Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing, it belongs to Bandai, Sotsu and associated parties. I just borrow the guys from time to time and return them a whole lot happier. I do own the plot and any other characters, especially the equines, that you will find in this fic. Please do not take them without permission. Written for pleasure not profit.
Pairing: 2x1x2, 3x4, 13x6, H+C
Warnings: Yaoi, lemon, sap, angst, vet themes, AU
Rating: NC 17
Betaed by Karina *snugs*
Summary: Set 2 years after Equus and Heero is doing so well in his own business that he's taken June on as a working pupil. The qualifying shows for the International teams are well underway and it looks like it will be a good year for Heero, his pupils and horses... until Mother Nature steps in.
AN: This fic, although a complete work of fiction is based partially on fact. I will add notes at the end of chapters where necessary to clarify events and provide links where needed.
Dedication: To Leslie and Karina. Leslie for giving me the original idea for Equinity and encouraging and supporting me through the writing of all the fics thus far in the arc. And Karina for not just taking over as my much needed beta, (poor woman needs a medal!), but for also poking and prodding Fred until he went on strike, refusing to work on anything at all until I let him start this. Needless to say, we managed to come to a compromise... Fred gets to write a chapter of this one week... the next week he has to write a chapter of 'Bound'... Did I ever tell you all I hate my muse? :-)
Fic 5 in the Equine Intervention Arc.
Commenced December 2013 – ShenLong
Thank you to everyone for reading! This was supposed to b the concluding chapter to this fic in the arc... but as is usual, my muse tossed me a curve ball at the last minute so there will be one more after this to tie up all the loose ends. :-)
"Rival Riders"
Chapter 50
The two men remained with Comet in the paddock as the mare and her foal became acquainted with each other. After a couple of minutes sharing soft snorts, whinnies and grunts, Comet lurched to her feet and began a serious investigation of the new bundle. The filly was content to remain lying down for the moment and suffer through the ministrations of her mother.
Carefully Comet snuffled around the foal, quite amazed and taken with what she'd managed to produce. Her natural instincts kicked in, tongue coming out and giving long, rasping licks to the baby.
"Yuk," Heero snorted when Comet stood up. "I think I'm gonna be sick."
Duo snickered. "It's just the membranes, Heero. You should be used to this by now and know it's a natural part of foaling. They will come away soon along with the afterbirth..."
"Speaking of which," Heero pointed to Comet.
Comet paused in her inspection of the new bundle to strain and pass the afterbirth – the membranes separating and falling to the grass at the same time.
"Ah, right on cue," Duo continued as Comet deposited the mess. Calmly he walked over to the bloodied heap and began to poke around at it.
"Do you have to do that now?" Heero muttered, looking a little green around the gills.
"I'm only checking that it's all here," Duo replied absently, continuing in his examination.
"What if it isn't?" Heero questioned.
"Then the roles are reversed."
"Huh?"
"I panic and you remain all calm and collected."
"Duo! Can you be serious for once?" Heero complained, but Duo didn't hear him, he was to intent on examining the afterbirth.
"Crap."
"Crap?" Heero questioned. "What do you mean, crap?"
"You know what I said before about role reversal and you remaining all calm and collected while I panic?"
Heero raised an eyebrow.
"It's time for that to happen."
"Huh? Duo, stop talking in riddles."
Duo sighed and faced his husband. "I need to get Comet up to the surgery stables as soon as possible, not all the afterbirth is there." There wasn't any other way for Duo to say it.
"Are you sure?" Heero asked, frowning. "How can you tell?"
"Trust me, I can tell, I've seen enough afterbirths in my time, Heero. This one isn't complete and that means there's some of it still inside Comet and it can't stay there."
"Wont she pass it like she did the foal and the rest of the stuff?" Heero tried to sound hopeful.
"Unfortunately, no. From what I can tell of the afterbirth, there isn't a lot missing, just a small bit, but I will know exactly how much once I get this mess to the surgery stables and have a proper look. Depending on how much has been retained will determine what course of action I'll need to take."
