A/N: Thank you to everyone who followed, favorited, and/or reviewed the first one-shot in this collection!
khallubgud: Thank you for the review! I'm glad you enjoyed it. And yes, I will be continuing with Becoming Agent Rider. I'm not abandoning any unfinished works.
Alicori: Thanks for the review! Yes, the fandom doesn't really have much for stories about Alex and his kids. Makes that angle all the more interesting. xD Lol twins would really spice things up! And sorry about the long update times.
NeleWW: Thank you for the review! Glad you liked it! Sorry about the long update times though.
VirReturnsFromMinbar: Thank you for the review! Good to know I presented this well. xD
Guest: Thank you for your review! Happy that you loved it!
The ideas for this one-shot came from the word "delivery", the title of this one-shot. It kind of just came to me a few weeks ago, but took awhile to write since I'm busy with work and an online course.
Disclaimer: I do not own Alex Rider.
Enjoy!
"... Should we inform Alex?" Crawley asked apprehensively, barely audible over the pained moans of the woman in the hospital bed.
Beside him, Mrs. Jones frowned and hurriedly unwrapped a peppermint. Before she could answer, they both winced.
"DON'T YOU DARE DISTRACT HIM WITH THIS, JONES!" the woman screeched. "I WANT MY HUSBAND BACK ALIVE IN ONE PIECE! AHHH, FUCKING BLOODY HELL! THIS BLOODY HURTS!"
Jones glanced at her deputy, murmuring, "You heard her. Alex can't get mad if his wife has forbidden us to notify him. We can't afford to distract him either. The mission is too important."
A sharp hiss. They both looked at the woman being fussed over by a nurse. The intelligence agents around them that had been assigned on security duty grimaced sympathetically but stayed at their posts.
Forehead creasing, Jones added quietly, "Maybe check in with him for a status report. Tell him we have intel on something urgent that needs his expertise and see if he can speed up his current assignment."
"Yes, ma'am," Crawley said, hurrying away to carry out her instructions. His haste certainly did not have anything to do with the screams that had started.
Five and a half kilometers away, Alex was kneeling on the side of a mountain just outside of Tehran, working with Snake to try and stem the flow of blood from Ben's wound. The other three K-unit members were keeping watch or communicating with their transport. He felt the vibration of an incoming call in his pocket.
"Wolf!" Alex called out. "Help Snake. I have to take this call."
Grunting an agreement, Wolf shouldered his rifle and came over to finish prepping the surgical thread and needle. Snake would need it to stitch their friend back up again. And while the wound was being closed off, bandages would need to be prepared.
Alex stepped a few feet away from his unit, tilting his head up to look at the stars in the clear night sky. "This is Cub of Kilo team."
"Charlie of HQ. Status report?" Crawley replied.
"Package delivered. One injured, stabbed in the leg. Waiting for transport," Alex reported.
"How bad is the injury?"
"No med evac needed. It's being stitched up so further medical attention can wait."
"Good," Crawley said, relieved the mission was finished. He did not want to face an overprotective husband and the longer Alex was kept in the dark, the angrier he'd be. "Urgent intel received. Return to HQ immediately."
"Ten-four," Alex answered with a frown. "Cub, out."
Going back to his unit, Alex saw that Snake was done patching Ben up. He examined his partner to double check that everything was as fine as it could be, considering the man had ripped open his first stitches on the stab wound. Satisfied that his partner would likely make a full recovery, he asked, "Eagle, when is our transport arriving?"
"Two minutes."
"Good. HQ says to return as fast as possible. They need me for another emergency."
"Any idea what it is?" Ben asked, a little pale from the pain.
"No idea," Alex answered shortly. "I just hope I'm not shipping out again."
Nine hours later, their helicopter landed in the Brecon Beacons SAS training camp. They jumped out to be greeted by the sergeant and Crawley, the latter fidgeting with his sleeve cuffs. Saluting, their unit was given the command to be at ease and return their gear to the armory before reporting to the sergeant's office.
