darker_london | Welcome to the World (Deirdre, Peter, BABIEZ, OPEN!) (Reply)

In the end, they had let Deirdre go through her labour in Renee's room, because until she was fully dialated, all she could really do was sit there and moan and cry and she seemed to do that a lot less when she was beside Renee. There was no shortage of people around them either, which helped. Flynn had come to be with them, and he and Quinn hovered almost constantly. Giles had shown up, and he had sat with them, palefaced with anticipation. Deirdre's mother and step-father were present and Paula had stopped in. A great deal of Littletons had come to say hi. Deirdre's band mates and house mates and tenents and employees...all had come to wish her well and be with her through the part where waiting was all that could be done.

And then she was fully dialated and it was time to move her into a birthing room. When that came to pass, she was told one person could come with her, and Deirdre moaned. Kait wasn't there. Deirdre had never felt so alone, even surrounded by people she loved, because the woman she was in love with was gone. Her eyes scanned the crowd. Some of her friends were looking at her, obviously willing to go through this with her, some, including Giles... were being quite obvious in their avoiding the issue. And then Deirdre's eyes fell on the one person she would want in a situation like this. "Peter? Will you come be with me?"

Peter smiled and he stepped forward. He leaned forward and planted a gentle kiss on her head. "Of course I will, Deirdre."

They moved down the hallway together, Peter walking beside the gurney, his hand in hers. When they reached the birthing suite, Peter stood back and he let his employees set everything up. Then he stepped forward and took her hand again. "I'm right here, okay?"

Deirdre nodded as another contraction hit. It felt like her entire body might rip in two, and she let out a gasp of pain. Peter gripped her hand more tightly. "Breathe, Deirdre. Keep breathing. That's right."

His soothing voice helped a great deal and when the contraction subsided, she looked up at him, her pseudo-father...the man who was always there when she needed him. "I'm scared, Peter."

"Don't be scared, Deirdre. Everything is going to be just fine." Peter pushed her hair off of her sweaty forehead and he smiled reassuringly.

"I don't know how to be a mother!"

"Yes you do. Deirdre, you take care of so many people. You're going to be just fine." She had certainly come a long way from being terrified of babies... "I have absolute faith in you."

"You always do," Deirdre said weakly. "I'm beginning to think you're biased."

"Oh, I totally am," Peter said with a smile. "But you haven't failed me yet, and I know you never will. I love you, Deirdre."

"I love you too," Deirdre whispered, and then her face collapsed into pain.

"It's okay, breathe....breathe, Deirdre...that's right."

"I don't want to do this without Kaitie!" Deirdre wailed, giving Peter a miserable look.

"You're doing it with me, Deirdre. I'll be right here the entire time." And for Deirdre, that was all she needed to hear.

As things progressed, Deirdre gripped Peter's hand with demon strength and he never complained. She screamed and cried and he stood by her side, always reassuring and calming. Deirdre pushed and Peter encouraged her gently, keeping his head because she was in such a state that she couldn't.

The boy baby came first and in the moments between his birth and when he started to cry, Deirdre was sure her heart stopped. When she heard him make his first noise in the world she smiled lazily up at Peter. "He's alive!" she squeaked.

"And he's strong," Peter assured her. He cut the umbilical cord and then kissed Deirdre's head while making sure the nurses were careful with Gabriel while the doctor prepared for the second baby.

"I don't want to do another one," Deirdre breathed. "I already did one."

"You're almost done, Deirdre. Just push. Come on, Honey. Push."

Deirdre groaned and did what she was told, letting out a final scream as she did so. And then Deirdre's daughter followed her brother into the world.

Peter cut the second umbilical cord,and then he watched over the girl baby as well while he calmly stroked Deirdre's hair. She breathed deeply, allowing her overtaxed body to feel relief. It was over. She had only been in labour for a little over twelve hours and it was over. And then Peter said something that made a cold fist grip her heart. "Uhm...pardon me, but should she be bleeding like that?"

Everyone had been concentrating on the twins and Deirdre already hurt down there too much to notice the difference. She moved to grip Peter's arm. "What's going on?! Peter!"

"It's alright, Deirdre..." Peter soothed her, but she knew him enough to know that instead of believing it, this was his panicked soothy voice. She watched as doctors surrounded her and murmured amoungst themselves. Finally they turned to Peter, as if Deirdre was not in the room.

"The second baby seems to have caused some damage while she was being delivered."

Peter looked ashen-faced. "D...damage? Uhm....what should we do?"

"We'll need to stop the bleeding quickly," The doctors moved to wheel Deirdre out of the room and Deirdre let out a howl of rage.

"Don't take me away from them!" she wailed, trying to twist her body so she could see her children. "Stop, please!"

Peter, panicking and doing the only thing he could think to do, rushed forward to grab her hand. "Deirdre. Heal yourself. Do it quickly. It will be okay." He had let Svetlana do this very thing in a situation very like this, and he would be damned if he wouldn't do the same for his Deirdre. Deirdre had a harder time with souls, but she was in the hospital. It would be alright.

For once in her life, Deirdre didn't argue. She reached out and took Peter's soul, careful not to pull all of it into her so he wouldn't fall unconcious. Instantly she felt a little better as everything inside her healed up. She watched Peter carefully as her entire being filled up with lovely happiness at the feeling of his soul inside her. Peter swooned, but her grip was firm and he managed not to fall. When the wheeled Deirdre back into position, Peter sat down heavily and he dropped his head in his hands.

"Are you okay, Peter!?" Deirdre asked worriedly.

"I'm fine. Mmm." Peter waved the doctors away from him and a moment later they moved to put Deirdre's children into her arms for the first time.

Deirdre lay there in awe as they placed first the boy and then the girl into her arms. She smiled and kissed their heads and then she looked over at Peter. "Peter!" she breathed. "Look at them..."

Peter lifted his head and then he grinned over at Deirdre. "They're beautiful," he assured her. The girl had a shock of red hair on her head, and the boy's hair was brown. The boy was crying, raising his little fists towards the ceiling as if he was enraged at being shifted from his warm and safe home. The girl was quiet, resting in Deirdre's arms, content to let her sibling express everything while she examined the world in a calmer fashion.

"Do you have names yet?" one of the doctors asked her.

Deirdre nodded and then she smiled over at Peter. "The girl is Eiley Kaitlyn Gallagher and the boy is Gabriel Liam Gallagher."

Peter knew Gabriel was being named after him and he managed to stand up so he could express his gratitude to a sleepy Deirdre. He planted a kiss on her head and she didn't look away from her children, though her smile did widen. "They're so perfect," she purred. "I knew I loved them but I didn't know they were so perfect."

"Congratulations, Deirdre. You're a mother." Peter stroked her hair and he watched over her while the doctors took the babies back to do whatever it was doctors did to newborns.

Peter transported Deirdre to a private room and he sat beside her while she napped away several hours. When she woke, he was still there, and he even stayed when the nurses brought her twins back in to show her how to breastfeed, because she informed him if he didn't she would tear his hair off and she was pretty sure all his power was in that crazy hair, ala Samson of Samson and Delilah. He stayed until he and Deirdre were alone once again and she turned to look at him and said quietly, "I can see people now. They can go see the babies in the baby window and then come tell me how perfect they are."

Peter chuckled and he lifted her hand to kiss it gently. "I'll tell them. You just rest, okay?"

"Okay, Peter."

"Hey, Deirdre? I'm really proud of you."

Deirdre looked up and she saw Peter looking at her with such warmth and love and she felt utterly content. Even without Kait...even on her own, she could do this. Because if today was testament to anything, she was and never would be truly alone.