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Chapter Text

"I'm pregnant."

Disbelieving stares answer her from all around the room, amethysts with wide eyes and jaspers with jaws gone slack gaping at her from the cubbies that line the white walls, beneath the silvery starlight that filters through the skylight above.

Holly Blue Agate anxiously fidgets. Her face smolders and her plump lips frown and, behind her back, her fingers twitch with nerves. She scans their faces for a response other than blatant shock, quietly seeking their approval.

It comes all at once, in a roar of shouts and cheers and outright applause that startles her so much that she finds herself clutching her own chest, alarmed. Part of her had worried that some of them wouldn't like her news, but most of her had known that their response would be joy. However, she hadn't quite anticipated...this.

Quartzes shuffle in so close around her that she feels momentarily claustrophobic, showered in congratulatory pats on the back and even more of them on the bottom, little circular rubs of her only slightly rounded tummy, and kisses on the cheeks.

Then, all at once, they're asking the question that everyone wants to know.

"Who's is it?"

Holly opens her mouth to respond, then shuts it tight when she realizes with a sudden start that she, in fact, doesn't know. "I..."

There's a snort of laughter somewhere behind her, and then the familiar, muscular arm of the sharp-toothed amethyst Sharky comes down around her shoulders, bringing her in close. She's grinning delightedly. "You've got no clue, do you, Holls?"

"I'm...afraid not," Holly informs them with a cute little frown, her brows furrowed, "I've been...involved with a good many of you, since the...since things changed. It could be any number of yours! There could be more than one, for all I know!"

Sharky hears the rising panic in her voice, that shit-eating grin falling off her face. She gives her a reassuring squeeze, frowning down at her in concern. "Hey, no need to worry, mama! We'll love the kid no matter who's it is, won't we, gang?"

Affirmative answers come from all around the room. Holly hears only happiness and outright delight in their voices, and it does something to soothe her rising nerves, if only momentarily. She takes a breathe, steadies herself, and tries her best to smile. "Oh, thank you..."

"No problem, mama," Sharky chuckles, "Now, c'mon, we've got work to do!"

Work! Helping out around the station had become an unexpected source of comfort for Holly Blue, since her superiority had been debunked following the rebel invasion. It had been only humbling initially, to put herself on the same level as the quartzes she had so resented and mistreated for so many years. But now, it was her everyday life, and she thought nothing of assisting them in their chores, though it mostly consisted of her handing them wrenches and screwdrivers and providing moral support while they repaired machinery she had very limited knowledge of and knew she would only damage more. It hadn't taken long for them to come to respect her on their own more than she had ever been able to force them to, and for their coexistence on the station to become at first peaceful and then delightfully raunchy. Working with them was a reminder that she was accepted here now, no longer a lonely outsider who existed only to provide orders that were hardly ever obeyed. She isn't just an agate now; she's their equal and their friend, and that means an unimaginable amount to her, to have been forgiven so easily for so many years of abuse.

Hopefully, Holly pipes up, "May I help?"

"Aw, I appreciate the offer, Holls," Sharky replies, "but, you oughta rest. We don't want you accidentally hurting yourself helping us."

"I'm only two months along!" Holly objects, "I can work!"

"I'm sure you can, but I would feel better if you didn't," Sharky retorts, already guiding her over to the many plush pink pillows that litter the cubby room's tiled floor, a place where she's often welcomed over for cuddles and evening conversation, nestled delightfully between the bulging barrel chests of two strong quartzes.

Holly only huffs irritably as she's taken by the hand and escorted over to the pile of pillows, the others now filtering slowly out of the room, never one-by-one but always in small groups or at least pairs. "And I suppose this is how it's going to be from now on, until I have them? You're all not going to let me do anything?"

"Pregnant Hollies need their rest," Sharky quips as she guides her down, then sits down beside her, patting her gently on the shoulder, "C'mon, baby, you know I'm right. You don't need to be lifting things or running crazy while you're pregnant. That won't be good for the baby!"

"And what am I supposed to do, then?" Holly demands, "Sit around here and do nothing all day?"

"Of course not!" Sharky tells her, "You can help us in other ways, Holls. Y'know, it's about time for another Choosening!"

"A Choosening!" Holly scoffs, "As if they're going to listen to anything we tell them after that...that incident with that new human."

"They'll listen," Sharky reassures her, "They've been listening, haven't they? Hell, after that little outburst after the last Choosening, I don't think I've heard a single protest out of 'em. Everything's gone back to normal, Holls. Well, at least for them, it has. Can't say the same for you."

Sharky grins and waggles her eyebrows and Holly just glances away before she can see how bright blue her cheeks are becoming.

"Besides, they're always looking forward to the Choosening," Sharky carries on, "You know how everything organic is! They're very into breeding!" She pauses to eye Holly suggestively. "Guess that's one thing you and them have in common, huh?"

"Sharky!" Holly reprimands her, "I never!"

Sharky laughs, then ever so gently pokes her stomach, finding it to be ever so slightly distended and a little harder than before. "Can't claim that anymore, Holls. We've got the proof right here!"

"You are just despicable," Holly retorts, arms crossed over her chest in a clear show of disdain. Sharky only laughs again, delighted. Then, all at once, her laughter ebbs away and her sharp-soothed smile goes slack and sweet as she reaches down to tenderly cup the curve of Holly's belly, cooing softly.

"Damn, I can't believe you're really pregnant, Holls," she tells her, then glances up at her, her sideways smirk returning with a mischievous cock of her brow, "So, that was real sweet of you, letting everyone think you have no idea who's they are, letting them hope that one of them is theirs. But, we both know they're totally mine, right?"

