Thanks for the reviews. This chapter takes place around five months after the last one. I wasn't sure whose perspective I wanted to do it from, so I decided to split it. It's got some Jate, Jacket, Kuliet and Jate/Juliet and Jaby bonding, so it should make everyone happy. ;)
Chapter 14.
A soft whimper cut into Jack's dream, and he snapped his eyes open to find Kate doubled over beside him, gripping her lower belly with both hands. He could see her clamping her teeth down on her bottom lip to keep from making too much noise, and it hit him that she was crying, the tears leaving shining tracks down her cheeks.
Instantly he was on alert, scrambling upright. "Hey. Hey," he murmured, his throat closing up when he reached over to touch her and felt how damp her blanket was. Was that blood? Was she bleeding? "I need you to tell me what's wrong," he managed to choke out.
It took her a moment to answer, and then she turned to him, her eyes wide. "It hurts, Jack."
Fumbling for his torch, he was relieved when a quick examination failed to turn up a tell tale crimson stain. "Can you describe it for me?" he pressed, forcing himself to remain calm until she gave him something to work with. "Tell me where it hurts."
"My back," she explained, squeezing her eyes shut. "And here." She drew in a sharp breath, pushing the heel of her palm into her abdomen, and her voice broke as she added, "It feels like I'm being torn apart."
His panic ebbed as he put this description together with the puddle beneath her. "It's okay, Kate," he assured her, smoothing the bangs from her forehead to soothe her. "Those are contractions. You're in labour."
"Are you sure?" she asked him, cracking her eyes open to shoot him a dubious look. "Because it could just be a false alarm…"
There was a hopeful note in her tone, but while something like that would explain the pain, it couldn't account for the fact that her water had broken. She was definitely in the early stages of labour.
"I'm sure," he agreed, smiling despite himself. It was finally happening. After months of uncertainty, they were finally going to meet their little girl.
He cupped the sides of her jaw in his palms, placing a gentle kiss on her lips. "I'm going to get Juliet for you, okay?" he told her, bowing his forehead against hers. "Just stay here and try to relax."
She nodded, and kissing her again, he slipped out of tent, striding purposefully towards Juliet's.
Now that she knew what labour pains felt like, Kate was sure that she'd never experienced anything so agonising in her life. She hadn't expected it to hurt so much so soon, like her insides were being pulled apart and pushed back together, over and over again, until she wondered how anyone could endure it for eighteen hours straight.
The thought made her shudder, and regret everything that she'd put her own mother through.
She almost bit Juliet's head off when she opened the examination by asking her how she was doing, even though she knew that it was just part of her bedside manner. She'd always found it comforting – a sign that underneath her tough exterior was a good, kind heart – but right now, she didn't want her to talk.
She didn't want her to touch her either – her or Jack. It seemed like their were hands everywhere, invading her personal space as Jack helped her out of her damp clothes and into clean ones and they took turns poking and prodding at her while they discussed her in words and phrases that made her feel left out.
No one was talking to her. They were only talking to each other, and that scared her. What if something was wrong?
"We still have time. I want to take her to the medical station to give birth," Juliet told Jack, and he started shaking his head before she had even finished explaining.
"No, Juliet. She's not leaving the beach. If—"
"Her immune system is already weak from the injections, Jack," Juliet continued as if he hadn't spoken, "and now that her cervix is open, the risk of her picking up an infection is extremely high. I'd feel better if we got her somewhere sterile, where I can monitor her and the baby. I don't want to take any more chances."
"If Ben finds out where we are—" he argued, but Juliet cut him off.
"He won't."
"How can you be so sure?"
"He's all the way on the other side of the island, Jack," she assured him, seeming to lose patience with him as she added, "We don't have a lot of time."
"All the more reason for us to stay here," he insisted, and as another gut-wrenching contraction ripped through her, Kate felt something inside of her snap.
She couldn't listen to any more of their squabbling. She just wanted this over with. "Shut up! Just shut up, okay?" she cried, forcing herself to sit up, and they both turned to her, startled, as though they'd forgotten that she was still in the room.
"Were you even going to ask me, since I'm the one having this baby?" she reminded them, ignoring Jack's wounded expression as she shifted her attention to Juliet. "Are there drugs at the medical station?"
The corners of Juliet's lips quirked with amusement. "Yes, Kate, there are drugs."
After seeing what Claire went through in giving birth to Aaron, this was all Kate needed to hear. "Then what're we waiting for?" she told her, accepting her arm as she struggled to her feet.
"Kate," Jack called after her in a warning tone, trailing behind them as they started out of the tent, towards the jungle.
It was taking all of Kate's strength to keep from collapsing into a heap, so she was relieved when Juliet answered for her.
"I know you're scared, Jack, and that's understandable," she said gently, regarding him with a sympathetic smile, "but Kate asked me to be her doctor, and what she needs from you now is for you to take a step back and let me do my job."
He still didn't look happy, but as he let these words sink in, he nodded, slipping his arm around Kate's waist so that she could lean against him. "Okay," he told them. "Let's go."
Juliet handed Kate a paper gown once they were in the examination room, and with Jack's help she changed into it and settled back on the bed.
"Everything looks good," Juliet told her when she finished examining her, surprised by how fast her labour was progressing. She expected to be there until morning before anything happened, but like her parents, the baby seemed to have her own ideas. "So good, in fact, that I'm going to have to ask you to start pushing."
All of the colour drained from Kate's face, leaving it almost as white as her gown. "You said if I came here you'd give me drugs," she spluttered in between contractions.
