darker_london | So...nothing yet! (Joe, Jordan, Julian)

The baby hadn't been born yet even though it had been well over 12 hours now. It was nearly time for Julian to show up as he'd made plans to stop by after school. And they were certainly nowhere near baby time yet. Jordan kept saying that the baby wanted to take her time and that they should be patient. But Joe could see that his wife's energy was fraying around the edges already. The contractions were painful and she'd been up since midnight and there didn't seem to be an end in sight anywhere on the horizon at all.

Joe had ahold of Jordan's hand, and he was talking to her as calmly as possible to keep her grounded. But he was starting to get frantic despite that. Was this all because she was older? Were there going to be complications? If she was tired now, how was she going to deal with the last stage of labor being completely exhausted?

After four, Julian burst into the room and he grinned at them both before realising that neither of them were grinning back. "Hey...is something wrong?" Julian asked, raising his eyebrows before dropping his bookbag on the floor just inside the door.

"No!" Joe answered quickly, and Jordan gave him a look that was half amusement, half pain.

"Your sister is taking her time is all." Jordan soothed her son. "Come kiss me!" She reached her arms out and Julian trotted over to her, planting a kiss on her cheek.

"Are you okay, Mum?" Julian asked, looking quite concerned.

"I'll be fine, Sweetheart. Joe, why don't you take Julian to get something to eat? He's probably hungry and I know you have to be too."

"But..." Joe looked distressed at the idea of leaving her alone, but he figured Jordan didn't want Julian seeing her in pain. She didn't need more people around her panicking. Joe did that plenty well himself. "Will you be alright?"

"There's doctors everywhere. Go, Boys, go!" Jordan shooed them out of the room quite efficiently with the flapping of her hands.

Julian turned to his father once they were in the hallway. "Are you wigging?" He asked, his head cocked to one side. "You look like you're wigging."

"At least I'm doing it quietly!" Joe hissed. "I feel horrible for your mother. With you, it was about fourteen hours and you were here making us smile. They told her with her second child it should be less...maybe seven or so. Well it's been a hell of a lot more than seven."

"She looked tired." Julian commented, not exactly adding to Joe's calm, but Julian wasn't necessarily calm either. That was his mother, dammit!

"Well, when your sister arrives, we'll let her have a big long sleep. And you should probably have one of those too, Zombie. You have bags under your eyes. And I am not buying you face cream, you'll have to do that yourself." Joe wrapped his arm around his son's shoulders as Julian chuckled. "Are you hungry, Kiddo?"

"Yeah!" Julian exclaimed, and even though he was exhausted, he still had more energy than normal people did at their most exuberant. That was Julian for you. "School lunch was disgusting. Can I have an ecclair?! Oh! And a piece of pie? Dad! I think I see muffins!" Julian bounced a little, as they rounded the corner into the cafeteria.

Joe chuckled to himself and he gave his son a little one-armed squeeze. "You can have anything you want, you great weed. I think I just might have an ecclair, some pie and a muffin myself." He wasn't calm. Not in the least. But at least Julian was the most pleasant distraction the world could offer him. "And coffee. Lots of coffee."

"Oh god me too." Julian nodded. "Me very too."