Picture Perfect (1/5) a Jensen Mpreg Prompt Fill
Title: Picture Perfect
Fandom: Supernatural RPS
Characters: Jared, Jensen, Chris, Tom, Mike, Danneel, Sophia, Steve, and a few more
Pairings: Jared/Jensen, Tom/Mike, Chad/Sohpia
Summary/Original Prompt: After many years of trying, Jensen is finally pregnant. But it turns out to be a really hard pregnancy. Jensen and the baby are in danger. Lots of worried Jared. Hard labour is a big bonus.
Warnings: mpreg, slash, mentions of sex, semi-graphic description of birth, a few swear words and some very minor mentions of violence
Rating: I’d say somewhere between PG-13 and R
Disclaimer: I do not own, nor do I know Jared or his family, Jensen, or any other recognizable person. They belong entirely to themselves and this never happened. I am not making any money from this either.
Beta: charlio4444
AN: I have never been pregnant, nor am I a Doctor, and therefore have no firsthand knowledge on the subject. Everything I know about pregnancy and paramedics, I learned by doing research on the internet and some I just plum made up. I did my best to keep everything as realistic as possible, though.
Chapter One:
They lived in a little house in a beautiful suburb on the outskirts of Philadelphia. They were friendly with their neighbors, held BBQs and parties with their good friends of which they had many and were pillars of their community. Jared was a detective for the Philadelphia police and had been partners for the last five years with Chad Murray. Jensen was a paramedic with his childhood friend Christian Kane. Both jobs were very demanding, and yet neither of them could ever have imagined anything different for their lives. They met on the job, fell in love instantly, and married three years ago on a beautiful fall morning surrounded by the love and support of their friends and family. They had two dogs, a goldfish name Fuzzy, and not quite a white picket fence, but a rather impressive hedge. There were, of course, a few pitfalls along the way; some rather spectacular fights, nights spent on the couch, tears and triumphs, drunken confessions and a few steps backwards that paled in comparison to all the steps they had taken forward. As a child, when Jared imagined what his life would be like, he could not have imagined anything better.
There was only one thing they both felt would complete their picture perfect life: a child.
After two years of trying to conceive, though, Jared was ready to give up. They tried everything, from homemade remedies to fertility drugs to the downright ridiculous and none of it worked…yet. None of it worked yet, he would tell his husband after another pregnancy test came back negative.
They would keep trying, Jared would reassure after every failed attempt. It would happen.
But then six months turned into a year and a year into two and nothing happened. The results were always the same. Every time the results came back negative, it became harder and harder to pull Jensen back from the brink of depression and self-loathing.
Somehow Jensen convinced himself that it was his fault he couldn’t get pregnant and Jared must hate him because of it, despite Jared’s regular vehement dissensions of such accusations. When he found Jensen sitting on the bathroom floor one morning, crying and begging to know what he was doing wrong, what was wrong with him, Jared decided it was time to take a break. Just for a little while. In the meantime, they could explore their other options, like in vitro, or adoption. After a couple of months, their heads would be clearer, their hearts lighter without the added stress and frustration and they could better come to a decision on whether or not they wanted to keep trying.
Jensen hadn’t liked that decision at first, but he reluctantly agreed that he was exhausted and frustrated and needed a break.
Never once did Jared think that not trying would be the key to success.
That night he made love to Jensen, slow, tender and sweet. He lavished attention on his lover’s body trying to show Jensen how much he loved him, that he wasn’t disappointed in him. The slow slide of skin against skin was a gentle, aching burn and whispers in his ear, declarations of his love, reassurances they would get through this. When Jensen kissed him, it was comfortable, confident, lips pliant and supple and demanding. Jensen arched into his touch, grateful for the lazy, loving pace; even if he never said so in words, Jared knew how much they both wanted this, how much they both needed this. There was no pressure, no urgency, no trying to make something happen. It was just the two of them, enjoying each other, enjoying the moment and finding comfort.
He held his husband close in the aftermath, arms wrapped protectively around him as Jensen rested his head on his shoulder. Jared did want kids, but he never needed anything more than this.
Jensen was all he ever needed.
***
After weeks of watching his husband get sick and three hours in a hospital, congratulations was the last thing Jared was expecting to hear.
