27. THE BLUE OF THE SEA.

Aurora couldn't remember when exactly she'd started to feel that waves of pain. She just knew that, after breakfast, what she had thought were normal aches had turned out to be contractions which didn't disappear and whose intensity had increased as time'd passed. She'd had slightly ones during the previous days, but they couldn't compare to those ones. She'd started to feel scared. That could mean that the day had come a week before it was expected and, althought she'd known that it could happen, she wasn't prepared for that... and Killian hadn't come back yet.

Minutes... hours... the contractions didn't disappear, in fact, they hurt and lasted more and more, each time with less minutes to rest between them. Luckily, Snow and Mulan hadn't left her alone yet when she had finally realized what was happening to her and hadn't moved from her side, trying to encourage and calm down the princess, whose nervousness had increased as time'd passed. By midday it had become clear: it wasn't a false alarm, she really was having her baby. Snow, who was the only one who knew what to do in that situation, started to arrange everything:

"Alright, Mulan, stay with her" the warrior looked at the queen as if she'd told her to go on a dangerous mission. "I'll send a message to Victor and another to the Jolly Roger. The dad must be told about the news. I'll be back in less than ten minutes, I promise" she continued, staring at Aurora "Just focus on breathing, alright? Everything will be fine."

The warrior took Aurora's hand at the same time Snow was closing the bedroom's door, not knowing what to say or do. If it weren't her best friend who was there beside her, she'd scape as soon as she'd see the opportunity. That was unknown for her and the fact that the princess' pain was nothing her overprotective warrior friend could defend her from with her sword made her feel scared too. What if something went wrong while Snow was out?

"Mulan, tell me someth..." Aurora's sentence was cut by a new wave of pain, which made her squeeze her friend's hand tighter. By that time, she couldn't even think clearly and wished everything finished soon... but it had just started. If she'd missed Killian before, then she really needed him to be there... if only he arrived in time...

"Breathe" Mulan reminded her. After what seemed to be an eternity, the princess' hand relaxed again. Mulan rubbed her back. "Are you fine?" Aurora nodded "It's going to be alright."

She didn't know what more to say. Those less than ten minutes would be some of the longest ones the warrior had lived in her entire life and she felt really relieved when she heard Snow's footsteps on the other side of the door.

"Well, messages sent. Now we can only wait" the queen announced after entering the room and closing the door after her "Let's start to prepare everything."

.

Aboard the Jolly Roger, nobody spoke more than necessary. In fact, Killian had only pronounced more than two words together when he'd asked Charming to give him the letter (he'd almost dragged it from the king's hands), commented that it was too early for his son to be born and that there had been hours since Snow had written that message, a fact that had started to make him feel anxious about how everything would be and how Aurora was. He finally told Jour where to find a bottle of Irish Whiskey and hadn't said anything but monosyllables since that.

"She's in good hands" Charming had reminded him. Hook had just nodded, it didn't take away his emotions. Jour, on the other hand, was very nervous too, but seemed to calm down a little.

In the following minutes, he'd tried to relax, but it was too late: his thoughts ran freely through his mind. The complete lack of information was driving him crazy again. He wondered how everything was going (taking into account the scarce information he had about the subject) and regretted not having hurried up more on their way back. What's more, on that moments, he regretted having made that trip and having gone away from Aurora's side. If something went wrong... no, that wouldn't happen. His son was a survivor, as him, and Aurora was one of the strongest women he'd ever met.

He finished his first glass of whiskey... He needed another one.

The Jolly Roger, his most valuable material posession, the quickest ship of them all, seemed like and old fisher's boat then. It could be made of all the magical wood in the world but, when he really needed it to be quick, it seemed to advance just a centimeter per minute. Damn ship.

He started to walk in circles on the deck, feeling the urgent need to be with Aurora. Some minutes passed until he stopped and laid his back on the main mast, staring at the sky and trying to think about something else. He couldn't.

By the time he'd realized the glass was empty again and he'd started to walk towards the bottle, David and Phillip were getting nervous too because of watching the future uncle and specially the future father, who had started to try to convice himself that he would arrive in time to give his wife-to-be some support. That was the only thing he'd be able to do.

.

Dr. Frankenstein came into the bedroom a bit more than half an hour after Snow had sent him the message. Aurora liked that doctor, who had been treating her since she'd arrived that castle. The queen had said that nobody would be able to find a better doctor than him, and she'd soon discovered that she'd been right, not only because of the way he worked, which made her feel comfortable and even safe when he was there, but also because he'd been the one who'd treated Killian when he'd had the accident. Moreover, if Ruby had agreed to marry him, it was because he really was a man worth interacting with.

The first thing Victor did after greeting everyone was to ask Aurora how she felt and, right after that, checking how everything was going.

"It seems everything's going well" he spoke at last. "Your baby's in the right position, his vitals are great and there's no reason to think that there'll be any complications. This will be as normal as it can be." Aurora nodded, feeling quite relieved.

"Can you tell how much time it's going to take?" Snow asked.

"There are still hours, of course, but I can't say how many" he answered.

.

After hours of navigation, they finally could see the shore. Killian had been moving from one spot of the ship to another, unable to stop during more than a minute in each one. His nervousness hadn't lowered a bit. He needed to know what was going on and it was really frustrating to be stuck on the ship, unable to do anything but waiting. Everybody knew he wasn't made to wait.

