Posted for yesterday!
Who: The Flints! All of them haha
What: Uh oh! Baby time?
Where: Their house, St. Mungo's
Notes: One last finish in comments?
There was a short, half an hour span in which Estella and the boys were by themselves. Adamina was wonderfully helpful during the day, but she did have her own baby and family to take care of. It had never been an issue, and Estella did honestly enjoy the alone time she got with Marcus and Jacob. Once their sister was here, Estella would be able to handle things much better and on her own, but right now she looked the complete antithesis of a ballerina: huge, and unbalanced.
"Mummy!" Jacob let out, running in from the hallway and jumping onto the couch beside her. Marcus ran in quickly behind, his school book bag still over his shoulders. "I wanna do homework!"
"Homework is only for boys who go to
school," Marcus said pompously, lifting his chin. Estella grinned and poked his nose. Jacob whined for a backpack of his own, and his brother turned away to keep his bag out of arm's length.
"You'll get to go to school in a few years," Estella soothed, patting down Jacob's hair. The boy pouted again and gazed longingly at Marcus' book bag. Marcus once again began to preen, and squeezed between Estella and the arm of the couch. She held back her look of discomfort (she'd been so
sore all day) and shifted over, "You're going to mess up the parchment in your bag, Marcus!"
"S'okay!" he chirped, kicking his feet. His Puddlemere sneakers were completely covered in mud, and Estella's eye twitched. "I love school. I play with the blocks and we take a nap on the rug and I get to have cookies and I want to be in kinnergarren for
ever! Again and again and again!"
"You don't want to repeat a grade," Estella laughed, and ran her hand over her belly. "Why don't you get some extra parchment so you can color together? You can teach Jacob how to do homework."
Jacob shrieked in excitement and leaped off the couch. Marcus wiggled and dislodged himself from the couch and hurried after, shouting, "We are
sharing and taking
turns,
JACOB!"
Estella winced at the arguing that had already begun, and realized that 'doing homework' had been a bad idea. She used the arm of the couch to help her stand, and was almost upright when a searing pain shot through her, and suddenly her feet were soaked. Estella froze in her mid-risen position, her eyes looking ready to pop out of her head and her mouth hanging open in horror.
"Ohhhh--" she said shakily, somehow managing to straighten up, both arms clutching herself around her belly. "Ohhh---no no, baby girl," she began to whisper, "You--two weeks, we've got
two weeks---"
She let out a moan, quickly covering her mouth with her hand in case the boys could hear. Merlin, Merlin---this couldn't be labor! She had two weeks! This was supposed to be perfect! And--and Caden wouldn't be here for twenty minutes! Who could she floo, or---"
Ahhhh!"
"Mummy?"
Estella looked up from her keeled over position at the two boys in the entrance of the living room, eyes wide as quaffles. She forced a shaky grin. "Marcus---could you...floo Daddy?"
"I WANNA DO IT!" Jacob interjected, but Estella ceased all further arguments with one shriek,
"
JACOB GO SIT IN THE CORNER PLEASE,
RIGHT NOW!" When he scurried away, Estella looked back at Marcus, who looked ready to pass out, "Marcus! Floo call---Puddlemere Stadium!"
“Here’s an idea. Let’s try hitting the bludger
away from me next time, huh Kirke? Fuckin’ Christ, I can’t even move my
fucking arm, you stupid fuck.” Caden carefully rolled his shoulder back, broom held tight in one hand, seeing how the entire time had just landed after practice. The newest Puddlemere was used to the verbal abuse that came with fucking up during practice, whether it be from Flint, or McLaggen, or any of the other players on the team…but it usually came from the heated Irishman who was now seated on a nearby bench, his broom placed carefully down on the ground so he could use that hand to grab hold of his shoulder. He winced as he felt the joint was out of place, and looked over to Rafe, who was rubbing at the back of his neck nearby, before he sighed and turned around to walk into the locker rooms. He had already apologized, so there really wasn’t any more he could do.
Quidditch players got hurt all the time, and sometimes it was because of their own team mates, but it wasn’t the end of the world. A vile of potion would mend whatever had been damaged when his shoulder popped out…but getting it back in place was something he wasn’t looking forward to, which was why he was being a bigger prick than usual. The team doctor came rushing towards Caden, who had already taken off his gear, now in the white, sleeveless undershirt he wore beneath his jersey, since the doctor needed to see the full damage. The doc took hold of his toned arm and carefully lifted it up, making Caden hold back a groan as he clenched his jaw, trying to fight the pain. “Oh, this won’t be bad at all…” “…great.” “Oh, stop. It won’t hurt that much.” Caden scoffed. “Says
you…you’re not the one who has t-…FUCK!”
