AN: Here we are, another piece to this one!
I do hope you enjoy! If you do, please let me know!
111
"Are you OK?" Beverly asked.
"What?" Laris asked.
If the rest of her behavior through the evening hadn't alerted Beverly, the expression on her face would have.
"Truth, Laris," Beverly said, coming to her knees and moving over in the bed so that she could see Laris a little better. Laris had asked for a quiet night, each of them reading, but Beverly had the distinct feeling that, now, it was only so she wouldn't be actively observing her.
Laris looked pained at Beverly's demand for truth. She looked pained in general.
"Tell me what's wrong!" Beverly said, a hint of panic rising up in her.
Laris held a hand out to her to still her.
"I don't know," she said. "I'm not sure that anything's wrong, but…I'm not sure that it's not."
"Baby?" Beverly asked. Laris nodded and covered her belly with her hand. Beverly pulled the blanket back and pressed her palm against Laris's belly. "Pain?"
"Sometimes," Laris said. "A little. It's not unbearable."
"Laris—when pain gets to be unbearable for you, we're already in trouble," Beverly said. "Oh…there it is. Is that it?"
Laris nodded. Beverly gently examined her, preferring to trust her own touch for a moment before gesturing toward the tricorder that Laris passed her from the bedside table.
"Is that what you've been feeling? Nothing different?" Beverly asked.
"Nothing different," Laris said. "What is it? Beverly? Is something wrong? Is she going to be OK?"
Beverly scanned Laris, noticing the change in her partner the moment that she replaced her hand on her belly.
"Shh…shhhh…it's OK," Beverly said.
"There it goes again!" Laris said.
"I know…I know…listen to me, Laris," Beverly said. "That's you, OK? You contributed to that contraction, so let's just breathe, OK? Nice and slow."
"Contraction! Beverly…" Laris said, clearly starting to panic more than before. She tried to sit up, almost seeming like she would flee, and given that she was a great deal stronger than Beverly, there was really nothing that Beverly could do to stop her, if that's what she decided to do.
"Please! Laris!" Beverly said loudly and sharply, hoping to jar her into being calm. It worked. Laris looked at her. She was wide-eyed, and a little wild-eyed, but she looked at her. Beverly gave her a smile. "These are false contractions, OK? I know they're scary, and uncomfortable, and…given your muscle density, they're probably a little painful, but they aren't the real thing, OK?"
"Can they hurt her?" Laris asked. "Is she hurt? Am I hurting her?"
"Look at me, Laris," Beverly said. "Breathe with me, OK? Let's just…relax. Breathe. She's OK. I have my hand here, see? I can feel your muscles. I know how strong these are. They're still OK. She's OK. Just relax with me, though…"
Laris did the opposite of relax. She tensed, something deep inside of her still clearly making her consider bolting from the room.
Beverly went to reset the tricorder, but as soon as she moved her hand, Laris panicked worse. Beverly put her hand back quickly, glad that the newer tricorders could be handled one-handed, when necessary.
"I'm not going anywhere," Beverly said. "I'm not moving. I'm staying right here, with you…because you're not going anywhere, either, Laris…and we're going to make her feel better, OK? Let's make her feel better."
Laris nodded her head vigorously, though her breathing still wasn't where Beverly wanted it, and something burning deep inside of her clearly removed her, at least a little, from where they were.
"I'm just going to call Jean-Luc, OK? Only Jean-Luc…" Beverly said. Laris didn't nod or shake her head. She did, however, mimic the breath that Beverly tried to get her to take before she called out for Jean-Luc to please come and join them.
Thankfully, he heard her, and he came in after only a brief knock at the door to clarify that he hadn't misunderstood her request and wouldn't be interrupting anything. Beverly smiled at him, trying to communicate with her eyes.
"I am going to need you to get a few things for me from the replicator," Beverly said. "And, then, I'm going to need you to have a seat with us, OK? There are a few things we need to talk about…since you didn't read everything that I did, just to make sure we're all ready when our sweet little girl comes. And she's not coming now, Laris—this is not about right now. She's fine. She's going to be OK. Just—try to relax with me. Jean-Luc?"
"Certainly," he said, somewhat stammering out the words. "Certainly. Of course…uh…what do I need to do?"
"I'm going to stay right here," Beverly said. "And I'm going to keep my hand on Laris's belly, so I can make sure that everything is perfect with our baby girl. And it is…but I need you to replicate a few things for me. Just in case I need them."
"Just—tell me what you need," Jean-Luc said, moving to the small replicator in the bedroom wall. Jean-Luc followed Beverly's instructions and brought her the hyposprays that she requested. He joined her on the bed, as she also requested.