Thirteen consecutive days, Jared woke to the sound of retching. Every morning, he would quietly slip from his bed and pad across the carpeted floor and into the bathroom where he would find Jensen hunched over the toilet, shaky, sweaty and miserable. Jensen would smile gratefully, a soft tug of his lips, adoration in his eyes when Jared handed him a cup of water to rinse his mouth out with.
Jensen had been sick on and off for almost four weeks, but the last two weeks it had gotten worse. He was nauseous and miserable for most of the day and more often than not, Jensen was praying to the porcelain god, hugging the bowl like it was lifeline. It was a fight to get him to keep anything down.
His first immediate thought was that Jensen was finally pregnant, but his husband quietly and heartbreakingly admitted that he’d tried the test and it came up negative. “I’m fine,” Jensen told him every day. On the seventh day of Jensen insisting he was fine, Jared secretly typed his symptoms into the WebMd symptom checker. The next thing after pregnancy, was an appendicitis, then ulcer and after that cancer. Jared didn’t like any of those options. When he brought up his worries, though, Jensen was stubbornly adamant that nothing was wrong. And since he was the paramedic and Jared was just a detective, he knew better than Jared and his stupid WebMd search results. Whereupon Jared fiercely determined it was not stupid, that something was definitely wrong with Jensen, and the fight of the damn century ensued. Jared let Jensen win for now, but he was giving it one more day before he dragged his obtuse and obstinate husband to his brother, Jeff, an ER Doctor at the Pennsylvania Hospital. In fact, he’d already made the appointment, he just hadn’t figured out how he was going to get Jensen there yet.
“Maybe you should call off from work,” Jared suggested for the third day in a row. Over the last week, Jensen had been losing weight and consistently coming home from a hard day on the streets, exhausted and rundown. He’d gotten more than one text from several of Jensen’s paramedic friends asking if Jensen was really okay, presumably after Jensen probably told them there was nothing wrong. Jared couldn’t deny anymore how worried he was and was just waiting for the other shoe to drop.
“I’m fine,” Jensen insisted once more and gave him a reassuring smile. Jared didn’t buy it for a second.
“Babe…”
“Really, Jared, I’m fine.” He smiled softly again and pressed a chaste kiss to his lips. “I feel better already.”
Jared rolled his eyes, but had gotten out of the way and let him get ready for work. They went through their usual morning routine, while Jared plotted on how to get Jensen to the Doctor appointment tomorrow. He would lie if he had to, and when Jensen saw right through him because Jared could not lie to Jensen for shit, he would drag Jensen there kicking and screaming, or pull out the guilt card. Yeah, the guilt card with the puppy dug eyes should do the job just fine. I’m just worried about you, he would insist, I can’t lose you babe. Not even Jensen could refuse him. Jared mentally high-fived himself for his devious plan.
“Don’t worry about me, okay?” Jensen said and then kissed him goodbye.
Jared had spent all day worrying anyway. So what if Jensen was a paramedic? Didn’t make him right. With no new cases that day, he had all the time in the world to worry. He even called Jeff, who told him just to bring in Jensen tomorrow like he planned and they’ll figure it out.
There were no assurances that it was probably nothing. That just made Jared more anxious.
“Will you stop moping,” Chad grumbled.
“I’m not moping,” he pouted.
“I can hear you sighing, dude. It’s ruining my manly reputation.”
“Yours?”
“You don’t have one anymore. Everyone already knows you’re a giant pussy. And since I willingly hang out with you…” he tapered off letting the unfinished sentence speak for itself.
“Duly noted,” Jared dryly intoned.
“Seriously, just call him.”
Jared sighed again and Chad rolled his eyes. “Jensen won’t like that.”
“Fine, I’ll call him. Maybe then you can stop being a pansy ass bitch long enough to get this paperwork done.”
“Chad,” he weakly protested, but Chad was already dialing the station his husband worked at. Even though he wasn’t all that opposed to the idea, he knew Jensen would get mad that Jared was checking up on him.
“Hello fucker,” Chad cheerfully said into the phone. Jared suddenly wasn’t so sure anymore that it was a good idea that he introduced Chad to all of Jensen’s friends. He couldn’t hear what the person on the other end of the phone said, but it had Chad laughing, so maybe it wasn’t all bad. “Jared’s being a baby. Yeah, exactly. I’m afraid he might become incontinent if he doesn’t talk to Jensen soon. He there?”
