New chapter! Warning, this chapter may contain sensitive content. I don't want to specify what kind, but just take context into account.
I also don't own anything. As usual. Just keeping everything related to that all homeostasis.
"How far apart are your contractions?" asked the doctor, separating Penny's knees to check her dilation.
"Three minutes now," Leonard said. "She's been having them for about twenty five minutes, only, and they've gotten worse since her water broke, which was like fifteen minutes ago."
"Sometimes labor accelerates quickly," the doctor said, nodding. "How long was it for your first baby?"
"Less than a day," Leonard said.
"Well," the doctor said to Penny. "You're at about seven centimeters already. You could be ready to push in ten minutes, if this keeps progressing as it has so far."
"And to think an hour ago we thought it wouldn't happen today," Penny said, tensing up then and squeezing Leonard's hand.
"Good, good," he said, putting his free hand on top of her head.
"You're doing fantastic," the doctor said, patting her knee. "Fast labor happens sometimes with second or third babies, and I know you've done this before. You're going to be in labor for far less time, but the effort your body is putting out to complete this process fast is taxing. You're going to feel in less control than you did last time. It's a little scary sometimes, and it's often more painful, but just remember that it won't last long. You could have your baby in less than a half hour. Just remember that. I need to check on a high risk; I'll be back in less than five minutes. You know how to get someone in here if you need anything before then."
Penny closed her eyes and nodded. When the doctor was gone, she shifted her weight, and then looked at Leonard. "Help me up."
"Okay," he said, helping her ease out of bed. She turned and bent over the bed, resting her lower arms on the surface as if she was planking, and rested her forehead on her hands. She barely got her deep breath in before it turned into a grunt and her body tensed up. Leonard put his hands on her lower back and massaged, the way he had the last time, and he heard a tense "thank you", as the contraction faded.
"Look on the bright side," Leonard said. "This will all be over in, well, probably a half hour, tops."
"I thought the bright side was that you didn't take Savannah to school," Penny said. "You wouldn't be back by now and I'd be on my hands and knees in the bathtub, or something."
"Well, you're not," Leonard said. "I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere."
"I know," she said, nodding. "I know."
"Not to mention you might not be in labor right now if not for this morning and…" He felt her tense up again just before he heard her grunt, and he went back to massaging her back as she tried to maintain even breaths, but halfway through it she took a shaky step back and dropped to the floor.
Leonard fell to his knees next to her. "Are you okay? Is this comfortable? Want me to still rub your back?"
Penny closed her eyes and nodded, and Leonard scooted around to the other side of her and put his fingers back to work, focusing on the lower back where her contractions were originating. Another one manifested, not even two minutes after the previous one, and Penny whimpered quietly, pushing her fingers into the linoleum with so much force they turned white.
"You're okay," Leonard said, putting his hand on her stomach. "You're okay, Penny. I love you so much, you hear me? So much."
She nodded, keeping her eyes closed. "Leonard, I don't like this."
"You just don't like this part," Leonard said. "Believe me, when this is over in a half an hour, you'll be happy. We'll have our baby, Savannah can come see us after school…"
She nodded and grabbed her knees, and Leonard rested a hand against her back. When the contraction started, he began to rub. "You sure this position's comfortable?" he asked. "Would you rather lie like this on the bed?"
"Don't wanna move!" Penny said, her voice sounding like it was coming from deep in her throat.
"Okay, okay," Leonard said soothingly. "Just relax."
Penny let out a breath. "Can you help me take the gown off?"
"Sure," Leonard said. "Do you want your bra back?"
"Never took it off."
"Oh. Okay." Leonard helped her sit up and unbuttoned the gown, tossing it to the side. Now clad in only her black bra and shorts, Penny settled back down on the floor.
"Are you sure you don't want to move to the bed?" Leonard asked.
Penny shook her head wearily. "Can't get up." She could, however, move a bit, and Penny shifted her weight again, sitting up with her hands behind her, supporting her weight. "Where do you want me?" Leonard asked automatically.
