just_1_word | 22.7. Early
22.7. Early
Co-written with justalilcontact | Occurs late afternoon March 16th 2009
It was the evening before St Patrick's Day and Chase and Rogue's backyard had become an amateur cricket ground. Spread out around the backyard was Chase, Lachlan, Riley, Luke and Aiden playing a beer-fuelled game of cricket. Daisy was out there, of course, trying to help, which seemed to have constituted chasing the ball and stealing it when she managed to catch it without tripping over her ears. Then once she stole it, she tried to bury it and one of the guys inevitably had to end up in a wrestling match and getting the puppy to relinquish the ball by offering a dog chocolate in return. The dog was definitely a Chase.
The cricket game had been urged by the wives or significant others in the guys' lives on the proviso they didn't get too drunk and wouldn't get too drunk the following day for St Paddy's. It was a reluctant agreement, but practical. They all had things going on in their lives that staying mostly sober made sense. As it was, the game had been nothing but sheer male bonding from the start. There was yelling, swearing, joking, piss-pulling, interesting hand gestures, farting, scratching, smirking... you name it. Even the fact cricket won out over soccer/football was a miracle. Lachlan, as a Scot, wasn't particularly a fan of cricket and passionately jumped in favour of football. Chase, as an Aussie, passionately jumped in favour of cricket. There was a stand-off and resolved by three rounds of Rock, Paper, Scissors, which Chase won and Lachlan sulked about for a good two minutes. Which now all found Chase at the bat and Lachlan bowling on opposing sides. But this time, it seemed Lachlan was ready to extract a wee bit of Scottish revenge. He gave Chase no warning as to when he was going to bowl and launched the hard ball at his friend with a wicked smirk, proving that although he was Scottish, cricket wasn't totally beyond him.
Chase wasn't totally ready, though. Instead he had been adjusting himself in his jeans and laughing at Riley giving Luke the bird to the left. The ball caught him hard in the nads and Chase dropped the bat, doubling over with a shocked squeak, followed by a deep groan and a breathless string of profanities. "Campbell, you tosser!" he moaned while the rest of the guys inevitably started to laugh their arses off. Because, you know, being a guy, when a friend got hit in the family jewels, it was always hilarious.
The closer Rogue got to her due date, the less she wanted to do. She remembered Tara at Christmas just sitting on the sofa with hot chocolate, but chocolate right now was a big no for Rogue. The normally sweet treat had suddenly started to turn her off, resulting in gagging and turning an interesting shade of green. Instead, she'd taken a definite liking to flat lemonade and ice cubes. Rogue had been sitting with her feet up on another chair, sunglasses on so she could watch the fun without squinting. Or so she could dose off without anyone really noticing.
The moment Chase had been injured she'd been on her feet, ready to go over and try and help. She'd made it two steps before she'd pushed her sunglasses up onto the top of her head and bit her lip. "Um, Doc?"
Chase had managed to fold right over so his forehead was planted in the grass and Daisy was licking his ear. He hardly noticed the wet tongue. "I just need a minute, babe," he managed to get out, the comment sounding much like a whine and a whimper at the same time. He decided a face full of grass was better than the alternative of actually moving.
Rogue cleared her throat as she watched her husband get licked by their puppy. It would have been adorable if her mind wasn't on other things. "Ya kinda don't have a minute, sugar. My water just broke."
From where his face was squished into the ground, Chase blinked. Did she just say her water broke? No. It was early. She still had a good six or seven days, right? He turned his head to the side, grass clippings stuck up the side of his cheek and temple. "No, it didn't," he reflexively said back and got into a sort of sitting, crouching position. "Because that would mean your water broke and it's not even Saturday yet." It made sense in his mind, anyway, even if the rest of the guys had fallen silent and were now staring wide-eyed at his wife.
"Yeah, it did. And I'm still standin' in a giant wet patch that I can assure ya ain't where I just peed myself, or split my drink. Because it's hard to spill ya drink between ya legs when ya breasts are currently as big as mine." Rogue looked at Chase, her voice still even. There was no panic, not yet. "Ya said it yourself that Mia would decide when she was gonna come. I think she's decided." She didn't look away from Chase, her focus on him even if she was aware of all the eyes on her.
