Hey all you pretty people! I recently just had this idea pop into my head and couldn't stop thinking about it all day! I eventually decided to give in and write it out! I knew it was useless trying to write my other story while this was still flying around in my brain. So here it is! I hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own Divergent or any of the characters. I only own my idea for this one-shot.:D
Are You Ready?
It was late into the evening when Tris started feeling more discomfort than usual. Not wanting to worry Tobias, she kept it to herself, brushing it off as nothing. But as they finished supper, did the dishes together, took their showers, and finished up their nightly routine, and she was still feeling this way, she no longer let herself keep brushing it off.
She didn't tell Tobias, of course. If this was nothing to be worried about, which is what she was currently trying to convince herself of, then she needn't tell him. It would only make things worse. No one likes an overly-worried Tobias.
Ever since she found out she was pregnant with their child, he had been constantly hovering around, ready to serve her with anything she needed at any time. From late night trips to the store for ice cream (which there had been many) to just watching the movie she wanted on Friday nights, he'd always been there.
She supposes she should be grateful for that. After all, any woman in their right mind would kill for someone like that. Especially a pregnant woman. And she is grateful; she really is. But she has always been someone who needs her space and freedom, so after awhile she got sick and tired of it. And when the hormones kicked in, she did not fail to let him know that either. She feels bad, of course, but ever since she blew up at him he hasn't been constantly hovering around her. He's still there, but makes sure to give her her space. And for that, she is also grateful.
I'm never going to fall asleep.
Tobias lays behind her in bed, arms wrapped around her with his hands resting on her swollen 9-month pregnant stomach. She's reaching the end of the road now. She has to admit, it's a bit scary knowing she could become a mother at any moment, but it's also what drives her to keep pushing forward.
She shifts in Tobias's arms several times, but she knows she's not falling asleep tonight; the discomfort she feels is overpowering her tiredness. She looks to the clock.
It's seriously only 3:00? I feel like I've been laying here for hours.
She carefully scoots out of the arms around her and silently pads her way to the bathroom.
This kid sure does know how to shrink a bladder. Let's just hope it goes back to normal after you're out of there.
On her way to the bathroom, Tris decides to take a quick detour. She opens the door from across the hallway and turns on the light, shutting it behind her. As her eyes adjust to the brightness, she finds herself looking upon a yellow and green themed room. Even though she's seen this room a hundred times, she still feels the small thrill of excitement run through her stomach when she looks at it. She lays her hand on her belly as she glances around the room.
Small lions, elephants, monkeys, and giraffes line the room's top walls. The rest of the walls are striped with yellow and green. A wooden crib stands along the back wall along with a small dresser. There is already a small toy collection started with a rather large collection of diapers from the baby shower hosted for her. There are also many different outfits that are folded and hiding inside the dresser drawers. Some came from the shower, and some came from shopping trips she and Tobias took. They wouldn't necessarily go shopping specifically for baby items, but there were several times where she just happened to see something that was 'too cute not to buy' or 'absolutely necessary' (most of the time they weren't necessary, but they got them anyways). She couldn't help it. She was too excited to care about her unhealthy obsession with baby items.
She walks to the rocking chair next to her and slowly lowers herself into it. She subconsciously hums a tune while she rocks and imagines holding her son or daughter as she does so.
Not much longer now.
She stays sitting in there for at least 30 minutes before she starts to feel a bit drowsy. The discomfort is, much to her dismay, still there, but she thinks that she might be able to actually go to sleep this time around.
She awkwardly gets up out of the chair and walks out of the room, shutting the light back off and closing the door to the nursery. This time, she does go to the bathroom. But as she's washing her hands to go back to bed, she realizes something is terribly wrong.
She feels herself pale as she looks down and she's suddenly wide awake.
Well, it looks like I won't be getting any sleep for a while.
A contraction hits her almost right away, and she grips the counter with all her might. She was not expecting one so soon.
