Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).
Notes: Takes place at the same time as chapter 40a.
"This is taking forever," Syl remarked as she, most of the rest of her family, Alec, Becky, Biggs, Jeff, and Original Cindy sat in a waiting room in Harbor Lights. "It's been how long since Max's water broke?"
"Eleven hours," Becky said.
"More power to her," Original Cindy said. "I don't know how she can do it without wiggin' out."
Zane looked over towards the door of the room and grinned wickedly. "Oh, don't worry about it. Max is going nuts. She just threatened to disembowel Zack with a rusty spoon if he ever thinks about touching her again." He paused. "And she promised to remove a certain part of Wayne's anatomy with a pair of tweezers and duct tape because she thinks that Wayne is enjoying her misery too much."
"I don't know who I feel sorrier for," Krit said. "Max for going through all of this pain or Zack or Wayne for taking the verbal abuse that Max is dishing out." One of his eyebrows went up as he heard another colorful insult come from Max. "Oooh, that's a good one. Hey Brin, were you this bad when you gave birth?"
"No, I was worse," Brin said.
"Huh?" Krit said. "You were worse than Max?"
"Oh yeah," Alec said. "Trust me. You think Max is bad? Brin was insulting me, my manhood, and the manhood of every male that has ever lived in more languages than even I know how to swear in."
"God bless the internet," Brin remarked.
Jondy winced when she heard Max scream in pain. "Yikes. If this is what you have to go through to bring a child into the world, then Wayne is going to have to be disappointed because there is no way I am getting pregnant."
Jace smirked. "How much do you want to bet that you'll be the next one among us who gets knocked up?"
"What, you and Victor aren't already going for number two?" Jondy asked, giving Jace a dirty look.
"We're going to wait for at least a few more months before we try for another child," Jace replied. "I still say that Wayne's going to impregnate you for the first time before Victor impregnates me for the second time, though."
"You're on," Jondy said.
"What, the loser doesn't have to pay the winner in some way?" Rena teased.
"Yeah, and is there really a loser in that?" Biggs said.
"Shut up," Jondy said. She made a face when she heard Max yell out again. "This is taking way too long."
"Eleven hours isn't all that bad for a first baby from what I read from those books that Brin got before Tony was born," Alec said.
Biggs grinned evilly. "Yeah, eleven hours is nothing. Do you want to know how long Sasha told me that she was in labor for when she had the twins?"
"Something is telling me no, but go ahead anyway," Jondy said.
"A grand total of thirty-four hours," Biggs said. He had a satisfied look on his face and a grin that only grew when he saw the women in the room with the exception of Brin and Jace go pale.
"Thirty…four…hours?" Syl said slowly.
"Yep," Biggs said. "Sasha said that Jade was born after thirty-one and then it was another three before Julia arrived." Syl shook her head and walked across the room to the water fountain to have a drink. Biggs glanced around the room and laughed when he saw Becky's otherwise expressionless face go even paler in response to what he had said and turned to Alec, discreetly gestured towards Becky, and lowered his voice so that only Alec would be able to hear him. "I wish that I had a camera to take a picture of that."
"Me too, but you do know the possible consequences if you had done that," Alec said.
"I know," Biggs said cheerfully. "The danger is what would have made it fun."
Alec grinned. "I hear ya, bro."
Jeff looked amused. "You guys do know that even though I've been friends with the two of you for years, she's still my girlfriend and I would be morally obligated to beat the crap out of you as well if you had done that. Right?"
"We know," Alec said. He still had a huge smile on his face. "But you also know that wouldn't have that good of a chance of stopping us from doing that."
"True," Jeff conceded.
"What are you pretty boys talking about over there?" Original Cindy asked.
"Just some guy stuff," Biggs said. They were fairly quiet for a few minutes before any of them spoke up again.
"Oh, Wayne just told Maxie to start to push," Rena said. "Good, it might not be too much longer until the baby actually gets here."
