6 weeks later
The last few weeks had passed in the blink of an eye, and Haruhi had found herself becoming increasingly irritable with the inconvenience of pregnancy. While Tamaki did his best to comfort her, all she wanted was to give birth and meet her daughter.
It was the accursed pregnancy that was keeping her up so late and waking her up so early, sleep almost elusive enough to simulate life with a newborn. It was only around 5am when Haruhi was awakened by the gentle movements in her belly.
Figuring she wasn't going to get any sleep anytime soon, Haruhi wiggled out of Tamaki's arms, mindful of waking him and waddled out of the room.
As she exited the door, she let her hand run over the bassinet she and Tamaki (well, more Tamaki since he had refused to let her do any work) had pieced together back when they first bought it. They had lined it with white sheets and a fluffy pink blanket Tamaki had found to match the teddy bear Mori had bought the baby so long ago for Haruhi's baby shower. Now the bassinet stood there at the foot of her bed, almost hauntingly empty.
The brunette shook her head and left the bedroom. She made her way to the kitchen and poured herself a cup of water in an attempt to wake herself up.
It was times like this, early in the morning before the sun had rose, when she found herself doing a completely mundane thing when life felt the most strange, as she realised there was a countdown to how long she'd be able to do these things in peace. It was strange to think that in a few weeks she'd have a baby to take care of…
"Haruhi?" the young girl turned as she snapped out of her trance.
"Oh, morning Tamaki. I'm sorry, did I wake you up?"
Tamaki leaned against the wall, Antoinette by his side, as he yawned. "Yeah, sort of – you left me all alone and took the heat with you!"
Haruhi rolled her eyes. "Right. Well, sorry."
Tamaki gave her a coy smile. "I think you should make it up to me…" he suggested seductively.
Haruhi blushed and moved back against the kitchen counter as Tamaki moved towards her in a flash. "What do you think your punishment should be, hmm?"
Haruhi turned her face away from her tall boyfriend. "Tamaki… stop…"
"But I want a kiss from my queen" Tamaki pouted.
Haruhi blushed. "I… I haven't brushed my teeth yet and neither have you, that's gross!"
Tamaki rolled his eyes. "I don't care, I want a kissss, please!"
Haruhi groaned and gave in, moving her lips towards him to accept his kiss.
Tamaki bent down to meet her lips and wrapped his arms around her back, pulling them closer. Haruhi let herself be pulled in by the tall teenager and returned his hug, pulling the two of them as close as they could get with her baby bump. The fact was accentuated when Haruhi felt a sharp kick in her abdomen.
"O-ow" she breathed, a little hazily.
Tamaki pulled away instantly. "What is it?"
"I um, I'm not sure. I think the baby kicked me, but it felt different than before… harder…"
Tamaki frowned, confused. "Well it is about time for breakfast, maybe she's hungry?" he suggested.
Haruhi chuckled. The pain had passed quickly, and she hadn't eaten yet, so she probably should eat something, even if she wasn't hungry for the sake of the baby. It was as good an answer as any.
Tamaki smiled and held out his hand. "Come on Haruhi, my princess needs some food!"
Haruhi laughed a little and took Tamaki's hand as he pulled her into the kitchen in search of something to eat.
"So, my darling, what would you li-"
"Oh!" Haruhi gasped, her hand flying to her midriff as she felt a sharp sensation in the area.
"-ke? … Haruhi are you okay?"
The brunette frowned. "I… yeah. I think… no, I'm fine."
The feeling had gone as quickly as it came and Haruhi decided it was probably nothing.
Tamaki raised an eyebrow. "You sure? If somethings wrong then I want to know, the baby-"
"I'm fine." Haruhi interrupted. "I thought I felt something, but I think it was just a kick."
Tamaki raised an eyebrow, sceptical but willing to give her the benefit of the doubt.
"Alright… well, what do you want to do today?"
Haruhi shrugged and said, "I don't have any plans."
It was true. Ever since school had finished, the couple had nothing to fill their time anymore and so their endless free time had quickly turned into a waiting game for the baby's birth.
"Would you like to do something then?"
Haruhi paused before shaking her head. "I don't want to be up on my feet for too long; I get tired far too quickly now" she said with a small frown.
"Oh right…" Tamaki quickly gave her a lopsided grin. "So… movies?"
