darker_london | False Alarms (Flynn, Deirdre) (Reply)

Canada was cold, Flynn decided. Terribly cold. They were in Toronto, resting before their gig the next day. It was raining heavily and temperatures weren't expected to rise over 10 degrees celcius. That was too cold for touristing. Flynn had insisted on staying in the hotel and not leaving the premisis except when he had to to smoke. He was very nearly influenced to quit as he stood outside, soaking wet, with the wind freezing his skin.

Flynn darted back inside the hotel after smoking two cigarettes in quick succession. He didn't want to have to come back out again for awhile. Flynn climbed the stairs quickly, planning on changing into some dry clothes and seeking out Tristan for some movie watching. When he entered the room he shared with Deirdre, that was where he found her, sitting on the end of the bed, doubled over in pain.

"Deirdre!" Flynn forgot his discomfort and movie plans instantly and he charged across the room to his best friend. "What happened?" he asked, falling gracelessly to his knees. "What's wrong?"

"I don't know!" Deirdre breathed, panicked. "Everything hurts!" She squeezed her eyes shut as another wave of pain seemed to hit her. "Flynn! I don't know what to do!! I think...I think I'm having the babies! Oh god! It's too early! I'm in Canada. I DON'T WANT MY BABIES TO BE CANADIANS!" And then Deirdre bent backwards, her hand on her belly, in pain again.

"Okay, calm. Calm down. Come on." Flynn grabbed a blanket from the bed and he wrapped it around her. "We need to go." Inwardly, Flynn was panicking. He had had a pregnant woman die on him before. In his arms. He understood Deirdre was a demon, and therefore immortal. But he had watched as Magnus literally ripped the life out of his friend Kait, and he didn't trust immortality anymore. Deirdre was his best friend and he wasn't losing her. He wasn't losing her twins either. "Up you get. Take it easy."

"Flynn," Deirdre breathed. "I want my mother."

Flynn kissed her forehead and he wrapped his arms around her so he could help her down to the front desk. "Honey, we can call her from the hospital, okay? These things take time. We'll get her here, but you have to get to hospital first." To be honest, Flynn wanted Caitlin there too. A long time ago, when Flynn had been some wayward, street kid in London, she had helped him when he needed it, and expected nothing in return. He adored her.

Deirdre allowed Flynn to help her out to the taxi, twin clouds of breath escaping their lips as they clambered into a cab which rushed them to the nearest hospital. Flynn was glad he had their traveller's insurance information in his wallet, because he surely wouldn't have remembered to grab it on the way out the door. He was able to fill in the forms for Deirdre while she was whisked off to a room in their emergency ward. Only when the forms were completed, was Flynn allowed to join Deirdre.

He stood by the side of her bed, his hand in hers. She was crushing his bones together, and pain was shooting up his arm, but he was fairly sure it was nothing compared to what Deirdre was feeling. She stared ahead, white-faced and terrified and Flynn whispered reassuring things in her ear. She was going to be fine, he said. She was going to be just fine. He knew she was thinking about Daria's twins, and how they weren't allowed to leave the hospital, but she had been sent home. If Deirdre's twins were born now, they might have to stay here. And then what would Deirdre do?

The doctor entered, and Deirdre looked up at him with intense desparation. "Everything hurts!" she informed him before he had even said hello.

"Well, we'll just see about that, eh?" He smiled his charming smile, and Flynn decided he didn't like him with his millions of teeth and his strange proununciation of 'about'. "My name is Richard Head and yes, that does mean I'm Dr Dick Head."

Immediately Deirdre smiled, in a thin, pained way. It was still a smile. Maybe Flynn didn't hate Dick Head so much after all. "Deirdre Gallagher."

"That's what it says on your chart! Feet up, Deirdre. You want to kick this joker out of here, or do you want him present so you can blame him for your condition?"

Yeah, no, Flynn hated him. "I didn't do this!" He pointed at Deirdre's baby bulge.

"He's not the father," Deirdre breathed. "He's my friend and he's not leaving. He's seen my bits before."

