A/N: And here is, yet again, another one-shot that my co-writer of the courtship fanfic chose. If you want to choose one, just go to my profile and scroll down until you see a list in bold. You can choose up to three and when you choose them or it, P.M. me to tell me or tell me in a review.
"Come on, Zelda," Link coached as Zelda breathed in and out, clutching to his hand like she never did before. "Breathe in and out. In and out." Link took his free hand and rubbed it up and down Zelda's sweaty clothed back. Sweat was shown all over her. Her face, her neck, her arms, everywhere. She had been doing this for nearly six hours and Zelda, for some strange reason, felt the need to hit someone. It was unlikely for her to want to do that and her source of doing that was on Link. But she knew better. She held it back. "You're almost done with this contraction. Just hang in there."
"It hurts so badly, Link," Zelda whimpered once the contraction was over, putting her head on his shoulder. A few tears made it down her cheeks and Link wiped them away with his thumb.
"I know, Zelda, I know," Link soothed, rubbing her back gently.
"You're lucky you're not a woman," Zelda weakly teased. Link smiled at that, chuckling to himself.
"But I understand the pain you're feeling." Link held up the hand that Zelda was holding through the contractions, which hurt very badly. He waved it to try to get the numbness out of his hand and only some went away. Zelda smiled at him guilty.
"I'm sorry," she said quietly. Link shook his head.
"You hold it all you want," Link told her, grasping her hand. "You're in pain and you need something to squeeze on. Don't worry." Link kissed her head. "We'll have our own baby to hold and to love soon."
"And quite soon, I might add," Rusl said, appearing in the room, closing the door behind him. Link furrowed his eyebrows.
"Yeah…" he said slowly, sitting on the edge of the bed and wrapping an arm around Zelda's back. "About that. Around you sure you know how to deliver a baby?"
"Who do you think deliver Colin?" Rusl chuckled. He pulled a chair to him, in front of the bed, and sat on it. Rusl patted Zelda's foot and gave her a smile. "Let's see how you're doing, shall we?" Zelda only nodded, leaning back in the bed. After Rusl had checked Zelda to see how the process was doing, his eyes were wide. "Well…that baby sure wants to get out of there!" Link tilted his head to the side while Zelda paid no attention, for another contraction was coming in.
"What do you mean?" Link asked.
"I can already see the head," Rusl replied, pulling out gloves and putting them on.
"And the contraction…?" Zelda asked, trailing off, picking up her head from the pillow.
"That's not a contraction, Zelda," Rusl said, leaning over a little and lifting up the blanket. "That's the pain of your child being pushed out. I assume you've been having it for an hour or so."
"I did felt another kind of pain," Zelda said thoughtfully. "But I thought it was just part of the contraction." Rusl shook his head.
"No," he chuckled. "But Uli thought that too so don't worry about feeling silly."
"Is it normal?" Link asked in a concern voice, his eyebrows furrowed together.
"Yes, it is," Rusl said. "Quite normal, really. So don't worry about the baby being hurt or anything when it's born; it's normal." Link nodded as Rusl shifted in his seat. "Alright, Zelda. I want you to push as long as you can, okay?" Zelda, once again, nodded, gripping Link's hand tightly.
"Link…"
"I'm here, Zelda," Link whispered, placing his chin on her head. "Don't worry; I'm not going anywhere."
"Push!"
It started out slowly but then the pushing began to get longer. Zelda gripped Link's hand even more tightly as she felt a double more pain while giving birth to the baby. Link felt sorry for Zelda, to see her in such pain as she pushed. He wish that he could just take away her pain but he knew that he couldn't. All he could do was just hold Zelda, mumbling small words to her and kissing her head. It wasn't fifteen minutes later that Rusl spoke. "Okay, Zelda," he started. "You're very close. I just need you to do one, long push and don't stop either, okay?"
"Okay," she said quietly, breathing heavily, short pants coming out. Rusl nodded at her, telling her to push and she did so. But the pain was too much for her. She closed her eyes tightly and leaned back in Link's arms, shaking her head. "I…can't…do…it…"
"Yes, you can," Link said encouragingly to her, brushing back the sweaty strands of hair that got out of her messy braids. "You can do this, Zelda."
"It hurts so much…"
"I know it does." Link nodded. "But it'll be worth it. Please Zelda, do this for us…the baby…when our baby is born, we'll get to hold it and love it and always cherish this day."
That seemed to help Zelda and she began to push again. Within minutes, a loud cry was heard as Rusl held up a messy newborn baby. "It's a girl!" he exclaimed with a grin. Link smiled teary-eye and then looked down at Zelda, who was smiling teary-eye as well.
"It's a girl," he whispered, planting numerous kisses on Zelda's lips, cheek and head. "Oh, Zelda…it's a girl!"
"I know," Zelda whispered back, wrapping an arm around Link's neck and pulling him into a hug. Rusl cut the cord, cleaned the newborn girl up and then wrapped it in a pink blanket. He walked over to Zelda's side of the bed, seeing Link and Zelda just pulling away from the hug. Zelda looked up at Rusl and gently took the baby in her arms and rocked it to sleep while Rusl cleaned her up.
"She's beautiful," Link whispered, rubbing a finger on the newborn's cheek. He looked at Zelda. "What should we name her?"
Zelda was quite for a moment. "How about Maya?" she asked gently, looking up at Link. He smiled big and kissed her on the lips.
"I love it."
A/N: So, did you like it? Please review.