Unsteady

Bobby and Em

*Five Years Later*

Bobby watches Em, Charlie, and Jessica as they work (and play) in the garden. Carrying out a bucket of water to them he beckons to Charlie, asking him to water while he walks over to Em. He gathers her in his arms, pulling her in for a hug and kiss. He leans down and presses a gentle kiss to her growing belly, little baby Samantha or Samuel is growing strong at almost 5 months. Charlie is now 8, in fact it’s his birthday today and the anniversary of their escape. Jess totters around at 5 and three months, not really doing too much besides being adorable.
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*Fast forward 3 months*

Jolted from sleep Bobby’s body tenses at the sense that something is wrong. Rolling over to ask Em if she’s alright he finds only cold sheets as his answers. Noises ensue from the bathroom, striking fear in his heart as he leaps out of bed. Knife at the ready he runs to the disturbance, finding Em holding her swollen belly as pain ripples through her face.

Quickly going to her, he relinquishes his hold on the knife, instead opting out to check Em over. “Love? What’s wrong? Is it the baby? Please talk to me sweetheart, let me know how to help you.”

Flicking on the light he sees what’s wrong. Her water has broken, but that’s not all that’s happening. There’s blood coating her legs and on the floor, mixed in with the fluids from her water. Grabbing her hand he helps her to the kitchen, knowing that it’s too cramped in the bathroom to help her. Leading her to the mattress set up on the floor for this very purpose Bobby helps her to lay down, propping a few pillows behind her back. From here he starts getting to work, soaking a few rags in the pot over the low-burning fire and turning on lights along his way. He cleans her up as best he can, worry over the amount of blood running through his mind.

Her face is contorted in pain, with each contraction making her sweat and whimper just a bit more. Gripping his hand at one point he realizes how much pain she’s actually in, as her death grip against his fingers only tightens. He does everything he can to comfort and help the mother of his child, knowing that losing her would be devastating to all of them. After about an hour and a half of slow bleeding and increasing contractions her whimpers start turning into screams, the pain is finally getting to her. The baby is finally almost ready to come out.

Charlie and Jessica come running into the room at the sound of their mother’s screams, Bobby sends them back to their rooms and orders them to stay there. A refusal dies on Charlie’s lips as he meets Bobby’s gaze, knowing that this is a fight he will not win. They know better than to disobey a direct order, as that would result in extra chores.

Turning back to his pregnant and screaming partner he finds that their baby has started to make his appearance. Slowly at first he comes out, Em’s face contorted in concentration. She’s shaking bad, her face pale with a pool of blood staining the mattress. Her hands grip restlessly at the gown clinging to her shaking body, her eyes roll in her head as her entire being shudders. She wails again when the baby finally arrives, along with an alarming amount of blood.

Rushing his son to the water Bobby cuts off the umbilical cord and pulls off the gooey stuff coating him, clearing Samuel’s lungs so he can take his very first breath. Immediately Sam starts crying, shrieking with enough force to make his father go deaf. Wrapping their son in blankets he takes him to Em, knowing that she’ll want to see her beautiful creation. Love and adoration flash across her face as she holds him, cradling him gently in her arms.

Stroking his face she calms and quiets him before looking up at Bobby, pulling him in for a messy kiss. “Look at how good we did,” she whispers tiredly. “He has my red hair and your eyes. My button nose and your strong mouth.” With each statement she lightly traces Sam’s features, feather light touches to his band new skin.

Stroking her hair affectionately Bobby places a gentle kiss to each of their foreheads before responding to her, “He’s perfect. I love you Em, he’s amazing beautiful and I love you.” She smiles up at him, gratitude and love showing in her eyes before she gasps in pain, reaching for her stomach again.

“What’s wrong Em?” Concern laces through his voice, drowning out everything else.

“I’m not sure, but it feels like I’m having more contractions. Take our baby please, until we know what this is.”

Rocking their little Sammy against him he pulls up her nightgown again, gasping in horror at the amount of blood continually pooling around her legs.

“Babe, you’re bleeding out and I don’t know where from. Just hold on though, I promise you I’ll stop the bleeding.”

“Bobby. Don’t promise a girl something you know that you can’t keep.”

Even paler than before her body jerks as more contractions start up, but she just smiles sadly at Bobby as he holds Sam to his chest in shocked panic. Running the baby to his crib he sets the again screeching infant down, calling Charlie out of his room and asking him to watch his brother. There’s blood on the blanket wrapped around Sam and blood on the crib as well, but it’s not from newborn.

Rushing back to Em he stops dead in his tracks as he sees another baby coming out, faster than her brother but with more blood. He quickly gets down to help her, guiding their daughter out of her trembling mother. He does the same as he did with Sam, but hand their daughter directly to her mother while he instead go to look at the damage from her bleeding. Curses leave his mouth in rushed abandon, there’s just so much and it looks like he may not be able to stop the bleeding…  NO. He moves hastily to stop the flow of blood, doing everything he can and knows to keep her alive. Looking up he sees her nursing their daughter, love once again replacing the pain on her face.

“Lilly.”

“What’d you say? You’re bleeding bad Em, I’m doing everything I can to save you please don’t distract me right now.”

“I said, her name is Lilly. Now, grab me Sam, it’s time he got fed too.”

Glancing back up for a moment he sees the determination in her eyes, so he does as she asked. Gently he places Sam against her chest, looking on with adoration in his eyes at the three of them together. She’s giving her life force to the angels in her arms, and they both know it. Reality sets in again as he jerks back into motion, checking the covers he’s placed over Em’s lower half. Thankfully the bleeding has finally slowed down and he sighs in relief. Kissing Em’s head again he’s about to grab a chair to sit next to them, when he feels a weak hand grab at his own.

“Bobby, please listen to me.” Em’s voice is raspy, strained and quiet.
“What’d you say love? I can barely hear you, hold on.”

She tries again, face still ashen and voice hardly there as her babies suckle. “Bobby. You need to make sure you care for and love them as much as you have done for me.”

“What? You’ll be there to do that with me, stop talking that way. Please Em just don’t say things like that.” There’s slight anger and fear in his voice, and his words come out harsher than he had intended. She simply smiles weakly at him, sadness coloring her eyes a dark hue.

“They’ll need milk from the goats to survive. And you can’t shut down on them. You need to take care of these two perfect angels and the other two as well. You need to make sure you tell them our story. Tell them about how we both lost family when the bombs fell, you your parents and four siblings and me my older sister. But most of all, tell them our story.”

“No. You’re not dying today you need to help me. I have no idea how to take care of children let alone newborns.”

“You helped me with Jess. I have faith in you sweetheart. They’re going to need their father now more than ever, please, you have to accept this. My heart rate is slowing down tremendously and I can barely feel my pulse anymore. I can’t feel any of the pain anymore. Hell, I can’t even feel them nursing.”

Tears are running down her face as she looks at her newborns and kisses their heads. Sobbing in frustration and despair Bobby buries his head in her gown, crying against her now empty stomach. After a while he notices that he can’t hear her heartbeat anymore, can’t feel her shaking beneath his hands. Looking up he stares into dead eyes as her last words leave her lips.

“I love you Bobby Joseph.”

Numbly he grabs her hand, pressing his tear soaked face against it and answering back with an unsteady voice, “I love you too Em Ross.”