This is Prompt No. 19-Child
Mitchie hummed to herself as she moved about the little apartment she and Shane had shared for the first three weeks of their marriage, and then that one, wonderful Christmas night. Her mood was light and happy, for spring was quickly approaching, and her baby was due at any moment. Oh, how she did love the month of March!
She smiled as she heard Caitlyn in the other room, humming away as she tried to knit a pair of booties, tiny little shoes for the baby. It was safe to say that it wasn't going very well. Caitlyn, knitting needles, and yarn did not seem to make a very good combination, no matter how hard Caitlyn tried. She had managed to make the first bootie, but had then had trouble on the second, for a reason unknown to everyone.
Mitchie grinned again as she heard Caitlyn's grumbled complaint. She reached up to open one of the cupboards so that she could put away one of the plates that had been used for dinner, but a strange, ripping pain tore through her stomach and she dropped the plate. It shattered, shards skittering across the floor upon contact, and the grumbling in the next room immediately halted.
Seconds later, Caitlyn was flying into the kitchen to see what had happened. She looked first at Mitchie, who was clutching the counter so hard that her knuckles were turning white, then she looked at the plate, now barely held together by the spider web crack all along the middle section of the plate, and then she looked at the shards of the plate that were scattered around the floor. She looked up and asked, "Contraction?"
Mitchie could barely answer, for another contraction hit her, almost sending her to the floor. Caitlyn jumped towards her just in time and kept her from falling. She managed to get Mitchie into bed and then asked, panting slightly, "Will you be alright by yourself for a moment? I have to get the doctor."
Mitchie nodded, barely able to do more than that, and tried to focus on the ceiling so that she wouldn't cry out. "Hurry," she whispered as Caitlyn scrambled out the door. She gritted her teeth and tried to take her mind off the pain of the contractions. Wasn't childbirth supposed to take hours? Didn't everyone say that it could even be days before the baby was born? Why had hers come so suddenly?
The door opened and Mitchie's thoughts were interrupted as she saw the doctor walk in. For the next two hours, she and Caitlyn and the doctor worked through the process of bringing a child into the world. Mitchie couldn't understand why Caitlyn had called for the doctor when she had said that she would be Mitchie's midwife, but she couldn't move her lips to ask.
Finally, the baby arrived, uttering a loud, angry wail at having been treated in such a terrible fashion. The doctor handed the baby over to Caitlyn so that she could care for it, and then he left, his work finished. Caitlyn eyed the baby with a certain amount of glee, as she bathed the little one and dressed it in some of the tiny little clothes Mitchie had been given. Finally, once clean, she handed the baby to Mitchie and smiled. "You have a beautiful little girl," she told Mitchie.
Mitchie accepted the little one into her arms and gazed wonderingly at it. With a small tuff of jet black hair and chocolate eyes, the little girl reminded Mitchie strongly of Shane, but the face was hers. The shape of the eyes, the nose, and the lips were all Mitchie's traits, and she was shocked to see both parents in this tiny little baby.
"She's beautiful," she whispered in wonderment, her voice tired and gravelly from exertion.
Caitlyn nodded. "Yes, she is," she agreed.
Mitchie breathed deeply, holding the little girl to her. "Caity, why did you send for the doctor? Did something happen?"
Caitlyn looked embarrassed as she shook her head. "Seeing you there in the kitchen, I began to doubt that I could do this by myself, so I went to get the doctor for good measure." She stroked Mitchie's sweaty hair back from her face and said, "You did just fine." She nodded to the baby. "You might want to nurse her now."
Caitlyn helped Mitchie get situated, and then the baby began to nurse. Mitchie stroked her daughter's small little tuft of fine black hair and sighed. Her little piece of Shane had arrived, safe and sound.
"What are you going to call her?" Caitlyn asked curiously after a moment.
"I'm not sure," Mitchie told her honestly.
"Were you waiting for Shane to help you decide?"
Mitchie shook her head and told Caitlyn, "No, Shane told me that he trusted my judgement. The name is mine to pick."
"Any ideas?" Caitlyn asked.
Mitchie nodded. "Just one." She grinned and looked down at her daughter, who was now opening her brown eyes again so that she could stare at her mother.
"What?" Caitlyn asked eagerly.
"It's something very patriotic," Mitchie told her. "A name that came up during the time I served the UUS."
Caitlyn frowned, trying to think of what Mitchie could be talking about. "I don't know," she said, giving up. "I can't think of anything."
Mitchie grinned and said, holding her daughter up so that Caitlyn could see both of their faces, "May I introduce you to Shania Michelle Grey? Shania, this is your Aunt Caitlyn, a very, very special woman."
A/N: Hope you liked it! I was so excited when I wrote this. Please review and tell me if you liked it! :D
