Chapter Text
~*Six Months Later*~
“Are we interrupting your sleep, Mr Asuka?”
Shinn felt the chalk hit his head before he heard his classmates giggling. Slowly, he picked up his head. He’d only closed his eyes for a minute to rest them. And to try to abate the churning in his stomach, which came back with vengeance now that his eyes were open again. He tried to bite back the groan of pain as his professor glared at him.
“Let’s switch gears,” the professor said with a grin as he turned his back on the board. “Class, let’s diagnose what’s wrong with Shinn, shall we?”
Another round of giggles passed over the class and suddenly Shinn regretted picking a seat in the front of the class. Med school was great until his teachers decided to pick on him at every given opportunity just because he was in the front. He could feel the inquisitive stares of his classmates and wanted to fall into a black hole.
“He’s hungover!” one of the dudebros that Shinn hated called from the back of the class.
“You sound rather confident, Mr Jones,” the professor chuckled. “Why?”
“Coordinators can’t get sick, so he must be hungover,” the dudebro proclaimed again.
Shinn rolled his eyes. Next to him, one of the girls cleared her throat.
“What are your symptoms?” she asked, her pen poised to take notes.
“Exhaustion and my stomach wants to eject itself from my body,” Shinn explained with a cheeky little grin.
“Lethargy and extreme nausea. Any thoughts?” the professor prompted.
“Hung. Ov. Er,” Dudebro insisted. Even the people next to him turned to pointedly ignore him.
“Are you on any prescription medication?” another classmate asked.
Before Dudebro could interrupt again, Shinn said, “Doxycycline. Hundred milligrams.”
Several people started taking notes. The first girl asked, “And did you eat anything with your meds this morning?”
“Sure didn’t,” Shinn answered, feeling his stomach start to turn once more. “I overslept and was running out the door so I just took my pills with some coffee. Bad idea.”
“Very bad idea,” she said with a laugh. “So not sick, just having stomach upset from the Doxy. That was easy.”
“Not so easy,” the professor interrupted knowingly. “No one thought to ask why a Coordinator is on a heavy duty antibiotic?” A murmur went through the class as they realized that, no, no one had thought of that. The professor rolled his eyes. “Shinn. Why are you on a heavy duty antibiotic?”
“My surgeon prescribed it as a preventative measure after my last surgery,” Shinn explained through a yawn.
“What did you have to have surgery for?” another student asked, curiosity brimming in her eyes.
“I had a bunch of adhesions on my lungs that were making them stick to my ribs and my heart and it was making it extremely painful to breathe so they had to be removed.” Shinn rubbed his chest, still feeling the sting of the stitches that had just come out a couple days before.
“I feel like I turned the page and two pages were stuck together,” a third student laughed. “How did you get adhesions on your lungs? ”
“I got stabbed,” Shinn snapped. Exhaustion was settling in now and he was starting to get irritated.
“Did you run into someone’s knife?” another girl asked with a giggle.
“Did you have it comin’?” another added on, and the two dissolved into laughter.
Shinn turned fully to face them now, acid dripping on his words as he spat, “My fiance’s crazy ex stabbed me ten times in the chest because she was jealous after she tried and failed to throw me out an airlock. I almost bled out on the tarmac in Alaska and only lived because my fiance shoved his finger into the stab wound that nicked my heart and staunched the bleeding. I was on a vent for a week while my collapsed lungs healed, I was on bypass for two because my heart wasn’t strong enough to pump blood on it’s own, and I’ve been in and out of the hospital since to have repeat surgeries to fix the mistakes made in the heat of the moment to save my life. This isn’t a chorus of the Cell Block Tango. It’s painful and it fucking sucks.”
Good mood killed, Shinn turned back around in his seat with a huff. The only thing his classmates knew about him was that he was a soldier, but otherwise he’d managed to keep his sordid past more or less a secret. Not because he tried to keep it under wraps. No one bothered to get to know him. He was the quiet one that vanished after every class because he had to get to work or to the firehouse to finish his EMT cert.
It was a very proud day for him when he passed his EMT exam with flying colors. Kira was ecstatic, Athrun and Cagalli cheered, even Luna called to congratulate him. Even with his family there with him, he still felt someone looking down on him from the heavens bursting with pride at his accomplishments.
