It had been almost been an entire month according to Jenna, who had managed to keep some sort calendar in her mind. Dirk had given up on trying to keep track entirely. The days were long and the nights were harsh. Nathanial kept up his assault on them daily, getting more violent and then gentle on some days… though absolutely never gentle in the activities that Dirk had just termed 'rough' since even after three weeks after the incident he couldn't speak about what happened. They kept themselves busy, discussing and talking through the pain they felt. Nathanial eventually started new torture sessions- drowning. He'd drag Dirk or Jenna out of the room, shove them in a vat of what they could only pray was water and continue until they stopped moving. They had learned to fake, but often only got worse beatings for it. They'd taken to sleeping close to each other now. Their only solace was that they were in the same situation. Dirk had severe withdrawals from the lack of medication- twitching and sometimes he would see shadows on the walls that made him think there were three people in the room instead of just two. He could hold himself together though- he needed to have a clear head most days. Nathanial seemed to be getting more and more impatient with Jenna as days grew closer to her eight month mark. And when Jenna became ill, things started to take a turn for the worse. She was coughing, pale and sweating- the only thing Dirk could do was wipe the sweat from her brow with dirty rags and give her his share of the food. It seemed like things were at least looking brighter than they were… until Nathanial grew tired of waiting.
"Easy now." Dirk whispered as Jenna got back on her feet, quite large. They had put together enough of the crappy sheets and towels to make what resembled a bed. She walked with him, dragging a bit with weakness. "You know just yesterday I was doing push-ups." Jenna laughed but then swallowed thickly, the pain rising in her chest. "You'll be back to do them soon enough." Dirk was getting seriously thin now, a month of the absolute bare minimum of food- and sometimes less if Jenna was having a rough time. He walked her over to the bed, nearly collapsing himself as they got there. "Dirk-…" The door banged open and they both jumped, not hearing him come down the stairs. Nathanial was angry, gun in his hand. This wasn't the first time he had brought a gun. Dirk automatically stood up, between him and Jenna. The more recent abuse had him just simply appeasing Nathanial. "You know what I fucking heard today on the news?" Dirk swallowed, "World's ending?" Sure, he didn't have as much snark as he did on the first day- but he still had some left in him. Nathanial walked into the room, shutting the door behind him. "I heard that babies only need seven months. Why are you keeping him from me, Jenna? Why are you keeping me from my family?" Dirk frowned, "Nathan, that's wrong-!" The gun went across his face, pushing him down to the floor. He struggled up, "SHUT UP!" Nathanial screamed at him and Dirk cowered for a moment, reaching up to start to put himself between him and Jenna. He felt responsible for her now- and he couldn't let him hurt her… he just couldn't. Jenna gripped Dirk's arm tightly, looking up at Nathan with fear. "I'm not- I swear- Soon as the baby is born-" Dirk swallowed, rising still, nails still biting into him to stay down. Nathanial snarled and snatched her up out of bed.
Dirk tackled him, Jenna falling to the floor and trying to crawl away as she groaned, holding her stomach. Nathan pistol whipped him across the face and Dirk rolled away, getting to his feet as Nathanial did the same. "You won't keep me from my family, Dirk!" He snarled, hitting him in the arm that caused Dirk to recoil with a cry of pain. He aimed the gun at Dirk's forehead and his eyes widened, "You won't keep me from what I want!" He roared and Jenna kicked Nathanial's hand. Dirk shielded himself as the sounds of ricocheting bullets bounced around the room. There was a cry of pain, though he wasn't sure of who it was. The gun went off again, hitting the pipe above them. Nathanial shot another bullet that hit the door that caused it to open enough for the light to come in from the hallway, and one last bullet to hit the single light bulb above them. The room was flooded with partial darkness, the only light source being outside the steel door. Dirk blinked, lowering his hands slowly, eyes still dilated. It wasn't like he had feared guns, Jake had too many of them lying around that-
His train of thought stopped. He saw blood and heard gasping. "Jenna?!" He felt himself in slow motion, sliding over to her. Nathanial was still, eyes wide staring at Jenna who was bleeding out on the floor. He said nothing as Dirk panicked, "Oh my god- Oh god-." Dirk swallowed, searching for a rag with numb fingers to press into the red blooming on her stomach. Jenna blinked rapidly, looking down at herself. "The baby- The-" She had red running down the side of her mouth and down her leg. Dirk didn't know what to do- he had never dealt with this before. She'd been shot in the stomach. The baby was dead- could he save her? "Dirk- I'm-" She gasped, crying out. "No no no, don't have your baby- it's dead- oh fuck-" She was begging for him to help and thus he jerked into motion, trying to do what he could while she bled out from the bullet wound. It didn't take long- she must have already been having contractions just had not known it was that far before Nathanial had come in. It wasn't anything like the movies suggested with hot water and towels. All you really had to do was play catch…
Jenna gave birth to a boy... Dirk held the baby as his mother's breathing was shallow. His eyes were wide, covered in blood by this point. The baby was alive. It was breathing. Premature and deformed- but it was alive for now. Nathanial still sat in the corner, watching with dark, horrible fascination with what was happening. The blond tried to hold down the pressure of the wound with one hand, baby in another. "Dirk…" Jenna asked, "What does he look like-?" She gasped, holding on to each breath and blinking rapidly up at the ceiling. Dirk worked his mouth before swallowing, "He-e's beautiful, Jen… he's… he's beautiful." He lied, staring at the woman he had grown so close to. It was like watching his best friend die- his sister die. Jenna smiled, laughing softly with her final breaths, "Dirk- Thank…" She gasped, breath leaving her body. Dirk stared at her, just stared, the baby kicking the air in his arms. He swallowed, unable to look away from her. There was so much blood, her eyes still staring up at the ceiling blankly. "Jen-?" He asked, lump thick in his throat. "Jenna?" He asked again, already knowing she was dead.
He held the baby as it slowly started to stop kicking. It wasn't formed enough to last. It was too badly handicapped. Dirk was crying, shaking and utterly in pieces as he rocked the baby to sleep… the longest sleep anyone would ever have. "Shh… It's alright… You're gonna see momma soon." He whispered to it as it slowly stopped struggling. He had no way to save it or god; he would have run twenty miles to a hospital in minutes now it could live. It couldn't even cry yet... Just like it's mother had, the baby died in his arms. Nathanial was smiling in the corner, slowly standing as Dirk continued to rock the child. Things had gone so horribly wrong… so wrong… Dirk let out a soft sound that was a cross between howl of grief and cry of anger. Nathanial stood and walked toward the door. "Look what you did, Dirk…" He took the dead baby out of his hands, Dirk stared at Nathanial leaving. "Look at what you did…" He shook his head, "I'll just have to find someone else to have my family with." He tsked under his voice and shut the door on Dirk, putting him in absolute darkness with the corpse of Jenna. Dirk let out a breath that was so jittered it made a sound with it. There was a crunch of someone stomping something outside- something with bones. Dirk curled in on himself, his eyes wide in the darkness. There was no light in the room. Just the creaking of the floor above, the sound of a fly buzzing, and the stillness around him.