Baby, Baby, Baby, Oh [Eli, Darryl]

[Midori Hawkins]

It had been Eli that had noticed it first. Midori had been content to think that Tory was performing his own little Cirque Du Soleil. Labor just hadn't occurred to her. Nothing escaped her best friend, however. He had picked up on her rhythmic shifting on the couch beside him, keeping track of time. When he'd finally suggested it, she had brushed him off. It couldn't be labor. She didn't want it to be labor. It was ten at night, and she was tired. She wanted to go to bed.

Unfortunately for her, the sharp contractions she woke to just two hours later made it so that she couldn't argue anymore. She'd stumbled, not quite fully awake, down the hall and told Eli that he was right. It was labor, and like it or not, she was going to the hospital. At his insistence, she had had her bag packed for over a week now, which he picked up. There was one thing she could say for Eli. In situations like this, he remained calm. Even as she picked up her cell phone to dial, he had been patiently waiting by the door, the purple duffel bag in hand.

"Hi, Mom? Um... it's... ow, happening. He's coming. Can you meet us at the hospital?" There was a pause, and a little smile flickered onto her face. "Yeah. I love you too."

She'd hung up after that, only to dial again. This time, her voice had been rougher. Perfect timing for another contraction. When she'd heard the sleepy voice on the other end, she'd just growled at him. "Darryl. It's happening. Now. Get your ass to the hospital when you can. Bye."

At the hospital, she'd been admitted and had held Eli's hand throughout the things she didn't like, like the IV. In between, she cycled between clinging to his hand and not wanting him to touch her. She felt bad for 'abusing' him when she was in pain, either attempting to crush his hand (thank God she didn't have enhanced strength) or lipping off. At least it didn't last long. As soon as her mother arrived, Eli had been released to the waiting area.

"Mom, it hurts," Mii whimpered as she let her head fall back onto the pillow. Evelyn smiled and brushed her daughter's hair back.

"I know. But I promise you, it's worth it." Mii wasn't so sure. As another contraction came, she tensed up and rolled onto her side.

"I'm going to kill him." Her mother didn't even have to ask. She just smiled and stroked her daughter's cheek.

"Just concentrate on Tory," she encouraged softly. "Darryl can wait."

[Eli Morrison]

Eli was pacing. He really wasn't good at stress.

He'd been the one to notice the contractions first, though he hadn't said anything until he was sure. He hadn't argued with Mii though, not then, and not when she'd knocked on his door two hours later.

He'd met Mrs. Hawkins for the first time when he was thirteen, and Mii had asked if he could come with them when they went out to lunch on family day. Since then he'd grown by about two feet, but he had the feeling that she still considered him the same lost, little boy he had been eleven years earlier.

He certainly felt lost now.

"Your wife is gonna be fine. And your baby. Stop pacing." A middle-aged nurse appeared by Eli's shoulder, making him jump.

"I'm not--she's not my wife." But Eli stopped pacing all the same and nodded, before sitting down on one of the low couches in the waiting room. "And he's not my baby. I'm just a friend."

"Just a friend who is stressing out the other people here. Now, you're here with Ms. Hawkins, right? Her mother is with her. They're fine."

"Right. Thank you." Eli nodded politely and pulled out his cell phone, then shot off a quick text to Darryl. Her mom's here. Where are you?

[Darryl Bond]

No one liked being growled at as soon as they woke up, or to be woken up with growling. So Darryl's mood upon waking up to his phone ringing after he'd gone to bed irritated him. At first, he wasn't even sure who was calling him, as he answered without checking who it was. "Darryl. It's happening. Now. Get your ass to the hospital when you can. Bye." She had said, then quickly hung up the phone.

"BABY!" Darryl yelled to his empty house while he scrambled out of bed. Oh shit. Oh shit. His comforter worked like a constrictor about his legs and he tripped and face planted on the floor. He groaned there for a moment before he crawled out of the blanket and to his dresser. It was absolutely dark in his house, but he knew his drawers well enough to pull out an assortment of clothing. He moved quickly into the bathroom and dressed in the light.

Oh yeah...he didn't have a car; even now. He'd known this moment would come soon. But he still hadn't got himself a car. He scrabbled for his phone and called the one person whom he knew he could borrow a car from; Morgan. The poor guy was sleeping, but quickly woke up as he was yelled at excitedly by Darryl. He invited him to come along, but Morgan declined, but agreed to let him borrow his car. In return, Darryl owed him a late night favor.

~*~

Hospital. Running, shouting, asking for directions, text message, tripping, catching, apologizing, running, arriving.

"I'm here! I'm here!" He exclaimed coming to a stop in the maternity ward waiting, he spotted Eli and trotted over. "Sorry I'm late. Always late. Always. Is she OK? Is the Baby OK?"