Even better was when he went to bed that night and projected himself to Tatsumiya. Kazuki bear hugged him at the news. They had gotten rather good at that over the last few months, much to Kira’s worry. When Shinn sent himself there, it was damn near impossible to wake him. The first time Shinn figured out that he could do it at will, Kira thought he’d fallen into a coma. Kazuki had openly wept with relief when he saw him and didn’t let Shinn out of a hug for a solid five minutes. The first time Kazuki figured out he could do it, he appeared in their bedroom while they were having sex. A rather awkward experience all around and they decided as a group to never speak of it again.
Shinn’s phone ringing saved him from more harassment by his class. He saw Athrun’s name on the screen and sighed in relief, immediately answering the phone to the chagrin of his teacher.
“Do you need me?” Shinn asked knowingly.
“Yeeeeaaahh,” Athrun answered with a nervous little tick. “She started having contractions again an hour or so ago.”
“Did you time them?” Shinn asked, holding up a finger when his professor arched an annoyed eyebrow at him.
“I was trying to but then she got mad and threw me out.”
“I’ll be right there.” Shinn hung up the phone and smiled pleasantly at his professor. “Sorry, Teach, I gotta bounce. I’m on call for the Chief Representative; she’s going to have her babies any minute now. I just got the call so I gotta go.”
“Wish her well from us,” the professor said with an understanding smile as Shinn gathered his things. “And feel better yourself.”
“Thank you.”
His classmates called out good wishes for Cagalli as Shinn left the classroom. If he could have skipped, he would have been skipping all the way to his car. Today was the day, he just knew it. He fired off a quick text to Kira to let him know what was going on before tearing out of the parking lot and heading for the Chief Representative’s mansion.
~*~
Athrun was a nervous fucking wreck when Shinn pulled up. He was pacing out on the front porch and stopped when Shinn got out of his car with his medical bag. He practically sprinted for Shinn, bouncing on the balls of his feet.
“She didn’t want me to call because she’s convinced it’s Braxton Hicks again,” Athrun rattled off at top speed. His hands were shaking and Shinn sighed. “Please go see if she’s okay before we go to the hospital again. ”
“Don’t worry, I gotchu,” Shinn chuckled.
“Should I get ready to call an ambulance? What should I do?” Athrun pleaded.
“Don’t worry about an ambulance. If it’s needed, I have my radio on me. But it wouldn’t hurt to get the car ready to head to the hospital.”
He pushed past the disaster that was Athrun Zala and headed inside. As she was every other time he’d come this past week, Cagalli was in her study, half hunched over her desk and trying to regulate her breathing. She gave him a weary smile when he entered but went back to focusing on her breathing. With the size that she’d grown, he was amazed she could still stand.
“I’m sorry, Shinn, I know you were in class,” Cagalli said through gritted teeth. She rubbed her swollen stomach and winced. “Just–GOD–if these are just Braxton Hicks again I might punch someone and I don’t want to punch a nurse.”
“Again,” Shinn muttered with a small chuckle. Louder, he said, “Can you make it upstairs so I can examine you or do you want to lay down on the couch instead?”
Cagalli answered by waddling over to the couch, one hand on her back. “Yeah I’m not climbing the stairs while there’s an entire planet on my stomach. Fuck that.”
“Well here’s a drape and I’ll give you some privacy–”
“Shinn you’re about to have your hands up my hoo-haa, there’s not going to be such a thing as privacy in a minute,” Cagalli huffed. She reached up her maternity dress and slipped out of her panties before throwing herself down on the couch. “Just do what you gotta do and tell me if it’s time to get these brats out of me yet.”
Still, Shinn threw the drape from his kit across her lap while he sat on the coffee table. Gloves snapped on and Cagalli let her knees fall open with an exhausted sigh.
“Can I ask you something?” Cagalli asked, wincing while Shinn started his exam. “There’s something I’ve been curious about.”
“What’s up?”
“If you wanted to be a doctor so badly, why did you enlist as a pilot in the war?”
Shinn’s answer was a small chuckle. “I didn’t. I enlisted in the med corp.”
“No shit!” Cagalli cried with a laugh.