"Okay," Heero replied slowly, not liking the sound of that at all. "I'll bring Comet up then shall I?"
"The sooner we can would be better for her, but we can't go anywhere just yet," Duo sighed.
"Why not?"
"The foal hasn't found its feet yet."
"Ah. Could be a bit tricky," Heero replied as understanding dawned. "Can't you do whatever it is you need to do here in the paddock?"
"No, Heero, I can't. Aside from the fact that it's almost completely dark and therefore difficult to see, chances are I'll need to do an internal exam and remove the remaining tissues that way. To do that I not only need to see, but I'll need to have her in the crush as it's way too dangerous not to."
The logic found Heero's brain and he reluctantly agreed that it was safer for all parties concerned if Comet was at the surgery stables, but they still had the problem of getting both mare and foal to the surgery. Leading Comet wasn't such a task, but getting the foal to follow? That was the root of the problem. With a sigh Heero decided that fate obviously still had it in for him and he'd just have to deal with it the best he could. Duo began to speak again, drawing Heero from his thoughts.
"You stay here with Comet and the foal, I'll go get a bucket and take the afterbirth up to the surgery and check it over properly there. By the time I'm done the foal should be finding her feet and we can start to move them to the surgery."
"Do you want me to get Zechs to help?" Heero asked.
"Nah, we should be fine, besides, I think Zechs was going out tonight anyway."
"Okay. I'll wait here then."
"I'll go grab that bucket. Back soon."
# # #
"Crap, crap and double crap," Duo muttered to himself. On the table before him sat the afterbirth and membranes from Comet's delivery. He'd washed the entire mass and spread it out to thoroughly check every inch of it and try to determine just how much and what parts were missing. Pulling the latex gloves from his hands and tossing them into the trash, he scratched the back of his neck as his mind ran over the various scenarios.
Fortunately it wasn't as bad as he'd first thought when examining the afterbirth in the paddock. Now that he'd cleaned it up and examined all of it, there only appeared to be a small amount missing, roughly a couple of inches of the placenta itself. Whilst that might not sound a lot, Duo knew it was more than enough to make Comet very sick or heaven forbid, cause her death if it wasn't removed.
He was also on a time limit here.
The sooner he could remove the remaining tissues the less risk of infection to Comet and the greater her chances of a quick recovery. But he couldn't rush things too much as they still had to wait for the foal to be able to walk before he could do anything more.
Mind made up, Duo began to assemble the items he'd need to treat the mare as soon as she was in the surgery crush. Having everything ready to go would save time in treating Comet once she was in the crush; and the time taken to do that now would give the foal a better chance at walking the distance to the surgery stables.
With everything ready, Duo headed back to the paddock and his lover.
# # #
Left alone in the paddock with Comet and the foal, Heero's mind began to work on overdrive. Many questions swirled inside, none of them good. What if Duo couldn't remove the remaining tissue? What if the foal didn't want to walk beside Comet? Exactly what sort of problems would Comet suffer if the retained tissues weren't removed? Would she be able to breed again? Why was he having these thoughts?
Heero snorted at himself and caused the filly to give a startled jump. "I have the best vet in the world as my life partner and there is no way he will let anything bad happen to Comet," he muttered to himself. "Yuy, grow a pair and have a little faith in your husband; he's never let you down before and he won't now."
Feeling a little better after his 'pep talk' to himself, Heero turned his attention back to the filly who was making her first attempts to get to her feet.
An amused smile crossed his lips as he watched, all thoughts of Comet's problems pushed to the back of his mind for the moment as he watched the antics of the foal.
Although he'd gone through this several times before, Heero would never tire of seeing the drama unfold. It was comical to watch as the filly fought to gain control over her wobbly limbs. One foreleg and then the other were thrust out in front. A pause as if to take stock of the situation and then the filly did her best to get her hind legs to cooperate and push her up.
It didn't happen.
As the back legs pushed so the front ones went sideways and she did the splits, nosediving into the ground and landing in a heap. Several more attempts ended up in much the same way, the filly not at all impressed with her wayward limbs.
