. Ember stared at the pair for longer than she’d deem socially acceptable, then tore her gaze away to admire the little steam bundle that had yet to cease her excited kicking, no doubt digging her little heels into her father’s torso. She admired the newness of her daughter, appreciating the uncertainty of it all. This tiny bubble, embodying all the supposed impossibility of her and Wade’s love. A treasure too precious to selfishly hoard to oneself.
Ember finally met Wade’s eyes, noticeably damp from the wholesomeness of the train ride. “We’ll call Dr. Bushwhick when we get home.”