A/N- Hello again! As a warning, this chapter is a bit intense, and I can't speak for how accurate it is, as I've never given birth. As usual, ABC has all rights, I own only my own plot lines. Enjoy!
Alice moaned, a sharp pain waking her from her deep sleep. She sat up in bed and held her stomach, hoping that her suspicions about the cause of this pain weren't true. The pain passed after a moment, and Alice laid back down. After fifteen more minutes, however, another pain hit her. She hissed slightly and attempted to switch positions without waking Robin. She succeeded and breathed through the cramping.
After another hour of relatively frequent pains, Alice deemed it best to wake up her wife and tell her what was going on.
"Robin, love?" she said quietly, shaking her gently. "Robin? Wake up, darling. I need you."
"Hmm?" Robin replied sleepily, looking at Alice through half-lidded eyes. "Whasamata?"
"Robin, dear, I think I'm in labor," she confessed, grabbing Robin's attention. "I think we should call the midwife."
"Alright. I'll do that," Robin got out of bed and sprung into action, heedless of the fact that it was four in the morning. "Let me know if you have another contraction, m'kay?"
Alice nodded and waited while Robin was calling her doctor. She was hit by another contraction, and she groaned, motioning for Robin to come back. She did, and Alice intertwined their fingers, squeezing Robin's hand.
"Sshh, it's okay, love. Just breathe, alright? Good. That's good," Robin comforted Alice, still waiting for the midwife to pick up the phone.
The phone went to voicemail, and Alice's contraction passed, allowing her to let go of Robin's hand. Trying not to panic about the midwife not answering her phone, Robin began to pace, trying to remember the steps of what she needed to do. Suddenly remembering, she pulled up the app on her phone that Alice's doctor had strongly recommended they download.
"Alright, Alice, I'm going to need you to let me know when another contraction starts, so I can time it," Robin instructed. Alice nodded, preparing herself for another contraction.
Fifteen minutes later, she called out, "Contraction!"
Robin ran to Alice's side and took her hand, pressing the button that was going to time how long her contractions were. Together, Alice and Robin breathed through the contraction, Robin increasingly grateful for the protection spell on her hand.
When the contraction passed, Robin noticed a daisy slowly growing up the wall. Her eyes widened, and she ran to grab the magic-inhibiting cuff that Regina had loaned them. She got it and slipped it onto Alice's bare wrist.
"I need to pee," Alice announced suddenly. "While I'm doing that, why don't you lay out the shower curtain and the old sheets onto the mattress?"
"Okay," Robin agreed, helping Alice off the bed.
Alice started to walk to the bathroom but froze halfway. Robin took notice and exited the bedroom to see what was wrong.
"Alice, love? What is it?" Robin got her answer when she stepped in a puddle of water beside Alice. "Is that. . .?"
Alice nodded and turned slowly to face Robin.
"I don't think it's false labor this time," she whimpered.
"Okay. It's okay," Robin reassured, mostly for her own benefit. "Okay. Just, go to the restroom, and maybe walk around. I dunno, whatever feels most comfortable to you at the moment. You just focus on keeping yourself and the baby happy, and I'll handle everything else. Kapesh?"
Alice nodded and waddled into the bathroom. Robin ran off to get the bed ready, and she phoned the midwife again.
This time, she picked up on the first ring. "Hello?"
"Hi, Dr. Granger, this is Robin Mills. Look, I just called to let you know that Alice is in labor, and her water just broke."
Just then, she heard a loud groan coming from the living room, and she ran to the sound. She found Alice on the couch, clutching her stomach, and she took her hand. Alice squeezed it hard, and Robin momentarily forgot that she was on the phone in her concern for Alice.
"Alright. You're okay Alice. You're okay. Just breathe. Like this," Robin demonstrated the proper breathing techniques, while Dr. Granger waited patiently on the other end of the phone. Eventually, the contraction faded, and Robin returned to her conversation.
"Sorry about that, Dr. Granger," Robin apologized.
"Don't be," Dr. Granger waved her off. "You were doing your job. Anyways, keep timing your contractions, and when they're two minutes apart, call me, and I'll poof right over."
