Fic: BigBang 2011 - The Works Of His Hands Are Faithful And Just (6/7+Epilogue)
With long life He will satisfy them,
Jeff had promised to be there in less than fifteen minutes and Jensen kept pacing up and down in their living-room while he waited. He did not dare to go back to their bedroom, afraid that Jared, who had obviously gone back to sleep, might wake up and realized what was going on. The last thing he needed right now was to deal with his panicking lover. Jensen was sure that the ride to the hospital would already be nerve-wracking enough for him as it was.
The only good thing was that the contractions were really uncomfortable but definitely within his pain tolerance so that he stopped pacing whenever one hit and calmly breathed through the pain until it subsided. He was well aware of the fact that the pain would get stronger as his labor progressed but for now he was still confident that he could manage it.
Finally, a little over ten minutes after he had hung up the phone with Jeff, he heard the sound of a key turning in their front door lock and sent a silent prayer heavenwards. Now he at least had Jeff to help him take care of the situation and ensure that Jared wouldn’t freak out too badly.
“Jensen,” the older man exclaimed and carefully wrapped his arms around his former student. “How’re you holding up, son?”
“I’m okay but I haven’t told…”
“Jensen?” Jared’s questioning voice interrupted his explanation. “What’s… Why’s Jeff here? Did you…”
Another contraction snuck up on the pregnant man and he braced himself against his old mentor as he started his breathing exercise, his eyes fixed on Jared hoping to keep him calm.
“Oh my God, are you in…” Jared was so shocked that he wasn’t even able to finish his question, standing frozen to the spot in the doorway of their small living room.
“Yes, Jared. Jensen is in labor and that’s why you’re going to try and stay calm and help me get him to the hospital,” Jeff pointed out in his soothing, paternal voice and turned his gaze to Jensen. “Have you called Steve and Chris?”
Jensen nodded as he tried to get his breathing under control. He was still staring at Jared, trying to silently apologize for lying to him when he had said that he was just going to the bathroom.
“Good.” Jeff nodded in approval and curled one arm firmly around Jensen’s lower back to support him as best as possible on the way to his car. “Jared, is there anything you need to take to the hospital?”
Jared looked around frantically but didn’t move from the spot.
“The grey backpack next to the dresser, Jay,” Jensen helpfully supplied, leaning heavily on Jeff. He hadn’t timed the interval between the last two contractions but they seemed to be coming closer together than when he had called his friend and surrogate father.
“Right, the grey backpack,” Jared confirmed dazedly and ran back to their bedroom to fetch the mentioned item that basically contained a change of comfortable clothes for Jensen and a few baby clothes they had already bought for their son.
“Okay, now let’s get you into the car and safely to the hospital. I bet Steve and Chris are already waiting for us,” Jeff said calmly, attempting to keep Jared from freaking out any further. “Press the elevator button, son,” he nodded in the direction of the elevator as he locked eyes with Jared.
They stepped into the elevator and then shuffled out of the building and straight towards his old black jeep.
Jeff waited for the next contraction to ease and for Jensen to take a deep calming breath before soothingly patting his side. “Take it easy, son. Jared? Get in the back of the car first,” Jeff instructed and waited for the young man to scramble onto the back bench of the car, holding out his arms for Jensen. “There you go…” he mumbled in his deep rich voice and gently maneuvered Jensen into Jared’s waiting arms before running around the car and jumping into the driver’s seat.
When they reached the clinic, Steve and Chris were already waiting for them at the double doors with a wheelchair for Jensen.
“Hey, Father Jeff,” Chris greeted as he saw Jeff pulling up right next to them and jumping out of his jeep to help Jensen and Jared to get out.
“Christian, it’s good to see you,” Jeff easily replied and chuckled as Chris bristled at the use of his full name. “You, too, Steve,” he added, nodding at the other man before leaning forward and very slowly hauling Jensen out of the backseat and into a standing position.
Chris was ready with the wheelchair and immediately rolled it closer to his friend, taking over for Jeff while the older man took care of a visibly shaky Jared that was folding his tall frame out of the car as well. “You okay, Jen?” he asked as he gently lowered the pregnant man into the chair.
“It’s nothing that I can’t handle so far. I’m more worried about Jared…” Jensen clarified, rubbing at the lower curve of his hugely distended belly to alleviate the pressure that had gradually been building up in the hour since he had woken up from his nap.
“Do you need to sit down, Jared? You look a bit green,” Steve said in greeting and grabbed for the young man’s shoulder to make sure he would stay upright. “I can get you a wheelchair as well, if you need one.”
