The Estate, Sidra, Glacia, AHAHAHA LIKE ANYONE IS PAYING ATTENTION TO THE TIME

[glacial_queen]

Karla wanted nothing more than to lay back down. Her feet hurt. Her back hurt. Every single part of her hurt. But no, the Healer said that she had to walk around for a little while, that it would help the labor. Considering she had been in labor for hours already and had spent roughly three-quarters of that walking around the birthing room, she wasn't really seeing how it was 'helping.' But since no one would let her shiv the Healer, it looked like she was just going to keep walking. Probably until her feet fell off, because that was seemed likelier to happen than this child actually being born.

Apparently stubbornness was inherited through the distaff line.

"Raven," she gasped, clinging to her friend's hand until the knuckles were white. "Tell her that I'm the Queen and if I want you to take the pain away, you will."

"Ignore her, my Lady Healer," the older woman said, bustling about. "No more than one minute in every ten. The pain is necessary to the process."

"She's a bloody sadist," Karla complained, easing up on Raven's hand as the contraction eased. "Check her for ties to Hobart. She just wants me to suffer."

Raven had done her research and knew that on Earth, at least, many women chose to use medication to relieve the pain and delivered their children just fine. But she didn't want to start a fight with the Healer, and the people of Karla's world weren't entirely the same as Earth humans, so she merely nodded at the Healer and used her free hand to brush the hair from Karla's face...and took away her pain once every five minutes.

"I love you the best, shh don't tell Warren."

***

"Don't fucking touch me!" Karla snapped, glaring at Warren. "I think you have done quite enough already, don't you?"

"Oh, uh… My bad?"

Their shared bad. But right now, Warren was pretty willing to take the blame, re-claiming his hand and looking equal parts sheepish and terrified. Still.

For as long as Karla was the one actually delivering this baby, it was entirely his bad. "Why are you even in here?! What makes you think I want to see your stupid face? Ever! Again!"

"... Presumably you'll want me around if she ever ends up having a spring molt?"

Warren was just lucky that a contraction caught her mid-lunge, so she was doubling over, rather than murdering him the way she wanted. Her cursing, however, lasted straight through one contraction into the other.

The Healer looked at the two of them and then shook her head at Warren. "Why don't you go sit in the other room for awhile? Let her have some peace."

"Awhile? He'll be lucky I ever want to see him again!"

"That's what they all say, my lady."

***

"Where's Warren?" Karla looked up at Raven, her eyes filled with tears. "Raven, he needs to hold my hand! Someone get me Warren!"

***

"I AM BREATHING! I HAVE BREATHED MY ENTIRE FUCKING LIFE, I DO NOT NEED TO BE TOLD--Do you hear bells?" Karla looked around the birthing room, utterly confused. "No, seriously, have I been pushed into the Twisted Kingdom, or are there bells playing somewhere?"

"It's a special request from The General, My Lady," one of the Healers said, barely looking up from the task at hand. "He said it was a tradition that was very culturally important to his people. Something about Bow Bells, whatever that means."

"Raven," Karla demanded through clenched teeth. "I want you to share this next contraction with the so-called fucking General as thanks for his decision to share his culture with us this way."

"...you do not truly wish me to do that, do you, Karla?" Raven said.

Karla just looked at Raven. "Do it."

Raven's head was buzzing with the pain she was taking from Karla as well as the emotions she was picking up, so she wasn't inclined to disobey.

She waited for Karla's next contraction and pulled the pain from her body, pressing her hand to her own belly with a groan as she felt it. Instead of banishing it, she closed her eyes and sought out Jono's emotional signature in the Estate, and released the pain at him.

Sorry, Jono.

A moment later, there was a psionic pulse of shock and pain bursting through the minds of everyone in the building, followed by a loud thump from the room adjacent to theirs.

And then, spitefully, somebody turned the volume on the recording of the bells up even louder.

***

"I swear by the Darkness that the next person who tells me to push will be shaved," Karla hissed. "Believe me, I am fucking pushing."