She continued to instruct Robin, who was taking notes on what she should do. Eventually, Dr. Granger asked to speak to Alice, and Robin handed the phone over.
"Hi, Alice. How are you?" the midwife inquired.
"Well, it hurts a lot more than I thought it would," Alice admitted. "But other than that, I'm wonderful."
"Well, that's good news. Now. Just a few things I wanted to talk to you about. . ."
Eventually, Dr. Granger hung up, and Alice called Robin over to help her through another contraction. The two breathed in tandem, and Robin used her spare hand to rub Alice's back gently.
When the contraction passed, Alice leaned her head against Robin's shoulder, closing her eyes.
"Alice, love?" Robin said. "Sweetheart, I've got to finish getting the bed ready. How about you lay out here on the couch and try to get some sleep? I'll be in the bedroom if you need me."
Alice nodded without opening her eyes, and Robin settled her head on the couch gently. She then got up and went to fix the bed and clean up the fluids in the hallway, keeping her ears out for Alice.
Alice never managed to fall asleep. Instead, she stroked her abdomen in gentle circles, wondering if she'd made the right choice for her baby's health in staying home.
Her thoughts, however, were rudely interrupted by an intense contraction about ten minutes later. She cried out for Robin, and her wife came running, sliding down the hall in her socks due to her rush.
"I'm here, baby. I'm here," Robin assured her, allowing Alice to squeeze her hand.
The two repeated this ritual for another hour. Robin took care of everything Alice could need, and Alice just did her best to handle the contractions. However, when it had been two hours and her contractions were still seven minutes apart, Alice began to worry.
"I feel like I'm doing something wrong," she moaned to Robin after her latest contraction. "I feel like I've hardly dilated, and I don't know how long I can take this."
"You're not doing anything wrong," Robin assured her. "But Dr. Granger said that a bit of activity could help speed things up, so let's take a walk."
Robin helped Alice off the couch, and she helped her walk the whole floor plan of the house. They went up and down the stairs twice before Alice had another contraction.
She moaned and leaned up against her wife, who supported her weight easily.
"Sshh, hey, baby, it's okay. You're alright. I'm here Alice. Just breathe. You're amazing. You can do this."
Alice shook her head in denial.
"Yes, you can. You just need to believe in yourself, that's all."
As the contraction passed, Alice looked up at Robin in despair.
"What if I can't do this?" she whimpered. "What if I end up being just like my mother?"
"You won't, Alice. You're going to be a wonderful mother. You know how I know?"
Alice shook her head.
"Because you already are. You didn't have to choose to get pregnant, but you did. You could've just gone to the hospital and got a C-section, but you didn't. You've been doing what's best for our daughter since the day she was conceived, and you're never going to end up like Gothel. Ever," Robin promised, putting her index finger under Alice's chin and lifting her head gently, peering into her beautiful blue eyes.
"Thanks, Nobin," Alice replied gratefully. "I really needed that."
"Anytime, Tower Girl," Robin smiled at Alice, and the two continued walking around the house, pausing every once in a while to let Alice ride out a contraction.
Two and a half hours later, Alice's contractions were finally coming every two minutes. Robin called Dr. Granger, and, true to her word, she poofed over to the Mill's apartment immediately.
Upon examining Alice, she declared her seven centimeters dilated, and had to take another call. She recommended that the young soon-to-be-parents call someone who'd already given birth to help coach Alice.
Since her own mother was a monster, Alice had to debate who to call as a coach. She considered Zelena, but Robin managed to talk her out of it, saying that her mother was a bit too over the top for this sort of thing. Instead, they settled on Emma, as the Mills and Swan-Joneses had become quite close in the past few years.
Emma drove over immediately and was there within ten minutes. When she arrived, she could hear Alice crying out inside, so she just let herself in so that Robin wouldn't have to leave Alice.
Alice and Robin were too focused on the contraction to notice Emma. So when they were finally focused enough to see her, she startled them. Alice was the first one to acknowledge her.
