Author's Note: Thanks so much for the reviews on the last chapter! I'm posting a bit early this week as I've actually managed to manage my time well (yay!) so I had extra time to write.

The song for this chapter is Sleepyhead by Passion Pit (acoustic version), so give it a listen if you like. It is an absolutely beautiful acoustic version of the song.

We're meeting a new character this chapter. Hope you're excited!

As usual, I don't own or have anything to do with Skins.

Chapter 28: The Day You Burst

Saturday, February 22nd, 2014

That Saturday was a cold and dreary and rainy day in Bristol. Emily and I were spending the afternoon shopping for last minute baby things for both Effy and Katie and ourselves. Effy had started feeling horribly sick over the last few days, refusing to eat anything and throwing up almost anything she did manage to eat. Emily and I had offered to pick up whatever Katie and Effy needed so that Katie could stay home and take care of Effy.

Emily and I still had to pick up things like breastfeeding pillows, a baby swing, a diaper genie, and plenty of other last minute things that we hadn't even thought to buy before Jenna and Gina came over last night. They walked in and bombarded us with questions about where all the baby things are. My mum berated me for not buying our special crib that was going to attach to mine and Emily's bed just yet, and Jenna was thoroughly displeased when she noticed we didn't even have a rocking chair in the nursery yet. Needless to say, our mothers had sent Emily and I into a complete panic that only escalated as we realized how completely unprepared we were to become parents. By the end of the night, Emily was so overwhelmed she was almost in tears, and I was so overwhelmed Emily had to talk me down from three panic attacks.

And that was how we found ourselves walking down the streets of Bristol, arms filled with shopping bags and minds filled with doubts. Both of us were horribly stressed out since we hadn't managed to get any time off work to go on our "babymoon" and had decided to skip it entirely and possibly wait until Elouise was about 6 months old to go on vacation. Emily and I made our way into yet another baby store and picked out mittens and hats and car seat covers for a car seat and stroller we suddenly remembered we didn't even own yet.

"This is bloody hard work. Why didn't anybody throw us a baby shower so we could get all this crap for free?" I grumbled as we walked back to the very first baby store we had walked into over two hours ago.

"I have no idea. A baby shower would have been less stressful to plan than this shopping spree," Emily replied. We browsed through the strollers and car seats as quickly and efficiently as possible, finally settling on one with an absolutely astronomical price tag and the best safety ratings.

"This stroller costs as much as the downpayment on our car," I said, turning to Emily as I handed the cashier my credit card for the umpteenth time that day.

"It's for Elouise," Emily reminded me, kissing me swiftly in a vain attempt to keep me happy.

I had absolutely no desire to be out shopping. I was in the nesting phase of my pregnancy, meaning I never wanted to leave the house and I would spend every millisecond of the day tidying, cleaning and organizing the house. I even started doing the laundry and cooking. Emily was so happy when I started doing the laundry and cooking that she had "extra-treated" me on Valentine's day, allowing us both one day off to stay home, order takeout, and have sex all day long (with time for naps in between orgasms, of course). It was an extravagance that I was sure we weren't going to get much of within the coming years, so I definitely appreciated that day. It was almost better than last year's Valentine's day when we were in Paris and proposed to each other. Almost.

After another two hours of shopping, we returned home with an absolutely stuffed car full of baby toys, baby clothes, car seats, strollers, cribs, baby swings, nappies, diaper genies, pacifiers, breast pumps, breastfeeding bras, baby bottles, and breastfeeding pillows. At this point, I was sure the only thing we were missing was the baby.