There was a lengthy pause and then Chad’s eyes flashed towards him, his previous mirth gone. “Oh.” Jared immediately perked up at the words and leaned towards Chad’s desk in a futile attempt to hear the other side of the conversation. “Yeah, I’ll tell him. Thanks Chris.” Chad tapped his phone off and threw it on his desk. “Chris forced him to go home about an hour ago. Something about the stomach flu.”
“Stomach flu my ass,” Jared snapped and started shoving his paperwork and files into his bag.
“I’ll finish up the paperwork,” Chad grumbled, “and let the Captain know. Go home.”
“Thanks man.” Jared tore out of the office. He was tempted to get out his siren and use it to get home as fast as possible, but didn’t want to catch shit from Jensen or his boss if either one of them found out. Didn’t stop him from driving like his siren was blaring anyways.
He took a deep, calming breath when he pulled into the driveway, and then called the hospital to let his brother know they were coming in now, before practically running into the house. He found Jensen lying on their bathroom floor, a flushed cheek pressed into the cool tiles, eyes squeezed shut and panting for breath.
“We’re going to the hospital,” he commanded. For once Jensen did not protest as Jared dragged him to his feet and out to his truck. He shoved a bucket into his hands and then slid into the driver’s seat, intensely staring at the road, lips pressed tightly into a thin line to keep himself from lashing out in anger. Jared could yell at Jensen when he felt better and they had dealt with whatever was afflicting him. Jared refused to believe it was something that couldn’t be cured.
Three hours and a few blood tests later, they were hooking Jensen up to an ultrasound to check his appendix. During the test Jeff’s face went from morose, to surprised, to ecstatic in a matter of seconds, something Jared had never seen his brother do before. He wasn’t quite sure what to make of it. Jensen looked just as confused. His brother whispered something to the nurse who scurried off and returned a few minutes later with some paperwork.
Studiously, Jeff read it over, a bright smile on his face. That meant two things to Jared, that (1) Jensen was dying and Jeff was trying to ease into things, or (2) Jeff had really good news. God, please let it be option 2, he silently pleaded. Jared isn’t sure he can handle option number 1 without completely breaking down. Needing the connection and the feeling of Jensen safe beneath his touch, Jared grabbed his hand and squeezed tightly.
“Congratulations!” Jeff excitedly said and threw his arms out wide. Jared briefly wondered when his brother lost his damn mind. He was not prepared for the words that came next. “You’re pregnant.”
Every muscle in Jared’s body stiffened and paralyzed in shock. He hadn’t been this shell shocked since the first time he’d been shot at on the job. “What?” Jensen gasped out. His husband looked frightened, but his eyes were huge and hopeful; a hesitant smile attempting to tug the corners of his lips upwards. Jared wrapped an arm around his shoulders, unable to believe the news as well, as Jensen wrapped his arms around Jared’s waist. All these years….it was really hard to get your hopes up when the one thing you’ve wanted for so long has always been just outside of your grasp. “But I took a pregnancy test and it came back negative,” Jensen whispered fearfully, as if Jeff would take back his good news upon hearing his words.
“Must have been a false negative, or a defective test. See this right here,” Jeff said and pointed to what looked like a tiny blob on the ultrasound screen. When he took a closer look, Jared could see a little head and a tiny little body with itty-bitty arms and legs. A strangled gasp forced its way past his lips even as his mouth burst into a huge smile. Jensen sighed, excitement on the exhale as he tightened his grip around Jared’s waist. “That’s your baby. I’m not an OB, but I’d say you’re probably around 10-11 weeks. Blood work confirmed it. And see that right here,” he said and pointed to the screen again. “That’s your baby’s heartbeat.”
Jared stared at the screen, at the tiny dark matter that was his baby, their child. After two long years, finally their dreams of having a family were coming true. Tears of joy slid down Jensen’s cheeks. Jared held him tighter and let his husband cling to him.
“I can’t believe it,” Jensen said as Jared wrapped both arms around him, placing a kiss on the top of his head and beaming at his older brother. “We’re having a baby!”
“Now, I don’t want to put a damper on the good mood, but male pregnancies can be extremely dangerous,” his brother warned. Jensen turned towards the doctor and nodded his head gravely. “You are going to have to take it easy and follow some strict rules.”
“Anything,” Jensen readily agreed. They’d been trying way too long for this for Jensen to even unknowingly put their unborn baby in harm’s way.