“Yeah! Durandall personally moved me; said he saw something in my DNA that made me better suited to be a pilot.” Shinn rolled his eyes briefly. He knew why that was now, and it rather took the magic away from what had otherwise been a wonderful memory.
“So that’s why everyone on the Minerva was shocked after that first battle,” Cagalli mused, thinking back on the first time she met Shinn. “I heard them all talking about you like they were surprised you did so well.”
“Yup. Most of them were saying ‘I can’t believe that kid was supposed to be a medic’,” Shinn chuckled, pulling his tools back. “How long ago did these contractions start?”
Cagalli shrugged. “An hour or so ago, I think. I don’t know. I was kinda trying to ignore them because I thought they were Braxton Hicks again.”
Shinn nodded and pulled his gloves off, “Well, I’ve got good news. You’re six centimeters dilated and your waters are broken. You’re having these boys today and things are progressing rapidly. So. Either Athrun can drive you or I can radio for an ambulance to come. Your choice.”
“We’ll drive,” Cagalli groaned, sitting up properly on the couch. “No point in getting the ambulance all the way out here just to go all the way back to the hospital.”
“Good point. In that case, I’m going to radio ahead to let them know you’re on your way. Do you need help getting to the car?”
“Of course I need help! I told you, I have a planet growing on my fucking stomach! Now give me your goddamned hand and get me to the car!”
Biting his lip, Shinn helped her to her feet. If she was barking orders like this now, he felt so bad for Athrun who would have to deal with her later.
~*~
The hospital staff was waiting at the door with a wheelchair when Athrun pulled up. The nurses took over now, helping Cagalli out of the backseat where she had been squeezing Shinn’s hands until he couldn’t feel them anymore. Kira was there as well, snatching the car keys from Athrun and insisting that he stay with his wife while Kira took care of the car. Shinn stayed with the nurses and they all filed into the elevator and gave them the run down on Cagalli’s vitals and her progress. They gave him the side eye while he spoke, almost ignoring him until he produced his badges that noted him as an EMT and a med student.
“Good afternoon! How is our birth giver today?” the head nurse greeted after Cagalli was settled into the labor and delivery room.
“Call me a ‘birth giver’ again and I will strangle you! ” Cagalli cried, biting back a cry of pain as another contraction came. The nurse froze halfway through putting her gloves on to look at Athrun, who’s sole focus was on his wife. “I’m a mother, not a birth giver! JESUS FUCK when can I get an epidural?!”
“Elias will be here shortly and then we’ll call in the anesthesiologist,” the nurse said wearily. She rolled the ultrasound machine over and flicked it on. “For now we’re going to get vitals, monitors, IV and pitocin set up. Do you need water?”
“Got that covered,” Athrun announced. He pulled out a stainless steel tumbler with a design that made it look like a pitocin bottle. The nurse glowered at him. “My brother-in-law thought this was funny.”
“So did everyone else at the baby shower,” Shinn reminded him with a snicker. He had been the one to find the tumbler but Kira had done the actual purchasing.
“I don’t give a FUCK about water or monitors or anything else! I just want this pain to stop!” Cagalli screamed, refocusing everyone’s attention. “God! I almost wish I’d gone with tradition and had a home birth with a midwife like every other Athha in history! Then I wouldn’t have to deal with this NONSENSE!”
Elias chose that moment to slide into the room, a bright smile on his face. “I don’t have to go over again how ill advised that was, do I?”
“Ugh. No. ” Cagalli flopped against the pillows and pouted. “It’s an ultra high risk pregnancy and the chances of things going wrong was too high to have a home birth. I know. You only told me a million times.”
“Glad you remembered.” Elias chuckled as he plopped himself down on the rolling stool and pushed himself over to her. “You’re officially a student now, right, Shinn? Come observe over my shoulder. Get a leg up on your classmates. How are you feeling, Mom?”
“Aggravated! I want a fucking epidural!” Cagalli huffed. She saw Elias take a glance down and when his and Shinn’s eyes went wide as saucers, she felt panic rise in her gut. “What’s wrong? What happened?”
“I’m sorry to say there isn’t even time to give you an aspirin. You’re having these babies now. ”
“ Now, now?!” Cagalli shrieked as Elias and the nurses scrambled to prepare. “But wasn’t I only six centimeters like twenty minutes ago?!”
