Beginning Notes: READ THIS BEFORE CONTINUING! This chapter contains a fairly realistic description of the beautiful, bloody mess that is childbirth. I would say skip this chapter, but there is so many important scenes in this besides the birth. So please bear with me if you can. I'm still so sorry in advance. And to kind of make up for all the blood and pain a cute little sketch dump can be found on my Twitter account LateNightLurker at LateLurker. Enjoy!
It was 5 a.m. when Charlie awoke to the sensation of light cramps spreading across her abdomen as she rolled to her other side and away from her boyfriend's grasp. A slick sensation between her thighs alarmed her as she soon discovered that there was a small wet spot, barely an inch in diameter, on the sheets underneath her. She quickly headed to her bathroom and sat on the toilet in confusion and embarrassment.
Was she slowly peeing herself? No, it was super clear and it didn't feel like she was. Did she not clean up after sex? No, she certainly remembered taking a shower afterwards. As she came out of her early morning grogginess the realization hit her.
She was leaking amniotic fluid.
Ha! So it did work. Suck it Alastor! But her triumph was short lived as she felt another contraction hit, this one a little stronger.
Charlie took a deep breath in, reminding herself that she was ready, she was well prepared, and that she's got this.
After it passed she discarded her wet black shorts and underwear for a new pair, making sure to secure a large pad so she wouldn't soil this one.
Quickly and quietly she grabbed her phone off its charging port and headed out to her private suite's living room, closing the door quietly behind her as to not wake up her boyfriend. Once on the phone with Dr. Vex and letting the physician in on the situation, she was informed to relax for the time being and call back when her labor met the 4-1-1 rule; four minutes apart, each one lasting one minutes, and have been happening for at least an hour.
After getting off the phone she headed back to her bathroom to grab a bath towel before crawling back into bed. Charlie covered the small wet spot and attempted to try to lay back down and get a few more hours of sleep. However, she found it to be quite difficult as contractions randomly came and went. When 6:32 a.m. rolled around she knew that she wasn't going to be getting anymore sleep and decided to head downstairs for an early breakfast.
Upon entering the kitchen in her slippers and robe over her pajamas, she briefly greeted the busy hotel's chefs before pouring herself a bowl of cereal and cutting up a few strawberries before heading back to the lobby to lounge on one of the sofas, not wanting to bother her kitchen staff for an early meal while they prepared the 8 a.m. breakfast.
As she took a few bites of her breakfast Charlie started to regret not already waking up Alastor, but decided it was for the best. Outweighing that she wanted him to get a few more hours of sleep over her desire for a hand to hold onto through the occasional contraction. The poor man seemed like he desperately needed the rest, and she doubt either one of them would be getting a decent amount of sleep for a while.
Charlie scrolled through her phone and chatted with a few of her hotel residence who were also up early that slow Sunday morning while she munched on her breakfast. But beside the handful of early risers the lobby was overall quiet. Charlie realized that it felt kind of strange sitting alone in the quietness. The calm before the storm. Just waiting.
Waiting to finally be done being pregnant.
Waiting for her daughter.
Waiting for her life to change, again.
Again, she thought to herself as she looked around her lobby. A lobby that seemed brighter in color, more welcoming, and….she didn't know the right word for it but 'homey' seemed to be the closest to what she was feeling.
She smiled as she looked towards the wooden front doors, early morning light filtering through the apple designs on its stained glass as memories, that didn't seem that old to be memories, passed through her mind.
"Well, this place may be a bit of a fixer-upper." She watched her past self say as past Charlie tentatively picked up a set of old drapes from a turned over couch, unsettling some dust, making her cough a little.
"Ya, no kidding." Vaggie agreed as she walked all the way through the front doors towards a coughing Charlie, observing the long project they had ahead of them. "But you know what," the moth girl said as she wrapped her arms around her girlfriend's waist, "with a little love I think we can turn this place into the happiest place in Hell."
"Even happier than Disney?" The blonde joked as she pulled Vaggie in closer.
"That rat has nothing on the Happy Hotel."
"Oh?" Charlie questioned. "So we're going with my name choice?"
Charlie smiled at the scene from her spot on the lounge couch before another memory crept into her mind.
"So you broads are saying all I gotta do is not get into any fights, pranks, and no 'problematic language' and I get to stay here? Rent free?" Angel Dust asked as he took a quick glance around the dump of a building, but he wasn't one to say no to free shit.
"Essentially, yes." Charlie beamed happily at her first patient while Vaggie sat on the lounge couch with her arms crossed, not liking the porn star too much; however, it warmed her heart to see her amour so happy.
"Fuck yeah! Sign me up!" The spider demon exclaimed, completely disregarding about the detail of 'no problematic language' as Vaggie smacked her hand to her face.
Charlie couldn't help but giggle a little at the memory before her thoughts changed direction again, remembering the day when three lovely sinners entered her lobby, oblivious that they would change her life. And change my life they did, she thought.
As if the little one could hear her thoughts she felt a little kick near her ribs. "I know, I'm ready to finally meet you too." She said softly as she placed her hand over the spot.
Once finishing the last spoonful's of her cereal she decided to finally call her parents.
