I know you have a little life in you yet

[hexyoutotuesday]

Who: Chuck and Jinx
When: Forward dated to Thursday morning
Where: Purgatory
Summary: It's finally time for the inevitable.
Warnings: Blood, pain, and miscarriage.

Comments

[paterelohim]

Chuck caught her speaking to her stomach, and found himself entranced for a moment. It wasn't fair, really, that she was carrying doom-spawn. Call him crazy, but he was starting to think she might actually be a good mother. It was a drastic change, to be sure, from the Jinx he saw, the Jinx who hired him, fired him, screamed at him, and dropped curses like third period French. At first Chuck had been wary of her, and more than a little alarmed by her seemingly unhealthy possession over Gabriel, and the feeling had taken a long time to wear off. That wasn't the same woman who hired him back and thanked him for saving her life, and it wasn't the woman in front of him now. For a moment, he bit His lip and some thought flickered that yes, she was good enough.

The moment passed in a blink; he shook his head and looked from her to the list in front of him and back again. "They're not for buying, Jinx. Nobody would ever drink that crap but Gabriel." He did, though, press a button to hover the chair and grab a glass off a high shelf. "I don't know what your tastes are these days. Are you doing cravings or what?"

While she answered, he would be landing the wheelchair again and taking out his newest toy- a freaky headband thing that let him use the chair hands-free. It gave him the advantage of being able to carry more than one thing while also reaching higher than the arm span of a six year old. Whoop-dee-fucking-doo.

[hexyoutotuesday]

The teenager made her way over to the bar. Her steps were slow and careful, still giving the beach ball under her dress attention. Come to think of it, she wouldn't be a teenager for much longer. Only a few more weeks, to be exact. Then, maybe, Crowley would stop referring to her as a statistic.

"Well, Gabriel hasn't been here. He's too busy not leaving me alone. Ever. I have to ward him out of the bathroom." She came to put her back against the bar as though the sharp edge would push the kink out of her spine. Once more, she spoke down to her belly. "And you know why daddy never leaves us alone? Because he wants you to hate him when you start dating."

Oh, cravings. When she could keep food down, they were definitely strange. Their kitchen permanently smelled like sardines and pickled eggs at the moment. "Just give me some tonic water and salt. I think the licorice has gone stale and--" She winced and had to take another few deep breaths before she continued. "...and I think we're out of fresh lemon."

[paterelohim]

"I bet he loves that," Chuck remarked, vividly imagining Jinx drawing warding sigils on a shower door with toothpaste with Gabriel sulking in the hall. Not that the prophet could blame him; anyone would be losing their shit a little in this situation. He was pretty sure that at her stage of pregnancy, fetuses are still supposed to look like alien chickens.

"Lemon, right." Noted. So out came the tonic water, out came the salt (Kosher, because it dissolves faster and tastes better), out came his thoughts while he mixed. "Man, I don't envy her. It doesn't get much scarier than a meet and greet with a supervillain and an archangel. Even a shotgun-polishing redneck doesn't cut it."

Chuck found a bottle of lemon bitters and held it up questioningly. "No fresh lemon, but you want any of this?"

[hexyoutotuesday]

That was literally about how it went. Moving in together was a big step for the two of them, and Jinx thought that Gabriel would resist it more. In the end, she was the one still demanding her own space. It made sense, considering she was currently sharing her body. Not to mention her roommate was a pain. Literally. What was she even doing in there?

"It's less that--nngh--her parents are a religious figure and a megalomaniac. We started dating because we're both jerks. 'briel likes to refer to us as Tricksters, but--" The sorceress hissed, running her hands rapidly over her stomach. "Odette, stop."

She really needed to sit down, but the very thought of dragging herself up onto a bar stool was a nightmare. Choking back a growl, she held her hand out to Chuck. "Just gimme my drink."

[paterelohim]

Okay, no, that was worrying.

"Here you go." Chuck handed the drink over obligingly, but could barely keep the concern off his face. Whatever she was saying was kind of going in one ear and out the other. Shaping his expression into something casual and keeping his voice light took more of his focus. "Is she kicking, or what?"

Except those seemed a lot like noises of pain, and Chuck was pretty sure kicking wasn't supposed to hurt like that. Maybe it -- Odette, maybe she was stronger than normal, but... still.

