Alien Proliferation

the next thing I remember is hearing Aerosmith, which was great, I have to say.”
    “Tim insisted it would pull you back. I guess he was right.”
    “But I don’t remember anything else. At all. How long was I supposedly dead?”
    “No supposedly, and several minutes. Brain dead first, then your body started to go.”
    “My brain’s fine.”
    “Yeah. I call it a miracle. First James and then you. I’ll take miraculous recoveries for the people I love, believe me.”
    I leaned my head back against Jeff’s shoulder while he rocked me and the baby gently. Closed my eyes, and talked in my head. ACE, are you there?
    ACE is here, Kitty. ACE is sorry, ACE could not warn Kitty about Christopher. It would be . . . interfering.
    I know, ACE. You do a great job of helping when we really need you to and letting us be alive and make mistakes when we can probably handle it. Do you think Christopher will recover?
    ACE believes so. Christopher was so afraid, but Jeff and Richard and Kitty did the right things. Christopher is still afraid, but not as much.
    Speaking of afraid . . . Jeff and everyone else say I died. I don’t remember.
    Kitty was . . . not there . . . for a while. ACE sounded evasive. Usually meant he desperately wanted to tell me something but felt it would be wrong. Which also meant he wanted me to figure it out myself.
    Did you bring me back?
    No. Kitty did that herself.
    Did you take me away? To protect me from the pain? I could remember that the labor pains had been fast and horrible.
    No . . . ACE did not do that.
    The way he said it made me really think. Jamie made some baby noises, and I cuddled her a little more while Jeff stroked her head. I looked at her and considered what it would have been like to never get to hold her.
    ACE? Jamie is very powerful, isn’t she?
    Yes, Kitty. Jeff is right to be concerned.
    Are you helping her, like you did Naomi, Abigail, and Serene? ACE was silent. ACE, really, there is no way in the world I would be upset if you are. I’m thankful you helped the other girls, why wouldn’t I want you to help my baby?
    ACE is not sure if that is too much interference, if ACE is disrupting God’s plans by helping.
    You said God gave us free will. That means you have free will, too, ACE.
    ACE supposes Kitty is right.
    Jamie wasn’t head down when she was about to come out. I tried to tell her to turn, but I felt someone else helping, too. I thought it was Jeff, but it was you, wasn’t it?
    Yes, Kitty. ACE can speak to Jamie differently than Kitty can.
    Thank you, for doing that. She could have died if she’d come the wrong way.
    ACE knows. Jeff asked ACE to save Kitty. But ACE could not. Jeff asked ACE to kill Jeff, if Kitty died. But ACE could not have done that.
    I hated hearing that, but I was extremely glad I’d recovered. I still couldn’t figure out how I’d almost died, though, especially with no memory of anything.
    But I’m here.
    Yes. ACE, like everyone else, is happy.
    Jeff was really worried about me dying in childbirth. He mentioned it a lot when I started labor.
    Yes. Jeff was right.
    Again, something in how ACE said that line made my mind tickle. ACE? If Jeff hadn’t been worried about that . . . would I still have almost died?
    Thudding silence in my mind. I looked down at my sleeping baby. Who knew how babies in the womb thought? How a superpowerful baby in the womb, who was the daughter of the galaxy’s most powerful empath, thought?
    Did Jamie, uh, kill me?

 
    CHAPTER 24
     
    N O! JAMIE DID NOT UNDERSTAND! Ace sounded freaked and ready to defend the baby. This was probably a good thing. Nice to have the superconsciousness as your real fairy godfather.
    She thought she was supposed to? Jeff had been afraid of me dying, not looking forward to it.
    Kitty was only in danger if Jamie had been taken from Kitty.
    Connection to the baby meant still connected to life?
    Yes. ACE was relieved James did not give up hope.
    Did you tell him not to?
    No. James will never give up on Kitty, as Kitty will never give up on James.
    Good to know. So, what are the chances my next child will be like this?
    ACE cannot see the future, Kitty. The future is not set. Every act changes it.
    Okey-dokey. So, did Jamie bring me back?
    No, Jamie could not. Only Kitty could bring Kitty back.
    Power of the will and all that?
    In a way. ACE believes Jamie will not do something like that again.
    Well, she’s already born.
    Silence.
    ACE? Is she capable of killing