A/N: Thanks for reading!
Toki was in the middle of tuning his guitar when it happened.
He felt one of the worst pains he'd ever felt in his life.
"Agh!" He cried out, dropping the instrument.
The rest of the band turned to face him.
"You okay, Toki?" Nathan asked.
"No… It hurts!"
Skwisgaar quickly moved to pick up Toki's abandoned guitar.
"You thinks yous maybes having contractions?"
"Ja… Maybes? I don't knows." Toki braced himself as another wave of pain hit him. "But it hurts!"
"Okay, practice is officially over," Nathan said.
The rest of the band put their instruments down.
"We ought to get him to the hospital." Pickles was making his way over.
"But I ams not due for another two weeks!" Toki protested. He glanced down at his stomach, "You stays in there, babies!"
"I don't think it works that way. If the kid wants to come, it's gonna come."
Murderface laughed at that statement and Pickles rolled his eyes.
"You know what I mean. I'll call Charles."
While Pickles was on his Dethphone, Skwisgaar offered Toki his hand.
"Yous can squeeze my hands if it hurts."
Toki was stunned.
"But that ams your life! What if I breaks it?"
"Oh. Right. Nathan?"
Nathan shook his head, but took over Skwisgaar's spot.
"Here." He took hold of Toki's hand, "Do what you gotta do."
Toki nodded appreciatively.
"Charles says to take Toki up right now. He'll meet us there," Pickles informed them.
"Think you can walk?" Nathan asked.
Toki swallowed nervously. He really didn't want to go to the hospital, not now. It was too early! If the baby was born too soon, it might die! But… it didn't seem like he had much of a choice.
"Nevermind," the singer stood up, and picked Toki up bridal style. "I'll take you."
Toki didn't argue. He let the larger man carry him and the group made their way towards the elevator.
00
"It seems like that baby wants out!" Dr. Carlson exclaimed, after he'd finished examining Toki.
"But it's too early," Toki replied, tears welling up in his eyes. He didn't want his baby to die!
"Yes, you are a two weeks early, but the fetus looks well developed. I think she'll be fine."
"Okays," Toki mumbled, staring down at his hands. Right then, another contraction hit, and his groaned in pain.
"Let's get him prepped for surgery," the doctor ordered.
00
Skwisgaar paced the hallway outside of the operating room. Dr. Carlson was in there with a surgeon and a team of nurses working to perform a c-section on Toki.
They'd been in there for over an hour, and the blonde was starting to worry.
"What if the babies dead?" He asked, directing his question to Pickles. The whole group was there.
"Aw, Skwis, I'm sure she'll be just fine," Pickles reassured him.
"Yeah," Nathan echoed, "They'll be done any minute now and -"
As he said that, a siren went off. Suddenly a voice came over the intercom.
"Code blue, code blue! Doctor Hermann, please report to the OR!"
"Code blue, doesn't that mean heart attacks?!" Skwisgaar asked.
"Well, I… uh…" Nathan trailed off.
A group of nurses ran by, followed by a young man in a doctor's coat. All of them ran into the operating room.
"You need to stay calm," Charles told him, placing a hand on his shoulder, "There are three doctors in there working extremely hard. And Toki is strong."
Skwisgaar wasn't one for panic, but he couldn't help it. Toki was going to die, as was their daughter.
"Oh Gods, oh Gods," he began repeating, wringing his hands as he paced.
"Shit, I hope he doesn't die," Murderface said. "That'd suck. I'd go back to being the ugly one again."
"You've always been the ugly one," Pickles replied.
"Na-uh, Toki's fat now."
"But you're ugly and fat."
"I'm thinner than Toki!"
"Once he has the baby he'll go back to being thin again. Do you actually think anything through?"
"Will you shut up?!" Skwisgaar yelled. The discussion was making him angry. Toki was dying in there, and they were talking about his appearance?!
"Yeah, okay, jeez," Pickles answered. "Calm down."
"How can I calms down?! Toki's dying in theres!"
As if on cue, there came the sound of a cheer from the OR. Shortly thereafter came the sound of a baby crying.
