Hey! So! Umm, sorry for the cliffhanger on the end of the last chapter? I'm a little bit evil sometimes, I'm not a Slytherin for no reason ^^ But here we are, the chapter you've been waiting for.
Yes I know it's called 40 Weeks and this is only week 37. But it will cover 40 weeks of time, I never said the pregnancy would 100% last for 40 weeks exactly. Sneaky.
I'd like to tell you all a little story here though, about a woman in pretty much the same situation with her unborn child turning up early and yanking at the umbilical cord until they tore the placenta and caused her life threatening blood loss. Guess you could say I've been trouble since the day I was born. But anyway I borrowed elements from my own birth story for this, which was nice because it lead to a pretty sweet conversation with my mum about how I was born and stuff. Try it, I bet your parents would be pleasantly surprised to talk about when you first came to them and how they felt at the time.
Note, a nappy is what we in the UK call a diaper. Idk, we're weird.
Content Warning; medical stuff (pretty standard at this point, right?), Terry Pratchett references, drama, Madigans.
Time wasn't working right for Bonnie; everything was numb and unreal like she was watching a memory or a dream. The words of the medical team flowed around and through her but they took too long to filter into her brain and make sense.
"Doctor, this haemorrhage is getting worse. We need to try to stabilise the mother's blood pressure before she bleeds out completely."
"Transfuse another unit, we can't do more until the babies are delivered. Ok, I'm through the surface layer and about to incise the uterus. Standby with suction, please."
"She's going into shock. You're gonna need to work as fast as you can so we can deal with this bleeding."
It was hard to imagine how things could go worse, medically. As much as Bonnie hated herself for it she was simply a helpless passenger in her own brain as the surgeons battled to save her family, there was nothing she could do to help and she was trapped with her own tortured thoughts. And apparently her mind, unable to deal with the sheer volume of raw terror coursing through her, had chosen to focus on something else. Her thoughts had retreated as far from reality as they could; cast around wildly and landed on that fantasy book series Marcy loved, for no other reason than because she'd left one of her books on the coffee table a few days previously. Bonnie had been unable to take that series seriously but nevertheless had stood in line all day to get Marcy's favourite book autographed by the author as a birthday present a few years previous. There'd been a lot in that book that the redhead hadn't been terribly interested in but one thing that stuck with her was the idea of what the author had called the Trousers of Time. Really they should have been called the Trousers of Choice but they were just a metaphor for the infinitely branching divergent alternative reality theory of quantum mechanics anyway. Every choice, intentional or not, created another alternative timeline where the other options had been chosen instead and things had ended up different. And so in the book the main character had accidentally tumbled down the wrong 'trouser leg' of time, followed the wrong path and made the wrong choices and ended up in a parallel reality very different from his own. As the surgeons called for more blood to transfuse, ordered a neonatal crash cart and had a defibrillator on standby in case Marceline went into cardiac arrest from the heavy blood loss and medical shock Bonnie wondered if their choices were saving the three lives she held more dear than anything else in the world. The redhead watched with eyes harrowed by anticipated grief as they hooked up yet another blood bag. Eight units, so far. The average human body only contained about twelve units of blood; Marcy was more than halfway to bleeding to death from what turned out to be a severe placental abruption. And Bonnie watched as her heart monitor flickered and blood pressure dropped steadily, wondering which trouser leg they were heading down. She was certain it couldn't end well, not with that much blood loss. But emergency obstetrics was something she knew very little about apart from the basics she'd covered in her student days. All she could do was wait helplessly to find out how many funerals she would be organising, whether she was going to lose everyone she loved on what should have been the most wonderful night of her life. Would she be going home a grieving single mother of twins? Just one baby? Would she spend the rest of her life helping a broken Marceline come to terms with the loss of one or both of their precious children? Worst of all, would she simply be going home alone and forever be carrying the three open wounds in her chest where her heart used to be? Bonnie didn't know how long she'd survive without them, she suspected it would be just long enough to put her affairs in order and amend her will before hooking up a garden hose to the exhaust of her car and waiting to close her eyes and see her family again. Losing everyone in one single sweep was probably more than she could live through.
