Clawen • What comes next

|| CHAPTER 48 ||

His eyes widened and he stood up, pushing his chair away from under him. "Is it time?" He asked panicked. Claire nodded as she squinted her eyes shot in pain. Owen hurried over to support her. "What's wrong?" Maisie asked confused from where she was sitting at the table. "N...nothing's wrong sweetie" Claire said, clearly struggling to get the words out. "Maisie can you go upstairs and get the bag sitting at the end of our bed?" Owen asked. Maisie nodded before sprinting upstairs. "I told her not to run on those stairs" Claire said, making Owen chuckle. "Come on, lets get you out in the car" He said.

Maisie met them at the front door, with the bag swung over her shoulder. "Is it the baby?" Maisie asked, voice shaky out of fear. "Yes, but don't worry Maisie girl, its normal" Owen said as he grabbed his car keys, wallet and Claire's purse. "It just means its on its way" He then said and opened the door for Claire. Maisie nodded, content with that answer, before following them out and catching the keys thrown to her to lock the door behind them.

It took 15 minutes to get to the hospital and Owen was losing it. For each time Claire cried out in the pain, the more he felt like his heart was going to burst. Maisie was very clearly worried as well. He could see it on her face, when he looked in the mirror. She was hugging the bag to her chest, for some sort of comfort, as she stared at Claire. Eyes big and filled with fear. "Mom..." She said worried, half way to the hospital. Claire took a deep breath before answering. "Yes sweetie" She said, trying but failing at turning in her chair. "Are you sure you're okay?" Maisie then asked, gripping the bag with all the power in her fingers. Claire turned her head to give the girl a smile. "I'm going to be just fine, Maisie" Claire said, before another contraction hit and she turned around, holding on to her stomach for dear life.

When they arrived at the hospital, they were put in a private room immediately. After they got settled and the doctor had looked at Claire, they were told there was quite some time to wait. Claire sighed in defeat, already having had enough. She laid back in the bed and closed her eyes.

Maisie was sitting on the chair by the bed with her feet tucked up under her as Owen paced around the room like a maniac. Claire tried to relax but failed with his footsteps roaming every second. "Owen honey" Claire said tired. He stopped in his tracks and turned to look at her. The worried look from earlier, still clear on his face. The doctor had noticed how worried Owen was and had told him that everything looked fine and that he should try to relax. He appreciated the doctors advise but was very much unable of relaxing in any way.

"You got to relax honey" Claire said, close to a whisper. He sighed and walked over to her. "I can't" He said before running a shaking hand over his face. "Can you get me my phone at least?" She asked and he turned around to where he left her purse and handed it to her. "Yea, here" He said breathlessly, as if he had to run home to get it. "What do you need it for?" He asked puzzled, when he realized she asked for her phone. The words hadn't really gotten through, the first time she said it. "I have to call Karen" She said with a contraction hitting at the end, making her clutch the phone with all her power, almost breaking it in her hand. "Here" Owen said, surprisingly calm. "I'll do it" He got it out of her clutch and found Karen's contact.

She answered on the second beep. "Claire?" She asked. "It's Owen" He said, not getting anymore words in before Karen's voice was heard. "It's time, isn't it?" She asked, voice both excited but also worried just like the rest of them. "Yep" Was all Owen said before Karen told him, she was going to be there as soon as possible. Of course, that meant hours from now, since she had to pack and find a plane ticket and so on.

Owen turned around to face Claire. "She's on her way" He said and brushed a few strands of hair away from her forehead, before he leaned down to leave a kiss there. Claire smiled at the touch of him, sighing contently. "There's really no reason for her to hurry, or even come here tonight" Claire said, stroking her stomach with her hand. "You know your sister. I decided against trying to convince her, to changing her plans. She wants to be here just as much as us" He said and reached out to grab her hand, as he looked over at Maisie.

She was taking this rather well, considering everything. All the chaos and the screams from Claire, could've brought up much worse reactions from her than what it did. Mostly, she just winced in unison with Claire. Owen walked over to her and crouched before her. "How are you doing?" He whispered putting a hand on her knee, letting his thumb stroke it. She pursed her lips and looked back at him. "Fine" She answered. If Owen wasn't mistaken he could have sworn he heard a sob in her throat. "Its okay to be scared Maisie. I understand, we both do. There's a lot happening right now" He said glancing up at Claire quickly who nodded and smiled down at them. Maisie sniffled and nodded, looking down at her lap. "Come here" Owen whispered and grabbed Maisie's arm to pull her into a hug.

They sat like that for a minute or so before Claire got another contraction and they pulled apart. Owen stood up quickly to go hold Claire. When the wave was over, He cradled her head in his arm, kissing the top of her head over and over again. "You're doing great baby" He whispered. She chuckled, shaking her head. "Who would have thought, running a park with 20.000 visitors daily, was easier that child birth" Owen chuckled with her and went down to kiss her on the lips. Her hand went up to cup his cheek, keeping his face close to hers when he pulled away. He leaned back in for another kiss before leaning their foreheads against each other.

Claire scooted a bit on the bed to make space for Owen to sit. He did, putting a hand over he legs, holding on to the thigh furthest from him. Her hand reached out for his other and he took it happily, giving it a squeeze. "I love you" Claire whispered with a tired smile on her face. He returned it, pulling their intertwined hands up to kiss her knuckles. "I love you too" He whispered back.

I don't really have anything to say...Hope you enjoyed? Yes?

One thing maybe – As most of you might have guessed, I am not a parent, I do not have any kids and I have not given birth, so. If there's any mistakes and so on, I apologize.