She wasn't one to be easily deterred though and continued trying, each time gaining a little more ground. Finally she managed to get herself upright and stood, legs splayed slightly apart and shaking slightly as she figured out what came next.
"I see she's starting to get the idea," Duo said as he returned to the paddock.
The voice startled the filly and her legs jerked, causing her to totter sideways for a few steps, lose control and fall into a heap again.
"She was," muttered Heero.
"Errr... Sorry?"
"Not me you have to apologize to," Heero snickered.
"Shouldn't take too many more attempts," Duo said with a grin as he watched the filly struggling to her feet once more.
Turning to face his husband, Heero kept his voice low and steady as he spoke. "What did you find?"
"There's a bit of the placenta missing, only about a couple of inches, but it's more than enough to cause serious problems for Comet if we don't remove it."
"I see. How do we go about this?"
"I'll need to get her into the crush and give her a quick internal exam just to make sure there's nothing else amiss with her. Once that's done I'll flush out the uterus using a saline solution and that should do the trick. A course of antibiotics will help to ward off any possible infection."
Heero didn't dare ask what would happen if the saline flush didn't work and Duo didn't offer up any further information. "I'd say we should be okay to get the pair of them to the surgery in another ten or so minutes."
"Good."
# # #
"Thank goodness for that," Duo sighed as he shut the back gate of the crush behind Comet. "I didn't think we were going to make for a minute or two."
"You and me both," Heero sighed. "My arms feel like chewed string."
Comet gave a deafening neigh, the filly answering with a shrill neigh of her own. The mare shifted uneasily in the crush, she didn't want to be restrained here, she wanted to be with her baby!
"It's okay, Comet," Heero soothed. "Duo needs to fix you up and then the two of you can remain together without any problems."
"I'll get started right away. The quicker we can get this done and over with the better for all of us," Duo stated. "Heero, if you could grab hold of the foal and keep her restrained at Comet's head that should go a long way to keeping Comet calm."
"Okay." Heero moved to corner the filly who was busy sniffing around the crush and bench area. She'd had a drink from her mother which had gone a long way to helping her with her strength and settled her fears a touch, which was just as well considering all that had happened since. The foal was nervous and jumpy, the trek from the paddock to this new place had filled her with uncertainty, only her mother's continuous calls and presence had stopped her from running off into the darkness. She was scared and unsure, this new place holding lots of scents and she wasn't too sure if she liked this place or not.
Suddenly the foal squealed and jumped, Comet letting fly with another loud neigh. Heero had managed to get close enough to wrap his arms around the foal and restrain her. She fought to free herself but only succeeded in wearing herself out. She was still tired from being born and everything that had happened since.
Once the foal stopped her struggling, Heero relaxed a little and then tried to persuade her to walk over to the front of the crush where Comet was wuffling non stop. It took a few minutes, lots of grunt work from Heero and more protests from the filly, but Heero managed to get her to the front of the crush where Comet proceeded to nuzzle her and make deep rumbling noises in her chest.
With Comet now more settled with her baby within easy nuzzling distance, Duo set to work. He gave the mare a quick internal exam, the job easier than usual owing to Comet's muscles still being fairly relaxed after foaling. Satisfied with the internal exam, Duo peeled the glove from his arm and tossed it into the trash before washing his arm thoroughly in a betadine solution. Assembling the things he'd need for the job of flushing out the uterus, Duo filled Heero in on what was going on so far.
"There's no tears or anything untoward that I could find with the internal exam and that's good," Duo informed his partner. "I couldn't locate the missing tissue though so I'll need to give her that flush with saline and hopefully the tissue will come out that way."
"What if it doesn't?" Heero asked.
"If it doesn't I'll need to do an ultra sound and try to pin point where it is inside and try to remove it by doing another internal," Duo replied. "I'd really prefer not to have to do it that way as it can be quite traumatic to the mare after she's just gone through labor."