“That may be but there is a head coming right now, ” Elias answered as he pulled a mask on and retook his seat. “I’m going to need you to push as hard as you can with the next contraction.”
Kira came barreling into the room, almost toppling over a nurse in his dash to Athrun’s side as Cagalli screamed. “What’s going on? This looks serious. What’s wrong? What did I miss?”
Kira made the mistake of looking right as the first baby slid out. The sight of the blood and mucus made him lightheaded and only Shinn grabbing his shoulders kept him upright. Athrun’s small chuckle made everyone snap their eyes to him. He just grinned and squeezed Cagalli’s hand a little tighter.
“Why do you think I’m up here and not down there?” Athrun answered their unasked question.
“Can we focus?!” Cagalli shrieked.
The shrill cry of a newborn babe cut through the room. Cagalli found she wasn’t able to say a word, tears choking off speech, and just reached for her son.
“Baby A is a very healthy looking little boy,” Elias announced as he placed the babe on her chest.
“Alexander,” Cagalli corrected him with a soft smile.
The nurse helped Cagalli pull down the upper part of her dress, allowing the little boy to press flush against her skin. He was so tiny, her hand covered his entire back, and his chubby little cheeks squished into her. A tuft of blonde hair was matted down with fluid and blood, and when he finally opened his eyes they saw the brightest green in the world staring at them.
“They’re going to have your eyes,” Cagalli cooed, taking her boy’s hand. He grabbed tightly onto her finger and she felt her heart swell. “My precious little Alex. Hi, sweetie. It’s so nice to finally meet you.”
“Do you want to cut the cord, Dad?” Elias asked, offering the shears to Athrun.
An encouraging nod from Cagalli and Athrun took the shears with shaking hands. Elias showed him where and how to cut and with two chomps of the scissors, the cord was severed. There was a bit of blood and Athrun felt a bit woozy from the sight. Kira’s hands clamping down on his shoulders steadied him, but one look at his best friend told him that Kira wasn’t fairing much better.
“Uh, Doc?” Shinn asked, having not shifted his eyes from Cagalli’s birth canal for a second. There was a nagging feeling in the back of his mind but he couldn’t place what it was.
“You two are such babies,” Cagalli chuckled, looking between her husband and her brother. The pain had ebbed for the moment and she sighed in relief. “Speaking of, one down, one to go. That was easy peasy. I can handle this. Piece of cake.”
“Ah you say that now,” Elias said, a warning in his voice. “Let’s hope Baby B read the same instruction manual as his brother.”
“Doctor,” Shinn insisted again.
“Arthur,” Athrun said with a proud smile.
“Arthur like The Minerva’s XO, Arthur Trine?” Kira asked, cocking his head in confusion.
“I admired him,” Athrun admitted with a small smile. “And we were originally going to name him Andrew after Andy Waltfeld but. . .”
Athrun trailed off, unwilling to finish the sentence. The betrayal they’d felt when it had been uncovered that Andy was involved in Lacus’ schemes since the first war had cut deep.
“Elias!” Shinn finally shouted, getting everyone’s attention. “I think Baby B is breech!”
The temperature in the room dropped a few degrees as Elias rushed back to Shinn’s side. His face blanched, sending a bolt of fear down Cagalli’s spine.
“What’s breech? What’s happening?” Cagalli asked frantically.
Elias ignored her. “Julie, take the baby. George, page Karev in the NICU. Adam, get an OR prepped for a section, stat. I don’t care which one, we just have to get into theater now. Let’s move people!”
“No, wait!” Cagalli’s protest went unheard as a nurse pulled little Alex from Cagalli’s grip.
“Section like a c-section?” Athrun asked, but he too was ignored as the nurse rushed around the room.
People were scrambling too fast for Cagalli to track. The noises all blurred together until everything felt like it was underwater. No one was speaking to her, no one was looking at her, and she felt like she couldn’t get a single word out. Things were just happening around her and she couldn’t do anything. Then Athrun, her rock who hadn’t left her side from the second they got into the hospital, was shoved away by a nurse. Cagalli tried to reach out for him, but her arm was shoved roughly back into the confines of the bed. A railing was brought up as nurses started shoving Athrun and Kira out of the room and Cagalli saw red.
