Gallifreyan Lullaby
Title: Gallifreyan Lullaby
Fandom: Doctor Who/Torchwood
Characters/Pairings: Lacey Harper, Owen Harper, Lacey/Owen, Alessandra Harper, Martha Jones, Rory Williams, Dawn Summers(yes, Kidverse is crossover)
Series: Kidverse
Summary: in the midst of everything, sometimes all it takes is one precious moment to make it all worthwhile
Notes: Written for the schmoop_bingo Prompt: Pregnancy: Birth. Warning sugary sweet.
Lacey smiled, wincing slightly as another painful cramp hit. She knew what they were. You didn’t give birth three times and not know what a contraction was, but they were still five minutes apart, and since her breakdown, Owen had been watching her like a hawk. Ok, so they were starting to come fairly regularly and she should probably mention them to Owen at this point. She glanced over at him, realized he must have said something as she focused on the contraction. “What were you saying? I was zoned out.”
“You’ve been doing that a lot, today,” Owen said, giving her a little look. “I was asking you if wanted to stop by Sharkbait for lunch.”
“Hmm, sounds good, yeah,” she smiled again, even though she wasn’t very hungry, and if today was the day, then not eating would be better than eating. Last thing she needed was to throw up on Owen while giving birth to their daughter. She frowned a bit; thinking about the future Alessandra, angry and half wild and it was all her fault. She thought about what MJ had told her, lashing out, hoping to deliver that killing blow. She also remembered his expression when she thanked him and told him she’d just have to make all her time count with Owen count so she wouldn’t be blindsided by what was going to happen. She didn’t let on she thought there was more to it than just Owen dying suddenly, but she couldn’t do anything until after the baby was born.
“You’re thinking about Alice,” Owen said, catching the frown. He reached out with a hand to pat her knee.
She sighed, but smiled faintly. “I know, give her time.” It wasn’t that she was thinking of, but she refused to tell Owen what she knew she would become when he died. She paused for a second, and then looked down at her lap. Her lap that was quickly becoming very wet, oh dear. “Owen, forget Sharkbait. We need to get to the hospital right now.”
He glanced over her, and saw the same thing she’d seen. “Your water broke?! Goddammit, why didn’t you tell me you were having contractions?!” He said, a slight panicky voice as he broke about five traffic laws to get them headed in the right direction.
“Owen calm down, please? And for fuck’s sake, don’t kill us on the way there!” She said, “It’s just my water, it doesn’t mean her head’s crowning yet or anything. And they tell the woman to breathe.” She gasped a bit when the next contraction hit, already prepared for how much stronger it would be. She bit down a bit on her lip as she concentrated on breathing, before taking a deep breath and pulled out her phone. “Martha? It’s Lacey, looks like it’s time.” She paused. “Oh great, tell you but the two dunces couldn’t bother telling me?! I’m the one in labor here…Hang on, Contraction.”
“Lacey, that’s barely three minutes since the last!” Owen pointed out.
“Yes, Owen, I’m well aware of the fact the contractions are coming practically on top of each other,” she gritted out, squeezing the offered hand and thanking whatever gods were looking out for them that they were on a straight path for the hospital. “They were coming every five minutes about two hours ago.”
“And you didn’t tell me because…”
“Well, I was going to and then you suggested lunch, so I figured you were hungry.” She put a pause on this. “Yes, Martha, we’re almost there, and don’t think I didn’t hear you laughing at us. One day, either you or Twelve will be pregnant and I will laugh my fucking ass off, especially if it’s you and he tries to catch it like a football!” She hung up the phone. “The older of the Doctors delighted in telling Martha when I was due, but not us, they said it was because it would take all the fun out of it.”
“No of course not, that would have been helpful, and they are usually anything but.” Owen gave a nervous chuckle. “And I only suggested lunch because you seemed distracted.”
“Yeah, that would have been the contractions.”
“And if you told me that I wouldn’t have suggested lunch.” He pulled up to see Martha standing outside with Dawn and Rory and the Twelfth Doctor. “I’ll be in as soon as I park the…what are you doing Doctor?”