[Midori Hawkins]

Mii was blissfully unaware of what was going on in the waiting room. Between the contractions that were getting worse and worse, her mother's gentle encouragement, and the constant stream of doctors and nurses, she just wanted to be done. She wanted to go back to bed. However many times she voiced it, however, it wasn't going to happen. She would close her eyes and get poked awake again. She was supposed to be excited. Instead, she was tired, and scared.

A small part of her wanted Eli back with her. An even smaller part wanted Darryl there. But she knew that her mother would be the best coach. Eli had been good, for a little while. Enough to get her through the first part. But as time wore on, and the contractions got more painful, she knew that the worst was yet to come. The nurses did their best to encourage her. She actually liked one of them, enough to let herself be distracted by conversation until a stronger contraction came along.

The whole time, she apologized for her vocabulary. She cussed, yes, but now it was much worse. She felt awful for saying the things she was, because being in pain was no excuse. She'd already apologized to Eli for the things she'd said. (Many of them related to castration, or general comments about homicide.) The more intense labor got, the worse her language became.

"Fuck, Mom. How did Katie do this?" Mii was already sweating, and looked distinctly uncomfortable. She had no idea how her sister-in-law had done this once, let alone wanted to do it again. Evelyn smiled from her post by the bedside.

"A lot of encouragement," she offered. But the little smirk on her face told otherwise.

"What?"

"Corbin swears she nearly broke his hand." Mii smiled at that thought. Her big, strong brother reduced to whimpering because of his wife.

"I nearly broke Eli's, I think. When they put the IV in." Evelyn glanced at the door, briefly wondering how the two young men were faring in the waiting room. If Darryl was even there yet. Mii didn't care. As long as neither one was dead, she was fine. "I said some really mean things to him, too."

"All women do, honey. It's a right of labor. And I'm sure he knew you weren't angry with him." Mii managed a little smile before cursing again and curling up against herself. She wanted this to be over.

[Eli Morrison]

Eli had first met Evelyn Hawkins about ten years ago. He'd still been in high school then, a scrawny little kid who had leapfrogged from the fifth grade to his senior year in about a year and a half. On one of the days where Mii's parents had come to visit their daughter, she'd begged them to take her friend out to lunch too.

He'd been quiet as he ate his burger and fries, and polite when he thanked her parents for inviting him along.

He never told her that it was the first "family meal" he'd ever had.

So when Mrs. Hawkins had arrived to take over his post at Mii's bedside, he was satisfied that she was in the best possible hands. He didn't belong there, but had been a decent substitute in the meantime.

When Darryl arrived, looking distinctly worse for wear--Yes, Eli looked like he'd just rolled out of bed too, but that was normal for him--the librarian offered him a small smile and waved him over to the seat beside him. "Her mom's in there with her, and since I haven't heard otherwise, I'm assuming that means they're both okay. All three of them are okay." (He had to clarify, since he thought he sounded like both Mii and her mom were okay. Which was hopefully the case, but not exactly what Darryl was asking.)

"I haven't gotten any news, so I don't know what exactly is happening now, but....this is what's supposed to happen. She's been taking care of herself, so there shouldn't be any reason to worry." That's what he was telling himself, that is. Usually, knowing the statistics for things helped a good deal. But there weren't any printed statistics on the children of shapeshifters, and though everything had seemed okay when she'd seen the doctor, she had shifted before she found out she was pregnant.

[Darryl Bond]

All three of them are OK. Okay, yeah. That was good. Darryl nodded his head an excessive amount of times. He knew that when tonight came, it'd be stressful, but knowing it would be stressful then actually feeling the stress were two different things. He scratched his bed-tangled head and looked at the seats in the waiting area and then started to look around the rest of the lounge. Sitting wouldn't be possible at the moment, he was way too keyed up. He wouldn't be surprised if his voice started changing on him, as it tended to do if he was really out of it.

No news is good news. There weren't orderlies running about the halls, fretting. Things were good. It was just waiting now. A lot of waiting. Everything would be fine. Fine, fine fine. He tried to take a seat, his knee almost immediately began bouncing. He wasn't like Eli with the statistics, Darryl didn't like statistics nor did he really trust them. He worried. He worried about Mii and their baby being strangled by the umbilical cord--he'd read that it happened a lot, sadly--or that they'd have to do an emergency C-section because of something or another. In his mind, he was seeing many different scenarios where one or the other didn't make it. His nails were paying for it, as he bit down on them with each knew terrible possibility.

"How lon---" his voice cracked like he was going through puberty at that very moment and he paused to clear his throat. "How long do you think it'll take? I mean, not too long, right?"

[Midori Hawkins]

Labor. Sucked.