"I know you can't hear me but please, love, pull through this. I don't know if I can cope alone." the redhead whispered into her partner's unconscious ear.
"SUCTION! Jesus, hook her up to another unit! The blood's just running straight through, hurry it up!" the surgeon called frantically.
And that was when a random memory from med school presented itself front and centre in Bonnie's brain, pushing past the numb blanket of terror and horror to make itself heard. Oxytocin was a hormone released during and after birth that helped control blood flow and contraction rate during delivery, it helped the mother and baby bond and it reduced blood flow to the uterus once the baby was born.
"Oxytocin." the redhead announced breathlessly to the surgical team. "She needs oxytocin, it'll help slow the bleeding."
"Sugar, for God's sake, you're not an obstetrician and you're not even on duty. Just let us do our job." the surgeon snapped without taking his eyes off his delicate work.
"But the oxytocin will-"
"She's already on oxytocin!"
"Then up the dose! Give her more, fuck's sakes, she's bleeding to death!" Bonnie screamed.
"Out. Out of our operating room, wait on the ward but we can't delivery your children with you screaming at us! Out!" he roared back. Next second a burly orderly had manhandled her from the chair by Marcy's head and Bonnie was dragged out of the room, still yelling that they needed to give her partner more oxytocin.
The last words she heard before the heavy doors swung closed behind them were;
"Ok, standby. Here comes the twin number one. We've got... Male Infant Abadeer, delivered at twelve minutes past midnight exactly. God damn Sugar, who even let her in here to start with? Thinks she knows everything. Fetch another oxytocin infusion and don't say a word to her about it. She's insufferable enough as it is."
A thin, high pitched wail hit her ears and Bonnie slumped in partial relief.
"That's my son." she told the orderly, dazed and amazed from hearing his first cry and still so terrified because she didn't know how it would all end. She barely even noticed she'd slumped down next to Finn in the corridor outside the delivery room.
"She's still bleeding heavily but they're giving her more hormones and blood to try to control it. And our son is born. I heard his cry, he's alive and he's crying." Bonnie muttered to some inquiry from her friend. Then she collapsed onto him and hugged him tightly; it was all she could manage to do. But for the first time since that gush of far too much blood when Marcy's waters had broken Bonnie felt a faint spark of hope that things might end well after all.
...
It wasn't really like waking up normally. There were no dreams and no awareness of the process of waking. But Marceline very slowly realised that she was lying on her back and her throat hurt like someone had been scraping it with broken glass; those were the only two things she could quite manage to comprehend at first. Next came the awareness that her eyes were closed and she was uncomfortable, much warmer than she liked to be in her own bed. And there was a scent, a very familiar scent that meant something bad must have happened. After an indeterminate amount of time she placed it; hospital scent. It was the subtle odour of sheets that had been washed so many times they were thin and grey, industrial cleaning agents and antiseptics, the slightly sharp and fuzzy smell of a hospital ward. She'd been periodically waking up in hospital since she was four years old; Marcy recognised it even though she had no memory of eating garlic this time. She didn't have much memory of anything though and for a dizzying moment she wondered if this was what waking from a coma felt like. Or perhaps it was just a terrible hangover, her head certainly felt like it might be. What had she been doing?
Jake and Lady's wedding. Oh, yeah she'd been at their wedding, right? So maybe she'd eaten something with garlic on the buffet? Her head was pounding and throat was on fire; Marcy tried to lift her arms and was alarmed to discover they barely moved. She opened her eyes a little and squinted through the blur of light. Yep, those were cheap Styrofoam ceiling tiles and anonymous halogen strip lighting overhead, she was either in a hospital or for some reason had wound up in a poorly funded public school. Her mind whirred, trying to piece it together.
