A Labor of Love ( R)

Ari had been blessed with the chance to sleep a little. She had hoped that the contractions had been braxton hicks contractions like she read about in the book. She wished she had only dreamed her water breaking. She was in no way ready. She had taken no classes, had no husband or even boyfriend for that matter, and all she had was some handme down books. She was up shit creek and had a hole in her boat.

She woke up a few hours later and closer to morning. She hated everything right now. Her body, her situation, and the fucking muggy heat of Florida. Even with the A/C going it was still hot as hell. Or maybe it was the fact that she was preparing to spring forth life from her own body.

She was propped up on the bed in Jake's bungalow. She felt bad that her yelling woke up Delphi but she was glad her best friend was there to support her. Sweat beading on her forhead she gripped Dels hand tightly and groaned loudly as another strong contraction came. It felt a hundred times worse than cramps. She also felt nauseous. She didnt want to admit it to her friends but was more than just scared. She was a deeper level of sadness than she could put into words. She wanted Chris. She to share this with him.

She squeezed Del's hand again. Her groan turned into a yell. " God motherfucking dammit it fucking hurts! I cant do it!"

Delphi was surprisingly glad to be there in the room with Bella, if she had it her way she would've never been on the couch to begin with, Bella needed love and support more than anything else right now, if her fiancé wouldn't be here then her best friend would . She let Bella squeeze her hand as tightly as she needed to. Delphis face scrunched up a few times but she would hide it so Bella couldn't see, she stroked her friends hand with her thumb in small circles, she didn't know exactly what to do since she had never been in this type of situation before but she wanted to be as supportive as possible.

She wiped away some of the seat on Bellas forehead, "Bella yes you can, your strong, one of the strongest people I know. You cannot just give up. You are better then that, if you're going to do this for anyone, do this for yourself and for Claire." Delphi said in soft yet supportive voice, she was stuttering less, she still couldn't believe she was talking it was like a dream, all this chaos going on at once. But she had pinched herself before she walked into the bedroom to make sure it was all real.

Jake sat on his work bench in the garage with a beer. He was admiring his handy work. He and nat had received many gifts for the baby from friends and family. Gifts they never got to use. The bigger items were never opened. The clothes and other smaller items were put into storage tubs. At least someone could use it all. 

While everyone else napped. He couldn't sleep. Bells was bringing back too many painful memories. Memories of nat. Memories of the baby he would never meet. He sipped his beer and looked at the crib he had finished putting together. At least the baby would have somewhere to sleep.

Alec hated this helpless feeling. He too winced when his sister squeezed his hand. For a little thing she was strong. He had to remind himself her strength would help her survive. And hopefully the baby too. 

He looked anxiously at Colton. He knew his sister was tired and in pain. "Its anytime now huh? I have no idea what to do. Should i go get something? Tell me what you need."

Ari screamed in pain again. Thank god they didnt have neighbors or the police might have been called on them. She couldnt imagine a worse pain in her life. Which is why she couldn't control it when bookcases in the house shook and spilled their contents on the floor. 

Claire was almost here. She could feel it mentally and physically. The only thing that broke her concentration was sudden thunder outside as it began to rain. It made her jump and squeeze delphi hard again. She continued to yell and cry with each contraction. She was so close it was almost time to push.

Alec decided it was time to take things into his own hands. Delivering his sister's baby personally was not on his list of things he wanted to do but he had no choice. 

"Ari its ok we are here. Just keep breathing. Delphi get some towels. Arabella on the next contraction i want you to push." He pretended he knew what he was doing. In reality he was just as scared as the girls were. 

Jake appeared in the doorway. He was a few beers in but his judgement was still cool and clear. In his hands was a plastic storage tub. He shuffled alec out of the way and set the tub off to the side. He took a few towels out of the tub and set them on the bed near ari. Inside the tub was other baby items. Ones his girlfriend never got to use. He also set some scissors, a baby nose respirator, and some string on the bed. He tried to smile at delphi though it didn't seem a happy one.