"Behind me."
Leonard scooted around and she leaned back so her head was touching his chest, her arms still holding her up. "Penny," Leonard said, "you're not actually going to have the baby on the floor, are you?"
"Shut up, okay?" Penny said, closing her eyes and moaning.
"Aaand we're to this part of the process," he mumbled under his breath, putting his hands comfortingly on her arms.
Penny sat up slightly and took several audible breaths. "Where's the doctor?"
"You want to push?"
She nodded. "Where's the doctor?"
"How's it going, there?" asked the very person Penny was looking for, walking into the room and alertly taking in the situation.
"Doctor!" Leonard called as she walked back into the room, "can you see how far along she is?"
"Sure thing," the doctor said, dropping to the ground next them. "Easy there," she said, putting a hand on Penny's leg when the blonde tensed up again, her breath hitching. "You're just about ready, I'd put money on that," she said, patting Penny's knee until the contraction was over. "Well," she said moments later, "you're at about nine. With a baby this big, you don't want to try getting her out before you're completely at ten, so you'll just have to wait a few more minutes, can you do that?"
Penny shook her head. "No."
"Yes you can, Penny," Leonard said reassuringly. "Yes you can."
"No," Penny said again, her voice coming out high pitched as another contraction hit. She dropped down and rolled back onto her side.
"Pant," Leonard instructed. "Pant, Penny!"
She obeyed him, her hand finding his own and clenching it. "Good," he said. "Just listen to my voice, okay? Listen to my voice. Just a little bit longer, you remember how this goes. Just a few more minutes. Then, with how fast everything else has gone, I imagine it'll only be a couple more minutes until we have her. Not long now, honey."
Penny rolled from her side to her back, and then to her other side, facing Leonard and grabbing both his hands in both of her own, drawing them up to her face and gasping, squeezing his hands tightly as she attempted to keep up her breathing.
Leonard bent down and kissed her forehead. "You're doing perfectly," he told her, still in complete disbelief over the fact that they were having sex just an hour ago. "Perfectly."
"God," Penny said, "doc, just let me have this baby!"
"Soon," the doctor said. "Soon, just wait a little bit longer, we don't want you to tear or waste your energy."
"Leonard."
"I'm right here," he said, taking both her hands. "This is almost over, you hear me? Almost over."
"Let me check you one more time," the doctor said, and Penny nodded, grinding her fingers against Leonard's and pulling their hands to her forehead.
"Okay," the doctor told her. "You go ahead whenever you're ready."
"Whenever you're ready" turned into barely ten seconds later when another contraction hit. Penny pushed her upper body up off the floor and closed her eyes, a deep sound coming from her throat. When the contraction ended, she looked at Leonard. "Help me stand."
"Okay," he said scrambling to his feet. "I got you." He helped her get her legs under her, and she was halfway up when her knees bent and she dropped back to the floor, not having enough time between contractions to go anywhere."
"Penny," Leonard said, falling to his knees next to her, "you okay?"
"Mmm hmm," she said. "Can't stand."
"You want help into the bed?" Leonard asked. "Or you wanna have the baby on the floor?"
Penny looked up at the bed, and then her head rolled over to see Leonard. "Can't stand," she repeated.
"Can we get any of that down here?" Leonard asked.
The two nurses in the room removed the mattress from the bed and laid it on the floor next to Penny. "Can you get on this, sweetheart?"
Penny crawled up onto the mattress and Leonard put the pillows the hospital provided, and the ones that he'd brought, under her head and back so she was partially reclined. He'd barely completed when Penny whimpered again and put her hands flat against the mattress. "Good," he told her, brushing some hair away from her eyes. "Good."
"Leonard, I don't like this," Penny said again when the contraction was over.
Leonard took one of her hands. She looked exhausted already, and he hated it. He was completely changing his mind about wanting this to be fast. She didn't have any time to rest. "They're only thirty seconds apart now, Penny, so get ready.