Wait. She couldn't be hungover. She was pregnant, she hadn't drank in weeks. Suddenly Marceline's eyes flew all the way open as adrenaline surged through her. She was pregnant, she couldn't risk having an allergic reaction! But when she tried to lurch unsteadily upright it was to discover an unexpected flare of pain in her lower abdomen and oh God, her bump wasn't there, it was nowhere near as big as it had been, something had happened to the babies-
"Where'r m'... what's happened?" she rasped, throat screaming from the pain and vision swirling dangerously.
"Shhh. She's sleeping."
She turned her head and focussed blearily on the figure who'd shushed her. Bonnie was in the chair next to her hospital bed with her eyes red and ringed from exhaustion, holding a tiny doll wrapped in the elephant print fleece blanket TT had bought for them. Marcy stared at her, not understanding yet.
"Mummy's awake, little one. Do you wanna say hi to Mummy?" the redhead asked the doll quietly. And it moved and so did something in Marcy's chest, something huge and warm and full of a deeper love than she'd felt for anything else in her whole life.
"Is- is that my baby?" she gasped.
"They put you under for a Caesarean section, there were complications. I was really scared for you, love. You bled a lot and you had to have a transfusion. It might take a little time for you to remember it all since you were stoned on opioids and then unconscious. And this is Ingrid, our daughter. She looks so much like you. Say hello."
"Hello." Marcy managed to murmur around the shock. "Can I hold you?"
"Are your arms working properly yet? Come here, we'll hold her together."
Bonnie scooted closer and laid the baby carefully against Marcy's chest, holding her gently in place and helping her dazed partner wrap her arms securely around their tiny daughter. It was a feeling Marcy didn't know how to describe or process, like her whole world had suddenly just burst into colour for the first time and what she thought had been a full spectrum before had just been different shades of grey. She was crying softly before she'd even managed to focus her eyes on her daughter's face.
"Sh-she's so beautiful... Bon, we have a daughter. Where's Erik?"
"He was having a little bit of trouble getting a full breath because he's small, so he's on the neonatal ICU. Don't worry though, as soon as you feel well enough we'll all go see him. He's just fine, he needed a little bit of extra oxygen and some medicine to help his lungs develop and he'll be fine. Ok? Please don't worry, love." Bonnie soothed.
"But, you're not worried about him?"
"Not at all. I did a lot of worrying when they were delivering the babies, I was really scared for you and I didn't deal with that too well. I didn't know how it would turn out but it's all fine, you know how melodramatic I can be. You're fine and they're fine and we have two healthy children and each other. I'm still high on love and relief." the redhead replied tearfully. She was holding Ingrid carefully in place, arms around Marcy and hugging them both like they might just disappear at a moment's notice. Any other time Marceline would have noticed the reluctance in Bonnie's voice when the redhead said she 'didn't deal well' with her fear and would have pushed to know more. But she was still so dazed by the tiny life in her arms and the after effects of medication and hormones. So she simply laid her head tiredly on her partner's shoulder and let out a sigh of pure contentment.
"High on love. Yeah. I love you so much. And I love them. I love the whole world. Can we go see Erik now?"
Ingrid woke as she was temporarily being placed in the cradle by her mother's bed while Marcy was helped into a wheelchair to make the short journey down the corridor to the neonatal ICU. Her tiny red face crumpling into misery was the single most heartbreaking thing Marceline had ever seen and no matter that she was nauseous from the anaesthetics still and her abdomen hurt every time she moved it was impossible to stop the overpowering instincts screaming at her to comfort her baby.
"Love, sit down. I'll bring her to you." Bonnie told her softly as she put a steadying hand on her partner's arm. "Here, come on. Mummy's got you."
The baby quieted as she was cradled in her mother's arms and felt the familiar thrum of the heartbeat that had been the first thing she'd ever heard. She let out a tiny sigh and relaxed against Marcy's skin.
