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"My water just broke."
Vash is in the bathroom when he feels a gush of liquid between his legs. He looks at Wolfwood from across the room, seeing the other looking just as alarmed as he is. Vash watches Wolfwood as the other's mind runs through all of their options from the unexpected turn of events.
"Okay," Wolfwood says finally. He's next to Vash in a second, pulling him closer by the shoulders. "There's a hospital around here. Everything will be okay."
Vash doesn't realize he's shaking until Wolfwood tightens his hold around him. He buries his face into Wolfwood's shoulder, taking a moment to prepare himself for labour.
They aren't prepared to have a baby three weeks early. Taking precautions, they were making their way to the SEEDS floating ship in case he goes into labour early. This is too early, they're still two days out from the ship. The plan was to leave the town this morning and drive across the desert.
"Go rest, you have a long day ahead of you," Wolfwood whispers next to him.
Vash tries to rest on the bed while Wolfwood leaves to find baby supplies. He feels contractions every so often, nothing too intense yet. Wolfwood comes back to their room an hour later, holding a pack of diapers, a set of baby clothes, and snacks for the both of them. He joins Vash on the bed after stashing the stuff away. They wait together.
Wolfwood cards his finger through Vash's hair, trying to relax him, and feeds Vash some water and snacks. Hours go by as Vash writhes when the contractions grow stronger. It's evening when they start to get intense, so they leave for the hospital.
Wolfwood handles checking them in at the front desk, giving fake names to the secretary. They wait an hour before a room is ready. Vash squirms on the bed while the nurses scurry around the room to prepare for the delivery. He's grateful for the bit of painkillers they feed him through an IV.
"You're gonna be okay." Wolfwood is right next to him holding his hand.
While Vash is wheezing from the pain, he notices feathers on his arm. Wolfwood spots then too. They both know no one can see the feathers.
Wolfwood rubs his arm over the feathers. "I'll make sure no one sees."
Vash can't focus on anything but the pain when he's close to giving birth, let alone worry about the nurses seeing the alien feathers. Ten minutes go by until the nurses are demanding him to push. Wolfwood holds his bruising grip. Vash cries out when he pushes, feeling intense pressure between his legs. Something must have appeared on his face because Wolfwood cups his cheek and turns his head to face him, covering whatever is there. The nurses chant for one more push, and Vash gives it to them before he collapses on the bed. He hears a small cry.
Wolfwood whispers good job to him with a kiss to his head before he leaves his side to join the nurses. Vash closes his eyes and pants to catch his breath. He opens his eyes when Wolfwood calls his name, holding their baby in his arms, wrapped in a blanket.
"A baby girl," Wolfwood tells him as he presents their daughter to him, looking weepy.
Vash tears up and reaches for her. He cries as he holds his baby close to his chest, gently caressing her small head. The stress and pain from today turns into a forgotten ache as he stares and takes in her features, seeing the black hair and skin that's darker than his own pale complexion. His daughter makes cooing sounds, urging him to kiss her head as she settles on him. He spots dark blue eyes in between her blinks. Next to him, Wolfwood pets both of their heads.
"Our little angel," Wolfwood whispers.
Vash would've rolled his eyes, but he cries harder.
The nurses help him breastfeed his daughter within the hour. After she's fed, Wolfwood advises him to sleep once the nurses clean up and leave them alone, promising to check in later. It's past midnight.
Vash slips in and out of sleep, waking up whenever his daughter makes a gurgling noise. Wolfwood is trying to get some shuteye in the chair next to him. Some hours pass when Vash wakes up to Wolfwood rubbing a thumb over the mess of his fringe.
"Hey."
Vash yawns while stroking his fingers over the skin of his daughter's back. He looks down to see feathers on both their skin.
"I hate to say it, but we gotta go," Wolfwood tells him.
He's right. They can't stay and risk anyone questioning why he and his baby have feathers.
Wolfwood helps him get dressed, being careful when there's a newborn between them. Vash appreciates the help when he's still winded after giving birth mere hours ago. Before leaving the room, Wolfwood grabs a worn blanket and helps tie it around Vash to use it as a sling for the baby. Vash keeps his hands over his baby once she's secured. They leave the hospital quietly in the dawn to avoid being spotted.
