A/N: I DO NOT own any part of the Law & Order franchise, or the rights to the song Uprising by Muse.
Uprising
"What?" John asked, watching as she bent over, grabbnig the top of the chair. Several onlookers turned around quickly, watching as Jodi began to pant, her hands on her stomach.
"I'm going into labor." she repeated, her face bright red.
John stood there, frozen in comeplete terror for a moment. She was more than two months early and going into labor with triplets. He of all people had seen enough to know what that meant. Not only would it be a premature birth, but the babies would have some kind of problem more than likely, whether it be developmental or heart. It was almost inevitable.
"Okay let's get you to the car." he grabbed her arm, throwing some money onto the table before putting a hand around her waist. As they left a waiter appeared, collecting his money and looking down at the wet spot on the ground. He shrugged before walking away. John stopped, about to say something about the fact that his wifes amniotic fluid was on the ground of a dining establishment but decided against it as she groaned loudly.
As they got to the car he pulled out his phone, trying o remember where the nearest hospital was.
"I don't understand. I did everything right. I took the pills. I ate right. I excerciesed. What did I do?" she wailed, tears and sweat pouring down her face.
He ignored her, trying to remember the number of Johns Hopkins from when he used to live out here. He knew that Johns Hopkins was in fact the closest hospital though, as well as the best in the country.
"Johns Hopkins Medical Center how can I help you?" the receptionist answered after what seemed like a million rings.
"Yeah my wife is going into labor. She's early."
"How early?" the woman sounded bored already.
"About two and a half months."
"Okay, name please?"
"Detective John Munch. I used to work for the Baltimore PD in homicide."
"Mmhmm, okay how far away are you?"
"About twenty miles I think. It doesn't look like there's traffic out here."
"FUCK WILL YOU GET OFF THE PHONE AND START DRIVING!" Jodi screamed, gritting her teeth and tilting back her head in pain.
He turned over the engine, quickly pulling out of the parking spot as his wife screamed beside him in the car.
John hung up, forgetting about the nurse and concentrating on getting to the hospital. Of course it would be hours from now before the babies were born but he needed to get her to the hospital. Now.
Weaving in and out of traffic he cut through several red lights, ignoring the honks beside him. His FOP badge was on his license plate. If any cop even noticed enough to follow him they would be able to spot it.
"Come on sweetie. Take a deep breath for me." he grabbed one of her hands.
Jodi squeezed it, wiping her face while inhaling deeply.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." she repeated, her hand clenching his so hard he could feel the blood stop flowing.
"It's not your fault don't worry everything will be fine." he assured her, secretly not so sure himself.
TFA
"Somebody help my wife!" John yelled as soon as they staggered through the doors of the ER.
One of the nurses rushed forward with a wheelchair, and Jodi sat down, her hands on her stomach.
"Detective Munch?"
He turned around as another nurse walked towards him.
"Nancy! Hi!" he exclaimed, momentarily forgetting he was about to have three kids.
"What are you doing here?" the woman asked, light silver streaks in her hair glinting under the hospital lights. He hadn't seen Nancy since he left and went back to New York. It surprised him that she herself was still here. He had always figured she'd be long gone from this place.
"My wife..." he motioned to Jodi, who was giving him possibly the most evil of looks. He glanced down, noticing before putting his hands on the bars of the wheelchair.
"Wife? Oh! Wow! Hi I'm Nancy!" she extended a hand.
"?" Jodi growled, every single word running together as she groaned just as another contraction hit.
"Oh, yes! Catch you later. Good luck!" Nancy waved before another nurse whisked Jodi away.
John followed behind closely, pulling out his phone to text Olivia and let her know.
"How far apart are your contractoins?" the nurse asked.
"Twelve minutes." Jodi breathed.
"Oh you really are having kids. Okay let's get you into a room. Have you been having contractions in the past week?"
"Well I had a few but I just thought I was having spasms in my back or something."
"Okay. Are you the father?" she turned to John.
"Yes." he nodded proudly.
"I take it your staying the whole time then. Even now we still have dads who won't even go into the room when it's time."
"No, I'm staying." he put a hand on Jodi's shoulder.
The nurse nodded and smiled before stopping in front of a room and throwing open the door, before pushing Jodi inside.
"You were smart to call ahead. We actually were able to get her a room and doctor and everything ahead of time."
"I didn't think you would."
"No, when Nancy heard your name she was all ready for this. Okay, honey what's your name?" she looked down at Jodi.
"Jodi." she replied, sweat visible on her browbone and chest already.
"Okay Jodi, think you can get up here?" she pointed to the bed.