Emily called Katie over and allowed her to take the things we had picked up for her and Effy, which seemed relatively small compared to the massive haul of things Emily and I were carrying into the house. Libby looked at us curiously, watching us move from the car to the living room as we filled the room with boxes and shopping bags. It took almost forty-five minutes to unload the car. When we were finally done, all I wanted to do was sit down and take a nap until I went into labour, but of course, I couldn't do that surrounded by baby things. So I went into full-on nesting mode, unpacking every box and shopping bag and putting them all in their rightful place in the house. Some things headed to the nursery, like the rocking chair, diaper genie, nappies, clothes, and a few toys that Elouise wouldn't use till she was older. Some other things headed straight to our bedroom, like the crib that was going to attach to the side of our bed since we were planning on co-sleeping for the first few months at least, the breastfeeding pillow, the breastfeeding bras, and the breast pumps. The baby bottles and pacifiers were sent to the special baby drawer in the kitchen, though I knew as soon as Elouise arrived the pacifiers would be scattered around the house haphazardly.

After Emily and I had put together the new crib and rocking chair (which was some kind of fancy new "glider" chair that didn't actually rock back and forth, but instead, fucking glided), we crashed out on the couch. I was laying next to Emily, my bump now creating a massive divide between us, so much so that Emily was on the very edge of the couch cushion, on the verge of falling off at any given moment. Elouise kicked roughly, and Emily looked over and literally grabbed Elouise's foot that was protruding from my stomach.

"Must be getting cramped in there," Emily whispered, a smile on her face as Elouise kicked again. I winced – Elouise was getting stronger and her kicks were starting to hurt a bit.

"Probably not as cramped as this couch," I replied. Emily smiled and rolled off the couch. "Fancy some takeout?"

"Yes," I responded excitedly. "Can we have Thai food tonight?"

Emily nodded and smiled and went to order our food. She already knew exactly what I was going to have – two orders of spicy pork peanut dumplings and one order of chicken and beef pad thai. That was my Thai takeaway pregnancy order since I was 20 weeks pregnant and I first started craving spicy food and I was going to stick to it.

Later that same night, while Emily and I were eating dinner, we got a call from a rather distressed Katie. Apparently, Effy had gone into labor and was progressing alarmingly quickly. Katie had already called Anna, our midwife, over and she said it was only about an hour before the baby would start crowning.

"We'll be right over, Katie," Emily said, putting down our cartons of Thai food. I felt nervous but also a bit put out as I'd only finished one of my two orders of dumplings. Emily hung up and knowingly smiled at me, grabbing our containers of food and putting them in the fridge. "We'll save these for later. I know you'll still be hungry then."

And with that, Emily grabbed my hand, stopping quickly to slide our shoes on and we walked the very short distance (literally only a few feet) to Katie and Effy's house next door. We didn't bother with jackets or anything of the sort. We let ourselves in to the house, immediately hearing Effy's heavy breathing and Katie's attempts at coaching. I heard the sound of water running and when I walked into the living room I saw Anna filling up the birthing pool. Effy, dressed only in a bathrobe, was on her knees with her chest pressed against a birthing ball, breathing heavily through a contraction. Katie was forcefully pressing the palm of her hand into Effy's lower back. Emily and I knew better than to announce our arrival while Effy was in the middle of a contraction, so we waited until she opened her eyes again and stopped breathing so heavily.

"Hey, guys," She said, completely unfazed as she looked up at us. "Hope I didn't interrupt anything important."

Emily and I shrugged. "Just dinner, but that's not a problem. From what I hear this isn't going to take very long," Emily said as we sat down on the couch, which had been pushed a bit off to the side to make room for the birthing pool.

Effy smiled at us and tightened her robe a bit. "I certainly hope it won't take long. Anna reckons I've been in labour the whole time I've been sick, so two days now."

Anna looked up at us and waved. "How are you, ladies?" She asked us warmly as she stuck her elbow in the water to test its temperature.

"Fine, thanks, Anna. How's our Eff doing?" Emily asked, grabbing my hand and playing with my wedding band and engagement ring.

"Well, she's fully dilated now so it's only a matter of time before we have a little Fitch-Stonem on hand," Anna replied, running to the kitchen and turning off the hot water. She disconnected the hose she had attached to the faucet and made sure it was empty of all water before putting it away in her birthing bag. "Ready to get into the pool?"

