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Kady
Kady was in the Sanctum offices that afternoon, wishing she had an easier job. They’d received a record number of applications over the holiday break, and it was hard to narrow down who needed the opportunity the most. Victims of the trafficking ring were few and far between these days, even though the investigation was still technically open. Now, the foundation was geared towards helping hedge witches as a whole, something she never would have guessed Brakebills capable of caring about.
Opening their doors to all hedges came with risks, though. For starters, it didn’t make the safe house leaders happy, losing their numbers. It had been a delicate dance so far, not starting an all out war. It had also meant expanding their services far beyond a weekly group therapy session. Magic didn’t come from a life well lived, and a lot of the people they took in needed rehab and intensive therapy.
The board had also had to accept the fact that their method of finding magicians was broken. Since Sanctum had opened and its occupants were offered entrance exams, they’d realized most had never been located in the first place. And many of those had passed. Kady wasn’t involved with any of that, though. She only knew the campus was much more crowded than it had been in her day.
Her office phone rang, and she glanced away from the stack of applications to answer it. “This is Kady.”
“Hey! Guess who’s water just broke in the middle of class?” Julia laughed.
Kady’s eyes widened. “Are you for real? Where are you?”
“Being wheeled to the infirmary in a desk chair by one of my students.” She sounded highly amused. “Can you swing by the house and grab everything? I’ll call Q.”
How did she sound so fucking calm? “Uh, yeah. Sure thing.”
“Thanks, love you.”
“You, too.” Kady hung up, taking a deep breath before stowing the applications in her desk drawer and leaving the tiny office for another down the hall.
Penny looked up from a binder as she entered, his brow furrowed for a moment before realization dawned on his face. “Shit, is it time?”
“Yeah. You busy?”
He smiled, standing up from his desk. “Where we headed?”
“The house, then the infirmary.”
He reached for her hand.
They appeared in the living room of the small cottage she shared with Julia on the edge of the wards and Kady rushed to their bedroom to grab the bags from the floor of the closet, which included an overnight bag for Julia, a smaller bag Quentin and Eliot had provided for the baby, and the breast pump kit. Throwing the straps for all three over her shoulders, she hurried back into the living room, taking Penny’s hand.
He chuckled. “Breathe, woman.”
“Fuck off,” she laughed.
And then they were right outside the doors to the infirmary, and Kady gave him a grateful look. “Thank you.”
“Anytime. Let me know how things go?”
She nodded, turning away to head inside, and the student manning the front desk pointed her towards the hall. Lipson had been preparing the largest private room for Julia for the last week or so, and all the equipment needed had already been moved inside. There weren’t a lot of pregnancies at Brakebills to deal with, since contraception spells were one of the first things students learned on their own time. Mostly, the infirmary saw a lot of injuries and magical hangovers, but Kady was glad the equipment was there and Lipson had agreed to deliver the baby for them.
Knocking on the closed door, Kady heard Julia call for her to come in, and she found her wife placing her shoes on a shelf inside a small wardrobe, her other hand holding her swollen belly. “Thank God you’re here, I don’t think I can get into this gown by myself.”
Kady laughed, placing the bags on a nearby counter before kneeling to help Julia out of her pants. “How many of your students passed out?”
“None, actually. Just a lot of gasping and ‘what the fuck’s,” she replied, working her shirt over her head. “One of them thought I was just gonna drop Teddy right in the middle of the floor, and he kind of freaked, but it was okay after that.”
“Jesus. The guys on their way?”
“I called Q; he said he’d let Eliot know. God, you should have heard him.”
“I can imagine,” she said with an amused roll of her eyes as she turned to toss the clothes inside the wardrobe. “I hope Lipson has sedatives.”
After helping Julia into the gown, Kady lowered the bed, manhandling her wife into it and covering her with a blanket that was folded at the end. She was moving the rocking chair closer to the bed when a knock sounded on the door. “Come in!” Julia called.
Quentin appeared through the crack in the door, looking more anxious than she’d ever seen him, which was saying something. He grimaced at Kady, which she assumed was meant to be a smile, and rushed to the other side of the bed. “Hey, Jules.”