Holly scoffs. "You are absolutely full of yourself! They could just as easily be Jay's or Chip's or Skinny's or anyone else's. I've been with them just as much as I've been with you, so there's no guarantee that any of them will be yours, actually."

Sharky chuckles. "Nah. They're mine."

"And how can you be so sure, hmm?" Holly demands to know, brow furrowed indignantly.

"I just know, Holls," Sharky laughs exuberantly, with another circular stroke of Holly's belly, "I can feel it! They're gonna be mine! They're gonna be great!"

Holly wants to scoff at her, but she can't help the tenderness that rises in her big, blue eyes as she sees how genuine the amethyst's excitement is. Sharky is sincerely happy to hear about the gemlings and, while the others had seemed equally as excited before, this individual display of exuberance is somehow much more reassuring. A soft smile pricks the corners of her lips as she gently pets the wild mane of quartz hair hovering over her belly, which Sharky has taken to nuzzling with her gemless cheek, cooing wordlessly at the forming gemlings within.

But, too soon, Sharky has to leave her. Holly can't help but frown as she's laid down on the oversized cushions, tucked underneath a blanket, and left alone in the cubby room while the others attend to their chores, tasks she's now woefully unable to attend to.

"You gonna be okay on your own for awhile?" Sharky asks before she goes, threading her fingers through the silvery locks of Holly's hair, plucking out pins and unraveling conical buns to let them fall in smooth, soft strands instead.

"I'll be fine," Holly says defensively.

Sharky smiles. "We'll be back soon."

Holly nods.

Sharky rises and starts to leave, when she suddenly spins around on her heel and addresses her once more, "Oh, by the way, Holls, you've gotta ditch the heels."

Holly sits up. "What?"

"Can't have you waltzing around in high heels while you're pregnant," Sharky quips, grinning teasingly, "You might trip."

"Sharky, you're overreacting, I'm fine," Holly replies indignantly, "I can work and I can be useful and I most certainly can wear heels."

Chuckling, Sharky starts to leave again. "Okay, if you're sure, Holls. See ya later!"

Holly watches as she leaves, then looks down at the familiar outline of her white boots through the blanket. As she settles back into the cushion, there's a short fizzle of white light shining brightly through the blanket's fabric as she wills the heels off of her shoes, mentally adjusting them to have flat, white soles instead, grumbling, "Amethysts..."

Pregnancy is an endeavor far more difficult than Holly Blue ever imagined it would be. While she's never intimately known a pregnant gem, she's witnessed the process again and again in the little humans that live in the Zoo and, even when she watched the monitors with vague disgust as they vomited, heaved, screamed, and cried all throughout their pregnancies, she's always wholeheartedly believed that it was because of their weakness as biological creatures, made of flesh and bone that could be bruised and broken. But, she's better than human. She's a magical being, a construct of light, capable of pregnancy only because gems themselves had once, very, very long ago, been much more organic themselves, before the emergence of Kindergartens eliminated the need for so-called manual production. If a human can handle it, then it should be quite easy for her.

Except it isn't.

Initially, it isn't so terrible. The amethysts fuss over her more than usual, which she doesn't entirely mind, and forbid her from participating in their more rigorous chores and encourage her to nap when she would otherwise be working. It's unnecessary, she's certain, but it isn't something she's entirely unwilling to do. A few months of reprieve from the hard labor and chores she's come to share with them in the past few months might have even been a welcome relief to her back and her feet.

And then comes the morning sickness, when she's scarcely five months in and still only vaguely showing, her stomach only slightly rounder than usual beneath the tight fabric of her uniform. Despite the time she's spent with the quartzes - the rowdy, nasty quartzes who eat and drink and sleep and function as well as humans if only for the sake of degeneracy - eating is still too strange a concept for her to indulge in, but the absence of food in her stomach doesn't stop her body from becoming nauseous. What she's sick from, she has no idea, but every morning, she awakens to the vague, creeping sensation of feeling physically unwell. Jay comes in occasionally to check on her, strokes the space between her shoulder blades, and offers her something to drink, but Holly is adamant that she will not put something for her body to throw up into her queasy stomach in a feeble effort to quell its quaking. Jay only rolls her eyes and holds her close until the feeling passes, then helps her to her feet to start the day belatedly.

On the sixth month, the morning sickness blissfully eases off for awhile, only to be replaced by the persistent aching of her lower back and the hideous swelling of her ankles, which soon become so thick with internal fluid that there's no longer a clear division between her calves and her feet. Bitterly, Holly admits to herself that the boots are no longer comfortable, no matter how she shape-shifts them, and lets them ebb away into nothingness in favor of bare feet tucked into ugly, fuzzy slippers with worn soles, which she unabashedly wears around the Zoo on her increasingly fewer ventures from the cubby room. Sharky notices them right away and, snorting with laughter, comments on her 'fashion choices,' then hugs her tightly and kisses her so roughly and sweetly that Holly almost forgets to be offended. Almost.

"How much longer?" Holly whines insistently on the seventh month, while Jay - now affectionately dubbed Doctor Jay by the other amethysts - examines her for the second time that week, poking and prodding and rubbing in ways that Holly finds absolutely objectionable at best.

"'Bout two months," Jay replies as she rolls her rough hands over Holly's abdomen, which has suddenly swollen up in size like a balloon, so round that she can't see her toes and has long since forgotten the luxury of bending over, "I'm guessing, anyways. I have to base it off what we know about humans, because I've never seen a pregnant gem until know, y'know. This is new for all of us."

"Two more months of this?" Holly looks so pathetically downtrodden, her conical buns drooping pitifully, that Jay can't help but feel bad for her.

"Aww, Holls," Jay murmurs as she takes her into her arms for a warm hug, pressing kisses to her nose and forehead sweetly, "C'mon, don't be sad. It'll be over before you know it! And then you're gonna have your new babies to enjoy! Isn't that exciting?"