“I’m parking your car so you can go ahead and go with your wife.” She said, smiling as Owen shrugged and got out of the car, going over to Lacey’s side just as another contraction hit and she grabbed his hand with a small, strangled cry.
“Hey, I’m here,” Owen said, giving her his hand to squeeze, “your sister is parking the car.” He immediately regretted giving her the hand. “Ow, Ow, Lacey, less squeezing. Ow. Ok.”
“No, I will not squeeze less, this is your fault!!” She ground out again. “Oh, never again, NEVER again.”
“You’ve said that every time, haven’t you?” Owen said with a little smirk as the pressure on his hand relaxed.
“You know, Dr. Harper, now might not be the best time to point that out to her,” Rory said. “She has your hand and right now she could reach out and punch you hard in a place I’d think you’d regret.”
“Not any different than any other day, then,” Owen chuckled as Lacey glared at him.
Martha got Lacey set up in her room, telling her to change into the robe while she left to give her a few minutes to do that. It took Lacey longer than normal to get undressed simply because of the contractions. When Martha and the nurses came back in, Lacey was laying back on the bed, with her feet already in the stirrups, and from the look on Owen’s face, she had already called him several nasty names. Martha did a quick examination, before looking at Lacey. “Well, I’ve got good news and bad news.”
“I hate when people say that,” Lacey ground out, her eyes squeezed shut as particularly strong contraction hit.
“Well, the good news is, you’ll be holding your baby girl probably within an hour, two at the most.” Martha looked up. “The bad news is, that means you’re dilated too much for an epidural.”
“What?!”
“Well, you’re closing on eight centimeters, and at that point it’s really pointless to give an epidural. The contractions are too close and by the time the medication started to work, this little one would be born.”
“Oh fuck me.”
“Isn’t that what got you in this situation?” Rory said, setting up the IV for fluids and medications once she’d given birth.
“Now whose tempting fate,” Owen said, smirking as Lacey screamed some choice phrases for the nurse. He knew better than to say something like that. Hell, Owen knew better than to point out that if she’d told him when she started the contractions she would be on an epidural. He did however start to wander down towards where Martha was, obviously about to go into consulting doctor mode.
Lacey yanked hard, on his arm. “I told you, you are not acting at all like a doctor this day. You are the husband, and the father of this baby, Not my fucking doctor!” She paused as she suffered through another contraction. “You stay up here with me.”
Two more times of her pulling him back up and nearly dislocating his shoulder and one time of Martha threatening him that if he did it again she would kick him out to the waiting room. “All right, home stretch, Lacey,” Martha said, “we’re almost to the end, the head’s crowning.”
“Thank Christ,” Lacey huffed, “This is worse than chasing down aliens. And more tiring…and painful.” Her face was red from the effort, and her hair matted down by sweat. “Never again,” she said, looking at Owen. “Never ever again.”
“All right, here we go, and push, Lacey.” Martha said as the red head bore down and pushed, whimpering and panting. “That’s it, just a bit more, and relax,” she said, “The head’s out.”
“Oh joy, that means here comes the shoulders. Have I mentioned how much I hate the shoulders?” She gasped, flopping back against the soaked pillows.
Owen brushed her hair out of her face, and kissed her forehead, smiling softly at her. “You might have mentioned that a few times, love. It’s almost over, then we’ll be holding our daughter.”
“Ready and push!” Martha said.
Lacey’s eyes were squeezed so tightly shut that tears were leaking out. A low almost grating sound coming from her lips as she tried to bite back the actual scream that she wanted to let out. She squeezed tight on Owen’s hand, not even hearing the cracking sound as she broke fingers. She flopped back again, knowing it was going to take another push to get the shoulders out.
“My hand,” Owen said, looking at her. “You broke my hand.”
“Considering how much pain I’m in, you’re lucky that’s the only thing I broke.” She said, grunting as she pushed again, this time clearing the shoulders with a little whimper.