Vash wraps a cloak around him and the baby before sitting in the sidecar attached to Wolfwood's motorcycle. He turns to Wolfwood to see him looking displeased before he rummages in their luggage to find something. Wolfwood pulls out a pillow.
"Here, this might help."
Vash takes the pillow. He slides it under his bottom.
Wolfwood still doesn't look happy. "Hopefully it's comfortable enough. I'd rather have you in bed resting."
"It's fine. It's only for a few hours," Vash replies with a smile, hoping it will set the other at ease.
Wolfwood sighs before sitting on his bike. "Tell me if you need a break."
Vash pulls the hood of his cloak over his head and covers his daughter's ears before the engine turns on. They set off to the next town just as the morning light peaks over the horizon. He looks down underneath the cloak to see his daughter looking disturbed by the noise of the motorcycle but thankfully, she isn't crying. Vash plants a kiss on her head before closing his eyes to try to get some rest. He doesn't fall asleep, wanting to keep an eye and ear on his daughter until they reach the town.
It's a bigger town than the previous one. It's also more populated with people walking along the district. Wolfwood parks his bike where it's less crowded.
Wolfwood notices him stirring when he cuts the engine. "How're you feeling?"
"Tried," Vash yawns. "I really need a shower."
Wolfwood finds a hotel nearby and grabs a room before picking up Vash. He helps Vash stand before grabbing their stuff to bring to their room. Vash sighs in relief when he enters, seeing the bed and a decent bathroom.
Wolfwood puts their bags on the floor before turning to Vash. "Go shower. I'll take care of the little one."
Vash's hands instinctively tighten his hold over his daughter. His daughter fusses in his hold.
Wolfwood notices his demeanor. "Hey." He holds Vash's face to make him look up. "She'll be right here with me."
Vash relaxes before shooting Wolfwood a tired smile. "Okay. And sorry, I'm just—"
Wolfwood kisses his cheek before removing Vash's cloak. "An overprotective hen." He then leans down to kiss the top of their daughter's head. She stops fussing.
Vash pouts while helping Wolfwood take off the sling around him. "Am not."
Wolfwood takes their daughter into his arms. He makes an exaggerated wide smile at his daughter who makes a happy gurgling noise at his antics. Vash's heart melts at the display.
"I'll feed her with the formula I got while you enjoy your shower," Wolfwood says while bouncing their daughter in his arms while she coos.
Vash stares at them before forcing himself to move and unbutton his coat. "Alright." He turns to grab some spare clothes before entering the bathroom. "Don't steal her away from me."
"I wouldn't dream of it," Wolfwood replies before Vash closes the door.
Vash quickly removes the rest of his clothes and turns on the shower. He sighs when he steps under the spray of cool water, feeling a lot better as all the dried sweat that's clinging to his skin washes away. The missing weight of his baby also feels nice as he moves around with ease to scrub his skin. Turning off the faucet, he dries up and gets dressed before opening the door to see Wolfwood still holding their daughter, feeding her with a bottle.
"Hey," Wolfwood says when he spots him.
Vash walks over, leaning over Wolfwood to look at his daughter. "How is she?"
"No crying. Yet."
Vash giggles. His stomach growls as he watches his daughter feed. "I'm hungry too."
"Two babies to feed," Wolfwood remarks. Then he nods over to one of their bags. "There's some snacks. I'll grab something more filling later."
Vash grabs a snack bar from the bag and devours it. He grabs another to satisfy him before taking his daughter from Wolfwood after she's fed. Wolfwood also eats a snack before they both move to the bed, watching their daughter sleep between them. Wolfwood takes a nap, but Vash stays awake despite feeling exhausted.
Wolfwood wakes up an hour later to see him awake. He reaches over and cups Vash's face. "You need to rest."
"I know." Vash leans into his hand, closing his eyes. "I will tonight."
The evening is quiet with the three of them in bed until Wolfwood leaves to find some tangible food. He comes back with sandwiches which gets Vash's stomach rumbling again. They eat the food before relaxing until it's nighttime.