Sensing Crawley's agitation, Alex urged his unit to hurry up, herding them to the places they needed to be. Once they were stood at ease in front of the sergeant and Crawley again, the nervous air around both men became even more pronounced.
"Mission report," Crawley commanded.
"The prisoner was successfully delivered to the Iranian government," Wolf rapped out, the rest of them letting their unit leader do the talking. "We encountered three attacks on the way there, trying to kidnap or kill the prisoner. Fox was injured during the second fight. After delivering the prisoner, our task as a decoy drew two more attacks."
"Any complications besides Fox's injury?" the sergeant asked.
"No, sir," Wolf answered.
"Alex," Crawley said expectantly.
Stepping forward, Alex took a USB stick out of his pocket and placed it in Crawley's palm, then returned to his place in the line. "Information exchanged for the prisoner. The contents have already been checked. You should pay particular attention to the fourth file."
"I'll have Smithers get on this," Crawley promised. A pause. Then, he grimaced, bracing himself for the young man's temper. "Alex, while you were gone, your wife went into labour."
Silence. Ben and the soldiers' heads all swiveled to look at their youngest unit mate, watching warily as Alex's jaw clenched. Still controlling his emotions, he questioned, "And you're just telling me this now?"
Crawley flinched at the amount of venom in his voice but answered evenly, "Your wife was... very passionate about not distracting you from the mission. She forbade us from informing you. Last I heard, she was still experiencing contractions, not fully dilated yet. If we hurry, you might still be able to make it in time for your child's birth."
"This conversation isn't over." Turning sharply on his heel, Alex barked out, "Let's go! Wolf, you need to be there to meet your godson!"
Everyone exchanged glances and hurried after the soon-to-be father, leaving the sergeant behind in his office to heave a sigh of relief that there was no bloodshed. Everyone knew it was a phenomenally bad idea to cross the young spy, no matter how high and mighty you were. So, other than narrowly avoiding a clean up job, the sergeant was just glad that he had largely gone unnoticed throughout this encounter.
An hour and a half later, Alex and his companions landed on the roof helipad of St. Dominic's. The helicopter had barely touched down before Alex got a room number from Crawley and sprinted to his wife's bedside, the rest of his companions trailing behind to head to their post-op medical checkup. Or further medical attention, in Ben's case.
His wife's delivery room was quiet as he approached it, making his anxious anticipation spike. Alex gave a cursory nod to the two agents guarding the door and peered inside. His brows knitted together in a frown when he saw that, although Audrey had her eyes closed, it was clear that she was suffering. Her skin was pale and sweaty from the pain of the contractions. Exhaustion was etched into her face.
Silently padding towards his wife, Alex gave Jones a nod in greeting and softly stroked Audrey's hair back. His wife was slow to stir and blinked up at him blearily while Jones signaled that she and Crawley would be going back to the Bank.
"Alex?" Audrey said in confusion. "I thought you were on assignment."
Alex smiled softly, murmuring, "I was. We got back to the country a couple of hours ago. I came here as soon as Crawley told me you'd gone into labour. How are you feeling right now?"
"I told them not to tell you," Audrey huffed, making a face.
"They didn't," Alex replied darkly, his voice alone promising retribution. "Crawley only told me after the mission was over. After we landed in Wales."
Audrey's soft hand on his own gently blew away the storm clouds that were gathering around him. She frowned and said, "Don't. I pretty much screamed at them to not tell you."
Alex raised an eyebrow at that, smirking. "You screamed at them? I wish I could have seen their faces."
"Oh shut up," she said with a smile. A moment later, she winced and moaned, gripping his hand tightly while he stroked her hair and whispered reassurances. Once the current contraction was over and her panting had subsided, she continued in a whisper. "I wanted you to come back safely and alive. We all did. I know that I've gone into labour four weeks earlier than the estimated due date, but what you were doing was more important than being here for the early stages."
