Crowns and Cradles

Eleven Months, and Two weeks

It was a grey day, on and off drizzles that tapped against the windows. Sundrop at this point spent most of her days just laying in bed and reading, and Flame simply paced around waiting for something to happen. That day was like any other, Sundrop was waist deep in a book, but across the room Flame was getting ready for a court session. Muttering to himself as he carefully fiddled with what little hair he had. Sundrop looked up as she turned a page to see his intense eyes watching her from the reflection.

She sighed and looked back down, "I'll be right here where you left me." She muttered, he let out a raspy sigh. "That's not the point," He muttered, "I had this week off, and i've got to go into court because of this." his tone was just under a growl as he slipped on a white collar, shifting the fabric around to fit his neck better. "What isn't there to like darling, he's a psychopath, those trials are the fun kind." Sundrop grinned over to him to try to sooth out his tense nerves. He squared his jaw and shifted his eyes, lacing a tie around and beginning to loop it around. "Not when you're two weeks overdue." was all he said.

Sundrop snapped her book shut and let out a long sigh, "With the boys I knew when I was going to pop," She pointed at him and he glanced over to her. "I woke up today, no sense. It's not today." She closed her eyes with a nod, and Flame quietly turned from the mirror. He walked over and paced a hand on her cheek, "I'm not worried," