Jack sat at his table, rubbing his stomach with anxiety. It was 4 in the morning now...far too early to wake the crew and worry them about a birth that wouldn't be happening for about another day. He felt another tiny spasm and sighed. Maybe he should tell Elizabeth. No...he shouldn't worry her. She was rather far along herself, and it would be best to minimize stress for the girl. Jack resorted to scribbling aimlessly on a scrap of parchment and waiting for more spasms. He smudged his ink when a slightly more intense one occurred, but otherwise was fine.
Then he realized how sleepy he was. He glanced over at his bed and slowly got up, trying to fix his balance and relieve the pain in his back, then happily stretched out on the bed. He closed his eyes, muttering to himself to "rest up...you've got a big couple of days ahead of you...", and fell asleep.
Gibbs woke him up at about lunchtime, after having looked in to check on him and noticing that he looked uncomfortable. Jack put his hand over his stomach and groaned as another pain made itself known.
"Aye...well...back pain, Gibbs...carryin' a child is right hard work..." Jack said, smiling weakly at the believability of the lie. A particularly painful contraction came suddenly and Jack laid back out, groaning.
"There's something you're not telling me..." Gibbs said quietly as he got up "...but there's no need to tell me, is there?" He added.
"Don't tell Miranda just yet...I need to be left alone for just a little while..." Jack protested, trying to get up. The effort was foiled by yet another contraction, which kept him down for nearly 10 seconds. "...on second thought...get her...please..." Jack then whimpered. Things were moving fairly quickly compared to last time. This scared him a little bit. Jack shuddered and muttered to himself with every wave of pain.
"Alrighty, Jack...remember the first time...you've done this before...you can do it again...AAAHH!...No...no you can't...ohh...no, don't think that way...you handled it before...Miranda said you handled it beautifully, even...Aaaaagh! Oh, god...on that note...where the hell is she?
At last, Miranda came to his aid, and with the current condition that Jack was in, she looked positively angelic. She gently rested her hand on his stomach, and with perfect timing, too. Another painful spasm made Jack shiver.
"Miranda, please...kill me...this is moving too fast..." Jack sobbed.
"Be grateful it's not going slowly...You'd be exhausted for hours more..." Miranda added, checking Jack's permanently open wound and humming quietly to herself.
"How much longer?" Jack asked, worried. Miranda sat down at the foot of the bed and slowly shook her head.
"I don't know...but it seems that maybe it will be soon. I wouldn't get too excited..." she said. Jack gasped in pain and doubled over (sort of). Miranda forced Jack into his original position.
"It's easier if you lie like this, Jack..." she said. Jack sobbed.
"It's easier if I didn't have to do this..." he retorted. Miranda slowly got up and reached for a knife on the bedside table.
"If you feel that way..." she said. It was a threat. Jack panicked.
"No! Don't hurt the child!" He shouted desperately, reaching for Miranda's hand. She stopped and sat down again, and checked Jack's wound.
"Seems you're ready..." she muttered. Jack sighed with exhaustion and relief, then slowly raised himself into a standing position. Miranda smiled to herself.
"Ahhh...so you've been reading up on this, haven't you?" she asked. Jack winced and clutched his hand to his stomach as he grabbed the arm of a nearby chair.
"Aye...so I have..." he replied. Miranda was about to get up when Jack held out his free hand and said "I know what to do..." just before another contraction came. As this happened Jack supressed a shout and started to cry, but he did his duty and did so fairly quietly. Miranda was now sitting on the floor with a blanket in her hands...any second now...
Jack gave one more push just before passing out and collapsing to the floor, but luckily it was all that was needed. Miranda held a stubborn little girl in her hands, wrapped up in the blanket she had been holding. Miranda wrapped the newborn up and then slowly lifted Jack off the floor. A small trail of blood was on the floor, and it seemed to have gotten on both Jack's bare feet and her own...but she ignored it. Jill slept soundly beside her father, and then there was a knock on the door.
"Come in..." Miranda said, not looking up from cleaning off Jack's stomach. Will gingerly stepped into the room with Johnny in his arms. Then Miranda looked up. "One big happy family, I see..." she muttered as Will laid Johnny beside his father.
"Elizabeth and I think that it's unfair to separate Jack from his children...we won't be taking Johnny." Will mumbled. Miranda nodded slowly.
"I see...and how is Elizabeth?" she asked.
"In pain." Will answered solemnly. "I came to get you to help her, but I saw that you were tending to Jack and..."
"Well at least Elizabeth is built for this..." Miranda said as she got up. "Let's go...where is she?"