"Breathe," Rose said as I bit my lip.
No, don't scream. Maintain your composure. Even if I had a high tolerance for pain, this was out of the world.
"What the fuck do you mean ‘breathe’? That's not going to get rid of the pain, is it?" I yelled and the whole room froze. Darius stopped pacing like a mad man, and Adrian dropped his apple as he went pale.
"Is it going to come out?" Adrian asked as he made a disgusted face.
That's it! I was going to get up and choke him but Rose beat me to it, standing up and walking up to him. "Out, now."
"But I want to name it after - Fu-Fine," he yelled as she smacked him. He got up, kicking the apple in the process, and stormed out. Rose took Stephen from Darius's hand and walked out, saying, "I'll get the nurse."
I closed my eyes, my nails digging into my own palms. Nothing in my twentyfive, nearly twentysix years, could have prepared me for this pain. I felt hands pry my fingers away before they could draw blood and smelled the relaxing cologne, but it really couldn't take away this pain.
"Just breathe. Push and breathe. Just b -"
"Say breathe one more time, Darius, and I will seriously-Fuck!" I sucked in air. Maybe I should stop talking. The pain was unbearable. My eyes flew open and I bit my lip until it drew blood.
"No more kids after this," Darius strained, wincing as my nails dug into his skin but said nothing, probably because it was nothing like the fu*king pain I felt now.
I nodded. No more kids after this. Why the hell did I want five? I was likely to pass away from pain from this one.
"Hey!"
Darius patted my hand as we heard Adrian's voice from the door. Darius calmly said, "I'll deal with this," but then flipped.
"What the fuck do you want, Adrian Hunter!" There were only a few times Darius swore, and most of them were in the hospital room.
"I'm trying to help."
I sucked in more air trying to breathe. Okay, maybe breathing would help, but it really wasn't helping the pain go away.
"Adrian, I swea –"
"Okay, I was just going to say that your mothers are downstairs. The quicker you get the baby out, the faster we can leave. Rose will stall them."
Oh shit, my mother. The last thing I wanted was my child to see his or her horrible grandmother's face first.
It did the trick because the next thing I knew, I was making a sound I never knew I was capable of and I was sure I was about to dig a hole in Darius's arm.
I leaned back into Darius's strong frame, feeling more tired than ever. He had somehow managed to get on the bed behind me, his feet dangling as I used him as a pillow. After twelve hours of painful labour, and another twelve as the doctors rushed around making sure everything was okay, and then another three just waiting, we were more than tired. I wasn't even sure how I was still awake, but holding her in my arms, sleep wouldn't come.
"Sapphire," he said, stroking her cheek with his pinky finger.
"What?"
"I want to name her Sapphire."
I laughed weakly. "Sapphire Quartz," I whispered, testing it out. It had a ring to it. We hadn't picked out names because we had wanted both genders to be a secret. So our parents didn't try to name them after themselves. Just a small surprise.
"No more kids after this," Darius warned from behind me for the tenth time and I rolled my eyes.
"I can't because your sperm screwed up their order," I joked with a chuckle. Not that I cared about the order. It was just a stupid teenage plan, it was all to chance.
He chuckled. "Thank god I did."
"Can we come in yet?" There was banging on the door and I sighed, looking up at Darius who shook his head. After the baby came out, the nurse had brought in Stephen, who was busy sitting on the bed staring at his sister with as much awe as Darius, and locked everyone else out.
It was peaceful after Sapphire had cried her lungs out and gone to sleep.
"Wwakkey," Stephen said, sitting up and reaching out with his grubby hands to touch her. Darius caught Stephen’s hand before he could punch the baby and moved him so he could gently touch her arm.
Light green eyes opened and I knew that they would replicate Darius's as she grew older. Judging by the soft black hair that was already coating her head, she was going to be a spitting image of him.
"Thank you," whispered Darius, kissing my neck.
"For what?" I said as I tried not to giggle. He always forgot I was ticklish.
"For giving me two angels."
The door opened and we saw the nurse slip in, struggling to close the door before the others come in. She looked tired as she saw us and smiled as she walked over.
"Hello, parents. How are you feeling?"
"Tired," I said. I was actually drained.
"Well, everything is organised, sir."
Darius nodded, carefully getting up and trying not to move us much before grabbing the bag from her.
"What's organised?" I asked as I watched the nurse walk behind me and move the blue curtain. I heard her unlocking something.