Together Again

After tossing and turning restlessly for several hours, Ash finally admitted defeat and moved as slowly as he could to get up. His lover’d been sleeping peacefully ever since he came to bed, and as busy as he’d been lately, he didn’t want to disturb him. Still, that didn’t mean he wasn’t a bit jealous since he hadn’t been able to sleep at all, despite being utterly exhausted upon going to bed himself.

It was the night before his due date, so it wasn’t very easy for him to get comfortable. Not that it’d been very easy in recent months, anyway, but at a day shy of forty weeks and looking like he was still only twenty-eight, it definitely wasn’t now. That made him a bit grumpier as he slowly made his way downstairs, hoping he’d eventually pass out.

Once he got downstairs, Ash decided to strip down to his boxers and head out to the pool. The hot California sun wasn’t even up, so he wouldn’t have to worry about burning, but he figured maybe the buoyant properties of the water would help soothe him. It would also take some of the pressure off his spine by helping to support his pregnancy, something he needed almost as desperately as just to give birth again. With his decision made, he headed out to the pool for the relief he sought.

Maybe ten minutes after he climbed in, he was thankful he’d listened to whatever gut instinct had told him to stay in the shallow end for once. He felt an all too familiar tightening sensation in his torso, which soon turned into a mild cramp, but he knew what it meant. As close as he was to his due date, there was no doubt in his mind that he was going into labor, and he’d be lucky to haul himself back upstairs to wake his lover. As luck would have it, though, Andy’d woken up when he moved to cuddle him and realized he was alone and started searching for him.

“Ash?” he asked, sounding both relieved and worried when he stepped out back, where he saw his figure in the pool. “What’re you doing out here, Outlaw?”

In the midst of a contraction, which left him clinging to the railing on the stairs for dear life, he was unable to respond to him.

“Ashley!” his lover cried, racing to his side. “Oh, Godsmack, what’s wrong?”

“Con…trac…tion,” Ash ground out through gritted teeth.

“So you’re going into labor?” the younger man asked, stepping down into the pool in his pajama pants.

“Y-yeah,” he stuttered, now clinging to him.

“Lemme know when you can walk so we can get you back inside,” Andy said, supporting his weight.

“N-no.” He shook his head furiously, sighing as the contraction ended. “I’ll get out long enough for my water to break, but I wanna stay here.”

“Are you sure about that, Outlaw?” his lover asked.

“I’m sure, Batman,” the older man answered, nodding.

“I thought hot water helped with the pain of labor,” the younger man said thoughtfully.

“It does, but I wanna stay in the pool,” Ash told him. “It’s deeper, and the buoyancy makes my back feel better.”

“All right. You want me to give Dr. Bohn a call?” he asked.

“Yeah, go ahead,” he answered, nodding. “She’ll probably tell us to wait till my contractions are eight minutes apart, give or take, but at least she’ll know.”

Nodding again, Ash went back to clinging to the stair rail while his lover headed back inside to get his phone. He knew the younger man wasn’t going to leave him alone for any longer than necessary and would be back outside within moments. It was a relief to know he’d have him in the delivery room with him this time, something they’d both missed out on the first time around.

Just a few moments after his lover left, the older man grimaced as he felt the pressure in his abdomen begin to grow again. This was worse than just a typical contraction, and as much fluid as he had in him between both babies, he figured his water was about to break. It felt all to similar to the first time right before his water broke, and he knew what was about to happen next. He somehow managed to drag himself out of the pool and onto the concrete deck, and just in the nick of time, too.

As Andy walked back outside, obviously still on the phone with his OB/GYN, he groaned in pain as another contraction started. Just as he’d suspected, he both heard and felt a pop as the amniotic sacs around his babies ruptured. This drew a gasp from him as the fluid began to gush out of him, bringing both relief from some of the pressure and a certainty that he was going into labor again. He managed to tell the younger man when he squatted down next to him, which he then relayed to Dr. Bohn. The OB/GYN told them to try to wait till his contractions were eight minutes apart, just as Dr. Davis’d done years ago. However, she told them that if he started getting feverish, to come to the hospital right away.

Once the phone call was ended, his lover helped him back into the pool so he could have some of the weight taken off his back again. The water was still fairly warm from that day’s bright sun, and it helped relieve some of his pain. That didn’t stop a yelp of pain when the next hit a few minutes later, which the younger man tried to shush as much as he could. While he knew it was painful and that Ash was bound to cry out at some point, he didn’t want him waking their daughters if he didn’t have to. He whimpered and nodded, trying to quiet his cries, but it was a futile effort.

Moments after he’d let out his yelp, Legacy and Magick were flying out the back door since they knew damn good and well it wasn’t an animal. They were both scared something had happened to their mama, and both wanted reassurance that he was all right. As close as he was to his due date, they wanted to make sure he hadn’t fallen and hurt himself or the babies.

Both girls were worried sick by the time they made it over to the pool, where they found their parents almost dancing in the shallow end. Ash was clinging to his lover, who was rubbing his back and helping him focus on breathing through the pain. He whimpered right before each contraction started, which was followed by a groan or cry of pain. Andy did everything he could to soothe him, but took a moment to reassure their daughters that he was fine. They weren’t sure about that, but when told he was just going into labor, they seemed to breathe a slight sigh of relief.