“Rest for a moment, Lacey, one more push and she’ll be out.” Martha said, “I’ll have Rory patch up Owen as soon as this is all over and you’re holding her, ok? Ok, here we go last big push.” Martha coaxed Lacey as finally her daughter was free, the shock of the cold air causing the newborn to cry. “There we are, a beautiful baby girl.” She passed the baby off to Dawn, who motioned Owen over so he could cut the cord. “Lacey go ahead, and relax for a few minutes, then we’ll see about the afterbirth and stitching you up. In fact,” She turned to Rory. “Get me a local for that.”
Lacey wasn’t even listening. Owen had brought over their little girl now that she was cleaned off and wrapped in a pink blanket. All the worries, doubts and fears about what was going on in their lives faded away. It could be dealt with later. Right now, the world was her, the baby and Owen. She held their daughter for the first time, and smiled at her.
The rest of the day was a blur, after cleaning up and the family coming in with the congratulations and jokes, and gifts, it was finally just the three of them. Joey had driven the rest of the family back to the house. Lacey held the small infant in her arms, singing softly in Gallifreyan to her as Owen sat in the chair next ot her bedside, the same smile on his face since she was born. “What are you singing?” He asked finally.
“Just an old lullaby my mum used to sing to me,” she said, looking over at Owen. “Whenever I had a nightmare, or couldn’t sleep, or even if I just scraped my knee, she’d sing it to me.”
He nodded, sitting back as she finished the song, Alice sound asleep in her arms. He moved to take her and put her in the little bassinet the hospital provided, pausing to kiss first Lacey, then to kiss their daughter as he laid her in bed. Then, just as Lacey had climbed into bed with him when he was in the hospital, he carefully climbed in with her, letting her gingerly arrange herself so her head ended up on his shoulder. “What does it mean?”
“Rough translation is something along the lines of, I love you, I’m here for you, and nothing will harm you. Go to sleep, I’m watching over you. Nothing is more important in my life than you.” Lacey said, sounding very tired herself in that moment. “She’s beautiful.”
Owen nodded. “She gets that from you,” he kissed her head, “go to sleep,” he whispered. He held her, watching as she fell asleep. He looked over at their daughter again, asleep in the bassinet, and at his wife, a content smile on his face as he drifted off to sleep as well.
Fandom: Doctor Who/Torchwood
Characters/Pairings: Lacey Harper, Owen Harper, Lacey/Owen, Alessandra Harper, Martha Jones, Rory Williams, Dawn Summers(yes, Kidverse is crossover)
Series: Kidverse
Summary: in the midst of everything, sometimes all it takes is one precious moment to make it all worthwhile
Notes: Written for the schmoop_bingo Prompt: Pregnancy: Birth. Warning sugary sweet.
Lacey smiled, wincing slightly as another painful cramp hit. She knew what they were. You didn’t give birth three times and not know what a contraction was, but they were still five minutes apart, and since her breakdown, Owen had been watching her like a hawk. Ok, so they were starting to come fairly regularly and she should probably mention them to Owen at this point. She glanced over at him, realized he must have said something as she focused on the contraction. “What were you saying? I was zoned out.”
“You’ve been doing that a lot, today,” Owen said, giving her a little look. “I was asking you if wanted to stop by Sharkbait for lunch.”
“Hmm, sounds good, yeah,” she smiled again, even though she wasn’t very hungry, and if today was the day, then not eating would be better than eating. Last thing she needed was to throw up on Owen while giving birth to their daughter. She frowned a bit; thinking about the future Alessandra, angry and half wild and it was all her fault. She thought about what MJ had told her, lashing out, hoping to deliver that killing blow. She also remembered his expression when she thanked him and told him she’d just have to make all her time count with Owen count so she wouldn’t be blindsided by what was going to happen. She didn’t let on she thought there was more to it than just Owen dying suddenly, but she couldn’t do anything until after the baby was born.
“You’re thinking about Alice,” Owen said, catching the frown. He reached out with a hand to pat her knee.
She sighed, but smiled faintly. “I know, give her time.” It wasn’t that she was thinking of, but she refused to tell Owen what she knew she would become when he died. She paused for a second, and then looked down at her lap. Her lap that was quickly becoming very wet, oh dear. “Owen, forget Sharkbait. We need to get to the hospital right now.”