Holly glances down at her swollen feet, dangling over the edge of her chair and kicking back and forth aimlessly. "I suppose so..."

Jay pulls back and looks at her, startled. "You're not excited for them, Holls?"

"I am, but I..." Holly feels the stinging of tears rising in her eyes and curses herself for how easily she's losing control over her emotions, sniffling pitifully. "What if I'm a bad mother, Jay?"

"Oh, is that what this is about?" Jay asks, her familiar hands massaging slow circles on the small of Holly's back, where the muscle is taut and tender beneath the pad of fat, "You're worried you're not gonna be a good mama, Holls?"

"Jay, I was...I was so bad to all of you!" Holly blurts, the tears now falling hot and heavy down her flushed cheeks and her nose starting to run, "What if I'm bad to them, too? What if they hate me? Why don't you hate me?"

"Hey..." Jay tilts her chin up with one finger, the other hand deftly wiping away her tears, then scooping her cheek into its rough palm to tenderly stroke it, that always reassuring smile spread wide across her face. "None of us hate you, Holly. We never did."

"But, why?" Holly demands to know, fresh tears already rising and ready to fall.

Jay wipes them away again. "You changed, Holls. You were bad, sure, but you could have been worse, you understand? You were never really...really scary the way the other agates were, no offense. You were mean, sure, but you were no big, brutal asshole like the ones we had on earth."

Jay leans in close and kisses her nose. Holly snivels hideously, all snotty and wet and surely disgusting, but Jay doesn't seem to mind at all. "Here's an idea. A mind-blowing idea, Holls, you're gonna love it. Sometimes, gems do bad things. You did bad things. But, here's the thing: gems can change. And you changed."

"But...what if I'm a bad mother?" Holly sniffles, "I could still be a bad mother."

"You won't be," Jay reassures her, helping her up, "You're gonna be a good mother. Your babies are gonna love you, and we're all gonna love them, I just know it."

Holly snivels, then wipes her face on the back of her hand and tries her best to smile. "Sharky says they're hers."

Jay snorts. "Of course she does."

When month nine arrives, Holly is huge.

She's certain she weighs roughly two tons more than she should, with how heavy she feels with every step now. Even standing up feels like too much effort for her, but she makes a point to get up and walk around the station at least five times a day, surveying the work of her rogue charges, who greet her with unmatched enthusiasm every single time she sees them, cooing over her inflated belly and asking her how she is, frowning when she informs them that she's huge and terrible and insisting that she looks as adorable as ever. Holly was certain she had never been called "adorable" until now, and it wasn't the exact aesthetic she had hoped for, to put it lightly. Elegantly beautiful, perhaps. Respectable sultry, definitely. But not "adorable."

Today, Holly emerges from her bed an hour later than usual. It's no longer a mound of cushions on the floor, but an actual bed, transferred to the cubby room from her private quarters, which are reportedly now covered in an inch of dust from disuse, according to the quartzes who moved it for her, insistent that she needed the bodily support. She sits up, slides her swollen feet into her slippers, and takes two tries to stand, staggering and plopping back down on the first attempt. Then, with shadows under her eyes and her silvery hair in shambles, she confronts herself in the full-body mirror mounted to the far wall, where someone has placed her vanity, lined with hair products and metallic pins that she's since given up on using.

She looks like she's swallowed one of the inflatable exercise balls the quartzes give the humans to play with, she thinks as she sits down to comb her hair. It's even more knotted than usual, a testament to how she's tossed and turned the past few nights, accustomed to sleeping on her stomach and now forced to rest on her back instead and finding it eternally uncomfortable. Still, she persists, until she brushes through every unruly tangle, even managing to wrestle it into her once trademark conical buns for the first time in quite awhile. Then, with an audible heave, she rises and starts to leave.

Outside, there are amethysts repairing machinery, giggling and grunting loudly amongst themselves, pausing to greet her with cheers and waves as she passes them by, managing only to smile at them before she carries on. She feels heavy and miserable and a little like she's suffocating in her own body, although she has no lungs with which to breathe to begin with. A smile is generous, she thinks.

She expects the same to be enough for the next group of quartzes she passes, some of them replacing supplies in toolboxes while the others lounge on a nearby bench and sip water from paper cups, until a voice calls out to her, echoing down the hallway, "Hey! No kiss from my favorite agate?"

Holly shuffles around to face them, blushing softly. It's half from embarrassment and half from fatigue, the two dozen meters she's walked from the cubby room already exhausting. "Sorry," she says meekly.

Sharky only laughs. "C'mon, you know I'm just teasing you, Holls. Where are you off to?"

"Just on a walk," Holly tells her, "I needed to stretch my legs."

"Oh, okay," Sharky replies with an agreeable nod, tipping her cup in Holly's direction, the liquid within sloshing, "Carry on, then."

Sharky sips her drink. Holly hesitates. Truthfully, she doesn't want to walk; she doesn't want to do much of anything, except sit. But, not alone.

Then, Sharky's cracking an eye open to look at her entirely too smugly as she sits down beside her on the work bench, feeling her cheeks flush brighter and hotter as she squeezes her eyes closed and tries not to notice how all the others are looking at her.

"Decided to join me, huh, Holls?" Sharky chuckles.

"Hmph," Holly remarks, even as she reaches for Sharky's muscular arm, holding tightly to the thick wrist as she guides it over her shoulder to rest lightly upon her round stomach, her own free hand cupped supportively underneath it.

Sharky smiles, stroking gently. "I know, Holls. I'm real proud."

Holly glares at her from the corner of one eye. "I'm sure you are."

"You did your hair today," Sharky comments, "Looks good."

