~Chapter 44~
He clutched his hair, probably as hard as she was clutching her stomach. Why couldn't she have told him she was in labor the moment she found out?! He didn't even know if he had enough time to get the Specter Speeder up and going again, not with a baby at stake! She couldn't have told him this?! How long had she been in labor?!
She groaned in pain and bent over herself, still holding her stomach.
This wasn't a good sign. With the twins she underwent what he had been told was 'passive labor', where she was uncomfortable and in pain, but not to the point of the baby actually coming yet. But when she went into 'active labor', she was literally working herself to the bone trying to push the baby out. This time it looked like she was somewhere in between, but then again, she wasn't laying down right now.
But one of the most worrying parts about this was that she was getting stressed out about being in labor in the ghost zone...of all places. Thankfully he'd been through this before. She could not get stressed out during birth. That was why, when everyone else was told she wasn't dilating quickly enough with the twins, no one told Sam. Therefore the same rule would apply this time; tell her nothing.
Problem here was, she was in an unfamiliar part of the ghost zone, which wasn't the safest place for a newborn. He was sure there had to be some kind of instinct telling her to find somewhere safe, but there was nothing here. And with the Speeder broken down like this, he couldn't get her anywhere he was familiar with. He could very easily go off on his own to find somewhere else, then come back and get her, but he couldn't leave her all alone while she was like this. And he couldn't try to work on the ship's engine because he had no idea how long this would take, or even if the engine could be fixed.
Plus they hadn't prepared at all for this. There were no blankets, water, nothing. And Sam would be in much more pain than with the twins because it was a little too late to have an epidural. He didn't even have OTC painkillers with him!
But maybe there was some kind of material he could use as a makeshift blanket... That would get one thing covered, at least. He didn't know what he would do about the water. And he had no idea how he would cut the umbilical cord without scissors. Sterile scissors.
Why couldn't Faye have just waited a little longer...? They could've been at a hospital instead of stranded in the ghost zone with no way of getting back.
Okay. Okay, right now, in the present, he needed to calm Sam down...or at least try to. Her body would be undergoing enough strain as it was, the last thing she needed was the extra stress. But if he could get her to calm down, she could focus on giving birth and pay less attention to where she was at.
He lifted her head up and gently tapped her cheek. "Sam, it'll be okay. I can call for help."
Yeah right! Even if he could get help there was no way anyone could come in time. They were hours away from the portal and by the time help arrived, it would be too late to move Sam. In fact, once she laid down, there would be no getting her back up. If he could keep her on her feet for as long as she could hold out...
"This hurts..." she croaked. "Get me out of here..."
He wished he could...
He quickly pulled out his cell phone and dialed Tucker. Being the new and youngest mayor of Amity Park meant he was usually very busy, so there was a chance he wouldn't pick up at all. And his parents wouldn't be a very good choice since they could be a little too enthusiastic about ghosts, which made the ghost zone their freaky paradise. Jazz was still in college and if he knew her professors, they wouldn't let her go no matter what the occasion was...even if her little brother happened to be having babies that day. The twins, obviously, were far too young to even be in the ghost zone, which made him all the more nervous about his second daughter being born here. Johnny and Kitty were with the twins and although Johnny had a bike speedier than the Specter Speeder, he'd better not leave those kids all by themselves...
This made Tucker his only hope. And if Tucker couldn't do it...well...he couldn't tell what would happen... If Tucker couldn't do anything, Faye would be born here and he had no idea what effects-if any at all-the ghosts zone would have on a newborn. Hopefully either good ones or none. So Faye would be born here, again assuming Tucker couldn't help, but he wouldn't be able to move anyone. Sam would've just given birth so moving her even into the Speeder would be a bad idea. He could leave Faye with Sam but where would he be going and if he got lost, how would he be able to find his way back in this barren part of the ghost zone that he wasn't familiar with in any way? Sam would be too weak to be left alone, otherwise she could easily take care of Faye while he searched for anything that seemed familiar. Problem was, he couldn't go too far away from them. He would have to stay in a radius where he could still see them.
It made Tucker all the more critical.
"Hello?" a voice on the other end asked. "Mayor Tucker speaking."
"Yeah, well you're not Mayor Tucker to me. I need your help immediately," Danny said.
There was a sigh coming from the other end. "Danny, it's been some time since Johnny and Ki-"
"No! It's not them!" he shouted. "It's Sam, she's..."