"But - "
She silenced him with a look. Waving her hand at the security outside her door, she said in a stronger voice as some of her strength recovered, "Besides, as soon as they noticed the signs of early labour two days ago, they called Mrs. Jones and she's been with me since then. It was her authority that got me to St. Dominic's in record time when I went into active labour last night. There was nothing here you needed to worry about. Everything was under control."
Alex frowned. "Where's your family?"
Grimacing, Audrey gasped and gripped his hand again, before answering bitterly, "I don't know where my parents are. They haven't picked up the phone. I assume they're drinking again."
His lips thinned. Pulling out his phone, he made a call. "Eagle, pick up Audrey's little brother and sister, will you? They should be here for their nephew's birth. And check that their parents haven't done something stupid." A pause as he listened for a response. "Thanks, mate."
Audrey squeezed his hand lightly. "Thank you."
Stroking her hair again, Alex said softly, "You haven't answered me yet. How are you feeling?"
"It's taking longer than average. I'm still in active labour right now," she sighed, wincing and breathing heavily again. "Back hurts, legs are cramping up, and I feel like something is trying to squeeze the life out of my abdomen. Nauseous too." She paused, moaning loudly with a death grip on his hand. Once the contraction had passed and she regained her breath, Audrey continued. "They already have me on Tylenol 3 to help with the pain. The doctor came in about ten minutes ago. Said I have one more centimeter of dilation to go. Should be another..." She checked the clock. "... Half hour before I'm in the delivery stage."
"Do you need anything? Water maybe? Or a heat pack?"
Audrey shook her head just as K-unit, minus Eagle, and a couple of doctors entered the room. A round of greetings later, one doctor went to check on Audrey and the other headed straight for Alex, with Snake on his heels.
"We've all had our post-mission medical check ups. There's just yours left. Don't make me sedate you," Snake warned.
"If you could just come with me," the doctor gestured.
Alex shook his head firmly. "I'm not going anywhere."
"Cub," Snake said tightly. The rest of the unit was pretending not to pay attention.
"Either do the check up here or not at all," Alex replied calmly, looking his unit medic squarely in the eye. "I'm not leaving Audrey."
A beat of contesting wills passed before Snake pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, "Fine. Doctor, if you wouldn't mind doing the check up here, I'll help you."
Ben grinned, collecting a tenner each from K-unit's disgruntled members, which made Alex realize they had a bet going on. However, the doctor rolled his eyes, muttering something about stubborn soldiers, but gathered what was needed to complete the check up. Throughout the examination, Alex never let go of Audrey's hand, allowing her to grip onto him as hard as she wanted to fight through the pain. As she did so, he contorted himself into different positions to let Snake and the doctor do what they needed. And fifteen minutes later, the check up was finished, just in time for Audrey to signal with a scream that it was time for the delivery stage. Her doctor shooed K-unit out and called in a couple of nurses.
The next hour was one of the longest that Alex had ever endured. Not because of his wife's iron grip making his hand feel like the bones were going to be crushed at any moment. No. It was because he had to listen to someone he loved, scream and cry and sweat through the pain, knowing that there was nothing else he could do to help besides being there for reassurance and moral support. It was torture. Only less painful than Jack's death. The only things that kept him from losing it were the facts that this was a natural process that had low mortality rates and she was receiving some of the best medical care in the world. He held on to those thoughts.
At last, the doctor told Audrey to push for what felt like the hundredth time and exclaimed excitedly that the baby's head could be seen. Alex snapped his head up to look in the doctor's direction at that announcement, the anticipation of his own child finally hitting him. At the same time, he could feel through Audrey's grip that the announcement had strengthened her determination.
A few minutes of screaming and a dozen more pushes later, the doctor exclaimed, "Time of birth: 11:43am on Monday, the 13th of June 2022!"
The doctor paused, blinking at the baby.
"What's wrong?" Alex growled.
"Nothing," the doctor replied hastily. "Congratulations, it's a girl!"
