Dark Magick

A month and a-half later, in mid-February, the guys were preparing for both the imminent arrival of Andy’s and Ash’s twins, as well as their upcoming UK and Ireland tour. The bassist was said to be due sometime in April, which would make sense if he got pregnant sometime in July or early August of the previous year. After all, he’d been a woman for about a month and a-half, two months before he’d conceived.

The pair of lovers, who were now in an unofficial relationship, lay in the bassist’s bed one cold, winter’s night. Because it was so cold, even with the heat on, they were cuddled up under a mound of blankets, trying to keep each other warm as they fell asleep. Ash was able to stay a little warmer than his lover, but only because his blood volume was tripled to help nourish their daughters while pregnant. If not for that, he’d have been just as cold as his lover and shivering just as bad.

It wasn’t long before the younger man finally fell asleep, his arm draped protectively and possessively over the bassist’s expanded waist. Unfortunately, despite how exhausted he was, he just couldn’t seem to follow Andy into the land of dreams. Something just didn’t feel quite right to him, but he wasn’t sure what that something was.

Only an hour or so after his lover’d fallen asleep, Ash felt his already sore back cramp up even worse. The cramp was about twice as bad, but he noticed it’d wrapped around to his front to settle in his belly, as well. Having felt a few painless contractions, which Dr. Shepard had assured him was normal, he gasped as he realized that this was either false labor, or the real thing. The OB/GYN had told him that, alongside feeling a few painless contractions from time to time as his body practiced for the real thing, false labor was perfectly normal, too.

“Ouuuuch,” he moaned, clutching his belly as best he could since he was lying on his side.

“Mmmm… Ashie? What’s wrong?” the younger man murmured. He never slept very deeply anymore, apparently too worried about him.

“C-con…tr-traction,” he managed to grind out.

“You think it’s the real thing?” Andy asked, sitting up.

“I dunno…” He was breathing slowly, trying not to scream. “My due date’s still a month and a-half or so away, so it could just be false labor.”

“Let’s time a few of the contractions, then we’ll head to the hospital if we feel like we need to,” his lover suggested.

“Sounds like…a plan…to me,” Ash groaned, the twins kicking as the contraction began to ease off.

Seeing as they likely weren’t going to get any sleep for a while, the younger man got up and started packing them a couple hospital bags. They hadn’t quite gotten around to that just yet since he wasn’t due for another month, at the least. Once sure he’d packed everything they could possibly need, including a couple outfits to bring the girls home in if this really was the real thing, Andy helped him time the contractions.

When they realized that they were coming every twenty minutes or so, he decided that it was probably best to head to the hospital. At least there, the doctors could do whatever necessary to halt his labor, if it was possible, unless Legacy and Magick were developed enough to be born this soon.

After helping Ash up and into a pair of sweats and a loose T-shirt, he picked him up and carried him down to his Dodge Charger. He left him to get settled and buckled in while he ran back upstairs for their bags and locked the house, which killed him on the inside. This was his best friend and unofficial significant other, who just happened to apparently be going into labor with his daughters; of course he wanted to be by his side through it all. Anyone who knew either of them would find it hard to believe that he wasn’t freaking out, much less wanted to be there through it all.

Once he had their bags in the back seat and the house was locked up, Andy jumped into the driver’s seat of his car. As he buckled himself in and cranked it up, he asked the bassist how he was doing, only to get a painful groan in response. Realizing he was in the middle of a contraction again and couldn’t talk, he merely reached over and grabbed his hand after he’d backed out of the driveway. Ash squeezed the appendage now gripping his tightly, almost too tight for the younger man to bear, but he said nothing.

“Good evening. How can I help you?” a nurse asked when they walked up to the nurses’ station in the maternity ward a short while later.

“We suspect my girlfriend might be going into labor,” Andy answered, letting the bassist lean on him for support.

“I’m guessing her due date’s pretty soon?” the woman chuckled.

“Actually, it’s not for another month and a-half,” he told her, his expression turning worried. “That’s why we’re so worried.”

“Oh, my… Well, she certainly looks further along than that.” Her own expression turned concerned as she started gathering the paperwork they’d need to fill out.

“Twins,” Ash ground out, slumping slightly as the contraction he was in the middle of finally ended.

“Ah, that’ll do it,” she said, nodding. “Lemme get you a wheelchair, hun, so you don’t fall.”

