Carkley Deviation

Cricket

But let's back it up a bit. Before I was nudged awake, aye, I did, as a matter of fact, happen to be sleeping . . . did I mention soundly? It was glorious. I didn't even dream.

If it were any other average sound, like Marley getting out of bed to get some water, or some bird chattering obnoxiously outside, I would have slept right on through. It wasn't the noise that woke me up. It was only the fact that this sound was different that allowed it to break through into my mind. She'd said my name in the night before, but never in that tone. Something was going on.

"Mrffffmhrr." I sighed, burying my face in a pillow, half asking what was going on and half annoyed that I was no longer blissfully non-dreaming. I started slipping away again. Oi my my.

Marley
Alright, this wasn't working. Experience told my that my boyfriend wasn't some star morning person, but if he didn't get up in the next twenty seconds, I was waddling myself to the hospital and naming the baby something like 'My father is a loser'. Hah. That'll show him.
...Okay, maybe I was pretty tired, too.

I pulled the pillow out from under his head and whacked him across the face, full force. I wasn't gunna play around with this like some dainty little birthing lady. "Cricket" I said, louder this time.

Cricket

My face hit the mattress and then felt the stinging whapp of something across my face . . . alright, well, as much as a pillow slap can sting. I was a tad more awake, then.

Something told me she wanted me out of bed.

Patience is a virtue.

A tired whistle slurred past my lips. "Nghhhwhat."

Marley
Oh my horrible, beautiful idiot. What the heck.

He got another pillow to the face for good measure, and because his lack of reactions were really getting on my nerves. Apparently labor and sleep deprivation don't mix particularly well.

"The baby is com-" I was taken off guard by another stab of pain, much more intense than the first two. Another wince escaped my lips before I could stop it "...Coming... the baby..."

Cricket

Another whack across the face. I breathed a sigh.

The baby . . . pft. That was what all the fuss was about, the ba--

The baby. I heard her wince. Oi my my. "Th' . . . th' baby?" I sat up, the urgent news at odds with my groggy brain. But-- baby-- hospital. Now? Waitpardon. This was news. I shook my head like a dog to clear the sleep out of my thoughts, and forced myself off the bed, expertly finding a shirt in the dark. "Now?" I stepped into some beat up converse, and was ready to go in two seconds thanks to the fact that I sometimes got lazy and just slept in my jeans.

Marley
"No, I just felt like waking you up in the middle of the night and scream my head off. YES, NOW" I said, voice growing in volume from panic as I half slid out of bed. I managed to catch myself on the nightstand, though, not bothering to find anything to get dressed with like he was doing. Just concentrating more on breathing and not... totally... flipping out...

Cricket

Alright. I was awake, aye? This wasn't some odd pre-fatherhood dream of some sort? Everything was a daze. I felt myself hurrying, but my mind wasn't quite caught up. A bit like watching a movie of myself freaking out.

BABY. Alright. This was real. It looked like that hurt, over there. To let her walk, or carry her? On one hand, I didn't want to hurt her somehow. On the other hand, I didn't want to worry about her having to worry about trying to walk and keep breathing with a baby on the way at the same time.

I practically leapt over the bed to where she was standing, or, having trouble standing. "Brace yourself. No time. Carrying you t' th' car in three, two--" I scooped her up with a sigh that was somehow both exhausted and determined. She was odd to carry, with the extra weight swollen in her belly, and it was tricky business to be gentle and rushed all at once.

Through the hall, through the house, to the front door. I had to set her on her feet, propped up against me for a moment, as I unlocked the thing and turned the handle, but soon enough I found myself setting her in the passenger seat of that puny excuse for a car.

I took a breath, let out a sigh. "Oi my my." We were speeding down the road.

Marley
Suddenly, I was airborn, wrapped in his arms as we were rapidly moving towards the car. I automatically curled around my stomach, arms wrapped across the bulge that was our baby. Our baby who was breaking out into the world, ready-or-not.