Chase just stared at her in shock, then his eyes went to stare at the wet patch. The rational sanity in his mind seemed to have come to a grinding halt; or perhaps that was the hit to the balls. Either way, when Lachlan seemed to leap across the lawn to take Rogue's arm, Chase's brain kicked back into gear with a dull thud somewhere between his ears. "Well, stop her!" he shrieked and got to his feet in a scrambling stumble. "Tell her to stop!" he added for emphasis. All those times he had said he didn't get his MD off a Cornflakes packet was suddenly seeming defunct. Wasn't he a doctor?
Rogue nearly pulled her arm out of Lachlan's grip until she remembered she had on long sleeves, so it was safe. Last thing she wanted was to be in labour and knocking out her husband's friend and spending the rest of the day as a Scottish man. "Doc! What is it with you men? Don't make me slap ya 'cause I will. Ya can't stop this, okay? As much as I really ain't ready for--ungh." Rogue was cut off by a crippling contraction and she puffed out her cheeks as she tried to remember all her breathing. "Don't make me call Logan! He'll stick his claws up ya ass so ya get movin'."
Chase looked at Lachlan when the Scotsman winced, clearly having flashbacks of his own son's birth just from Rogue's tone and threats. When his mate pointedly told him to shut the hell up and do whatever she said, Chase felt close to wetting himself and he waved his hands helplessly. "We didn't even pack your bag yet! And we didn't practice the drive to the hospital!" It didn't matter that he did the drive every single day and could map out PPTH with his eyes closed. But instead, he just snapped his mouth shut with a squeak and paced back and forth in front of his wife just once. His brain really had short-circuited. But he also really didn't want claws up his arse. "Hospital! Why are you all just bloody standing there?!"
There seemed to have been an electric shock that went through everyone at Chase's words, and they all started to move. Lachlan was waiting by Rogue's side though, apparently thinking that Chase was the one that should take his own wife. Rogue listened as orders got shouted around all over the place and Tara and Evie disappeared into the house to pack Rogue a bag. Daisy couldn't work out who to follow, and just ran around barking after anyone that moved past her.
Rogue looked at Chase and reached out her hand to take his in hers firmly. "I'm havin' our baby!" she said in a loud whisper, her eyes wide. Another contraction had Rogue grunting in pain, and she accidently squeezed his hand tightly, her grip iron tight.
"OwwwwWWWW-W!" Chase cried, twisting to try and dilute the pain. "That hurt! Oh shit, don't hit me! Please!" He straightened up and shook his shoulders. "I'm good. We can do this. We can. Right, babe? Right?" His words came out in a panicked rush and he had already broken out in a panicked sweat. He appreciated Lachlan hovering close because he was suddenly petrified that he was going to fuck this up, for Rogue and for his daughter. Plus, Rogue was kind of tied up and if someone needed to boot Chase up the arse to keep him on track, Lachlan would likely happily oblige.
Rogue managed a shaky laugh and released Chase's hand long enough to grip the neck of his t-shirt and pull him close, her brown eyes gazing into his blue. "We can do this, sugar. We have to." She surprised even herself when she caught Chase's mouth in a kiss, then pushed him away as another contraction hit.
Chase nodded furiously, trying to swallow to wet his dry throat. Lachlan was on a cell phone now, probably alerting the hospital in advance they were coming. Chase already had the OB/GYN briefed about Rogue's special needs. He didn't need to explain why her skin couldn't be touched. It was a medical request and no one had argued. He had a private labour suite booked well in advance, too, plus a private room in Maternity. The midwife had been told that Rogue was a mutant, only for the pure sake that if the baby had similar abilities, skin on skin contact could become an issue. But it was an issue Chase couldn't think about right now or he would lose it. "Oh my god," he said with an uncertain smile, only managing not to burst into tears. "It's real."
Rogue sucked in a sharp breath and nodded as she tried to walk and deal with the contractions. She briefly wondered if she'd have been able to teleport while in labour, another reason Kurt's ability was ten times handier than hers. Then she started thinking about her skin and if she'd be able to touch her baby and the tears started to flow. "I can't do this!" she said suddenly. "I just can't. I'm not ready. Make it stop! Doc, please. Make it stop!"