The two settled in the living room and began debating on which film to watch, eventually settling on Tamaki's first choice, some romantic comedy 'Life As We Know It' which Haruhi disgruntledly agreed to. The movie was a failure, being heart-warming but rendering Tamaki to tears and making Haruhi run through a list of awful situations in which she would have to choose someone other than herself or Tamaki to raise her daughter.
The worst part was that halfway through the film the random pains started up again and Haruhi found herself curling up to try to calm her aching body to no avail. As if sensing her pain, Antoinette trotted into the room and made herself comfortable at Haruhi's feet, resting her head in her master's girlfriends lap.
Tamaki complained about the betrayal for a good five minutes before Haruhi distracted him by suggesting a lighter movie. So, to brighten the mood, the two started watching classic Disney movies in chronological order, starting with Snow White.
The movies were wonderfully nostalgic, even in English, but Haruhi was still finding difficulty getting comfortable, and ended up practically laying across Tamaki (which he teased her relentlessly for) while enduring the pain.
As the third movie ended, Haruhi sat up, hoping that the pains were the result of hunger rather than the other, scarier possibility of being in labour three weeks early.
"Haruhi, what movie do you want to watch next?" Tamaki called from the living room as she was preparing their lunches.
"Oh, I d-don't mind" she stammered as she felt another stabbing pain.
"You alright?" Tamaki looked up in concern.
"Uh yeah…"
Tamaki instantly jumped up from the sofa to join Haruhi in the kitchen.
"Here, I'll make lunch. You go sit down." He didn't give her a chance to protest, quickly covering her mouth with a kiss.
Still in pain, Haruhi couldn't be bothered to argue and instead waited for him in the dining room.
Despite trying to find any excuse for the cramping pains, after Haruhi had eaten lunch she was forced to eliminate the possibility of hunger and resigned herself to the fact she was going to have her baby early.
With another, slightly harsher pain Haruhi squeaked a little and held her side.
"Haruhi! What's wrong, come on, you've been off all day, tell me what's wrong!" Tamaki blabbered as he ran to her side.
Haruhi took a deep breath, hoping to subside the pain as well as prepare for Tamaki to freak out. "I… I think I'm having contractions…"
Tamaki's eyebrows knitted together. "… Uh contractions…?"
Haruhi rolled her eyes at the hopeless boy. "It means the baby's coming" she told him bluntly.
Tamaki's eyes immediately widened and started panicking.
"W-what? But… but it's not time yet!"
"Well the baby has clearly decided otherwise."
Haruhi winced as she felt another sharp jab.
"Are you okay?" Tamaki asked as soon as he witnessed Haruhi inhale sharply.
"Yeah… it's… bearable" she said through gritted teeth. Barely.
Tamaki frowned and quickly wrapped his arm around her as a comfort.
Haruhi said nothing but leaned on Tamaki for support until the pain subsided.
"Should we go to the hospital?" Tamaki asked in concern.
Haruhi wanted to say no, knowing that labour could take days, but she was only beginning to realise how painful it would be and didn't want to risk missing the cut-off time for an epidural.
"I don't think… not yet… maybe just… call Kyoya. Find out what we should do."
Tamaki nodded and immediately started calling Kyoya while Haruhi sat on the couch, bracing for the next set of contractions.
"Kyoya!"
"What do you want, Tamaki?" Kyoya responded, already sounding exasperated from pure experience of his friend.
"The baby's coming – what do we do?!" Tamaki practically shouted, sounding panicked.
"Wait, what?"
"Haruhi says she's having contractions…"
"How far apart are they?" In preparation for the birth of his friend's child, Kyoya had arguably done a little more studying than the actual parents. Taking advantage of his family's hospitals and medical knowledge, Kyoya had done his best to read up on the actual birthing process. While he found the entire thing unnecessarily messy and frankly, gross, Kyoya had stuck it out long enough to find out enough about labour to help his friends.
Tamaki turned back to his girlfriend who now looked completely painless.
"Haruhi, do you know how far apart the contractions are?"
The brunette tilted her head to the side as she thought back. "Um… I'm not sure. Maybe twenty minutes? I'm not sure. All I know is that it hurts a lot when it does happen."
Tamaki quickly relayed the information to her friends.
"Well… based on how far along she is, they might be practise contractions, but it's also a real possibility she is in labour. For now, just stay comfortable and track how far apart the contractions are. You won't need to get to the hospital until they're either ten minutes apart or her water breaks."
"Okay. Thank you Kyoya!"