“Hey. You weren’t working, were you?”
He shrugged. “Just at home, doesn’t matter. El’s at work, but they said they’d let him know.”
Julia winced a bit as a contraction started, but managed to smile. “I’m sure he’s on his way. Those spells Lipson put on your keys can be a little unpredictable, though.”
“Fuck, I almost threw up,” he chuckled, looking around and grabbing a stool to roll towards the side of the bed. He looked at her intently. “Are you okay?”
“For now,” she assured him, reaching her hand out for his. “Are you?”
He nodded immediately, reminding Kady of a twitchy rabbit. “Of course. We’re all ready to go at home.”
“Q. I meant you, not the house.”
There was another knock at the door, and Kady stood to open it, her eyes widening slightly when she took in Eliot, who looked like he might very well pass out, his eyes glassy and face pale. “Hey,” she greeted him cautiously, stepping back to allow him inside.
His lips twitched upward in a way that looked more like indigestion than a greeting, and he walked towards Quentin with long strides, standing behind him and settling his hands on his husband’s shoulders. Kady left the door open, since the only other person they were expecting at this point was Lipson.
Returning to her seat, she half-listened as Eliot and Quentin spoke to Julia, making sure she still didn’t want an epidural and that she was still comfortable with them staying overnight with her in the room, as if the three of them hadn’t gone over every step of their plan a hundred times. Kady glanced at the window seat that doubled as a resting area, curious as to how Eliot was going to fold his stupidly tall frame into it if he actually intended to sleep.
She wasn’t really here for any of that, though. Not that she didn’t care about the baby, or about Quentin and Eliot. But they’d be a family in a few hours, and Julia would be handing off a life she’d been growing for the past nine months. She wasn’t really worried her wife would regret the decision at all; she’d never once called it her baby, and seemed incredibly grounded about the whole thing. But Kady wanted to make sure there was at least one person in the room focused on Julia alone.
Two healing students entered the room with a cart of supplies moments later, and everyone stepped back to allow them to prepare Julia for labor, connecting her to various monitors as they powered them on. Kady held Julia’s hand through the IV, knowing she hated needles of any kind, and was a little grateful she had a contraction during the stick; it seemed to distract her from it somewhat.
Lipson swept into the room after that, her eyes looking over the group. “Okay, so the gang’s all here,” she said, walking towards the end of the bed. “Knees up, girl.”
Julia laughed a little, complying, and Lipson adjusted the bed, helping Julia lift her feet into a pair of stirrups before she lifted the thin blanket, disappearing from Kady’s view for a moment. “You were seriously in class just now?”
“I seriously was.”
The professor popped back up. “Well, if you want drugs, now’s the time.”
“Nope.”
Lipson patted her knee. “Alright. You’re at eight centimeters. I’ll be checking on you every few minutes, but come get me if you need to.” She looked at Kady, who nodded. “I’d stay, but a few of the Nature kids found one of Hoberman’s old recipes and fucked it up; they’re tripping balls, and not in the fun way.”
Eliot chuckled. “Welcome to Brakebills,” he muttered.
Lipson stepped out just as another contraction hit, and Julia squeezed Kady’s hand a bit, breathing through the pain. “Okay,” she said to no one in particular. Kady watched Quentin reach for her other hand, looking concerned. Eliot looked quietly petrified behind him. It wasn’t long at all before the next one, and Kady stood to move with Julia as she sat up, a whining growl escaping her. She heard Quentin gasp quietly and then Eliot was moving him away from the bed to take his seat, his large hand covering Julia’s instead.
“Sorry,” Julia gasped. “Q, you okay?”
“He’ll be fine,” Eliot assured her. “I’m just selfishly protecting my lifestyle as a trophy husband; I may insure those hands.”
Quentin rolled his eyes. “Funny, El. Jules, I can get Lipson, if you want the drugs.”
“No. That needle is coming nowhere near me.”
Kady ran her hand down Julia’s exposed back, feeling just as uncertain as Quentin looked, but unwilling to argue about it. She wasn’t the one about to push out a whole baby.