[hexyoutotuesday]

Jinx took the drink, keeping her eyes off of his face for a good reason. She knew very well all of this was going to end poorly, but she thought she had more time. She really had no idea how quickly it was running out on her.

"I think she's training for the Olympics." When her eyes focused on her stomach, there was worry in them. Softly, she spoke. "Mommy loves you, and she's proud that you're taking after her, but please. Hush."

After that, she took a sip of her drink and began to make her way over to a table. "I just need to sit, Chuckles. Get back to work."

[paterelohim]

Chuck used to think she had more time, too. He thought the birth would be a bloodbath, or the kid would go insane at age three. Best case scenario, to his thinking, had the killing start when it hit puberty. But this? This was just insane. It was wrong. Every time he looked at her stomach something deep and terrible in Him ached to just erase. To wipe it off the map like He once had the right to.

And yet, the way she spoke to the unborn child... It made him hurt a little for her. "Okay, Jinx." The wheelchair turned in midair, letting him go back to doing inventory of the bar. "I really appreciate you guys letting me come back in the chair. I was starting to go kind of batshit without work."

[hexyoutotuesday]

Chuck's attempt at menial conversation was responded to with the sound of glass shattering. At first, Jinx managed to remain standing. She grasped her stomach, doubled over as much as she could, and tried to hold back pained gasps. It wasn't too long before she collapsed to the ground. It felt like she was being torn in half. Her insides were burning. It was so hot, unbearably so. She didn't even realize she was screaming.

If one was watching closely, they may have noticed a flash of white light. It was easy to ignore with all the commotion. Her own powers surged, overloading half the lights in the club and blowing out the nearby speakers. When it all stopped, and it only lasted a matter of seconds, the sorceress was half conscious on the ground. Pained cries were heard between fits of sobbing, coughing, and trying to breathe. It sounded like she was drowning.

She was coughing up blood, speckled with dark ash.

[paterelohim]

He looked up the instant he heard the glass shatter, then whirled in midair to face her in alarm. Something was wrong and then she was falling, and Chuck didn't even remember thinking it but the chair launched over the bar and towards her, only to fall from the air with a crash when everything erupted in chaos. Noise, light- a flash of white, no.

This couldn't be happening. It shouldn't have been, not then, not so soon. He was moving without thought or decision to rush to her side and screech to a halt in front of her, blood pounding in his ears, something cold gripping him. "Jinx? Jinx!" Then he saw the ash. Oh, jesus. Bile rose in his throat and he almost threw up, but then he leaned down, coming half out of the chair to get a strong arm under her shoulders and pull her up so she could lean against him. "Jinx, talk to me. Come on. Listen to my voice. You can't do this, you can't let go. Jinx."

There was no thought about the baby. In his heart, he knew it was already gone.

[hexyoutotuesday]

Every noise was muffled, time going by in small bursts. Before she could even register Chuck beside her, she was suddenly slumped against him. Her once vibrant eyes were unfocused, like she couldn't mentally comprehend the situation. The coughing turned into gagging, and the gagging turned into bloody, ashen vomit down the front of both of them.

Through all of it, she managed to bring her hand up to her stomach. Shaking, she ran her palm over the front of her dress. Blackened blood was seeping through the hem of the material, running down her legs. "Sh-Shhh...O-Ode..Odette..." Her voice caught in her throat and resulted in her fighting to breathe even more.

[paterelohim]

"Odette's fine," Chuck lied frantically, pulling her into his lap like some twisted Pietà so he could see her face. Her unfocused eyes scared the shit out of him, and the blood on her legs was mixed with ash. Oh, fuck. "Come on, Jinx. Just breathe. Come on."

He had to think. Jinx obviously needed a hospital, but fuck if she could afford to wait for an ambulance. It took his brain a few seconds to catch up, but then he was screaming at the ceiling, frantic and desperate. "Gabriel." Jinx couldn't die. This couldn't happen. It was never supposed to happen again. "GABRIEL! Where are you? Come on, please!"

[painhumbles]

Another angel can feel the passing of one of its own kind from miles away. It always wore on Gabriel's heart the most during the apocalypse, because even then, you never knew when it was going to happen. One moment, you'd be in the middle of something, then you'd be kicked in the stomach by the feeling of an angel's light going out.

Even in Siren's Port, Gabriel felt the sting of an angel passing and while it wasn't as strong as a true angel's, it hit him with such force, he was almost knocked off his feet. Chuck's prayer hit him before he'd completely locked onto Jinx's location, because he knew and he's fairly certain if he doesn't keep control over himself, he'd level the city from here to Purgatory. Somehow the prayer just made him work faster.

