The Blue Dress
When Zane got out of the shower in his hotel, he found his wife was still asleep. He smiled to himself as he knew she wasn't getting much sleep lately. At least for the last nine months or so.
They hadn't been trying to have a baby, it just happened. They discussed their options briefly but they knew they wanted to keep it and become parents. They were married, they had stable jobs, they could do this.
He slowly snuck back into their bed and placed a hand on her large belly. He felt a their baby kick his hand back and he smiled to himself. According to Rikki, their baby seemed to respond to him when he was around them. He could just be talking and the baby would give some sort of kick or let Rikki know he or she (they didn't know the sex yet) was excited their dad was near.
He felt Rikki start to shift a bit as she must have been waking up. She rolled onto her back and looked up at the ceiling.
"Good morning, love." He said to her.
"Good morning." She replied back, turning her head to look at him. "That was the best night's sleep I've had in a while."
"That's good." Zane replied and got off the bed to help her stand up. "I suppose you're feeling all right then?"
"Yeah, I couldn't be better." She said once she stood up. Once Rikki's belly had started becoming too big to be between the two of them, they had to figure out someway to kiss. Luckily, after a few months' practice, they were pros. She shifted to the side to give her husband a kiss.
"I wish this trip didn't have to be over." She told him.
"You'd end up having the baby here if we stayed." Zane laughed.
"That doesn't sound as bad as you're making it sound." Rikki said back.
"For you sure," he said. "For me, I'll have to worry about a new set of doctors not dumping water on you."
"That's true." She said. "I wonder what would happen if I went into labour as a mermaid?"
"Don't put that thought into my head." Zane had requested. He was starting to panic about everything enough as it was.
Rikki wasn't able to continue diving in her pregnancy. She had read it wasn't good for the baby and didn't want to risk it. Thankfully, she and Zane had enough saved up and he could keep working through her pregnancy. She had scared him to death last week when she called him saying she thought she was going into labour. He had sped home only for their birthing team to tell them it was false contractions. She had suggested they take a baby-moon trip nearby to get their minds off of everything and just focus on their last few days together. It had been a great trip but Zane was itching to get home. Especially after Rikki complained of some back pains last night.
He watched as she waddled into the bathroom to get ready for their trip back home. Zane had only agreed to go on a trip if they stayed within a half hour of their home just in case. They had planned on having a home birth so they were in control of the environment. And the amount of water that would be near. As long as they were home when she went into labour, he would be okay.
Rikki exited the bathroom almost a half hour later wearing a blue t-shirt dress and sandals. Toward the end of her pregnancy, she had preferred wearing dresses as they didn't dig into her stomach as much. He knew she liked pants and shorts much more but he always loved seeing her in a dress.
"You ready to head back?" Rikki asked with a heavy sigh.
"Yeah," Zane replied before looking up to see an odd look on her face. "What's wrong?"
"I don't know how you can be even moderately attracted to me when I look like this." She said as she moved her hand to the underside of her belly.
"Are you kidding?" Zane asked as he moved away from their luggage. "I've never found you more attractive."
"Sure." Rikki said, rolling her eyes and looking out the window.
"I'm serious." He said as he grabbed her free hand. "You're having our baby, of course you get more and more beautiful every day."
He thought he saw a silver of a smile from her before she squeezed his hand and a pained look came over her face. Oh no.
"Rikki?" He asked. "Are you all right?"
"Mmhm." She nodded, biting her lip. "Just a bit of a cramp is all."
"Are you sure?" He asked after a moment. The grip she had on his hand started to loosen and she walked out of the doorway.
"Yes, I'm fine." She said as she grabbed a small bag. He wanted to carry everything but Rikki was still as prideful as ever so they compromised; he'd carry their suitcases and she'd carry any small bags they couldn't fit inside.
"All right." He replied, not entirely convinced. "Do you want to check out while I get the car started?"
"Sure," she said ask she leaned up to kiss him again then they left their hotel room.
Zane loaded their luggage into the trunk of his car and pulled it to the front of the hotel. He was sure he was going to hear from Rikki about how she could have walked to where they had parked their car but he didn't really care. She would just have to deal with him being chivalrous.
A few minutes after he had pulled up to the front of the hotel, he saw her coming out the front doors, giving him a look that told him he was right about her giving him a hard time. He rolled her window down so she could give him a hard time quicker.
"You didn't have to pull the car around, you know." She said leaning one hand against the car. He looked on with a knowing smile. "I could've-"
She let out a small groan and that was all he needed to sprint of the car to her other side.