"Flattery," Holly accuses her.

Sharky laughs, pats her belly, and brings her in a little closer, until Holly is pressed flush to her barrel chest, tucked underneath her arm. "You're gonna pop any day now, huh?"

"Suppose so," Holly grumbles bitterly, "Oh, it's going to be such an ordeal..."

"You'll be fine," Sharky reassures her, "Don't you know you have the finest doctor around? Jay's great at delivering babies."

Holly glances at her. "Suppose...they don't like me?"

"Aw, Holls," Sharky laughs, then gives her the gentlest squeeze a quartz her size can manage, "What's not to love?"

Holly gazes at her for a moment longer, then looks away before Sharky can notice the growing uncertainty in her eyes. She's been many things in her life, but a mother is something she never expected herself to be, and she's entirely uncertain how to handle it. She doesn't know what it is she's done to deserve the forgiveness of her charges turned lovers, but she remembers all too clearly that, not very long ago, she had been terrible to them, strict and uptight and unmoving and bordering dangerously on cruel. Would she be equally uptight as a mother? Would her gemlings hate her for it?

Wistfully, Holly sighs and looks to her lover once more.

"I hope you're right."

Chapter Text

Sharky rounds a corner and stumbles over an oversized cushion, scarcely catching herself before she plummets face first into the freshly polished tiles. A shape-shifted heart pounds harder than usual within her barrel chest as she braces herself on the wall with one hand, while the other rises to gently massage the gemstone embedded in her cheek, as if to reassure herself that it's still there, visibly startled. Falling on one's face was always embarrassing, but became another issue altogether when it risked one's gem as collateral damage.

Jay roars with laughter somewhere behind her.

Sharky wheels around. "Hey, what's the big idea?! You think it's funny to leave shit laying around for the rest of us to trip over?"

Jay snorts, but has the decency to look apologetic. "Sorry, Sharky. Your face was just so priceless."

"And it would've been in pieces if I hadn't caught myself!" Sharky growls irritably.

Jay grins. "C'mon, Sharky, it's a pillow, not a rebel soldier. Chill out. Besides, I'm not the one who left it there."

Jay motions over Sharky's shoulder. Sharky turns and realizes that the entire corridor is littered with stray pillows and plump cushions, seemingly leading away from the main hall and towards the nearby cubby room.

"Then, who did?" Sharky wants to know.

Smiling, Jay rolls her eyes. "I have my suspicions."

Sharky arrives in the cubby room with an armload of cushions, dumping them beside the door before she ventures over to where she last saw Holly Blue, finding her carefully made bed to be empty. But, it doesn't take her long to find her, because Holly has simply relocated to the not entirely inconspicuous mountain of cushions in the far corner. She's perched in her fabric nest, cushions wound together with soft blankets and decorative throws, with the expression of nothing less than a proud queen, eyes closed as she snoozes peacefully.

Grinning, Sharky startles her awake with an obnoxious announcement of, "Aww, is my Holly-Dolly getting broody?"

Holly frowns as she blinks the sleep from her eyes, yawning disinterestedly. "Really, Sharky, must you disturb me right now?"
"Just came to check on you, mama," Sharky reassures her as she stands outside the nest, its walls three pillows high and too tall for her to see over if she sits down or kneels, "You're nesting. Must be close to time."

"Jay says it will be any day now," Holly replies. Part of her is enjoying herself, flourishing in the praise and attention pregnancy has gotten her, but most of her is very ready for it to be over, exhausted of being unable to see her own toes or wear heels or bend over. The quartzes are willing to do absolutely everything for her right now, but she really wishes she could just do it herself, her pregnancy having long since robbed her of her independence in the most humiliating of ways.

"Any day now..." Sharky smiles fondly, threading her fingers through Holly's silky hair, hanging loosely around her shoulders in silvery tresses interlaced with baby blue. "You're gonna be a mama, Holls. Ain't that something?"

"It certainly is something," Holly remarks with a nervous look at her inflated stomach, which has somehow gotten even larger overnight.

"Jay told me she did an ultrasound," Sharky says, "There's two of them in there, huh? Two little Sharkies."

Holly flops over onto her other side, her chin rested on one of the many pillows she's gathered for her nest. "I'm beginning to believe they really are yours."

Sharky grins delightedly. "And why's that, huh?"

Holly looks utterly unimpressed. "They won't stop kicking me."

Laughing, Sharky strokes her hair. "Ha! Rambunctious already, huh?"

Holly glances up at her. "You have no idea."

Sharky chuckles. "You need anything?"

Holly contemplates it for a moment, then nods and tells her, "More pillows."

A sharp cry from Holly's nest awakens Jay and several others in the middle of the night, a mere two days later. Jay knew it was close to time and had taken to sleeping nearby, so that Holly could reach her more easily in the event of an emergency. So, the moment she hears the unmistakable screech, she's on her feet and to the nest before anyone else can even react.

Jay reaches for Holly, but snaps her arms back when the agate unexpectedly whirls her head around and snarls at her. "Holly!"

Holly might be an agate, a step above the rest of them, but she's still a quartz, Jay knows, and quartzes are extremely protective of their offspring. Holly is in labor and, through the haze of pain, doesn't recognize her, an age-old instinct telling her that she's under attack in her vulnerable state by someone who wants to harm her unborn gemlings, and she has to fend them off.

But, Jay has no time for such games. "Holly, c'mon! We have to move you!"

Through the semi-darkness beneath the skylight, through which the stars shed their silvery gleam on them, Holly blinks the feral haze from her baby blue eyes and recognizes Jay, not here to hurt her, but help her. Had she not been in the gripping pain of labor, she might have been ashamed that she had ever snarled at her at all, but right now, she could only groan miserably and gaze at her with tears forming in the corners of her eyes, pleading silently for help.

