~Chapter 45~
He put two fingers to his temples and circled them around. Unlike processing the fact that she was pregnant when he was first told that, processing that she was already in labor earlier than the planned due date was a lot different. He had no time to actually think, he only had enough time to do.
She hissed in pain as another contraction hit her. They were getting closer and closer together, which meant that Faye could be coming any minute now.
"Just hold on a little longer, Sam," he said, brushing some of her hair aside. In doing so he felt sweat beads on her forehead. This was normal though. With the twins she started to get sweaty not too long before she went into active labor. Unfortunately this could mean that she could go into active labor any time now and he still had nothing to help her.
He put an inner panic attack in the back of his mind and tried to focus on what he did need to do. He needed a towel first. Resourceful though, resourceful...because it wasn't like they carried a towel around wherever they went... Okay. So. Towel... It would have to be some sort of cloth, obviously not an exact towel, but any kind of cloth would have to do until help really did come. And that was a lot of time to pass. He couldn't be too choosy right now...he couldn't be too choosy even if he wanted to be. Their resources were very limited.
Okay. List, list, what was on the list? Let's see, there was...what was there? A tie. What could he use for a tie? It would have to be some kind of string, or a ribbon maybe...? There were seat belts in the Speeder but somehow he doubted that would work. There were wires in there but electrocution was not an option. WAIT! Shoelaces!
He looked down at his sneakers and took one of them off, untying it and weaving the lace out. Tie. Covered. It wasn't exactly sterile, but it was all he had.
Okay, what nex- Scissors. Scissors, scissors...scissors. It would have to be something with a blade on it, or at very least a sharp edge, and strong enough to cut an umbilical cord. So um...glass, metal, neither of those... He didn't have a knife or a pair of scissors on him... He couldn't think of one thing he could use in the Speeder that wasn't too dangerous. And he couldn't risk hurting Faye by using something that dangerous. ...As dangerous as what though, he didn't have anything.
He ran a hand through his hair and sighed in frustration. He really didn't have anything he could use for the scissors... At least with the tie on-
He gagged. Enough with the tie. He had the tie. He knew what to do with the tie. No more thinking about the tie.
Okay. Okay. Next item, next item on the list.
"Danny," Sam groaned. "Call your mother."
"Help's on the way," he assured her. Yeah, in at very least a week...
"I don't care. Call her."
"Why?"
"Daniel..." she growled.
He quickly got up and rushed over to the Specter Speeder, grabbing his phone and dialing Tucker. He only half expected him to answer the call, but at least someone did. The unfortunate side? It was Jazz who picked up. The bright-ish side? At least there was someone at all. Knowing that could probably comfort Sam a little more than knowing that no one was answering. He just wasn't sure if that person being Jazz would offer the same comfort.
He put it on speaker phone and placed it next to Sam.
"It's Jazz," he told her, knowing Tucker probably told his sister about their little predicament; and knowing that Jazz, of all people, should know not to upset Sam.
"Hi, Sam," Jazz chirped, although the anxiety in her voice was evident.
"Get your mother..." she grunted.
"My mom? Why?"
Danny just sat down and shrugged his shoulders, silently following the conversation...blissfully thinking it was just to give Sam someone else to talk to.
"I don't have the patience for this, just do it!"
There were no more questions from Jazz as she transferred the phone to her mother.
"Sam? Honey? How are you doing?" Maddie's voice sang.
Danny noticed the difference in how insanely sweet her voice sounded as opposed to how it normally sounded, but it didn't look like Sam did. He hoped she didn't.
"You need to help Danny."
This earned her a confused look from him. Honestly, the guy who was doing everything he could to help was now being told he needed to be bossed around by his mom. How insanely cruel.
"Help him with what?"
"He'll have to be the midwife," she replied. "But I don't think he really knows what he's doing."
He scoffed but knew it was true.
"Okay. Danny, take the phone and get it off speaker," his mom said.
He did as he was told. He didn't exactly want to be doing this and under normal circumstances he would be trying to do everything himself but this just wasn't one of those times. Everything he could do was gone with the supplies he didn't have.
"Danny, sweetie," Maddie said into the phone, "you'll need a pair of scissors, something to tie-"
"I got the tie, don't say the tie! Don't say it!" he shouted.
"Young man, you will not raise your voice at me!" she reprimanded.
"Sorry, Mom."
"First, you'll need a towel to wrap Faye in," she said. "You need to get something you can use as a towel."
