I own nothing other than bits of the plot, Brianna and Tristan
Chapter Nine
I woke when a sharp pain became too unbearable to ignore or in my case sleep through. I clutched my stomach, taking deep breaths until the pain slowly ebbed away. I waited a few moments before leaning back, still startled by the suddenness of the pain and not quite sure what to make of it. Was it a contraction? I glanced over at my husband exasperated; he could wake because of a tiny sound coming from outside but I wake with what could potentially be a contraction and he doesn't even twitch. I don't wake him however worried I may be; I take note of the time and roll back on to my side to try and get some more sleep.
I didn't get much sleep however much I might have wanted to; the contractions continued throughout the night but stayed twenty minutes apart. The only thing that was stopping me from storming over to the infirmary was the fact I knew they needed to be closer together. I was already exhausted and I'd only been having contractions for a few hours. I'd watched our bedroom slowly light up as the sun came up but Taylor continued to sleep. There were a few moments through some painful contractions that I considered waking him so he didn't get any sleep but I was glad I didn't once they were over. I didn't doubt that he was going to be one of those first time dad's that panicked and went crazy when they realised their wife was in labour.
"Why are you sitting up?"
I looked down at Taylor and smiled tiredly, "I've been having contractions."
It took him a moment to register my words, blinking and I watched awareness flood into his eyes and I wasn't surprised when he bolted upright and flew out of the bed. I watched silently as he stormed through the room, tossing on some clothes and wondered when he'd realised that he put his jacket on instead of his shirt in his haste.
"Nathaniel, stop." I grabbed his hand to stop him from yanking the covers off of me.
"We need to go..." He tried tugged me out of the bed while my hand was wrapped around his wrist.
"There's nothing the doctors can do yet." I said soothingly, and I tried to remember when I became the calm one in stressful situations.
"But...the baby's coming." He looked at me then down to my bulging stomach.
I smiled unable but to be amused at his worry and excitement, "Yes but we still have a while to go. My contractions are only fifteen minutes apart."
I might as well be speaking in another language if the blank look was anything to go by. "So?"
I slid out of the bed with his help, "So," I began with another sigh of exasperation as I took of the unzipped jacket he was still wearing, "There's no point in panicking or rushing over only to have them send us home."
He blushed when he realised his mistake in clothes, "So we have to wait?" He asked dejectedly.
I nodded, kissing him, "We wait but I'm going to have a shower and then get back into bed."
Taylor nodded looking distracted, "Wait, how long have you been having contractions?"
"Since two this morning." I told him, hobbling to the bathroom with one hand wrapped around my belly.
"Why the hell didn't you wake me?" He exclaimed following me and helping me undress.
I stepped into the shower when the water was warm enough, the hot water providing little relief to my aching back. "One of us needed to get some sleep. You couldn't have done anything anyway."
He muttered something under his breath but I ignored him, trying to ignore the stabbing pain of the next contraction hitting me. It had taken me almost two hours during the night to convince myself that there was no point going to the infirmary but now that the contractions were becoming more frequent I was beginning to panic a little and not to mention they hurt like hell.
Reluctantly I turned the shower off and carefully stepped out, frowning when Taylor was nowhere to be seen. I thought nothing of it, dressing slowly into one of Taylor's shirts and some maternity shorts. Upon leaving the bathroom I was a little stunned to see what had become of our bedroom in the short time that I had been in the shower.
Taylor had obviously realised that an inevitable trip to the infirmary would be happening so he was currently rummaging through my chest of draws and pulling out various articles of clothing and dumping them on the bed. He ignored me, stuffing the clothes unceremoniously into the bag that had been pulled out of the closet and then darted out of the room. I followed him uncertainly, watching as he began filling his arms with baby essentials.
"What are you doing?" I asked still a little stunned by his silent determination.
"We were supposed to have a bag ready." He looked at me and I refrained from smiling at his blatant panic, "We don't have anything ready so I'm getting it ready and we're going to the infirmary now."
"You just decided this?" I asked a little amused.
He nodded, pulling me into the bedroom again, "Get shoes on; I've got the bags."
I didn't argue, kind of relieved that he had taken the decision from me. I slipped on my shoes while he put the baby things into the overnight bag and allowed him to help me off the bed. He tossed the overnight bag over his shoulder and took my hand, leading me out of the house. He pointedly ignored everyone we passed while I smiled apologetically at the confused glances we got from some of the passing civilians. When we got closer to the infirmary a few women lit up with excitement, clearly realising what was happening and almost instantly people were wishing us good luck and congratulations.
"Commander Taylor?" Elisabeth smiled questioningly when Taylor all but stormed into the infirmary.
He pushed me forward slightly, "Baby's coming." He grunted out.
"What he means to say is I'm in labour." I explained wincing and clutching Taylor's hand. "The contractions are ten minutes apart now." I told her through clenched teeth as the pain of my next contraction hit me.
Elisabeth immediately ushered me over to a bed and began preparing for the birth. I was just about to get onto the bed when my water broke, the water gushing onto the ground. I grimaced but extremely glad that hadn't happened when we were walking through the street.
Apparently the water was a good sign, according to Elisabeth. I didn't particularly care that much, more interested at that point in getting something for the pain. I'd never really given much thought as to whether I would have drugs when in labour but now that it was happening, I definitely wanted something. Elisabeth had just been about to administer the drugs when a force of something came crashing through the infirmary in a wave. I clutched the bed to stay on top and after a few seconds everything returned to normal and I looked around to find a lot of the people confused and some helping each other stand again.