"Make sure you listen to yourself," the doctor said. "do whatever feels effective. It won't be long now, Penny."
In response, Penny made a circling motion with her finger and leaned toward Leonard. He put a hand on her shoulder and the other on her hip and helped roll her onto her side again.
"I don't know why this is the most comfortable right now but…"
"Whatever works," Leonard said.
"Nope," she said a second later, rolling back onto her back and shifting her weight so she was sitting up slightly more. Leonard circled his thumb against her skin.
Her next contraction started right when it should, and she closed her eyes and pushed, her thumb nail digging into Leonard's hand. He winced, but didn't say anything. It wasn't really an appropriate time to complain about a nail induced indent in the skin.
"It's not moving," Penny said when it was over, looking at the doctor.
"Don't worry," the doctor said. "Everything seems to be positioned right, just gotta get started. It's too early to be concerned."
"Contraction," Penny said, right on cue, shifting her weight slightly. Leonard felt the pressure on his hand as she squeezed it, and he automatically started on his ramblings of encouragement. He had to admit he felt a lot more calm this time around; he knew they were only a bit farther away from holding their second child. He hated that this was coming hard and fast, but overall he still felt better this second time, knowing how things progressed, and knowing what was normal.
About halfway through the contraction, Leonard nearly jumped as things suddenly became very not normal. In the middle of his third or fourth "you're doing great," Penny let out an agonized sound and fell back against the bed, on her back, her eyes wide and sweat appearing on her forehead as if she'd been completely cool just moment before.
"Penny!" he said. "What's wrong, what happened?"
Penny gasped, trying and failing to speak, her eyes blinking rapidly for a few second before completely stopping. "What?" Leonard asked. "What's wrong?" He felt panic rising and couldn't fight it down. "Penny, what happened?"
Penny sucked in a breath. "Leonard, get help," she managed, seemingly forgetting that there was a doctor in the room, her eyes locking on her boyfriend's. He knew that the panic he saw there wasn't just reflected from his own eyes. Her free hand closed to a fist and then opened again, and she started to shake slightly – he felt her hand begin to tremble – and the next thing he knew more nurses were rushing into the room to accompany the ones that were already there; he supposed he must have been yelling for help right along with the doctor.
"She's in shock," the first new nurse proclaimed.
"She's bleeding," the doctor said from the foot of the bed, where she had sprung to the instant Penny had cried out, and both nurses looked in unison to the monitors, which were beeping at a frequency much different than normal. "We need do surgery, now!"
"What happened, what's going on?" Leonard asked, squeezing Penny's hand and looking fearfully down at her. Her chest was moving, but it was moving rapidly, and he knew that her breaths were too shallow.
"She's got a tear in her uterus," said the second nurse. "We need to get the baby out now or we could lose them both."
"What?" Leonard screeched, looking at the hospital personnel in horror before turning back to Penny. "Oh God, Penny," he said, putting his face inches from hers. "You need to hang on, okay? People are going to help you, just don't you go anywhere, okay? I'm right here, you need to stay with me, okay? Savannah needs you."
"Sir, we're going to need you to give us some space, we need - "
Leonard wasn't listening to them. He didn't even know that they'd spoken. He clung tightly to Penny's hand, focusing on her face. "Leonard…" she said weakly, her eyes looking terrified, her face white as a sheet. "Leonard, things hurt."
"I know," he said. "I know, sweetheart, just…" tears sprang to his eyes, and he wondered why they hadn't been there before. "Just hang in there." He was torn between being grateful that she was conscious and wishing she wasn't so she wouldn't be in any more pain.
"Sir," said the other nurse. "Time is of the essence, we need you to back up."
Another doctor burst into the room, and the other nurses sprang into action. Leonard let go of Penny's hand, not because he wanted to obey the people telling him to back away from her, but because the rest of him was slipping away.
The last thing he heard before crashing to the floor was Penny shrieking, the doctor shouting, and the loud echo in his head of the nurse's words.
We could lose them both.