She rides the pain out, and although she knows this is only just a minor one, it still hurts like hell. She can't help but wonder how bad the pain will be by the time she gets to the end.
Once she's sure the contraction is over, she allows herself to relax her grip. She looks at herself in the mirror.
The baby is coming.
Her heart starts to beat abnormally fast, and she turns the sink back on, splashing cold water on her face. She takes a deep breath as she dries it off with a towel. As quickly as possible after that, she hurries back to the bedroom. She almost makes it to Tobias when she feels another contraction hit. She slides down the wall and collapses into a seated position. She grips the strands of carpet underneath her, slightly pulling them up.
She doesn't hear Tobias stir, something she's happy about. If he were to wake up and find her like this, she knows he would automatically go back to worry mode - something she does not need right now.
This one is less painful than the last one, and she's able to stand up sooner. She crawls onto the bed and starts to lightly shake his shoulders. He stirs a bit.
"Tobias," she whispers, willing him to wake up faster.
His mouth moves and he mumbles something impossible to make out.
"Tobias," she hisses.
He groans and throws an arm over his eyes.
"Tris, what is it?" he slurs.
"You need to wake up," she says, not bothering to be quiet anymore.
He mumbles something inaudible then turns to his side and opens his eyes at the clock. He groans.
"Tris, it's 3:45 in the morning. What could you possibly need?"
"C'mon, I need you to get up and stay up, okay?" she pleads with him, knowing he's only half awake.
"If this is another ice cream trip, I swear to God…." he trails off, starting to doze off again.
"Tobias-" she starts to hiss again, but he interrupts her and surprises her by getting out of bed.
"Fine, I'm up, I'm up," he says as he stands, throwing on his shirt and sweatpants from the floor. He lets out a yawn and Tris tries to speak again.
"Tobias, I need you to grab-"
"Yeah, ice cream, I know." He grabs his wallet from the dresser and puts it into his back pocket. He sleepily takes the keys and jingles them as he throws on a coat. It's November, so it's starting to get cold in the middle of the night.
"Could you-"
"What flavor?" he asks, interrupting her again.
She gets frustrated and yells, "Tobias! Would you please just listen to me?!"
His head immediately snaps to hers, and his eyes are wide, obviously not expecting that. She opens her mouth to speak again, but she instead lets out a whimper as another contraction hits, this one the worst one yet. Apparently he or she did not appreciate the yelling.
She squeezes her eyes shut and feels a hand envelope around hers. She squeezes onto it like a lifeline, willing the contraction to go away. And eventually, after a few minutes, it does.
She opens her eyes to worried ocean blue ones. She forces a small smile.
"It's sweet that you were so willing to get me ice cream at 3:45 in the morning, but that's not what I woke you up for."
"As I can see," he says, still worried. "What's going on?"
"Well…" she weakly laughs. "I couldn't fall asleep so I went to the nursery and sat there for a while. After that I went to the bathroom and as I was washing my hands, my water sort of...broke. And ever since then I've been having contractions."
His eyes widen and he lets go of her hand. "Okay, stay here. I'll go get the bag and load the car. I'll give your parents a call too. I'll be right back."
"As if I could go anywhere but here," she mumbles. He gives her a look, obviously hearing her, and she gives him a meek smile in return. "Sorry."
He disappears out the door, his footsteps echoing down the stairs. As soon as he's gone, Tris feels tears enter her eyes. A few escape as she realizes that this is it. After this, she won't be carrying around a little human inside of her anymore; it'll still be with her, but on the outside. It will actually be a living, breathing child. And she will be the one responsible for him or her.
I'm not ready for this. Oh God, why did I ever think I was ready for this? I'm not ready. I can't do this. I can't be a mother.
She's still crying and having a slight mental breakdown when Tobias walks back in. He quickly drops to his knees in front of her and takes her hands in his.
"Hey, what's wrong?" he asks, worried again.
"I can't do this, Tobias. I can't. I'm not ready. I can't d-"
"Slow down, Tris. Slow down. Breathe with me, okay?" He takes a deep breath in and waits for her to follow. He lets it out and repeats the process until she's breathing normally again.