"A girl?" Alex repeated, glancing at his uncharacteristically silent wife. She was too exhausted to talk and only squeezed his hand lightly to get him to continue. "I thought you said we were having a boy?"
"Well, it seems that I was wrong," the doctor explained, handing the crying baby off to one of the nurses to tend to. "Even with today's technology, there's still a small chance of getting the gender wrong. It's reliant on the ultrasound image and sometimes the babies could be in a position that makes it look like one gender when they are actually the other."
Alex nodded absent-mindedly, already thinking of all the adjustments to the preparations they had made. Tentatively, he asked, "Can we hold her?"
"Of course," the nurse said, holding the baby out for them.
Audrey found the strength to raise her arms to accept the baby, smiling with shining eyes and holding the infant close. All her focus was on the baby. Alex lightly ran a thumb across their daughter's cheek, grinning at his family. And when Audrey gestured for his turn to hold the baby, he gently lifted her into his arms, throat constricted with the fear that he might accidentally hurt this precious, little bundle of joy. Both parents stared at their daughter in awe with huge smiles.
The doctor cleared his throat. "Sorry to interrupt, but the placenta has been delivered so we will be transferring Audrey to one of the private rooms for bedrest in a few minutes. And the baby was born prematurely but she is healthy so we will be putting her in the nursery. Do you have a name for her yet?"
Alex and Audrey glanced at each other, coming to a mutual agreement from the previous discussions they've had over the past few months. Turning back to the doctor, Alex answered, "Jacqueline Helen Rider. And you're not putting her in the nursery. I want her within my sight at all times."
Smiling, the doctor handed Alex a clipboard so he could write out the specific spelling of the name, murmuring, "Jacqueline Helen Rider. Nicely chosen. We'll get a bassinet set up in the private room for her."
Settling his daughter back in Audrey's arms, he let the mother and daughter rest as he filled out forms and quietly ordered the agents stationed by the door to clear the private room they were being transferred to. In the commotion of the hospital staff and agents preparing everything, their little family had a bubble of peaceful quiet in the centre of it all. A bubble that was quickly broken by Ben, K-unit, and Audrey's siblings bounding into the room. While Audrey's younger brother and sister clamored excitedly for who got to meet their niece first, Ben and K-unit raised their eyebrows at Alex expectantly.
"It's a girl," Alex announced, still grinning.
"Yes!" Eagle pumped his fist in the air, laughing as the rest of the unit groaned and each handed over a tenner. Gleefully, he exclaimed, "I told you the baby's gender would be the opposite of what the doctor predicted!"
"I suppose it makes sense since it is Cub," Ben grumbled.
Rolling his eyes at his unit's antics, Alex called, "Wolf! Come over here and meet Jacqueline Helen Rider, your goddaughter."
Hesitantly, Wolf stepped forward to get a good look at the baby as the rest of the unit checked on how Audrey was doing. While talking with them, Audrey held the infant out to the unit leader, whose eyes widened and turned to his youngest teammate for help.
Shaking his head in amusement, Alex encouraged the man to hold Jacqueline, demonstrating how to do it. Soon, the usually tough soldier had a soft smile on his face that scared those who knew him. Wolf even continued to hold his goddaughter as they moved to the new room, where Jones had somehow known the exact time to send a fruit basket for Audrey and a teddy bear for the newborn on behalf of the entire intelligence agency.
Once they were settled in the new room, the nurses brought them plates of food for lunch which was scarfed down in minutes, barely even taking the time to enjoy the first class quality that the hospital was known for because none of them, including the children, had eaten anything for over twelve hours before this. Even after they finished the food, it still wasn't enough. So, Snake and Ben went to buy some more food from a nearby restaurant.
As they waited for them to return, Alex called Tom and James to let them know of the baby being born while the rest of his unit tended to Audrey and the children. His two civilian friends said they were going to come by immediately. Then, he called Sabina next, who squealed so loudly that he had to hold the phone away from his ear until she had calmed down. Being all the way in the States with a full-time job as a lawyer, she couldn't visit just yet but promised to send care packages and gifts to each of the three of them.
