Work Text:
Joel went into labor at 2:47 AM.
He woke up in the middle of the night feeling pain.
He stood up slightly, using the walls for support as he made his way to the kitchen.
Some water should probably help. He thought about how he would take a glass from the cupboard and fill it with water.
Before he could drink the water, a strong contraction hit him, causing him to drop the glass in the sink and break it.
A liquid quickly began to drip from it.
Oh shit!
another contraction
Okay, stay calm.
Joel began to walk slowly back to the room to wake Etho.
Joel stopped beside the bed, where his husband was fast asleep.
"Etho, come on, wake up, it's urgent!" Joel shook Etho, trying to get him to stand up.
"Hmm, Joel, please go back to sleep this afternoon." Etho was already preparing to turn over and go back to sleep.
"Etho, I think I've gone into labor."
Etho's sleepiness quickly vanished completely as he sat up in bed, eyes wide, and turned to look at Joel.
"What? Now? Are you sure?" Etho was already starting to look for his slippers to get up.
"Well, I'm almost 100% sure the stock market crashed, so, yes, now."
Another contraction, causing Joel to double over in pain.
"Calm down, sit here, I'll call Xisuma and Zed, don't leave!" Etho left the room behind his communicator.
Seriously, does Etho think I'm going to leave here in this pain?
Joel stands up, resting his forehead on his arm, bending against the wall in pain.
"Okay, I'm back, they're on their way, hold on a little longer." Etho returned to Joel's side.
Joel began pacing around the base, trying to ease the pain a little.
"I think you should sit down for a bit, love-"
"I don't want to sit down," Joel quickly interrupts Etho.
Joel stopped walking when he was already in the living room of his base, leaning against the armchair and bending over slightly while groaning in pain.
"Void, why does it hurt so much!" A tear rolled down Joel's face.
The base door was flung open, followed by Xisuma and Zed entering.
"Okay, we've arrived. How long is this break for the contractions?" Xisuma moved closer to Joel, checking him on.
"Two and a half minute break, I counted" Etho counted as Joel walked around the base, knowing that this information would be useful.
"Why did you take so long?!" Joel shouted as another strong contraction came, holding onto the armchair and Xisuma.
It was now 4 AM.
"Come on Joel, we're going to put you on an IV drip and lay you down, well, unless you wanted to have the baby standing up, but I don't think that would be very pleasant." Zed gently removed Joel's hands from the armchair and from Xisuma's.
"Of course I'm not going to have my baby standing up!" Joel moved back to the bedroom with Zed's help.
Joel was angry and in pain; he didn't like feeling so vulnerable.
he hated
Zed sat Joel down in a chair to administer the IV drip.
"This might hurt, Joel, but I need to put the IV in you now." Zed grabbed the syringe and inserted it into Joel's arm.
"Zed, you can be sure that the pain of this needle doesn't even come close to what this baby is doing right now." Joel glared at Zed with hatred.
Once Joel had the IV drip connected, he quickly got up.
He definitely didn't want to sit down.
"Joel, I need to lay you down, I need to see how dilated you are," Zed gently placed his hands on Joel, moving him towards the bed.
Etho felt lost there. Zed did almost everything related to Joel, Xisuma checked his code, and Etho? What was he doing? He just stood there staring, not knowing what to do.
When Joel was lying there, naked from the waist down, he turned his gaze to Etho and extended his hand, gesturing for him to come over.
Etho quickly extended his hand to Joel, giving him a light squeeze.
Joel was 9 centimeters dilated; he just needed to dilate a little more before he could start pushing.
It was now 5:24 AM.
Joel groaned in pain and squeezed Etho's hand, trying to endure the pain a little longer; it was difficult, but he tried.
"Zed, please tell me I can push now, I can't take it anymore"
Joel was no longer angry; now he was definitively crying from the pain.
"Okay Joel, I think we can work with this, I need you to start pushing on the next contraction." Zed placed towels under Joel and a wet towel on his forehead while instructing him.
So Joel did, on the next contraction, he pushed.
Crying and moaning in pain, she pushed, and when the contraction ended, she threw her head back and breathed a little.
doing this with every contraction that came
"Okay, okay, I can see the head, just one more time Joel, come on, this is going very well"
When the next contraction came, Joel yelled loud enough for the other hermits to hear.
"That's it, Joel finished," Zed said, paying for the baby as Xisuma approached with a towel to clean and wrap her up.
6:12 AM.
"I'm so proud of you, my love, you were amazing, okay?" Etho whispered to Joel while kissing his head.
"Give it to me, I want to see!" Joel stretched out his arms to try and grab the baby.
Xisuma placed the baby on Joel's chest so that he could look at it.
"Hi, Void, you're so perfect," Joel whispered, smiling at the baby.
"She's perfectly healthy, Joel, congratulations," Xisuma said as Zed tidied things up around them.
"Her?" Joel was now crying, but not from pain, but from emotion.
Joel turned to look at Etho, who was also crying now.
"Do you want to hold her now?" Joel didn't give Etho time to answer, already handing her over to Etho.
She had white hair like Etho and brown eyes like Joel, a perfect blend of the two.
Joel was so tired, all he wanted to do was rest next to his husband and daughter.
"What name will they give her?" Xisuma was getting ready to leave, to leave Joel and Etho with the baby.
Joel looked at Etho again; he already knew her name, they had discussed it before.
Etho looked at the baby, seeing her yawning and closing her eyes, ready to fall back asleep. Etho smiled at the scene.
"Emma".