Jay reaches for her a second time. When Holly doesn't snarl or bite, she scoops her carefully into her arms and carries her like a bride to the room next door, a storage closet now converted into a primitive labor room, complete with a bed dressed in dark sheets and two chairs and assorted medical equipment ordinarily used only on their human residents. Quickly, Jay tucks her into the bed, tugging the sheets over her waist and gently spreading her thighs.

Tears brim in the corners of Holly's eyes and spill down her face. "Jay..."

"Shh...," Jay coos as she rifles through a drawer and procures a syringe, "Roll onto your side for me, baby. You can do it."

Holly heaves as she rolls onto her side, then winces as she feels the needle sink into her lower back, the tears now flowing freely. Had she been in a better state, she would have been ashamed; epidurals were for humans who couldn't handle the pain of childbirth, not strong gems who should have been able to handle it with relative ease. But, if her pregnancy has taught her anything, it's that she has more in common with those grimy little organic creatures than she ever cares to admit - and she's simply in too much pain to care right now.

Jay withdraws the needle and discards it. "There..."

Holly's clenched teeth split open to pass a gasping groan, through which she struggles to speak, "How long?"

Jay is on the other side of the room, turning on a tap to wet a washcloth and glancing at her questioningly. "How long...?"

"How long is this going to last?" Holly moans miserably, clutching desperately to the black sheets, so hard that her knuckles quickly pass from periwinkle to stark white.

"Holly..." Jay ventures over to her, to place the wet washcloth on her forehead, folded into a neat rectangle just above her painfully furrowed brows. "This could last hours..."

Holly sits upright so suddenly that the carefully placed washcloth plops right back down into her lap, sending pain jolting through her abdomen and backside. "Hours?!"

"Shh, shh, shh...," Jay tries to soothe her. She guides her back down onto the slanted bed, propping her up on the pillows, and replaces the cool washcloth on her forehead. "Do you trust me, Holly?"

Holly tries to calm down. She's panicking. She knows she's panicking. The humans can be in labor for hours and get through it perfectly fine, why should she be any different? When Jay addresses her, she looks at her, baby blue eyes hazy with pain. "Of course I trust you."

"Then, you should know that I'll get you through this, as quickly and painlessly as possible," Jay tells her as she reaches for her hand, finding it to be sweaty and clammy and holding it tightly nonetheless, "I'm not going to lie to you, Holls. This is gonna hurt. It isn't a pleasant thing. But, I'll be here the whole time, and I'll get you through it. Okay?"

Holly watches her through half-lidded, hazy eyes, then slowly answers with a nod, her lips parting silently in agreement as her fingers twine with Jay's, accepting her hand.

There's a moment of calm, a moment in which Holly knows that she'll get through this, no matter how unpleasant and painful it might be. She listens to the steady inhale and exhale of Jay's breathing beside her, to the pounding of her own shape-shifted heart within her chest, to the little shushes Jay utters to her whenever she whimpers in pain. She feels the cool of the sheets and the washcloth on her forehead and the warmth of Jay's hand around her own. She focuses on anything except the growing, rupturing pain building steadily within her and the fierce contractions of her own body as she starts to push.

And then, the double doors slam into the walls on either side of them as Sharky stampedes into the room, breathless and flush-faced and with mounting panic in her eyes. The doors close with a whoosh of cool air behind her as she rushes to the bedside. "Holly!"

"Sharky!" Jay scolds her as she waves her back with the hand not clamped in Holly's, scowling at her over her shoulder.

"Is she okay?!" Sharky demands to know.

"She's fine," Jay seethes through her teeth irritably, "She's in labor."

"You're kidding!" Sharky remarks, as if she hadn't known this was coming all along.

"You can stay," Jay tells her patiently, "but, you have to sit down and shut up, okay?"

Sharky manages a little rumble through her teeth, then moves a chair to Holly's beside and sits down, fidgeting visibly. Holly glances over at her, her vision now blurry with tears that fall freely like rivers down her flushed cheeks, her plush lips drawn back over tightly clenched teeth.

"Here," Jay says, "Hold her hand."

Sharky accepts Holly's hand from Jay, wincing when the pregnant agate clutches her fingers with the bone-breaking force of a gem in misery, but saying nothing. Holly's palms are sweaty, but her own are equally clammy, beads of sweat drooling wetly down her forehead with anxiety hanging heavy all around her.

Holly keens with pain. Jay repositions her legs, bending them delicately at the knee, and drapes the sheet over them. "Alright, Holls. Push."

Holly pushes. She pushes and pushes and tries to breathe between them for what feels like hours. Push, push, push, she hears somewhere beside her, Jay humming to her soothingly while Sharky holds tightly to her hand, Holly's grip softening only when she's clutched the quartz's fingers for so long that her own have become tight and sore. The pain that she initially found to be sharp and stabbing and strong slowly ebbs away into a rhythmic throb, her abdomen feeling eerily numb the longer she's in labor.

"Jay...," Holly whimpers occasionally. Jay shushes her, smooths her hair, and tells her to keep going, just a little longer, just keep going.

And then, there's a surging pain pulsing through her, back full force, and she's letting loose a cry she didn't know she was holding in. As her own voice dies down, dwindling into a piteous whimper emerging from lips she's bitten and bruised between her own nervously chattering teeth, she slowly, faintly becomes aware of another cry in the room. A tiny cry. A shrill little sound.

Holly raises her head from pillows now soaked through with sweat, smiling faintly into the hazy bright lights as her ears ring and her vision goes bleary with freshly falling tears. Jay isn't between her legs anymore; she's a few feet away, where the counter meets the wall, cooing faintly over something that Holly can't see but instinctively knows.