“So the babies are gonna be here soon?” Legacy asked, sounding both worried and excited.

“I think it’ll be a while before they get here, baby girl,” the younger man chuckled, still massaging his back.

“I’m thinking…at least…eight hours,” Ash ground out, whimpering and groaning at the start of another contraction.

“Oh, yeah. I remember you saying it was about fifteen hours before you had us,” Magick said thoughtfully.

“Fifteen hours, Outlaw?” Andy said, sounding shocked and a bit horrified.

“Uh huh,” he managed, still seemingly dancing with him. “That was…actually…fast, according…to Dr. Davis.”

“Seriously?” his lover asked.

“Seriously,” the older man answered. “For a…first time mother…carrying twins.”

“Mmm, I see,” he all but hummed, moving with his sweetheart. “No wonder Dr. Bohn told us to wait till your contractions were eight minutes apart.”

Nodding against his shoulder, Ash sighed heavily in relief as this latest contraction finally ended. He sagged heavily against him, his entire body appearing to turn into a bowl of Jello mere seconds after the pain momentarily ended. He had a bit of a hard time supporting his sweetheart, but he’d just as soon break his back if it meant helping him.

Within a couple hours, much sooner than he’d reached the same point the last time, the older man was ready to head to the hospital. His contractions were finally eight minutes apart, and he begged his lover and daughters to start grabbing bags as yet another one started. If it hadn’t been made obvious by the breaking of his water, it definitely was now that these babies were well on their way. In fact, when compared to their older sisters, they seemed to be in a rush to get here.

By the time they reached UCLA Medical Center, his contractions were five minutes apart. The traffic jam Andy’d fought to get out of, which included making use of the carpool lane, hadn’t helped, and by now he was in agony. The older man was biting on a sock he’d snatched from Magick to avoid grinding his teeth too hard, the pain was that immense. It made them both cringe in sympathy, knowing they’d one day go through it.

The girls both managed to help him out of their daddy’s Dodge Charger and into the first set of doors they saw, which just happened to be the ER. Andy quickly took off to find a parking space, saying he’d be up with their bags to fill out any paperwork the three of them couldn’t in just a few minutes. Legacy and Magick ended up having to stop and pick their mama up, cradling him between them as best they could, and waddle into the ER with him in their arms. As many times as he’d picked them up and carried them, even when he didn’t feel good himself, it was the least they could do.

“Do you guys need help?” a woman asked as they grunted and strained.

“Our mama’s in labor,” Legacy grunted. Unfortunately, her accent was too thick for the woman to understand what she said.

“For the love of all that’s holy! Get me up to the maternity ward!” Ash screamed, another contraction wracking his torso.

“A man? In the maternity ward?” The woman snorted in disbelief. “When pigs fly.”

“I guess pigs are gonna fly tonight,” his lover growled, having walked in behind them. “Girls, put him on his feet as gently as you can.”

Nodding, the twins slowly lowered him, trying not to make his pain any worse.

“I’m gonna grab him so I can carry him upstairs. You two get our bags, all right?” Andy said, moving to wrap his arm under his sweetheart’s.

“Yes, sir,” they both answered, nodding.

“One, two, three,” he said, then hefted him up bridal-style as quickly, yet gently, as he could manage.

“Oh, my Godsmack!” Ash groaned, whimpering as the contraction faded. “If I didn’t love these babies, I’d kill either them, or you!”

“I know, I know, Outlaw,” the younger man said soothingly, kissing his temple as he headed toward the elevator. “I’m sorry you’re having to go through this.”

The quartet quickly left the flabbergasted nurse in their wake as they boarded the elevator, the older man still whimpering in his lover’s arms. By the time they made it to the maternity ward, Andy felt like he’d had a chunk taken out of his shoulder, but that was okay. If biting his shoulder helped with his pain, he’d endure several more bites before it was over.

At the nurses’ station, they were greeted by a far more open-minded nurse. It also helped that Dr. Bohn’d called ahead to let them know to be expecting an Ashley Purdy, and not to be surprised that the patient was male. While she handed over the paperwork that needed to be filled out so he could be admitted, she sent another to get him a wheel chair since she could see the younger man straining to hold him. Both men thanked her gratefully while Magick started filling out the paperwork for them.

No more than a few minutes later, the nurses were helping get Ash settled into the bed in the room they were led to. He groaned and cried through another contraction as they got him hooked up to what they called a fetal monitor, which included having to press on his belly. It helped them figure out what positions the twins were in, which would help them locate their heartbeats with the monitors that were in their hands.

“How’re you doing, Outlaw?” Andy asked, now sitting by his bedside. He was squeezing his hand in a comforting gesture, enthralled by their babies’ heartbeats.

“As well as…I can be,” the older man ground out. He clenched his teeth and squeezed his lover’s hand so tight Andy swore he heard and felt something crack.

“Then I guess I don’t have to ask that myself.”

Looking up, the younger man saw the woman he remembered from his Skype call mid-appointment a few months ago. “Dr. Bohn.”

