Also, I'd like to note that I do not own NBC's Days of Our Lives or the characters and I will NOT be receiving any payment whatsoever for writing this story. It is intended for entertainment purposes only.
Thanks for all the great reviews. :)
Chapter Ten:::
The baby came slightly early. On the night of Christmas Eve, Nicholas awoke in the darkness of the cave to hear his mother moaning in pain. "Mom," he whispered, sitting up to light a lantern. "Are you okay?"
The light of the small lantern lit up the cave, and Nicky found his mother thrashing on the sleeping mat beside him, a light film of perspiration upon her skin. "Mom, is it the baby?" the boy asked her softly.
Carly had awakened less than a half-hour earlier, the pain jolting her from her sound sleep. At first she had thought she was having another nightmare, that she was reliving the birth of Nicholas, but when she came more fully awake she realized she was in labor. She tried to remain silent in the darkness, but the pain had been quite forceful, making her cry out loudly.
"Nicky, everything's alright," she tried to reassure her son as he stared at her with great worry on his litte face. "I need you to go get your dad now."
Nicky stood up quickly, running from the cave to do as his mother requested. "Dad! Dad!" the boy called seconds later, bursting into Lawrence's cave and kneeling down next to his father's sleeping mat. "Mom needs you!"
"What is it, Nicky?" Lawrence asked, appearing dazzled. He had been awake for hours now, and he bounded out of the cave after his son.
When Lawrence and Nicholas reached the cave where Carly lay twisting on the sleeping mat in great pain, Nicky stood at a distance, watching his mother with apprehension and concern. Lawrence went to Carly's side immediately, taking her clammy hand into his own. "Lawrence..." she whispered. "The baby's coming."
"I know, love. I'll have to move you. Can you walk?"
"I- I don't know," she managed to say through the torturous agony of a contraction. Lawrence saw her face contort with great misery, and his face went pale seeing her in such pain. He carefully lifted her into the strength of his arms, marveling at how light she remained desite her protruding belly. Carly's head fell limply onto Lawrence's shoulder and she mumbled something unintelligible. "Hush, Katerina," he crooned as he began carrying her from the cave.
"Dad!" he heard Nicholas say urgently as the boy looked up at his father with alarm in his blue eyes.
"All is fine, Nicholas," Lawrence soothed his son. "Go back to sleep now. I'll take care of your mother. There is nothing for you to worry about."
"But what if Mom needs me?" the child asked.
"I will come back here as soon as I can, Nicky. Right now your mom needs some privacy. Do you understand?"
"Okay, Dad," the boy said with reluctance, going to sit down upon his sleeping mat. "Take good care of her, okay?"
"I will," Lawrence promised as he left the cave carrying Carly in his arms.
Lawrence lay Carly down upon the pallet she had prepared months ago within the smaller cave. Slowly he pushed her nightdress up and discovered she wore no undergarments beneath her clothing. Since her belly had grown so large, none of her underclothes had fit properly. He lifted a sheet over her and brushed tendrils of sweat-dampened hair away from her face.
"Lawrence..." she whispered. "I'm so frightened."
"Don't be, love. I am here. I'm not leaving. I love you," he assured, pressing a small kiss to her forehead.
"Something might happen," she choked out. "I could die. The baby might could die-."
"Don't say those things, Katerina. I refuse to let you die... or the baby!"
"Promise me... promise me..." she said, her words nearly cut away by the bursts of pain.
"Anything, Carly. Anything."
"Promise me that you will take care of Nicky... and this baby, if I should die?"
"You WON'T die!" he insisted.
"But-but if something happens I need to know...need to know you will love and care for Nicky... and my baby."
"You know I would, Katerina. You know I would," he promised tenderly, pressing a loving kiss to her palm. "Now I want you to concentrate on having this baby. I am here, and I'm going to make certain everything's all right. I swear it."
She moaned loudly as another intense contraction ripped through her insides, making her stiffen with pain. Lawrence slowly drew back the sheet to examine her. He lay his hand upon the tight flesh of her abdomen and he could feel the muscles become taut with the force of the contraction. "Breathe deeply, Katerina," he encouraged as he heard her slow and deepen her breathing. "That's good. You're doing just fine. I am going to scrub my hands now. I'll be right back."
"No, Lawrence," she pleaded. "Don't go. I need you."
"Just for a minute, love. It will only take a minute," he assured as he went to the other side of the cave to scrub his hands in a small pan of soapy water.
