hemrage | The Thirteenth Child (9/9)

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PART NINE

Everything moved so quickly.

Jared heard the door open behind him, was aware of someone – he thought it was Claudette – taking the second child from between Jensen’s legs, and then he was pushed to one side, out of the way as the doctor took his place.

Jared didn’t even think to ask whether he had another daughter or a son, his focus intent on Jensen. He knelt by the side of the bed, stroking Jensen’s face, pushing stray strands of sweat damp hair behind his ear. Even like this Jensen was beautiful, and he didn’t know whether he’d ever told Jensen that. That he was beautiful. Why had he never said it? Did Jensen even know that Jared loved him?

He heard the doctor curse as needle and thread were produced. “I’m going to have to stitch him up as soon as the third baby is out, Jared. This would be a lot easier if he would wake up to start pushing again, but I think a combination of blood loss, pain and exhaustion have gotten the better of him.”

Jared watched, horrified, as another contraction rippled through Jensen’s much abused body.

“There’s a very real danger of the baby getting distressed if it’s not delivered soon.”

“So what can you do?”

The doctor scowled, placed a hand on Jensen’s stomach and began pressing, feeling for something. “It’s not unheard of for there to be hours between multiples being born, but I don’t think Jensen can wait that long while he’s bleeding like this.”

The doctor produced a small monitor and attached it to Jensen’s chest, got another and attached it to his abdomen. “The deep tone you can hear is Jensen’s heartbeat, the high pitched, rapid tone, is the baby’s.”

“Isn’t it too fast?”

The doctor, eyes trained on the area between Jensen’s legs, hands doing something down there that Jared didn’t want to acknowledge, sounded much more relaxed than Jared thought was normal for a situation like this. “Not too bad, actually. Jensen’s is a little slow, but then his blood pressure is really low right now.”

Jensen’s eyelids fluttered, but he didn’t wake and Jared didn’t feel like he could blame him for his retreat from consciousness right now. Would join him if he could. “Are we going to get him to hospital now?”

“There isn’t time Jared. He delivered your son and daughter within thirty minutes of you calling me. We probably wouldn’t even get him down the stairs, much less to the hospital.”

The doctor turned from him, blood covered hands retrieving items from the case that had arrived with her.

“You may want to hold him down. There’s a good chance that he’s going to wake up during this, my hope it that he won’t but… well, you need to keep him still Jared.”

Jared turned his body so that he couldn’t see what the doctor was doing. This, he truly believed, would be the stuff of many sleepless nights ahead and he didn’t need to give insomnia more ammunition.

Jensen’s unfocused eyes snapped open and his body twisted as he attempted, futilely, to pull away from whatever the doctor was doing. Jared held him down, forcing his body to remain still. Forcing Jensen to suffer whatever it was Jared could not bear to witness.

Tears flowed freely from Jensen’s eyes and his mouth opened in a silent scream. Jared wanted to join him. Wanted to run from the room and escape this nightmare.

It seemed like a lifetime before Jensen’s body sagged, his eyes fluttering closed once more.

The doctor spoke, but Jared didn’t hear her words. He was too intent on watching his husband, checking for the continued rise and fall of his chest, listening for the soft breath from his mouth.

Whatever the doctor had to say could wait until he was certain Jensen was merely asleep.

Jensen was moved to another room in the house, their bed was completely destroyed and a replacement would be found as soon as possible. There’d been so much blood Jared could see it when he closed his eyes. The doctor still insisted that a hospital wasn’t necessary and since Jensen had woken, quiet, but not as withdrawn as Jared had expected him to be, he accepted that professional opinion.

“How’re you feeling?”

Jensen’s laugh was broken, his voice all but wrecked by the screaming he’d been doing earlier. “Like I’ve had my insides ripped out… Oh, hang on, that’s what happened, right?” Jensen showed him a little mercy then, taking his hand and squeezing. “I’ll survive, Jared.”

Jared climbed up onto the bed next to him. Those words had a startling effect, releasing something, tension, pressure – terror – and now he just wanted to be close. As close as he could be.

“So, daddy, what did we have?”

Jared smiled, “I think you need to see for yourself.”

Claudette was standing at the door, two children in her arms. She approached Jensen, handing him first one and then the other. “Your daughter, and your son. He’s loud.” Jensen laughed at that and looked at each of his children. His daughter, alert and watching, his son, asleep. “You’ll need to feed them in a little bit, but all in all it’s a good job we had some formula on hand.”

Jensen nodded and then grew quiet, making assumptions about the absentee that he didn’t want to voice. His youngest wasn’t here and …

While he’d been intently focussed on the babes in arms he hadn’t noticed Claudette leave the room, or return. Jared leant over him, “Give them to me, Jen. I think you need to meet the little one who caused you so much bother.”

Jensen handed his oldest children to their other father and waited for Claudette to give him the smallest of the three. His youngest. He eagerly accepted the little wrapped bundle. “He’s a carrier Jen, like you.”

Jensen stared then. Silent tears slipping down his face that he couldn’t be bothered to wipe away. As much as his son and daughter would need him, this little one would need him more. Would need guidance that no-one else would be able to provide.

His children would need him – and he would be there for them.

“Jared.”

“Yes.”

“I think, in a few years, when these three are older, I’d like more.”

“We’ll see Jensen, we’ll see.”

Jared, for his part, wasn’t sure he could ever go through that again.

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From:

anifsemaj.livejournal.com

Very nicely done! One could wish that Jared had been willing/able to address more of Jensen's fears along the way, but I love that he did actually realize he was not handling it the best it could be and that Jensen had real reasons to fear childbirth!

From:

The Thirteenth Child (9/9)

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