The doctor, as always, had decided to pop back his arm mid-sentence, so that Caden wouldn’t be as anxious about when it was going to happen. He hunched over, as the doctor moved his limb, making sure he could still rotate his arm properly. “How does that feel?” Without even saying a word, the man looked over to the doctor with a look that could kill, but the man just laughed. “Good, good…now, I don’t have anything for you right now, so you’ll have to come with me to Mungo’s.” “I can’t go to Mungo’s.” “And why not? Do you
want your career to be over?” Caden huffed and sat up, wincing as he rubbed at his sore joint. “I can’t leave Estella alone with the kids any longer than I have to…” The doctor let out a hum before he opened his mouth to add more, but was cut off.
“Mr.Flint?”
Caden’s attention jumped from the doctor to the man who was standing behind him, and his brows furrowed together when he saw that the little boy with him was his son. “Marcus?” He rose to his feet and moved over to where they were, looking down at his son then to who he was with. “What’s this about?” “I-…I think you should ask your son.” The nervous man turned to look down at the boy, who ran over to his Dad, grabbing at the fabric of his shirt, looking up at him with big brown eyes. “Dad! Dad, Mum was on the floor, and she looked like she hurt, and she told me to floor you, and Jacob said he wanted to do it, but Mum said
I gotta do it, so I did, and-..!” Caden lowered himself down, his heart currently pounding in his chest.
She looked like she hurt. “Marcus! Where is Mum right now?” “She’s at home with Jacob, but-…”
Ignoring any pain that he had in his arm, Caden scooped up Marcus, supporting him with his good arm once he had him in a good enough position. “I need to go.” He stated, looking at the doc and the other man, heading towards where he new the Puddlemere Stadium fireplace was. Marcus clung to his dad as they moved quickly through the hallways. “Daddy, are you mad at me?” “What? No, no, I’m not mad…” He turned a corner. “…are you sure? Cause I didn’t do anything…” “I’m not mad, Marcus, I just…
shit….” He had made a wrong turn. Turning back, he corrected his mistake. “I need to get to your Mum. You did the right thing, you used the floo just like I taught you…” He was really trying not to freak out on the poor boy who was still holding onto him, since his head was in a million places. What was this? What was happening? Was this about the baby? Was something wrong?
There were too many questions, and the only good part about this was that he was distracted from the mass amounts of pain shooting through his right arm. When he got to the fireplace, he placed Marcus down, holding onto his hand as he clearly stated the location he wanted to end at. He tightened his grip on his son’s hand, and as soon as they landed, stepped out with him, but let go to lower himself down beside his wife, positioning himself so he could support her. “Stell, love, I’m here, I got here as soon as I could…” He looked down at the puddle that was beneath them, and suddenly felt light headed.
Her water broke.
“Can you stand?”
"Mummy, do you want my blankie?"
Estella stared miserably over at Jacob, who had crept from the corner in concern. He held out his blue blanket, the one that had been wrapped around him when he left the hospital after his own birth; he couldn't sleep without it. She shakily nodded and took the blanket, letting her son pat down her hair like she did his when he was sick or upset. "What's wrong?"
"Your sister's coming," Estella let out, making Jacob grin.
"Really? She's hurtin' you?"
"It'll be okay, it just hurts for a---little!"
"If I dunt like 'er," Jacob started, frowning at this information as the fireplace roared up, "Can we put 'er back?"
Estella actually let out a low string of giggles at Jacob's question, but she was too focused on the appearance of Caden and Marcus to respond. She'd nearly had the baby right on the
floor when Marcus disappeared into the whirl of flames, instead of calling the stadium, but he
had practiced flooing, and apparently he'd made it in one piece. Her mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water for a second as she tried to answer Caden, but her mind was whirling too fast to figure anything out.
This wasn't supposed to have any hitches. They were supposed to have their baby on her due date, with no fuss about getting to the hospital, nothing abnormal to think that
anything could go wrong. Estella knew, and was quite aware, that second children often come a little earlier than the first, but that didn't mean it was reassuring enough to calm
Caden's nerves. Not that...her nerves were starting to react as well, but--okay, no, they were going to be fine. Because this was meant to happen.
They were meant to happen. Estella had figured it out a long time ago; she and Caden were meant to be together, and all the terrible things they'd been through had been for a reason, to lead them to each other.