“Thanks,” Andy said, tightening his grip on him.

The woman returned moments later with a wheelchair, which he helped the bassist get settled into. After they’d filled out the paperwork, the nurse, who’d introduced herself as Lilac West, wheeled him back to a labor and delivery room to get him on the monitor. Once he was on the monitor, she’d go page his OB/GYN and let her know they’d come in with a case of suspected preterm labor.

Now that he was changed into the backless gown that had to be worn in the hospital, Ash was helped onto the bed by his lover. He hissed and groaned as another contraction started just as he got to its edge, making his knees buckle and forcing the younger man to hold him up. He held him tightly in his arms and gently rubbed his back, particularly right above his tailbone, softly singing in his ear. Hearing the melody to Saviour gave him something to focus on besides the pain, as well as helped restore his strength enough to make sure he didn’t fall.

Laying in the bed a short time later, the bassist grimaced as the nurse prodded at his belly to find the girls. Legacy was turned head-down on his right side, Magick turned head-down on his left, with both their heads fighting to get locked into his pelvis for delivery. Once she’d found their heartbeats, the nurse apologized for any discomfort she’d caused.

Ash waved off her apologies as she strapped yet another monitor to him that would keep track of his contractions and their intensity before leaving the room. His best friend and lover pulled a chair up next to the bedside and took his hand, telling him to squeeze his as tightly as he needed to. Even if he fractured or broke a bone as a result, he didn’t care; he was in far worse pain that would only get worse as time passed. Letting him squeeze, and possibly break, his hand was the least he could do.

“Well, good evening, Ash. Evening, Andy.”

Looking up, they saw Dr. Shepard had walked into the room.

“Evening, Dr. Shepard,” Andy answered. “You look like we woke you up.”

“No worries,” she chuckled, smiling at them. “It’s part and parcel of being an obstetrician. So what seems to be the problem?”

“She’s been having contractions every twenty minutes or so for the last…hour and a-half, I think,” he answered, consulting his phone. “Yeah, about an hour and a-half now.”

“And her due date’s not for another month and a-half.” The OB/GYN paused thoughtfully. “On a scale of one to ten, what’s your pain level, Ash?”

“Six,” the bassist ground out without any hesitation.

“Yikes… Well, at your last check-up, you were thirty-three weeks; that was two weeks ago,” Dr. Shepard said. “Since we want the girls to stay in there for as long as possible, I’m gonna try to stop your labor for at least another week or two, but they actually wouldn’t do too bad if I can’t stop it.”

“Really?” Ash asked, glancing at her with fear in his eyes.

“Really, really. Babies born at thirty-five weeks or later do the best, especially the closer to forty weeks the pregnancy is gestated,” she answered, nodding. “Like I said, we want ’em to stay in there for as long as possible, but if I can’t stop your labor after all, they shouldn’t do too bad outside the womb.”

Both of them breathed a sigh of relief as the OB/GYN started gathering the things she’d need to start an IV line of magnesium sulfate. The drug was commonly used in halting preterm labor and shouldn’t have any lingering side effects on mother or children either one. Andy was thankful to hear this, but still waited with baited breath to see if they could manage to halt and stave off labor for another couple weeks, at the latest.

With the IV started, Dr. Shepard said that she and the nurses would be in to check him every hour to see how he and the babies were doing. The younger man thanked her since Ash was in the middle of another contraction since the drugs hadn’t kicked in yet, and she quickly took her leave.

Sighing softly, the frontman took his lover’s hand again and gave it a gentle squeeze, silently letting him know he was there for him and everything would be okay. He squeezed back tighter than he’d ever done before, meaning that this contraction was particularly painful for him. Andy could only hope that the drugs would kick in soon and halt his labor, not just because he wanted their daughters to be as healthy as possible, but because he couldn’t stand seeing him in pain. Hope and faith were the only things he had besides his unborn daughters and the one he loved; hopefully they’d be enough.

Ash sighed in relief as this latest contraction ended, splaying one hand on the dome that housed his daughters for the time being. Like his lover, he could only hope that the drugs kicked in soon and staved off real labor for at least a couple more weeks. Even with assurances from Dr. Shepard that Legacy and Magick would be fine if born now, he didn’t want them coming any earlier than they had to. It was that worry, not the contractions, that kept him up for several hours to come.

Notes