Chapter Forty-Six
Second Week of November
It was late, and the castle was sleeping. If only she could say the same for herself.
Sarah felt both restless and tired, all at the same time. Her distended abdomen refused to let her sleep in a comfortable position, her legs were cramping, her feet were swollen, and she had to relieve her bladder almost every hour. The novelty of pregnancy had definitely worn off, and all she wanted at this point was for her son to be born. Maybe then, she could actually sleep on her stomach again.
She gave up trying to sleep and put her efforts into getting out of the bed without waking Jareth. Surprisingly, she was successful. Part of the reason for that was probably because his sleep was as fitful as hers, nowadays. He was wonderful, really… rubbing her back, shoulders, legs, or feet whenever they hurt (which was all the time, lately), forever fetching her a drink, an extra pillow or pulling her to her feet so she could head to the bathroom yet again. She found soaking in the bathing pool to be divine, but she couldn't get out by herself (and neither Koriane nor Lily had the strength to pull her bodily out of the water), so Jareth had to take over that duty too.
He refused to be parted from her for anything short of a dire emergency. To Sarah's everlasting gratitude, the Labyrinth had put a hold on all summons for the past two weeks, as if it sensed that her time was near. He waited on her hand and foot and did everything with a smile and without a single complaint, no matter how cranky she got. And she got cranky a lot.
The muscles in her back were cramping now, but she didn't have the heart to wake her husband. She started to waddle silently over to the sitting area, hoping that sitting straight would help ease the muscles and give her a little relief, when the light sconces in the room started glowing. Startled, she looked over at the bed to see Jareth sitting up and watching her.
"Jareth, go back to sleep. I'm just going to sit over here for a little bit."
He shook his head slowly, "You shouldn't be on your feet, love. Melina said…"
"On my feet," she snorted. "I can't even see my feet." She sat down on the settee and sighed. Instantly, Jareth moved to her side.
"Can I do anything for you?" he asked, his hands rubbing her shoulders.
"You can do this for me," she retorted, which made him laugh.
The cramping muscles of her back were protesting even louder than they had in the bed. It made her want to cry. Almost instinctively, Jareth's hands moved down and began massaging her where it hurt. As she sat and enjoyed her husband's ministrations, her mind drifted to Toby.
After a relatively short adjustment period, he was doing well, better than she had expected. He was looking forward to being an uncle and asked her daily whether 'today is the day'. Jareth made sure to spend plenty of male bonding time with him, whether working with him in arms practice, magic lessons or just walking around the castle gardens. Sarah had suggested building a playground in the garden for the use of the castle residents, like the one by their old family home. Jareth really liked this idea, and he involved Toby in the design, which the boy loved.
He enjoyed going to the creche every day and renewing his friendship with young Anduin. The "Terrible Twosome," as Sarah dubbed them, were a delightful source of mischief, running about the castle and getting into trouble. Thankfully, their antics were always harmless. They both loved to play with the Ughlánas and whenever they were finished with their schooling, they could be found either on that side of the castle or with the Ughlánas in the playground, without fail.
According to the teachers of the creche, Toby showed a love and aptitude for engineering and artificing, so they tailored most of his lessons in that direction. He took to life as an Othánas like a duck in water, and Sarah was proud of him. The only issue he had besides the occasional (and understandable) sadness and tears was recurring nightmares, so she moved Merlin into Toby's room. Zee and Tippy would come and stay with him as well. This, along with Jareth soothing his dreams, helped him to get through the night.
She rubbed her swollen stomach absently. Soon, she'd meet her son, Jacen. Jareth had told her that it was considered bad luck to name a child directly after someone deceased, however Sarah wanted to honor her parents in some way. After some discussion and compromise, they had finally agreed upon a name. Jacen was a variation of Robert Williams' middle name, Jason. When they had a daughter, she would be named Karina after Karen. As he was being so considerate of her name choices, Sarah had insisted that their third child would have a name that Jareth picked himself.
She was ripped out of her musing when the cramping in her back moved around to include her abdomen. She stilled her hand on her belly and moaned softly, feeling the muscles tighten. As the cramp eased, the baby stirred within her, stretching his little legs and kicking.
"Come on, love. Let's get you back to bed," said Jareth, as he took her by what was left of her waist and pulled her up.
They had taken no more than a step or two before what felt like a knife went through Sarah's belly, doubling her over. She let out a loud groan, Jareth's arm tightening about her, then, to her horror, a flood of water spilled out from under her gown and onto the floor. Sarah reached out and grabbed the back of the settee, bracing herself and breathing heavily. If it didn't hurt so much, Sarah might have laughed at the expression on Jareth's face. He literally had no idea what to do… he was utterly frozen in terror.
Summoning all her breath, she managed to stammer out, "Get Melina. Go."
