01 | Dream ᥫ᭡. Rosalie Hale

EPILOGUE.

warning: this chapter will contain childbirth. you can skim through the first majority of this to when the baby is born, because I know not everyone is going to want to read all of that :)

JUNE 2005

IT HAD ALL happened so unexpectedly.

She was lying in bed when it happened at nearly two in the morning.

A pop that she not only heard, but felt - which was like a water balloon popping inside of her - and then the gush of water immediately after. Her first instinct was to get up and sprint to the bathroom because of how much amniotic fluid was pouring out of her. Fear filled her bones. In that moment, it all became real.

Rosalie was next to her in a silent flash, of course. A gentle hand on Elexia's shoulder was all she offered; knowing that the blue-eyed human would tell her what she needed when she was ready. For now, the cool hand on her skin was all she needed as she thought through what was currently happening to her - and how her life was about to change within the coming hours.

She pondered the past couple of days.

Three days ago, she went to the doctor to get a membrane sweep, after they told her they would be inducing her on Saturday. Today was Saturday - induction day, only eight hours from where she was, was when they were meant to go to the hospital. But Gaia seemed to have other plans. Her original induction date was meant to be May thirty-first, at thirty-seven weeks, but Dr. Gonzalez said that Gaia looked perfect and they wanted to wait to induce. Elexia was honestly upset that she had to be pregnant an extra two weeks. Although she was grateful that Gaia's growth and blood flow looked good, she knew they were cutting it close by waiting until thirty-nine weeks, and she knew that there was a chance she could go into labor on her own, which absolutely terrified her.

The membrane sweep was extremely painful for her, and very uncomfortable. The cramping and bleeding began almost immediately after the sweep. Elexia knew that was to be expected. That night, the back pain began - which she now understood to be contractions. She understood that the rule for labor is that once the contractions are five minutes apart consistently, you're supposed to go to the hospital. Elexia's would go from eight minutes apart to forty minutes apart. It was annoying and discouraging. Despite being scared of going into labor on her own, the fact that she was having the contractions just for them to not lead to anything had her frustrated.

On Thursday and Friday, they were more painful. It was harder to sleep, and it was hard to hide that from Rosalie, who routinely checked on Elexia throughout the night. Elexia knew of the pain she was in, but she could not tell if it was hospital-worthy pain.

Friday night, at around eleven o'clock, Elexia had been paying closer attention to her contractions. They were getting consistently closer, but not for long enough that she was ready to tell Rosalie and her father that she wanted to go to the hospital. Especially since she knew her induction was the next morning, after all. She knew that labor could last days, and if this was the real deal, she wanted to spend as much time home as possible before she had to go to the hospital, so she wasn't miserable in an uncomfortable hospital bed with an IV in her hand.

After sitting on the couch with Austin and Rosalie for a bit longer, they'd decided it was bedtime. Austin, Elexia and Rosalie headed upstairs to their bedrooms. Rosalie stepped out for a bit to give Elexia a chance to fall asleep.

Rosalie waited for Austin to fall asleep - which never really took long - to go check on Elexia, who she knew was still awake from her breathing. Elexia had told her she was only uncomfortable, like she had been the last few nights, and Rosalie nodded, letting her go to sleep peacefully as she went to take a walk around the woods.