“Hey there, Andy,” she greeted. “Good to see you went into labor on your own, Ashley.”

Ash merely groaned in pain, his face scrunched up in ways that none of them had ever seen before.

“Lemme know when that contraction ends so I can check you,” the OB/GYN said, then turned to the girls. “I’m guessing you’re the twin daughters he’s talked about so much.”

“Yep. I’m Legacy, and this is my sister, Magick,” the older twin answered, nodding.

“It’s great to meet you. Your mama’s talked about you guys quite a bit, and he loves you more than I think you realize,” she said, smiling at them.

“Ohhhh, Godsmack,” the older man groaned, visibly slumping in the bed.

“Done for now?” Dr. Bohn asked, pulling on a pair of latex gloves as she turned back to him.

“You’ve got about five minutes,” he answered, nodding.

“All right. You know the position,” she said, sitting down on the edge of the bed on the other side.

Andy merely watched as he nodded, then pressed his feet together and pulled them up as close to his pelvis as he could.

“You’re gonna feel some pressure…” the OB/GYN warned him.

“I know. Not the most pleasant thing, but it’s not as bad as the contractions,” Ash answered, grimacing as she pressed her fingers into him.

“Six centimeters and eighty percent effaced,” she reported, pulling her hand back out from under the sheet and pulling the gloves off. “You sure you haven’t been laboring more than a few hours?”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if I started dilating within the last week,” he admitted. “I had a few nasty contractions over the last week, but they didn’t settle into a rhythm.”

“How bad were they, on a scale of one to ten?” Dr. Bohn asked.

“At least a seven, maybe an eight,” he answered, grimacing again.

“That’d do it, then,” she agreed. “Another thing is that one’s cervix never closes as tightly after a birth as before, so you were probably already slightly dilated before those nasty contractions.”

She quickly made a notation of her findings during the pelvic exam on his chart, then asked if he wanted an epidural. By this time, the older man had pulled the pillow out from behind his head so he could bite it, but the motion it made was a telltale sign of him nodding. He’d dealt with this pain long enough, and knowing how tired he was going to be from his first delivery with it, he wanted the pain relief.

Their wait for the anesthesiologist was a fairly short one, but it wasn’t short enough for his liking. He was in the middle of a contraction when she and Dr. Bohn entered the room, his hands balled into fists and his toes curled as his body worked to force out the babies cradled within it.

Once the contraction ended, he was quickly prepped for his epidural, which tested the limits of his lover’s self-control as he held him steady. The sight of the needle being pushed into his sweetheart’s back made him undoubtedly queasy, and he couldn’t help but wonder how on Earth Ash didn’t feel any pain from it. The anesthesiologist chuckled as she worked, telling him she’d given him a local anesthetic before she started so he wouldn’t feel any pain from the procedure. Andy was a bit skeptical, but since his sweetheart didn’t appear to feel any pain aside from his contractions, he wasn’t going to argue.

With the catheter in place and taped down to his back, the older man was once again settled in bed. This time, both he and his OB/GYN wanted him on his left side, which allowed him to curl up slightly, if he wanted. She and a nurse quickly relocated the babies’ heartbeats, glad to see they were still within normal ranges. All the while, the anesthesiologist hooked his catheter up to a pump and started his epidural, which kicked in within just a few moments and drew a sigh of relief from him.

“Feeling better, Ashley?” the woman asked with a smile.

“Much,” he sighed, smiling a bit sleepily as he rubbed his belly. “Thanks, doc.”

“You don’t have to thank me,” she chuckled. “Lemme know if ya need anything else. For now, I’m gonna get outta your hair and letcha get some rest.”

“Stay like you are, and I’m gonna check you one more time,” Dr. Bohn warned him.

Ash nodded and forced his body to relax, even though he wouldn’t have felt any pain from her fingers entering him.

“Still eighty percent effaced, but you’re up to seven centimeters,” she announced.

“Awesome,” the older man sighed, his eyes fluttering shut.

“You guys try to get some rest. You know as well as I do that delivery isn’t gonna be easy,” the OB/GYN told him.

“Will do, Dr. Bohn,” he answered, nodding. “Is it all right if Andy spoons me? That’s how I sleep best.”

“I’ll stay long enough for you to get settled, that way I can move the monitors if necessary,” she said, nodding. “Just try to be careful, Andy.”

Nodding, Andy carefully crawled into bed behind his sweetheart and settled down. The older man sighed at the sensation of his lover pressed up against his back side, his body relaxing even more as he gently rubbed his arm. The OB/GYN kept an eye on the monitor, deciding that none of them needed to be readjusted at the moment and that the babies seemed to be doing just fine.

After the couple was settled and the doctor had left, Ash relaxed enough to finally get some sleep, the first he’d had in about twenty-four hours. Each of the twins took one of his feet in hand, gently massaging them as he slept since they knew they were really sore. This earned them a smile from their daddy, who continued rubbing his sweetheart’s arm in a soothing gesture. He was still entranced by the sounds of their babies’ heartbeats, and soon found himself dozing off, as well. It wasn’t long until he, too, was getting what little sleep he could before their next set of twins made their grand entrance.

Notes