Author's note: Most characters belong to Nickelodeon and Klasky-Csupo. Also, this story happens between Chapters 14 and 15 of Rugrats Midlife: Reunion (obviously), which is a year and two months into Tommy and Kimi Pickles' marriage. This will be the first time I'll be trying POVs of more than one character, so wish me luck!
Rugrats Midlife: New Arrival
Chapter One: First Pains
===Kimi===
"Hmmm, Preston Industries, County Prosecutor's Office, Mrs. Daneson, Mr. Blattner..." I muttered as I went over the long list of names and addresses of our clients. The week prior to my marriage with Tommy (and my thirty-seventh birthday), I joined my fiancé and his friend Fred Cruz in a security consultancy firm that he named (due to a creative drought on all of our part) CFP (Cruz, Finster & Pickles) Securities, which handles, well, security issues, like guards training, rules of engagement, Internet safety (my specialty, as former freelance technology consultant), camera installment, that sort of stuff. This type of job is more difficult than you or I may think, and for someone who is pregnant at that time, would be unhealthy if pressed too far. That's why for the meanwhile, I got myself to just spend the time checking e-mail and records, as well as doing secretarial work. "Oh, Jesus, this is a long list." Fortunately, Fred, my best friend Lilian DeVille's husband and also called Gunny at work, was there as well, though Tommy wasn't, having to report to Decatur Marine Corps Base, located midtown. At least he was a helping hand.
"Say, Gunny," I asked him as he was getting some coffee from the pot, "didn't we just go to Mr. Blattner's place at 1400 Carson City St. a week ago? What does he want now?"
"The hell would I know," he answered. "Maybe he has a problem with them cameras again, who knows?"
"Indeed. But then again, he should complain to the hardware store where he bought them, no?"
"Maybe he doesn't care much about the cameras as much as the kids he wants to drive out. So much for being a grump." The guy called us to help him install the blasted contraptions in his property, where kids would usually sneak in to his chagrin. Speaking of kids, I looked at my swollen self at a mirror nearby and wondered when the little girl inside would get out of my stuffy womb. Dumb luck why I had to ask.
After 45 minutes, as I was getting myself a drink, I noticed something wet between my legs. I didn't give it much thought until it was followed by a mild contraction in my abdomen. The little girl just broke my water.
"Ahh, Gunny," I said loudly, "a little help over here!" The pains had started.
"Just wait, Kim, I'm coming-" he said, but the pains had now kicked in, and so had my temper.
"GODDAMMIT FRED MY WATER JUST BROKE!"
"SANTA CLARA DEL ASIS!" He approached me and helped me up. "We'd better go to the hospital en pronto!" So saying, we managed to run to the nearby elevator into the basement parking where his Ford Explorer was awaiting. Fortunately, the contractions were still mildly painful, but we can't be too late.
===Chuckie===
"OHMIGOD, CHUCKIE!!!!" Mama screamed at the top of her lungs. "GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE QUICK! YOUR SISTER'S IN FIRST STAGE LABOR!" Good Lord Almighty, this is serious!
"Coming!" I shouted back frantically, sprinting down from the staircase right to the door and into the Camaro outside, Mom following and shutting the door. Fortunately, Huseyin was driving for us. Mom stayed at the back while I took the front seat.
"Bensley-Friars, Huseyin, hayaku! (quickly)" my mother said to him, to be followed by an "Evet (yes) Madam!" and the turning of the ignition. The car started, and within a couple of seconds we were headed westbound into the town proper.
"Who called up?" I asked her. "Tommy's in Camp Decatur MCB, right?"
"It's Fred. Check if you can reach him." I immediately picked up my cellphone and autodialled Fred's number.
"Hello, Chuck, it's me-" he began, but I disrupted him.
"YES I KNOW IT'S YOU, DAMMIT!" I shouted. "How's my sister doing?"
"She's damn fine, but I'm driving to Bensley-Friars Memorial Medical Center already. Go talk to her-if you can bear her screaming." So saying, I heard another voice on the line.