"Poor thing, she misses her brother. But we're gonna go see him now, aren't we darling? And I bet he misses you too, I can't wait to cuddle you both. You're the sweetest baby in the whole world, look how beautiful you are! Ingrid. That's your name, darling. Ingrid Erin Marceline Sugar. Don't worry, you'll grow into it. Look how tiny your little hands are! Yes, those are your hands, and that's your little mouth. Are you hungry, darling?"
At least Ingrid had no problem latching on to feed despite her mother's lack of knowledge about how it was done. They'd covered breastfeeding in antenatal class but it was a completely different thing to do in reality than when the friendly community midwife explained it with a doll. Marceline had been expecting it would hurt more but she was still full of hormones; it just felt like the most natural thing in the world to feed little Ingrid. And the expression on her face as Bonnie wheeled them down the corridor was blissful, more peaceful than anything Marcy had ever seen. Who knew the simple act of feeding a baby could be so overwhelmingly beautiful? Her eyes were tearing up again before they'd even entered the room where their son was waiting for them.
Finn was still there, sitting by the special incubator talking to his new nephew and gently stroking his tiny face through the side opening. He looked around and grinned proudly when he saw the new family approaching.
"The doctors said I should stay and talk to him, so he knows he's not alone." the blonde man whispered. Marcy nodded distractedly, eyes never leaving the tiny red face of her son. He had a thin tube taped across one cheek to gently blow extra oxygen into his nostrils and someone had swapped out the little blue hospital-issue baby boy hat for a hand knitted white one with stumpy bear ears that looked suspiciously like it had come out of his uncle's pocket.
"Hello, Erik. It's Mummy." Marcy said to him quietly as she slid her hand into the incubator to touch her son for the first time. He moved his head a little, flopping it slightly to the side she was at like he recognised her voice.
"About that. We didn't sign any paperwork yet because you need to do it but, uh, how much do you remember after they gave you the pethidine shot?" Bonnie asked carefully.
"Honestly not as much as I'd like. I remember singing to myself and trying to imagine the contractions were waves I was swimming through. And I remember someone fainting when I started bleeding a little, dude I thought you were a tough ex-military cop?" Marcy replied with a distracted smile for Finn.
He looked over her head to Bonnie the second her eyes slid back to the two babies and they silently agreed that Marceline didn't need to know quite how close to bleeding to death she'd been. It would only upset her and right now she had enough to worry about without dwelling on the fact that three quarters of the blood in her body had to be replaced by emergency transfusion. The less she remembered about almost dying the better.
"Uh, yeah, guess I got a shock." he replied awkwardly. "But, you were pretty insistent we didn't call this little guy Erik. You said that it was bad luck or something."
"But Erik's your name, isn't it, beautiful little man? Oh, did you see that? He yawned!"
"Actually we were calling him something else for the moment, until you woke up, to see if it fit him. You wanted to call him Philip." Bonnie supplied softly. The baby boy squeezed Marcy's finger in his tiny fist much harder than she'd realised an infant just over an hour old could and that settled it, really. He obviously liked the name.
"Philip. Yeah, it suits him. Philip Erik Finn Junior Sugar."
"Yes!" Finn crowed, punching the air in victory.
"Since I'd have ended up giving birth in Jake's new kitchen without you and you were such a good sport about me threatening to murder you." Marcy grinned. "Hey, did they say if we can take him out of the incubator for a bit? I really need to cuddle my newborns now."
So long as Philip was wrapped up warmly and still had his oxygen tube attached the nurses agreed it would be fine for him to cuddle up with his parents and sister, even try to feed. He wasn't as keen as Ingrid to latch and mostly just wanted to nap so in the end Marcy was content to lay him on her chest and feel his little heartbeat through her skin. Finn took hundreds of photos to show Jake and Lady, although Bonnie drew the line at him filming Ingrid's first nappy change. Marcy looked exhausted but radiant in every picture and was unable to take her eyes off the newborns, Bonnie was red eyed from crying but almost bursting with pride for her children and partner and of course the babies slept through the whole thing once their tiny stomachs were full and they were safely cradled in their mothers' arms. Marceline dozed in the wheelchair by Philip's incubator despite Bonnie insisting they go back to the maternity ward and Ingrid had her very first milky sick up onto the shoulder of the beautiful bridesmaid dress her Mama still wore although she really didn't care at all. As the windows began to lighten just a little from the approaching dawn Finn yawned into his hand and stroked a finger lovingly down his niece's cheek.