"I know," Juliet assured her, feeling guilty for making her walk all that way as she added, "but that was when I thought we had more time. The baby's coming now, Kate. You're fully dilated – you're ready."
Kate gave her head a vehement shake at these words, her eyes filling with tears.
"Yes, you are," Juliet insisted, her heart sinking when she realised that Kate wasn't going to cooperate. "You can do this, Kate. You have to do this."
Her helplessness increased when Kate started to cry. "No, I can't," she sobbed, dropping her head into her hands. "The puking and the dizziness and the shots… I almost died. I can't do this anymore. I just want it to be over."
Jack, who had been respecting Juliet's request to let her handle it until then, fixed her with a defiant look, crouching at Kate's side.
"I know," he told her, peeling her hands away and squeezing them. "I know." He took her jaw in his fingers, stroking her cheeks with his thumbs, brushing a curl out of her eyes. "But you're almost there – that's why you need to do this."
He shifted one of his hands to her belly, cupping it in his palm. "Just this one last thing, okay? Then you can hold her."
Still holding his gaze, she nodded tearfully, and watching him reach up to pull her into a tender kiss, Juliet felt a stir of that old jealousy. There were still moments like these when it hurt her to see them together, but after everything she'd been through, she couldn't begrudge Kate that comfort.
"Good, Kate," she told her with a reassuring smile, forcing her own feelings back as Jack straightened. "Now, on the count of three, I want you to push as hard as you can. One… two…"
Kate sucked in a deep breath, and this time, she did while Jack gripped her hand and whispered words of encouragement.
On the fifth, the baby emerged, and as her cries replaced Kate's, Jack let go of her and moved around to get a better look.
"She's beautiful, Kate," he told her, a broad grin spreading over his face when he returned his attention to her. "Just like you."
Kate pushed herself up on her hands, and seeing how eager she was to catch a glimpse of her daughter, Juliet lifted the baby so that she could see her.
"She is," she agreed, awed, returning Jack's grin as she sank back against the pillows.
Their joy was so infectious that Juliet found herself grinning too. "Would you like to do the honours, Daddy?" she asked Jack, offering him a pair of surgical scissors.
"Sure. Why not?" He accepted them with a smile, and once he'd cut through the cord, and Juliet had finished checking her over, she wrapped the baby in a blanket and handed her to him.
"Hey, lets go see Mommy," he said, kissing her tiny, serious brow as he carried her over to where Kate was waiting.
He settled her on her chest, perching on the edge of the bed, and beaming, Kate inhaled her scent, pressing her lips to the top of her dark head.
"So tell me – is she worth all the puking and the shots?" Jack teased her, and she smiled.
"Yeah," she breathed, leaning in to kiss him, and seeing how ecstatic they were, Juliet finally understood why she'd agreed to help them.
For the first time since arriving on the island, she knew that she'd done something right. She'd given them good news, just like she wanted, and as bittersweet as it all was, it felt better than she ever could have imagined.
"Does she have a name? Or are you going to wait and get a feel for her first?" she asked as she finished cleaning up, so that they could all go back to the beach as soon as Kate recovered her strength.
They both tore their eyes away from the baby, exchanging furtive smiles, and mystified, Juliet flashed them a tentative grin. "What?" Clearly she was missing something.
"Her name is Julia," Kate told her.
It took Juliet a moment to register what she was saying, and then taking in her expectant look, she realised that it wasn't a coincidence. "Kate, are you sure?" she asked her, still in shock.
Kate glanced down at her daughter and smiled. "If it wasn't for you, we wouldn't be here, so yeah, I'm sure," she said. "I want her to grow up knowing what you did for us."
Juliet swallowed against the lump in her throat at hearing how grateful Kate was. "Jack?" she checked, looking to him for confirmation.
"I couldn't've put it better myself," he agreed, kissing the top of Kate's head and pulling her tighter against him.
Juliet didn't know what to say, so she just beamed at them, giving up on trying to wipe the tears from her eyes. "Julia Shephard…" she repeated, testing it out. "It has a nice ring to it."
Jack's expression was thoughtful as he considered this. "It does," he replied with a grin, and Juliet was sure that she'd never seen him look as proud as he did at that moment.
"Do you wanna hold her?" Kate asked, shifting the little pink bundle, and sitting down on the stool by the bed, Juliet nodded.
"Sure," she said, surprised and thrilled at the offer. "That is if you don't mind."
Jack shifted his arm so that Kate could lean forward and she transferred their daughter into Juliet's arms. "This is your Aunty Juliet," she told her with a smile before she let go and settled back into Jack's embrace.
Glancing down at the little girl nestled against her chest – the one she'd helped bring into the world – Juliet decided that she liked the sound of that too. "Hi Julia," she cooed as her tiny matchstick fingers latched onto her blouse. "It's nice to finally meet you."
So that was it, Good News. I hope you all enjoyed it, and that you liked the name (Sassy and I have been calling her "Baby Juju"!). Please don't forget to review and let me know what you thought of the fic as a whole. Your feedback really helps. I just want to thank those of you who have -- if it wasn't for you, I would have left it as a one shot!
For anyone who's interested, I'll still be working on "Not Anymore" sporadically, and I may start the other idea I mentioned. Basically it's AU Jate, based on the Pride and Prejudice model: When Diane's cancer spreads to her spine, causing her to develop a tumour, Kate takes her to L.A. for treatment by one of the top spinal surgeons in the country, but what happens when she mistakes his abrupt bedside matter for arrogance and takes an instant dislike to him? ;)