"I see." Heero glanced at Comet, his eyes softening as he watched the mare who was busy trying to push her muzzle over any part of her baby she could reach. He felt his heart twist and silently prayed to any god listening that the flush would do the trick.
With all the necessary items ready, Duo prepared himself to give the mare the saline flush. He gave her a thorough clean down with betadine solution first, then a large, nasal tube – the type Duo usually used to drench a horse – was gently inserted and pushed through until it reached Comet's uterus. Once the tube was in place, Duo connected it to the small hand pump that sat in a bucket filled with a saline solution.
"I thought you were giving her a flush out, not drenching her," Heero commented from the front of the crush. Whilst he couldn't see everything that was going on, he could see enough and recognize the equipment Duo was using.
"I am," Duo replied as he began to slowly pump the solution into Comet. "With mares that have retained membranes the cervix is still quite open and given that I need a fair amount of saline, it's much easier to do it this way."
"Guess I still have a lot to learn," Heero sighed.
Duo snickered. "Brings a whole new meaning to the words 'Fill her up', don't you think?"
"Why did I have to marry a comedian?" Heero muttered and shifted a little. His arms were starting to cramp a bit with the position he was in, restraining the filly.
Once the bucket was empty, Duo switched to a second bucket, steadily pumping the fluid in.
"Just how much are you using?" Heero questioned in alarm.
"Twelve liters, that should be enough to flush out anything that's left behind," Duo replied absently; his attention was switching from the bucket to Comet and back again. "That should do it," he said and gently removed the tube.
"Now what?" Heero asked. "Is she going to flood the place? If that's the case then please warn me so I can get out of the way."
"Nah, you won't need your floaties just yet, Heero," Duo snickered. "I hope to catch most of it in the buckets." As he spoke, Duo removed the pump and tube, placing them to one side to be cleaned and picked up what looked like a plastic, full length apron which he put on. Apron tied, Duo reached for a capped syringe and approached the mare.
"What now?" Heero asked. "Nice get up," he added as he eyeballed his husband.
"Thanks. Now I'm going to swish the saline around inside and give her this injection of Prostaglandin to stimulate the contractions again. Hopefully then she will expel the remaining tissue with the saline.
"Aa. Okay." Heero didn't completely follow but didn't like to ask lest he get more information than he'd like.
Injection given, Duo pulled on another long, latex glove and inserted it back into Comet, only this time he went in rectally.
"Umm, what are you doing?" Heero asked, clearly unable to follow what Duo was doing.
"I'm going to wash the saline around her uterus," Duo replied as if it were something simple like baking a cake.
"Of course," Heero muttered, "It should be so obvious."
Duo gave his lover a grin. "I need to go in rectally and massage the uterus that way to swish the saline around inside her."
"All I can say is I'm glad it's you doing this and not me," Heero sighed.
"I think Comet would agree with you," Duo snickered. "Okay, that should do it." He gently pulled his arm from inside and peeled the glove off. Putting on another fresh pair of gloves, he picked up a bucket and moved to the side of the crush to run a skilled eye over the mare.
"Now what are you doing?"
"Just checking her over visually. She should start to expel the saline any tick of the clock."
"Right." Heero tried to subtly shift a little further away from the crush, but the filly and Comet weren't having any of that and immediately began to voice their displeasure. Heero had no choice but to move close again.
Comet went quiet and gave a grunt followed by a strain.
"Good, she's starting to contract," Duo said and moved closer with his bucket.
Another couple of grunts followed by some straining and the first trickle of saline began to come forth. Duo quickly placed the bucket in what he thought would be the best position and watched carefully. The last thing he wanted was to be covered in fluid!
Comet appeared to be completely preoccupied with her internal workings so Heero took the chance to edge a few inches away.
Another strain followed by a trickle and then Comet gave a really good push. Duo only just managed to get the bucket into the right place before a stream of saline made its way from inside.
The process continued for several minutes, Comet straining and Duo doing his best to catch all the expelled liquid in his bucket. The bucket began to fill rapidly and Duo only just managed to swap buckets before another jet of liquid came streaming out. As it was he did end up with some splattering against his protective apron.