###############
The red demon woke up feeling more refreshed than ever, not realizing how much those sleepless nights had been taking a toll on him. Alastor glanced at his girlfriend's bedside clock and believed that it was broken for a moment when he read 11:55 a.m. And when he saw a bath towel beside him for some reason but no Charlie, he got up and dressed quickly. Finally finding her in the large dining hall, helping Lily, Razzle, and Dazzle set up the large dining table for lunch, with Angel Dust suspiciously emerging from the kitchen doors with a plate full of fruits and vegetables and a flustered Tammy trailing behind Charlie.
"Not even my mom is going to be in the room. It's nice that you want to be there for support, but you're going to have to wait along with everyone else." The blonde demoness stated, not even trying to hide her annoyance. Her calm demeanor starting to crack between the contractions becoming stronger and less random and Tammy reverting back to overstepping her boundaries.
"Havin' another mama there might help make you feel less scared when it really starts kickin' in. You may feel okay now, suga', but that might change."
"Will you give it a rest, mutt? Toots said no. I wouldn't want you staring at my bits either unless you were paying me." The spider demon crudely pointed out.
Upon being called a 'mutt' an argument quickly broke out between the two fluffy demons.
"Are you sure you're feeling okay, Charlie? Are you even supposed to be up right now?" A worried Lily asked.
"Yeah, I surprisingly feel fine. They're a little closer together now, but nothing too bad." She halfheartedly hid a grimace.
"Good afternoon, darling." Alastor greeted as he made his presence known as he approached the other demons. "I would say good morning but it seems we're past that timeframe. If you're having contractions why didn't you wake me?"
"Well, I thought that you needed the few extra hours of sleep. And I'm not in active labor so it's not so bad. But my water did break." She spoke "calmly" while making her way around the table, placing forks down as she went. "What do you want to drink with your lunch?"
"Did you ring the doctor?" Alastor questioned as he followed close behind her, battling an inner war of feeling both annoyed with her and concerned for her.
"Yeah. I called her this morn-" Charlie let out a low hiss between her teeth as she grabbed onto one of the dining chairs, wincing in pain as a strong contraction unexpectedly hit. The room went a little quiet as all eyes focused on her.
"I'm fine guys, I'm fine." The blonde demoness unconvincingly smiled, trying to be as persuasive as possible.
"Sweetheart, you don't look fine." Her boyfriend stated as he placed a hand on her shoulder, noticing how red her cheeks were becoming and beads of sweat beginning to form on her forehead.
She shrugged him off, wanting to finish setting up lunch for her patients. "We should probably open the dining hall doors already and let everyone iiiinnnNNNNNAAAAAHHHH!"
###############
He was tempted to turn the volume up on his TV as another wail echoed throughout the halls of the private suites; however, it felt kind of wrong to tune out her cries of pain. Angel pushed the temptation away as he cuddled Fat Nugget closer to his chest floof and hugged him as he stared blankly at the screen, barely paying attention to his favorite trashy reality TV show The Real Hellwives of Imp City.
Angel was glad nobody had noticed that he snuck the small potbelly pig into his room around two weeks ago. He usually kept his little buddy over at Cherri's place out of fear that Alastor would eat the little guy. Unfortunately, Cherri's new boy toy didn't particularly like the little pig and Angel had to make the rash decision to sneak him into the hotel. Fortunately, Alastor seemed to be a little drowsy and preoccupied the last few weeks, so it didn't seemed like he noticed the new resident.
The spider was beginning to appreciate having his pet with him as he heard Charlie every now and again from down the hallway.
"Daddy did something really bad Fat Nugget." Angel solemnly said as he pet the small pig. "In fact, I've done a lot of bad things." He felt his eyes begin to prick with tears as it began to truly sink in how badly he hurt everyone around him at the hotel. Fat Nugget dropped the apple he was munching on, cuddling closer to the spider, nuzzling against the underside of his owner's jaw, sensing his distress.
"I was only trying to help them,….but all I did was make everything fucking worse."
He could feel the pooling tears finally fall down his fluffy face as he recounted and regretted everything. Drugging Alastor with date rape drugs believing it would help with his friend's relationship problems, trying to gift Vaggie and Lily with cake and a free show thinking that it would help them forgive him for bringing drugs to their engagement party, but what he actually did was crash their wedding, and worst of all, repeatedly disobeying the one person who believed that there was any good left in him. For some reason, that he didn't understand, was that Charlie still believed in him no matter what he did. The only person who wanted him to be here. She never gave up on him, even though he caused her so much grief.
The tears began falling faster and he let out an ugly sob of his own as he heard another piercing screech. It wasn't his kid that she was struggling to bring into this world, but he still felt like it was all his fault that she was in this situation.
He remembered the blood seeping through her skirt the day after the party, the clawed marks etched into her skin, the past nine months of discomfort, and now the hell she had to endure as she sounded like she was being slowly ripped in half. Which is pretty close to the truth, Angel thought as he wiped his tears onto the long sleeves of his hoodie.
She was suffering because of him.
But, she could do this, right?