Vash stays awake long after Wolfwood closes his eyes. He tries to sleep, but he keeps opening his eyes to gaze at his daughter sleeping soundly. She fusses when she's hungry every few hours, which he takes care of before she alerts the other awake. Wolfwood needs to sleep more than him, he reasons. Wolfwood needs to rest to drive when they leave in the morning.
Vash barely gets any rest except for closing his eyes. Wolfwood finds him with dark cycles when he wakes up.
"Oh, darling." Wolfwood brushes Vash's eyelids with a thumb. "We can stay until you get some sleep."
Vash shakes his head. "No, we should get going."
Wolfwood looks conflicted and ready to argue back.
"I want to get to the ship," Vash rasps.
Wolfwood sighs. With Vash voicing what he wants, he backs down. "Okay. We'll get breakfast and leave. Promise me that you'll rest once we get there."
Vash promises.
Vash feeds his daughter before they pack up and leave the hotel. After dropping their bags by Wolfwood's bike, they grab breakfast at a small diner that's quiet with not too many people inside. When they finish breakfast and step out of the diner, they hear a gunshot and a scream. Any exhaustion Vash felt is gone and replaced with fear and an overwhelming sense to protect. He holds back from doing anything rash, like using his wings, to keep his daughter safe.
Wolfwood steps in front of him and searches where the commotion is coming from. They find a group of men down the road, all wearing the same type of leather gear and holding guns. It's a gang of outlaws. One of the men is pointing his gun to the sky after firing his warning shot and yells something to the crowd of people. The other men grab pedestrians and point their guns at cars as they look for hostages.
"Now of all times," Wolfwood hisses.
Big towns are no stranger to outlaws in the post Earth Federation era, fighting to gain power as the new force cracks down on thievery and violence.
Wolfwood pushes Vash in the opposite direction before they get spotted. "We need to go."
"But—" Looking behind him, Vash thinks about the people who could get hurt, but he can't step in, not when he has a baby. "We can't just leave them."
"Vash, we can't." Wolfwood looks down between them where their daughter is starting to whimper. "Do not fight me on this."
Vash looks at him, then at Wolfwood's cross gun, the Punisher. Wolfwood still carries it around despite the gun not seeing much action these days. "I can't, but you can."
Wolfwood stares at him like he's insane.
"I'll run away and find somewhere safe. I promise," Vash argues.
Wolfwood closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. "Okay, okay." He gives Vash a hard look. "Find a spot somewhere safe where I can find you." He kisses Vash on the forehead. "Don't even think about coming out to help." He turns around and heads towards the chaos.
Vash sprints in the opposite direction among the crowd trying to flee. He quickly realizes that he doesn't have the strength to run very far. Exhaustion quickly hits him. The lack of sleep reels its head as he pants, trying to find a place to hide. He shouldn't be running when he just gave birth yesterday. His daughter sobs in his arms.
Vash turns into a dark alleyway while everyone else runs past him. He leans against the wall and catches his breath before sliding down the wall to rest on the ground. Looking in his arms, his daughter cries.
"Shh, it's okay. We're okay," he says between pants, feeling like crying too as he sways her in hopes to calm her down. He shouldn't have left Wolfwood behind. Convincing him to protect people was selfish, stupid. They should be on their way to the ship.
He rocks and whispers to his daughter until she quiets down into sniffles. The yelling and screams fade in the distance as he puts all of his attention to making sure his daughter isn't scared. He blinks away his own tears as he calms down too.
Vash freezes when there are footsteps nearby. He hears the voices of two men and their steps getting closer. Their urgent tone and march tell him that they aren't civilians running away. Vash crouches, immediately on high alert. His daughter starts whimpering again.
Vash's heart pounds as the steps come closer. Feathers slip out of his skin and through his coat. He needs to protect his daughter, he needs to protect his baby, he can't have anyone hurting her—
The two men appear at the end of the alleyway and peer into the darkness where he's hiding. A split second of locking eyes with the men has Vash lashing out, throwing his wing to knock the men back. They yelp and fire some shots at his wing out of shock before they're thrown to the ground. Vash uses this moment to dash further into the dark alleyway to reach the other side. He runs. He runs until there's no one around him, and the only sound he hears is his daughter crying. When he stops, he's left coughing and struggling to breathe. He looks around to find himself in the outskirts of the town.