"Give me my baby...," Holly whines softly. It comes out less like an order and much more like a plead. She speaks so softly that Jay doesn't even hear her, until Sharky clicks her tongue and repeats for her, "She wants the baby, Jay."

"Just a moment...," Jay shushes them, working quickly, then turns to face them with a blanket bundle in her arms, "Alright, Mama...here you go..."

And then, a blanket bundle comes into Holly's arms, and she doesn't even feel Jay's calloused hands carefully adjusting her arms to more securely hold her newborn, because all she sees in that achingly sweet moment is the round little face peering back at her from within the fabric folds. A wet curl of silver sits between her baby blues, blinking intently out from a flushed face of blue, one cheek adorned with the teardrop-shaped cabochon that rests firmly in the back of Holly's own head.

Fresh tears blossom in the corners of Holly's eyes. "An agate..."

A wolfish smile spreads wide across Sharky's face as she peers over Holly's shoulder, hot tears pricking at the corners of her own silvery eyes. "Oh, man..."
"An agate with a cheek gem," Jay remarks, readying herself between Holly's thighs again. Truthfully, she doesn't know how many gemlings Holly has been expecting, but she strongly suspects that this isn't the only one.

"She's MINE!" Sharky laughs delightedly, with hot tears cascading down her cheeks, dribbling over the faceted surface of her own glinting gem, and the stupidest of smiles on her face, "Ha! I told you!"

"Sharky!" Jay shushes her, "Settle down!"

"You're just jealous because she's mine and not yours," Sharky taunts her, then ruffles Holly's hair, separated into thick, wet strands with sweat, "Holls! She's ours!"

Holly only grumbles distantly in protest as her hair is ruffled, too fixated on her newborn to divert her attention elsewhere and too tired to shout. She only faintly hears Jay reprimanding Sharky yet again for her overzealous behavior, or the obnoxious snort that Sharky passes off as a sniffle as she excitedly sobs herself into a runny nose and red eyes. Her newborn is beautiful, she thinks, but she doesn't have time to savor the moment for even a second more before the contractions hit her once more, with renewed force and fervor that sends her into a sniveling, whimpering mess right away.

She sinks back into the cushions, sniffling pitifully, and looks to her amethyst lovers for support. Sharky smiles at her through the bleariness of her tears. Jay says something she doesn't hear, but she's certain that it's something soothing and sweet.

Then, Holly looks down at the little bundle in her arms, the gemling within already drifting passively to sleep, and she knows that she can do this.

"Can Sharky hold her, Holls?" Jay coos at her, "I wouldn't want you to accidentally hurt her while you deliver the next baby."

Whimpering, Holly glances at her in distress. Sharky takes her hand, smiling as reassuringly as such a sharp-toothed brute as her can. "She'll be right here, Mama. I promise."

Hesitantly, Holly loosens her arms around the blanket bundle enough for Sharky to take the baby. She watches the grinning quartz warily the entire time, and doesn't doubt that she would somehow find the strength to come leaping out of the bed with bared teeth and clenched fists to maul her if she even began to mishandle her child. Of course, Sharky does no such thing, cooing softly and cradling the baby tenderly, with the same smitten expression that Holly had worn moments before.

And then, the pains of labor take her yet again, and Holly can't focus on Sharky and the baby anymore.

This time, it's faster. Holly's contractions come fast and hard and, before she knows it, Jay is crooning congratulations again and stepping away with her second newborn, to hurriedly clean her and bundle her and pass her into Holly's weakly reaching arms, accompanied by little wordless whimpers that are lost in the ear-piercing cries of the baby. This time, it's an amethyst. A tiny quartz, already energetic and obnoxious and screaming, with lavender skin gone completely indigo in the cheeks from crying and a wild head of hair that's unruly and damp and parted cleanly down the middle to expose the gemstone embedded in the base of its round skull.

"S - She's crying," Holly whines, "Does she need something? Jay?"

"Oh, Holls," Jay chuckles, "She's a baby. Babies cry when they're born. It's normal. Just hold her close and she'll stop."

Holly cradles the newborn, trembling fingers threading through its unruly hair. "Now, now..."

Jay can't suppress a giggle. "Oh, Holls…"

Holly looks at Jay miserably. "Are there more...?"

"No," Jay tells her, "Only two, remember?"

Exhausted, Holly slumps back into the cushions with her newborn cradled close to her chest, where the dying thunder of her heartbeat soothes it into silence, punctuated with the occasional faint whimper. She becomes suddenly, achingly aware of how tired she is, her eyelids feeling painfully heavy and unable to close all at once, gaze locked on her new arrival.

"Ha...," Sharky hums, "Look at that, Holls. Two of 'em."

Holly doesn't look at her. "You were right."

"'Bout what?"

"They're yours," Holly tells her.

Sharky grins. "Told ya."

"How can you tell, Holls?" Jay pipes up curiously.

"The agate has a cheek gem," Holly replies, "and this one just looks like her."

Sharky laughs rambunctiously. "Yeah, Jay! She just looks like me!"

Jay chuckles, then carries on with cleaning up the aftermath of the delivery. She cleans her longtime lover up as well as she can, then covers her up to preserve whatever remains of her dying dignity. By now, the gemlings have nursed, Sharky has gotten a good look at both of them, and the rowdy little amethyst - who has already proven that she's going to be trouble by biting Holly when she tried to feed her - has fallen asleep. Holly cradles her in both arms, while the little agate is awake and alert against Sharky's barrel chest, squeaking occasionally as if to remind them that she's still there.