"Well little gorgeous darlings and bigger gorgeous darlings, I'm gonna head home and see where my own special lady ended up, check how things went at the reception after our escape. Will you be going home soon?" he asked tiredly.
"Yes." Bonnie replied at the exact same moment Marcy said "No."
"We've got to stay, you said they were keeping Philip for a bit until his lungs get stronger." she frowned.
"We can't just take up a bed on the maternity ward for as long as he's here, and we live a ten minute drive away, love. We'll come in and see him for visiting but for now he's gonna be mostly sleeping anyway, he needs to rest and get stronger." Bonnie replied gently.
"No, he needs his Mum and his sister, he'll get lonely." Marcy insisted, twisting her shoulder away from her partner's hand.
"We can't just camp out in neonatal ICU either. As soon as he's discharged we can bring him home but it might be a few days or a week, maybe even more depending on how he responds to the steroids. But come on, sweetie, we can't keep Ina here either, she needs to be at home."
It was logical and Marceline hated it soul-deep. How could it be right to leave her tiny newborn son alone in hospital while they took his sister home and only came to see him for visiting? Before they were born Marcy hadn't stopped to consider how she'd feel being apart from them but now the prospect of being separated from her babies was terrifying. She was sobbing before she even realised why. Bonnie shifted Ingrid to her other arm and gathered her into a gentle hug, careful not to pull the fresh stitches on her partner's stomach.
"He'll be fine, love. He's a fighter. But we can stay today and go later, you don't need to leave yet. Ok? I know it feels awful to leave him alone here but I promise you he's in the best place. Hey Finn, you still got those car keys?"
The blonde man held up the key with a nod, making as though to hand them back and staring in confusion when Bonnie shook her head.
"I've got a deal for you. I assumed we'd be at home when labour started and obviously that wasn't the case so all our baby things for hospital are still in the nursery. There's a house key on there too, I need you to do something for me. Head back to our place, grab the bag of baby things, get Hambo from under our bed and bring them back here. In return, you keep the car. As a thank you."
"But- what?" Finn stammered.
"I'm gonna need a four-seater, I want to drive these little marshmallows around too. And I was thinking of getting rid of it soon anyway, so why not give it to the hero of the hour? Keep it, it's yours. Just remember it needs an oil change a little more frequently since it's a high performance engine. And fetch the bear and the baby stuff." she told him with a weary smile.
"But your car." Finn protested, still struggling to understand. "It's like, the fanciest car money can buy. And you can't just give me a car, I mean... can you?"
"I can sell it to you for the princely sum of a single pound, to make the paperwork legal. It's easier than trying to sign it over to a new owner as a gift. But that's fine, it's yours. Just go get that stuff." the redhead replied, waving him off and already turned back to the twins.
Finn stumbled out of the ward confused, exhausted and dazed. But happy, he was pretty damn happy.
...
The morning brought Hunson and TT and the biggest bouquet of flowers Marceline had ever seen. She thanked them tiredly before turning attention back to Ingrid, marvelling at her daughter's blue-grey eyes and her impossibly tiny fingernails.
"She's just perfect. Oh Pumpkin, I'm so proud of you." Hunson informed her in a suspiciously tearful voice.
"She definitely has your lungs, Daddy. She's got a cry like a little foghorn. Woke up half the other babies on the ward this morning when she wanted her feed, didn't you little cutie-pie?" Marcy cooed to Ingrid, feeling her face pull into the same aching, besotted smile she'd worn all morning whenever her eyes slid irresistibly back to her daughter.