"Rikki?" He asked as he grabbed her hand. She squeezed it again like she had earlier today. Whatever pain this was, it only lasted a minute before she let his hand go.
"Rikki, you don't think-" he started before she cut him off.
"I'm fine." She waved him off. "I get cramps like that all the time. Why don't we just go home?"
He couldn't argue with that. If she was in labour, they needed to get home quickly. He wouldn't know what to do if she started actually having the baby on the ride home.
She had one more "cramp" on the road a few moments later. She didn't grab for him and he could tell whatever it was wasn't hurting her too badly. At least not yet. The thought of that made him press the gas a little harder.
"What are you driving so fast for?" Rikki asked.
"I want to get you home." He said. "And then I think we should call our birthing team to make sure everything's okay."
"Zane, I wouldn't bother calling them," she said. "I told you, I've just been having cramps today and-"
"I'd just feel better if they checked you out is all." He interrupted her.
"Oh, come on," she whined. "I'm not some weak woman who-"
"I know you're not weak." He interrupted her again. "But even the brave women get their doctors or whoever together when they give birth!"
"Zane-"
"I just want to get you check out is all."
"Zane-"
"And if I'm wrong then I'm wrong and we can go about our day, is that too much to ask?"
"Zane-"
"What?"
"I think my waters just broke." She told him with a panicked look on her face.
"Well...fuck." He muttered to himself as he pressed on the gas again, passing cars in the lanes beside him.
"What if I turn into a mermaid?" Rikki said. He was about to snap at her for putting that idea into his head again but then he looked over at her and saw she still looked very panicked and scared. If he got mad at her for that, they'd certainly get into an argument which wouldn't help matters. He knew he needed to do his best to keep Rikki calm and support her through this process.
"It's been ten seconds, hasn't it?" He asked after a moment.
"Yeah." She replied in a strained voice. He looked over again and saw her face was scrunched up and he figured she was probably having another contraction. This one seemed to hurt her more than the others had. He extended his hand to her and reminded her to breathe.
"Do you think you can call the birthing team?" He asked her.
"Yeah, I think so." She replied, out of breath. That last contraction must have really knocked the wind out of her.
Rikki grabbed her purse and found her phone to call the team. She let them know of their situation and they said they would meet them at their house soon.
Another four contractions went by before they pulled into the driveway. Zane felt better now; at least they were home. It didn't look like their birthing team had arrived yet but Rikki had told them they were twenty minutes away and he managed to get them back in about fifteen minutes. He went to help her out of the car when another contraction hit her. He hadn't realized until now how sweaty she had gotten on the car ride back and he briefly wondered if it had anything to do with her powers. She was moaning through this one unlike the others and she squeezed his hand even harder. He knew Rikki was strong but he didn't really understand how strong until now. He brushed his free hand through her hair and fed her supporting words.
"Are you all right to walk up to the bedroom?" He asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine." She said. "God, this hurts so much."
"Well, we're home now and it'll be over soon."He said as he kissed her forehead.
He followed behind her as she made her way up to their bedroom. She managed to get comfortable just as another contraction hit. She squeezed his hand so hard he thought it was going to break and she let out a scream. He had never seen her quite like this before and wanted nothing more than to take at least a fraction of her pain for himself. He had to remind himself this wasn't all for nothing, they'd have a baby at the end of this.
Fuck, he hadn't realized that. He'd been so worried with getting Rikki back home, he didn't think about how they would probably have a baby within the next few hours. They'd have a little son or daughter, Rikki would be a mother and he'd be a father.
Fucking hell.
The door bell rang a few minutes later. Zane left Rikki to go get what was surely their birth team. He was correct and he let them into the home and guided them up the stairs where Rikki was. He could tell she was already exhausted and had barely been in labour for an hour. He couldn't imagine how she and other women could do this for hours let alone days. He sat beside her on the bed and wrapped his arm around her shoulder and she leaned into his chest while their doctor examined her.
"Well, it looks like you're definitely in labour." Her doctor, Abernathy, said. No shit, Zane thought. "You're only three centimeters dilated though so still pretty early on."
Rikki let out a defeated groan as if she had hoped the doctor would have said it was time for her to push. It broke Zane to see her like this.
"You're sure?" Zane asked as if he was suddenly questioning their doctor's abilities.
"Yes, I'm sure Mr. Bennett." He replied. "We still have a good while to go more than likely. We can stay at your home but if you guys would like some privacy, we can certainly take up another room and check back periodically."