"Just don't panic. I mean it Tamaki" Kyoya added warningly. "I have my family's best doctors standing by as we speak."
"I won't" Tamaki promised before hanging up.
"What did he say?" Haruhi asked.
"Basically, all there is to do is wait until she's ready" Tamaki said, sitting next to her and placing his hands on her stomach.
Haruhi sighed. "This sucks… well at least there's some time to prepare. We should probably pack a bag for the hospital."
"Oh right!" Tamaki quickly sat up and held out his hand for Haruhi to take. Haruhi accepted and followed him into the bedroom to pack up their things.
Haruhi grabbed some clothes for them each while Tamaki went for the baby essentials such as diapers, a car seat, a blanket and the cute little onesie he'd fallen in love with.
As time went on, Haruhi found herself more bored than anything and began dreading the next few hours as the pain escalated.
"You alright, Haruhi?" Tamaki inquired as he noticed Haruhi wincing.
"It hurts…" Haruhi tried not to whine as she held her stomach.
"Oh Haruhi…" Tamaki sighed as he moved to caress his girlfriend's face, feeling helpless. "Would you like to take a bath? I read in one of those baby books that it can relieve pain, and it's good to take a nap as well, so that you're well-rested later…" Haruhi flinched at the reminder that the pain was only going to get worse as labour continued.
"I-I think that's a good idea. It's better than doing nothing."
Tamaki quickly hopped up and disappeared into the bathroom to draw a warm bath before returning to help Haruhi into the bathroom.
"Are you going to just stand there?" Haruhi asked as she began to undress.
Tamaki blushed and turned on the spot. "I just don't want you to slip and hurt yourself. I'll turn around but I'm not leaving you."
Haruhi sighed. "I thought this was supposed to be relax- ow!"
Tamaki instantly turned when he heard Haruhi's squeak of pain, only to be hit in the face by her flying shirt.
"I said I didn't want you to watch me change!"
"You sounded like you were in pain, I thought you were hurt! Besides, it's nothing I haven't seen before!"
Haruhi rolled her eyes but refused to answer, instead continuing to undress.
When she slipped into the bath and disappeared under the bubbles, Tamaki deemed it safe to turn around again and sat on the floor besides Haruhi.
"Tamaki, you don't have to sit here with me…"
"No, I want to," Tamaki said firmly "I don't want to miss any part of this. I need to do my best and be here for my girls."
Haruhi rolled her eyes, even as his statement of 'my girls' set butterflies fluttering in her already disturbed stomach.
"You know this can take hours. I'm sure you'll get bored of being around me all day."
"Never!" Tamaki declared happily. "This is the most exciting day of my life!"
Haruhi couldn't help but feel warmed at the sweet statement as well as the tiniest bit resentful. "At least you can enjoy the whole day. I just want to hold my baby already" she blushed at the realisation she had revealed a little more than intended, but Tamaki seemed happy.
"I'm sorry you have to go through all this pain. Thank you" he said, adding a kiss to the forehead at the end of his statement.
Haruhi smiled as he leaned back and made herself comfortable.
"You know, this is actually helping. I feel a lot better now."
"No more pains?"
Haruhi shrugged. "Occasionally. They're coming back, but it's dulled. Bearable."
"Excellent."
Though he wouldn't dare say it to Haruhi, he was a little disappointed. While he hated the thought of Haruhi being put through so much pain, he really wanted to get the difficult part over with and meet his daughter. He was overcome with emotions and torn between being elated and petrified.
While Tamaki pondered his emotions, he hadn't noticed Haruhi slowly falling asleep in the bath.
"T-Tamaki," the brunette yawned "can you help me out? I think a nap is in order…"
Tamaki complied, rising to his feet and helping his girlfriend out of the bathtub before wrapping her up in a towel and helping her back to their bedroom.
As soon as Haruhi hit the bed, she fell asleep.
Tamaki stroked her face fondly before leaving the room for Haruhi to rest, in Antoinette's care of course, the golden retriever hopping up on the bed and curling towards Haruhi's body.
Despite the fact he was practically shaking over the impending birth, Tamaki did his best to think straight and busied himself for the next couple of hours by doing menial chores and mentally ticking off what they were prepared for.
He desperately wanted to call Kyoya again for some reassurance, but knew his friend would only be annoyed by the incessant calling, so settled on the next best (or worse) thing.
It was time to face his demons and call the one person who loved his girlfriend and daughter as much as he did: Ranka.