They all trooped down to the neonatal ICU again to see Philip and the second they were through the doors his sister started fussing. She wasn't hungry or wet and she'd just woken from a nap; Marcy was at a loss to figure out what was wrong.
"Give her here, love. I might be able to help." Bonnie told her, obviously just as exhausted as her partner but still smiling warmly when the writhing bundle was carefully placed into her arms. "See, one of the things I learned to do in paediatrics was a particular hold to help calm unsettled babies. Like this. Just put her little arms across her chest like this, and hold her gently on her front, support her little bottom and her head and- there, see she just wants to get rocked like she did before she was born, don't you sweetheart?"
"Voodoo. Freaky baby doctor voodoo. You're amazing." Marcy breathed, staring up from her wheelchair as Ingrid magically quieted and relaxed into her mama's hold.
"See this is how she was lying in the womb, she just wants to get comfortable how she was. And you can rock her gently, it mimics the motion of when you'd walk about with her in the bump. Come on darling, we'll take a little walk and let your Granddaddy meet your brother. I bet there are some kids up on the ward who'd love to meet you." Bonnie added to the baby lying trustingly in her careful hold.
She said her goodbyes to Hunson and TT and promised three times to an anxious Marceline that she'd be absolutely fine taking Ingrid upstairs for a little while to say hello to Lydia and Angela and anyone else hanging around Paediatric Oncology. Ingrid fell back into a light doze on her shoulder as the redhead carried her down the corridor towards the elevators and the baby curled a tiny fist into her mother's hair.
"You recognise my voice, don't you sweetheart? I'm the one who used to read to you before you were born, you don't know it yet but I'm gonna show you the whole universe. You and your brother, as soon as you're old enough, we're gonna get a telescope and I'll teach you about the stars and the planets and all the wonders of the cosmos. Because you and Philip and your Mum, you three are my stars and moon, you're my whole world. Do you wanna come see where Mama works?"
It wasn't like she was expecting a reply but Ingrid sighed in her sleep and wiggled her legs a little and Bonnie broke into a huge grin, unable to contain the simple joy that holding her daughter filled her with. The second Lydia caught sight of her walking up the corridor towards reception she covered her mouth with pudgy hands and made a sort of quiet high-pitched squealing noise.
"Oh my God oh my GOD they're here! Can I hold the baby? Is this the girl or the boy? Is Marcy ok? And the other baby? Are you ok? Oh God this is so awesome, come here little one, I'm your Aunty Lydia, oh you're so cute!"
"This is Ingrid, Marcy's down on Neonatal ICU with Philip. He's a bit smaller and his lungs are a touch under developed so we've got him on oxygen for a while." Bonnie told her quietly, carefully handing over the sleeping baby and watching the way Lydia's face lit up.
"She looks just like Marcy, doesn't she? She's got the same kinda face. And so much hair! You're a hairy baby, aren't you?" Lydia cooed. It was true, Ingrid's head was covered with a fine down of silky black hair just like her Mum. The baby opened her eyes but didn't cry, content to simply gaze up at them with unfocussed little eyes.
"Good morning beautiful. This is Lydia, she's Mama's secretary. And this is where your Mama works, I come here to be a doctor and help poorly children get better." Bonnie informed her daughter with a smile.
"Good luck staying home from school when you're not really sick, kid." Lydia added. "So tell me everything, how'd it happen?"
Bonnie explained about Jake and Lady's wedding, about how Marcy had helpfully ignored being in early labour most of the day and how Finn was now in possession of her sports car and she couldn't even find it in herself to mind.
"And then it all got a bit scary. She was bleeding internally and nobody knew, I thought she was just out of it from the medication. But when her waters went... Lyds, I've never been more scared. There was so much blood, I've not been able to stop thinking about it. I thought your throat going dry from fear was just a myth but it turns out it actually happens. So they rushed her up to theatre and these guys had to be delivered by Caesarean. There was so much bleeding, I thought she wasn't gonna make it. And I, um, I got panicky and yelled at the surgical team and got thrown out of the delivery room. I haven't told Marcy that part yet because I don't want her to stress about how much blood she lost and also I'm a coward. I wasn't there to see them being born but then neither was she. If I hadn't pushed them to infuse more oxytocin it might not have ended well, so I stand by my decision. I just don't know that she'll see it that way." Bonnie sighed.