Jeff declined on Jared’s behalf but didn’t let go of him because he was just as concerned about him fainting as Steve seemed to be. “I’ve got him, go and take care of Jensen.”
“Yes, sir,” Steve responded and was already at Jensen’s side while Chris wheeled him towards the back entrance of the clinic so they wouldn’t have to pass through the crowded waiting room. “How far apart are the contractions, Jen?” Steve demanded, going into doctors’ mode and assessing the situation.
“Less than four or maybe three minutes I think,” Jensen answered, craning his neck to keep an eye on Jared who was following them with Jeff right at his side. “Must’ve slept through the beginning.”
“That’s good. Did your water already break?”
He turned back to Steve who had asked him another question. “No… No, yet…”
“That’s alright. I told Marianne to get exam four ready for you and Dr. Mitchell is on his way over. Just in case you change your mind…”
“I really don’t want anyone else in the room if we don’t need them,” Jensen stuck with his original opinion and groaned when the next contraction started filling his body. “This one’s worse…” he rasped, trying not to be too vocal about his discomfort so he wouldn’t give Jared any more reason to worry.
“Okay, I promise we won’t let anyone in if things go smoothly and Chris and I can do everything on our own. Now we need to get you out of those clothes so I can check how far along you already are, Jen.” Steve held the door to the prepared room open so Chris could push Jensen’s wheelchair inside and waited until Jeff led a trembling Jared, who still looked like he was about to faint, into the room as well.
Chris waited for his friend to recover from the last contraction and then wrapped his arms around Jensen to slowly lift him out of the chair and move him to the bed. “Can you stand up by yourself for a minute while I’ll get you a gown, Jen?
“Sure,” Jensen confirmed and widened his stance a bit because the pressure in his lower body was worse when he was standing up.
“Okay, if your water hasn’t broken, yet, this can still take a while but sometimes things start moving along really fast all of a sudden, so don’t freak out if the contractions suddenly start coming faster or anything.” He raised his voice a bit to get the attention of the other men in the room. “Jared, how’re you doing?”
Jared was almost catatonic, so Jeff answered instead. “Just give us a minute.” He then started whispering something to Jared, who after a few seconds folded his hands and closed his eyes.
By then Chris had found a hospital gown that should fit Jensen and stripped him off his shirt with practiced ease before slipping the flimsy white gown onto him and tying its strings behind Jensen’s back. “Now I’m going to take your sweatpants and boxer shorts off, so don’t freak,” he warned in advance before tugging the waistband down. “There you go. Now you can hop onto the bed and let Steve take a look.”
“Wait…” Jensen hissed and tensed up as a stronger contraction started building up deep inside his body. “Steve?”
“I’ve got you, Jen. Just stay still and breathe.” Steve dropped into a crouch next to his laboring friend and lifted the hem of the gown to take a look at Jensen’s opening. “Okay, things are really speeding up but that’s okay, Jen. You’re at least nine centimeters already. Do you feel like you need to push, yet?”
Jensen shook his head vehemently. “Just weird pressure…”
“When this contraction is over, we’re going to get you on the bed and I want you to give an experimental push with the next one.” Steve explained as he stood up and snapped on a pair of sterile gloves.
They waited for almost a whole minute before Jensen nodded and let them help him lie down. Chris had propped up the backrest, so Jensen would be able to sit up instead of lying down flat on his back, and was now pulling the stirrups into the right position.
“You read the books I gave you, so you know that sometimes the water doesn’t break on its own,” Steve started saying when he saw the amniotic sack bulging out right behind his friends gaping opening. “I will break your water for you and that might help move things along. Don’t worry it’s painless.”
Jensen nodded and let Chris lift his socked feet into the stirrups, while searching the room for Jared who was still huddled in the corner closest to the door with Jeff who seemed to be praying quietly. “Jay?”
Hearing Jensen’s almost pleading voice somehow broke Jared out of his stupor and he opened his eyes, staring at his lover anxiously. He was clearly torn between staying as far away from the action, afraid of what was going to happen, and rushing to Jensen’s side to be there for him.
“Come on, son,” Jeff gently coaxed and led the tall young man across the room towards Jensen. He skillfully walked around Steve, who had taken position between Jensen’s spread thighs, making sure Jared wouldn’t catch a glimpse of what Steve was looking at. “He’s okay, Jared. Just hold his hand. He needs you to be there for him right now, boy.”
Jensen flinched and took in a quick surprised breath when he suddenly felt a gush of fluid rushing out of his body.
“What’s wrong, Babe,” Jared demanded urgently, slipping out of Jeff’s grip and running the last couple of feet to be at Jensen’s side. All of a sudden more alert.
“That was just amniotic fluid. It’s alright. Just push tentatively when you feel the next contraction, Jensen. Just small pushes.” Steve gently inserted his index and middle finger into his friend’s slack opening and smiled when his fingertips connected with the baby’s skull. “The baby’s head is already in place.”
As expected the next contraction started building, flaring up deep in Jensen’s lower belly and spreading down his thighs. “Argh!” he groaned through gritted teeth as the pain took a new quality and the urge to push overcame him. Drawing strength from Jared’s hand that was curled around his clenched fingers, he forced himself to concentrate on breathing through the pain and simultaneously pushing as Steve had told him to.
“That’s it, Jensen. Your baby’s head is moving down your birth channel. Keep pushing like that until the contraction ends.”
Chris was surprisingly quiet as he held Jensen’s right knee in place and observed what Steve was doing.
“Jensen?” Jared’s voice was small and unsteady.
The pregnant man turned his face towards his lover and nodded while holding his breath and pushing until the pain subsided. “’m okay,” he panted, entwining his fingers properly with Jared’s and squeezing them gently to assure him as soon as the pain started to ebb of gradually.
“Very good. His head will start crowning on the next one,” Steve pointed out to fill the silence as Jensen relaxed between contractions.
Only seconds later another pain started spiking and Jensen pushed strongly against his friend’s fingers, moving the baby further down and feeling it press against his stretched out rim. “It burns…” he hissed but didn’t stop pushing, determined to follow Steve’s instructions because he trusted his professional judgment.
“That’s normal. The baby’s head is the widest part. You’ll have to work the hardest to get it out but then it is all downhill, Jensen,” Steve assured, gently pulling the slack skin of Jensen’s gaping opening back to help it stretch out so the baby’s head would fit through.
“You were a really big newborn, Jensen,” Jeff all of a sudden spoke up again. He was still standing right behind Jared with one hand on the younger man’s shoulder but gazing down at his surrogate son with warm soulful eyes, getting nostalgic.
Jensen knew that Jeff had been a close friend of his late parents and that they even asked him to be his godfather but he had never known that the older man had been there when he was born. “You…” he tried to ask but was overcome by the urge to push once again.
“Yes, I was there when you were born, Jensen.” The priest knew him well enough to read the question in his slightly reddened, moist eyes. He had raised him since he had been six weeks old after all. “I’ve told you that your mom and I had dated in junior high school and that I had introduced her to your dad in our senior year. We were best friends and she said she wanted to have me as backup in case your dad fainted in the delivery room.” He chuckled at the old memory. He had already chosen his path as a man of God back then and the news that his best friends wanted him to be their firstborn’s godfather had made him happy and incredibly proud. Never had he known that he would loose both friends not even two months later and be the one to raise their beloved baby boy.
Chris realized that Jeff was trying to distract Jensen from the pain and that apparently even Jared was listening to him and looking slightly less nervous. He kicked Steve’s foot and nodded at Jeff hoping that Steve would understand what he was thinking.
“Don’t forget to push, Jen,” Steve instructed and reached out his left hand to push down on his friend’s huge, contracting belly. The baby’s head was slowly but steadily crowning and Steve was stunned by how calm Jensen was, pushing resolutely and barely making a sound.
“She actually had a point because your dad always fainted when he saw blood. He’d been the star quarterback in high school but as soon as saw so much as a nosebleed he started swaying on his feet,” Jeff kept talking and reminiscing about his own youth. Just like Chris, he was aware of the effect his little story was having on both Jensen and Jared, so he kept talking in his soothing baritone.
Neither Chris nor Steve dared to interrupt him. Jensen was obviously doing what his body told him, and so far, following his instinct was working out great.
When the widest part of the baby’s head breached his opening, Jensen suddenly tensed up and for the first time, since he had gone into labor, screamed in distress.
Everyone in the room tensed up with him and Jared was once more shaking with anxiety. Jeff’s hands shot out instinctively and caught his shoulders to keep him steady.
“You’re okay, Jensen. Take a really deep breath and then give me a hard push to get the past the ears,” Steve coached as Chris and now Jeff held onto Jensen’s knees to keep his thighs spread wide open.
“Jensen! Babe…” Jared pleaded helplessly not able to see his lover in pain but not able to help him either.
Steve saw Jensen struggling to take a deeper breath and then repeated his instruction. “Push as hard as you can, Jensen. I know you can do it, come on.”
Grunting with the effort, Jensen scrunched up his face and pushed with all his might, feeling a bit lightheaded as the burning sensation reached its peak and something gave way to the baby’s head. There were more fluids gushing out of him as the head and one shoulder slid free at once.
“The head’s out and the left shoulder too. You’re doing great, Jensen. Take a few seconds to relax until the next contraction and then…”
Before Steve could finish his sentence the next contraction was already upon Jensen and as much strength as the pushing had cost him already, he couldn’t resist the unbearable urge to keep pushing.
“That’s it, Jen… It’s almost over,” Steve promised, supporting the newborn’s head.
He felt the other shoulder leave his body and then one finally rush of birthing fluid as the rest of the chubby little body followed it.
“There he is!” Chris announced as Steve caught the baby boy and started cleaning his nose with a rubber bulb while Chris waited a moment and then clamped the cord.
A loud wail pierced the air only seconds later and tears sprung to Jensen’s eyes. “Jared… Jared… Can you…” he panted heavily as he tried to push himself up and get a look at their son.
Jeff gently pushed a hand against Jensen’s shoulder to stop his movement. “You can hold him in a minute.”
“Jared, do you want to cut the cord?” Steve asked, lifting the squirming newborn onto Jensen’s belly.
The sight of the chubby baby boy mesmerized Jared and he couldn’t find his voice, shaking his head in reply.
“He’s beautiful.” Jensen’s voice was hoarse with emotion as he rested one hand on their son’s back to soothe him. “And he’s got dark hair like yours, Jay…” he added close to tears as he realized how much it actually meant to him that this baby had hair.
Their son was chubby and pink-face and looked nothing like David had. In a weird way that realization put Jensen’s mind at ease. He had been afraid that their son would remind Jared of the baby they had lost a little over a year ago because that would have broken the young man. David might not have been Jensen’s blood but he had mourned him as if he had been, and he knew that he would have raised him like his own with Jared if he had stayed with them.
Steve was about to cut the baby’s cord, when Chris stopped him. “Jared, come on. I know you will regret it if you don’t do this.” He walked around the foot end of the bed, laid both his hands on Jared’s shoulders and shook him encouragingly. He smiled at the sight of Jensen who was dreamily watching his son and rubbing his round cheek to calm him down. Determined he steered Jared towards the end of the bed. “Cut right there between the clamps where Steve’s pointing at,” he said as he curled Jared’s fingers through the loops of the scissors.
“I… I don’t know…” Jared stuttered nervously but Chris covered his large hand with his own and guided his movements, helping him cut the cord that was still connecting Jensen and their baby son. “See, that wasn’t so hard.” He then beamed up at the taller man and nudged his shoulder. “Now go back to your family, Jay.”
Jared smiled wholeheartedly and went back to his place next to Jensen.
“Congratulations, guys. He’s gorgeous,” Steve commented after making sure that the afterbirth that Jensen had just delivered was complete.
“Yeah, congrats. You did a great job with my favorite nephew,” Chris added with a huge grin but let Steve drag him out of the room. “We’ll give you a few minutes.”
Jeff had been silent for the last few minutes, watching the little family, but finally spoke up again. “I’m so proud of you boys,” he said fondly and pressed a kiss to Jensen’s and then to Jared’s foreheads before stroking the baby’s head. “Have you decided on a name, yet?”
“Yes, we did,” Jensen affirmed and looked at Jared, whose face lit up in a blinding smile.
“We both liked Jaden because it kind of merges our names together and it means ‘God has heard’ or ‘thankful’ so it really fits. Jensen also liked Timothy and that means ‘honoring God’.” Jared explained joyfully. “So we decided on Jaden Timothy Ackles,” he finally announced, proudly sharing a blissful smile with Jensen.
The priest smiled back at the young family. “That’s a good, strong name for him,” he agreed and patted Jared’s back, getting ready to leave the room and give them some privacy before Chris and Steve would come back and clean Jensen up properly.
“Jeff, could you please bless him,” Jensen sounded meek and a little melancholic as he realized that he wasn’t able to perform such an act any longer. He had chosen Jared over his vows almost a year ago and as hard as that decision had been for him, he knew that it had been the right thing to do.
“I’d be honored to do it, son,” Jeff replied, visibly moved by the plea, laying his hand on the back of Jaden’s head and closing his eyes before starting to speak the redeeming words.
Jensen and Jared exchanged a long meaningful look which said more than any words ever could. They had met under difficult circumstances and been through a lot of pain and anguish in the past year, but they had overcome everything that fate had thrown their way and had finally found happiness each other. Now they were parents and both knew that there would be many more hurdles to take in the future but neither of the two young men was worried because they would overcome these together as a family.
Chapter 7