He looked back around to find the goth already getting ready to lay down. He knew that she wanted to and he knew that she probably had this feeling that she had to, but he wouldn't be able to get her back up if she laid down. She didn't, and wouldn't, understand that.
He rushed over and grabbed her wrists, pulling her back up. "Sam, no, don't lay down."
"What?"
"You need to keep standing, okay?"
"Look, I don't know what you're thinking but I'm not about to have a baby standing up," she hissed.
"Just keep standing. You need to trust me on this one."
He heard Tucker take a sharp breath and say, "Did she just say 'have a baby'?!"
"She's in labor right now and the Specter Speeder broke down. We're hours away from the Fenton portal and I have no idea where we're at. Even if I did know, we have no way of getting back. I can fly on my own but I need you to find a way to get Sam back," he explained.
"How?! I'm not a ghost like you, you know! And the Specter Speeder is the only transportation we have, now you broke it!"
He didn't break it, something happened to it...
"Look, unless you can find some way to get us back, Sam's going to give birth in the ghost zone."
"Can't you figure something out? I mean, you're already there."
Like he hadn't thought about all the possibilities yet?!
"It's all I can do to keep her calm right now, Tuck! She was supposed to be induced, we weren't prepared for this! I don't have anything a baby will need once it's born!"
A short moment of silence. "Low battery. Listen, I'll do what I can, I'll try to figure something out, but if I can't get there in time, try to be resourceful. Use whatever you can to help Sam and Faye. Now I have to charge my phone and get started. Remember, don't tell Sam if there's a problem and do what the doctors did when she was having Lilith and Junior. I gotta go. Bye and the best of luck!"
He angrily slammed his phone shut and threw it in the Specter Speeder. Like he knew half of what the doctors and nurses did...! Well, no... They checked her dilation. That was one thing they did frequently enough. But he didn't know anything about dilation! Well...then...what else? They gave her an epidural. Except, he'd already thought about that and he had absolutely nothing that could be used to help her with the pain. Okay, then what else did they do, exactly? ...They hooked her up to a few machines and an I.V. Yeah, because obviously he had anything remotely close to that... What else then?! What could he do by using the things around him? There was nothing but ghost zone dirt on the island and the islands surrounding it. Everything would have to come from the Speeder.
Great. First the engine, then Sam, then Tucker, and now zero resources.
Okay. Well, he needed to help her emotionally, since it was clear that there was nothing he could do physically. Right now he needed to calm her down and keep her stress levels minimal, otherwise complications were likely to arise and under these circumstances, he would be helpless to stop it. So even if he thought there might be a problem, he couldn't tell her no matter what.
Tucker would take time, he knew, to figure out a way to help them out of this situation. By then Sam could already be in active labor. And if she was by the time help came, she couldn't be moved at all. At least during passive labor there was a chance but if she was straining herself that hard, moving her would only stress her out and break her concentration. She would need that concentration...so far the situation wasn't looking very good.
Maybe it was better if she laid down after all... She could be allowed to follow that urge, which would pose one less problem to deal with.
"Okay. At least lay down in the Specter Speeder," he said.
She vigorously shook her head. "Absolutely not! It's way to tight in there!"
Tight? Tight how? That thing was very spacious. Although looking back to birthing the twins, she had to spread her legs wide. She might not see the inside of the ship roomy enough to do that without feeling cramped.
"I don't care what you say, I can't keep standing anymore..." she groaned, laying flat on the ground.
Apparently she was choosing space over seclusion. And maybe that was a better idea. If she was alone, space wouldn't be an option, but since he was here, he could provide that safety. It would just be a little hard to perform sentry duty and potentially deliver a baby. He wasn't exactly partial to being a midwife... He could do it, but only because this was his daughter. Still...hopefully Tucker would make it in time.
He watched helplessly as Sam began twisting and turning in fruitless efforts to make herself more comfortable. The ground probably wasn't comfortable to begin with, but she'd done the same thing when she was in labor with the twins. As much as he wanted to tell her to stop, that it was useless, and that she should probably try to conserve her energy...he knew she wouldn't listen. On top of that, if even one wrong word came out of his mouth, it could cause stress. And from the looks of it, her moodiness was only starting to subside. Until it was completely gone, he didn't want to risk saying the wrong thing and upsetting her. Suddenly it was like those nine whole months of torture and hormones were nothing compared to this. She didn't even want to speak this time, but he could see that she was getting more and more uncomfortable...but he blamed that one on the ground. Still, watching her and being completely helpless was hard. He wanted to help, he wanted to make her feel better, but there was nothing he could do.