"I don't have anything I can use. A-And I don't have anything to use as scissors either. We have half a water bottle but that's about it for the water. I can use my own body heat to help keep Faye warm. I also have a shoelace out for the tie."
"Okay..." Maddie took a sharp breath. "The water may be a little low but it sounds good enough. If you don't have a towel, or blanket, or any kind of cloth like that, you can use your shirt. As for the scissors, the only thing I can think of that won't be that dangerous is your powers."
"My powers...? What?"
"Can't you shoot a little ghost ray from your hand? If you can just fine-tune that ray into one of your fingertips, you can make a clean cut."
WHAT?!
"I don't know if I want to use my powers on a baby, Mom."
"Well, Danny, you're a little limited on options here. If you have anything else in mind, you can use that, but if you really don't have anything, use yourself," she said. "Your shirt, your body heat, your shoelace... So far you're a walking piece of equipment."
Use himself... It was better than Tucker's advice to 'be resourceful'. That which he didn't know how to do, he was instructed to do. But now those two simple words bore more meaning than all of Tucker's conversation. Use himself... That meant use his powers on Faye... It was for the better but he only ever used his powers on ghosts or objects that weren't people...especially not babies!
Basically his mom was telling him to use something meant and used for violence to help his baby daughter. A baby, and he would have to use violence on her!
"Danny, I need you to listen to me, okay?" she continued, regaining her son's attention.
"Yeah."
"Don't take off your shirt just yet. I want you to leave that on until the very last minute, when you hear Faye. You need to get Sam out of her underwear though. She's wearing a dress, right? Wasn't she in a dress when she went in there with you? I could've sworn she was..."
"Yeah, she is."
"Pretend that's her hospital gown. Now the reason Sam wanted me to help you at this moment is probably because she can feel her body start pushing harder. I don't know if this has anything to do with giving birth to a ghost or if she's just lucky, but this is going by pretty fast. You need to stay focused and remember not to upset Sam," she instructed.
"Wait a minute, does this mean Faye's coming now?!"
"Take off her panties," she said, completely ignoring his question.
He nervously reached under Sam and pulled off her underwear. No blood. No blood yet. Good, no blood... No tie had to be used just yet, no...no blood...yet...
"Done."
"Okay, now you need to keep track of Sam's contractions."
"How?"
"Put a hand on her stomach and feel when the muscles tense and when they relax. When they tense, that's a contraction. When they relax, the contraction is over. Time the space in between. Once they reach five minutes or less, Sam will start to push much harder. You need to stay calm and try to keep her calm. But remember, she won't be as calm as you and she'll probably act like she's in a lot of pain. It's perfectly normal but try to focus only on Faye if it starts making you nervous."
She was forgetting that he didn't like seeing the blood when the umbilical cord was cut. She was forgetting that focusing on Faye would result in memories of the twins' birth. She was forgetting that he was only fifteen when he witnessed childbirth. She was forgetting that he had passed out after that. Either that or she didn't know he'd passed out because she wasn't there to see it and he didn't know if Sam told her or not.
But let nobody forget that he'd been traumatized when he saw all that blood splatter on the floor.
Didn't his mom understand what focusing only on Faye would do to him?! Maybe he could hold his food down long enough to hand her over to Sam and make a dash as far away as he could before vomiting.
"Danny, do you have your hand on her stomach?" Maddie asked.
Right, right, hand on the stomach, just focus on the hand.
"Do now," he replied as he placed his hand over Sam.
"How far apart are the contractions?"
He shook his head and answered, "I haven't timed them."
"Then estimate."
He felt her muscles tighten immensely at that very moment and started to count in his head. "She's having one right now and I'm counting-"
"Count after it passes," his mother interrupted.
Okay then. Reset to zero.
"You should probably exercise patience with this, in case you don't remember how long it took with Lily and Junior," she added.
Sam didn't really want Lilith to have a nickname because of the darkish undertone of the name, but everyone did call her Lily when she wasn't around. Eventually she would catch on too late and the nickname would be stuck. He himself actually called her lily pad when she wasn't around to hear it. Now that her pregnant hormones would be gone, her irritability would go with them and she probably wouldn't mind too much. In fact she would come to accept it in due time and not even care at all. Eventually, anyway. But for the time being, everyone hid the nickname, all knowing that she couldn't find out until she was in a very perky mood. Whenever that was... There were only two times he'd seen her so incredibly happy...once when she showed him she'd changed the twins' last names to his, and the other when he'd proposed to her.