"You know what though? There are two tiny people alive right now because of you. Wait until Marcy's got a baby on each boob and her hormones are making her love crazy and then if she must know, tell her. She'll forgive you." Lydia replied knowingly. "Trust me, I've looked after plenty of kids before and I know how new mothers are. Her brain is all mushy and hormone mental. She'll probably forget all about it soon enough."
"I hate to admit it, Lyds, but you're probably right. Well then little lady, shall we go back to Mummy? I think someone will need a feed soon enough."
"Aw look, she's smiling!" Lydia cooed, grinning down at the baby she was still holding.
"She's half a day old, she shouldn't be smiling yet. Unless she's pooping-"
Lydia hurriedly handed the baby back with a look of absolute horror on her face a moment before an indescribably terrible smell hit their noses and an unhappy wail broke from Ingrid's mouth.
"I'll see you later, Lyds. Say hi to everyone. Come on sweetie, let's get you cleaned up. That stink is worse than your uncle Jake makes when he's hungover, how are you managing to make such a nasty boom boom with such a tiny tummy?" Bonnie sighed, heading for the baby changing table in the restrooms.
…
Saying goodbye to Philip and going home with just one baby a couple of nights later was a special kind of hell, Marcy decided. For the longest time she sat cradling him next to his incubator, talking to him in a quiet voice and telling him about Peppermint and Cinnamon and his nursery and everything he'd get to enjoy as soon as his lungs were strong enough. He wasn't responding to the medication quite as well as his doctors had hoped and it seemed like he'd have to stay in hospital a while longer. But Finn had brought the baby things and Hambo as promised so now the baby boy was cuddled up next to the old red bear; at least he smelled like home and was an expert at comforting lonely children. But it wasn't the same, Marcy wished more than anything that she could stay too and put Ingrid in the incubator with him so they could be together and have their mother close by. Moving around was still difficult with her Caesarean wound and Philip hadn't really taken to breastfeeding yet, it was painful and difficult for them both. She'd expressed as much milk as he'd need overnight and the nurses were all wonderful with him but it was still a wrench to drive away from the hospital knowing he was alone for the very first time in his life at only three days old.
The only thing Marceline wanted to do when they got home was get into her own bed, put Ingrid skin-to-skin against her chest and try to ignore the terrible ache of missing Philip. Bonnie was more than willing to look after her, even going as far as offering to cook. Marcy assessed her with a long gaze that plainly told the redhead what she thought of that plan.
"Or take out, I can get us take out." Bonnie amended hastily. Before Marcy could reply the doorbell rang and she rolled her eyes.
"Tell them to go away. I'm tired and I feel like crap and my stomach aches like a bitch. I don't care who it is. Tell them to leave." Marcy grumbled.
Bonnie sighed and pressed a kiss to her partner's forehead before getting up and going down to answer the door. A familiar voice drifted up to her and before Marceline could even groan the bedroom door burst open to reveal Kim and Charlie with their craziest, most excited eyes.
"Oh, for-"
"BABY!" Charlie yelled at top volume, flinging herself into Bonnie's vacant spot on the bed. Ingrid immediately started wailing and Marceline briefly repressed the urge deploy her worst swearwords at her godchildren. What the hell did Jake think he was playing at bringing them around unannounced?
"Shhh, come on darling, they didn't mean to scare you. It's ok." Marcy soothed Ingrid who was still crying at the top of her lungs. Next second Jake's sheepish face appeared around the door too.
"Yeah, why not? It's like a bloody petting zoo in here. Come on in, bring your kids, prod the baby just when I got her off to sleep. Who needs peace or quiet or privacy?" Marcy groused.
