Page 99 of Give Me What I Want

She raised her head. “It wasn’t the monitor. She pressed the call button again. Beatrix, you can’t keep pressing that, you’ve got me, and that’s enough.”

“It’s not,” my girl complained, panting. “I want ateam.”

“You have one,” the nurse said, looking at the three of us, Mav, Cole, and me, all dressed in our fancy dress costumes. “Apparently you have the crew of the Millennium Falcon, and… isn’t Darth Vader Leia’s dad?” She furrowed her brows as she looked between Mav and Bea, then at the chair across the room where Mav had discarded his black helmet.

“Yep, I’m her daddy,” Mav said with a seductive purr that was beyond inappropriate for the moment.

“Mav,” Bea whined, her face pinching in pain. “Not the time.”

“But he isthedad?” the nurse asked.

“Not sure,” Mav said with a shrug. “Could be any of us.”

The nurse sat back on her stool, staring at Mav with an unsure look on her face, then she clicked her fingers and laughed. “That’s why I thought you looked familiar, you’re that band. Well, you used to be that band until you took your break. This makes more sense now, the whole mystery dad, three birthing partners thing.”

“That’s us,” Cole confirmed from the other side of the room where he was pouring a glass of water for Bea and skipping through the songs on her playlist, not that we could hear much without a speaker. He was pretending to be helpful, but I knew the truth, he was terrified, we all were, and when Cole was scared, he’d make himself useful.

“How’s the break going?” the nurse asked.

“Well, we’re here, so take from that what you want,” Mav said with a laugh.

The nurse smiled at him, giggling and making Bea growl. “Can someone please get me something for the pain,” she hissed then pulled a face that made my stomach twist.

“What’s wrong with her?” I asked, gaze darting between her and the nurse.

“Ooh, that was a big one, wasn’t it?” The nurse was staring up at the monitor, the one that was hooked up to a strap around Bea's swollen tummy. “Let’s have another look and see how you’re doing.”

She leaned forward, head between Bea’s legs. “Well, Beatrix, I think it’s time,” she said with a grin.

Bea grabbed my hand and stared up at me, panic on her flushed sweaty face. “Nope, it’s not. It’s…” Her brows arched, her teeth clenched, and then her face smoothed out again and she glared at me. “Not yet.”

“I think you’ve got to trust the nurse on this one, Queenie. If she says it’s time, it’s probably time. You can do this though, you’re tough,” I said, pushing a strand of damp hair back from her head, tucking it behind her ear where one of her bagel-looking buns sat.

Mav copied, doing the same thing and taking her other hand. “What do you need?” he asked, drawing her attention his way. I was thankful for that, glad that I didn’t need to keep smiling at her because shit, I was fucking terrified right now.

“Drugs, all of them, stab me in the spine, dose me up, make it fucking stop!” she yelled, then her chest was drawing to her knees as she screamed. “That really fucking hurts.”

“It’s too late for the epidural, the best I can offer is some gas and air,” the nurse said. “Mr Vader, grab that tube on the wall behind you, and Mr Chewbacca, grab a mouthpiece from the tray to your left.”

“On it,” Mav said, attempting to one-handedly twist and grab the tube. “Baby, you gotta let go so I can get it for you.”

Bea growled like a wild beast, snarling at him and tightening her grip on both of us so much that her knuckles turned ghost-white. “It’s. Not. Time.” She spoke through her teeth.

“What the fuck is…” Cole exclaimed, then quickly clamped his mouth shut, tossing the mouthpiece to Mav, who had managed to peel Bea’s hand off of his. “Sorry, erm, gorgeous, it’s definitely time.”

“Don’t watch,” she wailed, lunging forward again as another contraction ripped through her. She pulled me with her, and then Mav was shoving the mouthpiece between her lips, instructing her to breathe.

She held onto that mouthpiece like it was a fucking life vessel and she’d drown without it while her nails dug into my skin, ripping the flesh as she bit down, earning herself a light scolding from the nurse.

Cole remained frozen on the spot though, eyes wide with awe and curiosity as he stared from the foot end of the bed. “Mr Chewbacca—”

“Cole,” Bea snapped.

“Cole,” the nurse corrected herself. “Make yourself useful and grab her leg, support it, that’s it, perfect.”

Cole’s face split into a momentary grin as he helped, helped more than Mav and I were, but then it paled, his cheeks puffed then his lips parted as the nurse talked Bea through what she needed to do, barking instructions until tears were streaming down Bea’s face and the noise ripping through her throat was making me want to cry too.

I couldn’t bare seeing her in pain, pain that we had inflicted. She was here in this hospital bed, on Halloween, dressed up like Princess fucking Leia, all because we decided to stop being careful. We threw our asses into therapy, we worked on our healing, and then we decided to be reckless. We put that baby in her, and now… fuck. Iknewit would be worth it, I was thrilled to be becoming a dad, but… why did it have to hurt her so much? Why did it have to drag me back to that night on the bus last summer? This was not the same, but the fear that I felt was. Except, this time I felt helpless. At least back then I could take charge and make her feel better. Right now, all I could do was hold her hand and…

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