Mrs Clarke, the wife of the Chief of Commerce in Gotham, was having a very interesting conversation with Mr Nygma. She was chattering away at him about baby fashions, and clearly he was very interested as he was soon going to have a little one of his own. Quite and unusual alpha, he was, not at all dominant or rude like most alphas within days of their pup's birth tended to be. She was just about to tell him how bows were all the rage, especially in spring colours, when the mayor broke in.
"Ed" he said quietly as he neatly folded his napkin over the perfectly cooked steak he had not even touched. "Purple."
Mrs Clarke was quite surprised to see the Chief of Staff turn white as a sheet as he dropped his fork with a clatter.
"Now?" The man squeaked, looking panicked. The mayor's lips thinned.
"The liquid kind." he responded. Apparently this was some sort of code, as Mr Nygma had his phone out in the next moment, dialing a number.
"Code purple" he snarled into the phone, "Yes NOW. Pull the car around."
Then he and the mayor were standing and making their excuses and everyone was very confused as Mr Nygma escorted his very pregnant mate from the hall.
Mrs Clarke leaned forward, curious about the liquid comment, and looked at the Mayor's chair. Then she started to smile. She might only be a beta, but she had three children of her own and was most definitely not stupid.
"Why is Victor driving?" Oswald asked as he grimaced through another contraction. They were coming very, very fast - too fast, he thought, and his water had just broke, dammit. He was not giving birth to his first pup in the back of the bloody limo!
"The driver had some whiskey. I wasn't about to let a man who's had alcohol drive."
"He drank on duty?" Oswald hissed, momentarily forgetting the agony he was in to be furious.
"It's been handled!" Victor yelled from the front seat as he took another curve at break-neck speed. He was cheerily breaking every traffic law ever invented (and some that weren't) on his way to the hospital. There was a baby on her way, dammit! Fuck the police!
"One minute" Ed whimpered in distress. They were still in the car, and it was clear by now that Claudia had no intention of waiting any longer. She wanted out, and she wanted out now.
"One minute what?" Oswald snarled in response as he gripped his mate's hand hard enough to make the bones groan in protest.
"Between contractions. She's impatient!"
"Well she damn well is gonna wait, I am not giving birth in the car! Ed, do something!"
Ed whimpered again, in more distress this time.
"What do you want me to do?"
"Make it stop! OH GOD!" Oswald howled in agony as the worst contraction yet made his entire body seize up. It passed, and he sagged back against the seat, whimpering.
"I can't love, I'd do it for you if I could, I-" Ed babbled desperately, wanting nothing more than for this to be over and preferably right now. That or get Oswald on some really fancy painkillers.
"Need to push" the omega sobbed, his face contorting.
"No you don't!" Ed protested desperately, "at least let me get your pants off first!"
"STOP THE CAR!" Victor wasn't sure who had screamed the command, but the tone made him pull over onto the curb, knocking over a couple of trash cans in the process. He then scrambled for the back seat, not sure what he was expecting. He was not expecting what he got, anyway. Because what he got, was Oswald lying on the floor, cradled in Ed's arms, stripped from the waist down as he struggled through a contraction that made his entire body seem to constrict in on itself.
"What the hell is happening?" Victor yelled, but he knew of course. Claudia. Claudia was happening. And her timing sucked.
"Help me" Oswald whimpered, desperately. Victor really wanted to run the hell in the other direction, but he hadn't sat up learning how to emergency deliver an infant during harsh conditions for nothing. (In his line of work you made damn sure to be prepared for everything).
"Sorry boss" he said grimly, "but she's coming out whether you want her to or not. Now, I need to see how open you are. Nygma, keep your alpha in check cause I'm about to put my fingers where they've no business going and I want to keep them."
Ed, wild-eyed in panic, gave him a brief nod.
The baby was covered in blood, and mucus, and she was squished and red and blotchy and Ed had never seen anything as beautiful in his life. He stared in awe as Victor gently cleaned her off, cut the umbilical cord with a switchblade, wrapped her in the ripped remains of his shirt, and placed her every so gently in Oswald's arms.
"Next time" Oswald murmured tiredly as he guided her little mouth to his breast, "i'm getting a c-section."
But Ed didn't quite hear him. He wasn't truly aware of anything in the world apart from the itty bitty sucking noises his daughter made as she ate, the perfect shell of her tiny ear or the way her tiny hand gripped his pinky like it was a lifeline.
Tears dripped down his cheeks as he held his omega and his pup close to his chest, his heart aching.
"Claudia" he choked out as Victor started the car to drive them the rest of the way to the hospital, "Welcome, sweetheart."