Her muscles relaxed again and he began counting, tallying up the minutes in his head every time it hit sixty seconds. At three minutes and sixteen seconds exactly, he felt her muscles contract again and informed his mom about the time.
He wasn't too pleased to hear a quick gasp on the other end of the line.
"Danny, do you have everything on the list right beside you?" she rapidly asked.
"Except the water bottle, yes," he answered. "Why? What's happening?"
"What's happening is that you're lucky Sam's not screaming in pain right now."
"Wait, what?!"
"You need to get that water bottle right now and get back to Sam as quickly as you can. Don't leave her for one second after that, understand?"
"But-"
"No buts Danny, you don't have time for buts."
Crap, that meant Sam had been in active labor this whole time and he never even knew! And judging by his mother's reactions, Faye just mustered the courage to get out and see the world and nothing was about to stop her from doing that.
He quickly followed his mother's instructions and brought the water bottle from the Speeder to Sam's lower half, where he would, unfortunately, be staying until he'd taken care of Faye. Suddenly he was thankful Sam had demanded him to call his mother because apparently he really didn't have any idea what he was doing. But his mom seemed to have all the answers, so as long as she walked him through this everything would be fine.
He slid down to his knees just in time for his mother to say, "Now when Faye comes out, you need to wipe off her face. Try to get the blood completely off her."
Blood. God. Blood. On his own daughter. Th-The blood...
"Now do you see her head yet?" the woman continued.
He looked down to see a lump being pushed out.
"O-Oh God... Oh my God..." he breathed.
"That's the head. Take off your shirt now and hold it right below there to catch Faye when she comes out, and stay calm."
"Right there? Right up against her?"
"Yes, unless you want Faye to drop right out onto the dirt."
He took off his shirt and did as his mom told him.
"Now you can close your eyes for this part if you want-"
He closed his eyes immediately.
"-but once you feel a newborn squirming in your shirt, open them and... Do you remember what I told you to do once she's born?"
He nodded. "Yeah, you said to wipe her off."
"Danny, you can not be squeamish. You have to do this for your baby girl," she told him.
"Yeah...yeah...okay..."
"Honey, I'm serious. You'll lay down your life for her, right?"
"Yes! I swear, if a-"
"Okay, sweetie, don't start ranting, you can take on childbirth if you can be willing to give your life for theirs. You need to focus."
"I... Okay..." Birth. Sure. Handle it... Just focus...
He jumped when a screech mixed with Sam's high-pitched whine.
"Honey, honey! Calm down! That's just Faye!"
"I KNOW! I KNOW!"
He repositioned himself, eyes still closed and probably looking like he was meditating.
"She'll probably come out in a minute or two and as soon as she does, wrap her up in your shirt, pull her close to you, and-"
"Wipe her off, I know."
"And then..." Maddie's voice trailed off and she replaced her unfinished sentence with, "You need to open your eyes as soon as you feel her thrashing around in your shirt, okay?"
"Okay."
He kept his eyes shut tight and tried to imagine a baby wrapped up in a blanket being rocked to sleep at home. No blood was on her, she wasn't in the ghost zone, and she wasn't screaming. And Sam? She was the one rocking the baby, humming a little lullaby. And him? He was in the room watching and listening. The twins were asleep, his parents were just finishing some mechanical doohickey in the lab, and Jazz was peacefully reading a psychology book on her bed with a lamp on. The stars were out, the moon was full, and there were absolutely no ghosts around aside from Johnny and Kitty. And no blood anywhere.
He opened his eyes in panic when he heard Sam's scream overpowering Faye's. A few seconds later Sam collapsed and he had a newborn struggling in his shirt.
There was blood. There was blood on her.
Wipe it off.
He quickly pulled his shirt around her and used the tip of it to wipe down her face. Blood smeared on the white fabric of his shirt...
"Danny, don't freak out. Stay calm."
"I'm not! I'm not freaking out! I'm calm!" Calm and holding a newborn that wasn't even five minutes old yet!
"Are you done wiping her off?"
"Yes." Deep breath. "Done."
"Okay, you know what comes next, don't you?"
"Wha..." The tie. "Um, yes, I do know, can I close my eyes for this, please, it would really help, there's gonna be blood everywhere!"
"Do not panic, calm down. Tie your shoelace around the umbilical cord, tighten it, and use your powers to cut the cord."
God, the tie...the tie...shoelace tie...get the tie...
He picked up the shoelace and held Faye in the crook of one elbow while he used both his hands to tie the umbilical cord near her belly, just like the nurses in the hospital did with the twins.