***

"Again, my lady! Your daughter needs you to push again!"

"My daughter should have thought of that before she took so long to be born," Karla said, unable to work up the energy to yell. "First thing I'm gonna do when I see her is punch her in her bitty mouth."

"... Karla, you can't punch an infant in the mouth." It was a surprisingly mild protest from Warren, considering most of the bones in his hand had been halfway ground to powder by now. Having hollow bones was apparently not conducive to hand-holding right then.

"Watch me," Karla sniffled. "You just watch." She lolled her head to look up at Raven. "As your Queen, I'm ordering you to teleport this baby out of me and into a volcano."

Glacia didn't have volcanos. Karla didn't care.

"Of course, my Queen," Raven said soothingly. "As soon as you push one more time."

***

Sweat-soaked and exhausted, Karla smiled down at the little girl in her arms. Clean and wrapped up in one of the receiving blankets she'd gotten from her Uncle Priestly, her daughter lay peacefully, no sign of her earlier tears. "Look at her," Karla breathed, her heart so full she thought it might crack in two. "She's perfect. Utterly perfect."

"So…" Warren gave Karla a little, tentative smile. "We're calling her…?"

"Kayla," Karla said, looking up at him. "Don't you think?"

Warren looked so full of pride and happiness that it was entirely possible he might burst.

"Well," he said softly, "she's certainly not a Vasilia."

"Definitely not," Karla said, leaning against him while she continued to adore their daughter. "I think Kayla's the only name that will suit."

Beat. "...Now someone go find Jono and break those goddamn speakers."

[Co-written with the wonderful not_a_parakeet and amazing trigons_child! Snipped for length and cussing, no actual biology included! Shout out to all the real moms in game for going through this for realsies.]

Comments

[glacial_queen]

Karla finished her tonic and asked plaintively, "Can I have a coffee, yet?"

"No," the Healer said firmly. "Not until you heal up a bit more. The last thing you need is caffeine to keep you awake right now."

"Hmph." Karla grumbled. "Eighteen hours of labor and I still don't get to have coffee." Then she glanced up at Warren and Kayla and melted back into smiles again. "But I got something better, didn't I?"

[wwiii]

"Way better than coffee," Warren agreed. "Though if you're really missing it, that can be her middle name. Kayla Coffee Worthington."

It was cute and eccentric!

[glacial_queen]

"Like you'll let me name her anything other than 'Americano'," Karla said, smiling up at him. "Kayla Mochaccino Worthington?"

[wwiii]

"But Americano is the proudest of the coffees. Strong, yet humble."

Espresso, yet watered down.

"Kayla Dark Roast Worthington."

[glacial_queen]

"Kayla Triple Shot Venti Worthington?"

Why hadn't they gone to coffee for inspiration the other day in the nursery?

[wwiii]

Because the other day in the nursery, the temptation was that much greater. Now it would take effort to pry themselves away from the baby in order to actually get coffee.

"Kayla Espresso Con Panna Worthington."

[glacial_queen]

Karla was laughing now, trying to keep her second cup of tonic from spilling. "Kayla Soy Latte With Caramel Drizzle Worthington?"

The Healer was looking at them both like they had lost their damn minds.

[wwiii]

"With chocolate shavings," Warren added. "Or sprinkles. Kayla Sprinkles Worthington."

Perfect. Approved. Slap it on the birth certificate.

[glacial_queen]

"And the little girl asked how to tell that her mommy and daddy loved her very much," Karla cooed, looking at Kayla's face peeping out from the folds of the receiving blanket. "And they said, you will always know, because they named you after their favorite things."

Kayla Coffee Gravedigger Worthington.

[wwiii]

Kayla Bacon-Wrapped Pineapple Worthington.

"Of course, on the off chance that other people want to know her full name, we might want to give her one less likely to encourage people to chew on her toes trying to achieve a caffeine high," Warren chuckled. "You know, for her to use at Court someday."