After his hands had been scrubbed sufficiently, he returned to Carly's side, placing a gentle kiss upon her lips. "Lawrence, I think the baby's coming... now," she whispered.
He knelt down below the sheet the sheet to check the progress and said, "It may be a little while yet. I can't see the baby's head."
Carly bit her lip to keep back a scream of pain. She felt blood fill her mouth, but she didn't want to frighten Nicholas in the cave not that far away. Once the pain had fled, she suddenly thought how different this birth was from Nicky's. She had been so young then and so alone, with only Vivian and Vivian's personal doctor there to attend her. It was so reassuring to have Lawrence by her side. His presence gave her the courage she needed.
The contractions continued well into the night, until each one blended into another for Carly. During the entire process, Lawrence remained by her side, bathing her face with cool water and talking to her calmly to keep her mind off the discomfort. Ever so often he would give her small sips of cool water and check the progress of the child's birth.
"Lawrence, I have to push now! I have to push!" she said suddenly, bearing down hard when the next contraction occured.
"I can see the baby's head now," he told her, at awe with the sigh. "Breathe deeply, Katerina."
She continued to push with each contraction, and little by the little, the baby's head moved further into the birth canal. Lawrence saw the baby's head turn downward, and long after that the baby's head had crowned the opening of the vagina. Lawrence knew then that the tissues were about to tear, so he quickly reached for a sharp, sterilized knife in which he used to perform an episiotomy. Carly had been right; he preformed the necessary procedure quickly and without conscious thought for he knew it had to be done.
"God, Katerina, the baby's head is coming out," he gasped in fascination as the child's head slowly began to emerge.
"Lawrence... please..." she cried out softly as the pain seemed to rip her in two.
"It's almost over now, love. You'll soon hold the baby in your arms," Lawrence soothed. "You're doing beautiful."
His words revitalized her, gave her the strength and courage to continue pushing. Suddenly the cave began filling with morning light, for the sun was beginning to rise. The baby's head then fully emerged, and Lawrence supported it in his hands as Carly worked to expel the child's shoulders. She heard the baby give a loud cry as it's shoulders came free.
The rest of the body slid out and Lawrence wrapped it in a towel, carefully wiping the blood and mucus from the little squirming body. The infant continued to cry furiously as Lawrence wiped a wet cloth over it's tiny face.
"You have a daughter, Katerina," Lawrence said as he carefully cut and bound the umbilical cord. "She's remarkably beautiful."
He wrapped the baby girl in a clean towel and gently placed her into Carly's arms. Carly gazed at her daughter's beauty and then slowly met Lawrence's gaze with a tender smile and tear-filled eyes. "Thank you, Lawrence," she whispered. "Thanks for being there for me through this. Thanks for saving my baby. Without you, we would have died."
"Six and half hours, Katerina. It took six and half LONG hours."
"That was nothing. I was in labor with Nicky for twenty-seven hours," she told him.
"My God!" he gasped in horror. "No wonder you have nightmares!"
"Then Vivian told me he died, Lawrence. I wanted to die, too!" she said with a sob.
"Don't, Katerina," he said soothingly, brushing away her tears. "You're been through so much tonight. You must relax now."
"It's not over yet, Lawrence," she reminded.
"It will be soon," he said, knowing that before long the afterbirth would be expelled and he could stitch up the incision he had made.
The baby let out a tiny cry and Carly's eyes returned to her. "She IS beautiful," she said with tenderness as she caressed the baby's silky cheek. "I can't believe I am holding her in my arms. I never... never once got to hold Nicky."
"I'm sorry about that, love, but I do agree, she is beautiful, more beautiful than the sun, the stars, and the moon," he spoke. "As lovely as her mother."
Carly could see the love shining in his eyes and it made tears come to her own anew. "I love her so much..." she said softly as she pressed a kiss upon the baby's head which was covered with a bit of dark hair. "I can't wait until Nicky sees her. He will be so surprised he has a little sister. He was looking forward to a little brother so much."
"I'll bring him here soon," Lawrence promised. "Very soon."
Less than a half-hour later, the afterbirth had been expelled, Lawrence had stitched up the incision, and he had washed Carly gently, placing one of his clean t-shirts upon her. He covered Carly with a fresh sheet and hid all the blood-soaked bedding and towels from Nicky's view.
"I'll go get Nicholas now," he told Carly as he bent down to place a kiss upon her cheek.
"Alright," she replied as she lay there comfortably holding her tiny daughter close in her arms.