– Harley –
“Why don’t we play a game while we wait for them to get back,” Shelby says as she skims through the board games that Jax had brought to keep me entertained, “Monopoly?” She asks turning around holding the box, “Be prepared for your ass to be handed to you” I say as I walk over to the kitchen island. We sit down on the stools opposite each other and set up the game.
Betty and Poppy are upstairs with the doc and his assistants set up a makeshift infirmary in one of the spare rooms, 2 prospects are outside doing the rounds of the compound and the others are stationed around the outside of the house.
“Wait we need snacks,” I say standing up and making my way towards the cupboard, I dig through and find some chips and chocolate to eat, “Do you want a drink?” I ask placing everything on the island next to us, “Just water” She replies looking up at me smiling, I nod my head and get her a glass of water and a coffee for me.
“You’re not supposed to drink coffee” Shelby says in a sing-song voice, I roll my eyes and pour the coffee into my cup, “And you’re not supposed to piss off a pregnant woman, besides the doctor told me a littles okay” I say shrugging my shoulders as I take a sip from my mug. We begin the game and as I said I’m kicking ass.
“Give me the $400” I say giving her a stern look she squints her eyes at me and puts on what I can only assume is her angry face, “No I can’t afford it” She says still staring at me. “Well give me a property that equals it” I reply folding my hands over my chest with a smirk on my face, “No, I’m not letting you win!” She yells at me standing up and throwing her hands in the air, “Shelby it’s one property you still have like 6”.
“You two really fighting over who wins?” Bettys’ voice comes from the doorway into the kitchen startling both of us, “Jesus Betty don’t sneak up on me like that, I’ll have a heart attack” Shelby says holding her hand over her heart. “I need to buy you a fucking bell so I can hear you sneak up,” I say sitting back down on the chair, “Float like a feather, sting like a bee,” She says as she walks over to us.
Shelby groans and holds onto the side of her stomach, “You good Little Red?” I ask watching her face twist in pain. “I’ve had Braxton hicks for the past 3 weeks, this one’s just a little stronger than what im used too,” She says softly. “Well you better fold your legs over one another and squeeze, you cant drop your cubs here,” I say jokingly, “That’s not how it works Harley” Betty replies.
“That’s how it’s working tonight” I take the last mouthful of my drink and rinse the cup out in the sink, I hear a loud trickle of water hitting the floor I look around to see if I have spilt anything to be making the noise but nothing, “Where the fuck is that noise coming from?” I yell.
I turn around to see that both Betty and Shelby’s faces have dropped and both of their eyes and looking at the ground underneath Shelby, “Don’t” I say taking one step closes to them. Shelby’s eyes meet mine and they’re full of tears. “Don’t say it” I say holding my hands up infront of me, this is not good, this is not fucking good at all.
“We need to get her to the hospital,” Betty says flustered, “We can’t” I say looking back to Shleby who is now shaking like a leaf. “I need to go Harley” she cries out, I walk over to her and slowly move her away from the puddle underneath her, “Betty go get the doc, we will see how far along you are and how fast you’re progressing and make our decision then,” I say stilling looking into Shelby’s eyes.
Shelby hesitantly nods and Betty scurries up the stairs, “We need to get you somewhere comfortable” I mumble as I walk her towards the couch, I sit her down and lay her on her back. “Do you need anything?” I ask standing up to walk away, her hand’s grips onto my wrist and stops me.
“Please don’t leave” She says softly as tears fall down her cheeks, I nod my head and sit down on the couch next to her again. Another contraction makes her scream out in pain, I hold onto her hand and attempt to soothe her but I don’t think it’s doing anything “Harley stop patting my head I’m not a fucking cat” She yells gripping onto her stomach.
“I don’t know what to fucking do so accept my love you whore, I like it when Jax does it to me” I yell back, Betty, Poppy and the doc come rushing down the stairs, “Did you just call her a whore?!” Betty roars, “It’s just what we do Betty, now someone fucking help me” She screams as another contraction hits her, why are they so close together? The birth books didn’t say anything about this.
The doctor begins to examine her, his face twists up in confusion. “How long between contractions?” He asks looking up to me, “How the fuck am I supposed to know?” I ask frantically. The contraction eases off, the doc looks down to his watch and waits for the next one, 2 minutes later the next one hits. “How long have you been having these pains?” He asks rolling his sleeves up, “Aye what the fuck are you doing?” Shelby asks perching herself up on her elbows.
“How long?” He asks again more sternly, “A few weeks but they have only been slightly painful for the past 2 days,” She says breathlessly. “You’re 8 centimetres dilated, I’m guessing this was a slow starting labour. Most women are sent to hospital at 5 centimetres dilated, you need to make a decision now, are you going to the hospital or having these babies here?” He asks.
