Disclaimer: I don't own Narnia or any of the characters associated with it.
Chapter 21: Bundles of joy
Back to Ashley POV (7 months later)
The shouts of the town's people are what wake me up in the morning. This is fairly common now. There's always some sort of argument going on in the town, whether it's something as small as a poor person stealing a loaf of bread or something as major as a Minotaur running rampage throughout the large settlement. I groan. I do not need this right now. Peter and I didn't get to bed until four-thirty this morning because of a useless and pointless meeting that we had to have with Lord Silian last night, plus, on top of that, I've been getting extreme contractions for the past few days which means that I've been waking up a lot during the night, plus the fact that every stinking morning, for the past three months, I've been woken up at six am because of the stupid town's people. I am ready to rip my hair out if I have to live one more day with this torture.
"Hey, you! Give me back my loaf of bread!"
"Never step foot into this pub again or I will kill you with my knife!"
"Stop pushing me!" "No, you stop pushing!" "You stop!" "No, you stop!"
"THAT'S IT! I'VE LOST IT!" I yell as I shoot my eyes open wide.
"Honey, just calm do-,"Peter starts to say. I jump out of bed though, totally ignoring him. I quickly jerk on my morning gown before I yank open the balcony door and stand up straight and proud. I lean over the edge of the ivory railing as best as I can, since my stomach is in the way.
"ALRIGHT! LISTEN UP; ALL OF YOU! I HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF BEING WOKEN UP AT SIX IN THE MORNING BECAUSE OF ALL YOU! I DIDN'T GET TO SLEEP UNTIL FOUR – THIRTY AND I'M TIRED AND TOTALLY ANNOYED. IF THIS HAPPENS ONE MORE TIME, YOU WILL ALL DIE! I WILL KILL YOU ALL PERSONALLY! EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU, SO SHUT YOUR MOUTHS OR GET YOU HEADS CUT OFF WITH A SHARP SWORD!" I shout out. Everyone is immediately quiet and looking up at me. I can't even hear the squeak of a mouse. Good! "HAVE I MADE MYSELF CLEAR?" I ask loudly. They all nod. I groan. "I CAN'T HEAR YOU," I bellow.
"Yes, Your Majesty," they all said in unison. I smile triumphantly.
"THANKYOU, EVERYONE!" I shout out. I walk back inside and immediately slide off my morning gown and hop back into the warm bed. I cuddle into Peter's chest and sigh in content. Silence! I thought I would never be happy to sit in silence, but right now I am extremely glad. I close my eyes and snuggle in closer to the warmth that is my husband.
"You could have handled that better," I hear Peter say as he wraps his arms around me tightly. I open my eyes and look up at his shining face. He smiles at me.
"What do you mean? It shut them up," I state, closing my eyes again. I hear him chuckle before he unwraps his arms from around me. I feel him shuffle underneath me and guess that he has put them behind his head.
"You didn't need to send them death threats to shut them up, Ash. A simple, 'Please be quiet' would've sufficed," he tells me before giving the top of my head a kiss. I giggle and lean up to kiss his luscious lips. He agrees immediately, kissing me with so much enthusiasm it's as if we haven't kissed in months. Just as things start to get heated my stupid stomach gets in the way. Yes, I love this baby, but I can't wait for it to be out of my belly so that I can kiss my husband properly again. I feel him smiling against my lips, before I unwillingly pull away. "It's okay, love, the baby's coming soon. Relax," he tells me while putting his hand on my rounded stomach. I sigh.
"Yes, I know that. The bump is just starting to irritate me now though. Either though I love the fact that I have a small life growing inside me, I wish it was out so that I don't need to worry about it anymore. I'm also just ready to meet our baby," I explain slowly. He smiles.
"I'm sure you'll live for a few more days," he murmurs just as I hear a door open and the sound of little feet run up to our bedroom. I half sit up in the bed as Lucy comes flying in excitedly.
"Good morning, Peter and Ashley!" she sings lightly as she runs up and dives onto the gigantic bed. She lands right next to Peter before leaning over and giving him a small kiss on his left cheek. If there's one thing I have learnt while being married to Peter, it's that Lucy never comes into our bedroom in the morning unless she wants something and usually what she wants costs Peter money.
"What do you want, Lu?" he asks almost at once. She smiles sweetly before cuddling up into his side.
"Well you see, I'm very bored, being the only little girl around now, so I want Ashley to have the baby today so that I can play dress up with her tomorrow," she commands in a voice that's so sweet and innocent that if you don't listen carefully, you wouldn't have heard the menacing tone behind it. This sweet, innocent Lucy is always the most dangerous one.
"Lucy you've got to stay open-minded. It might be a boy," I tell her while my hand flies to my stomach. I smile as I feel a few kicks.
