New Year's Eve final consequences…

September 23, 2018

Charles

"You okay, Dawsey?"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"I don't know, maybe because that's the fifth time you've got up in the last half hour. I wondered what was wrong"

"Sorry, can't get comfortable, I'm all restless. I walked into town this morning and now I've got bloody back ache like you wouldn't believe"

"Why didn't you get a taxi? You are a fuck muppet sometimes, aren't you?"

"No… Oi, I can say that, you can't cos it's being mean, and I get fed up sometimes of not feeling like I can do anything, I am fed up of being pregnant, okay?

"It won't be much longer, only a couple of weeks and you're good at waiting out for things, remember?"

"There speaks someone who still has a life!"

"Sorry, I'll rub your back if you want?"

"I don't want, well, yes I do actually " Molly started to giggle in spite of her determination to be awkward "but I want to be a grumpy old cow"

"You're not a grumpy old cow" Charles laughed "Well, yes you are actually, but you're allowed to be occasionally, just don't think you can make a habit out of it!"

"Yes Boss, No Boss, three fuc…"

"I'll give you Boss, come here" Charles interrupted her and pulled her down on the bed next to him, "Where does it hurt?"

"Doesn't at the moment, but keep rubbing me back, it's nice"

He knew she was seriously fed up with being at home all the time without much company, it was too far to keep popping up to see her mum or Nan and she missed the camaraderie of army life. She only had a couple of new friends who were local and who had attended the same ante-natal group, one who had just had her baby and the other, who seemed to be a kindred spirit for Molly, they were both a bit bolshie at the classes, was waiting out as well. Unfortunately Molly didn't suffer fools any more gladly now than she had in Afghan and one of the midwives at the classes had, in a moment of pure folly, patronised her, poor woman! As Charles had listened to Molly ranting about this woman he had realised just how much he had missed when Sam was born while he was on tour and had felt real twinges of guilt that he had left Rebecca to get on with it on her own. Sam had been over two weeks old when he had met him, not strictly his fault he knew but he had made very little or no effort to alter things to try and be around. He was determined it would be different this time.

They had spent a fair amount of time with Sam over the past few weeks and he seemed to accept Molly's presence in his father's life quite easily, although he studiously ignored her baby bump, never looking at it or speaking about it or the imminent arrival of his step-sister. Charles didn't know whether to say something or to ignore it because he knew that poison was probably being drip-fed into Sam's ear at home and he was actually desperate to counter it, but Molly reckoned it was best to leave it alone and that it was a combination of his age and sex education classes at school which made him uncomfortable with the idea of them having sex and she reckoned her youngest brothers were the same, doing a lot of sniggering and nudging each other when she was around, cheeky little bleeders. She said that she hadn't needed sex education classes when she was their age cos her mum was permanently pregnant, so he had made a complete idiot of himself by saying smugly that he hadn't needed them either, he was entirely self-taught! Molly fell about laughing as she reminded him that they were about how babies are made and not technique!

He gently rubbed her back as she lay on her side and started to drift off, then saw a grimace cross her face and felt the vice-like clamp of contracting muscles squeezing her stomach until it was rock hard and he panicked.

"Jesus, Molly how long have you been having contractions?"

"They're not contractions, pillock, they're called Braxton somethings and they don't hurt and its far too early for it to be the baby."

"Are you sure?" he wasn't sure he believed her and remembered countless other occasions when she had frightened him and he could hear the panic in his own voice.

"To be honest, no" he was beginning to frighten her now.

"What did they say at the class?"

"Ah, might have missed that bit, sorry"

"You really are a fuck muppet aren't you" he was getting seriously annoyed that she'd done the 'Molly Dawes class clown' bit again.

"Don't speak to the mother of your baby like that"

"I'll speak to you any way I like, lady. 08.00 tomorrow morning I'm supposed to be in the middle of sodding Salisbury Plain teaching a bunch of cockwombles to shoot targets and not each other. How can I concentrate on that when I'm bloody worrying about you?"

"Can I come?"

"No you fucking can't! You're going to the hospital to find out what's going on and whether you are okay to be at home or whether you need to go in, now come on….." He helped her get to her feet when they both heard a faint pop and water cascaded down her legs and into a pool on the carpet.