She never knew how long it actually took to get the Healer. By turns, the minutes seemed to fly by and slow down indiscriminately. At some point, she felt hands on her, supporting her, and heard a soft voice in her ear.
"All right, Sarah. Let's see what's going on." Melina held a hand out to her, scanning her quickly. She turned to Lily, who was just coming through the doorway clad in her nightgown. "It's time. Summon the ladies and have the birthing chair brought in." Lily immediately turned and ran out of the room. She then looked over at Jareth. "Sire, come help me a moment."
Jareth moved forward, "What can I do?"
"Get a fresh nightgown, some warm water and a cloth and bring some towels. We're going to get her changed and comfortable before everyone gets here."
Jareth practically ran into the wardrobe after fetching the water Melina had requested. After some fumbling, he reemerged with a clean gown and a stack of towels. Between the two of them, they got Sarah's soaked nightgown off her, cleaned and dried her and the new gown pulled over her. With a wave of his hand, the wet gown and the water on the floor vanished.
Right on cue, Lily returned with several female members of their court, two of whom were carrying a padded contraption with a chair whose seat had a large opening carved away from it. They bustled about the room, setting up the chair, getting supplies ready to hand, bringing linens and opening the drapes to the balcony. Melina's assistant, the Ughlánas female named Pym, came in carrying a travel box filled with vials and containers. She wove her way through the chaos to start setting up the various herbs and tinctures that would be needed.
"All right, Jareth. Out with you," said Lily, placing her hand on his arm and smiling at him. "Garthan and Randel are waiting for you in the dining hall, along with most of the court. Best you go now."
He hesitated, then crossed over to Sarah, cupping her cheek and kissing her forehead. He tried to speak, but his voice got caught in his throat. Sarah smiled at him, knowing how nervous he was and yet she could feel his excitement too.
"Go on. I'll be fine," she said. "Next time you see me, we'll be parents."
He nodded, swallowing hard, then kissed her. He still didn't move, until Lily took his arm and physically dragged him to the door, shutting it firmly behind him.
During her checkups with Melina, Sarah discovered that Jareth would not be in the room with her when she gave birth. Apparently, Othánas men were an absolute disaster when their wives were in labor. They literally could not stand to see their women in so much pain, and while they would have been more than willing to provide support during the birth (in principle, at least), the reality was that they ended up being a hinderance. The Healer and attending ladies would end up spending more time keeping Jareth from freaking out than they would taking care of Sarah. Thus, husbands were banned from the birthing room.
The ladies attending Sarah now were mostly Othánas but also representatives of the sentient races that lived in the Goblin Kingdom, and all were mothers themselves. Over the past few months, she had come to know them all very well. She knew she was in good hands.
The next few hours saw Sarah walking around the room, Lily on one side of her and Melina on the other. When she was thirsty, she was given ice chips, and when she was hungry, they gave her small bites of fruit or bread. At regular intervals, Sarah would sit in the birthing chair so that Melina could determine how dilated she was. Then, up she went to walk around. The ladies in the room traded lighthearted stories, designed to amuse Sarah and keep her in a relaxed mood.
Sarah had at first been concerned when Melina told her that they did not use painkillers or Healing magic to ease labor during birth. The Healer explained that painkillers affected the baby, and while they did have topical amelioratives, labor would be prolonged if they were used too prolifically. Healing magic would also not be used. The ladies attending her were there not only to help with the process but also to lend their Healing magic in an emergency and would save it to have it ready, just in case. This made childbirth in the Underground more painful than what she'd have experienced Above, what with epidurals and all, but the hazards of childbirth to mother and baby were practically eliminated. Sarah was quite content with that trade off. The time needed for recovery was also much shorter here than she would have had if she'd given birth Above, as the ladies would expend their power to give it a boost once labor was over and all deemed well.
After what seemed like forever, and the pains coming faster and harder, Melina declared that she should stay in the birthing chair. The ladies removed Sarah's gown and Pym began rubbing an ointment on her stomach, back and private area. She explained that the compound had magical herbs that would take the edge off the pain. It had a pleasant lavender scent and Sarah could feel it tingle on her skin. Pym was right, while it didn't deaden the pain entirely, it at least dulled the sharpest edges of it. She then took her position behind Sarah, using her little hands to manipulate pressure points on Sarah's back, which also helped to lessen the harshness of the contractions. Lily was on Sarah's right, wiping her brow, holding up the cup of ice chips and at times, holding Sarah's hand. Melina was at the business end of the birthing chair, checking her progress.
"Okay, Sarah. It's time to start pushing."
Sarah felt like she was floating on a river of pain. She could hear Lily's soft voice whispering encouragement to her. Pym started trilling a low, soothing song behind her, the other ladies softly humming a harmony to go with it. Whenever she thought she could literally take no more, she found another reserve of strength within her. She strained, she pushed and at some point, she cursed.