"Be gentle."
"Being gentle..." Blood.
"Is the shoelace tight?"
"Yes." Blood.
"Okay. Don't think about the blood, Danny, just cut the cord."
"Okay." Blood.
He raised his index finger and carefully aimed it to a point where it wouldn't hit Sam or Faye and concentrated on tuning his ghost ray into a very fine, thin laser. Just get it over with... He quickly swiped it across the cord, making a clean cut near the tie.
He heard it splatter. He saw it splatter. It was still running out of the cord. It was...it was...
"Blood..." he gagged. "S'blood!"
"Danny? Sweetie?"
"Oh God. Blood, there is...so much..."
"Danny, calm down, make sure Faye's wrapped up and warm."
"It's everywhere... It's blood, Mom... It's blood, it's, it's everywhere and it's dark and red and runny and, and, and it's blood. It's blood. It's blood."
"Daniel, listen to me! Stay focused, don't think about the blood!"
"Blood, Mom..." he whispered. "And it's everywhere. A...A big puddle of it..."
"Now isn't the time, Danny!"
"AND IT'S RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME. THE BLOOD IS IN FRONT OF ME."
"Now isn't the time to go hemophobic, you-"
"Blood...! God, it's a huge puddle of the stuff and it's just right there and I can't take this! I can't do this anymore! There's so much blood!"
"Calm down, calm down, think about Faye here."
He let the phone fall off his shoulder as he stood up and stumbled to Sam's front, immediately dropping to his knees and handing the baby to her.
She looked at him in frustration and held Faye to her chest. Honestly she was just in labor, just gave birth to his daughter...and he couldn't even keep his gut in check? Heck with his gut, he couldn't even keep his skin color...
"It...blood...I...bl-blood..." he stammered.
"It comes with childbirth, Danny," she panted. "Get over it."
"Blood..." he moaned. "Blood..."
"Danny?"
"I's on me...my hands... Th-There's blood on me..."
"Dan-"
Her words were cut off when he lost consciousness and fell limp beside her.
She sighed. That future he wanted was coming true, right down to him passing out after she gave birth. It would've been humorous if she wasn't in so much pain right now. It was ten times less pain than during labor, but it lingered even after.
"Well, well..." a voice echoed from above. "He's the last person I would expect to be hemophobic."
"He was traumatized at fifteen," Sam answered, staring back up at Ember. She had learned to accept that most of the ghosts Danny strove to drive away weren't completely senseless. They weren't violent for no reason and they always had a motive when they were. However, it had been made clear several times that they weren't looking to hurt the twins, Sam, or Faye. They weren't even looking to hurt Danny anymore, not when he became so protective. The Box Ghost seemed to be the only stupid one and constantly got a beating, but was spared only because he was so weak and had grown very used to fleeing at the sight of Danny.
"If it was enough to traumatize him, I won't even ask," she said, lowering herself next to Sam.
"What are you doing here?" she groaned as she tried to get up.
Ember took her free hand and helped pull her to a sitting position. "It might look like a lie to him-" She gestured to Danny. "-but I come here to practice my music. It's not like I want to make myself look like an amateur, so I come to this place. It's nice, secluded, quiet..."
"And the worst place to give birth in," Sam added as she positioned Faye more properly, like a baby should be held when in its mother's arms.
The ghost hummed her agreement.
"But this is truly an honor," she said, somewhat out of character for a ghost like her. "The offspring of a halfa...the first and only in existence...born right here in my little getaway. Imagine that."
"Sorry if it's any trouble," Sam mumbled. "The only transportation we had is that little ship behind you. It broke down and I had no choice but to give birth here."
She turned to look behind her and sighed. "Well, hate to disappoint you but I have no knowledge of mechanics. If there's one ghost that can fix that ship, it's Technus."
The goth frowned. "You sure? There's...no one else? At all?"
"Believe me, I hate him too, but if there's one thing he knows, it's mechanics," she replied. "In your world he uses technology to destroy things and terrorize the citizens. In our world his specialty is mechanical repair."
"That gives a whole new meaning to irony."
"On a different note, how long will the violent hemophobic be out?" she asked.
"Last time he fainted, he was out for several hours."
"Then I might be able to help you. You seem to be a little low on supplies. I could probably just slip into your world and bring you some food and water, maybe some blankets for the new baby."
