fortitude; au

Besides the obvious, Hope had always figured there wasn't much difference between men and women. They were all people and that was what mattered, right?

Now though, he wondered if they were different after all. Woman had to have some kind of super strength, because if he was in Lightning's position right now, there was no way in hell he'd be able to take it as well as she was.

…And that was definitely saying something, considering she'd squeezed his hand so harshly it was now numb. He was pretty sure it was fractured, too.

But it was worth it.

Now if only he could convince Lightning of that.

"You're doing great so far," he tried to reassure her, using his free hand to brush aside the bangs that'd plastered themselves to her sweaty forehead. Lightning glared at him at the kind words, sounding positively homicidal when she spoke.

"I just want to get this over with." She was about to say something else, but all that came out was a pained groan - one of many he'd been hearing all night.

"I know."

"No, you don't!" Lightning's hand squeezed his harshly, and he had to wonder how she still had the strength to do so after all the pain she'd been in all night. "You're not the one dealing with this crap, and I swear, if the stupid doctor says it'll be a 'few more hours' one more time, I'm going to kill her!"

Hope was suddenly extremely glad they were never going to go through this again.

To both of their surprise, the doctor returned just moments after Lightning's rant, like she'd heard her. After some poking and prodding, she declared with a smile that it was time. Hope was suddenly filled with anticipation and nervousness.

"You can do this," he reassured his wife, somehow managing to use his likely-fractured hand to squeeze hers.

"If you say so," she hissed, her pain all too obvious. Once again, Hope found it rather admirable. There was no way he would've been able to handle it for this long. And his hand was numb, so that didn't really count.

The next stretches of time were filled with Lightning's grunts of annoyance and the doctor and nurse's insistence to push. All Hope could do was encourage her, even when her free fist when flying during what was obviously a particularly brutal spasm and accidentally clocked him in the jaw. Nobody noticed, least of all Lightning, who was muttering out a random string of curses in a hissed voice.

It was only when the tension left her what seemed like hours later and Hope heard a screaming cry that he realized what all of her pain had really been for. His fractured hand was worth it. The bruise on his jaw was worth it. And judging from the dazed look on her face, the contractions and hormonal emotions and nine months of feeling like crap were worth it.

When the doctor was finished with her, Lightning carefully sat up against the pillows, looking exhausted. Honestly, Hope was still amazed. He would've passed out from the sheer exhaustion, really.

His amazement only grew when a nurse approached them, happily setting a bundle of blankets into Lightning's ready arms. She leaned back a little, still obviously out of it - at least until a little smile formed on her face.

"Soren Estheim," she murmured at the newborn, running a thumb over his cheek before looking up at Hope. "Right?"

He smiled in return. "Right."

He had no idea what kind of parents they'd end up making. At least with Lightning, he knew he'd be brave enough to take up the challenge.