“STOP!” she shrieked, making everyone freeze for a moment. “Stop! Stop running, stop shoving! Athrun, Kira, get back in here! Stop–touch me again and I will break every finger in your hand–stop freaking out and someone tell me what’s happening!”
Sighing, Elias paused his rushing. “Your baby is in the breech position. It means he’s coming bottom first instead of head first.”
“Well we know who the troublemaker will be,” Cagalli groaned. She cringed again, hand shooting out to grab Athrun as another contraction came. He made it back to her side just in time and she clung to him, clearly not about to be separated from him again. “Oh fucking shit damn it. Okay. Breech means a c-section? No ifs, ands, or buts?”
“No ifs, ands, or buts,” Elias confirmed with a grave nod. “Remember we made a deal. I’d let you do a vaginal birth only so long as nothing went wrong. If they did, we do a section.”
“I remember. That’s why I’m not protesting. I just want to know what’s happeni–FUCK!” Cagalli screamed, her fingers digging into Athrun’s arm as a wave of pain more intense than any other yet came over her. “Fuck! Shit! This is horrible! Arthur’s getting your father’s name, the pain in the ass little shit! Okay. Okay. I would prefer Athrun or Kira to hold onto Alex, please.”
“Not me, I’m going to be staying right next to you,” Athrun insisted.
“We really don’t have time to be discussing this,” Elias huffed.
“Then give me my nephew and you can cart her off to surgery,” Kira huffed right back, crossing his arms defiantly.
“There’s not going to be surgery!” Shinn cried, once again having been ignored when he was trying to shout a warning. “There is a foot. ”
“What do you mean there’s a foot? ” Kira asked, not about to make the mistake of looking again. He was infinitely curious, though, but his curiosity was spared when the nurse handed little Alex to him and directed him to sit down in a nearby chair.
Elias returned to his post, looked, and then sighed a very tired, very amused sigh. “It looks like Arthur is highly impatient just like his mother and isn’t going to wait for us to get into an OR.”
“That. . . that tracks,” Athrun said with a small chuckle even as worry overtook him. “So what does this mean?”
“It means that if Cagalli hadn’t started bitching, your baby probably would have been born in the elevator,” Shinn said with a chuckle when he saw Cagalli’s panicked expression. He gave her a reassuring smile and a wink to try and tell her she’d done the right thing but he wasn’t sure it landed.
“Alright, Cagalli, listen closely because your life is going to suck for a bit,” Elias stated evenly. “This isn’t the time to try and act the hero, okay? This is going to hurt like a son of a fucking bitch. So you hold onto your husband, the bars, a nurse, you squeeze, you scream, do whatever you have to to make this bearable but do not hold back. Understand?”
All Cagalli could manage was a weak nod. She took Athrun’s hand, who gave her a reassuring squeeze. They didn’t have to say a word. Everything was pouring out of his eyes. He told her how strong she was, that everything was going to be okay, that she and their children were in the safest of hands. The knot around her heart eased the longer she stared into those eyes that had hypnotized her from the first moment she saw them. It would be fine. At Elias’ instruction, Cagalli braced herself and pushed as hard as she could.
Hurting like a son of a bitch didn’t even begin to cover it. Cagalli felt like she was being slowly torn in half. Only for a moment did she attempt to hold in her screaming, but her will power quickly left her. She tossed her head back and let out a shriek so unholy that she would later be told it made everyone’s blood run cold. People were shouting, but she could barely hear them over the sound of her own blood rushing in her ears.
Another wave of pain, another scream, and Cagalli felt her strength beginning to fail her. Her chest heaved with the force of her efforts. Her vision blurred. The shouting was getting frantic. She could feel Athrun shaking her shoulder. His voice sounded encouraging but she still couldn’t hear the words he spoke. The whole world spun as one final bolt of pain ripped through her body.
People were scrambling around the room now. She reached out a hand, trying to ask for her baby but she couldn’t force any words past her lips. Then they were moving. She felt the bed rocking. She thought she heard Athrun talking to her. And then he was gone. His hand was gone, his presence was gone, and she tried to sit up to see where he had gone. Bright lights flashed overhead and she didn’t remember anything else.