"No, it's going to be a girl and I'm going to play dress-up with her," she replies stubbornly with a deadly smile. I roll my eyes at her.
"Lu, come off it. You of all people know that to be able to play dress-up you need to be able to walk and talk, which this baby won't be able to do for a few years. So you're going to have to wait for her to get older," Peter tells her sternly. She pouts.
"Please, Petey," she begs quietly in a persuading voice while pouting. He groans.
"Lucy, not now; you're going to have to be patient," he tells her. I know for a fact that he isn't going to give in as easily as Lucy would like. She slumps down next to him before sighing.
"Fine," she answers while pouting out her bottom lip. He smiles smugly, not that it's any surprise to me that he was going to win this battle. She crosses her arms over her chest before turning her head in the opposite direction. Peter rolls his eyes as I contain a chuckle. They're both so immature. I feel the baby move in my stomach then and immediately something feels off; I can't quite put my finger on what it is though. Peter notices my sudden distraction, his hand instantly flying to my stomach.
"Lu, I need to talk to Ash in private..." he trails off. She huffs before standing up and quickly walking out the door with her head held high. She slams the door close, causing me to jump a little bit from the sudden bang. I hear Peter sigh a little bit as his fingers lightly trace my stomach.
"What's up? Why did you kick out Lucy?" I ask him. He's looking down at my stomach with a sad looking expression on his face.
"I just wanted her out so that I could see where the baby is at. I can feel it kicking against my leg," he explains. I laugh. "No, I'm serious, I can. I am a little sad though; it seems the baby has a right foot and not a right arm," he whines. I raise an eyebrow.
"What does that mean?" I ask inquiringly.
"It means that he might be a better soccer player than cricket," he complains before he pretends to wipe away a tear. I can't hold in the laughter this time, I burst out laughing.
"Peter, you are just as bad as Lucy!" I laugh out. He grumbles unintelligible words before I feel something odd. All teasing and joking suddenly flies out the window. I know what that feeling is, even though I have never experienced it. "Um, Peter," I say as calmly as I can handle.
"I'm not talking to you anymore," he says as looks in the opposite direction to me. I get off his lap and sit up slowly. My hand flies to my stomach in the same instant.
"Peter!" I say a little more panicked.
"I'm still not talking to you," he replies immaturely. I feel my stomach cramp up a bit causing me to slouch over in pain as a contraction hits me. By the Lion's Mane!
"PETER!" I shout angrily at him. He turns immediately to me.
"Yes," he says simply without emotion. I take a few deep breaths in to calm myself so that I can speak.
"Peter, my water just broke. I think I'm about to have the baby." He has a hand on my stomach as soon as the words are out just as his other one starts stroking my forehead.
"How are you feeling?" he asks urgently. I take a deep breath in to steady myself.
"I'm fine at the moment, but if you could get me to the sick rooms that would be great," I reply. He's out of bed and picking me up all in the same second. He cradles me to his chest as he takes me out of our mini house and down the stairs. He tells Edmund something quickly at the bottom of the stairs before running out the front entrance. I can feel the baby moving lower and lower as he rapidly runs me to the sick rooms. We enter through the wooden doorway and run immediately to the front desk.
"Sophianna, Ashley's water just broke. She's about to have the baby," Peter explains, panicked.
"Sure, just follow me, Your Majesty," she tells him before leading us into an emergency room quickly. "The High Queen is about to have a baby. We need to check it now," she tells the nurse in the room.
"Right, King Peter, just place her down on the bed so that we can get started," the friendly nurse says. By memory I'm pretty sure her name is Allanina. He lays me down gently just as the doctor comes in.
Edmund POV
Hmm, I wonder what Peter meant when he came running up to me earlier saying that Ash was going to hospital? There was something weird in the way he spoke; it almost sounded like he was...panicked. HA! There's a laugh! Peter being panicked?! I wonder why Ash had to go to hospital though. Hmm interesting, very interesting! I'm walking downstairs when I hear footsteps behind me. The next minute, Malina, Emolise, and Kabella are beside me.
"King Edmund, do you know where Ashley is? It's a dire emergency!" Emolise asks rushed, once I have stopped and turned to face them.
"Yes, Peter told me a little while ago that they were going to the hospital."
"WHAT!?" three alarmed voices shout at me.
"I said they've gone to the hospital -"
"We heard what you said," Malina snaps angrily. That's strange, very strange. Maybe they know why Peter and Ashley have gone to the hospital. I'm going to ask them, but they're already gone. I shrug before I start walking down the corridor before turning a corner and almost bumping into Susan in the process.
"Hi. What are you two up to?" I ask while looking down at Lucy then back up to Susan.