Delphi knew her duty in all of this was to be supportive, Bella was one of the few friends she had in this world and she would do anything for her, she flinched when Ari screamed but stayed by her side still holding her hand, she looked at the books that were scattered on the floor and they began placing themselves back onto the shelf, she was starting to gain greater control of her paper controlling abilities, if only she could get her phasing on the same page.

She nodded at Alecs orders and just as she was about to leave the room she saw Jake rush in, this was just adding to the surrealness  of the situation. She didn't know too much about Jakes pervious girlfriend, before Thana, she just knew she was no longer here. It made her think if she could ever be enough for him. As far as she knew they hadn't even been out on a real date yet, which was understandable with all that was going on, she tried decoding Jakes smile towards her, it was to her one of longing, she didn't quite understand why but she couldn't help but look at him with big blue eyes and whisper "I love you."

Ari couldnt even begin to measure the amount of pain she was in. All she could think about was Claire and Chris. And the pain. Jake's clear and firm instructions was the one thing keeping her head on straight.

She did as he instructed and waited for the next contraction. Her body wanted to push so badly. It was hard to wait. But Jake had the most experience out of all of them. She had no choice but to trust him. Do as she was told.

She wasnt sure how long it lasted. Pushing and taking small breaks. It felt like forever. Then all of the pressure was gone. The tiny, slimy infant came into the world. She was smaller than the normal size but it looked like she was healthy otherwise. She had a full head of hair, tiny wet curls stuck to her head. She squirmed in Jake's arms but didnt cry. Surprising as it was, some babies just didnt cry when they were born. Meanwhile Ari slumped back against the pillows, gasping to catch her breath. She was sweaty and exhausted.

Jake tried hard not to think about natilee while he helped Bells. It pained him to think he would never see Nat or thier baby. It was sureal to be delivering bell's baby for her. At least she was listening to him and not arguing with him like she usually did. 

Jake did his best to concentrate and remember everything he learned from birthing classes with Nat. There was only so much he could do. If anything seriously went wrong he would either have to take her to the hospital or let one of them die. Something he couldnt handle. Not again. 

It was a relief when Claire was finally born. She wasnt crying but she appeared to be healthy. Thank god. He carefully cleaned her up and used the stuff he brought in to cut the cord. He wrapped claire up in a blanket and handed her to bells. "Bells. Hey shes alright. Shes gorgeous. Congrats. "

Alec felt like his whole world was spinning. His boyfriend left,his underaged sister was having a baby. Now he might add. She too was alone. He had no idea what to even think anymore. 

All he could do was standby helplessly while his sister gave birth to a gorgeous baby girl. Any feelings of anger about her pregnancy disappeared when he finally saw his niece for the first time. He could only stare. He was at a loss for words and proud of his sister.

Ari had to catch her breath. She felt relief and pain mixed all into one. Physically and emotionally. She also felt an instant feeling off being smothered. She felt like everyone was around her and staring at her at once. One of the most important moments in her life and the most important person wasnt there to share it with her. 

Looking at Claire only burned the pain home. She had Chris's dark hair. She teared up and looked away from everyone. "I...i don't want to hold her."

So much was going on at once it was a complete sensory overload and as much as she wanted to be there for her friend, she was starting to see why Jake had wanted her to stay out on the couch. Her hand had lost most of the feeling in it after having it squeezed so tightly, and her ears were still ringing from all the yelling, but she didn't regret getting to be present for this moment. A big goofy grin played on her lips when she was told that little Claire had finally come into the big beautiful and terrifying world.

She told Bella how proud she was of her before she walked over to see the little girl who was once called Jellybean. She was beautiful and Delphi couldn't help but give a small coo, however everything went from warm and loving to cold the moment Bella announced she didn't want to hold her baby and she part of her wanted to get mad but another part understood, so she did what she did best, she stayed silent.