~*~
“My blood pressure can’t take much more of this, ya know. First Kira, then Shinn, now you and Arthur? Please, I’m fragile.”
Of course the first thing she could hear when coming to was her husband’s snark. She forced her eyes open to see Athrun perched on the edge of her bed with a warm smile on his face. He was gently bouncing one of the boys in his arms. Cagalli closed her eyes, took a breath, and reopened them, this time actually focusing on the room.
It was definitely dark out, there was no sunlight coming in the window and the lights in the room were turned down low. Athrun was on one side of her and Kira was curled up in a nearby armchair. She had to very carefully move him so she could try to sit up, but felt a sharp pain through her middle.
“Don’t try to move too fast,” Athrun scolded gently. She was sure if he had a free hand, he wouldn’t have let her try to get up at all.
Cagalli flopped back down onto the pillows and blew out an annoyed huff. “Who do you have? Let me hold him.”
“This is Alex. He woke up a bit fussy so I was trying to get him back to sleep,” Athrun explained as he passed Alex to her. “Nothing I’ve been doing is working.”
Cagalli cradled her baby to her chest, her heart soaring when she felt his little body on top of hers once again. He was being rather fussy, wriggling in his swaddling and scrunching his face in displeasure. Instinct kicked in then, and Cagalli carefully maneuvered the baby and her hospital gown around to pull out one of her breasts. He immediately latched on and contented himself with a meal. Athrun watched the whole process and Cagalli could see the hearts in his eyes.
“Where’s Arthur?” she asked, and watched the hearts fade. “What happened to me?”
Athrun fumbled for a moment. He opened and closed his mouth uselessly a couple times. “Well, the easier answer first. You hemorrhaged and needed to be rushed to the OR. Your labor was the perfect storm of problems for it and Elias was prepared. Thankfully you didn’t need to be opened up but you did lose enough blood to scare the hell out of us and require a transfusion.”
Cagalli nodded thoughtfully at the information and adjusted Alex’s position on her chest. “And Athur?”
“Arthur is a bit more complicated,” Athrun admitted slowly. He cast his eyes to the ceiling, wondering where to start. After a minute of thinking, he began, but his voice was cracking. “A hip and a shoulder got dislocated in birth and. . . The umbilical cord got wrapped around his neck.”
Cagalli’s heart stopped when she heard that. Unconsciously, she held Alex a bit closer, as if trying to keep him safe from the horrors that already happened. Especially since Athrun’s expression didn’t give her much hope.
He continued softly, “Elias had to cut it when he wasn’t even out fully to try to prevent it strangling him but he. . . He wasn’t entirely successful. Arthur wasn’t breathing when they got him out.”
“No,” was all Cagalli managed to whisper as her heart shattered.”
Athrun gently cupped her cheek and brushed away a few tears that had escaped. “They managed to get him back, but it’s touch and go. He’s up in the NICU and they said if he survives the night then he’ll be okay. I went up to see him a couple hours ago and the nurse told me he’s a fighter. Just like us.”
“So what does that–”
“It can all wait until the morning,” Athrun reassured her, squeezing her hand again.
“No. It can’t. I want to see my son.”
~*~
Even the overnight nurse tried to talk Cagalli out of getting out of bed, but she wasn’t hearing it. It took both him and Athrun to lift her out of bed when her legs failed her and set her in a wheelchair. Kira was down for the count, not budging an inch during any of the arguing or shuffling. Before they left the room, Cagalli insisted on bringing Alex with her. Another argument with the nurse ended with them securing the baby Cagalli’s chest with a makeshift baboos and they were off.
The walk was relatively silent as Athrun wheeled her up to the NICU. Cagalli was just trying to mentally prepare herself for what she might see when they got up there. But no amount of imagination felt adequate. She could have asked Athrun, but he seemed ready to drop at any second himself. He hadn’t said, but she suspected that he had yet to go to sleep.
They couldn’t immediately find someone to let them into the NICU proper, so Athrun parked Cagalli by a large window and pointed at one of the incubators. But he didn’t need to point, her heart told her which baby was theirs. Even with the mass of bandages around him and the tubes and wires all over, she knew which one was Arthur. Her heart ached to hold him and save him from the horror he was no doubt going through. By the look on Athrun’s face, he wanted much the same.
