fandomweekly | [#082] Countdown To Baby Day (Torchwood)

Theme Prompt: #082 – Countdown
Title: Countdown To Baby Day
Fandom: Torchwood
Rating/Warnings: PG / Contains M-Preg.
Bonus: Yes
Word Count: 1000
Summary: How much longer does the Harkness-Jones family have to wait for the new additions to be born? Everyone’s getting impatient, for various reasons.

It was hard to say who was counting down the days to the birth of the twins most eagerly. Understandably, Jack wanted the pregnancy over immediately, tired of looking, as he put it, like a hippopotamus crossed with a bouncy castle, and being unable to see, never mind reach, his feet. He was approximately thirty weeks along, according to Owen, and the babies seemed to be on the move constantly, battling each other for room to grow and kicking hell out of Jack’s innards.

“That’s it, no more kids after these,” he told Ianto several times a day. “If you want more you can be the one who gets pregnant.”

Ianto wisely refrained from pointing out that as a regular twenty-first century human male, he lacked the necessary parts.

For his part, Ianto would be glad when the babies finally arrived partly because he knew Jack was having a rough time, and partly because it would mean he’d get time off work. He’d been running Torchwood for the last couple of months, ever since Jack had to give up working, and hadn’t had a single day off since then. Owen would be taking over for the first six weeks of the twins’ lives so Ianto could stay home and help Jack juggle feeding and changing two babies, although in the event of an emergency one or other of them would be available to assist the team.

Like Jack, Nosy was looking a bit frazzled. It still had Meriel to look after and play with, more now than ever since Jack was incapable of doing much more with his daughter than playing board games, reading with her, doing jigsaw puzzles, or watching TV. But now while Ianto was at work and Meriel was at school, Nosy had Jack to take care of, fetching him things, picking up whatever he dropped, comforting him when he felt ugly and lumpy, or tired, or bored.

Not that Jack got bored easily; as he had when he was expecting Meriel, he’d been knitting up a storm, this time making two of everything, although mostly in different colours. The pile of handknitted baby clothes in the nursery was huge and Jack had taken to buying wool in bulk online, having it delivered to the Tourist Office for Ianto to bring home since taking delivery himself wasn’t an option.

Meriel marked another day off on the calendar every morning, kissing her daddy and talking to the baby bump before going to school. She was excited about becoming a big sister, impatient for the babies to arrive so she could help look after them, but every day when she got home, the babies were still inside her daddy and he looked bigger and more uncomfortable than ever.

“I’m not sure if I want to have babies when I grow up,” she confided in her Taddy. “It looks so uncomfortable and they take so long to grow. It’s been simply MONTHS, and poor Daddy can hardly walk. How much longer?”

“Uncle Owen says it could be any time now, but the babies will know when they’re ready.”

“And then Uncle Owen will come and cut them out of Daddy’s tummy?”

“That’s right.”

“I don’t know if I want to see that, but I’ll want to meet my brother and sister right away.”

“And I’ll make sure you do.”

“But if they arrive while I’m at school I’ll miss everything.”

“If that happens one of your aunties will go to the school and fetch you, I promise.”

“That’s good. Thanks, Taddy.”

“Come on, let’s get you to school.”

The days drifted by, one after another, very little changing except that Jack got bigger and his kitting pile grew taller. Meriel dashed in every afternoon to fuss over her Daddy and the bump, telling them about her day, and almost before they knew it another week had passed. Jack sighed a lot, rubbing his aching back, and Ianto massaged his husband’s aching feet, and Nosy hummed comfortingly as it picked up Jack’s knitting for the seventh time, and the countdown to Baby Day continued. Ianto had never known time to pass so slowly, not even when Jack had been pregnant with Meriel.

Another week passed, and then another, and Meriel crossed another day off on the calendar before going to school. It was Tuesday and she liked Tuesdays because she had art in the afternoon. She painted a picture of her Daddy and her Taddy, each holding a baby, and herself in the middle, smiling. She would have put Nosy in the picture too, but the Fluff was supposed to be a secret, so she’d just add it in when she took her painting home.

Auntie Tosh was waiting at the school gates when the bell rang, and there was no sign of her Taddy; that was when Meriel knew.

“Is it time?” she asked breathlessly.

Her auntie nodded. “We should hurry, or you’ll miss everything. Are you nervous?”

“No, excited! Why didn’t you fetch me sooner?” Meriel hurried towards Auntie Tosh’s car.

“We only just got the call ourselves. Perhaps your brother and sister have been waiting so you can be there to greet them.”

Meriel fidgeted all the way home. After all the endless months the long-awaited day was finally here! She was so lucky; no one else in her class were getting a baby brother and a baby sister at the same time! Of course, two babies would be a lot of work, but she’d help her daddies as much as she could, and so would Nosy.

The birth wasn’t as horrid as she’d thought it might be. There was blood, and the babies came out all slimy, but her daddy healed right away. She cut the cord for her sister, while her Taddy cut her brother’s, then while Daddy had a shower, she got to hold her baby sister in her arms.

“Was it worth the wait?” Taddy asked.

Meriel nodded, speechless with happiness. It really was!

The End

[#082] Countdown To Baby Day (Torchwood)

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject