Chapter Text
D-day (40 weeks, 6 days pregnant)
10:47 PM
“Should I fetch a wheelchair, sir?” Cyril, Armand’s chauffeur, asked after he opened the car door in the hospital’s kiss and ride area.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Armand told him. He climbed out of the car, impatiently waving away Cyril’s proffered hand.
Daniel scrambled to climb out after him. “Babe, you are literally in labor. Your contractions are less than four minutes apart.”
“I’m not in active labor yet, Daniel. And I can walk just fine.”
Armand marched straight for the main entrance like he was going into a hostile takeover and not, you know, into labor & delivery because he was 41 fucking weeks pregnant. He was carrying a literal briefcase containing his birthing plan, iPad, a book on obstetrics and God knew what else.
“Babe!” Daniel called while Cyril hurriedly handed him their enormous overnight bags from the car boot. “Babe, fucking – wait!”
***
11:39 PM
Armand said his contractions didn’t actually hurt. It was more like a ‘very persistent pressure’. Daniel didn’t really know what to make of that, but apparently they weren’t bothering Armand. Yet.
But the WiFi in their room was terrible and that made Armand antsy as fuck, so it fell on Daniel to keep him distracted.
“It’s your turn,” Armand said from the bed.
“Oh, right. Uhh…” Daniel looked around the room from the chair in the corner. “I spy with my little eye, something beginning wi – ”
“IV stand.”
“How do you do that?!”
Armand shrugged. “You’re very easy to read.”
“You’re just following where I’m looking. You can’t do that. It’s cheating.”
“Since when is that a rule? That’s not a rule.”
“You have to let me go again. Close your eyes.”
“Daniel, if you can’t win based on skill, you – oh.” Armand put his hand to his baby bump and closed his eyes.
“Are you okay?” Daniel was struggling not to jump out of his chair and run for a nurse any time Armand made a noise.
“I’m fine,” Armand replied, his eyes still closed. “You can go one more time.”
“You sure?”
“Yes. Now go take your turn before I change my mind.”
“Okay. I spy – ”
“Curtain rod.”
“Babe.”
Armand opened his eyes and shrugged again.
“D’you know my next one, too?”
“I do.”
Daniel raised his eyebrows. “Yeah?”
“Doorstopper.”
Daniel sighed.
“And then the curtain rod again because you think I won’t expect that.”
“Okay, I give up.”
“Does that – ?”
“Yes, that means you’ve won.”
Armand looked smug about that for a while, but it didn’t take long for him to start fidgeting again. He rubbed his forefingers with his thumbs and wriggled his toes. They’d already made him change onto a hospital gown and he’d taken off his socks as well.
Daniel picked up a leaflet on breastfeeding, but he couldn’t really focus on actually reading it. He supposed he was pretty antsy, too.
“Did you know that the platypus isn’t the only mammal that lays eggs?” Armand asked after a minute or so of silence.
“I did not.”
Armand hummed. “Echidnas are also monotremes.” He wriggled his toes again.
Daniel put down the leaflet. “Okay, so tell me about echidnas.”
***
12:56 AM
Armand’s water wasn’t breaking so the OB-GYN was going to break it for him with a tool that looked suspiciously like a bright yellow crochet hook. Daniel eyed the thing warily as the doctor removed it from its sterile wrapper. He understood the necessity of Armand’s water breaking – things weren’t progressing the way they’d all hoped – but he didn’t exactly love the thought of someone sticking a huge fucking needle up his husband, right near the top of their kid’s head. Actually, it made him feel slightly queasy.
“Daniel, my love,” Armand said calmly. His voice sounded strangely far away. “Come stand at the head of the bed for me.” Armand reached out towards him. “I need you to hold my hand.”
Daniel’s legs were already carrying him towards Armand, his hand reaching for Armand’s on autopilot. “Wait. You do?”
That didn’t sound like Armand at all. He was very tactile when it came to Daniel, but no medical procedure had ever phased him. He was the type to ask to watch himself being sewn up or to Google how to do his own Goddamn c-section. Why would he need Daniel to hold his hand for this?
“Yes.” Armand linked his fingers with Daniel’s and brought both their hands to his own chest. “So I can make sure you don’t bump your head when you faint.”
That snapped Daniel out of it a little. “Ha ha. Very funny.”
“Yet not entirely said in jest.”
***
2:23 AM
Armand was going full Momzilla on everyone in the room. And Daniel understood, because holy shit, this giving birth stuff was intense, but nothing was as intense as Armand was right now. It was the quiet kind of intense where his words sounded overly curated and he looked like he might start shooting fire out of every hole in his face.
And it was kinda, partly, sort of completely Daniel’s fault.
Daniel had made a grave, grave error in suggesting to Armand that maybe he should let the doctors and nurses do their job.
He was probably going to regret it for the rest of his life.
He was certainly regretting it now. He regretted it the moment it came out of his big fat mouth.
He was a fucking idiot and he deserved every last bit of Armand’s ire.
“I am the birthing parent,” Armand ground out. “I get to have a say.”
“Of course, baby, of course. You’re right. I’m sorry. I just meant – ”
“You’re my husband. You’re supposed to advocate for me.”
“And I will. I will. Or I’ll shut up. Whatever you need.”
Armand just sort of grunted, his nostrils flaring, and he squeezed Daniel’s hand very hard, so Daniel opted for shutting the Hell up.
“It’s not like I don’t know how these things work,” Armand told the room at large. “I’m at seven centimeters now. We could’ve started patient-controlled analgesia with remifentanil a centimeter ago.”
“Are you also a medical professional, Mr. Molloy?” the anesthesiologist asked Armand, her tone light and free of judgement.
“I’m not licensed in the States,” Armand replied.
Daniel caught the doctor’s eye and mouthed Don’t ask.
“I heard that.”
“I didn’t say anything!”
***
2:41AM
“Better?” Daniel asked.
Armand had been given a drip of anesthetics that he could control with a little button. “Much,” he replied. Daniel could tell by Armand’s tone that Armand was still pissed off with him, but he appeared to be a lot more Zen overall.
Armand let out a deep sigh. “I love you."
“I know, baby. I love you, too.”
“Can I have some juice?”
“Can he?” Daniel asked the nearest nurse, who nodded.
“Just nothing solid right now,” she added.
Daniel brought the juice box to Armand’s mouth and Armand took a big, rather undignified slurp through the paper straw.
***
4:11AM
“I’m going to divorce you,” Armand groaned. “I am going to divorce you.”
Daniel was sitting behind Armand, who was more or less crushing his hands again. Armand was definitely in active labor now. His contractions were so close together there were only a few seconds of respite between each one. Daniel wished there was more he could do, but there wasn’t, so he just sat there and let Armand squeeze his hands and agreed with everything Armand said.
“That’s alright, baby. Whatever you need.”
“Don’t condescend to me, Daniel Molloy! I’ll do it. I’ll fucking divorce you. How dare you do this to me? How dare you?! I’m going to divorce you and take you for everything you’ve got!”
“I don’t really have all that much,” Daniel argued, stupidly.
“Maybe not compared to me you don’t, but you have money. And I’m taking it all. You’ll be so fucking destitute you’ll end up sleeping on your ex’s couch. And then I’ll take her couch! Oh, shit.”
“That’s it,” the OB-GYN coaxed. “Nice big push. Baby’s head is almost out.”
“Don’t you tell me what to do!” Armand grunted at her while he pushed. “Because when I’m – done with him, I’m using the money I took – from him, to take down all of you. I will sue this hospital into the ground. Je te maudis ainsi que tous tes ancêtres! I’ll make Hippocrates himself rue the day he took up medicine, I’ll – oh, fuck!”
***
4:33AM
“Oh, Daniel,” Armand said on a shuddering breath. “She’s beautiful. Look at her. Daniel. Look how beautiful she is. Can you see it? Look.”