"He is NEVER touching me again. NEVER!"
The females in the room all laughed. It was a sentiment they had shared once, too. Then, Sarah felt terrible for saying such a thing, until Pym put her mind at ease.
"Oh, don't worry, Sarah. I swore that I was going to geld Gort when I birthed our first. Thing is, I meant it at the time. Afterward, I sort of forgot to do it." All the ladies in the room nodded in understanding.
"Now you know another reason we don't let the men into the birthing room. If Garthan had heard some of the bloodthirsty threats I had made against him when I was having Anduin… I think he would have died of pure fright," said Lily, laughing.
At that, the hardest pain rolled over Sarah. She pushed with all her might, feeling a literal ring of fire down in her private parts. She tried to be brave, but she couldn't help the scream that ripped from her throat as she strained.
"That's it, Sarah! The head is out! Just the shoulders now. You've got this!" Melina shouted to her.
Sarah redoubled her effort. She focused all of her will to bring an end to this hell. She thought she was going to be split in two, but she kept going. After a final pain tore through her, she felt the baby leave her body and she collapsed back.
She lay there for a moment, just breathing. The relief that it was finally over was immense. She could hear the faint cries of the baby and the coos of the ladies around her. She opened her eyes to see Melina, smiling broadly, bringing the baby up from between Sarah's thighs and setting him on her chest. Her arms came up around him and she looked down into his little face.
She fell in love. Completely and utterly in love.
As the ladies bustled around her, Melina tied off the cord and cut it. Gently lifting the baby from Sarah's body, she handed him off to Lily to be cleaned up.
"Just the afterbirth now and we're all done," she said.
Sarah, wanting to hold her baby again, quickly complied and passed the afterbirth without taking her eyes off her son. The ladies made quick work of getting her Healed, clean, and comfortable, and clearing out the mess and helping her into a fresh gown. She was assisted to the bed, pillows propping her up, a proper drink of iced, mineral-fortified fruit juice in her hands and a hearty meal on the way. Once the room was set to rights, Lily brought the baby to her.
She hadn't had much time to settle him in her arms before Jareth materialized beside her. Kneeling on the bed, he wrapped her in an embrace, kissing the top of her head before pulling back and looking at her anxiously.
"Precious, are you well?"
"Piece of cake," she said. They both laughed. "Come look at your son."
Oh, but he was perfect. Tiny, pointed ears, adorable little face, wisps of blonde hair. He opened his eyes, and they were a grayish color. Melina had told her that the color wouldn't come in for some time, but Sarah already knew they would be green like hers. His little claws were a translucent gray. He was… just perfect.
She thought her heart was going to explode from the overwhelming love she felt at that moment. She looked up at Jareth, to see him with an utterly spellbound expression and a suspicious sheen of moisture in his eyes. He reached out a finger, touched the baby's hand, and smiled in delight when the infant gripped it.
"Oh, Sarah…" he whispered with awe.
The baby fussed a little, and Sarah shifted her gown to expose a breast. He latched on at once. Pym slipped a bracelet on Sarah's opposite arm, so that she could remember to alternate which breast her son fed from. At that point, the husbands of the ladies that attended the birth (plus Randel, Toby, and her friends) came in to see the baby and congratulate the parents.
Initially, Sarah felt a bit shy of having men in the room while she nursed her son, but then she realized that everyone here looked on this as something completely natural, and certainly nothing to be bashful about. She eventually relaxed and scanned the happy faces around her. Hoggle was happier than she'd ever seen him, his smile only matched by that of Sir Didymus. Ludo's joyous purr reverberated through the chamber. Tippy and Zee were perched on the footboard of the bed, identical looks of delight on their faces. Sarah watched with some amusement as Lily gave Garthan a significant look… she had a feeling their family would be expanding soon. Randel was smiling so widely she feared he was going to give himself a headache, and Toby wore a matching grin. Melina came to the bedside to check that all was well, noting how strongly the baby nursed.
"He's a hungry one," she quipped to Sarah.
"Just like his father," Sarah returned. The entire room erupted in laughter, even Jareth, while his ears and cheeks turned red. She groaned, "Oh God, did I say that out loud?" The laughter got even louder.
Their son decided that he was finished, and Sarah shifted him to her shoulder, patting gently. Once she'd gotten every burp up, she turned to Jareth.
"Hold your son," she said, softly.
He took the baby from her, cradling him closely, his face a study of emotion. He looked back at Sarah, tears flowing unabashedly as he leaned forward and kissed her.
"Thank you, Sarah…"
He gathered himself, then turned to the people in the room.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you Crown Prince Jacen of the Goblin Kingdom."