"I'll take that as good news," Charles said, watching as Skwisgaar relaxed ever so slightly.
"He could stills be deads. Maybe just the babies was borns."
"I doubt they'd be cheering if that were the case. Oh, look here's Dr. Carlson."
The doctor walked through the door, his coat still covered in blood.
"Charles?" The doctor looked at the manager, "Come with me."
00
"I'm coming too," Skwisgaar declared. "It ams my babies, I'm coming too."
"Okay, sure," the doctor replied.
Skwisgaar was glad that the doctor didn't fight him on that.
His heart pounded in his chest as he walked. Was Toki okay? Was the baby okay? What if it was deformed, or messed up because it didn't get oxygen because Toki died?
A million thoughts ran through Skwisgaar's head. He was so distracted that he nearly walked into a wall.
"Here we are," Dr. Carlson said, stopping before a large window overlooking the OR.
To Skwisgaar's delight, Toki seemed to be breathing. At least, he had a heartbeat and his chest was rising up and down.
"As you may have heard, we had to call a code blue. Toki doesn't take too well to anesthesia, and his heart stopped. However, we were able to start it again, and to deliver the child."
"Thank Gods," Skwisgaar mumbled. "Tokis will be okays?"
"He wasn't without oxygen for that long, so he should be alright. He's resting now, but we expect him to wake up soon."
Another cry caught everyone's attention. Skwisgaar and Charles looked to see a nurse cleaning off the baby.
"She's okays, too, rights?" Skwisgaar asked.
"Yes, more than okay. A healthy 6 pound baby girl! Would you like to hold her?"
"I don't know," Skwisgaar answered. He was scared, really. What if he dropped the baby? Or what if it hated him?
Charles smiled at the guitarist.
"I think you ought to, Skwis. I'll go with you if you'd like."
"I, um. Ja, okays," he said meekly.
The doctor led them into the OR and introduced them to the nurse, who gladly handed off the infant to Skwisgaar.
As he looked down at her, his jaw dropped. She was quite a pretty baby, with blonde hair and blue eyes.
"I can't believes it."
Hearing that, Charles smiled.
Skwisgaar held the baby a little tighter. He reached out to touch her hand, and the baby grabbed onto his finger.
"Wows."
"She looks like a mix of you both."
"Ja. She's so tinys."
A second later, the little girl opened her mouth and let out a massive scream.
"Wows, she cans screams toos!" Skwisgaar smiled. He could already imagine her doing vocals in a metal band.
"Yes, she can."
"Be quiets," Skwisgaar told her, gently rubbing a thumb against her cheek, "Your other daddies will wake ups soon. But we need to let him rests for nows."
00
As the doctor had suggested, Toki did wake up soon enough. He opened his eyes to see the band gathered at his bedside, Nathan taking his turn holding the baby.
"Toki!" Nathan greeted him. "You're awake!"
"Ja…"
"Your heart stopped, man!" Pickles informed him. "They had to bring ya back from the dead!"
"I don't remembers thats." He glanced around, "Ams thats my babies?"
"No, it's Murderface's baby," Nathan said.
"Huh?" Toki was still somewhat out of it. "Murderfaces, you hads a babies toos?"
"No way! I wouldn't want to ruin my figure like that!"
"It's already ruined," Skwisgaar quipped. "It ams your babies, Tokis."
"Our babies. It ams our babies," Toki corrected him.
"Ja. Our babies." Skwisgaar smiled and took the baby from Nathan then handed it off to Toki. The little girl was sleeping once again, but opened her eyes once her father took hold of her.
"Wowie… She ams beautifuls!"
"You expected something else?" Skwisgaar joked.
"No, I means… She ams perfects."
"You, uh, got a name for her?" Pickles asked.
"Her name ams Winter."
That caught everyone off-guard.
"Winter, eh?"
"That doesn't sound very metal," Nathan said.
"What? Everything ams dead in winter!" Toki responded.
Skwisgaar shook his head and smiled again.
"It ams metals and beautifuls, Tokis. Just like her."