When Gabriel showed up, one could tell he'd shoved so much back just to keep from losing it. Lifeless, cold eyes replace ones normally full of smarm, and joy, and life. The Purgatory's power flickered and died and in the morning light pouring from the windows, the traces of wings could be seen playing on the walls, bending in in a gesture of protectiveness. Gabriel was rarely ever the archangel he was born to be. He was very rarely well and truly frightening. Right now? He looked terrifying.

He practically swooped to pull Jinx to him, out of Chuck's grasp and in the ensuing switch, grabbed Chuck's shoulder to take him with the pair as he took flight again. The sight of a silent, desperate archangel, a bleeding girl, choking on ash and blood, and a guy in a lasered wheelchair was probably a shock to the patients and staff at Skye, but Gabriel could care less. He shoved Chuck towards the front desk and dropped to his knees to get a good look at the girl in his arms. The doctors and nurses were already going to pull her away from him, onto a gurney and he had to force himself to let go of her, but not before he tried to get her to look at him. In case something happened, in case she didn't make it out...

"Jinx..." He finally choked out, his first words since Odette's passing. "Please."

[hexyoutotuesday]

It was like falling asleep during a car ride. Jinx faded in and out as she was passed around, teleported to the hospital, seemingly unaware of what was going on around her. Her body was shaking and limp, save the hand she kept at her stomach. Quiet hums escaped her as she attempted to speak through drowning in her own blood.

Her eyes remained unfocused up until the point that she heard Gabriel's voice. When he grabbed her to make her look at him, she managed to make eye contact for just a split second before her vision blurred again. She was in so much pain, but through all of it, she managed to curve her bloody mouth into the smallest of smiles.

"Ruh-Remem...y-you pro-pr...prom...ised..." Which were the last words she was going to speak for a good, long while.

[paterelohim]

He didn't give a shit when Gabriel descended on them, didn't flinch when he pulled the girl from his arms; that was how it should be. She was Gabriel's. Even the sight of the archangel in a torrent of raw power and barely-checked terror didn't inspire the kind of holy shit factor you'd expect from the jumpy prophet. The entire time, Chuck just saw his lifeless eyes, and couldn't feel anything past heartache so sharp he could barely breathe.

In a way, he wished he didn't care. When Gabriel shoved him to the confused nurses at the front desk and bent over the girl's shaking body, it would have been easier to be the detached, uncaring bastard everyone believed "Him" to be. It would have been easier not to feel his stomach lurch at the faintest sound of Jinx's whisper or see the wing ash smeared all over Gabriel's hands and ground into his shirt. Maybe he could have answered the nurse barking questions at him the first time she asked, instead of the third, and wouldn't have been choking on the urge to throw up. Maybe his vision wouldn't have blurred.

Maybe, once they pulled Jinx away, he would have known something to say when he found himself alone with his son in the chaotic hospital. Something more intelligent than "Oh god. Gabriel-?"

[painhumbles]

Gabriel was already on his feet and very nearly broke every finger in the hand of a male nurse who tried to stop him from following Jinx into the OR before Chuck broke him out of his fugue enough to recognize the sound of his name.

"She has no idea, does she?" Because a simple "what happened" wouldn't suffice. He knew what happened and even through the blood and ash and everything else, Jinx was probably clinging to the hope that the life inside her could have been spared somehow.

[paterelohim]

Chuck was grateful Gabriel didn't ask the other question, because he wasn't sure he could have dealt with having to answer. What happened was too sharp and sudden for anyone to do anything- by the time He knew what was happening, it was already too late. If Jinx was still in there at all, if she was still aware of anything but darkness and pain, then the thread of hope would make everything that much worse. She loved that baby so much- too much. Fuck.

"No." Chuck pulled up next to Gabriel and he just looked at the angel, afraid to say anything or ask any questions. Afraid to reach out, despite wanting to desperately on some basic instinctual level. It wasn't about being a friend, or a prophet, or some guy. It was nothing more than wanting to hold His son until everything horrible and bad was gone and nothing hurt anymore.

It was a stunningly human impulse, and Chuck didn't know what to do with it. His stomach lurched. "There was light and everything. Gabriel- I. I'm."

I'm sorry felt so empty. Useless.