𝙎𝙄𝙏𝙏𝙄𝙉𝙂 𝙊𝙉 𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙎𝙃𝙀𝙇𝙁 | Marcus White

Labour

Cheyenne's screams filled the store, a group of you almost instantly surrounding her at the shrill sound. A hand placed gently on the small of Cheyenne's back, you rubbed soothing circles into it, trying anything you possibly could to help lessen the pain she was so obviously in.

"Guys?" Mateo shouted, standing next to Jonah, both looking deeply concerned and yet still doing nothing.

"Okay. Time to go to the hospital?" Amy asked, suddenly appearing right beside you, pushing a piece of Cheyenne's hair that had fallen forward back behind her ear and out of her eyes.

"I don't think I'm gonna make it to the hospital." Cheyenne shouted, one hand holding her stomach and the other now tightly squeezing your own. "I think I'm having this baby here."

"Okay. We need towels. Someone run to the store and buy some towels! No, wait! We're a store! Get some towels!" Glenn shouted, Mateo quickly running off to grab some at his request.

"You're not gonna have the baby in the store." Amy said, repeatedly pushing Cheyenne's hair out of her eyes each time it fell forward. 

"Yeah, you have plenty of time, Chey." You affirmed, still rubbing her back gently as she hunched over inside of the checkout.

"And it could be false labour." Jonah finally spoke up, boasting his random knowledge in an attempt to impress you all.  "You know? That's called a Braxton Hicks contraction."

"This baby is not gonna be born in Cloud 9." Amy asserted, shooting a threatening glare to Jonah as she spoke, as if his words were going to jinx it.

"Maybe it's Braxton Hicks." Jonah suggested once again, though this time meeker and directing his words towards you, hoping to not piss off Amy any more then he had already seemed to.

"I know J." You whispered to him, feeling bad that Amy had sent him such a stern glare, but knowing Amy was just stressed by the fact Cheyenne could literally be birthing her child right now.

"Okay, we get it. You know the term Braxton Hicks. We're all very impressed." Amy snapped at Jonah, her focus still on Cheyenne as she screamed once more in pain.

"No, I'm having this baby here." Cheyenne barely got the words out as she let out another cry, hunching over in what sounded like agonising pain.

"Okay, this is it! This is happening!" Glenn shouted, throwing his arms in the air in excitement at the Idea of a Cloud 9 baby.

"I feel nothing." Dina deadpanned, ignoring her words, you and Amy hoisted Cheyenne up, leading her over to the patch of artificial grass by the patio display. 

Laying Cheyenne down, you covered the lower half of her body in a large towel, helping Cheyenne to slip out of her shoes and pants as Amy propped both her feet and head up with crates of beer. Shuffling to her side, you let one hand hold her ankle while the other stroked her head absentmindedly.

"Attention, shoppers. Is there a doctor in the Who am I kidding?" Garret asked over the intercom, frantically trying to do his part to help Cheyenne's birth be as easy as possible "This is Cloud 9. Anybody here watched a lot of "Grey's Anatomy?" Maybe "Nurse Jackie"? Not "The Knick.""

Looking towards Cheyenne, you asked her to mimic your breathing: taking in two short and shallow breaths before blowing out a long one. As you tried to coach her breathing through her contractions, Amy looked between the two of you admirably - surprised at how well the both of you were handling the situation, especially Cheyenne.

"Where'd you learn that?" Amy asked, rubbing Cheyenne's arm soothing as she braved through her contractions.

"I don't know. I watch a lot of 'Scrubs'?" You offered, returning to helping Cheyenne breath though she quickly let out another cry, breaking the breathing pattern.