"We're looking for Ashley. We brought her this cute, little jacket for the baby," Susan explains while holding up a white, baby jumper.
"Who isn't looking for Ashley today, but, like I told Malina, Emolise and Kabella, Peter took her to hospital about an hour ago," I tell them matter-of-factly.
"She's having the baby!" Susan squeals out, causing me to block my ears from the irritating sound. Then it hits me.
"Of course, yeah, she's gone to have the baby! Sometimes I am so brainless," I say while smacking my head. Both of my sisters look at me as if I'm from another world.
"You only just worked that out?" Lucy asks. I smile gleefully.
"Yep! I'm just so smart!" I reply happily.
"Sure you are, Edmund. Come along, Lu, let's go to the hospital and wait for Ash and Pete," Susan says while dragging my little sister away. I wave joyfully towards them as I watch them turn the corner and leave. Maybe I should go and wait in the hospital too. It is my first niece or nephew after all... At that exact moment I hear the breakfast bell ring. Actually, on second thought, Ashley can wait; first I'm going to get me some bacon.
Ashley POV (7 hours later)
Kill me now! Kill me now! Kill me now! Kill me now! No one ever told me that giving birth to a baby is so bloody painful.
"It's alright, honey, you're almost there," Peter encourages me through gritted teeth. "I know you're going through hell right now, but would you mind loosening your grip on my hand a tiny bit," he adds on politely. I'm holding his hand in such a tight grasp that if he even tried getting away, he wouldn't be able to. I take a tiny glance down; it's purple, which means that I'm cutting off his circulation. I loosen it for a tiny bit only to tighten it again as soon as the doctor makes me push again for the final time. "Ashley. Loosen. Your. Grip." he commands through gritted teeth.
"NO! I'm in pain! I need to hold onto something!" I scream. One look at his face though and I comply. No one can resist that face; even in the middle of pain. Focus, Ashley, back to the job at hand. I scream again as the doctor makes me push again. If he ever gets me pregnant again, I will kill him! I'm not going through this hell ever again! A tiny cry pulls me down to earth and I look down as best as I can. The doctor's smiling up at me. In his arms is a tiny little baby. I can't tell whether it's a boy or girl from where I sit; the only thing I know is that it's the most adorable little thing I have ever seen in my life. I'm expecting to feel more relaxed now that the baby's fully out of me, but there's still very strong pressure coming from my womb. I feel like I need to push again.
"Doctor, why do I still feel the need to push even though the baby is already out?" I inquire through gritted teeth. I look back down to him. He looks pretty shocked as he passes my beautiful, little baby to another nurse.
"Alright, Ashley, can you just give me one more push?" he asks calmly. I do as he says and instantly feel the now familiar ripping pain throughout my abdomen. My mind finally registers with what's going on. We are going to have twins? Really? I feel a smile break out on my face as I think about the idea. Two little babies, two little extra mouths to feed. I feel my hand being laced with Peter's again as I push for all it's worth. Tears flow freely down my cheeks as I take a deep breath and push for the last time. There's instantly another little cry.
"You're done, Your Majesty," the doctor tells me with a bright smile. I sigh in relief and fall back onto the pillow stack that has somehow formed on the bed. I feel something cold touch my sweaty forehead at once. I'm not going to start complaining though. It feels nice on my heated skin. "Congratulations, Your Majesties. You have one boy and one girl," I vaguely hear the doctor say. I hear the sound of my son and daughter crying and immediately jolt up.
"Would you like a hold of your son first?" the nurse asks me politely. I nod excitedly. She smiles before picking up a small little bundle that's wrapped up in a woollen, blue blanket. She hands him carefully over to me. I bring him straight up to my chest and can't help but beam widely. He's adorable. I stroke the thin layer of hair on his head back as he stares up at me. He's so small and vulnerable. I instantaneously feel nervous. I don't even notice when everyone leaves the room. I'm far too caught up with the tiny baby in my arms.
"Well done," I hear Pete whisper in my ear. I turn my head so that my forehead is touching with his. He smiles at me and gives me a slow kiss before focusing all his attention down towards our son and daughter (who he's now holding). He strokes our daughter's small pile of brown hair back and I instantly feel a tear come to my eye. I never thought I would have kids, yet here we are, holding two beautiful little babies in our arms.
"Would you like a hold of your son?" I ask him after a while. He looks at the little girl in his arms, who's gripping his pinkie finger tightly already, before turning his attention back to the little boy in my arms.
"Hmm...okay then," he replies back gently after a minute of decision making. He smiles at me before carefully placing our daughter down on my lap, with some tugging on her part, so that he can embrace the little boy. I hand Peter the baby before picking her up. Beautiful, little, blue eyes stare back at me. She's completely awake, staring up at me with a bright smile with two little dimples. I can't help but smile back just as brightly.
"They're both gorgeous," Peter tells me. I notice a tear come to his eye, obviously from joy. I can't blame him. Nine months of them in my stomach and now they're finally out so we can hold them; it is very overwhelming. After about ten minutes of silence Pete finally speaks up. "What should we name them?" I feel my body freeze up for a second. I haven't even thought about that yet.
"I'm not sure," I admit after a small silence. He smiles at me.
"Why don't you pick a name for our son and I'll pick one for our daughter?" Peter suggests. I grin.
"Okay then, what about Brenton?" I ask him curiously. Peter nods.
"Brenton's nice," he agrees. I hear a small whimper then from down in my arms. I look quickly down to my now squirming daughter. I hold her a little tighter against me. She stops at once. I take a glance over to Brenton only to realise that he's fast asleep in Peter's arms already.
"Good job," I tell him. He chuckles.
"Well you sort of get used to it after having three younger siblings," he explains. I giggle. I always forget about his brother and sisters.
"I guess that's true. Maybe I should let you handle them every time they wake up," I retort quickly. He grins.
"Well there are a few things that only mothers can do." I smile.
"Yes, I know. Now are we going to give our daughter a name or is she going to be called "the baby" for the rest of her life?" I joke. He thinks about it for a second.
"How about Annabella? That way it's not exactly the same name as your sister, but it's still representing her in some way," he suggests. Don't call me a wimp, but I start crying – a lot.
"That's beautiful, Peter. Thank you. Okay then, Brenton and Annabella it is," I agree trying to calm myself down. After a few minutes of Peter and I talking, once the tears have subsided, one of the nurses comes in. She's humming to herself happily as she walks up to the bed before gesturing to both of our children.
"Have you got any names yet?" she asks us cheerily as if she's a child in a lolly store.
"Brenton and Annabella," Peter replies with joy. The nurse smiles before asking us for the spelling and writing it down. She leaves then, just as happily as she had come in.
"Obviously she loves her job," I note simply before looking back down to Annabella.
"Or she's excited that the country has a Prince and Princess for the first time in years," he puts out. I can tell by his tone of voice that he's smirking. I have to admit that he's probably right. I know that there are going to be a lot of happy people once we tell them all about the twins. I yawn loudly then. Obviously, my worn-out state from the past few weeks is finally starting to catch up with me. My eyes suddenly feel extremely droopy as I look down at my daughter. "Ashley, would you like to go to sleep? You can if you'd like. You may as well take advantage of the nurses while you still can," he asks me with a slight frown.
"I'm fine," I lie swiftly while making sure to avoid eye-contact with him. He can usually tell if I'm lying by looking into my eyes, so I figure that he won't be able to tell if I don't look at him. Wrong!
"You're lying," he accuses. I sigh.
"Fine then, I am, but I don't really want to sleep at the moment. I want to stay up and hold my babies for a while," I explain. He grimaces.
"Ashley, you have your entire life to hold our children. I'm sure they won't hold it against you if you wanted to sleep an hour after giving birth," he says. I frown before sighing.
"I suppose some sleep will do me some good," I agree after a minute. He smiles before placing Brenton down in the crib that's provided before grabbing Annabella off me and putting her in her crib as well. I lay down pretty much immediately since my back feels as if it's about to break into two if I sit up any longer. I sigh in peace as I slowly close my eyes. A second later I feel strong arms wrap themselves protectively around me. I cuddle into Peter unconsciously before I fall into a deep slumber.
The Next Morning
I wake up to the feeling of someone shaking me crazily. I open my eyes slowly, letting them adjust to the reddish glow of the morning sunrise. I almost jump out of my skin as I notice one of the nurses right in front of my face.
"Your Majesty?" she asks warily. I sit up slowly, all the while looking at her. There's something weird in the tone of her voice. It's almost as if she's scared to tell me something. I reach across to the opposite side of the bed, expecting to find Peter, but all I feel is a cold, empty sheet.
"Yes?" I reply back in a shaky tone. I can sense the tense atmosphere of the room as the nurse pulls something out from behind her back. I take it cautiously, as if it can sting me at any minute. It's a note, on the kind of parchment that you would expect to find in someone's private stash of journal entries. That isn't what bothers me though, it's what's written on the note that makes my eyes well up with angry – no – furious tears. They run down my face in small trails as I read the words over and over again.
Dear queen – or should I say witch.
If you ever wish to see your children again,
I suggest you have a divorce and let my daughter marry King Peter.
She would love to be Queen in your place, but if you refuse, then I'm afraid your gorgeous, little children are going to get it.
Signed, Starstone