Chase's emotions were already primed too and he promptly burst into tears when his wife started crying. His hands were shaking as he took both of hers and gripped them in his. "Marie, you have to, babe. She's going to be a whole lot worse off staying in there if she's decided she wants to come now. You've got to do this for her and I know... I know, it hurts. And it's scary, but I need you to be strong and if you can't be, I'll be strong for both of us, okay? At least, I can try, and if I fuck it up, someone will be there to kick me up the arse and get me moving again."
Rogue bit down on her lip and started to shake her head emphatically. "I can't! I don't wanna kill her!" she cried, sobbing even harder as she saw her husband cry as well. "Shit, fuck, bugger! I just can't. I don't want her unsafe in me, but I don't want her to find out her Momma can kill her with a touch, either." She snorted inelgantly and looked at Chase. There was another internal battle that was shown on her face before she took a deep breath, and blew it out slowly. "We're really gonna have our little girl, aren't we?"
"She's already inside you, she's already touching you. We're going to do everything we can to make sure she's okay!" Chase said, panicking. "D-Do you want Hank here? Or anyone? I'll demand anyone from Xavier's come or I'll fucking kill them with my own hands," he insisted with a small growl of his own. He was getting desperate and he really would kill anyone Rogue asked for if they didn't come to her. If he couldn't be enough for her right now, he wanted someone who could be. "Yes, we are, but you'll put her more at risk if you don't stay strong, babe. Your blood pressure could raise, your heart rate could become unstable, your breathing... you need to think of her and be her Mum even before she's here," he urged, keeping a tight grip on her hands. Hopefully she knew he wasn't going to let go.
Rogue gave a nod, but the tears were still coming. Chase was enough, she knew that. She was just having one of those insecure momenths that--
"Arrrrghhhh!" More breathing, more puffing of her cheeks as she tried to breathe through the pain. "Who the fuck decided breathing was a pain killer?!" she asked as she gritted her teeth. "We need to get to the goddamn drugs now."
Chase nodded. "Okay, hospital. We have to go. Like, now," he said, feeling his own heart racing. "It's cool. We'll be cool..." Though he wasn't sure who he was trying to convince anymore.
All muses referenced with permission and are from the princeton2nyc universe
Word Count | 2,209
Co-written with justalilcontact | Occurs late afternoon March 16th 2009
It was the evening before St Patrick's Day and Chase and Rogue's backyard had become an amateur cricket ground. Spread out around the backyard was Chase, Lachlan, Riley, Luke and Aiden playing a beer-fuelled game of cricket. Daisy was out there, of course, trying to help, which seemed to have constituted chasing the ball and stealing it when she managed to catch it without tripping over her ears. Then once she stole it, she tried to bury it and one of the guys inevitably had to end up in a wrestling match and getting the puppy to relinquish the ball by offering a dog chocolate in return. The dog was definitely a Chase.
The cricket game had been urged by the wives or significant others in the guys' lives on the proviso they didn't get too drunk and wouldn't get too drunk the following day for St Paddy's. It was a reluctant agreement, but practical. They all had things going on in their lives that staying mostly sober made sense. As it was, the game had been nothing but sheer male bonding from the start. There was yelling, swearing, joking, piss-pulling, interesting hand gestures, farting, scratching, smirking... you name it. Even the fact cricket won out over soccer/football was a miracle. Lachlan, as a Scot, wasn't particularly a fan of cricket and passionately jumped in favour of football. Chase, as an Aussie, passionately jumped in favour of cricket. There was a stand-off and resolved by three rounds of Rock, Paper, Scissors, which Chase won and Lachlan sulked about for a good two minutes. Which now all found Chase at the bat and Lachlan bowling on opposing sides. But this time, it seemed Lachlan was ready to extract a wee bit of Scottish revenge. He gave Chase no warning as to when he was going to bowl and launched the hard ball at his friend with a wicked smirk, proving that although he was Scottish, cricket wasn't totally beyond him.
Chase wasn't totally ready, though. Instead he had been adjusting himself in his jeans and laughing at Riley giving Luke the bird to the left. The ball caught him hard in the nads and Chase dropped the bat, doubling over with a shocked squeak, followed by a deep groan and a breathless string of profanities. "Campbell, you tosser!" he moaned while the rest of the guys inevitably started to laugh their arses off. Because, you know, being a guy, when a friend got hit in the family jewels, it was always hilarious.