Of course, with gems as gossipy as amethysts, news spreads quickly and, before the labor even ends, there are occasional murmurs from the other side of the closed double doors. No one dares venture inside, surprisingly, but there's an increasingly antsy chorus of whispers faintly audible from the hall, where a group of quartzes has assembled in such numbers that one might think they're expecting a war.

Finally, one of them knocks.

Jay cocks a brow. "Yeah?"

"Can we come in?"

"Not all at once!" Jay snorts at them, exasperated, then ventures outside to talk to them. She's gone just long enough for Holly to settle back into the cushions, too exhausted to care that they're sweat sodden and uncomfortable, with the amethyst gemling sleeping quietly in her arms and permit her eyelids to drift closed.

Then, Jay comes back in with Chip beside her and Sharky, overcome with delight, pounces to her feet, thrusts the blanket bundle in her arms out in front of her precariously, and all but shouts, "Chip! Look what I made!"

Startled, Holly jumps, the gemling in her arms jolting violently to attention and starting to cry. She casts a treacherous glare in Sharky's direction as she lifts a hand to rub the back of her head, growling irritably through clenched teeth. Sharky doesn't even notice, carrying on with Chip delightedly with a stupid grin on her face and snot and tears streaming down her face in veritable rivers, the agate gemling proudly on display against her barrel chest.

"Sharky...," Holly grumbles.

Suddenly, Sharky seems to remember that she exists and looks at her apologetically. "Oh. Sorry, Holls."

Holly rolls her eyes, then sets her sights on soothing the crying gemling in her arms, though she feels absolutely anything but nurturing at the moment. She's exhausted, there are purple bags blossoming beneath her heavy-lidded eyes, and her entire body aches, particularly from the waist down. She's in no mood for visitors and craves only sleep, however brief, before she has to nurse her newborns again.

"Oh, no," Sharky remarks, "I scared her, didn't I? Oh, jeez, I'm so sorry, Holls. Here, let me hold her!"

Hesitantly, Holly passes the amethyst gemling into Sharky's arms, accepting the agate in return. Admittedly, it's much more pleasant to have a gemling who isn't wailing tucked tightly against her chest, crooning quietly instead of screaming, already looking very ready to fall asleep again itself. But, Holly squashes that unpleasant thought before it ever has time to bloom; she will love her children equally and she won't pick favorites, she tells herself, even if one of them has spent its entire existence screaming and biting her nipple much harder than she anticipated.

Gradually, the amethyst gemling quietens down. Holly closes her eyes as its cries die down, preparing yet again to sleep.

"Here, Chip! You wanna hold her?"

Holly sits upright. "Be careful!"

She realizes that the newborn is already carefully cuddled into Chip's warm arms and blushes when she feels three pairs of eyes on her, startled at her outburst.

Then, Chip erupts into a huge grin. "Yeah, of course! I'll be real careful with her, Holly!"

Stupid, Holly tells herself as she leans back in bed. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Of course, Chip would be careful with her. The poor thing is probably safer with Chip than she is with Sharky. There was no need for such an outburst.

"Wow, Holly!" Chip chuckles, "She's pretty! You must be real happy!"

Holly looks down at the little one snoozing soundly in her arms, then at the much squirmier newborn tucked into Chip's strong arms. They're cute. They're certainly cute. But, she's exhausted and she desperately wants to sleep and she wishes the crying and the attention would stop already, and Chip's comment on her happiness only prompts her to feel bad for not being more actively interested in them right away.

Is she happy?

A faint warmth fills Holly's chest as the agate stirs, wrinkling her nose and grunting adorably as she squirms in her blanket bundle.

Of course she is.

"Mama!"

Holly grumbles, rolls over, and covers her head. She doesn't know what time it is. Early, she suspects. Too early.

Something pounces on her, her breasts crushed beneath an abrupt weight on her chest. She grunts in pain, reaches for the certain squirmy something, and sits upright to stare her agate daughter in the eyes tiredly, thinly veiling agitation.

"Hi, Mama!" the toddler chirps, then grins from ear-to-ear as she smothers her mother in a hug that encompasses her entire face, her booty-clad feet scrambling against Holly's battered chest as if her goal is to ultimately climb on top of Holly's head, where two disheveled buns have fallen down into loose curls.

Holly is slightly amused, but mostly exhausted. "Hello, dear."

"I'm awake!" the agate giggles delightedly, erupting into laughter as Holly seizes her in both arms, turns her sideways, and cradles her like a newborn, causing many nearby quartzes to toss and turn in disrupted slumber.

Tiredly, Holly smiles. "I can see that."

Holly has been a mother for some time now - long enough that she knows to abandon all hope of being able to peacefully settle back into bed. So, she scoops her energetic daughter into her arms and rises, with only a wistful glance at the sleeping quartzes strewn around her. Then, with a start, she realizes that a certain someone is missing.

Holly holds her daughter in front of her face, frowning. "Where's your sister?"

Pointing, the toddler indicates the door. Panicked, Holly hurries into the hall, her mind filled with the terrifying imagery of the many places her young gemling could have wandered off on her own while she was sleeping, when she abruptly remembers that the door is accessible only through the control panel mounted to the wall beside it - which her children are still far, far too small to reach. So, if her gemling is gone, someone is with her, she realizes with a sigh of relief.

Someone responsible, she hopes.

Holly proceeds down the hall much more calmly, until she hears the telltale laughter from the shower chamber that can only be from her missing gemling, far too shrill to be from any grown quartz. A touch of her hand causes the doors to slide open, unveiling the sight of Sharky, Jay, and Chip rough-housing in one of the heated bathtubs - with her poor amethyst gemling bobbing helplessly in-between them. But, she's smiling and giggling, so they haven't killed her yet, she supposes.

Holly sets her child down as she enters the chamber, then clears her throat.