Phillip had suggested that they played cards to fill those hours, but, after a couple of hands, Killian had been unable to focus on the game and had left the prince and Jour playing alone.

He stared at the place where the harbor was supposed to be. Less than an hour and that stage would have finished.

.

Mulan had finally found the way to escape from that stifling room. It wasn't like she didn't want to support her friend, but she was getting so nervous with the whole situation that she'd decided to wait on the other side of the door, guarding the room. By that time, Aurora was feeling strong contractions every few minutes and, in spite of being separated by a door, the warrior could hear her moan through the wood, along with Snow and Whale's voices reminding her to breathe and relax and telling her how well she was doing it among another encouraging sentences. Mulan sighed and caressed her sword, glad to be with Shang, who was too busy to think about having their own family for the moment.

.

Killian sighed with relieve when the Jolly Roger arrived the harbor in the sunset. Without losing any second, the four men prepared everything to get out of the ship.
As soon as they were able to leave it, the captain started to run towards the castle, too anxious to stop to find a horse or something like that. Jour followed him while Charming and Phillip, as the only two minds able to think clearly, stayed aboard, organizing everything to leave the Jolly Roger.

Luckily, the castle wasn't too far from the harbor. They didn't say anything and just ran through its door, feeling their own heartbeats and their agitated breathing. Killian found himself running through never-ending corridors, as he'd been in his nightmare, wishing to arrive Aurora's bedroom, almost skidding in some corners. He didn't even feel the tiredness. Just a couple of minutes...

At the end of the last corridor, they found Mulan, standing as an inanimated armor. The warrior looked up when she heard them approaching.

"Hey, Mulan" Killian said stopping in front of her "Are you going to let me come in or you need my ID?"

"Shut up and enter" the warrior answered, rolling her eyes. How could he be such an idiot in that situation?

Killian nodded and took a step forwards, taking the door's knocker and opening it. Jour stayed on the corridor with Mulan, catching his breath.

When the captain closed the door behind his back, he found Aurora lying on the bed, covered by the sheets and resting her head and back on an amount of pillows that he didn't bother to count. She was pale, seemed exhausted and was covered with sweat. Snow was beside her, taking her hand and caressing her forehead with the other. Too focused on dealing with a new wave of pain, the princess hadn't even noticed him when he'd entered. It seemed that the only one who'd done that had been Victor Frankenstein, who greeted him with a 'Hi, long time without seeing you' and a gesture. Killlian's brain didn't register how he'd answered to that.

After being paralyzed for many seconds because of what he was seeing, Hook finally reacted and approached the bed. Aurora noticed him when the pain lowered a little:

"Killian..." she called him weakly, feeling happy to finally have him with her.

"Hey..." he greeted her taking her other hand (it was cold) and feeling his heart racing inside his chest "How are you?" she looked him in the eyes. Even in that state she was beautiful and strong enough to look lovingly at him.

"Glad to see you" she answered. What could she have told him instead, that she was in pain and exhausted? That was pretty obvious.

He kissed her, feeling that his stomach had gone somewhere far away from his body when her grasp on his hand thightened. He couldn't see her suffering like that and needed to gather all the strenght remaining inside him to stay calm for her.

"Ssshhh... I'm here... everything's gone well... It's over and I'm with you now..." he spoke in Aurora's ear while Victor reminded her to breath deeply.

"Excuse me if I don't show enough enthusiasm" she replied, finishing the sentence with a moan. Hook could feel the goosebumps all over his body while Snow was refreshing Aurora's neck with a wet towel. God, he'd just arrived there and he just wanted the time to rush and finish with that.

Killian took the occasion to ask Victor how everything was going. He didn't even need to say anything. "Everything's fine" the doctor said with an encouraging smile.

During the next minutes, the former pirate felt astonished by all the effort the princess was making. How he loved her... more than never.

"Okay, Aurora, we're almost there." Frankenstein said "Just one more contraction and then, when I tell you to push, you do it, alright?"

"You're doing it very well, sweetheart" Snow encouraged her.

Aurora nodded, too tired to show any emotions. She'd come to that point and she wouldn't let the worry, tiredness, pain or weakness win the battle.
Suddenly, Killian had an idea: he released his girlfriend's hand and offered her his left one.

"Take it" he said. "You can squeeze it as strongly as you want, I'm not going to notice it." she smiled weakly and did what he'd suggested.

The last contraction Whale had talked about came and, after some seconds of rest, it was followed by a whole hour of efforts which made Aurora squeeze his fake hand as tight as she could, sometimes until her knuckles became white. Killian felt as scared and anxious as usual, and also frustrated for being unable to do something to lower her pain. She was suffering so much...

Snow had taken the nurse role, helping Whale when he needed it and making sure that Aurora breathed properly because Killian was definitely unable to perform that task, too focused on trying to make her more comfortable by kissing her forehead, her hand, moving her hair from her face and refreshing her with the towel, apart from dealing with all the emotions he was feeling.

As time passed, Aurora felt that her strength was leaving her. By the end of the hour, she didn't even hear the voices which told her that she could do it and that everything was fine and about to end. Finally, Victor's voice was heard above any other noises:

"You've almost done it. This is the last push, I promise."

She breathed deeply and gathered the scarce strenght that remained in her body. Her hand squeezed Killian's again while the other did the same with a pillow.

Then, that last wave of intense pain faded away and her ears immediately perceived a new sound: the cry of her newborn son. Their Allan.