“I’m supposed to have a c section, the last ultrasound they were both breached,” She says looking to the doc before looking up at me, “I’ll call Jax” I stand up and pull out my phone. I walk into the hallway and wait as his phone rings, “Come on, come, on come on, pick up” I mumble as I listen to the phone continue to call out, “Fuck fuck fuck” I swear under my breath.
Finally, on the last ring he answers out of breath. “What’s going on kitten” He rushes out, “Shelby’s in labour, we need to get her to the hospital” I quickly spit out, the screams of Shelby in the background speed up my heart rate. He calls over Gunner but I can’t hear what they’re saying it’s muffled by the sounds of bike engines in the background.
“Alright listen, I need you to stay there until I call you back, I can’t risk you’s going out yet” He pauses for a second, ” Please don’t go, make sure you have doc with you and if it gets too bad get an ambulance, but don’t you fucking drive or leave unless its on the back of my bike or in the back of the fucking ambulance Harley I mean it” He yells over the sound of his engine, the tone of his voice leaving no room for arguments.
“Fuck fine! Be safe, I love you and fucking hurry up and tell Gunner to get his shit together” I growl into the speaker, “I love you too, see you soon” He hangs up the phone and I want to throw up this is too much, Shelby screams continue to fill the house bouncing off the walls and down the hallway. I walk back into the room and take a deep breath, “Poppy call an ambulance, doc prepair for delivery in case it doesn’t arrive in time” Poppy runs into the kitchen to call them and doc runs upstairs to get his equipment and nurses.
“Can we go?” She asks weakly, I nod my head and smile sitting back down next to her. “Just need to wait for the ambulance Little Red” I say trying to remain calm when in fact I am freaking the fuck out. “What if it doesn’t come in time, I cant do this Harley, I can’t” She cries, “It’s going to be fine, I promise. It will come in time, I won’t let anything happen to you or those babies okay? But you need to trust everyone here” She nods her head, her teary eyes still looking into mine.
“Ambulance is on their way,” Poppy says from the doorway, “Can you keep an eye on her I need to tell the prospects to open the gate when they arrive” She nods and walks over to Shelby, Shelby grips onto my arm tighter and shakes her head. “You said you wouldn’t leave” I smile and kiss her forehead, “I’ll be right back, no longer than 1 minute” I stand up straight and walk out to the front door, I open the door and spot Blade and another prospect named Shiv “I need you two to go to the front gate and let them ambulance in when it arrives” They both nod, “Shleby doing okay?” Shiv asks as her screams echo through the woods behind the house, “Yeah she’s great” I say sarcastically and walk back inside.
I find Shelby on the floor laying down with a pillow under her head, I sit down next to her again, Poppy on her left, Betty behind her and I’m on her right. Doc comes back downstairs with 1 nurse, “The others are still setting up but if we need them we can bring them down here” Doc says as he pushes and pokes Shelby’s stomach, “They’re both flipped down, so if you need to push you can” She nods her head again, I hold her hand and squeeze it tightly.
“Seem’s like you’re 10 centimetres now, they will be coming any minute, Betty can you lay down some towels and grab a few for when they’re born and a face washer or two. Poppy can you please get me a bowl of warm water and a bowl of cold water” They both run off before returning quickly, Betty places the towels under Shelby’s legs and leaves a few spare. Poppy comes in with the bowls and places them down on the table next to the doctor.
Doc dips one of the face washers in the cold water and hands it to me, “On her forehead, neck and under her armpits, bring the temperature down” I nod my head and do as I’m told. Another 15 minutes pass and she’s ready to push, with no sign of the ambulance or the boys. “You need to start pushing,” One of the nurses says trying to calm her down, “You need to go fuck yourself!” Shelby screams as another contraction hits hard.
“I’m not doing this without Gunner” She sobs, I lean down to her ear and speak just loud enough for her to hear “Baby girl, those babies are coming out whether he is here or not” I pull back and give her the best smile I can muster up, “I can’t” She croaks out. “You can and you will, you’re a bad bitch, remember that”.
She nods her head furiously, “I’m a bad bitch” She replies while crying, “Yeah you are” I say with a laugh, I look over to doc who has blood on his gloves he looks up to me and looks over to Shelby before looking at me, nods his head once. “You need to push Shelby okay?” I say turning my attention back to her.
We wait for the next contraction, “You’re a bad bitch Shelby!” I say as she makes her first push. “Oh god it’s hurts so bad!” She screams as she pushes again, “Perfect Shelby keep doing what you’re doing” The doc says with confidence laced in his voice.