He glanced over her, and saw the same thing she’d seen. “Your water broke?! Goddammit, why didn’t you tell me you were having contractions?!” He said, a slight panicky voice as he broke about five traffic laws to get them headed in the right direction.
“Owen calm down, please? And for fuck’s sake, don’t kill us on the way there!” She said, “It’s just my water, it doesn’t mean her head’s crowning yet or anything. And they tell the woman to breathe.” She gasped a bit when the next contraction hit, already prepared for how much stronger it would be. She bit down a bit on her lip as she concentrated on breathing, before taking a deep breath and pulled out her phone. “Martha? It’s Lacey, looks like it’s time.” She paused. “Oh great, tell you but the two dunces couldn’t bother telling me?! I’m the one in labor here…Hang on, Contraction.”
“Lacey, that’s barely three minutes since the last!” Owen pointed out.
“Yes, Owen, I’m well aware of the fact the contractions are coming practically on top of each other,” she gritted out, squeezing the offered hand and thanking whatever gods were looking out for them that they were on a straight path for the hospital. “They were coming every five minutes about two hours ago.”
“And you didn’t tell me because…”
“Well, I was going to and then you suggested lunch, so I figured you were hungry.” She put a pause on this. “Yes, Martha, we’re almost there, and don’t think I didn’t hear you laughing at us. One day, either you or Twelve will be pregnant and I will laugh my fucking ass off, especially if it’s you and he tries to catch it like a football!” She hung up the phone. “The older of the Doctors delighted in telling Martha when I was due, but not us, they said it was because it would take all the fun out of it.”
“No of course not, that would have been helpful, and they are usually anything but.” Owen gave a nervous chuckle. “And I only suggested lunch because you seemed distracted.”
“Yeah, that would have been the contractions.”
“And if you told me that I wouldn’t have suggested lunch.” He pulled up to see Martha standing outside with Dawn and Rory and the Twelfth Doctor. “I’ll be in as soon as I park the…what are you doing Doctor?”
“I’m parking your car so you can go ahead and go with your wife.” She said, smiling as Owen shrugged and got out of the car, going over to Lacey’s side just as another contraction hit and she grabbed his hand with a small, strangled cry.
“Hey, I’m here,” Owen said, giving her his hand to squeeze, “your sister is parking the car.” He immediately regretted giving her the hand. “Ow, Ow, Lacey, less squeezing. Ow. Ok.”
“No, I will not squeeze less, this is your fault!!” She ground out again. “Oh, never again, NEVER again.”
“You’ve said that every time, haven’t you?” Owen said with a little smirk as the pressure on his hand relaxed.
“You know, Dr. Harper, now might not be the best time to point that out to her,” Rory said. “She has your hand and right now she could reach out and punch you hard in a place I’d think you’d regret.”
“Not any different than any other day, then,” Owen chuckled as Lacey glared at him.
Martha got Lacey set up in her room, telling her to change into the robe while she left to give her a few minutes to do that. It took Lacey longer than normal to get undressed simply because of the contractions. When Martha and the nurses came back in, Lacey was laying back on the bed, with her feet already in the stirrups, and from the look on Owen’s face, she had already called him several nasty names. Martha did a quick examination, before looking at Lacey. “Well, I’ve got good news and bad news.”
“I hate when people say that,” Lacey ground out, her eyes squeezed shut as particularly strong contraction hit.
“Well, the good news is, you’ll be holding your baby girl probably within an hour, two at the most.” Martha looked up. “The bad news is, that means you’re dilated too much for an epidural.”
“What?!”
“Well, you’re closing on eight centimeters, and at that point it’s really pointless to give an epidural. The contractions are too close and by the time the medication started to work, this little one would be born.”
“Oh fuck me.”
“Isn’t that what got you in this situation?” Rory said, setting up the IV for fluids and medications once she’d given birth.
“Now whose tempting fate,” Owen said, smirking as Lacey screamed some choice phrases for the nurse. He knew better than to say something like that. Hell, Owen knew better than to point out that if she’d told him when she started the contractions she would be on an epidural. He did however start to wander down towards where Martha was, obviously about to go into consulting doctor mode.
Lacey yanked hard, on his arm. “I told you, you are not acting at all like a doctor this day. You are the husband, and the father of this baby, Not my fucking doctor!” She paused as she suffered through another contraction. “You stay up here with me.”
Two more times of her pulling him back up and nearly dislocating his shoulder and one time of Martha threatening him that if he did it again she would kick him out to the waiting room. “All right, home stretch, Lacey,” Martha said, “we’re almost to the end, the head’s crowning.”
“Thank Christ,” Lacey huffed, “This is worse than chasing down aliens. And more tiring…and painful.” Her face was red from the effort, and her hair matted down by sweat. “Never again,” she said, looking at Owen. “Never ever again.”
“All right, here we go, and push, Lacey.” Martha said as the red head bore down and pushed, whimpering and panting. “That’s it, just a bit more, and relax,” she said, “The head’s out.”
“Oh joy, that means here comes the shoulders. Have I mentioned how much I hate the shoulders?” She gasped, flopping back against the soaked pillows.
Owen brushed her hair out of her face, and kissed her forehead, smiling softly at her. “You might have mentioned that a few times, love. It’s almost over, then we’ll be holding our daughter.”
“Ready and push!” Martha said.
Lacey’s eyes were squeezed so tightly shut that tears were leaking out. A low almost grating sound coming from her lips as she tried to bite back the actual scream that she wanted to let out. She squeezed tight on Owen’s hand, not even hearing the cracking sound as she broke fingers. She flopped back again, knowing it was going to take another push to get the shoulders out.
“My hand,” Owen said, looking at her. “You broke my hand.”
“Considering how much pain I’m in, you’re lucky that’s the only thing I broke.” She said, grunting as she pushed again, this time clearing the shoulders with a little whimper.
“Rest for a moment, Lacey, one more push and she’ll be out.” Martha said, “I’ll have Rory patch up Owen as soon as this is all over and you’re holding her, ok? Ok, here we go last big push.” Martha coaxed Lacey as finally her daughter was free, the shock of the cold air causing the newborn to cry. “There we are, a beautiful baby girl.” She passed the baby off to Dawn, who motioned Owen over so he could cut the cord. “Lacey go ahead, and relax for a few minutes, then we’ll see about the afterbirth and stitching you up. In fact,” She turned to Rory. “Get me a local for that.”
Lacey wasn’t even listening. Owen had brought over their little girl now that she was cleaned off and wrapped in a pink blanket. All the worries, doubts and fears about what was going on in their lives faded away. It could be dealt with later. Right now, the world was her, the baby and Owen. She held their daughter for the first time, and smiled at her.
The rest of the day was a blur, after cleaning up and the family coming in with the congratulations and jokes, and gifts, it was finally just the three of them. Joey had driven the rest of the family back to the house. Lacey held the small infant in her arms, singing softly in Gallifreyan to her as Owen sat in the chair next ot her bedside, the same smile on his face since she was born. “What are you singing?” He asked finally.
“Just an old lullaby my mum used to sing to me,” she said, looking over at Owen. “Whenever I had a nightmare, or couldn’t sleep, or even if I just scraped my knee, she’d sing it to me.”
He nodded, sitting back as she finished the song, Alice sound asleep in her arms. He moved to take her and put her in the little bassinet the hospital provided, pausing to kiss first Lacey, then to kiss their daughter as he laid her in bed. Then, just as Lacey had climbed into bed with him when he was in the hospital, he carefully climbed in with her, letting her gingerly arrange herself so her head ended up on his shoulder. “What does it mean?”
“Rough translation is something along the lines of, I love you, I’m here for you, and nothing will harm you. Go to sleep, I’m watching over you. Nothing is more important in my life than you.” Lacey said, sounding very tired herself in that moment. “She’s beautiful.”
Owen nodded. “She gets that from you,” he kissed her head, “go to sleep,” he whispered. He held her, watching as she fell asleep. He looked over at their daughter again, asleep in the bassinet, and at his wife, a content smile on his face as he drifted off to sleep as well.