I looked at Taylor when his Commander face came on, "Don't you dare." I hissed warningly.
"Bree you know I have to." He sighed.
"Nathaniel, I am in labour!" I really wanted to smack him.
"I need to make sure the rest of the colony is okay." He said calmly.
"Right now, I couldn't give a shit about the colony." I snapped, "I'm in labour and you're going to seriously leave me here?"
"I won't be long." He said soothingly, "I'm going to check in with Wash, tell her what's going on and let her deal with it."
"If you so much as leave me alone to do this for more than ten minutes, I will shoot you." I growled, well aware that I was slightly crazy but I didn't care.
Taylor nodded seriously, leaning down to kiss me quickly, "I'll be back."
He didn't give me any chance to object, bolting out of the room quickly. I huffed and leaned back, knowing that somehow he'd end up being sucked into whatever had happened and I'd be delivering this baby by myself. How is it something like this always seemed to happen? Couldn't we have one day where there wasn't some unnecessary drama?
"What's wrong?" I asked when Elisabeth returned.
She had an apologetic and sympathetic smile and it wasn't reassuring, "We just heard it was a meteor that landed and it's knocked out everything that's technological."
"Meaning?"
"By the time we get everything set up for an epidural to give you it will be too late." She said quietly.
"I'm not having this baby without drugs." I said firmly, "Its Taylor's kid so it's going to be stubborn about it."
"You'll be fine. Taylor will be back and you can break his hand." She said reassuringly. She looked away when someone called over to her and she squeezed my hand, "I'll be back."
I groaned and flopped back on the table, noting with dismay that my contractions were still ten minutes apart. Elisabeth had yet to tell me how far dilated I was and I didn't need to be a doctor to know that it would still be a while. I resisted the urge to break something as my latest contraction rocked through me and there was absolutely nothing I could do to block out the pain. I was panting heavily by the time it was through and I knew they were about to get a whole lot worse.
"How you doing?"
I looked over at Alicia tiredly, "I'm going to shoot him if he's not back soon."
She laughed, sitting next to me, "He's just ordering some people around and making sure everyone knows not to bother him unless its life threatening."
"Good because I need to break something and right now breaking his hand seems fairly appealing." I grunted.
"Aren't you on any drugs?" Alicia asked.
I clenched my jaw, "No. The meteor knocked everything out and by the time they can give me something, it'll be too late."
Alicia winced, "You really will break his hand then."
"If I have to deliver a baby through ten centimetres then he can deal with having his hand broken." I grumbled.
"You'll have a few more hours at least until you start pushing." She said sounding very matter of fact.
I glared at her, "Thanks."
"I could always bring Tristan in for you to smack." She suggested helpfully.
I considered it and then shook my head, "Nah, he'd probably faint or throw up."
Hours had passed since the meteor had hit and I was pacing around the small room agitatedly. It was now dark outside and just as I'm about to hit ten centimetres, Taylor had been called out on an emergency. Apparently the Sixers were breaking in and of course, that meant Taylor had to go deal with it.
"Bree, you need to sit down so we can deliver the baby." Elisabeth said calmly.
I was surprised the woman was still able to be so calm; I had been refusing to sit down for about ten minutes, demanding someone go and get Taylor. It wasn't the first time she had told me that we had to start delivering the baby but I don't remember anyone saying anything about women being rational during labour and I certainly wasn't. I was doing this completely naturally and my husband was currently out playing hero.
I was in a shitty mood to say the least.
"I'm back!" Taylor called out, coming into the room quickly. "What are you doing?" He asked sounding baffled.
I smacked him across the head, "Waiting for you!" I screeched.
Muttering under my breath I stormed back over to the bed that was set up for the delivery, ignoring Elisabeth and Alicia's amused smiles. Taylor followed, standing by my side once I was in the bed and my legs were propped up. I gave him a dirty look but I was incredibly relieved that he was with me; the contractions had gotten steadily worse as the hours passed and I had been fighting the urge to push for at least two hours.
Elisabeth settled at the end of the bed, "When the next contraction comes I want you to do two big pushes."
I nodded nervously clutching Taylor's offered hand tightly. He didn't comment at the firmness of the grip and there was definitely a bonus being married to a man who could withstand several weeks of torture; having his hand squeezed for a couple of hours was nothing to him.
Through the next hour I pushed with each contraction despite how much I wanted them to simply cut the baby out. Getting the head out took the longest and I had been right in saying that the baby would be difficult to get out; the longer I pushed, the more tired I became and it was difficult to want to continue. Taylor was great through it and even through the pain I was in I knew that. When Elisabeth told me the head was out I gathered what little energy I had left and pushed the rest of the baby out, flopping back tiredly. I heard Elisabeth say something about cutting the cord and the next thing I knew I was holding my gooey baby.
"It's a girl." Elisabeth beamed, standing over me to wipe the muck and blood of the baby.
I looked over at Taylor, smiling tearfully, "I guess you were right."
He kissed me, "I'm always right."
"Now we have to pick a name."
A/N sorry for the long wait. I had a bit of writers block and I'm hoping I'll have the next chapter up within the week. Let me know baby names because I can't think of any right now!
