It's about time --3am(Tag Tyr, then eventually Juliet)

[mjrhoulihan]

Margaret couldn't sleep. She tried to be careful and quiet, trying not to wake Tyr getting up for the fourth time that night. She put on robe and slippers and padded into the nursery and turning on the light, taking a cloth to the furniture in case some dust had settled on it in the last fifteen minutes. She checked and re-folded and rearranged the

Comments

[kodiak_tyr]

There was something in the air. It was more than Margaret's wakefulness, which Tyr had been monitoring like he'd been watching everything else related to her and her condition. There was a different something.

Scent? Feeling?

Pain.

It took a few repetitions to register that Margaret was having pains. Regular pains. What else could it be? He rose silently.

"Do you think you're ready?" he asked quietly. She was so close to being Nietzschean in her natural ways that it seemed likely that she'd know. Why she would wait for him instead of telling him... It could be subliminal, or it could be last concerns. it could be that she wanted him to ask. He smiled slightly. "Physically. Everything else has been ready."

They were both as prepared as they could be. The rest was a battle to be fought at the time.

[mjrhoulihan]

She hadn't wanted to disturb him, but she could not deny the feeling of reassurance that swept her at the sight of his big, solid presence, she would almost swear that there was a chill in the room and his presence radiated a warmth that dispelled it. Her face and bearing relaxed.

"I wasn't sure, I didn't want to raise any false alarms, but I think it might be." She had to pause then, hand to her stomach which hardened and contracted visibly as she breathed slowly, steadily, her entire attention drawn inward, concentrating on relaxing.

[kodiak_tyr]

"I think you're right." He was fairly sure it was time. "Can you walk to the clinic?"

He could carry her.

"There's enough time. I can carry you. The doctor can come here." It's not that he wasn't nervous or excited, because he was. There was no reason not to do what needed to be done in the off chance that Margaret felt like being unreasonable.

Childbirth was painful and there was no need to keep herself calm if the mother didn't feel like it, not when she had someone to take care of things. Margaret had taken care to be sure she was taken care of. Tyr appreciated her advance planning.

[mjrhoulihan]

She nodded,

"Walking is good, strengthens the contractions. The bag is packed, it is in the closet near the door." Margaret was going to be calm because Margaret didn't DO panic. She did take charge. Of course she also did 'bust heads if people aren't doing what she orders' but there was no need for that...yet.

[kodiak_tyr]

He knew where the bag was, but didn't bother saying that. She knew he knew. He just got it and her coat, and his coat. He got dressed quickly, and armed. Precious cargo.

[mjrhoulihan]

Margaret meanwhile got out of her pajamas, and put on her loosest pants, and a tent-like top easily slipped off. Then she sent a quick message to Juliet.

When she saw him, armed, standing by the door with her bag and her coat, the significance of the moment really dawned on her. This would be the last time they would leave this room just a couple. When they came back it would be as parents. She took a deep breath, a radiant smile on her face.

"Oh, Tyr, it really is time!" Then she laughed for feeling the need to say something so obvious.

[kodiak_tyr]

He was more than ready, but took a moment to look at her very seriously.

"We can always wait if you're not ready."

He was feeling somewhat whimsical.

[mjrhoulihan]

Margaret's breathless laugh of excitement turned to a full on belly laugh. Then she schooled her face to seriousness,

"Take my word for it, as a nurse, it doesn't work that way."

She was not able to keep the straight face, and was grinning again as she took her coat from him with a nod of thanks.

"Good thing for me I am ready. The next few hours are going to be a big pain in...well near the butt, but I am so happy."

[kodiak_tyr]

Knowing what they were in for didn't necessarily make the reality any better, but this wasn't for fun.

"As long as you're happy." It was time to leave. Tyr considered the elevator and decided that it was safe enough--less likely to fail now than Margaret was to slip down the stairs. The clinic was across the village, which was enough walking to keep things moving.

"You're not armed, are you?" Just checking. Either answer could be the correct one.

[mjrhoulihan]

She shook her head.

"No, I wouldn't be able to concentrate to aim and shoot during a contraction."

She walked matter-of-factly, though awkwardly to the elevator and out into the street. Three times during the walk she had to stop and lean against a building and just breathe.

It was instinctive for a female to want to be in a safe place while laboring, and Margaret was out in a street at night. But she was with Tyr, and that made these particular streets a safe place as far as she was concerned. She was able to relax and focus her attention inward, concentrating or the relaxation response she had conditioned into herself, allowing her contractions to work unimpeded, and efficiently. She nodded to him at the end of each one, ready to walk on.

"Juliet says she will meet us there." She said after checking her messenger. The giddiness was gone. Margaret had her 'game face' on now that the contractions were getting longer and stronger.

[kodiak_tyr]

"I didn't mean for during labor. I'll be there." Armed.

He was as patient as he could be, monitoring pace, pains, and surroundings with extreme paranoia. Nothing was going to interrupt this, and any being that considered trying would pay to the utmost of his abilities.

Fortunately, that was not required. Things were safer in the clinic, with regular security already in place and Tyr's presence to oversee things.

He was expecting Juliet to have arrived first and hadn't heard her in the streets.

[mjrhoulihan]

Margaret wasn't sure if Juliet had already arrived or not. She knew she would arrive in time, so it didn't matter. She marched herself up to the front desk and checked herself in as if she were the head nurse, not a patient, but if the nurses and clerk on duty rolled their eyes, they didn't do it where she could see it.

Once into a room and assigned a bed, they strapped two monitors to her belly, one over each hearbeat. Margaret looked at the screens for each one, delighting in the strong steady beat each one showed.

She looked over at Tyr with a smile for him to share her satisfaction with her.

[island_juliet]

Juliet had to get dressed, and it was the only reason why Margaret made it to the clinic before she did. She jogged the entire way there, in part to hurry and in part to wake herself up. The cold and the exercise had her ready to go, and she put on a pair of scrubs once she got there.

Making her way into the room, she flipped through the chart that one of the nurses provided to her. "How you doing Margaret?" she asked once she was in the room, and she smiled at both of them.

[mjrhoulihan]

ooc: Tyr, Juliet Margaret tagging order?

[mjrhoulihan]

"Oh we are all fine," Margaret said happily, then felt a contraction beginning, so she took a deep breath and purposefully relaxed herself breathing through the contraction slowly and steadily as it did its work.

Tyr could handle any talking for her for the next couple of minutes.

The contractions were getting longer, and stronger and closer together, she was going to have to switch to the next breathing pattern soon. She hadn't ruled out an epidural if she found the pains unbearable, but so far they were nowhere near that. Strong, but predictable, and finite, and for a good reason, they would have to be much, much worse before she would prefer trying to hold still while someone poked a needle between her vertebrae.