Three grown quartzes look at her more guiltily than either of her toddlers ever have.

"Oh, Holly, hello!" Sharky is the first to address her, "Look, we're being responsible adults! Giving junior a bath!"

Holly massages her temples. "Isn't she a little small to be bathing with you three? In this very large, very deep pool? When she most certainly cannot swim?"

"Aww, relax," Sharky chides, splashing soap bubbles in her general direction, "We were keeping a close eye on her! We're not gonna let her sink to the bottom, and it's not like gems can drown."

"We really were watching her real close, Holly!" Chip pipes up.

"Yeah," Sharky seconds, "Let her live a little, Holls!"

Holly retrieves a towel from the closest cabinet, then kneels on the edge of the pool, unfolding it. "C'mon, dear. Get out of there, before your mother dives in on top of you or something equally ridiculous."

Sharky blows a raspberry at her, backstroking away. "Give me a little credit, Holls."

The little amethyst floats towards Holly on the waves her other mother is making with her powerful back strokes, bobbing in the bubbles, looking entirely too disappointed. "Do I gotta, Mama?"

There's a moment of hesitation. Holly frowns; her daughter is enjoying herself, swimming and splashing in the bathtub with her sire and two of her many, many surrogate parents, and she's here to ruin it. Some stern, strict authoritarian who only ever shows up to give her orders or ruin her fun. Some mother she is, she thinks bitterly.

"Sharky," Holly says sternly.

Sharky lifts her head. "Yeah?"

"You promise you're watching her closely?" Holly prompts.

Sharky's head is tilted backwards now, gargling obnoxiously in the bathwater with no regard for how much soap and shampoo is currently dissolved in it. "Sure."

Holly frowns. Jay rolls her eyes, then addresses her, "She might not be, but I am. I promise."

"You swear it?" Holly asks.

"Cross my heart and hope to die," Jay tells her as she floats on her back, then scoops the little amethyst up to gently place her on her barrel chest, a veritable lifeboat in a sea of soap bubbles. The toddler giggles delightedly.

"Alright," Holly agrees, nodding pointedly. She steps back to observe from a safe distance for awhile, not entirely certain that Sharky wouldn't drag her in by her ankles given the chance, arms crossed behind her back. She senses motion beside her and looks down, surprised when she sees her agate daughter standing proudly beside her, with her chubby arms crossed behind her back and her legs spread apart in the typical agate stance.

Holly smiles. "And just what are you doing, dear?"
"I'm an agate!" the gemling chirps proudly, "Agates stand like this!"

Chuckling, Holly feels her chest swell with a warm sense of pride. "We certainly do, dear."

But, as the toddler stands beside her with her arms crossed behind her back, Holly senses her growing fidgety and restless, eying her sister splashing and laughing in the bathtub with the three quartzes enviously. She smiles, then stoops down to her level and whispers, "You know, agates can take a break every once in awhile, if more important matters require their attention."

"Ah!" the agate exclaims, shoulders slumping momentarily before she scampers off to the edge of the pool, hardly taking the time to strip herself before she barrels recklessly into the water with a sudsy splash.

Holly rolls her eyes. Then, cautiously, she ventures over to the edge of the pool, pausing only to remove her white boots before she sits down on the ledge with her feet dipping precariously into the water below, well aware that this might mean Sharky suddenly emerging in-between them and pulling her into the tub before she has time to react.

Instead, Sharky surfaces beside her, squirting a stream of water from in-between her sharp teeth. "Whatcha doin', Holls?"

"Just...observing," Holly replies, but she can't resist splashing Sharky with a kick of her feet, smirking softly. Sharky chuckles, then hoists herself out of the tub to sit on the ledge beside her, so close that Holly can feel her warmth and it's all too easy for Sharky to just slide one big, strong arm around her.

Holly expects to be shoved in as soon as she drops her guard, but Sharky only smiles and rests her sopping wet head on top of hers. Holly might not appreciate the lukewarm water leaking steadily down the back of her neck or Sharky's cheek crushing one of her artfully assembled buns, but it's better than the alternative, so she tolerates it for now. "Can I help you?"

"What? I'm not allowed to cuddle?" Sharky teases.

"Oh, I suppose that's acceptable," Holly replies, with her own teasing little grin and a mischievous glimmer in her baby blue eyes. A little shout from one of her toddlers attracts her attention, but she glances over to find them both safely riding around the tub on Jay's chest, laughing delightedly.

"Y'know, Holls, you're a pretty strict mama," Sharky comments, then grins treacherously when Holly gives her a defensive glare, "but, you're a pretty good mama, too."

Holly isn't defensive now. She's flattered. Perhaps even a little touched. "Oh, you think so, do you?"

"Sure do," Sharky replies, "You've been pretty good with them. Better than I thought you'd be."

"They're my babies," Holly says earnestly, "and, even though they're two troublemakers who act exactly like their mother, I love them."

"Yeah?" Sharky chuckles as she watches her amethyst look-alike bail off of Jay's chest, splashing into the water below, only to be promptly fished out by Chip, "I love them, too, Holls. They're great."

Holly glances at her from the corner of one eye, a mischievous smirk pricking the corners of her lips. "You know, I'm glad you think I'm a good mother..."

Sharky looks at her. "Yeah?"

"Oh, yes," Holly muses, "It means a lot to me."

Sharky grins. Holly leans closer to her, so close that Sharky thinks for a moment that she must want a kiss, until she whispers, "Do you want to hear a little secret, Sharky?"

"A secret?" Sharky smirks. Secrets with Holly were usually of the sexual variety. Of course she wanted to hear a secret. "Sure, babe."

Holly leans in a little closer, chuckling softly. Then, in the softest of voices, she whispers into her lover's ear.

"I'm pregnant again."