The closer Rogue got to her due date, the less she wanted to do. She remembered Tara at Christmas just sitting on the sofa with hot chocolate, but chocolate right now was a big no for Rogue. The normally sweet treat had suddenly started to turn her off, resulting in gagging and turning an interesting shade of green. Instead, she'd taken a definite liking to flat lemonade and ice cubes. Rogue had been sitting with her feet up on another chair, sunglasses on so she could watch the fun without squinting. Or so she could dose off without anyone really noticing.
The moment Chase had been injured she'd been on her feet, ready to go over and try and help. She'd made it two steps before she'd pushed her sunglasses up onto the top of her head and bit her lip. "Um, Doc?"
Chase had managed to fold right over so his forehead was planted in the grass and Daisy was licking his ear. He hardly noticed the wet tongue. "I just need a minute, babe," he managed to get out, the comment sounding much like a whine and a whimper at the same time. He decided a face full of grass was better than the alternative of actually moving.
Rogue cleared her throat as she watched her husband get licked by their puppy. It would have been adorable if her mind wasn't on other things. "Ya kinda don't have a minute, sugar. My water just broke."
From where his face was squished into the ground, Chase blinked. Did she just say her water broke? No. It was early. She still had a good six or seven days, right? He turned his head to the side, grass clippings stuck up the side of his cheek and temple. "No, it didn't," he reflexively said back and got into a sort of sitting, crouching position. "Because that would mean your water broke and it's not even Saturday yet." It made sense in his mind, anyway, even if the rest of the guys had fallen silent and were now staring wide-eyed at his wife.
"Yeah, it did. And I'm still standin' in a giant wet patch that I can assure ya ain't where I just peed myself, or split my drink. Because it's hard to spill ya drink between ya legs when ya breasts are currently as big as mine." Rogue looked at Chase, her voice still even. There was no panic, not yet. "Ya said it yourself that Mia would decide when she was gonna come. I think she's decided." She didn't look away from Chase, her focus on him even if she was aware of all the eyes on her.
Chase just stared at her in shock, then his eyes went to stare at the wet patch. The rational sanity in his mind seemed to have come to a grinding halt; or perhaps that was the hit to the balls. Either way, when Lachlan seemed to leap across the lawn to take Rogue's arm, Chase's brain kicked back into gear with a dull thud somewhere between his ears. "Well, stop her!" he shrieked and got to his feet in a scrambling stumble. "Tell her to stop!" he added for emphasis. All those times he had said he didn't get his MD off a Cornflakes packet was suddenly seeming defunct. Wasn't he a doctor?
Rogue nearly pulled her arm out of Lachlan's grip until she remembered she had on long sleeves, so it was safe. Last thing she wanted was to be in labour and knocking out her husband's friend and spending the rest of the day as a Scottish man. "Doc! What is it with you men? Don't make me slap ya 'cause I will. Ya can't stop this, okay? As much as I really ain't ready for--ungh." Rogue was cut off by a crippling contraction and she puffed out her cheeks as she tried to remember all her breathing. "Don't make me call Logan! He'll stick his claws up ya ass so ya get movin'."
Chase looked at Lachlan when the Scotsman winced, clearly having flashbacks of his own son's birth just from Rogue's tone and threats. When his mate pointedly told him to shut the hell up and do whatever she said, Chase felt close to wetting himself and he waved his hands helplessly. "We didn't even pack your bag yet! And we didn't practice the drive to the hospital!" It didn't matter that he did the drive every single day and could map out PPTH with his eyes closed. But instead, he just snapped his mouth shut with a squeak and paced back and forth in front of his wife just once. His brain really had short-circuited. But he also really didn't want claws up his arse. "Hospital! Why are you all just bloody standing there?!"
There seemed to have been an electric shock that went through everyone at Chase's words, and they all started to move. Lachlan was waiting by Rogue's side though, apparently thinking that Chase was the one that should take his own wife. Rogue listened as orders got shouted around all over the place and Tara and Evie disappeared into the house to pack Rogue a bag. Daisy couldn't work out who to follow, and just ran around barking after anyone that moved past her.
