Living life on the edge

17 | dark colours

Cara squeezed Daryll's hand as nurses surrounded her hospital bed. 

"you've got this Cara" Darryl reassured, although he also needed reassurance himself. it wasn't looking good, hours, days in labour and a lot of extra assistance, it was time. she exhaled with such pain it hurt him to see, all he could do was watch, watch his own wife struggle to birth the child they waited so long for. 

after many minutes of repeated pushing and motivational words from her husband, the babies screams and cheers from the midwives filled the room. although there was no time for celebration just yet, Darryl hadn't even seen his baby yet, he was staring at his wife, watching her chest as her breathing patterns became slower and less consistent. selected nurses made sure the baby was healthy, the rest were still focused on her, then it went downhill... and Darryl was still left with one family member he could care for. Karl.

~

days after the news was let out about the queens illness, she was still the same, nick hadn't slept in days, none of them had, the tensions were through the roof as they all agreed not to bother each other. sat on the edge of the kind sized bed, as he had sat for what felt like years, he waited. for the better, for her to magically be healthy again, hoping for the hourly visits which he made sure to keep track of would heal her as fast as possible. 

king William sat at his desk that held piles and piles of paperwork. his head in his hands as his rubbed his sore eyes vigorously with his thumbs. he paces and paced the room, he couldn't bare the sight of his wife, it was cruel, but for the better. he sat in his chair, feet up at the desk, twiddling his thumbs, listening for the doors to open and for her to walk angelically through them.

clay lent against the king and queens bedroom wall, emotionless and empty, hearing the occasional whimpers of his little brother. he didn't know what to do with himself. suddenly Floris quietly crept through the door and towards clay, a small child held close to her, as the toddler caught sight of his father, he threw out his arms as if to order to comfort him. clay took him in his own warm arms and rocked his as they hugged and hugged, a single tear dropping down clays cheeks was wiped by his wife who stood and supervised her family breaking down, quietly breaking down inside, but not wanting to show it in front of her partner. 

"nick you really should get some rest..." clay bravely spoke up. "... don't worry, you'll be the first i tell if anything happens"

nick didn't know how to take that, did clay think something was going to happen? good or bad? at least nick had a bit of hope before he said that. he stood up, holding his arms out to balance himself as his legs had turned numb from not moving. he slowly made his way towards the door, walking past clay and whispering angrily "nothing is going to happen" between his teeth and continuing to walk like a zombie towards his own room just down the hallway.

Floris and clay stared at each other with a confused look, then Floris walked off without an explanation, leaving clay alone with his mother and his son. 

"can i come in?" Floris whispered.

"sure" nick answered, his voice breaking as he said it. 

she slowly walked into the room and quietly shut the door before her. nick stood hung over his own child's cot. watching his chest pulsate up and down as he slept so content. a delicate hand was placed on his back, causing him to flinch just a little. 

"he's a growing up quickly isn't he?"

 "he sure is..." Floris answered, beginning to tear up. "...he looks just like a Thomas, I think it was the perfect name"

"Alex still doesn't seem to agree" he stated, a sudden change in his tone in voice.

"well that doesn't matter right now, what matters is family"

nick just grumbled and nodded along.

"where did you get the name from anyway?" Floris asked, trying to change the topic to something a bit brighter. 

"Karl liked it" he simply answered.

"oh" she didn't know what to say, it probably wasn't best talking about Karl right now, although she knew it was the biggest thing always bothering nick.

he dropped his head down into the basinet and kissed Thomas' forehead, to his surprise, he felt a little hand wrap around his index finger and stay there, they both stared in awe, nick had never been able to be this close to his child without his wife always having to take it all away from him.

just after a couple minutes of taking in these sentimental moments, the baby became agitated. nick got angry easily and began walking away, knocking over a bottle of Alex's perfume, smashing on the floor and his child started crying from the disturbance, causing him to rage even more. Floris took it into her own hands and cradled the 1 year old in her arms, shushing him and rocking him to calm him down as she watched nick helplessly burst with anger. chairs knocked over and lamps smashed to the floor, she cried as all she could do was watch, protecting the baby at all costs. finally, clay came running in, his own child still in his arms, looking round, taking it all in. watching his younger brother put their whole family and his own at risk. he quickly placed his toddler outside in the hallway and instructed him to stay just there. 

he shouted at nick like he'd never shouted before. and nick shouted back, Floris cried in the room next to them as she heard them arguing, surrounded by the two boys that would have to grow up around this. luckily, Alex was back at her fathers castle doing 'business' elsewhere, otherwise, this whole thing would have turned out a million times worse. after calming down a little, but still hearing the muffled arguing and shattering of objects from the other room, she went to check on their mother. walking through that door, seeing a sight she had longed to see. the queen sat up in bed, a welcoming smile on her face. she ran over to her mother-in-law, unable to express how happy she was. she went running towards the room of chaos and burst her way in there, causing both of them to stop their arguments and look her way.

after telling the news to everyone, they all celebrated, the wait was over, and although a lot of immature things happened in-between, just like Floris said, they got all they wanted right now, family. or so they all thought, but still in the front of his head, nick imagined Karl being with him, celebrating this miracle with him, together.