So they were going to have this baby, she was going to be beautiful, and everyone was going to be fine.
Finally she nodded, letting Caden pull her up. She smiled proudly down at Marcus before looking back up at Caden, clutching at him. He was here now, and all the fear she had just minutes ago had evaporated. Estella stared up at him with such love and adoration that she was sure she was going to cry from happiness. "I think we need to decide on a name."
Helping up the pregnant woman who was on the floor, Caden held her close to him, looking down at her. She could probably feel his heart pounding rapidly in his chest, since he wasn’t prepared for this, and this whole situation was causing him to panic a little bit. But, because he was Caden, he didn’t outwardly display many of his emotions, especially if they were ones he believed would make him seem weak. He wanted to be strong for Estella, so as per usual he put up a believable front, speaking slowly and calmly.
“…we’ll have time to think of a name. We’ll pick the perfect name, but
after we get you to Mungo’s.” He looked over at the two boys who were standing around, gawking at their parents, not fully understanding what was happening. “Marcus, Jacob, come here.” The boys followed the older male’s orders, rushing forward towards them as Caden adjusted Estella so she was leaning against his side, his good arm wrapped around her. “I need you two to hold hands.” “But we-…” “-just
do it, Marcus.” The boy scowled and took hold of his step-brothers hand. “Whatever you boys do, do
not let go of each other. Do you understand me?” They just stared at him. “Do you
understand?” “Mhmm….” Jacob nodded his head, and then Marcus did the same. Reaching into his pocket, he grabbed a hold of his wand, holding it tightly. “Jacob, hold onto your Mum…and hold on tight.” The boy moved towards his mother and extended his arm towards her. When she grabbed a hold of his tiny hand, Caden turned towards Estella, gripping at his wand again before he kissed her forehead. “We’ll be there soon…hold tight, baby…”
He concentrated harder than he ever would were he by himself, and within moments they were safely at Mungo’s standing in the middle of the admitting area. One of the women rushed towards the family. “Honey, are you in labor?” Estella’s answer made her nod, before instructing one of the other woman to go and grab a wheelchair, before turning towards Caden, her jaw dropping when she realized who it was. “Caden Flint…” After gawking for a moment longer, she shook away her shock and cleared her throat. “Your wife is going to be fine, but we need to get her up to a delivery room…” “…do whatever you need to do, just make sure she’s alright.” The woman nodded, and the wheelchair arrived. He helped her get situated in it, letting the hospital employee push the chair as he scooped Jacob up with his good arm, instructing Marcus to follow behind since he was older and could keep up better. As soon as he was able to, he reached for Estella’s hand again, moving his thumb along the back of her hand, secretly scared to death of how this would end.
Somewhere in the midst of all the madness and quickness, Estella's brother showed up (a lucky passing in the corridor, maybe?) and took Marcus and Jacob. Tobias would take care of the boys, they'd be fine, and when they finally settled down, Estella's contractions were growing closer and closer together. She and Caden were alone in the delivery room for now, while the healers prepared, and it was a heavy silence, like the eye of the storm. The pain was of course intensifying, but she was finding herself more and more relaxed. Things felt like they had during Jacob's birth, things felt like they should. Sure, their little girl was going to be a few weeks early, but she was at full term! So! She was going to be fine!
Estella drooped her head to her shoulder and smiled and Caden, who, while he was trying his best to remain calm, looked ready to puke. To anyone else in the room it would seem like he was being stoic and his normal self, but Estella could read every last centimeter of his face. She watched his eyes move quickly, she felt his hand tightly gripping hers, and she just
knew he was silently panicking.
"It's going to be okay," she said, for once in her life not defaulting to a stumbling, rambling mess in a high tension situation. Estella knew in her heart that everything was going to be fine, "I promise."
Another contraction raced through her and she buried her nails into her husband's hand. Their healer came through the door and smiled widely at the two, "Are you guys ready to have your baby?"
Hearing it out loud struck something in Estella's chest, and her lips began to tremble, and her eyes watered and---oh, she'd had so many of these moments during her pregnancy that it was almost like
blinking, but her free hand covered her mouth and she allowed her underlying panic to strike. She was completely at ease when it came to calming her husband down, but her
self? Now that she was supposed to actually
have their baby? Oh, that wasn't going to go as smoothly as she had once believed.
Estella let out a squeak and turned to Caden, attempting to force herself to keep calm but failing miserably. He had to know that she still believed things would be okay, that this was----
her, just---freaking out, but she needed to know that he believed her, "Promise me too!"