Within fifteen minutes the flow stopped and became just the odd trickle. "I think that's pretty much it," Duo said and lowered the bucket to the floor.
"Now what? Did she expel the remaining tissue? Heero asked.
"I'm not sure, I'll need to strain through the liquid to find out," Duo replied. "Before I do that though, I'll give her an antibiotic injection and then the pair of them can go into one of the yards out back. I think they both need some quiet and quality time together."
"Amen to that," Heero muttered.
Duo quickly injected the antibiotic and gave Heero a hand to get the mare and foal out of the crush and stables and into a yard. Heero made up a small feed for Comet whilst Duo filled the water bucket. With the pair now settling down, they headed back into the stables and the waiting buckets.
"Um, I'll leave you to do your thing and clean up out here if you like?" Heero offered. He really didn't want to have anything to do with the fluids that had come out of the mare.
"No problem. I'll go get the things I need." With Duo 'straining' the fluid, Heero set to work in cleaning up the surgery area.
Once the clean up was done, Heero had nothing left to occupy him so reluctantly he wandered over to where Duo was almost done with his checking over the fluid. "Any luck? He asked and wrinkled his nose.
"Actually, yes," Duo replied. "There are several tissue bits here and once I've finished this last lot I'll take them all into the dispensary and check against the afterbirth. Hopefully it's all there now."
"And if it isn't?"
"Let's worry about that if and when it happens, ok?"
With tissue bits in a kidney dish, Duo went back to the dispensary to see if he could fit the parts into the afterbirth and determine if he'd gotten it all.
Seeing a smile starting to grace his partner's lips, Heero couldn't wait any longer. "Well?"
"Good news, Heero. It's all there now," Duo replied.
"Thank goodness for that," Heero sighed and then moved to stand beside his husband and wrap his arms around that trim waist. "Thank you," he said quietly and pressed a grateful kiss to those sweet lips.
"Mmm, my pleasure, Heero."
"What happens now? Heero asked as he continued to nuzzle against his lover's neck.
"Well, the immediate danger is over now that we have the complete membranes and placenta. I'll leave her on a seven day course of antibiotics which should take care of any infection that might be thinking of raising its ugly head and fingers crossed, we should be fine from there."
"That's great." Heero began to press butterfly kisses to his husband's neck. "If we're all finished here can I take you back to the cottage and resume where we left off?"
"I think that would be the perfect way to end the evening, Heero," Duo murmured back.
"Then let's lock up and get moving."
# # #
"Duo? Duo? Please, wake up, Duo."
"Uh... Wha...?" Duo blinked open sleepy eyes. "Heero?" he murmured, voice still thick with sleep.
"Duo, wake up."
The concern in Heero's voice had Duo's mind scrambling to chase away the sleep and focus. "I'm awake," he managed to get out as he yawned and rubbed his eyes. "What's wrong?"
"It's Comet."
"Comet?" Duo frowned. "Everything was fine last night." Duo was fully awake now, dread starting to settle in the pit of his stomach when he took in Heero's worried look.
"I know she was fine when we left her last night, but things aren't fine now."
"Heero, you're not making much sense here. What's going on, start at the beginning." Duo was running various scenarios through his mind – and none of them were good; he was sure he'd gotten all of the retained tissue from inside the mare so what could be the problem?
"I went down to the stables to start feeding up and I thought I'd go do Comet and the foal first. I made up a feed for her and took it out to the yard to put in the feed bin. Comet came over to eat and all seemed to be fine. I watched for a few minutes as the filly was sleeping and then the foal woke up." Heero swallowed. "When the filly got up and came over to Comet to drink, Comet chased her away."
"Eh?"
"Comet won't let her drink. Every time the filly approaches, Comet puts her ears back and chases her off. She hasn't bitten or kicked her yet, but I'm afraid she soon will and seriously hurt her." It didn't make any sense to Heero that a mare would refuse to let her own foal nurse.