Having known Jensen for just as long as Jared had, Jeff nodded, expecting nothing less from his brother-in-law. “I’ll get your discharge papers and we’ll get you started on some prenatal vitamins.”
“Wait!” Jared said, suddenly remembering how to speak. Jeff looked amused at his outburst. “Can we have a picture?” he asked, indicating the ultrasound.
“Of course!” Jeff heartily replied making Jared exponentially grateful it was his brother here with them and not some other nameless doctor. His brother knew how hard they had been trying, how much they wanted this, and how much this moment meant to them. “I’ll get you both a copy.”
Jared held his husband close that night as they stared at the picture of their baby, the thought still gave him tingles of excitement. It was their baby, not someone else’s, a tiny little life growing inside his husband; a life they would always, and gladly, be responsible for.
***
The morning sickness didn’t get any better as Jensen seamlessly entered his second trimester, but it didn’t get any worse either. Jensen considered that a victory. He was barely into his second trimester, depending on which book you read, so there was still time for his morning sickness, or all day sickness as Jared called it, to taper off. While Jensen would love the reprieve, it didn’t matter. Because in the end, he would endure anything for his unborn child, anything, and if that mean nine months of puking up his guts, then so be it.
Besides their families, mostly because Jeff couldn’t keep a damn secret, Jared and Jensen only told three other people about the pregnancy, Chad, Tom and Chris. Trying to keep a secret from Chris was like trying to keep a momma bear from protecting her cubs. Jensen didn’t even bother trying. He’d known the other man since he was 5 years old and knew Chris would instantly see through any bullshit. So the day after they found out, Jensen told Chris first thing in the morning at work and showed him the ultrasound picture. Then the life was nearly squeezed out of him by his very enthusiastic best friend. Jared demanded that Chad had to know, but Jensen just thought his husband was really excited and wanted to share the news with someone. Tom was sort of a necessity, as he was going to be Jensen’s OB. It felt very strange having one of his close friends examining him like that. But Tom was, surprisingly, the only expert in male pregnancies in the area and a damn good doctor who came highly recommended. So Jensen was just going to have to suck it up and deal with it, because this was the best thing for his baby. He thought Tom, the traitor, might have told Rosenbaum, his boyfriend, if the looks he was getting from the fellow paramedic were any indicator. Jensen’s boss, Jim Beaver, also, out of necessity, knew.
It’s not that they wanted to keep it a secret, and soon it wouldn’t really be an option. Jared wanted to shout it from the rooftops and hang a banner from their house with fireworks. As it was, they were planning a BBQ at their house to fill in the rest of their clueless friends…if things continued to go well.
Male pregnancies were rare and always difficult with complications far more likely to arise than their female counterparts. Before they even decided to try and have kids, Jared and he had a very long conversation about it. Jared had been resistant to the idea at first, unwillingly to risk Jensen’s life, but Jensen eventually got his way.
Even though he was at about 14 weeks already, Jensen was still very nervous about losing his baby because of the documented difficulties with male pregnancy. While they were hoping and praying for the best, they did not want to get everybody’s hopes up in case things did go wrong. If they hadn’t already noticed Jensen’s expanding belly, after 20 weeks then they would share the good news with everyone.
The second trimester was a good milestone to start with, but Jensen started feeling worse this morning. He went from being kind of nauseous part of the day, to extremely nauseous all day like he was constantly hung over from too much tequila. He woke up feeling pretty shitty, like he did every day, but by noon it hadn’t gone away, or lessened, like usual. Chris took one look at him that morning and dragged him to Jim who put him on light duty for the day. If he hadn’t felt so horrible, Jensen would have protested. As it was, he was constantly fighting the urge to puke. Almost as bad as the nausea and the ache in his stomach was the heartburn that burned his throat and esophagus and left a bitter, vile taste in the back of his mouth.
It had been a tough week at work, though. The end of spring and early summer always saw a peak in violence and accidents in Philadelphia when people left their winter induced hibernation and rediscovered warm weather. Apparently warm weather made people stupid too, or maybe cold weather just tempered their urge to be idiotic. Either way, the reason wasn’t all that important. He came home exhausted every day and let Jared fret and pamper him. He loved his job, but today he was grateful for the reprieve light duty would give him.
He went home that night just as exhausted anyways. He was so tired, miserable and pissy that he actually threw a shoe at Jared when the man tried to make him get up and eat. Dinner was served in bed instead.
Despite his fatigue, Jensen tossed and turned all night, catching hours, sometimes only minutes of sleep at a time. By 4 am he was in the bathroom once more bowed over the toilet. Two hours later, Jared found him curled up in the bathtub.
“Feeling worse?” he softly asked around a yawn. He knelt next to the tub and brushed Jensen’s hair away from his sweaty forehead, placing a kiss upon his brow.
“A little.” Shivering, Jensen leaned into Jared’s gentle touch.
“Want me to make an appointment with Jeff or Tom?”
“Maybe just call them?” Being the center of attention always made Jensen extremely uncomfortable. In the few rare instances when people come to the station to thank Jensen for saving their life or the life of a loved one, Jensen had not been the most gracious acceptor of compliments. He blushed and stammered his way through multiple encounters. When Jared and he first started dating, and his new boyfriend was full of nothing but compliments, it was even more embarrassing because he actually wanted to see Jared again.
“You know Jeff and Tom are gonna fuss over you just as much as I do and make you come in for an appointment no matter what.”
Jensen just shrugged in response. It was more than a possibility and definitely likely, but there was a small chance it wouldn’t be necessary. They’d end up going anyways, if at least to ease some of the worry that had settled permanently in Jared’s eyes. Jared did his best to hide it, but Jensen knew how anxious Jared was over his health. The worst part about his pregnancy, by far, was the worry it caused his husband. Everything else he could handle.
“Hey none of that,” Jared gently reprimanded, presumably interpreting the frown on Jensen’s face. “Do you think you’ll make it into work today?”
“I’m not gonna make it, Sarge,” Jensen dramatically said, holding his pregnant belly like he was trying to hold his guts in. It was a frail attempt to lighten the mood, but Jared, the good husband he was, went along with it.
He chuckled lightly. “Okay. I’ll call the station as well and let them know.”
Jared turned to leave, but Jensen grabbed his hand and kissed his knuckles. “Thank you.”
“You don’t have to thank me, babe.” He leaned down and kissed Jensen properly on the lips. “You gonna leave the bathtub long enough for me to shower.”
“No,” Jensen pouted. “Use the hose outside.”
Jared finally laughed at that and Jensen smiled in return. “I don’t think our neighbors will appreciate that.”
“Janey would,” Jensen said, referring to their seven year old neighbor who had a massive crush on Jared and declared she was going to marry him one day, not quite understanding yet that Jared was gay and clearly taken. It was adorable. “I think Mrs. Stenson would love to see you naked too.”
“She’s like a hundred.”
“Old people have sex too. I know we’ll still be doing it when we’re 90.”
“Only if they still make Viagra,” Jared laughed. He wrapped Jensen’s arm around his shoulders and dragged him to his feet and out of the tub. “Let’s get you back to bed. I’ll get you some ginger ale, crackers and a bucket.”
“You’re so romantic.” He leaned heavily against Jared’s side as he manhandled him into bed, feeling just a tiny bit better when he hit the soft sheets. “I love you. I know you didn’t…”
Jared cut him off with another kiss. “Hey, none of that, remember? All three of us are going to be just fine. Okay?”
“Okay.” He fell asleep listening to Jared putter around their room, safe in his knowledge that Jared would always protect him and their unborn child.
Two hours after Jared left for work, he felt a sharp stab of pain in his stomach. It spiked into an agonizing ball of fury and then receded into a dull ache. Immediately he called Jared only to get his voicemail. “You have to come home right now,” he begged to the machine. “Please I need you.”
Thirty minutes later the cramps started. In hysterics he called Jared again, only to once more get his voicemail. He left a new message as desperate as the last. Then he felt it. His boxers felt wet and damp and when he put a hand down there to check it out, it came back bloody. Jensen freaked. He had enough presence of mind, at least, to call the station, sobbing hysterically as he incoherently explained the situation to Chris. Chris stayed on the phone with him the entire time, trying to talk him down from his panicked and highly agitated state, while Danneel and Mike drove over in an ambulance.
He was scared and panicked and he thought he might have crushed Dani’s hand on the way to the hospital, but was pretty sure she would forgive him given the circumstances. Mike and Dani tried their best to calm him down, but it did not work.
If he really was losing this baby, all Jensen wanted was Jared.