Another contraction... They were slowly becoming more and more frequent, and I knew that meant that our time was ticking. I was so wrapped up in my own thoughts that I hardly noticed him putting me down and withdrawing his protective hold. I shivered slightly, though I wasn't really cold.

"Cricket..." I murmured, still curled up even as I sat in the passenger's chair. "I'm... scared..." It was a bit of a hard admission, and it stuck in my throat slightly.

Cricket

I struggled awake. I had to, since I was driving and all. The grogginess melted away reluctantly as I sped on, away from the beach and into the lights of town.

So when she spoke, I whole-mindedly picked up on the urgency. Was is bad that I was scared, too? I hated hearing her voice like that, see her curled up in the corner of my eye. Something could go wrong. She could get hurt. The kid could get hurt. There was an army of what-ifs battling through my head now, like a one-sided war against time and fate. All I could do was get her there, and then all I could do was wait.

I hate waiting.

"It's a'right. I'll get you there, you'll be cared for, it'll be fine." I reached for her hand, glancing at her in the flash of the street lights when I should have been watching the road. "A'right? I'll be there all th' way, a'right?"

Soon enough, the flash of street lights was replaced with the glaring white of a hospital room.

Marley
The minutes or hours of transit blurred together in a chunk of pain, breathing, and lights. My entire universe, which used to stretch from ocean to ocean in my mind, across lands and faces and things I've met while traveling... suddenly became so pointedly small. The only things that existed in my world were me, Cricket, and the child.

The child, the child... how long has it been since the pain started, I wasn't even sure anymore. How long had we been in this all too clean room with the all too clean doctors and nurses? Couldn't tell. More importantly, how much longer would it last? The doctor seemed worried about something, I could tell from the way his eyebrows were knitting in the center when he looked at me. Complications, maybe? ...Please, don't let it be that...

I needed something else to think about, maybe. There seemed to be no space between the contractions, no gap between the spasms in my lower gut and back that now had me all but gasping for air. Sweat beaded on my brow but it hurt too much to move, so I didn't wipe it away. ...I had given up on putting up a brave face at around hour twelve, and now, as we reached closer to the 15 hour mark, every couple minutes were accompanied by my short screams.

...I was starving, too, but they had already refused to feed me like, ten hours ago, so... screw them. Wish the doctor that gave me some BS about why that was a bad idea would someday have to spend HIS entire day popping out a baby only to be denied a sandwhich by some loser.

Speaking of the doctor, out of the corner of my eye I saw him approach Cricket, speaking in hushed tones as if he almost didn't want me to hear

"Sir, I'm afraid that there has been a grievous complication...her size..."

Cricket

It's times like these . . . that I really wish my hair were long again.

I didn't know where to look. I know that hospitals are a good thing, supposedly, but this felt like a torture scene in Cellblock Five. Add in too much light and too much clean in the place of dark and gore, and swap out the plastic masks for paper ones. There you have it. I felt as if I could just get her out of this place, she'd be fine.

I'd been kneeling there holding her hand for a while, to give myself something to do with my own. Now that the doctors had shooed me away, it took a simply horrible amount of restraint to stay put. I drummed my fingers, ran them through my hair, trying to hide my nervous expression.

. . . And then the doctor pulled me aside.

I'd been afraid of hearing that. My eyes flitted down. As if that might keep me from falling over, or the like . . . either that, or dash right back to the bedside. I cleared my throat. ". . . What can you do?"

He spoke quietly, carefully, hurriedly. "We can attempt a C-Section."

(I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I'M DOING =D)
Marley
If I thought the car ride was a blur, then this was a blink. The longest blink in my life, really, if that makes any sense... they gave me drugs that put a hazy curtain between me and everything else, then they put a physical curtain between me and my stomach as they cut.

...As they cut. Into my stomach. To get the baby. Because I was too tiny.

A lot to wrap my head around, especially with all the painkillers in my system. I wanted Cricket there beside me, to hold my hand, to smooth my hair, to smile, just... anything. But they had shooed him out, no boyfriend allowed... no boyfriend to comfort, to quiet my screams...