"Guys, what did I say? Aunty Marcy is tired and the baby was sleeping, go back downstairs." Jake told his children with a stern frown.
"She cried, Daddy!" Charlie replied happily, completely ignoring the annoyance in her father's voice.
"Yes. Crying means she's upset. Go help your Aunty Bonnie with the food." he sighed. Both kids trooped out reluctantly and Ingrid finally quietened down.
"Did you say food?" Marcy asked, annoyance forgotten.
"Yeah. Bon texted to say you were heading home and I figured neither of you would be up to cooking much. So I grabbed some stuff out of Treehouse and I tried to sneak away without those two noticing but they ambushed me and demanded to come too. I'm sorry."
"You brought food. I forgive you." Marcy sighed. "Hey Ina, Uncle Jake's here. You gonna say hi?"
Jake took a seat awkwardly on the edge of his friend's bed but seemed weirdly reluctant to look at the baby.
"What? What's wrong?" Marcy frowned when she noticed how oddly he was behaving.
"Your, um, you should maybe pull the blanket up a little higher? I know we've been friends for years but there are some parts we probably shouldn't have just flopping out wild and free around each other."
"Oh stop being a weirdo, we used to share a bathroom. You've seen my boobs plenty of times. I was just about to feed her and besides, when you're in hospital giving birth dignity is something that happens to other people. But sure, if the fact of me having anatomy upsets you then I'll cover up."
Marcy pulled the blanket a little higher until Jake let out a relieved sigh.
"Thanks. Just, I don't think Lady would be terribly happy about you flashing me." he replied.
"Lady has had five babies, if anyone understands then she does. Anyway. You wanna hold the munchkin?"
Jake and Lady had visited in hospital the day after Hunson and he'd already met his niece and nephew but Marceline knew how much Jake adored babies. He held his arms out eagerly and gently cradled Ina, who gazed up at him blankly.
"She looks so much like you." he said, repeating himself from his previous visit.
"Yup, everyone says so. I think she's much more beautiful than me though. Better skin for sure. Looks like her hair is coming through a little curly though, I guess that comes from the other side of the genetics."
"She's just gorgeous."
"I know. I've already spent hours lying there watching her sleep thinking how amazing it is that I made her with my body. Look at that little face. That's my baby, it doesn't feel totally real yet."
"You wanna know a secret though? That feeling doesn't ever completely go away. Sometimes you'll just be hit with this wave of how amazing they are and how you're the luckiest parent alive to have these perfect little humans in your life. You think you love Bonnie but trust me, if you were under attack you'd use her as a human shield to protect them without a second thought. And she'd want you to. Welcome to parenthood, it's terrifying and also the most amazing thing ever. You're gonna spend the rest of your life living for your kids and not regretting it for one second."
Marcy sat up with a wince against the soreness in her abdomen, not even caring that the blankets shifted again, and carefully hugged her best friend in the world. He understood. He put it into words when she was struggling to even wrap her head around it all. And more than anything Marceline appreciated right then just how much love was in the world and how many different kinds. There was the deep romantic love she felt for Bonnie, the love she had for Hunson and for her foster parents, the overwhelming surge of unconditional and unbreakable love she had for her babies and the platonic love she had for Jake and Finn, her chosen brothers. There was so much love around the place, how had she never noticed before?
"I broughted you rice." Charlie announced from the doorway, balancing a tray of food while Kim and Bonnie followed with various condiments and a glass of water.
"You're a very thoughtful princess, Charlie. You wanna come help your Daddy cuddle your new cousin while I get some food?" Marcy replied with a smile.
She'd already forgiven the intrusion from earlier, Charlie and Kim were just excited and enthusiastic. If their father and uncle were any indication they'd never grow out of that and people would love them for it. Bonnie handed her a shirt to slip into before taking her own plate of rice to the dresser because the bed was full of Madigans. Perhaps they were slowly fusing into the same person after all because the redhead was also thinking about how much love the world contained and how amazing their extended family was, even if they dropped by without warning. Family were like that, though.