Right now it was easier to keep himself calm, which would ultimately keep Sam from getting too upset, but once she was really pushing, and once she was in ten times more pain than he could ever imagine, it would be extremely hard not to get up and pace around like he had before.
But there was also a chance that he wouldn't have to. If Tucker could hurry up and come before Sam went into active labor, there was hope of getting her to a hospital to be addressed.
He took a deep breath and sat down next to her chest. There were only two things he could do at this point: let her know he was there for her; and keep an eye out for any danger.
"It'll be okay, Sam," he mumbled, gently brushing a hand over her cheek.
There were no tears yet, but she was starting to sweat a little. It could only mean her contractions were getting stronger, and this could be a possible sign that Faye wasn't about to wait around when there was a whole outside world to see. But maybe it was just him. He was trying not to show it but he was just as nervous as she was, maybe even more since she had a strong distraction. He had no such distraction and although he kept a close eye on both Sam and their surroundings, there was nothing strong enough to pull his attention away from the anxiety. For Sam, it would be pain. It would be a lot of pain. But for him it was just...nothing. Until help came, he would be forced to sit quietly and appear to be calm while she was giving birth, or at least was in any kind of labor. Which, technically, was still giving birth. Nice thought...
"Pretty sure she'll want to get out soon..." she whispered in a strained voice.
Soon?!
"How soon, do you think?" He tried not to sound nervous and maybe he didn't, but to him it sounded like his voice was starting to waver.
He didn't want her to know he was nervous. She couldn't know he was nervous. But right now it was very hard to hide it because this was such an unsafe place and they were stuck in unfamiliar territory with no way back. Faye was giving him every reason to be nervous!
Sam just shook her head.
He noticed that she was already settling down into the standard position of active labor. This wasn't like telling her to stand up instead of lay down, this time he couldn't control any of it. She was still moving around, but just barely. It was easy to imagine her the way she looked when she was in labor with the twins...in a hospital gown, under some covers, the unforgettable look of discomfort on her face, and the complete unwillingness to speak. He remembered all too well how everyone but himself was kicked out of the room, and how he had gotten up just from seeing Sam in so much pain and being unable to do anything to help her. He was going to be her husband. She was pregnant with his child. And she was giving birth to that child. It was a natural feeling to protect them from harm, but Sam was already in serious pain and he couldn't protect her from that. Yes, it was for a good cause, and yes, it was completely normal...but he hated the thought of her being in just that much pain and all he could do was watch.
Back with the twins, back when she was at the hospital in a safe, clean environment, he remembered being deathly afraid to touch her...just in case. Of course he was also fifteen back then and had no experience with anything female, which at the time included childbirth. Now childbirth wasn't exactly a female matter, but a beautiful part of life. It just wasn't so beautiful while it was happening, was all...
He paled at the memory of the very end, when he cut the umbilical cords. That was not a 'little blood', that looked like a miniature massacre! It was horrible! And it just...it all splattered down...all onto the floor...at his feet...right in front of him...a big mess...bloody...very bloody...a blood puddle...a big blood puddle... Sam hadn't seen that. Sam hadn't known. Sam was lucky she didn't see that. Sam was lucky she didn't know.
He felt himself grow sick at that particular memory. That...beautiful part of childbirth...
"If you puke on me, I'll kill you," Sam growled.
Apparently he looked just as sick as he felt.
He weakly smiled at her. "Don't worry, dove, I won't." But he might puke somewhere else...
He heard her gasp in pain and frowned, putting gentle hand on her stomach. He could feel the muscles tightening until they were harder than rock. Hopefully this was still just...passive. Yeah.
He rubbed her stomach, feeling the muscles relax. He could only imagine what that felt like to her. Her stomach still felt hard but that was because of the baby. But when her muscles tensed up like that, it felt like steel. Part of him was glad he didn't have to go through this, but that was also the selfish part. He chose to listen to the other part, the one that wished he could take this away from her...or at least hurry up with the baby.
But Faye had other plans. Twenty minutes had to have passed and both a blessing and a curse happened; she wanted to a wait a little longer. The only thing that made this a curse was that Sam was still in labor and hurting from it. The obvious was a blessing.
Then another blessing happened when his phone rang in the Speeder. Again he was torn. Leave Sam, or stay with her. In the end, after a very short debate, he chose to leave her to answer the call.
"Hello?" he said, keeping a close eye on Sam and scanning the background every split second.