Vash finds a narrow alley and hides behind a stack of boxes before dropping to the ground. He leans down to touch his daughter's forehead with his own and closes his eyes. His daughter's sobbing quiets down.
He doesn't know how long he stays until he's startled by footsteps, feathers spawning to lash out at whoever is here. He needs to protect his daughter—
"Whoa, hey!"
Vash stops to see Wolfwood with his hands up. He blinks up at the other.
Wolfwood crouches, looking worried as his hands hover over him. "Are you alright?"
Vash nods. "Yeah," he rasps.
Wolfwood reaches over to hold his cheek. Vash leans into it and closes his eyes.
"Had a little run-in," Vash whispers, opening his eyes to look at Wolfwood. His feathers slowly disappear under his skin.
Wolfwood gazes at him before his eyes land on their daughter who whines. He pets her head to calm her.
"She's okay, just scared," Vash answers before Wolfwood asks. "Did anyone get hurt?"
"Nothing besides some injuries." Wolfwood still looks worried. "Let's get out of here."
He helps Vash stand and usher him over to where he parked his bike. They drive off and leave the town behind them.
It takes a few hours until they finally reach the ship. Both are relieved when they see it in the distance. Once they reach the main entrance, they're quickly guided inside by its residents.
"Wait here, we'll call the nurses," someone says, leaving both of them to wait in one of the lounges.
"Everyone is gonna be surprised to see the little one," Wolfwood comments.
Vash looks down at his daughter who wiggles in his arms, likely hungry. His eyes grow heavy.
"Can you hold her?" Vash asks, leaning against Wolfwood.
Wolfwood wraps an arm around him. "Of course." He takes her from Vash's arms. He sports a smile as he settles her in the curve of his arm. "I'll feed her." He looks up at Vash. His smile drops. "Spikey?"
Vash is having a hard time keeping his eyes open and an even harder time standing up, leaning heavily into Wolfwood to stand.
"Vash!"
Vash hears Wolfwood shout before he blacks out.
The sound of someone muttering is the first thing Vash wakes up to. Peeling his eyes open, whiteness fills his vision until he realizes he's staring up at the ceiling. There's a pinch in his flesh arm, recognizing there's an IV attached to him. He turns to the source of the noise to see Wolfwood. Wolfwood is sitting in a chair next to his bed, holding their daughter in his arms as he talks about something. Their daughter babbles in response.
"Gotta get you some clothes first, little lady," Wolfwood coos. "I'll pick them out for you since spikey has no fashion sense." Then, he glances up and locks eyes with Vash. His eyes widened.
"Is she giving you trouble?" Vash greets him, voice raspy.
"She's been upset since you passed out. She only calmed down about an hour ago," Wolfwood answers while helping Vash sit up. "You scared me. I thought you were hiding something serious until the nurses said you needed some sleep."
Vash winces. "Sorry." He wrings his hands. "I was really tired. I should've said something." His daughter is only two days old and he'd already terrified her more than once.
"Hey, look at me."
Vash looks up with tears in his eyes.
"It's nothing to stress over." Wolfwood wipes his tears. "Look, she's okay."
Vash looks down to see their daughter calm in Wolfwood's arm. She blinks at him before making a small noise. Wolfwood shifts her in his arms and holds her up. Vash notices she's dressed in a red onesie.
"Milly thought she would look cute in red. Just like you," Wolfwood says before passing her over to let Vash hold her.
Vash snorts and dries his face with his hand. "She does." He holds her tiny hand between two fingers. She clutches one of his fingers and babbles. His eyes tear up for a different reason as he watches her. "We gotta think of a name," he whispers.
"We do. Everyone is asking what her name is."
Vash smiles down at their daughter. "I'm sure one will come to us."
"Yeah." Wolfwood reaches over to card his fingers through Vash's hair before kissing the top of his head. "Get rest up. Everyone wants to see you."
Vash hums in response. He gets comfortable on the bed, holding his daughter in one arm while he reaches for Wolfwood's hand in the other. Wolfwood holds his hand while they watch their daughter fall asleep.
Once Vash is fully rested, they introduce their daughter to everyone.