“Fucking Gunner, stupid fucking asshole, stupid fucking dick, stupid fucking sex” She mumbles breathlessly, 30 minutes of pushing later and she looks like a fucking trainwreck, but a beautiful one at that. “Can see the first one’s head” Doc says looking over to us. He sent his assistant back upstares and Poppy went to help them, the sounds of Shelby screaming are freaking her out too much, “You ready mama?” I ask and she nods her head.
Her face is bright red, she’s covered in sweat and tears, her hair is like a birds nest and she’s butt fucking naked, Betty pulls out her camera and starts taking pictures. “No betty, I look awful,” She says exhausted, “Shelby you look like a fucking goddess and you will hate yourself if you don’t get photos of these moments,” Betty says sternly.
“Big push Shelby” she tries too but collapses back on her back, “I can’t, I can’t do it” She tries to move but is unable too, “How about we switch positions?” I ask and she nods her head, we carefully move her so shes on all fours and the weight is taken off of her back. “YOU’RE A BAD BITCH SHELBY, A BAD BITCH, THE BADDEST BITCH THAT EVER LIVED” I yell while she crushes one of my hands, I use my other hand to massage her lower back. “I’M A BAD BITCH” she screams as she pushes hard, the loud sound of a baby crying stop all of us in our tracks.
“It’s a girl” The doctor calls out wrapping the small baby in the towel, he hands the baby to Betty who walks over to us and sits infront of Shelby so she can see her. “Oh my god, Shelby she’s perfect” Tears form in my eyes when I look down at the little angel in Betty’s arms. The sounds of Harley’s ring out around the house and I sigh in relief, “Gunners here, it’s okay” I say to Shelby but I don’t think she heard me, she’s still looking down in disbelief at the baby infront of her.
The front doors burst open with Juice and Wood holding Gunner up, but as soon as he sees us he faints, yep that’s right the prick faints “Are you fucking kidding me? Get him out of here now!” I roar, they quickly drag him up the stairs towards the infirmary. “No! Where is he going?” She asks looking around frantically at Betty and I, “He’s just getting cleaned up” I say trying to brush it off.
She holds down on my hand again and tries to hold in a scream as the urge to push hits her again, “Keep going Shelby youre doing great” I coo to her, next through the door is Jax and my heart drops, he’s holding his back and arm, soaked in blood and limping. He looks over to us and smiles as he leans himself against the door breathlessly, “Doc go help them” My voice comes out cold unintentionally.
“I can’t-” He begins but I take my eyes off of Jax and turn to him, “You can and you will, if either of us loses our old men or any of our men. I’ll personally burn everything you have to fucking ashes. I’ve watched you for the past 2 hours, send one of your nurses down here if you have too” He nods and stands up walking over to Jax, “NOW” I yell again.
They both go upstairs, I close the door to the room so no one else can see in and go back to Shelby and Betty, “Betty keep the cold compressions on her” Betty looks at me and says and does nothing. “Not the time Betty come on” She uses her free hand to place the cold washcloth on Shelby’s head and neck and I move to behind Shelby.
“We really sisters now” I say looking over the wreckage that was once her baby maker, “Let me know when you need to push, don’t do it without telling me” Shelby groans before replying to me “You don’t even know what you’re doing” She grits through her teeth, “I’ve helped birth a horse this has gotta be the same” I reply quickly.
“Fucking hell now!” She screams, Betty talks her through the pushing and I grab the spare towel ready to catch the second baby, “Heads out, one more push Shelbs” I call out to her, she hangs her head down and waits for the next contraction, she screams one more time and the second baby is officially born.
Panic sets in when it doesn’t cry, Shelby sighs in relief and rolls onto her back before looking over to me. I wrap the infant in the towel and rub its body and back to try and dislodge any mucus or liquid in its lungs. “Why isn’t it crying?” She asks looking around to Betty and I, “It’s okay Shelbs, just a little quiet this one” I reply trying to not let the panic set in my voice.
Betty moves the girl into Shelby’s arms in an attempt to distracter her which works thankfully, “Message Poppy to get a nurse in here” I order Betty, she nods and pulls out her phone. I dig around the doctor’s bag and find the thing he used for the first baby, kinda looks like a turkey baster. I stick up up the nostrils and in the mouth cleaning out whatever muck I can, the baby still doesn’t cry or make a noise.
I can feel the bile rising in my throat, not again, not another baby I think to myself. “Come on bubba” I whisper softly as I pat and rub it’s back again, the silence fills the air like thick smoke, it hurts to breath “Come on little one” I whisper once more. And then the sound we were all waiting for, a soft cry from the infant in my arms sends relief all over me, I keep rubbing the baby as the cries become louder.
I wrap the towel around it again and check the gender before walking over to Shelby, hot tears pour from all of our eyes as I kneel infront of her, “It’s a boy”.