"These are false contractions," Beverly said to Laris. "And you're likely going to have some of these from now until whenever the baby comes."
"She's too small," Laris said.
"She is small," Beverly said. "She is…actually…quite a bit smaller than we ideally want her to be, but she's growing. And she's healthy. She's going to be fine. She is not coming tonight, Laris. She is not coming for a long time, OK? What I'm giving you is just a small dose of a relaxant. It'll help slow these down. They shouldn't be too common or too constant, but you're tense and that's making them a bit worse. This is going to help, OK?"
Laris wasn't planning to argue at all. She happily took what Beverly offered her. Beverly, for her part, didn't move the hand she was now simply rubbing gently over Laris's belly to help soothe her.
"Do you need something for the pain?" Beverly asked.
"I'm fine," Laris said.
"If you want it, don't hesitate to ask me, OK? And if you're having these contractions—I want you to tell me. At least mention it. If they change or…you just feel like something is off, I want to know immediately. You understand? No…keeping it to yourself until I pry it out of you. It could be important to our baby girl."
"I understand," Laris said. She drew in a deep breath, the first she'd taken in a while, and let it out with a sigh. Beverly smiled, realizing the medication was already taking effect.
"That feels much better," Beverly said, rubbing her hand around Laris's belly to feel the relaxed state of her muscles. "Jean-Luc—listen to me. I think we need a little family crash-course on what's very likely to take place here in a few months, when the baby comes."
"Is it vastly different from human birth?" Jean-Luc said. "I know it said long and difficult, but…"
"It's long because we're going to slow it down," Beverly said. "We're going to slow it down significantly. Romulans have extremely dense muscles. Their strength is…"
"Far greater than our own," Jean-Luc interrupted.
"Exactly," Beverly said. She continued to rub Laris's belly. Laris, for her part, was starting to doze a little against her pillow. It was probably a little against her will, but it was good for her, and Beverly wanted her to go ahead and doze off, if she could remain so relaxed. "Contractions are contractions of the uterus, which is a muscular organ. For Romulan women, these contractions can be very strong. They can be strong enough, in fact, that they can injure the baby that she's delivering and, in some extreme circumstances, they have been recorded to kill fetuses."
"Which accounts for the high mortality rate," Jean-Luc said.
"That, along with the fact that Romulans tend to euthanize those with any sort of imperfection," Beverly said. "A birth injury sustained from the muscles contracting too hard can be healed, if it's not fatal, of course, but that's not something they apparently practice with regularity. Also, during birth, there is the need to push. This is an ingrained need. A drive."
"Of course," Jean-Luc said.
"If a woman pushes too hard and too fast, she can experience a number of problems. This could be anything from simple tears to her body, to other internal injuries. Most women experience only the most minor of these injuries. However, when you're dealing with species with very dense muscles and great muscle strength…"
"The likelihood that Laris could injure herself or the baby increases dramatically," Jean-Luc said. Beverly smiled at him reassuringly, hummed, and nodded her head. "Simply from delivering her into the world as the natural order of things would require."
"Exactly," Beverly said. "Laris—are you still with us?"
Laris hummed and turned her face toward Beverly. She forced her eyes open, but they were really slits. Beverly laughed quietly.
"How long have you not told me about the contractions?" She asked. "Just today?"
"Or…two, or three," Laris said.
"You're exhausted," Beverly said. "See? Lies and deception use too much energy. Worry eats at you. Don't keep secrets anymore."
"Understood," Laris said. She opened her eyes a bit more and patted Beverly's hand.
"I can feel her muscles," Beverly said. "I can feel when they're hard and contracted, or soft and relaxed like they are now."
"I'm very soft," Laris teased.
"You're always just like I like you," Beverly said with a laugh. "The key to things going well, when Laris is in labor, and to having the least chance for complication, will be monitoring things carefully. I'd like to get a muscle relaxant into her as soon as we're aware that it's beginning, and there's another medication that we use for species who have similar complications. It will help slow the process down. One of the reasons that there are so many serious complications during Romulan births is that mothers, knowing that their child may be killed for a simple-to-fix, though possibly not-avoidable little birth accident, go off to deliver on their own. When Laris delivers, we'll need to coach her to go against her instinct to push hard and fast, and we'll need to help her to keep things slow and gentle. Mothers likely have a hard time self-regulating, when they deliver alone, and it just compounds the problem."
"You don't sound too concerned," Jean-Luc said.
