Flint and Lady Jaye lay in their bed. Flint was dead asleep. The last week had totally wiped him out. Between doing work that could only be done on base for a few hours a day, bringing lots of work home to work on and caring for the bed ridden Jaye since his parents went back home, he was beat.
Jaye hadn't felt that well that night. Her back had been killing her but she chalked that up to being in bed all the time now. She had been in bed for 3 weeks now and it was driving her nuts. But now the pains in her back were moving around to the front of her swollen abdomen and were intensifying. She had been timing them for the past hour thinking maybe they were Braxton Hick's contractions but they were steady and the gaps between were getting shorter and shorter. She rolled over a little bit and gently shook her slumbering fiancée. "Dash...honey..."
Flint mumbled and turned over, burying himself into the bedclothes.
Jaye shook him again, this time a little harder. "Come on baby, it's time."
"Five more minutes," Flint mumbled, still asleep.
Jaye rolled her eyes before shaking him yet again, this time even harder. "Dash come on...it's time to go to the hospital."
Flint sat bolt upright as his mind registered the word "hospital." He looked at her, eyes wide. "Now? Like, right now?"
Jaye's face cringed as another pain hit her and she could only nod affirmative.
Flint stood and pulled on clothes, then looked wildly around the room. He started opening drawers in the bureau, throwing her clothes in a heap on the bed.
"What are you doing?" Jaye asked in shock.
"You need..." He stopped and looked around, moving quickly to the bathroom. A towel flew out the door, followed by her toothbrush and other toiletries.
"Dash--my bag is packed already and in the closet. Remember? We packed it last week."
Flint peeked his head out of the doorway and looked at her incredulously. "Oh," he said sheepishly. He took a step forward and stepped on the toothpaste, bursting it and sending him flying as his other foot came down in the mess. He landed on his butt and sat there, looking up at her. "So...I'll just go get the car started, shall I?"
Jaye was trying not to laugh at him. "Yeah after you hand me the outfit folded on top of my dresser."
Flint rose and wiped his hands on his pants, leaving a minty smear behind. He meekly handed her the clothes and headed downstairs. "I'll help you down in a minute," he called. "What else do we need? Food? Water?"
"Just my bag and the diaper bag in the nursery." Alison said as she slowly started to get dressed.
Flint nodded and slipped down the stairs, remembering to grab the diaper bag as he headed out the door to the garage. He started the car and opened the door, then ran full tilt back to the bedroom.
Jaye was dressed but she sat on the edge of her side of the bed holding her self up in a sitting position with one hand while the other held onto her belly and she was panting.
Flint slid into the room and bent down to tie on a pair of shoes as he asked, "You doing okay?"
Jaye managed a nod.
Flint raced to the bed and hauled Jaye to her feet. "Alright...easy does it," he said. "How much time?"
"F...Five minutes apart." Jaye said as she slowly walked with Flint's help.
"Okay, I'm sure we've got plenty of time," Flint said, trying not to let the panic show in his voice. They maneuvered downstairs.
Jaye had a hard time getting into Flint's SUV because of the tightness in her back from the contractions.
Flint buckled her in and did the same himself. He grabbed the steering wheel and took a deep breath. He turned the key, making the SUV give a loud clank. "Uh, already started," he said. "Right." He shifted into drive and headed toward the hospital.
"Dash, calm down." Jaye said as she watched him speed by. "UGH!" She groaned, leaning over slightly holding onto her stomach.
Flint glanced at her for a moment. "What was that?"
"My water just broke."
"All over my--" Flint broke off his reply, snapping his mouth shut. "Okay, it's only about another five minutes. Hold on, honey." He gave the SUV a little more gas.
Jaye's contractions got stronger after her water broke and were coming closer together. She cried out in pain.
Flint was muttering under his breath, trying to pay attention to Jaye and the road all at once. "Do I need to pull over?" He asked, panic plain in his voice now. "Please don't make me help you deliver twins in my car."
Jaye glared over at him. "What's more important, me and the babies or this bloody car?"
"I am worried about the babies!" He nearly yelled. "That's why I'd really rather have them delivered in the hospital!"
"Don't yell at me!" Jaye said in an extremely hurt sounding voice.
"I'm not!" Flint yelled. "I'm sorry!" He nearly brought the SUV onto two wheels turning the corner into the Hospital's drive.
Jaye grabbed a hold of Flint's shirt and twisted as she tried to breathe through the pain. She twisted some arm hair with it.