It's quiet for the next few moments as he waits for her to speak.
"I'm scared," she whispers, tears falling.
He squeezes her hands. "What are you scared of?"
"I don't know!" she exclaims. "This whole thing! The contractions, the pain, the baby, the actual birthing of the baby, everything!"
"Tris, you knew this was going to happen," he says softly.
"Yes, I know! I knew for the entire pregnancy what it was all leading up to, but now that we're actually here, it's different! It's actually happening now. There's a difference between knowing and doing, Tobias!"
She starts to hold back sobs. She stares into her husband's comforting ocean blue eyes as he speaks.
"Of course there's a difference. I get that. I really do. But you need to calm down. You don't want to complicate things before we've even started."
She knows he's right and starts to take deep breaths again.
"Listen, I know it's scary, okay? I'm scared too. This is a big step, but I know we can do it. I know you can do it."
She sniffles as she takes out one of her hands to wipe off her tears. "I'm sorry. I'm being ridiculous."
"No, you're not being ridiculous. This is going to be scary. This is going to be painful. You have every right to be freaking out right now. But you can do it." He doesn't sugar coat it which somehow makes her feel stronger. He's right; it will be scary, and it will be painful, but she can do it.
She takes one more deep breath, effectively stopping her tears. She finishes wiping them off and looks at Tobias again.
"How are you so calm? Aren't you supposed to be freaking out or something right now?"
He chuckles. "And why would I be freaking out?"
"I don't know," she says, exasperated. "I thought that was what dads did in these situations!"
He smiles and kisses her hand. "To be honest, I'm kind of freaking out on the inside right now."
"Then how are you so calm?"
He raises his hand and gently wipes away any tears that she missed. "I don't allow myself to dwell in the present. I focus on the future."
"The future?" she asks confused.
"Yes, the future. When all of this is over - the future."
She bites her lip. "And what exactly do you focus on?"
He sighs and moves both of his hands to cup her face. "Tris, think about it. After all of this is over, we're going to be parents."
Even though she knew this, his words make her freeze because now she is doing, not knowing. In just a few hours, she could be a mom.
"I'll be a father, you'll be a mother. I'll be a dad, you'll be a mom."
She sucks in a sharp breath. "I'm going to be a mom," she whispers.
He smiles and nods. "Tris, we're going to have a family. We're having a baby. Our baby. Nobody else's. Ours."
She looks down at her lap and thinks for a while, then speaks. "We're gonna have a baby."
"That's right. That's our child in there wanting to get out. He or she is going to be our child."
She slowly looks up at him.
"You want this, don't you?" he asks.
She immediately nods. "Yes, of course I do. With all of my heart."
"Then focus on that, okay? Focus on our family, on our child. Just remember that after all of this is over, it's no longer just the two of us. We're going to have a little boy or girl running around that's half me, half you. Can you picture that?"
She closes her eyes and nods slowly, starting to smile.
"Tris, this baby is coming whether we're prepared or not, and there's nothing we can do to stop it. So the only thing we can do is go with it, and help him or her come out into our arms. Got it?"
She takes a deep breath and opens her eyes. She opens her mouth to say something, but her face contorts into one of pain as another contraction hits. Tobias immediately knows what's happening and reaches for her hands. She once again has an iron grip on them as she rides it out.
When she opens her eyes again, Tobias is surprised to see no tears or fear in them. He rubs circles on the backs of her hands and slightly smiles at her.
"Are you ready?"
She nods once after a few moments pause. "Ready."
And there you go! I know it's short, but I honestly feel so much better now that I have it written out! I can actually focus now!
Please let me know what you thought of this! Any kind of feedback would be appreciated! This was a bit difficult for me to write out because I prefer writing in first person, but I felt that third person fit this one-shot better than first person would have. This was meant to be short and sweet, and I think first person may have jeopardized that.
Anyways, thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed!:D