It was Tucker on the other end. "Hey, Danny. We have good news and bad news."
"Good news first."
"Okay. My phone is charged enough to talk to you for a while."
He took a sharp breath. "Any more to that good news? No surprises, because Sam is in labor and she's in a lot of pain right now."
"Then you'll really hate the bad news..."
"TELL ME!"
"Well..." There was a moment's hesitation on Tucker's part. "We're kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place here...um... To put it bluntly, we have no way of getting to you in time. Your parents are building another Specter Speeder right now-"
"WHAT?!"
"Sam's giving birth in the ghost zone whether we like it or not."
"What about Johnny's bike?! That's transportation!"
"Yeah, but it's meant for two people at most, and Sam's stomach is too big for her to hold on. Faye would be too small to get on a bike and Johnny can't hold her if he's driving. Plus, Sam wouldn't be in any condition to move right now so even if it was possible to get back on his bike, you still couldn't do it," he explained.
"What am I supposed to tell Sam? She can't be stressed out right now, you know that."
He didn't need to see it to know Tucker was shaking his head right now, probably at a loss for words.
"I just... I don't know what to tell you," he mumbled. "Unless ghost babies take at least week or two to be born, there's nothing we can do."
A WEEK OR TWO?! "Wait, wait, don't hang up, Tuck, there has to be some way to at least get us to someplace familiar..."
"The only way that's possible is to get the Speeder working again, even if it's just for a little while. Have you tried jump starting it?"
"Do I look like I carry that kind of equipment with me?"
"What about hot wiring it? That might work."
"It won't. Something's wrong with the engine."
"What's wrong with it?"
"If I knew that, I might've already fixed it! But I have no idea what it is and I have no idea how to get out of this! Please, Tucker, isn't there anything you can do? Anything!"
"I've looked into a billion different ideas before calling you but I can't see a way out. Faye will not wait for us and Sam will give birth in the ghost zone. Look, I hate this too, but I just... Look, man, I really wish I could help but I can't."
"This is my daughter!"
"And this is my niece! I don't mean to sound harsh but you need to stop begging me to do something I can't do and go help Sam. Now I'm going to help your parents, they need some extra parts. The sooner we get this done, the sooner we can come get you."
And with that Tucker hung up.
At least they were coming... At least there was something good about waiting...
He couldn't let Sam know any of this. She couldn't know help wouldn't come in time. She couldn't know she would be forced to give birth here. She most certainly could know that the Speeder was out of the question. With her in labor and Faye on the line, he couldn't afford the time to tinker with the engine, especially when he didn't even know what was wrong with it.
But she would figure it out sooner or later. Help wasn't coming and that would send her into a full blown panic attack. Faye needed to come before Sam even started to have doubts. And under no circumstances did he want to lie to her but this time he had no choice.
He threw his phone back onto the seat and walked back over to Sam, sitting cross-legged near her chest.
"Tucker just called," he said, stroking her stomach as he put on the best fake smile he could muster after hearing that kind of news. "Help is on its way, just hang in there, all right?"
She winced and nodded.
"Am I hurting you?" he asked as he took his hand off her.
She shook her head.
This couldn't be good. She didn't even want to talk anymore. She wouldn't talk anymore. Apparently Faye was tired of waiting because with the twins, she only really stopped talking a few hours before she went into active labor. Tucker said about a week or two. That was far too long for this. If he was right, if they had no choice but to give birth here in the most unwanted of all places, then Danny would have no way to take care of Sam or Faye once she was born.
He shook the thoughts out of his head and tried to focus on what he needed to do right now. If he had any chance of help out in this situation, then he had to be as resourceful as Tucker was expecting him to be. First, the things he would need when Faye was born...
Back in the hospital they had Sam in a gown. Right now she was in a dress-and what better timing to wear one, too. Gown was covered. They said not to let Sam know anything. Covered. They regularly checked up on her 'dilation' but he had absolutely zero knowledge in that area. Unable to be covered. They had it so Sam wasn't wearing any underwear, but if he took hers off now she would know and possibly start to panic. Couldn't be covered yet, but would be at the last second. They had her on an epidural. Unable to be covered. They had her hooked up to a bunch of monitors. Unable to be covered.
Okay. Maybe it would be a little less disheartening if he tried to compile a list of the things they had when the twins were born rather than what they had before it.
He quickly kissed Sam's forehead before starting on his list, giving her a little encouragement and the assurance that he wouldn't leave. She didn't make any movement in response, just closed her eyes and took deep breaths.