Jodi nodded, getting out of the chair before hopping up onto the bed.
"Okay, let's get you out of these clothes and into a gown." she smiled, hitting the bitton to get Jodi's bed up before pulling down the stirrups.
John stepped forward, unzipping the back of her dress and helping her out of it before kissing her on the cheek. She turned her head, giving him a weak smile.
"You're going to be a daddy." she grinned, tearing up again.
"Weird isn't it?" John chuckled before pulling the dress off her legs.
Jodi began removing her underwear and the nurse appeared with a gown. John helped her slide it on before tying it in the back for her.
"Okay Jodi, my name is Ashley. Think you can remember that?" she bared her white teeth in what John presumed was supposed to be a smile.
"I would hope so." Jodi deadpanned, putting up her legs.
Ashley tossed back her blonde hair. The young woman looked more like she should be in an issue of Hustler wearing a Nurse Betty costume than standing here in ill-fitting scrubs.
There was a quick knock on the door and everyone turned around as the doctor walked inside.
"Hello everyone. I'm Dr. Brooks. How you guys doing?"
"Great." John replied sarcastically. As he said it Jodi looked up and smiled. Even premature labor wouldn't stop him from being a wise-ass.
"How far apart are your contractions sweetheart?" he asked, putting down his computer on a nearby desk.
"Twelve minutes."
"Okay, we've got awhile, but not that long. I'm going to check right now and see where you are with dilation. I highly doubt you're anywhere near ready but I'd just like to see where we are hear."
Jodi nodded and he stepped forward before lifting up her gown and taking a look. As he did so John tensed a little. Hell, the man was going to be looking into what most men considered the eye of the devil (yes, that was exactly what childbirth was to him), but he still didn't want him looking at his wife down there.
"Okay we've got a few hours at the least. Now I'll ask you this now, are you going to want an epidural?" he looked up at Jodi.
"Will it hurt the babies?"
"No, but it will hurt you. We inject it directly into the spinal cord."
"Um...I think we'll just go natural then." she pressed her lips together.
"Okay. Congradulations. You guys are on your way to becoming parents."
TFA
"How you feeling?" John asked, leaning over and pushing a strand of hair out of Jodi's forhead.
She shook her head, turning her neck and resting her face on the pillow before grabbing John's hand. The past two hours had been spent with increasing contractions, phone calls, and the doctor checking in to see if she had dialated any or not, to which she had .3 centimeters so that they could induce labor.
They had established there was no need for an emergency C-section, so they weren't rushing but they were still trying to quicken the pace up a little and get the babies some care.
"Aside from feeling like I did something wrong? I'm not entirely sure." she shrugged, looking away.
John leaned down and kissed her before putting a hand on her stomach.
"You didn't do anything wrong. These things happen. Besides, you saw the ultrasounds. There's nothing seriously wrong. They'll just have the kids in here for a few days if not a week or so then we get to go back home."
"Shit!" she immediately swore, realizing the rooms were nowhere near ready. This turely wasn't the time.
"Do you need to get to the bathroom?" John asked.
"What? No! Not that shit. I mean...the rooms aren't ready. What are we going to do?"
"Oh...wow you're right. Well I can call the guys at the house and have extra money sent over and hopefully they will agree to work overtime." John shrugged, never one to throw away money like that but this was actually important.
"Hopefully. Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck." she swore repeatedly before grimacing as another contraction hit.
They really weren't ready for this.
TFA
"WHAT?" Olivia stood up quickly as she checked her phone for the frist time that day, which she had accidently left locked in her desk.
"What?" Elliot asked, throwing his jacket over his own desk.
They had been out investigating Betsy's murder, with no leads of course. Anthony wouldn't let her say anything. He was starting to become more of a nusiance to the case.
"Jodi's water broke!" Olivia exclaimed, lookig up at her partner and best friend.
"Are you serious? Doesn't she have a few more months left?"
"Yeah. Munch texted me a few hours ago. They were just at breakfast and she started getting contractoins."
"Jesus. They get to a hospital?"
"They're at Johns Hopkins now. Where's Cragen I'll see if one of us can get down there."
"Check his office. He might be down at One PP."
Olivia nodded before jogging across the quad room, ignorning the eyes before making her way to the captain's office and banging on the door.
"Something wrong Detective?" he aske,d opening his door.
"Jodi just went into labor. Would you mind if one of us drives down there to the hospital? She's premature."
"That depends. How far did they get."
"They got to Baltimore."
"Let me get this straight Detective. You're asking me if you can drive four miles to get to the hospital to see Jodi give birth when you're working on a case here?" Cragen raised his eyebrow.