One thing Danny didn't know, and would hate to find out, was that Ember and the rest of his family had made a pact. Sam would keep Danny from attacking her if she happened to stray too near the kids, and in return she would assist them in emergencies. With a newborn baby, a completely exhausted mother, and a hemophobic father stranded in the ghost zone, this qualified as an emergency.
She weakly nodded. "That would be great, thanks so much."
"Before I go, what's her name?" Ember asked as she lifted herself into the air again.
"Faye."
She smiled and headed off with, "Pretty name for a pretty girl."
In all honesty the goth wanted nothing more than to crawl into a bed, roll herself into a blanket burrito, and sleep. But there was only the Speeder and she was too weak right now to even stand, much less walk. Without Ember's help she would still be laying flat on her back in the same position she'd given birth in.
Speaking of positions...
She looked over to Danny. Here he wanted all ghosts to fear him by proving his mighty strength, proving himself to be the great and terrible Danny Phantom...but then he literally fell at the sight of blood. He was the father of this child, he should've handled this a little better. But he didn't and instead of being all tough and strong, Daddy just succumbed to his little fear. It was embarrassing, it really was.
Faye started moving around in her makeshift blanket and rubbed her face against Sam's chest.
"You must be hungry after all this excitement, huh?"
A/N
When my sister was a baby, she would rub her face against my chest when she got hungry and I was holding her. :P It was kind of awkward but she didn't know. Besides, nursing is just another thing moms do, and Faye is a newborn so she won't want to wait around for her meal. It's been a big day for her, she's hungry. :D
I tried to keep Ember in character, but having her as an ally required a little more effort. I'm not sure if she's entirely Ember, or if she's just Ember-ish, but I did the best I could. What do you think, good or bad? :/ Hoping for good...
Danny held out longer than he did with the twins, so he definitely made an effort there. XD He still fainted but at least Faye was safe when it happened.
Oh, and can someone please tell me, is this story declining? It seems that way...
I now have nothing left to say. :T
Review quota (thanks for hitting 593! :'D) is six hundred one (601) reviews.
Reply time!
HeroAce- Oh, I guess I didn't really explain that did I? Well, they don't go in the house unless no one else (aside from Sam) is there. Once anyone comes back, they leave. But Danny TOLERATES them there, he doesn't actually want it. Sam, however, now she really does appreciate their help. But as you can see, everyone knows now. ;P And they're fine with it. Except Danny. Still.
Fleightfire- The interesting thing about this is, Faye has a little more human blood in her than ghost thanks to her mom being all human. Therefore she's less likely to have any powers at all, which means the twins won't be jealous. And since Danny's keeping his identity a secret from the entire younger generation, none of his kids will know about Faye's ghost bloodline. In their eyes, she's just a normal human, just like Mom and Dad. But will she have powers? Hm...well...guess we'll have to find out won't we? ;D
ObsessiveFanfictioner15- Oh yeah, I got plans for Paulina here. ;) "But first Sam needs to have a baby already." XD Niiiice. Because labor is so easy. Well, Faye's in the big world now.
Sharksbean- Thanks. And Danny's sort of...panicky. He uses his powers for violence, so using it on a newborn? It's the unthinkable to him but it came down to that so he did what he had to. He can't fly Sam and Faye out. He'd thought about that possibility, remember? Sam would be too weak to move after giving birth and he can't abandon either one of them, although if something were to happen to Sam, he would be forced to leave with Faye.
Arctica Ice- ...I do believe it's a tad late on that poll. :( Sorry.
LittleBoomBoom- Danny's now hemophobic (fear of blood, in case you couldn't tell from the context) so you KNOW he'll pass out. :D Since when am I able to resist making him faint? He...well, things were fine with the delivery, if that's what you mean, but as for Danny's mind...
jim89- While Danny is freakishly excited about the UPCOMING arrival of the new baby, he was a) not expecting to break down in the middle of ghost zone nowhere; and b) was sure Sam would have to be induced, and that Faye would be born then. So no, they didn't pack for a delivery service. The poor guy's trying here, I mean he's panicking and all he wants if for Sam to get to a hospital, the normal place to give birth. You'll see why I'm 'wasting' valuable story space on Paulina. :3
Hazel Blue Mystery- Sorry! :( Updated though.
lolsayzme- Yup, Paulina. You know, you are the FIRST to ask that question. :) Seeing the bright side of things huh? But no, Sam probably won't be too thrilled.
PlasticPencils- Why does it have to be in my face?! *wipes off smashed tomato* Okay that's it! Next time you get whipped cream all over your face! MAH EYES BURN WOMAN!