Another quick little "kill the writer's block" piece – enjoy.
Guy is not prone to fear. He is intimately familiar with the number of ways the world can kill you, but natural curiosity, quick thinking, and the need to survive have always trumped the worst kind of fear – not the quick bursts that quicken his mind, sharpen his senses, and fade when the danger's past, but the thick, debilitating fear that locks muscles and stops thought and never goes away.
But what is happening now is so far outside of his experience, and worse, outside of his control, that he cannot help the terror that comes to choke him.
His more rational self knows that this is, in fact, the most natural, normal thing that has ever happened in his very un-normal life. This is how it happens everywhere, has happened from the beginning of time. Men love women and women have babies. Male and female beget offspring, the survival plan of every species.
But he also knows that women die and babies die and he could lose everything that matters to him in this life before the sun goes down. And not only is he powerless to do anything about it, he had a hand in it, because he took her to his bed knowing what could happen, knowing what the risks were, because she was his mate and he loved her and what could be more natural?
What was not natural, not normal was the way his mate was screaming now; Eep was tough and Eep was strong and Eep did not scream like that, ever.
His pacing takes him by the door and he can smell the blood, and he begins to shake from head to foot. He leans against the wall. "Ugga?" he calls, his voice so strained it is barely his own.
"Almost," was the answer, tight and controlled, and he does not feel any better. Part of him wishes they would let him in; part of him is afraid of what he would see. It's been so long now, how could anyone endure this for so long?
He tells himself Eep is tough, Eep is strong, Eep wanted this so badly, and Eep will not give up. He feels like he is failing her, leaving her to face this alone.
He turns and puts both hands on the mud wall, the wall of the home he built for them. "Eep," he calls, "I love you. Your mom says you're almost there, okay? You can do this." His voice quavers, and he whispers, "Please," and he doesn't even know who he is asking. The sun slips softly below the horizon and the darkness comes, held back now only by the fire he built hours ago.
"Guy?" Eep's voice is rough and weak.
"I'm here," he says, still braced against the wall.
"Tell me...a story."
He grits his teeth; she sounds close to passing out. "Ugga?" he says again, worried.
"Do it. She needs something to focus on."
He nods and takes a deep breath, and gathers himself. It helps to hear he is needed, that there is something he can do, even if it is small and stupid compared to the great endeavor going on inside.
So he tells her the most incoherent story that any human has ever told in the history of stories, feeling stupid and inadequate, but he keeps going, talking through Ugga's encouragements, and Eep's screams, and if only the sound of his voice will be enough to bring her through this, he will talk all night long.
The screaming finally stops, and there is a new sound, and he shakes even harder. He falls back from the door, waiting, for something, anything, to happen. The crying stops. He waits some more.
Ugga emerges and puts the baby, wiped clean and bundled in furs, in his arms with a smile, arranging his hands brusquely to support the small, red, wrinkled creature. "It's a boy," she tells him, and then she runs back into the hut, leaving him standing with his tiny son in hands that suddenly feel huge and clumsy.
He has no idea what to do. An only child and a loner, he has no experience with babies, literally none. He is afraid to breathe.
He has never seen anything as blue as his child's eyes.
A heavy hand descends on his shoulder and he looks up at Grug, relieved. Grug strokes the baby's hair with a massive hand that Guy never would have believed could be so gentle.
"Welcome to the world, little guy," Grug says. "I hope you give your mom and dad as much trouble as they gave me."
Guy grins, but Eep is moaning again inside the hut. "Can you take him?" he asks Grug.
"Come to grandpa," Grug coos, taking the little child so very carefully.
Guy goes back to the hut and places his hands against the wall. "Eep, he's beautiful. You did so good." The answer is so faint he can't hear it. He swallows hard. "Please be okay," he whispers, the fear still clutching at his heart.
He waits some more, anxious and distracted. He hovers around Grug and the baby. He hovers at the door of his home. He paces between the two.
Ugga is tired when she finally comes out, but she makes him wait until she has cleaned up inside before she lets him in to see Eep.
Eep is as white as chalk and his whole body goes numb. When he grabs her hand it is cold, but her fingers close weakly over his and he can see the rise and fall of her chest. The smell of blood - of her blood - is thick and cloying, even after the cleanup.
He lays a hand on her cold cheek and she opens her eyes. "Hey," she whispers.
"Hey," he says, smiling.
"Take me outside," she says, her fingers tightening slightly. "I can't breathe in here."
He will do anything she wants tonight. "Just hold on a minute," he said, and scrambles back outside. He has never been able to carry her himself.
He comes back with Thunk, who looks a bit sick at the smell, but he picks up his sister and carries her outside. Guy gathers up as many clean skins from their pallet as he can find and piles them up outside by the fire. Thunk puts Eep down carefully and Guy arranges the skins around her until she is comfortable.
Thunk leaves and Guy stretches out beside Eep. "Are you going to be okay?" he asks softly, needing her to say it.
"Of course," she says, lifting a hand to smack his shoulder. "Don't be stupid."
He smiles and kisses her forehead.
"Where's our baby?" she murmurs.
"With your dad. You want me to get him?"
"Yes," she says, her tone almost pleading. Guy moves to go, but before he can even get up, Ugga steps into the firelight with the child in her arms.
Guy helps his mate sit up, leaning against him, and Ugga puts the baby carefully in Eep's arms. She kisses daughter, son, and grandchild, and then goes to finally get some rest of her own. Guy catches her hand as she leaves and squeezes it gratefully.
"Hey, little guy," Eep coos to her baby. Guy holds them both and finally feels some of the tension leave his body. They're not out of danger, never that in this world, but they are together, and so he can believe that everything is going to be all right.
"Guy?" she says, her eyes still on the child.
"Yeah?"
"He's so worth it," she whispers. He kisses her temple and soon she is dozing against him. Guy looks up at the rising moon and marvels that it looks the same as it did last night.