CLOSED: When you smile, you knock me out, I fall apart

[mythalenaste]

WHO: Pel, Anders, Cyril, and Merrick
WHAT: Really frigging long labor and fairly short confinement.
WHEN: Forward-dated to Bloomingtide 18-24
WHERE: The Gallows
NOTES: CW for giving birth. TW for blood. Both will be marked on the relevant threads.

You will come of age with our young nation
We’ll bleed and fight for you, we’ll make it right for you
If we lay a strong enough foundation
We’ll pass it on to you, we’ll give the world to you
And you’ll blow us all away

Comments

[dalishious]

Merrick has scarcely left Pel's side. At one point he'd gone to get his guitar and has helped pass some of the time playing music for Pel and singing to her. Now, he's cuddled up with her again on the bed, holding her so she's partly on his lap.

He looks exhausted as well, nerves rubbed raw from stress. He hates this, hates Anders for not making it better somehow, hates the baby for hurting the person he loves more than anything in the world. Of course, he shows nothing but tenderness towards Pel, his attention entirely on her.

His head snaps up when Anders mentions cutting, but he doesn't speak. His throat goes dry and he leans down briefly to kiss the top of Pel's head, trying to keep himself together for her sake.

[mythalenaste]

"I just want to sleep," Pel says in a trembling voice. "If I had a good sleep I'd be fine, I wish she would hurry up."

But she breathes. Her head is on Merrick's shoulder, and Anders' encouragement lets her know this isn't what it feels like to labor to death. Deep breaths. Her hand clutches the front of Merrick's tunic.

"Someone start another game, please, I can't think of any."

[justice_is_blond]

"I know," he says gently. Anders finishes dabbing her forehead before picking up the cards and considering.

"Do you know bullshit? Where you claim to play cards in a certain order, some twos, then some threes, then fours, all around and continuously upward, and people have to guess if you're lying or not?" That might require just enough concentration for her to be distracted, while not so much that she's missing what's going on due to the pain.

[samahl]

"You want me to play a game of lying with perhaps the only two people who can see through all of my lies?" Cyril asked, but he is not actually opposed to it. He'll do whatever he can to give Pel the distraction that she needs.

He rubs her shoulder lightly, trying to provide some kind of comfort to her. He hates seeing her in such pain, but he trusts that Anders will know if the pain is above normal. He trusts Anders to get her through this.

[mythalenaste]

A breathless, trembling laugh. These games have saved Pel's sanity, she is certain. How other mothers get through without her support team she does not know. Every time she has that feeling that this is impossible, they bring her back.

"Oh, you are all destined for crushing failure. I'm the best at bluffing."

She peels away from Merrick enough to be ready for cards, brushing stray strands of hair out of the way.