“Yeah,” Daniel breathed, “I see her, baby. I see her.”
She was here. Their baby. They had a daughter. And she was beautiful. She was covered in gunk and one of her ears looked like it had been folded in half while she was still inside the womb, but she was beautiful. The most beautiful creature Daniel had ever seen.
She looked so tiny and perfect, wrapped in a pre-heated blanket and Armand’s arms, with her miniscule, hospital-issued pink-and-blue hat.
Daniel’s own arms were around Armand and he was never, ever letting go.
“Oh,” Armand said in a high-pitched voice. “Oh.” His eyes were filled with tears and he fanned himself with his own hand as best he could without letting go of the baby. “I’m experiencing a lot of hormone-induced emotions right now.”
Daniel laughed through his own tears. “I know, baby, me too.”
“Have you decided on a name yet?” the nurse asked.
Daniel nodded. “Yeah.”
“Sybelle,” Armand announced. “Sybelle Nadira Molloy. Future empress of the universe,” he added in a whisper and both he and Daniel laughed.
“That’s a lovely name.”
Daniel scoffed. “I bet you say that to all the new parents.”
“We do, but I almost always mean it.”
“She’s perfect,” Armand whispered. “You’re perfect, Sybelle.”
The nurse typed a couple of things into the computer. “Okay, so we’ll leave Sybelle all snuggled up on your chest while we do your stitches. See if she’ll feed a little for us.”
“Stitches?!” Daniel yelped, too loudly.
Armand shushed him. “It’s alright.”
“Then we’ll get her cleaned up a bit,” the nurse went on. “Weigh and measure her, do a few last checks. And maybe then dad would like to do some skin-to-skin as well?”
“Yes!” Armand and Daniel chorused before shushing each other while holding back more delighted laughter.
***
5:01AM
“Oh!” Armand said in that same amazed voice he’d used the first time he’d laid eyes on Sybelle. “Look at them!” he told the nurse without taking his eyes off of Daniel and the baby. “Can someone take a picture?”
Daniel heard someone says ‘Of course’ and Armand directing them towards his phone. But Daniel couldn’t pay any attention to that, because he was holding his daughter. Close to his chest, both of them enveloped in another one of those pre-heated blankets.
She was so tiny, but the experience was so monumental. Because she was theirs and she was finally here.
Daniel thought he heard Armand say a prayer in Arabic and was vaguely aware of someone bringing Armand a cup of tea and something to eat.
After a while, Armand asked if they should call people. “To let them know she’s here. That’s what you do, right?”
“What time is it?” Daniel asked. Someone told him it was 5:20 in the morning. “Yeah, let’s wait a little while before we call anyone. Give them a chance to eat breakfast first. Besides,” he added, looking up at Armand who looked so, so happy but absolutely exhausted. “You need to sleep. And I kinda don’t need to associate this moment with Lestat barging in here with a ginormous teddy bear.”
Armand’s eyes widened. “Do you think he bought her a ginormous teddy bear?”
Daniel let out a non-committal grunt. “I don’t know how that man’s brain works. For all we know, he’ll bring his whole band and serenade her. Film it and insist on posting it on Instagram for his five million followers before we get the chance to tell anyone else.”
Armand made a face. “I would sue him into oblivion.”
“Like you’re doing to this place?”
“I might, uh, reconsider doing that,” Armand said sheepishly. “They did provide us with excellent care.”
Daniel looked back down at Sybelle, whose little hand was holding onto his index finger “Yeah, they did. And I won’t be sleeping on Alice’s couch?”
Armand scoffed. “As if she’d let you into her house.”
Daniel laughed. She definitely wouldn’t.
“But, yeah, let’s just sit here for a while,” Daniel said, rubbing the back of Sybelle’s hand with his thumb. “Just the three of us.” He looked up at Armand again.
“Yes.” Armand beamed and let out another sigh filled with love. “The three of us.”