“Oh! Lady Cagalli!”
The sudden voice made both of them jolt. They both turned to see a nurse (or a doctor, it was hard to tell, Cagalli assumed nurse) in pink scrubs standing by the door, shocked to see them. But then she smiled knowingly and looked at her chart.
“Do you want to see your son?” the nurse asked warmly.
“Yes, please!” Cagalli cried, bouncing happily in her seat.
The nurse nodded, grabbing a couple sterile gowns from a nearby cabinet. She helped both of them put them on, even going so far as to get a sterile pad to wrap around Alex before handing him to Athrun. She explained that they don’t usually allow other newborns in, but seeing as they were twins, she could make an exception. She took Cagalli’s chair and carefully directed her over the incubator.
“He’s been doing really well so far,” the nurse explained as she opened one of the plexi glass sides. “All of his stats are up which is a very good sign. Do you want to hold him?”
“Can I?” Cagalli asked even as tears sprung to her eyes.
The nurse’s answer was to gently scoop Arthur out. Handing her off to Cagalli was a complicated affair as they had to settle everything attached to him and mind his injuries. But once he was securely in his mother’s arms, the nurse took a step back.
The first thing Cagalli noticed was that he was smaller than Alex. Smaller and thinner with twig like little limbs and a gaunt face. Though it was hard to see his features with the intubation tube in his mouth. It was difficult to look at, but Cagalli couldn’t bear to look away. Carefully, she slipped her finger into Arthur’s tiny little hand just like she had with Alex. That little hand latched onto her finger and refused to let go. Cagalli felt her heart skip a beat when she felt the strong pressure around her finger.
“Hi, Arttie,” Cagalli cooed, finally relaxing back into her wheelchair with her baby. “My little warrior. It’s so nice to meet you, sweetheart.” Voice cracking, she managed to look up at the nurse and ask, “Is he in pain?”
“Probably, but we’re managing it,” she answered solemnly.
Cagalli turned her attention back to her son, her heart constricting. “Now, Arthur, you come from a long line of fighters. We’re all leaders and soldiers and rebels. So that means you can’t stop fighting. You live, you hear me?”
Quietly, Athrun came up beside her and offered her Alex. It meant letting go of Arttie’s finger, but she took Alex in her other arm. Getting to hold both her children made Cagalli feel complete. Even more so when she felt Athrun wrap his arms around the three of them.
“Alex, Arthur. Arthur, Alex.” She felt a little silly introducing them to each other like that but at the same time it felt like the thing to do. “My boys. I think they’re going to be as handsome as their father, don’t you, Athrun?”
“Or as beautiful as their mom,” he offered with a chuckle. “Either way. They are going to be heartbreakers.”
“How long can I stay?” Cagalli asked the nurse.
“As long as you like,” the nurse confirmed. “Parental contact is so important for NICU babies. I actually saw Arthur’s stats rise after we got him settled in your arms so your presence can only help.”
“Can you tell me. . . what will his future look like?” Cagalli asked softly.
The nurse tapped on her pad, humming and making thinking faces while she looked over it. “Well, he might have some early mobility issues, but it doesn’t look like anything that can’t be solved in therapy. The notes here say he has grade two hypoxic ischemic due to a nuchal cord. Basically he was deprived of oxygen at birth because the umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck.”
Cagalli had to swallow past the lump in her throat. “Is grade two good or bad? Where’s the scale?”
“None of it is good, but grade two is moderate. It’ll be difficult for us to tell the extent of his brain damage. We acted quickly enough; it’s very possible he’ll make a full recovery.”
“But it’s possible he won’t,” Athrun interjected.
“Like I said, we won’t know for a bit,” she said with a sympathetic smile. “But we’re going to monitor him and do everything we can for him, I can promise you that.”
Cagalli couldn’t get any more words out, so she refocused on her boys. She didn’t care how bad things may or may not be. Nothing was going to make her love her children any less than she did at that moment. Yes, Arthur was going to need to fight for himself and she was going to fight for him. For both of them. She and Athrun would move heaven and earth to keep them safe and happy for the rest of their lives.