"...Yeah." Olivia pursed her lips, hoping he would say yes.
He sighed.
"Fine. You go down, I know Elliot can handle the case by himself. Call us when she delivers. I'll give you a day, then get your ass back up here and find Betsy's rapist."
Olivia nodded and smiled before rushing out of the room and going back to her desk. She grabbed her gun and badge and jacket.
"Where you gong?" Elliot asked.
"Baltimore."
"Cragen said yes?"
"Yeah. I'm going to stop home and change. I'll call you when I'm on the road."
"Alright. See you later." he watched as she left. He and Munch had never become particularly close, but he felt like he did every other time Kathy went into labor. These children were theres. It felt like he was going to be an uncle, which was nice. Hopefully Maureen would wait at least another year or two before having kids. He wanted her to get all the way through college.
He sat down, pulling out his phone and dialing Munch's number. Maybe he could give some of his own advice.
TFA
"Oh god. Oh my god." Jodi wailed, turning her head as she strained, feelign as though every single part of her body was being stretched painfully.
"Okay Jodi sweetie you're doing good you're crowning." Dr. Brooks smiled, urging her to push.
John squeezed her hand as took a moment, trying to compose herself.
Nothing in the last few hours compared to this. Nothing compared to what he was feeling right here, right now. She was about to deliver their first child.
"Okay, push. Push." he urged her.
She closed her eyes, grunting loudly as she pushe with all her strength, trying to ignore the pain and focuse on what was coming out of her. Focus on the fact that she was about to give the gift of life.
"Good job. One more time. One-third there." Dr. Brooks patted her shin.
With all of her effot she grunted before giving another forceful push, feeling only a semi-peaceful moment of realease as she heard loud crying.
"I want to see." she whimpered, extending her hand but Dr. Brooks grabbed her legs.
"Come on mommy we're not done yet. Two more." he commanded, dropping his sweet tone.
"I can't." she breathed, feeling like she had lot the effort.
"You have to. Come one. Push Jodi."
"Baby push we're almost there." John whispered in her ear.
Blinking the tears out of her eyes she used every muscle in her body, pushign harder than she had the last time. John coaxed her along, wiping the sweat from her forehead and assuring her she was doing well. She was so completey depleted of energy that she felt herself moving in and out. All she was aware of was the straining and pushing.
"JODI!" the doctor screamed.
She opened her eyes, looking around the room.
"You need to stay with us there's only one more. Come on."
Half-heartedly, she curled her toes, taking a deep breath before pushign again for what seemed like the millionth time, getting the last baby out of her.
"Hey dad you want to see?" one of the nurses said.
He let go of her hand, walking down and looking down before turning around quickly.
"Um...no." he backed up, putting up his hands before turning around and trying to compose himself.
"Well fuck you too!" Jodi screamed, giving a final push before sighing, closing her eyes.
"Congradulations. You have two girls and a boy." Dr. Brooks smiled.
"Please. Please let me hold them." she extended her hands, wanting nothing more than to hold her children. She felt as though nothing else in the world mattered. She felt like all that exsisted and mattered where the three wailing premature infants covered in bodily fluids.
"Only for a few seconds. We need to get them cleaned and to incubtion, then you can go visit them after we get you cleaned up. Do you have names?"
Jodi nodded, laughing loudly as the small kids were placed in her arms. They couldn't have been more than three pounds each. John appeared beside her, beaming like she had never seen.
"He has red hair." he pointed to Andrew.
"And Nicolette has my dads eyes." she croaked, tears spilling from her eyes as she turned to her husband.
"We're parents." she smiled happily.
"Yeah." he chuckled, touching his sons forehead.
"Okay, let's start getting everyone cleaned up now. You can come down the hall once you're rested." the nurse nodded at Jodi.
She lunged forward, grabbing open air as she gave her children away before laying back.
"It's okay." John kissed her forehead before resting his atop hers. After 58 years he finally had everything he could possibly want. He had a wife, who he loved more than anything. He had kids, and a son nonetheless. Nothing could have made him happier at this point.
Jodi turned her head, feeling completely unable to move.
"There's a woman outside to visit when you're all cleaned up." one of the nurses poked her head in.
"Who?" John asked.
"A Detective Benson I believe?"
John looked down at Jodi before squeezing her hand and leaving the room, pulling off his mask and tossing it into the trash can before stepping out into the hall.
As soon as he closed the door behind him Jodi looked up at the ceiling.
"Thankyou God." she muttered quietly, because she now had everything that mattered.