Part 24:

Authors note: Well… what can I say? Here we go!

It was early in the morning on the 7th of January. Abigail Lockhart sat alone, on the floor, in the middle her living room, holding her heavily pregnant belly in a tight grip.

"Ouch," the sound escaped her clenched lips, as she felt another flash of sharp pain shooting up her back, and put her head on the back of the couch, for support. The labour had been going on for about an hour now, but she knew that she still had plenty of time to get to the hospital and quiet frankly, she didn't want to wake up Carter just yet. She had a funny feeling that he'd be way too over protective, and she couldn't deal with that for the next many hours, 'till the baby would come.

Instead, Abby reached out for the name-book she and John and been looking through so many times during the past months, hoping to find the perfect name for the little fellow inside her. She started flipping through the book, with no actual hope that this would be the lucky time, when she felt another contraction coming.

This time the pain was definitely worse than it had been before. Now it was her stomach aching with pain, as her uterus started cramping. The book gently slipped out of her hand, as the pain became even more evident. Out of a sudden she felt fluid running down her leg, and as she looked down, she could see the clear liquid spilling all over the floor. There was no doubt – her water just broke.

Now was the time to get to the hospital, Abby decided, as she felt another contraction coming, much too soon for her liking. She tried clumsily to stand up, but she was already too exhausted to move more than a few inches on her own (though the belly and the fact that she sat on the floor probably didn't help either).

"John…" her voice was monotone as she called out his name. After that she waited. No response.

"John!" she yelled this time. Still nothing.

"JOHN, damn it… I think the thing might be coming… NOW!" she screamed at the top of her lungs.

That helped! Moments later a very sleepy-looking John stumbled out of the bedroom, trying to wake up and understand the situation.

"Wha- what?" he asked, yawning and scratching the back of his head.

Despite the situation, Abby couldn't help but to laugh. He looked so cute with his hair all over the place, and that look in his eyes.

"Hey… I'm being serious here!" John sounded slightly annoyed.

"Haha… Ouch! Yeah, me too," Abby said, as another contraction came. It wasn't as bad as the two others, but she needed to get to the hospital… and soon.

"Come on, I think we'd better get you into the car," John said, trying to maintain an overall view of the situation. "No… first, I'll just go put on some clothes, give me three minutes, ok?" John said, finding that he was still in nothing but his underpants.

"Ok… but hurry," Abby uttered through her clenched lips, trying to breathe properly.

¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨

"It might have been better if you'd chosen another place to sit, when you first came out here," John announced about twenty minutes later, when he still hadn't been able to move her more than a couple of inches.

"You know, one doesn't think that much when one's body hurts from the navel and down," Abby stated, trying to kick John, but unfortunately, he jumped away and caused her to roll over so she was lying on her side.

"Urh, I hate you!" she yelled at him, jokingly.

"Well, tanks…" John smiled the cutest of smiles and walked back towards her. "I do, however, think that it might be easier to get you up, if I pull from this angle."

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"Aaargh," Abby yelled, through her clenched teeth and gave John's hand an extremely hard squeeze. "Man, that one really hurt," she moaned afterwards and enjoyed the welcoming cloth, that whipped off the sweat on her forehead.

"Well, Abby, you're fully dilated now," Dr. Janet Coburn said, after taking a quick look at the situation.

"You ok, hon?" John asked from the seat next to her.

"Yea, I'm fine. I just never imagined labour like this, you know," she gave him a tired smile. "It's funny, 'cause I've delivered hundreds of babies over the years, and yet up until today, I've never been fully able to imagine how it feels and what the mothers have been going through… F!" she yelled the last part, as another contraction took control over her body.

"Come on, Abby," Dr. Coburn's voice coached. "I want a biiig push on this one."

So Abby pushed. She pushed as she'd never done it before. Her tiny body lifted from the bed. She felt her forehead go all sweaty and in some surreal world, far, far away, she could hear herself screaming. She felt a sharp pain shoot through her body. Suddenly another voice disturbed her.

"Go on, honey, you are doing so great, this isn't that bad at all, is it?" The unmistakeable sound of John Carter's voice was not, as she would have expected, comforting. In stead he pissed her off.

'Not that bad? Not that bad! What the hell was he thinking, just saying that…? he had absolutely no idea what she was going through, and he…' The thoughts were zooming around in Abby's head, as she felt her body relax again.

"Well done, Abby. I think this little guy is crowning," Janet said from somewhere down between Abby's legs.

"Yeh, you're fine… just relax, sweetie," John's voice, yet again annoying the hell out of her, reached her ears.

"Would you give me a break, Carter? I am actually in pain here!" Abby yelled and felt the next contraction coming just way too quickly for her liking.

"Go on, mom, I think this one will do," Dr. Coburn's words gave Abby the final strength she needed to continue, and then, all of a sudden, she felt the strangest of feelings, as – she assumed – the baby was finally out.

"So, do you wanna cut the cord, dad?" the doctor asked, holding up the most disgusting little girl Abby in her life had seen. She was slimy and purple, and a loud scream appeared from her mouth, but despite all that, Abby couldn't help but to feel the strongest love for this little creature.

John practically ran towards the end of the bed and moments later, he stood – for the very first time – holding his daughter in his hands.

"Do you wanna hold her?" John asked as he took held the baby out for her to take.

"Isn't she wonderful?" Abby asked with a voice full of emotion, just holding the little new human in her arms and looked over at John.

"So, I guess I'm not a moron anymore?" John asked playfully; as he bent down to get a better look at the two women in his life.

A/N: Well, I've never had a baby and never wrote a birth before, so please go easy on me in that department;)

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