An hour passed, with Lipson checking in several times, and Kady quietly talking to Julia through each contraction as she held Eliot’s hand in a death grip, Quentin fidgeting over his shoulder. Kady had seen plenty of movies of women screaming and cursing through labor, but Julia was really only kind of shaky and sweaty, vocalizing through the worst of the pain, but not anything really intelligible. She was remembering to breathe and even smiling tiredly as each one passed. Quentin ran out for ice and when he returned, Lipson and two of her assistants were behind him.
Julia gratefully took the offered cup, sucking a chip into her mouth before passing it to Kady, and lying back against the bed when Lipson instructed her to. “Q,” she spoke around the ice, looking over to Quentin.
“Yeah?”
“Don’t remind me of any of this when you’re ready for a second one, okay?” she joked.
Quentin laughed, his eyes a bit wild, and Eliot scoffed. “Let’s focus on this one, hmm?” he suggested.
Kady nodded in agreement. “Yeah, I’d like my hot wife back for a little while,” she teased.
Julia pouted up at her. “You said my waddle was cute.”
She tilted her head. “Well, it’s not terrible,” she admitted. “But I’m kind of hoping this kid’s a brat that doesn’t want any little siblings around.”
Eliot chuckled. “Considering his DNA, there’s a high chance of that.” Kady snickered as Quentin punched Eliot weakly on his arm.
“Jules, you ready to push?” Lipson asked. Julia nodded, her eyes anxious but determined. “Grab those bed rails; I’m not looking to set any broken fingers today.”
Julia did as Lipson instructed, but Kady kept her hand over her wife’s as the professor continued to speak, not really hearing any of it herself.
Then, Julia was pushing, her brow furrowed and her lips pursed. Kady held her breath until it was over, vaguely hearing the others speaking but not catching any of their words. Only minutes passed before shit got real, and Lipson was ordering them to hold Julia’s knees. She noticed Quentin stepping in Eliot’s way to do so on the other side of the bed, and Eliot stood, his hand over his mouth and his eyes wide again.
“Waugh, if you pass out on me, I swear to God,” Lipson snapped. He only shook his head quickly in response and the professor returned her focus to Julia, instructing her to push as another contraction started. The room grew loud as the aides and Lipson spoke to Julia, and as Julia bore down, her voice caught somewhere between a scream and a long, pained grunt as she came up off the bed. Kady braced her hand on her wife’s shoulder, the other still on her knee.
Julia soon fell back against the bed again, trying to catch her breath, and Kady was handed a cool cloth. She wiped the other woman’s brow and fed her more ice, trying not to laugh when she caught a glimpse of Quentin’s face, full of fear and a bit of guilt, too. Eliot didn’t look much better. “Don’t worry, Coldwater, I don’t think she’s gonna swing at you.”
He blinked, looking at Kady before sheepishly focusing on Julia. “Well, I wouldn’t exactly blame her.”
Julia managed a small, breathless laugh. “I knew what I was signing up for,” she said, her voice strained. “It just really sucks right now. I promise, it’s still worth it.”
Quentin looked like he might start crying, so Kady looked after her wife, trying to make her as comfortable as possible until the next contraction came along. It went this way for a while, the quiet shifting back into controlled chaos again and again until Kady began worrying the damn baby wasn’t ever going to come out, that Julia couldn’t handle much more.
Finally, Julia’s mouth opened wide, her eyes squeezing shut as she cried out and Lipson laughed, drawing Kady’s attention. “He’s coming, you’re doing it!” she said.
“C’mon, Jules,” Kady encouraged her, smiling at the fact that this was almost over as she held her hand around the bed rail. Julia glanced in her direction, letting out a sound between a laugh and a sob before her face contorted again and she let out one final, sharp yell.
There was movement at the end of the bed, the students rushing around, and Kady exchanged a confused look with Quentin and Eliot before a tiny cry pierced the room and both men went still.
Kady felt Julia’s hand on hers and looked back towards her, at her flushed face and exhausted eyes.
They were alone; just like that, they were two again, and not three.