Taking a deep breath, the blonde grabbed his phone and dialled the transvestites number and waited for him to pick up.
"Hello? Do you have any idea what time-"
"Ranka-san, it's me, Tamaki Suoh."
"Insect…" Tamaki could practically see the redhead's eyes narrowing at the thought of him. "What do you want? Is it Haruhi? Is she okay?"
"Yeah, she's asleep right now, but… well, she's in labour. We're having the baby today."
Ranka inhaled sharply. "I thought she wasn't due until later this month? So it's early – is she okay? Are you at the hospital?"
"No, it's too early for that, and Haruhi is fine, she's taking a nap right now. I just wanted to let you know she's having the baby today – or tomorrow, depending on how long it takes, I guess…"
"Right… well, there's nothing I can do so… sit tight. Get her to a hospital as soon as something happens! Call me when my grandchild is born! And if anything happens to either of them, I will hold you responsible!"
"I understand sir, and don't worry, I won't let anything happen to them!"
"Good… well, goodnight Suoh…"
"Goodnight Ranka-san." Tamaki hung up the phone with a sigh. He wondered if maybe he should call his own father but decided against it. As much as he hated to say it, Tamaki didn't trust his father not to tell his grandmother and wanted to remain calm during the birth.
However, he supposed he should call his mother.
Anne-Sophie had remained supportive of him and Haruhi throughout the pregnancy, and he knew that she had spoken to his girlfriend on the phone a few times, as well as himself.
When Tamaki had first found out about the pregnancy he was a little upset his mother hadn't told him, but as usual, Anne-Sophie had managed to reassure him, and their relationship had returned to normal.
Tamaki quickly dialled his mother's number and waited for a response.
"Hello? Tamaki?" Anne-Sophie answered in a heavy French accent.
"Yes, hi maman, it's me" Tamaki responded in French, not wanting there to be any miscommunication through the languages (even if his mother was basically fluent in Japanese).
"I've missed you Tamaki!" Anne-Sophie practically pouted. "You should call more often!"
"I… I know. I'm sorry maman, we've just been so busy…" Tamaki felt guilty about not calling his mother more often, especially since they'd been forced apart for so long.
"It's okay dear, I remember how it is! Now, how is Haruhi? And my grandchild?"
"Um… coming." Tamaki summarised shortly.
"Uh… what?" Anne-Sophie asked, confused.
"Haruhi is in labour."
"Whaaaaat!" Anne-Sophie screeched in a very Tamaki-like way. "Why didn't you open with that?!"
"Uh sorry… it's too early for us to go to the hospital, and she's actually taking a nap right now… but yeah, the baby is coming sooner rather than later."
Anne-Sophie screeched so loudly in excitement that Tamaki had to hold the phone away from his ear.
"Oh, Tamaki, I can't wait! My granddaughter is coming, I can't wait to see her and hold her and-"
"Tamaki!" Haruhi called suddenly from the bedroom, causing Tamaki to jumped and drop the phone.
"Merde. What is it?" he called back as he distractedly picked the phone back up, making sure it wasn't damaged.
"I-I think my water broke. We have to go to the hospital!"
Tamaki gaped. "Ah, maman, I have to go!"
This was really hard to write, so I hope it turned out ok!
If you're all good little readers and leave some reviews for me to wake up to, I'll update early this week :D :p
~ responding to reviews ~
MommaDiamond – thank you sooo much, you're too kind! I hope this was just the right amount of suspense before I introduce you all aha
Yaly.97cello – I had the manga chapter planned from a while back and struggled for a while trying to fit it into the storyline but I really wanted it there so I'm glad it worked! That chapter was 8 months later in the manga, so 7 months since Haruhi got pregnant, hence the time skip! Thank you so much, I'm honoured that you consider this a 'sequel', though I completely don't deserve that honour aha
DaughterOfLoki1 – yayyy my plan worked! I'm glad Tamaki is coming off as more mature, I really hoped that was being conveyed. Oh and fictional boys are waaay better, don't we all want one lmao
Krys2007 – thank you so much for all your long reviews, I'm so happy to see you like the interactions between them all, I'm so excited to write more of that! I don't know about the difference of weight in gender either, but I think I've heard the same thing about girls being heavier before too. And don't take that line too seriously, I just wanted to put them back in character for a little bit aha, I love Haruhi's bluntness! Thanks so much for reading and reviewing, all your questions will be answered in the next chapter