Note: The original request from ThornyRose: The first thing that I would love to see is a sickfic. The second is …. a childbirth fic.
ThornyRose, darlin', you've been very patient, and I hope you like this. The sickfic is coming. I promise! :D
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If pregnancy were a book, they would cut the last two chapters.
- Nora Ephron
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1. In Which Deryn Regrets The Guest List
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"You are making rather too much of a fuss. This is a perfectly natural event – indeed, the most natural. Women have endured this for millennia. I myself have survived it five times already, without half so many carryings-on."
The speech fails to impress Deryn.
"Whose bloody brilliant idea was it to invite the lady boffin?" she demands, breathing hard, glaring daggers at Dr. Barlow (while her ma, off to the side, assures the midwife it's really all right and please don't leave).
"Yours, I believe," Dr. Barlow says, unperturbed. "Now, if it's not too much trouble, stop complaining and push."
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2. In Which Alek Regrets Being On The Guest List
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"May I leave?" asks Alek, who is feeling rather overcome by all of this.
"No," Deryn declares, gripping his hand tightly.
He attempts to pull free. "But I'm entirely superfluous -"
"No."
"- I shall just be outside the room –"
"No."
"- It's against tradition –"
"No!"
"Could I at least fetch you something to drink?" – his last, desperate plea for release. He looks over at the midwife, who shrugs.
Panting, sweating, in pain, Deryn still manages to hold him fast. "You helped put the baby in," she says bluntly, "so now you can barking help get it out!"
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Bonus Note: I'd like to give a shout-out to my mom, who did it (twice) the old-fashioned way – no epidural. She's pretty tough. I asked her what the actual labor was like: did she scream, cuss anyone out… you know, the beloved clichés.
She said, "No. I was too busy having a baby." And I tend to think Deryn would agree.