Breathing was good. It would help keep her calm just in case. It would also help keep her oxygen levels up during her contractions.
Okay now. So. Let's see here... They had scissors for the umbilical cords! Yes, scissors! ...Which he didn't have... Um, makeshift scissors, what could be used as a makeshift pair of scissors...? Broken glass... NO. Something metal... NO. Anything sharp... DEPENDS.
Forget the scissors for now. What else? Water! They had warm water! And uh...what else? Let's see, they also had...a towel! They had a towel too! Okay, so water and a towel...and a blanket. But he could probably just use the towel as a blanket and use his own body heat as a source of warmth.
Yes, finally. He was starting to think resourcefully.
Anything else? What else did they use? A tie! They had a tie for the umbilical cord too, to keep the...the blood from...from running out...of... He didn't finish that thought. There was a tie. He didn't need to think about why as long as he knew what to do with it.
Anything else? Something that, hopefully, didn't cause him to feel nauseous and lightheaded?
His train of thought was broken when he heard Sam groan. She was practically noiseless with the twins... Then again, this time would be, and probably already was, much more painful than last time.
A/N
PANT PANT... I worked myself to the bone on this chapter, I am NOT writing more! D'X THIS IS OVER 5,000 WORDS LONG...! It's a crappy place to leave off but I don't really care. We all know what the next chapter has in store for us, but I decided to add in a few more "details" to this upcoming scene... :3 I'll leave you to figure that out.
Please tell me what you think of this chapter. :'( It seriously was hard to write and I wanted to get down every little detail, which I probably failed at. But I'm just gonna get started on the next chapter... Plus it's night, I'm tired, and I need to get cracking on some other stories.
Review quota, I'll do one, because I actually haven't had a whole lot of time to work on this. Made the most of what I had. Anyway, new quota is five hundred ninety-three (593). Ten more than current.
Replies? 'Course!
Samtastic V2.0- Oh, don't worry. Flowers Will Grow is turning out to be a sequel you can read on its own as an actual story. It'll be explained and you'll understand it. All you really need to know in the epilogue is just that Phantom Planet has passed and the guy is dead according to his death sentence. Danny almost killed him when Sam suddenly recognized him, but she literally saved his skin...only from Danny, who hospitalized him. Oh, and Sam wasn't his only victim. There were multiple charges of rape and first-degree murder, but Danny ensured that Sam wasn't stated as one of those victims. Therefore the man never knew he had kids. And it didn't matter because thanks to those charges, he received the death sentence.
beautifullove521- I would but we don't have any and even if we did, I'd have to make sure my stomach is fine. I made a rule to myself that no matter what the cause, I won't throw up until 12:00pm, because then my medicine would have plenty of time to diffuse into my bloodstream. I can't throw that stuff back up. :S It's not cheap.
ObsessiveFanFictioner15- LOL Sarcasm! I haven't studied history in a good while and even when I did it wasn't my best subject.
puppets4ever- Thank you, I did! :D Well then you'll love the next chapter. ;D Trust me. You will. And I'm sorry but I couldn't help putting Danny in this particular situation! XD I had to do it. Just had to!
princessbinas- I can't watch videos on the internet thanks to our crappy internet server (Verizon). Uses up too much data, and they charge by data usage. And don't worry, it's fine. In fact, I do the same thing.
Favorite Daughter Of Hades- ^o^ Aw, thank you! It does but life happens. Hey, no, I like evil features! :D And don't worry...there will be turmoil. ;3
HeroAce- S'okay! :) Oh. Wow. Um, okay, so in order: Everyone knows he's Danny Phantom except the younger generation, as Fenton and Phantom are to be spoken of as two different people to protect the younger generation (imagine how many little kids would like to tag along to fight a ghost with the infamous Danny Phantom, and how many of them would NOT leave him alone as Danny Fenton); his kids don't know, they're the main reason Danny made that rule; Johnny and Kitty are able to be TOLERATED because Sam needs the help and protection in case something happens where he can't be there, but they've proven to be helpful so they're considered allies...although Daddy Danny doesn't exactly like the idea of them being so close to his kids; yes, Danielle will be coming, but later on. Dani won't be made a huge character though. Valerie will also be coming back but won't play a very big role either.
Hey, guys? ;) You'll LOVE what I have planned for PAULINA'S next appearance! ;D So excited! But it's many chapters away...better get started... *sigh* Not gonna be easy to make a chapter so far in the future...