Rogue looked at Chase and reached out her hand to take his in hers firmly. "I'm havin' our baby!" she said in a loud whisper, her eyes wide. Another contraction had Rogue grunting in pain, and she accidently squeezed his hand tightly, her grip iron tight.
"OwwwwWWWW-W!" Chase cried, twisting to try and dilute the pain. "That hurt! Oh shit, don't hit me! Please!" He straightened up and shook his shoulders. "I'm good. We can do this. We can. Right, babe? Right?" His words came out in a panicked rush and he had already broken out in a panicked sweat. He appreciated Lachlan hovering close because he was suddenly petrified that he was going to fuck this up, for Rogue and for his daughter. Plus, Rogue was kind of tied up and if someone needed to boot Chase up the arse to keep him on track, Lachlan would likely happily oblige.
Rogue managed a shaky laugh and released Chase's hand long enough to grip the neck of his t-shirt and pull him close, her brown eyes gazing into his blue. "We can do this, sugar. We have to." She surprised even herself when she caught Chase's mouth in a kiss, then pushed him away as another contraction hit.
Chase nodded furiously, trying to swallow to wet his dry throat. Lachlan was on a cell phone now, probably alerting the hospital in advance they were coming. Chase already had the OB/GYN briefed about Rogue's special needs. He didn't need to explain why her skin couldn't be touched. It was a medical request and no one had argued. He had a private labour suite booked well in advance, too, plus a private room in Maternity. The midwife had been told that Rogue was a mutant, only for the pure sake that if the baby had similar abilities, skin on skin contact could become an issue. But it was an issue Chase couldn't think about right now or he would lose it. "Oh my god," he said with an uncertain smile, only managing not to burst into tears. "It's real."
Rogue sucked in a sharp breath and nodded as she tried to walk and deal with the contractions. She briefly wondered if she'd have been able to teleport while in labour, another reason Kurt's ability was ten times handier than hers. Then she started thinking about her skin and if she'd be able to touch her baby and the tears started to flow. "I can't do this!" she said suddenly. "I just can't. I'm not ready. Make it stop! Doc, please. Make it stop!"
Chase's emotions were already primed too and he promptly burst into tears when his wife started crying. His hands were shaking as he took both of hers and gripped them in his. "Marie, you have to, babe. She's going to be a whole lot worse off staying in there if she's decided she wants to come now. You've got to do this for her and I know... I know, it hurts. And it's scary, but I need you to be strong and if you can't be, I'll be strong for both of us, okay? At least, I can try, and if I fuck it up, someone will be there to kick me up the arse and get me moving again."
Rogue bit down on her lip and started to shake her head emphatically. "I can't! I don't wanna kill her!" she cried, sobbing even harder as she saw her husband cry as well. "Shit, fuck, bugger! I just can't. I don't want her unsafe in me, but I don't want her to find out her Momma can kill her with a touch, either." She snorted inelgantly and looked at Chase. There was another internal battle that was shown on her face before she took a deep breath, and blew it out slowly. "We're really gonna have our little girl, aren't we?"
"She's already inside you, she's already touching you. We're going to do everything we can to make sure she's okay!" Chase said, panicking. "D-Do you want Hank here? Or anyone? I'll demand anyone from Xavier's come or I'll fucking kill them with my own hands," he insisted with a small growl of his own. He was getting desperate and he really would kill anyone Rogue asked for if they didn't come to her. If he couldn't be enough for her right now, he wanted someone who could be. "Yes, we are, but you'll put her more at risk if you don't stay strong, babe. Your blood pressure could raise, your heart rate could become unstable, your breathing... you need to think of her and be her Mum even before she's here," he urged, keeping a tight grip on her hands. Hopefully she knew he wasn't going to let go.
Rogue gave a nod, but the tears were still coming. Chase was enough, she knew that. She was just having one of those insecure momenths that--
"Arrrrghhhh!" More breathing, more puffing of her cheeks as she tried to breathe through the pain. "Who the fuck decided breathing was a pain killer?!" she asked as she gritted her teeth. "We need to get to the goddamn drugs now."
Chase nodded. "Okay, hospital. We have to go. Like, now," he said, feeling his own heart racing. "It's cool. We'll be cool..." Though he wasn't sure who he was trying to convince anymore.
All muses referenced with permission and are from the princeton2nyc universe
Word Count | 2,209