I briefly entertained the thought of trying to peak behind the curtain between me and the doctors pulling out my baby, but it was impossible. Besides, I was pretty sure they hadn't correctly calculated how little pain medication I'd need... I couldn't really even keep my face on anymore, let alone move...

Cricket

Quite literally the second I granted permission, the doctor pushed me out of the room, muttering some apology I couldn't make out and instructions to go wait in some place somewhere, that they'd get back to me. "But--!" As soon as I was out, more doctors came in. I caught a last glance at Marley before the door shut behind them.

. . . No. Bad wording. Not my last glance at Marley.

I hated the thought of her under those tools.

Deep breaths, Crick . . . She'll be alright. They'll take care of her. She'll be fine.

I slid down the wall, rubbing my temple, my hand then sliding down to meet the scar on my neck. I didn't do that too often anymore . . . I'd been trying not to for as long as I can remember. But for some reason it made up for a bit of comfort lost with my hair, so I let myself do it.

I took a breath, closed my eyes and waited.

Marley
"It's a girl" The doctor repeated for maybe the third or fourth time, with emphasis and maybe even a little bit of impatience. I struggled through my foggy brain just enough to see a little bundle in his arms, the bloody bundle that was already wailing and crowned with a mess of dark hair on its head. Wait. No. Her head. A little girl...

Before I even acknowledged him, he gave up and placed her in my arms. I almost weekly protested, after all, I could hardly even keep my eyes open long enough to look at her, how was I supposed to hold something so tiny...? She cried for a while longer and I wondered what I was doing wrong... maybe a nurse or doctor should take her, they'd know what to do, they'd-

She looked up at me with huge hazel eyes and I knew immediately she was a better thief than I was; only a few minutes old and she had stolen my heart. The doctor left to go get Cricket, and I smiled down at her

"Hi there, Luck..."

Cricket

I'm not sure how long it took. I'd been thinking . . . not about anything in particular, but that was the point. If I were thinking about anything in particular it would have been Marley, and that would drive me insane. But anyhow, it was a while of thinking about nothing before I heard the door open.

The doctor nearly tripped over me on his way out. "Woah-- oh. Congratulations, sir." I opened my eyes and looked up at him. He had a smile on his face. Congratulatio--? "They're both healthy. It's a--" I wordlessly stood and pushed past him, eyes wide in search of Marley's face.

"Marley!" I bounded over and grinned, relief hitting me like a cool gust of wind. I smoothed a piece of damp hair out of her eyes, kissed her forhead, held her face, and-- "Ooh." I blinked, noticing the tiny pink thing for the first time. ". . . Oi my my . . ." That was our baby.

Marley:
I laughed breathily as he burst through the door, my face lighting with a small smile and shining eyes. Joy exploded in my heart like fireworks, though honestly I was just so tired that it was getting hard to show it.

"A girl, Crick... Luck's a girl" I held her up a few inches closer to him the best I could, trying to support her. She actually stopped crying for a brief moment as if she was totally dumbfounded by the new turn of events "Go on, take her"

Cricket

A girl? A girl. Baby was a girl.

Take her?

I looked from Marley to the tiny pink thing to Marley.

"I'm allowed t' 'old it?" I'd never held a baby in my life. . . . Hell. I'd never seen a newborn baby in my life. Sure, I'd seen the jolly little fat-faced things in stollers in the city, but this one . . . this one was tiny. I didn't know it was possible to be that tiny. Was it possible to be so tiny? . . . Did I used to be that tiny? I was just born at some point, aye? So was Marley, I'm sure. How could anything start out so small?

I hesitantly reached out, feeling the slight weight of it in my arms. Its face kept turned to Marley, but I saw the wild tuft of dark, curling hair. Then I shifted it in my arms, and its head turned. Tiny pink lips. A little mound of a nose. Oi my my. She had Marley's eyes.

I stared at her. She stared back. There was a brief little whimper of a cry here and there. ". . . A girl, are you?" She squirmed, but I kept a hold of her, a smile flitting back on my lips. " 'ello, Luck."