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Sebastian barely slept.
The Phantomhive butler was too busy watching Ciel to rest.
Sebastian frowned in concern with each breath that Ciel took.
The following morning, when Ciel began to stir, Sebastian stared down at her intently.
Sebastian was relieved that Ciel had made it through the night but he was still worried.
Ciel slowly blinked her sapphire eyes open and as she did, Sebastian gazed down at his little bluenette.
"Bocchan…...?" Sebastian asked.
Ciel narrowed her eyes at Sebastian.
What?
What did he want?
What was he looking at?
"How are you feeling this morning?" Sebastian pressed, cautiously looming over Ciel, ready to aid her in any way possible.
Ciel's cheeks were pale and she scowled when she noticed that her headache had been replaced by a very irritating pain in her lower back.
Ciel's nausea remained…..
"Not wonderful." Ciel replied, rubbing her eyes as she slowly sat up.
"What's hurting?" Sebastian asked quickly.
"I'm just nauseous, Sebastian." Ciel snapped.
Sebastian stared at Ciel like she was going to explode and Ciel frowned up at him.
"I watched you all night." Sebastian confessed.
"Yes, I know, Sebastian. Whenever I woke up to roll over, I could practically feel your eyes on me." Ciel pouted.
"The midwife and the doctor are on the way." Sebastian announced.
Ciel raised an eyebrow. "Why?"
"Because you've frightened me so badly. You didn't seem to have a fever during the night, but you thrashed around so much……I was certain you'd sit up at any second and tell me something was badly wrong." Sebastian replied. "I would prefer to have you examined, kitten."
"There's nothing they can do, Sebastian." Ciel sighed. "The illness….or whatever this is...will pass."
"Perhaps not today, but the doctor and the midwife are going to stay here with us, for the time being. We'll need them soon enough." Sebastian chuckled, his eyes settling on the grand swell of Ciel's belly.
"Stay here?" Ciel gasped with widened eyes. "At the manor? What on earth are you paying them?"
"Enough." Sebastian shrugged.
"You're wasting money." Ciel sighed as she struggled to stand.
"Keeping you well is not a waste of money, bocchan." Sebastian replied, swiftly rushing to stand beside Ciel and support her.
"I'm fine, Sebastian." Ciel huffed, placing a hand on her back as that annoying ache smarted sharply. "I'm fine."
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Though Sebastian seemed hesitant about Ciel moving around too much, she vehemently insisted on leaving her bed.
Sebastian expressed his disagreement with Ciel's decision but he carefully helped her into one of the maternity dresses that he had purchased for her a couple of months ago.
Ciel hated dresses, but she had resigned herself.
The dresses were the only thing that still fit…...
Lying in bed for over a day had been long enough for the bluenette.
Ciel's nausea was aggravating but that stupid ache in her back ebbed away for only a few minutes and a time, and then, vexingly enough, it returned, shortening Ciel's already small supply of patience.
Hoping to distract herself, Ciel had Sebastian help her to her study so that she could sit and sign a few documents
It wasn't urgent, it was just busy work, but Ciel was actually glad to do it.
The activity helped to take Ciel's mind off her discomfort.
The morning slowly inched towards the afternoon.
Sebastian took note of the time.
Sebastian was certain that the doctor and the midwife should be arriving soon…..at least by that evening…….
Maybe then, Ciel could at least receive a diagnosis.
While they waited, Sebastian prepared Ciel's lunch and brought it to her study, knocking on the door.
"Come in." Ciel called coldly.
Sebastian opened the door and smiled at Ciel, though there was the concern in his gaze remained, "I've brought your lunch, bocchan."
"I don't want anything, Sebastian. Thank you, anyway." Ciel frowned, glancing up from her desk.
Sebastian blinked.
"You barely ate anything yesterday, you'll get weak, kitten….. I even made your favorite scones…….." Sebastian offered, taking the lid off of the silver, covered dish to try and tempt Ciel.
Ciel looked at the meal and the scones that Sebastian had so thoughtfully prepared, but even as the delicious aroma floated over to her desk, Ciel's appetite did not return.
Sebastian frowned as Ciel sighed and went back to her work, uninterested in the food.
Sebastian walked over to Ciel and knelt down beside her.
"Are you still feeling unwell?" Sebastian asked worriedly.
"My head's a little better." Ciel shrugged. "I'm just…. I don't know how to describe it…...I just don't feel 'right', Sebastian."
Sebastian watched as Ciel put her hands on her lower back and stretched in her chair, scowling as she did, "And now I have this dreadful backache that won't go away from lying in bed for too long."
Sebastian frowned in sympathy as he snaked a hand out, splaying it across Ciel's belly.
Ciel yawned but Sebastian's eyes widened as he took notice of how tight Ciel's tummy was…….
Sebastian could feel the rigidness of Ciel's abdomen even through the thin silk of her gray maternity dress…...
"Kitten, when did your back pain start?" Sebastian asked urgently, forcing his anxiety out of his voice.
"When I woke up this morning." Ciel replied. "Why?"
The bluenette pouted as Sebastian furrowed his brow at her in concern.
"You've been giving me that stare since yesterday. It's really annoying, Sebastian." Ciel commented as she writhed to wriggle away from Sebastian's touch.