Beverly wasn't going to admit that she was a bit more concerned than she let on, simply because she knew there were risks, even if they knew how to best fight against those risks. She moved her hand and, finding that Laris was calm, took Laris's hand and squeezed it. She smiled at her and reached to brush Laris's hair back. Laris gave her a tired smile. She was relaxed, but she was fully present—Beverly knew the medicine she'd given her well. It would make her muscles relax, but it wouldn't cloud her mind.
"Laris is going to let me know the minute that we think she's going into labor," Beverly said. "We'll get her some medication to get things started off on the right foot. You're going to help us deliver the baby—nobody coming in that we don't let in, so there's no worry about privacy or protection." Beverly added the last part to simply speak to Laris's trauma. It would be in there, she knew, and she knew that trauma was almost always a voice that spoke loudly and irrationally. "We'll keep a very close watch on things, and we'll coach Laris through the whole thing. She'll stay nice and relaxed…and calm, because that's important for all of us. And we'll coach her through pushing gently and slowly. And, before you know it, we'll have a beautiful baby girl."
"She'll be perfect," Laris said.
"No matter what, she'll be perfect," Beverly assured her.
"I don't want her branded," Laris said.
"No," Beverly said. "Absolutely not. No branding will take place in this household. Nor will she be taken away by anyone." She raised Laris's hand and kissed it. "You understand that, don't you? You will have the final say on who touches her, and for how long, and where they go. If you want it to just be the three of us for a while, then that's what it'll be. And if you say nobody goes beyond the threshold of that door, we will honor that."
Laris smiled at her. She looked at Jean-Luc. He was taking in all the information, and he looked a bit shell-shocked, but Beverly thought that he'd recover nicely, and she could easily go through the details with him again. There would be time, too, to answer any of his concerns and help him feel as prepared as possible.
"You're her parents," Laris said. "You have the same rights as I do, when it comes to her."
"That may be so," Jean-Luc offered softly. "However, for just a little while, we will assume that you have slightly greater rights. We'll call them your birth-giving rights."
Beverly laughed.
"Right," she said. "In this home, we will honor birth-giving rights. At least until the hormones have a chance to settle a bit. Do you feel better?"
Laris hummed and nodded.
"You're sure she's OK?" Laris asked.
Beverly scanned the baby once more, just to help keep Laris calm.
"She is absolutely perfect," Beverly said. "Her vitals are wonderful. Everything is picture perfect. And, what makes me happiest, really, is that your vitals are all in range." She pressed her hand to Laris's belly again. "The contractions have passed—the false contractions. All is still and wonderful."
Laris looked around at Jean-Luc.
"Are you OK?" She asked, laughing.
"Me…I'm…"
"Don't worry, Papa," Beverly said with a laugh. "We'll get you through this…all of it."
Jean-Luc smiled at her warmly. He leaned toward her, and Beverly kissed him, closing her eyes and savoring the kiss. It was light, and she could tell that he wasn't as tense as she'd thought he might be.
"It's all going to work out fine," she assured him, when the kiss broke.
"There's no need to tell me that," he said. "I know that it's all in expert hands. Do you need anything else from me? Either of you?"
Beverly looked at Laris, to check with her, and Laris shook her head. Beverly shook her head.
"Thank you for coming, and for helping," Beverly said. "I'm sure that…we're going to rely on you a great deal when it's time for the baby to come."
Jean-Luc smiled sincerely.
"I can hardly wait," he said. "However, I shall be happy to wait for as many months as she requires to grow quite big and strong—especially those little big ears of hers, of which I am already quite enamored."
He made a face at Laris, and Laris laughed. Beverly couldn't help but laugh, too. Jean-Luc kissed her again, and then he squeezed Laris's leg.
"Well—if you'll excuse me," he said. "If I can be of no more service here, I think that I'll leave you ladies alone to enjoy each other's company for a while. You both look as though that might be something you find quite relaxing and enjoyable."
Beverly realized, as soon as he said it, that it was true. Her chest squeezed with the sudden desire to simply settle in next to Laris and hold her for a while, dozing together and simply talking about whatever came to mind.
They bid Jean-Luc goodnight with another round of thanks, and then he kissed Beverly once more. He leaned to kiss Laris and, this time, he brushed her cheek affectionately with his thumb, holding her eyes.
"I look forward to meeting our daughter," he offered. "But not any faster than is best for her and for her Mama." He smiled. "Did I get it right? The title?"
Laris smiled at him.
"You did perfectly," she said. "Just like I'm sure you'll do when she's born."
Jean-Luc pressed a soft kiss to her forehead, and bid them both goodnight before he slipped out of the room and left them to a few quiet hours together before they both gave in to sleep entirely.