"Damn," Duo muttered and tossed back the bed covers. "It sounds like she's rejecting the foal," he said as he reached for his jeans and pulled them on. A sweater was yanked over his head and bare feet found their way into a pair of worn sneakers. "Come on, let's go see what's happening."
On the way down to the surgery stables, Heero gave Duo a better understanding of what Comet was doing and by the time they reached the yard, Duo was pretty sure he knew what was going on – and it didn't make him any happier.
They paused at the yard rails and watched. Comet was still eating her breakfast, the filly stood a little to the side. Warily, the filly began to move closer, desperate to feed from her mother and fill her empty stomach. Comet cocked an ear and watched from the corner of her eye. When the filly was almost at Comet's flank, the mare lay her ears flat back, raised her head and snapped her teeth at the foal. The filly beat a hasty retreat.
"See what I mean," Heero stated.
"Yeah, I do," Duo replied. "Heero, go get a lead rope and catch Comet, I'm going to grab a couple of things and I'll meet you back here in a few." Heero nodded and Duo left for the dispensary.
When Duo returned to the yard, Heero had caught Comet and was standing beside the feed bin, the mare still eating and the foal watching from a safe distance. "Good. I want you to hold tight to Comet and I'll see if I can coax the foal back over to have another try," Duo stated.
"Okay." Heero took a firm hold on Comet whilst Duo managed to 'herd' the filly across. The foal kept one eye on Duo, but couldn't deny the ravenous hunger she was feeling. She approached Comet's flank again and succeeded in getting her muzzle underneath, but before she could latch onto the teat, Comet gave a loud squeal and kicked out; the filly scattered.
"Why is she doing this?" Heero asked.
"I really don't know, only Comet does, Heero, but I think she's gone through so much trauma with the birth and then the removal of the retained afterbirth that she's upset to the point where she associates the foal as the cause of all her discomfort. By rejecting the foal she's putting an end to her discomfort. That's about the best way I can explain it."
"I guess that does make sense in a way, but what about the filly? She needs to drink or she won't survive." Heero's voice began to crack a touch.
"I agree, the filly needs to feed, in fact she's looking a little dehydrated already so we need to get some fluids into her as soon as we can. Look, I'll see if I can get any milk from Comet to feed to the filly and once she's fed we can look at our options and go from there."
"How do you plan on getting milk from Comet?"
"I'll have to milk her, something like how the farmers milk their cows." Duo gave what he hoped was a reassuring smile.
"Okay. I'll hang onto her then?"
"That would be appreciated." With Heero holding firmly to Comet, Duo managed to slide his hand along her flank and underneath to the udder. It was very engorged and hot to the touch. Comet had to be uncomfortable with the build up of milk. Gently he managed to start milking her. It wasn't easy by any means. Comet didn't like having the human touching her sore udder and did her best to evade the touch. In the end Heero put her in the crush and Duo was able to get enough milk from her to fill a bottle for the foal.
With the bottle in hand, the two went back out to the yard and the hungry foal. It took them a few minutes to persuade the filly to let them get close enough for Heero to grab her and once he had her secure, Duo waved the teat under her muzzle. Instantly the filly's demeanor changed. She smelt the milk and began to search for its source. The teat was located and the filly began to drink.
Seeing the filly drinking happily, Heero released his hold and moved next to his husband. "Are we going to have to milk Comet every few hours and bottle feed the filly?"
"Not quite, Heero. There are some good substitute formulas on the market and I'll get some today for her as I don't have any on hand. So no, we won't have to milk Comet every couple of hours but we will need to make up a formula and feed the foal ourselves."
"Poor thing," Heero said and ran a hand down the filly's neck. "Don't worry, little girl, Duo and I will look after you," he whispered.
Duo smiled at the soft words.
-0-
To be concluded...
All information on Uterine Lavage in mares was taken from the following web site (just remove the spaces and replace the word dot with a full stop):
www dot ivis dot org / proceedings / aaep / 2001/91010100407. pdf