"That would be great, yeah." Zane had said and showed Dr. Abernathy and his assistant, Hilary to the living room, also offering them free reign of the kitchen before he returned to Rikki.
Hours passed and they still didn't have a baby. It was dark outside and their birthing team was downstairs, waiting just like them. Zane didn't dare leave Rikki's side and did whatever she asked of him, whether it was rubbing her back or walking around the house with her to try to speed the process up. He didn't even realize he had fallen asleep on the chair he moved into their room until he heard a soft yelp.
"How long was I out?" Zane asked Rikki. She was propped up on her elbows, breathing heavily in her blue dress. He cursed himself silently for falling asleep while she was doing all of this.
"Not long." She said. She didn't sound mad. "It's almost 9:00. Dr. Abernathy just checked in. He said I'm nine centimeters dilated so we're getting close."
"That's good." He replied. "Sorry, I fell asleep."
"That's okay." She said. "I was asleep for a bit too. Until I had a contraction that woke me up. This baby better be worth it."
"I'm sure it will be, love." He replied, placing a hand on her swollen belly.
"You're going to be such a good father." She said. He looked to her face to see new tears had formed in her eyes.
"I don't know about that." Zane said. "I haven't had the best role model in that department."
"But that's why you'll be so good!" She protested. "You know what it's like to have a shitty dad and I know you'd do everything in your power to not be that way."
"Well by that logic, you'd be the best mum." Zane said.
Rikki looked like she was going to protest but another contraction rocked her body. Zane grabbed her hands and he swore he felt a bone or two in his own hands snap.
"Fucking hell!" She screamed as she tried to breathe through the contraction. Zane tried again to whisper supportive words to her and he moved behind her so she could lay on his chest.
Just as the contraction ended, Dr. Abernathy and his staff entered the room to examine Rikki.
"Looks like we're getting ready to push." He said. Zane felt a sense of relief. Rikki's pain was almost gone.
"You hear that, love?" He whispered into her ear. "Time to push."
He felt Rikki nod against him and saw a small smile form on her face. She was ready for this to be over, probably more than he was.
Dr. Abernathy told her to push during her next contraction. If Zane's hands weren't broken before, they definitely were now. They seemed to go on this cycle of Rikki pushing, Dr. Abernathy telling her to stop and start again for what felt like hours. Zane spent that time whispering words of encouragement into Rikki's ear. He knew he kept telling her he loved her and he hoped she could tell how much he meant by that. He knew he loved her yesterday, the day they got married, they day they reunited, the night they spent at his dad's house with her influenced under the full moon and even the day she pointed out that red dress but none of that compared to the love he felt for her right now.
Dr. Abernathy gave updates when he could. He let them know he could see the head, when she had passed it and finally the shoulders and the rest of their baby made it out. The room was filled with shrill cries and Zane felt like he could cry too. Rikki was still grabbing onto his hands as Dr. Abernathy presented their baby to them and he felt her burst into tears immediately.
"Congratulations." He said. "You have a healthy baby boy."
Zane felt a new rush of affection for the little baby in front of him. He had a son. A beautiful little boy that was part him, part Rikki. As far as he was concerned, he was the most perfect thing in the universe.
Dr. Abernathy beckoned Zane forward to cut the cord. He gently let Rikki lay down on the bed as he moved to do so. Dr. Abernathy wrapped the baby in a small blanket and handed him to Zane. After much arguing with their doctor, Rikki and Zane had somehow convinced him to let Zane wash the baby off when he or she was born. They told Dr. Abernathy Rikki had a water allergy but they wanted to be sure Rikki's mermaid identity wasn't heredity. She had hoped and prayed it wasn't as she knew how difficult it was to keep the secret and finding the right people to trust with it. How were they going to train their baby to do the same?
Zane had left the room with his newborn son to take him into the bathroom and give Dr. Abernathy a chance to make sure Rikki was recovering well. He made a shallow bath in their sink and placed the baby in it, making sure to thoroughly wash off the gunk that covered him.
It quickly became apparent to Zane his son was not a merman. He let out a breath of relief he didn't know he was holding. As he continued to wash him, he realized just how beautiful he was. He had Zane's brown hair but it was curly like Rikki's. He seemed to have his complexion too. After he was cleaned, he had opened his eyes and Zane was staring into ocean blue eyes that were the same as the boy's mother.