Ciel managed to twist herself in just the wrong way………
The bluenette's eyes widened as a deep pain coursed through her body as suddenly and as devastatingly as a gunshot to the abdomen.
Sebastian was startled by the dry gasp that ripped from Ciel's throat as the bluenette practically leapt out of her chair to stand on her feet, trying to escape the agony.
"S-Sebastian……." Ciel whimpered as she bent over her desk.
It was terribly intense.
The pain was so tortuous that Ciel was certain it would shred her into pieces.
Staring straight ahead, gritting her teeth, Ciel could see it……
Yes……..
Her own doom before her very eyes…….
Her back would rip open first and her spine would fall onto the fall, then all of her innards would follow in one wet gush…….
Outside of Ciel's imagination, there was a wet gush that followed that horrible pain, but it wasn't because Ciel's insides had fallen out.
Not exactly, anyway.
"Oh, kitten!" Sebastian exclaimed as liquid trickled down from the inside of Ciel's legs and onto the floor.
"Sebastian!" Ciel yelped, the pain in her voice fighting to be heard over her shock and fear. "The baby!...The baby!"
No better……
The pain was no better…...
Ciel groaned as she sank to her knees, realizing that something was happening.
Careful to keep his touch firm but gentle, Sebastian gently eased Ciel down onto the floor.
"Don't worry, bocchan," Sebastian assured Ciel, taking out his handkerchief to blot the droplets of sweat that had broken out across Ciel's face. "The doctor and midwife are already on their way, remember? They should be here very shortly, just try to stay calm."
Sebastian looked as composed as usual on the outside, but really, he was telling himself to stay calm as much as Ciel.
Ciel gasped for breath as she looked into Sebastian's eyes.
During all of their time together, Sebastian had never seen Ciel's sapphire eyes so wide, and he had never heard her voice be so bold, so confident, so sure……
Ciel knew.
"NOW, SEBASTIAN!" Ciel keened, folding over the swell of her mounded belly as she squeezed her eyes shut. "RIGHT NOW!"
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Sebastian attempted to take Ciel to her bedroom, but Mey-Rin happened to pass by Ciel's study and when she saw the rapidness of the situation, the maid suggested helping the bluenette settle on the sofa right there in the study.
Sebastian quickly ran and collected the clean supplies he had gathered over the last few weeks while Ciel's cries echoed off the hallways, chasing him through every room he entered.
Mey-Rin had witnessed a birth before, but she was no doctor.
The height of Sebastian's experience with the situation had come from reading through medical texts over the last couple of months.
It was one thing to read about childbirth in a book and another to actually assist in it……
While Ciel wailed and screeched and panted and flailed, Mey-Rin and Sebastian awkwardly flurried around the bluenette, trying to decide on who was better where and with what task.
Should Sebastian be the one to hold Ciel?
Of course, Ciel would draw the most comfort from Sebastian.
But, no…….
No, Sebastian should deliver the baby, surely those medical books had been more informative than Mey-Rin's memories.
Maybe Mey-Rin should……
"AAAAAGGGHH!" Ciel cried out on the sofa, her dress pulled up to her ribs as she parted her legs obscenely.
Both Sebastian and Mey-Rin ceased their debate as they glanced at each other.
Mey-Rin settled between Ciel's legs and her shoulder brushed Sebastian's as they both grabbed a clean towel in one hand and gently placed the other on each of Ciel's knees.
Mey-Rin and Sebastian would help each other to help Ciel.
"Ciel, dear, it's…….it's almost over, alright?" Mey-Rin's usually shrill voice was serious but calm, and its tone surprised Sebastian.
Sebastian wondered whether or not Ciel could hear anything that he or Mey-Rin said as she sat up, letting her back fall against the sofa while she bore down hard.
"You're doing well, kitten." Sebastian said, trying not to sound frantic as he and Mey-Rin watched his child start to arrive. "You're doing very well, keep going."
Outside the manor, two carriages slowly pulled down the driveway.
While Ciel gave one last, desperate shriek, the carriages parked outside and their doors opened.
Just as the doctor and the midwife both stepped down from their vehicles, Mey-Rin helped Sebastian pull his screaming newborn straight from Ciel and into his arms.
Ciel swallowed thickly as she let her body relax against the sofa.
Mey-Rin laughed happily while Sebastian hurried to swaddle the crying baby so he could hand the wailing child to his wife.
"Sebastian……?" Ciel whispered.
Sebastian's handsome face was full of pride as he looked up at his beloved Ciel and happily announced over the baby's cries, "It's a boy, kitten! We have a son!"
The front door opened and Baldroy hurriedly directed the midwife and the doctor to Ciel's study.
Ciel's eyes rolled back into her head and Mey-Rin frowned, "Master Ciel?"
Sebastian heard the concern in Mey-Rin's voice and he looked up, tensing when he saw Ciel fading away.
"Kitten!" Sebastian called, handing the baby to Mey-Rin so he could shake Ciel, trying to rouse her, "Kitten!"
Following the sound of the baby down the hallway, the doctor and midwife came barging into the room.
The last thing Ciel saw before her eyelids fluttered and closed was the shocked and worried look on her attendants' faces……..