###############
"I-I can't do this." Charlie quietly sobbed into Alastor's shoulder, her demonic eyes and horns fully on display as her small, sharp nails punctured more holes in the back of his salmon dress shirt as she balled the fabric into her fists, further destroying his clothes.
The back of his dress shirt was decorated with several ripped open seams here and there, with a few drops of blood scattered from her accidently nicking him. But he could care less about the destroyed shirt and small cuts. He was more focused on her breathing and pain management as he allowed her to both physically and emotionally use him. Moreover, he was also concerned about the condition of the bath water, which the temperature he was managing just fine but it worried him that it was gradually becoming more red, the scent of iron getting stronger.
"Yes you can, sweetheart." He soothed, void of any radio filter in his voice as he stroked his hand up and down her back, his other hand tangled in her falling-apart, messy bun.
"No Al, I really can't!" She sobbed, feeling like she had reached her breaking point thirty minutes ago and now her body was going through the motions without her. "I can't. I can't. I can't. Ican'tIcan'tIcan't…." His girlfriend incoherently mumbled into his shoulder.
Alastor usually loved watching others go through pain and torment as he wickedly watched or caused it…..but not when it was happening to innocent creatures who didn't deserve it. If his tear ducts were able to he would most likely be crying sympathy tears with her, but instead he held her close as she sloshed more reddish stained water onto his button up shirt and lap.
"You wanting to give up is a good sign. It means we're pretty close." Dr. Vex stated while half of her body was leaning over the tub, her latex gloved hands elbow deep in the water. Charlie shook and whimpered as she felt the doctor's hand reach up within her but continued her 'I can't' mantra. "Just as I thought." The doctor confirmed. "She's about to descend, Charlotte. You're going to have to start pushing. Don't you want to meet your daughter?" She asked as she retracted her hand.
The pale demoness's bare, naked form writhed again as she felt another contraction begin to start, whimpering pathetically against her boyfriend, trying not to scream again.
More than anything she wanted to meet their daughter; however, despite preparing the best she could reading all of those pregnancy books and listening to advice from Tammy and her mom, she was not anticipating this much agonizing pain.
She wanted to give up. Just get out of the tub, lie down in bed, and wake up to have her baby already in her arms all clean and smiles….but that's not how life works.
Quickly realizing that her body was going to go on whether she was ready or not Charlie panted to Alastor, "Hand me that", as she pointed to one of the clean hand towels on the bathroom sink behind him. He loosened his grip on her and gave her one as requested, wondering what she planned to do with it. She answered that question quickly as she bit down on the folded towel hard and screamed into it as she pushed with her contraction. Charlie felt something heavy drop within her and pressure beginning to increase as she tightly gripped onto her boyfriend again, trying to have some sort of grasp on reality.
During the twenty minutes she was pushing, she soon discovered that the contractions were nothing compared to the ring of fire she felt forming around her opening.
"There you go, Charlotte, one last big push!" Dr. Vex encouraged as she prepared to catch the babe.
Charlie could barely hear the doctor's instructions or Alastor's comforting words as she beared down. Something primal within her snapped as her red eyes shone brighter and her horns grew longer. The demoness sunk her claws into her mate's back as the hand towel dropped from her jaws, her piercing scream sounded more like a roar as she exerted herself one last time.
Then, it was over.
Her hands loosened their grip and slid down his back as she went limp, allowing herself to fully collapse in his supportive embrace. She felt her horns begin to recede as all of the pain and pressure were suddenly gone, almost like it evaporated out of nowhere. Charlie felt herself finally relax with the one immediate thought that she wanted a nap, but that changed completely when she heard little squeaks close by turn into tiny wails.
"I don't think you want to sleep just yet." Alastor said as helped her slowly turn around.
Her doe eyes widened and refilled with tears as she reached for the noisy infant, immediately pulling her close and feeling the comforting pressure of her small daughter's weight and warmth on her bare chest. "Shhh, oh you sweet little thing. It's okay, you're okay." Charlie soothed as she kissed one of the little girl's red circled cheeks and the black tip coloring on her nose that was heart shaped while she brushed her fingers through her pink deer ears and hair. Was her hair going to be naturally like this or did the water stain it? Charlie thought as she further examined the infant, taking note that even though she was pinkish, and a bit wrinkled right now, some defining features still showed through. She was most excited about the cute little tail her daughter inherited.
"Why, hello there, my dear." Alastor smiled at the mewling infant as he leaned over Charlie's shoulder, tracing his fingers over one of the newborn's red circles on her face. "You have no idea the kinds of ruckus and chaos you've already caused." He stated as he allowed her little hand to grasp one of his thin fingers.
The imp doctor smiled a rare smile at the scene as she reached inside her medical bag for a few tools that she was going to need, as well as a couple of clean towels from the counter. The most painful part was over, but there was still a lot of work to be done. The babe needed her umbilical cord cut and a full evaluation, Charlotte needed an evaluation too and the placenta still needed to be delivered, and as for Charlotte's boyfriend…the doctor pondered as she got a better look at his back while his full attention was on his family, well, she was definitely going to offer him stitches. Maybe even offer him a hearing exam for his right ear as well.