"AAAAGGGHHH!" she yelled. "HECK WHERE ARE YOU TOMMY-oh, it's you. Go ahead Chuck."
"Kimi where the hell are you? And how are you faring?" I asked, concerned at the prospect of Kimi's being a new mother and the infant's state of health, the former giving me the fright.
"IN THE MIDDLE OF A GODDAMN TRAFFIC JAM IN THE MIDDLE OF A &%$ING RUSH HOUR, AND NOWHERE NEAR THE GODDAMN HOSPITAL!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH IT HURTS A LOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!" I nearly got deaf from all the screaming. "I just want Mommy-sama on the phone, for Christ's sake, it's damn painful!!!" I tossed it into the back. Mama could hear the bloodcurdling yelling even without the phone on her ears.
===Kimi===
"Daijobu Kimi-chan? You all right there?" my mother inquired on the phone. "And no need to shout."
"All right, Mommy-sama? I am all wrong here!!!" I blurted. "This is serious! These contractions are getting more painful by the minute-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH SWEET LORD!!!" More than an hour had passed since we left the office.
"Well you could bite on something soft or on a hankerchief. Other than that, you're on your own."
"Where the hell is Tommy? I could sure want him here with me-OH DAMN!"
"We're contacting him, worry not. And Kimi?"
"Yeah?"
"Based from my experience, it's just getting started." My eyes widened.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH GODDAMMIT IT HURTS!!!!!!!!!"
"AND STOP YELLING ON THE PHONE GODDAMIT!" Mom would only swear if she wanted to emphasize something. You didn't think she was Mother Teresa reborn, did you? The other end then went out.
===Tommy===
"Sir," Staff Sgt. Barnes said as I rewore my utility dress in my cubbyhole, "phone for you. A certain Kira Finster-and a frantic one at that."
That's strange, I thought to myself. Kira? My mother-in-law? Frantic? The last time she was that-oh Lord. I picked up my cellphone and told Barnes to connect her call to mine.
"Tommy," she said in an exasperated voice, "Kimi just broke her water awhile ago. She's giving birth!" My eyes widened.
"Holy...I-I'm co-I'M COMING THERE! WHERE ARE YOU ANYWAY?"
"We're stuck in traffic between Juneau and St. Paul, and we're headed to Bensley-Friars. Tommy, just go ahead, we'll be there when the jam's been decongested, okay?"
"Sure thing ma'am," I replied before shoving the cellphone into my coat pocket and rushing out with my cap on into the parking lot. As dumb luck would have it, I bump into General Patterson along the way.
"Sorry sir, my wife's having a baby, and..." I stammered, not certain if I can be excused. Official leave needs paperwork, not words alone.
Fortunately Patterson saw I was dead serious. "Go then, leatherneck, just go."
"But sir..."
"No father should miss this moment unless he's too far away to come home, and you aren't! Go get that official leave later, right now just move, Marine!" I didn't have time to hug the old man, so a quick salute sufficed.
"Sir thanks sir, I'd better get going now," I said afterwards as I resumed speeding down the hallway. I could hear him shout at me, "Go get there, jarhead! Don't let her down!" I reached my Cresta in record time by the time the last sentence was uttered. With ignition ready and heart pounding, I geared the automobile out of the parking lot, out of the base and south into downtown, unfortunately running into a traffic jam. Not the best way to reach the hospital-no wonder Susie and Malcolm moved to an apartment just behind Bensley-Friars a month ago. Tommy, I said to myself, this is some way you enter fatherhood.
All three cars are stuck in a traffic rut. Will they get out in time and into the hospital? Find out on Chapter Two: "Rush Her In", to come out soon.
P.S. I'm considering a C/A fic (with P/K and T/L), but in an alternate setting so as not to blend in to Reunion's plot. Any suggestions for that are welcome. Meanwhile, I have to get the baby out of Kimi's body. Suggestions for that are welcome too.