"Aaah! Jaye, we're there!" He ripped free, ignoring the pain and ran to her door. He flung it open and grabbed her around the waist, unbuckling her and lifting her bodily from the seat. "It's okay, we're there," he said again.
"You don't have to carry me." Jaye said but at the same time she wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face into his neck.
Flint grinned down at her. "You wouldn't let me carry you into the house, so I'm carrying you now."
Jaye held onto his neck tightly; he could feel her trembling. They entered the emergency waiting room and Flint nodded to the nurse on duty.
"Get Doc," he told her. "It's time."
The nurse paged Doc then quickly came around the desk and grabbed a wheelchair and brought it towards them. "Flint, Lady Jaye—how far apart are the contractions?"
"About 4 minutes." Jaye answered but still not taking her head from his neck.
"Here you can put her down in the chair." The nurse offered.
Jaye answered by squeezing Flint's neck harder.
"I can carry her into the room," he said, catching the unspoken message. "I won't leave you, don't worry," he whispered.
"I'm scared." She whispered to him.
"Very well." The nurse said and led him over to the room Jaye would give birth.
"You'll be fine," he reassured her, following the nurse. "Just fine."
The nurse pointed to the bed then went to get an extra pillow, blankets and a hospital gown.
"Dash I changed my mind." Jaye said as he sat her down on the bed.
He couldn't help but let out a burst of laughter. He gave her a quick squeeze before laying her back on the pillows. "Little too late for that."
Jaye gave him a pleading look.
"Honey, if I could do this for you..." He ran a hand through his hair. "I'd be terrified," he admitted. "But you know Doc's the best. This staff has kept all of us alive all these years. Have faith."
Jaye started rocking back in forth in discomfort.
Flint kept a hand on her shoulder. "Hey," he said, "Just a few more hours and it'll be over. Think about being able to hold the twins."
Doc noticed Flint trying to soothe and calm Jaye so he walked in. He knelt down in front of Jaye. "Allie, you will do just fine. It will be over before you know it."
Jaye looked over at him and smiled as the nurse walked in with her supplies.
"Flint help her change into this hospital gown and I'll be right back." Doc said then walked towards the door with the nurse then right as he got to the door way turned around. "Oh, has her water broke yet?"
"Oh, yes, it has," Flint said definitively. "About twenty minutes ago."
Doc nodded. "That's good. It should speed things up and make the contractions harder."
"THAT'S GOOD!" Jaye exclaimed.
"Could you give her some valium, er, now?" Flint asked Doc.
"Sorry no valium but I'll round up my Anesthesiologist and have him give her an epidural." Doc answered and left.
"Please can we just skip this part?" Jaye almost begged as she let Flint help her remove her clothing.
He chuckled softly. "Nope. Sorry." He fastened the robe around her tenderly, letting his fingers linger at the back of her neck. "But the part right after this is supposed to be fantastic."
She was about to say something when another contraction hit, this one stronger then the others. She bent over a little bit grabbing his shirt in the process and pulled on it, his chest hairs included. "AHHHHH!"
"Ooooowww!" Flint yelled along with her. "I understand the whole 'I feel your pain' idea, Honey, but at least you're going to get an epidural. I get nothing."
She glared at him and growled threw clenched teeth. "Keep it up and you won't be feeling anything...ever...again!"
He gently pried her fingers from his chest. "I guess humor isn't making you feel better." He lifted her chin and gave her a quick kiss. "I am so excited to think that in a few hours I can hold our children," he whispered. "I can't do much but wait, you know. But I know that you'll be brave for all of us. You can do this."
Jaye leaned her forehead against his chest. "I don't think I can." She started to softly cry.
"Pretend you're being tortured for the location of our base," he suggested. He saw her expression darken and continued, "No humor. Right. Honey, you're way, way braver than I am and I admit that right now. You can do it."
The contraction finally subsided and she wrapped her hands around him.
The nurse walked in. "Rubbing her back sometimes helps." She busied herself getting equipment ready.
Flint nodded and did so, moving his hands in wide circles along her spine. Jaye seemed to relax some.
Doc walked in. "I got a hold of the Anesthesiologist. He'll be here in about 20 minutes."
"That long?" Flint raised his eyebrows. "She's in a lot of pain right now."
Doc motioned for the nurse to come over. "Get her IV set up and then give her a dose of Demoral." The nurse nodded and left to get what was ordered. Doc walked over to the soon-to-be parents. "That should help some. Now let's get Momma here to bed so I can check her out."