"Yeah, but did you also catch what Maxie told Wayne to do?" Krit said, laughing. "In Spanish, no less. Nice." He turned to the other guys and started to say something, but stopped and all of the guys winced when they heard the next words to come out of Max's mouth. "Ouch. I really hope for Zack's sake that she wasn't serious when she screamed that at him."
"What did she say?" Original Cindy asked. Krit leaned over and whispered the threat in her ear and she shrugged. "She probably wasn't. If she didn't actually do it when she made a similar threat to Sketchy when he got drunk and grabbed her ass at Crash a few years ago then I don't think that she'll do that to her lover boy." Original Cindy looked thoughtful. "Though Sketchy never tried to cop a feel on Max since."
Alec looked at his right hand, a contemplative expression on his face. "I wonder if Zack's hand will be in worse shape than mine was after Brin had Tony. You really squeezed the daylights of it, babe."
"I'll do it again if and when we decide to have another baby," Brin said. "Sorry."
"It's all good," Alec said. "At least then I'll be somewhat prepared. That reminds me. Beck, when are your parents getting in?" He, Biggs, Krit, and Zane snickered when Becky glared at him. Jeff just shook his head in resignation.
"First of all, the only person that is allowed to call me Beck is in the delivery room holding Max's hand right now," Becky said. "And when I called my parents at around midnight, they said that they managed to get seats on the first flight out to Seattle in the morning so they'll be here before lunch tomorrow. Jenny's not coming with them because Mom and Dad will be staying until at least Wednesday and Jenny's got school."
"Oh, speaking of parents and kids," Jondy said. "I can't wait until Case and Charlie get here at the end of June."
"I can't believe that they're moving back here to the U.S.," Syl said. "In a good way, I mean. I just would have thought that Charlie would have wanted to move to Arizona to be closer to his sister."
"Apparently, he talked it over with her and they both decided that it would be really good for Case to be here with so many aunts and uncles and cousins that he had started to get to know when they were here for Christmas," Jondy said. "Not to mention the X9 kids that he was making friends with. Besides, Charlie, Case, and Tinga's sister-in-law will be back-and-forth visiting each other."
"I'm glad that—" Brin stopped suddenly when she and the other transgenics in the room heard the sound of a crying newborn coming from the delivery room down the hall. She squealed. "The baby's here!"
"And it's a girl!" Rena said happily. They laughed, cheered, and congratulated each other until the waiting room door opened a short while later and Zack and Wayne walked inside. Both of them were grinning like lunatics.
"Congratulations, bro," Krit said. He gave Zack a big hug and went to give him a high five when Zack stopped him. Krit glanced down at Zack's swollen right hand. "Sorry about that."
"It was more than worth it," Zack said. "I can't believe it. I can't believe that I have a little girl."
"Uh-oh," Syl said teasingly. "Something's telling me that she's already a major Daddy's Girl. Am I right?"
"You might be," Zack admitted.
"What's her name?" Jace asked eagerly.
"Gabrielle," Zack said. "We're going to call her Gabby but her name is Gabrielle."
"It's beautiful," Rena said, though her smile was a little sad as she thought about the long-dead sister that Gabrielle had been named after. "Congratulations again, big brother."
"As much as I hate to be the party pooper here…" Wayne began.
"No, really?" Krit and Zane said together in mock surprise.
"…but it is so far after visiting hours that it's not even funny," Wayne finished. "Plus, I need to bandage Zack's hand and make sure that Max and Gabby get moved up to their own room. You guys go home and get some sleep and you can come by to visit Max and Gabby in the morning." He looked over at Jondy and nodded in response to the look that she was giving him. "I'll be home as soon as I finish up with Zack and family, babe."
"I guess we'll see you guys in the morning, then," Alec said, getting up from his seat.
"Congratulations again, Zack," Syl said. They all exchanged congratulations again before leaving.
TBC