At that, Flynn turned red and moved up near Deirdre's head. All of that was probably more information than Dick Head needed. "Is she having the babies?" Flynn asked, wishing to push the focus to what was happening instead of Deirdre's bits and who was responsible for impregnating them.

"That's what I'm here to find out." Dr Dick went about his business and Deirdre closed her eyes against her discomfort.

A few minutes later, Dr Dick pulled his gloves off, tossed them in the bin, and then he touched Deirdre's arm. "The babies still have a while to go yet, Deirdre. They're not coming today or even next week. I'm guessing you're at seven and a half months?" Quickly he checked all the normal things, her heart rate and blood pressure.

Deirdre nodded, pulling her feet out of the stirrups. "What's happening?! Am I bleeding?! Are they dying!? Do I need Bedrest!? DO I HAVE TO STAY IN CANADA?!"

Dr Dick looked amused at that, and he shook his head. "No, you're just fine. You're experiencing Braxton-Hicks contractions which are perfectly normal-"

"I thought they didn't hurt," Flynn asked, his brow furrowed.

"They usually don't," Dr Dick agreed. "In this case, however, they would. Have you had any garlic...onions...anything which would cause gas?"

Deirdre flushed bright red. "I...I...have gas?"

Dr Dick smiled good-naturedly. "That's right."

"Oh my god!" Deirdre looked mortified and Flynn wrapped an arm around her. "I came to the hospital because I need to far-"

"Ahem. Thank you, Doctor. We'll...take it from here. As long as she's in no danger?"

The doctor shook his head. "Maybe walk up a flight of stairs and that'll shift it. Hope I don't see either of you again!" He smiled and took his leave of them.

Deirdre turned to look at Flynn, her eyes pleading with him not to tease her about this. He reached out and ran his thumb across her cheek, hoping that would calm her. "Hey. Better safe than sorry, hmm?"

"I am so embarrassed..." Deirdre groaned and she put her hands on her belly. "I'm fat and gassy and gross. It doesn't hurt as much now I know I'm not exploding or something."

Flynn smiled and he helped her to her feet. He turned his head as she dressed herself and then they left the hospital, hand-in-hand. While they waited for a taxi, Flynn wrapped the blanket around Deirdre and he held her, hoping to shield her from the wind. By the time they finally arrived back in their hotel room, they were both frozen and soaking wet. Flynn helped Deirdre change and then he helped her into bed.

"I'm going to change before I catch the flu," Flynn said, stroking her wet hair. "And then I'll come back and pamper you. Do you want something to eat. You know...something not gassy."

Deirdre threw a pillow at him but she was grinning. "You have to sleep with me, you know! You're going to be beside me in the bed when I have a fart-baby."

"You're so delicate," Flynn informed her as he walked away to pull on some dry clothes. He had been standing around in wet ones for hours now, and it felt like bliss. As he changed, he let himself relax. Everything was okay. Everything was going to stay okay. Deirdre's fate wasn't Mary's fate. She wasn't going to die in his arms.

When Flynn stepped back into their bedroom, he winked at her. "Feeling better?"

"Yeah. I'm sorry, Flynn... I'm so sorry I made you waste your day off ferrying me around..."

"Bull." Flynn eased himself onto the mattress beside her and he kissed her forehead. "Taking care of you is not a waste of my time, Deirdre."

"But nothing was wrong!" Deirdre wailed.

"You didn't know that," was Flynn's easy reply. "I would rather spend all day in wet clothes with you squeezing the life out of my hands than find out that something terrible was going to happen because we didn't make sure everything was okay. "We know that now. If you're in pain in a few day's time and you're worried, I'd go with you again. And again and again and again. You're my Deirdre."

Deirdre pulled him closer and she laid her head in his lap. "I feel disgusting."

"I don't know what to do to help other than give you mint tea or something. Do you want mint tea?"

Deirdre nodded, but she didn't let him move right away. "I'd be lost without you," she whispered against his trousers.

"I'd be lost without you too, Deirdre." He ran his fingers through her crimson hair and he smiled down at her. "And don't you ever forget it."