"Emma!" she exclaimed, getting up and waddling as best she could over to her. "It's so good to see you!"
"It's good to see you too. How are you two holding up?" Emma inquired, knowing full well how stressful giving birth could be, even at home.
"We're alright. It's been pretty difficult, and I haven't been progressing very quickly, but we're hanging in there," Alice admitted.
"Well, I'm glad to hear it."
The women would have loved to catch up more, but Alice was hit with a vicious contraction. She cried out in pain, and Robin held her hand while Emma rubbed her shoulder comfortingly, both encouraging Alice and giving her demonstrations on the proper way to breathe.
They continued this for the next hour, during which Alice was becoming more and more exhausted. It got to the point where she'd fall asleep between contractions, as her body knew it was almost time to start pushing.
Sure enough, half an hour later, instead of being woken by a contraction, Alice was woken by an odd pressure on her pelvis.
"Robin?" she said, causing her wife to look up. "Call the midwife. I think it's almost time."
Robin handed her cellphone to Emma and whispered something in Alice's ear.
Alice nodded, and her wife escorted her into the bathroom. When they came out, Alice now dressed in one of Robin's old T-shirts, Dr. Granger was already there.
After examining Alice, she declared, "Nine and a half centimeters. You were right to call me when you did. You're going to have to push in less than ten minutes."
Ten minutes later, Alice was barely getting any breaks between contractions.
"Alright, Alice. When you get your next contraction, I want you to push as hard as you can for a count of ten. Then take a breath, and push again," Dr. Granger instructed. "Got it?"
Alice nodded, and clutched Robin's hand, preparing to have to push. As the next powerful contraction assaulted her, Alice pushed with all her might, squeezing Robin's hand to the point where Robin was afraid the protection spell would break. When the contraction ended, Alice leaned back against the pillows, and Emma gently massaged her tense shoulders.
She was granted less than a minute's reprieve before an even worse contraction gripped her, and she pushed again and again, screaming in agony.
The sound tore at Robin's heart, but she knew that the more she encouraged Alice, the faster this would all be over. So she and Emma praised every push, and both women tried their best to be as supportive as possible.
As the contraction passed, Robin mopped Alice's sweat-shined face with a cool cloth, though it did little to help the exhausted woman.
"You're doing so good Alice,'' Dr. Granger praised. "Just a few more pushes and your baby will be here. I promise you're almost done."
Alice shook her head in denial.
"No, babe, the doctor's right. You can do this," Robin reassured her.
" 'm so tired," Alice moaned in utter defeat.
"I know, baby, I know. But you're almost there. Just a few more pushes, and you'll be done. A few more pushes and you can sleep for a week, if you'd like," Robin did her best to reassure Alice, but she didn't look convinced.
"I know you think you can't do this, Alice," Emma added. "But trust me. I've been here. Twice. You are capable of so much more than you know."
Alice tried to respond, but a contraction cut her off. Focusing on the support of the loving women on either side of her, and the idea of getting to see her baby, Alice pushed harder than she ever had before. Within minutes, Alice was holding her baby girl.
There were tears of joy all around. Even Emma, who considered herself unshakable, was sniffling a bit at the sight of this tiny bundle of joy. Robin reached down and held the baby's tiny hand, while at the same time kissing Alice's head gently.
Suddenly, Emma exclaimed, "Look at her eyes! They're two different colors!"
Sure enough, little baby Mills had one eye that was an intense shade of blue, just like Alice, and one eye that was a light green, the same shade as Robin's eyes.
"Well would you look at that," Robin said. "We've got the most unique baby girl in all of Storybrooke."
"I've never delivered a baby with heterochromia," Dr. Granger remarked. "That makes her very special indeed."
Alice, however, couldn't have cared less what color her baby's eyes were. The only thing that mattered to her, or would ever matter to her, was that her baby was happy and healthy. And since she was currently both of those things, Alice was content to fall asleep after an exhausting day with her daughter in her arms.
A/N- So, what did you think? Please leave a review. Also, please vote on your favorite name as listed in previous chapters, as I will be naming her in the next update. As usual, have a blessed day, loves!