[glacial_queen]

"You make it sound like Kayla Dark-Chocolate Pomegranate Worthington is a name lacking in Queenly dignity," Karla said, wrinkling her nose up at him. "Though I did have an idea for a middle name. If you liked it I mean."

[wwiii]

"You mean a middle name that doesn't immediately make me wonder if it's coffee break time yet?" Warren was smiling back some more, still warmly smiling. "Okay... let's hear it, then?"

[glacial_queen]

"Kathryn," Karla said softly. "Kathryn, after your mother."

[wwiii]

That... was definitely not a coffee name.

"I thought we weren't naming our kids after people," Warren murmured, though it was mostly a stalling tactic while his head worked on processing that. "Though I guess I really only laid down the law on Warren, and Warren would be a terrible middle name for her..."

Babble some more, War.

"I mean... I like it. I really do. But are you sure...?"

[glacial_queen]

"I wouldn't have suggested it if I didn't like it," Karla pointed out. "And you vetoed Kayla Jaenelle when I asked..." She winked at him. "Try it out. You tell me."

[wwiii]

"I maintain no Jaenelle," Warren insisted, smiling wryly. "There is no way I'm holding her up to those ridiculous expectations."

The poor thing wouldn't survive.

"But... Kayla Kathryn Worthington... does have a nice ring to it." He smiled faintly. "And our next one can have Audric in his name?"

Because, really, if this was Kayla, it stood to reason that Nommy would be next.

[glacial_queen]

Well, Karla still wasn't going to take it as a given, but...yeah. The odds seemed pretty good.

"We'll see," she said. "It's a little too soon to be talking about the next one. Let me get to the point where all the hormones and chemicals make me forget how terrible this whole thing was, hmm?"

[wwiii]

"Fair enough," Warren replied, chuckling faintly. "We'll put a pin in that conversation for now. But... I like Kathryn. I would like her to have it in her name. Thank you."

Idly, for a moment or two, Warren wondered what his father would think of the name.

And in the moment following those, he decided that he really didn't care.

[glacial_queen]

If he did have a problem with it, it would last all the way up until he met her and fell head over heels just like everyone else did. It was impossible to be unhappy near the baby. Just impossible.

"Kayla Kathryn Worthington," Karla recited. "Still not as good as Kayla Aeriel Acrobatics Worthington, but she'll probably appreciate more in the future."

Or not, considering the way her father felt about flying.

[wwiii]

"I don't know, I think she'd probably have a finer appreciation for Kayla Steak and Potatoes Worthington," Warren teased. "But yeah, there are much worse names to have than Kathryn."

[glacial_queen]

"Oooh, steak and potatoes," Karla said, mouth watering. "Do you think I can convince Jono to go make me some?"

You know, after giving him a contraction and all? And several floors away from where the baby was?

[wwiii]

"That's a... very good question. Maybe if you give him the big eyes? He seems to be a sucker for the big eyes," Warren observed, pursing his lips a little.

What? He didn't much like the guy, but it was obvious that he was a soft touch.

[glacial_queen]

"Joooooonoooooooooo," Karla called, doing her best to look and sound pathetic. "Can I have some steak and taaaaaaaaaaters? I neeeeed them to make milk for the baaaaaaby."

"That sounded good, right?" she asked Warren in an undertone.

[wwiii]

"You did use the B word," Warren noted, smirking faintly. "I think he's obligated to now, or something."

As a matter of fact, Jono was standing up on the other side of the room, making faces, and turning for the door. Apparently he knew when he wasn't getting a chance at visiting for a while. Might as well make himself useful.

"Success."

[glacial_queen]

This was why they would end up having Nommy. Jono would finally declare Karla no longer needed him to cook them for Kayla's benefit, so she needed a new reason to keep him in the kitchen.

"Just wait until it's your turn to fetch and carry," Karla warned. "I worked my ass off today." And Warren'd had his hand crushed, but details. "I'm making everyone spoil me rotten."