By the time he finished making his calls, Snake and Ben returned with four bags of takeaway and they dug in. Sometime later, when they were lethargic from all the food and sprawled out on the furniture around the room, Tom and James arrived with gifts. The enthusiastic pair congratulated the new parents and their energy managed to get everyone to be more awake.
"So, your son turned out to be a daughter," Tom smirked. "Think that might be a classic sign of future Rider-style trouble?"
Everyone snickered while Alex groaned, "I wouldn't put it past Lady Luck to have her fun in warning me like that, but I'd really rather not think about it right now. Especially because the world is a much crueler place to females."
James, being the only adult who still didn't know what he did for a living, only thought that he was talking about workplace inequalities, objectification, and the like. However, everyone else in the room, minus Audrey's siblings, knew better and they were all painfully aware of the kind of horrors that the criminal underworld was more likely to inflict on females. They unconsciously closed ranks around the infant that was smiling in her sleep, as if that very action would be able to protect her for the rest of her life.
"Umm..." James said with eyebrows raised at their positions. "That's not going to do anything."
Eagle cleared his throat. In an attempt to dispel the tension, he said slyly, "So, the little Rider is a Gemini. Aren't you glad that you didn't end up having twins?"
Everyone looked at the weapons expert in horror, Wolf growling, "Don't even think about it!"
"You do know that you're going to be babysitting, right?" Audrey said with a smirk.
Eagle looked at Audrey, Alex, and then the baby. Repeated it a few times with visibly growing dread. Putting up his hands in surrender and shaking his head frantically, he said, "Nope. You know what? One child is good enough. No twins. Nope. Definitely not ready for that."
Everyone grinned, with Snake asking, "Can we hold her?"
"Yeah, of course," Alex and Audrey replied in unison.
So, everyone got a turn to hold Jacqueline, trying to make her laugh when she was awake. Wolf was even more anxious than the baby's parents, closely following each person who held her and growling the same directions that Alex had taught him earlier that day which earned him some ribbing from his unit.
Soon, visiting hours were over and everyone had to leave but promised to visit again tomorrow. Alex stayed behind, having gotten St. Dominic's to set up a cot in the room for him to spend the night watching over his family. And when his wife and daughter were able to finally fall into a deep sleep, Alex sent their security to go for a coffee break, checked for bugs, and set up an audio jammer. Then, he made a call.
"Yes?" came the answer.
"Your goddaughter was born today. Jacqueline Helen."
A long silence. "Thank you, little Alex. I will arrange for a visit as soon as I am finished my current assignment."
A/N: I don't know anything about pregnancy and going into labour so all information on childbirth comes from the Mayo Clinic website. Childbirth happens in 3 stages (technically 4 because the first stage is split into two): early and active labour, delivery of the baby, and delivery of the placenta. Early labour is an average length of hours to days and isn't too uncomfortable. Active labour is an average of 4 to 8 or more hours and it is when the pain really starts as contractions become increasingly intense and frequent. Delivery of the baby can take a few minutes to a few hours. Delivery of the placenta is within 5 to 30 minutes of the baby being born, but can take up to an hour. The mother and newborn stay in the hospital for 24 to 48 hours if there are no complications.
With John, Ian, and Alex already in the Rider family, I thought it would be interesting for Alex to have a daughter instead of a son. As for the birth date, Geminis are born between May 21 to June 21, according to Britannica. The idea for that came from Alicori's comment about it being interesting if Alex had twins. And assuming Alex's birth year is 1996 because that makes the most sense with the consumer technology in the later books, he was 25 in the first one-shot where he found out Audrey was pregnant so it should be 2022 when his daughter is born.
Anyways, thank you for reading! I'm trying to write fluff with this collection of one-shots and I'm not sure if I'm succeeding. Some angst and generally depressing topics seem to keep making its way into the story. Oops. xD Let me know what you think! And please do rate and review! Any response to my writing is always appreciated. :)