"Hey, mate." He said softly, vaguely aware he should probably take the baby out of the bathroom to Rikki. "I'm your dad. I just want to let you know right now, whatever you need for the rest of your life I'll be here for you. And so will your mum. She's going to be the best mum, you'll be so lucky to have her.
"I guess we should go meet her, yeah?" He continued.
Once Zane walked out of the bathroom, Dr. Abernathy insisted on taking the boy to make sure he was healthy. He supposed he couldn't resist but he felt bad Rikki would be the last person in the room to hold her own son.
"She's recovering well." Hilary, the assistant informed Zane about Rikki. "I can leave you two for a few moments if you would like. I can come back up when Dr. Abernathy is done with your son."
"Yeah, that'd be great, thanks." Zane said.
Rikki looked like she had just run a million miles and collapsed on their bed. As far as he was concerned, she might as well have. She was so incredibly brilliant. He found himself wondering how he had lucked out with her often but never to this magnitude.
"You were phenomenal, love." He said as he sat across from her and ran a hand through her damp her. It was odd to do that with her not in her mermaid form. "You were absolutely brilliant."
"Thanks." She replied with a smile. "How is he?"
"They're checking him out now." Zane said. "He seemed healthy from what I saw. And he has no reaction to water."
"Thank god." She exhaled. She was still trying to catch her breath but he could tell she was incredibly happy about that.
Dr. Abernathy and the team had re-entered the room with the boy of the hour.
"8 pounds, 7 ounces, 21 inches." Dr. Abernathy said. "He seems perfectly healthy to me. I'll let Hilary help you get set up with breastfeeding and then we'll give you some privacy unless you need anything else from us."
Zane had stood to take the baby out of Dr. Abernathy's hands and give him to Rikki.
"Look what we did." He said to her, still in awe of the perfect baby. Rikki let out a small gasp as a new, heavy amount of tears came streaming down her face. Zane couldn't tell if it was her sleep deprivation, hormones or just the impact of the situation that was making her so emotional. He guessed a combination of them all. He certainly wasn't immune to it.
As Dr. Abernathy had said, Hilary helped Rikki learn how to breastfeed the new baby. They both seemed to take to it well and soon it was just the new family in the house, sitting in silence.
"He's so perfect." Rikki whispered after a moment as not to wake the new baby.
Zane nodded in agreement. "Worth the pain then?"
"A million times over." She replied as she stroked the little boy's cheek. "He's got your hair."
"Just the color." Zane replied. "It's curly like yours. And he has your eyes."
"I suppose his does." Rikki said with a sigh. "I could just fall asleep right here."
"Why don't you?" Zane asked. "I can take care of the baby, you've had a long day."
Rikki nodded against him. It didn't seem like she wanted to argue.
"All right." She replied, doing her best to sit up. He could tell she was still in pain from the birth.
"I'm going to move his crib in here." Zane said. "Then I'll be back and you can go to sleep."
He felt her tug gently at his hand that was still sore from the events earlier.
"I love you." Rikki said. They exchanged that phrase often but it seemed to have a different impact as he looked down at the woman who was still covered in sweat, eyes were red from crying in pain and happiness. The woman who was holding their new son and had worked so hard, not only today, but for the last nine months to make sure he was healthy.
He bent down to give her a kiss and hoped he was able to translate how much he loved her into it. When he pulled away, he glanced down at the perfect boy in her arms before turning his attention back to her.
"I love you, too." He said.
Moments later, the smaller crib they had purchased was set up at the foot of their bed. Zane took the baby from Rikki and gently placed him in the crib for the night. The boy barely made a sound as he laid him down.
Not long after Rikki fell asleep, Zane decided it was time for him to get ready for bed too. He was in the middle of brushing his teeth when he heard the baby start to make some fussing noises in the other room. He quickly moved to the crib, picked him up and took him downstairs as not to wake Rikki.
Zane checked his son for the usual signs of being upset. His nappy wasn't dirty, he didn't seem to need to spit anything up. He hoped he wasn't hungry because then he'd have to wake Rikki for that. He knew she wouldn't mind and he would surely have to do it at some point but he hoped she could sleep through at least this night, uninterrupted. It seemed the only thing the little boy wanted was attention as he seemed to fall back asleep on Zane's shoulder.
Once he was sure the baby was asleep, Zane tiptoed up the stairs and laid the baby down in his crib. He looked so peaceful sleeping in his crib. It might be too early to tell but Zane could have sworn their baby had Rikki's lips too. He smiled softly and the sleeping baby and then looked up at the sleeping woman in the blue dress. This was his family now.
How fucking lucky was he?