“You’re a fucking goddess,” Kady told her, leaning down to press a kiss on her damp forehead.
“Is he okay?”
“I mean, he sounds fine,” she chuckled as the newborn’s cries rang through the room. Lipson was gesturing for Quentin to come cut the cord, as planned, and Eliot practically fell onto the empty stool on the other side of the bed, staring in the general direction of the baby, although he couldn’t see anything from his position. She’d been told he wasn’t a fan of blood, and Quentin had plenty of experience with it, due to his line of work.
One of Lipson’s assistants joined the women at the bedside minutes later, smiling. “Seven pounds, two ounces. Everything looks great.”
“Thank you,” Julia said softly, turning her face towards Kady. “God, I’m tired.”
“Well, the hard part’s over, right?”
But Julia was already looking away again, and Kady followed her line of sight to see the blonde assistant placing a wrapped bundle into Quentin’s arms. He took it gingerly, and immediately started sobbing once he saw his son. Julia wept quietly along with him, squeezing Kady’s hand, but she was smiling brilliantly.
“Julia.” Both women turned to look at Eliot, whose eyes were thick with tears. “Thank you.” He mouthed the words, seemingly unable to speak.
“It was my absolute pleasure,” she assured him, her words slow and exhausted, She reached her other hand out for his, and Eliot quickly folded his long fingers around hers.
Quentin walked slowly towards the bed, his face wet with tears but not seeming to care at all as he turned enough to allow the rest of them to lay eyes on Theodore Rupert Coldwater-Waugh for the first time.
“Fuck,” Eliot said, his lips parted in awe.
“He’s perfect,” Julia whispered. “Oh, he has your eyes, Q!”
“He does?” Quentin’s voice was rough as he studied the baby’s face. “I can’t… really tell? He just kind of looks like…”
“A potato?” Kady supplied, smirking when Eliot caught her eye, nodding subtly in agreement.
“Trust me, I did not just birth a potato,” Julia told her. “El, why don’t you take your turn, and then I’ll try feeding him?”
Eliot looked very hesitant to take the baby from Quentin, but did so, his eyes softening in a way Kady had rarely seen over the years as he gazed down at the bundle in his arms.
Once Julia’s labor was truly finished, she did take Teddy from his fathers to be fed, and Eliot and Quentin agreed to run a quick errand to the womens’ house across campus for Julia’s pound of gummy bears, the only thing she’d really had any strong craving for during her pregnancy. The redheaded assistant (why didn’t these people have name tags?) walked Julia through getting the baby to latch, and soon Kady and Julia were alone with Teddy.
“How weird does that feel?” Kady asked curiously as she watched the baby at the other woman’s breast.
Julia wrinkled her nose. “Not great?” she admitted, seeming surprised by her answer. “I mean, I only have to do it today; I don’t think the pump will be so bad. At least, I hope not.”
“And you can change your mind if it is. They never asked you to do that.”
“I know; I’ll probably only do it for a couple of months, anyway. I just want what’s best for my nephew,” she said in a silly voice, running a finger over Teddy’s feathery hair.
“Yeah, ‘Auntie Margo’ definitely won’t have shit on you,” Kady laughed.
Julia rolled her eyes, an exhausted smile on her face. “Q told me she bought him a Versace onesie. They make onesies.”
Once Teddy was done feeding, Kady found someone to take him to be cleaned and looked over more thoroughly, and Julia was sleeping when Eliot and Quentin returned, their eyes darting around the room as Eliot placed the gummy bears at the end of the bed.
“He’ll be back,” Kady said quietly, taking the bag into her own hands. She’d gotten used to them too over the months. Seeing Eliot’s mussed hair and Quentin’s crookedly buttoned shirt, her eyes narrowed. “Did you two fuck in our house?”
Eliot’s head tilted as he looked at her in feigned innocence. “Emotions may have gotten a bit… high,” he admitted. Quentin only blushed, staring at the bed rail.
“Ugh, Jesus. If you were in our room--”
“No, no,” he promised, taking a seat on the stool and pulling Quentin to sit on his leg. “You have a lovely little courtyard, though.”
Kady rolled her eyes.