"I think that answers the question don't you?" He suddenly realised that his brisk, stern 'don't panic' soldier voice was upsetting her, and it was his job to protect her, to keep her safe, not frighten the living daylights out of her. He put his arms round her and kissed the tip of her nose and smiled into her eyes, then tried to use his softest, most seductive voice, which wasn't easy considering how panic stricken he was inside, to say "Come on, let's go and find a midwife to piss off"

Molly

I woke up feeling great this morning as though I had enough energy to walk into town. It's only half a mile, but I was pretty knackered by the time I got there, could hardly put one foot in front of the other. I remember when I could do a 10k run in a reasonable time and still speak afterwards, I am going to have to do some serious training when I've had the baby, I feel so unfit, well I'm not unfit exactly but really slow and heavy. I got a taxi back! Ever since I got back I have had this fucking awful back ache which keeps coming and going so that I can't get comfortable for any length of time so I can have a kip and I feel so restless that I can't find my calm. I don't think I'll be doing any more long walks in the near future, I am really paying for this one. At least she has stopped some of her gymnastics today, she is still kicking seven bells out of me but the twisting and turning over has stopped. The midwife on Monday said her head has dropped and that is why I feel like my stomach is falling out, but that she hasn't got a lot of room to shift about now. She's telling me?

Charlie was getting on my tits a bit tonight, he was sort of nagging and worrying away at me about what was happening, I think he thought that the baby had started, but I was sure that it hadn't, well, not sure exactly, but the midwife said that you don't think you are in labour, you know ! And I didn't! Appears Charlie was right and I was wrong, not for the first time either, God, I hate it when that happens and he gets all smug, although he wasn't smug this time, I think he was too scared, well we both were. My waters broke when I got off the bed, Jesus there was a lot of it, I half expected my bump to have disappeared completely when it had stopped gushing. I started to have real contractions in the car and bloody hell they hurt, really hurt. Of course I had left it too late to get an epidural, only I could cock it up like that, but actually pushing her out wasn't that bad, well it was pretty bloody awful but it didn't take that long or not as long as I expected and Charlie was doing his best to encourage me. So much so that I had to tell him that he wasn't a cheerleader and to shut the fuck up, I think the midwife was shocked to be honest.

She is absolutely gorgeous and I cried a bit when Charlie put her on my chest. He didn't cut her cord, we had talked about it before and I knew he didn't really want to cos he is seriously squeamish and he was dreading it, so I said he didn't have to, she wouldn't know the difference after all. She was rooting around looking for my nipple so the midwife latched her on and Charlie and I just looked at each other and he said "I love you" and I said "Ditto" and I think the midwife was shocked again!

Charles

The midwife was a very busy little woman, "Call me Winifred darling" and she made me tired just watching her bustle about, but she was very kind to Mol, well to both of us really. She was so good at calming Molly down at the end when the pain got so bad that she started to panic, told her to stop wasting energy and to get mad at the pain and push it away and it was just after that that she was saying to pant and then the baby's head was there and then the rest of her and she is a total minime of Molly, looks exactly like her, except she has my curls. She is beautiful! I didn't cut the cord, I really wish I wasn't so squeamish, but I really can't help it and I don't think Molly minded.

Winifred asked if we had a name for her and Molly explained that we wanted to see what we thought suited her before we chose, but it was between Chloe and Gemma.

"How about Izzie? Well she did bring us together"

"If you think I'm calling my daughter after a trollop that spent all last winter trying to get into your knickers you've got another think coming!" I was actually joking but Molly clearly wasn't very amused.

I have been sent out to make the phone calls to Mums and Nans and to make sure my mother doesn't turn up this afternoon. I am under strict instructions to make sure she knows she can come tomorrow when we are home and not before, Molly finds her exhausting to cope with and I am going to have to choke her off at some point and I don't want her bringing Sam over either, I will introduce Sam to Chloe or Gemma or maybe Izzie, or maybe not, when the time is right.

There is so much stuff to sort out, whether Molly is getting out or going back to the army, she's only got 42 days maternity leave to sort things out and then there is the problem that my little gremlins of conscience are worrying away at now. I know I should have told her before and I know it's not going to go away by pretending it isn't happening and secrets are very dangerous, I should know that if anyone does, but I haven't been able to bring myself to tell her before now and I can't spoil today, so maybe in a couple of days? I can't ignore it for ever!

Authors notes: Hope you enjoyed this. I tried to keep it as non bloody and pain wracked as I could, those of us who have had children remember only too well, and those without really don't want all the gory details! Haven't actually decided what her name is yet but definitely not Izzie. Please review if you've got time so that I know how it went down and thanks to all of you for your ongoing support.