Anonymous prompted a little snowbarry baby!
Rating: K+
AU-Caitlin and Barry are married
~J.H
Barry can't sleep. Actually, he hasn't been able to sleep for the last couple weeks. He keeps thinking of a worst-case scenario…what if the baby doesn't make it? What if Caitlin doesn't make it? What if they both don't make it?
When he's confessed these thoughts to his wife, she's always brushed them off, saying it's just nerves and that he should calm down. She'd usually give him a statistic about how many women actually die in childbirth in the US, but that never calmed him.
He sighs and turns so he's facing her. She's asleep, facing him, with her swollen belly almost touching him. He's glad she's there, because he feels better knowing that she's close by, and that she's safe. Placing one hand on her stomach, where their little miracle is, he closes his eyes and tries to get some sleep…
"Barry," her voice is quiet and deadly calm, "Barry, get up."
His voice is the opposite: loud and panicked, "What—what is it time? But you're not due for another week!"
She's already getting out of bed, "Yes, Barry, it's time."
"Oh, okay, I'll call the hospital? Do you need help getting out of bed? Do you need any water before we go?" He makes his way over to her side of the bed, trying to make himself useful. By the time he gets there, she's already out of bed.
"Just call the hospital," she says, walking to the door. He's astonished by how calm she is—this isn't what he expected. He expected it to be like in the movies—where she's screaming and he has to rush her to the hospital.
He dials the number for their doctor and hurries after Caitlin, offering his arm to help her out to the car. "Hello, Doctor? Yes, it's time."
"Alright," the doctor's voice says, "go ahead and get up to the hospital."
"Right," Barry says, feigning confidence. Get to the hospital. He can do that. But…"What about Caitlin?"
The doctor's voice drips with sarcasm and annoyance, "Yes, bring her too."
Barry hangs up and opens the car door for Caitlin. After she gets in, he scurries over to the driver's side. The hospital's only a couple blocks away, so it should only take about a minute to get there.
"Okay, Caitlin, just remain calm," he says to her as he's pulling out of their driveway.
"I am calm," she says, wincing a little at the jerky movements of the car.
"It's okay to be scared, Caitlin, you just gotta remember that everything's gonna be alright," he says, trying to keep his voice reassuring.
"I'm not scared, Barry."
He's not really listening as he speeds toward the hospital, "Being scared is perfectly natural. You just gotta remember that everything is going to turn out just fine."
"Barry, I'm not—" Caitlin sighs, giving up.
They reach the hospital much faster than usual, given that Barry was speeding the whole mile and a half it took to get there. Barry helps her out of the car and into a wheelchair in the hospital lobby, talking the whole time, "Just remember that everything's gonna be fine and there's like a zero possibility for things to go wrong—and things won't go wrong because—" the nurses have taken the wheelchair away from him, and they're wheeling her away.
"Sir, we're going to have to ask you to step back," one of the nurses says to him.
"No—no wait, I'm her husband! I should be able to—" his words are cut short as Caitlin reaches up and kisses him.
"Stop worrying," she says gently, "It's all gonna be alright. I promise."
With that, the nurses wheel her away from him. Although he desperately wants to believe his wife, he really can't stop himself from worrying.
It takes twelve excruciating hours of waiting.
Caitlin doesn't let him in the room because she knows he'd only make things worse, so he has to wait the waiting room.
For twelve hours.
Who knew it took so goddamn long?
He tried to keep himself occupied—playing on his phone for a while, reading a magazine, getting food—but nothing distracted him. He just couldn't stop worrying.
God I hope she's okay. I hope they're both okay.
"Mr. Allen?" a calm voice says.
Barry looks up and sees a motherly-looking nurse.
"Mrs. Allen is ready to see you," she says, then, seeing his concerned look, she adds, "and they're both fine."
Barry breaths a sigh of relief as he follows her out of the lobby, down a hall, and into a small hospital room.
He nearly cries when he sees them: his beautiful Caitlin, curls damp from labor, sitting on the bed and cradling a small, pinkish lump. Caitlin looks up and smiles brightly at him, "Come meet your daughter, Mr. Allen." He rushes to them, kissing first Caitlin on the forehead and then the baby, on her nose.
"Daughter?" he asks, "It—it's a girl?" he finds himself tearing up.
Caitlin smiles again and kisses him, "What in the world are we going to name her?"