Effy shook her head quickly and went back into her heavy breathing. Katie immediately put her hand back on Effy's lower back and tried her best to help her through the contraction. Em and I just sat there, feeling completely useless until Anna asked us to get some fresh towels, a blanket and a nappy for the baby. Em took care of the towels while I took care of the blanket and nappy. When we returned, Effy's contraction was over and she was in the birthing pool, wearing only a bikini top, battling through yet another contraction. Anna examined her quickly, and used a fetal doppler to read the baby's heartbeat.

"Okay, Effy, you're going to feel some very intense pain within the next few minutes known as the ring of fire – that's when your baby's crowning. It's going to burn quite a lot, love," Anna said, giving Katie a pointed look. Katie was nervously standing in the corner of the living room, but as soon as Anna gave her that look she moved right next to Effy. She grabbed her hand and pushed her hair away from her face, even grabbing a hair tie and putting it in a bun so it wouldn't get wet. Effy was squeezing Katie's hand rather tightly, and was biting her lip to a point where it was completely white.

"Eff, you're going to make your lip bleed," I said as I walked closer to the birth pool and took Effy's free hand. "Try the yoga breathing we learnt."

"I can't breathe, Naoms, it hurts too much, I can't do anything," Effy growled, squeezing my hand so tightly I was surprised it didn't instantly fracture. I wrapped my other hand around and dipped my hand into the warm water, rubbing her back just as Katie had done earlier. Katie was whispering in Effy's ear, somehow managing to get Effy to calm down for a few moments.

"Ok, Eff-" Anna said before she was interrupted by a loud scream from Effy. Anna looked over at us and mouthed 'ring of fire' while Effy continued to scream. Katie was so worried and scared she had burst into tears and Effy was trying to push down even farther into the pool because of the pain, leaving me holding her upright.

"It's okay, Eff, just think of your son, do it for him," I whispered as Effy started to sob.

"Effy, it's decision time. Your baby has crowned, you did a great job, love. I know you're in a lot of pain right now, but he's almost here. We need to decide if you're going to push or if you're going to let your body naturally push him out," Anna said quietly and calmly. "Or you can just do whatever feels natural to you – if you feel like you have to push, then push. If you feel no need to push, don't worry about it. Your contractions are fairly strong and I'm sure that we'll have him here just as quickly if you don't push."

Effy nodded. "I'm not going to push unless I feel I need to," She responded through gritted teeth. Anna nodded and from that point on, all we could do was wait. Effy was in absolute agony, I could tell, though she had stopped screaming and crying. Katie was still holding Effy's hand and talking to her, but was also being comforted by Emily who was calmly rubbing her sister's back.

I watched as Effy's breathing changed with each contraction and an occasional push. Anna was quite right – a few minutes later, she announced that the baby's head was out and the next contraction would likely push his body out. Emily went to grab the towels and blankets we'd gathered as Effy changed position in the pool. With her next contraction, and with some coaching from Anna, Effy reached down and pulled her son out of the pool.

"Make sure you pull him up so his back comes out of the water first, dear," Anna coached as Effy grabbed her son and pulled him gently out of the water. She turned him upright and cradled him against her chest as he spluttered and coughed and let out a teeny tiny cry. Katie wrapped her arms around her partner and her son, leaning down to kiss them both. Their son had a full head of dark brown hair that was so long it was starting to curl at the ends. He was definitely a chubby baby, just like Anna had said he'd be, and his eyes were dark blue like all newborn babies.

Emily grabbed my hand tightly as we watched the small family. When I looked over at her through tear-filled eyes, I saw a massive smile on her face with cheeks marked with fresh tears. I leaned over and kissed her quickly.

"Any ideas on a name?" Anna asked as she grabbed a metal bowl and some medical scissors.

Effy nodded through her smiles and tears. "Owen. Owen Wesley Fitch-Stonem."

And with that, Owen Wesley Fitch-Stonem let out another small cry, letting the world know that he was finally here.

Author's Note: Please don't forget to leave a review! I love hearing your feedback!