Mii wasn’t even keeping track of time anymore, nor was she paying attention to how far apart the damned contractions were. She didn’t care if they were ten minutes or two. It all felt the same. She cried, but she didn’t yell. She got to the point that if one more member of the medical team so much as looked at her, she would throw something at them.

Labor was frustrating.

Labor wasn’t pretty.

Labor wasn’t nearly short enough.

It was exhausting.

But, by the early morning, she finally got to relax.

At 6:49 a.m., Tory David Hawkins was finally born.

And Midori was exhausted. She looked a mess, and she knew it, but the moment she heard his first cries she managed to find the energy to prop herself up on her elbows and smile. “He’s okay? He’s okay, right?”

“He’s fine,” her mother assured her, gently pressing her daughter back down. “They’re just going to clean him up.” She stroked her cheek. “Do you want me to go and get Darryl and Eli?” Mii laid back and closed her eyes, nodding slowly.

“Yeah... tell them he’s okay.” She could hear her son fussing and whimpering over being dried off. As long as she kept hearing that, she’d be okay.

Evelyn smiled and left the room, slipping down the hall and into the waiting room. She found the two young men quickly enough and came to stand in front of them. “Eli? Darryl?” She smiled. “It’s over. Tory’s here, and they’re both fine. You can visit her in a few minutes.” She settled into a chair close to them, giving her daughter a few moments alone.

[Eli Morrison]

As soon as Mrs. Hawkins walked in, smiling, Eli stood up. "Are they okay?" But he was smiling too, because with the grin on her face, it was actually pretty obvious. "Good." Huh, why was he grinning like an idiot? That should be Darryl's job right about now.

Darryl. Eli's eyes flicked over to him as he realized he didn't know if the other man had ever met Mii's mother before. Mii hadn't said anything about it...

"You can go in, now," a nurse said, and Eli was halfway across before she finished. Luckily, it wasn't a thing where only one person could see her at a time. That might have been an issue, because despite the smile on Evelyn's face, he still had to see her to believe it.

Mii looked exhausted. He crossed the room to her and very gently touched her arm. It had only been a few hours since he'd stood there, letting her squeeze his hand. And now it was over, and her hands were busy cuddling the red, squishy-looking baby. Tory's eyes were closed, and his tiny little hands were curled into fists. "I didn't realize babies came with hats." His voice was soft and low; he was afraid of scaring the little human. "Or are they sold separately?"

[Darryl Bond]

Darryl had not met Midori's mother, and hadn't really heard a lot about her, other than the fact she raised Midori, and gardened sometimes with the girl but had to stop thanks to one of her other child's antics. Darryl felt awkward, a little, because this was the first time he was going to meet the woman, but the baby weighed a lot heavier on his mind. He'd started biting his nails down to the quick after the first minute.

When Eli stood up, Darryl looked up and around, his heart started pattering in worry, but then he caught sight of the grin and his face absolutely bloomed. He wanted to just run in and see him, right then, but Eli didn't immediately go into her room (and Darryl didn't know which room it was because he hadn't seen Mama Hawkins walk in). He switched to biting the nails on his other hand and he bolted across the room after Eli, while the nurse told them they could go in.

Darryl was second into the room, which was fine by Darryl, as long as he finally got to see. He went over to Midori's other side--the one that wasn't occupied by Eli--and he smiled faintly at the man's joke. Darryl couldn't get his voice to work at the moment, and he half feared he'd use someone else's voice. His fingers shook as he reached out to touch the little baby, just on the hand.

It was really real.

Darryl was a father.

[Midori Hawkins]

For what it was worth, all the pain and stress of labor, the moment Midori held her son in her arms for the first time, all of it vanished from her mind. All that mattered now was Tory. Tiny, six pound Tory. He seemed to have cried himself out during his clean up, and was content to just sleep now. She couldn’t stop looking at him, brushing the blanket away from his face to get a better view. He was really here.

A passing nurse warned her of her incoming company, and as soon as she saw Eli, she grinned at him and propped the sleeping baby up just a bit, not quite enough to disturb him. “Look at him, Eli. Isn’t he incredible?” Though his joke made her roll her eyes, she still had to laugh, albeit quietly. “You’re such a dork,” she murmured at him. Still, she was glad to have him there. He was her best friend, and had let her abuse his hand until her mother could rescue him.

And then Darryl was there. Mii glanced his way, well aware that if it wasn’t for him, none of them would be where they were now. She’d always wanted to be a mother, and though this hadn’t been the way she’d planned it, she couldn’t be happier now. Even if it meant she and Darryl still had some things to sort out between them regarding their son. As Darryl reached out to touch Tory, the baby flexed his hand and gripped onto his father’s fingers. “He likes you,” she said quietly, eyes back on Tory. Between her best friend/housemate, her son, and her son’s father, they made up an odd little group. But at that moment, she wouldn’t trade it for anything.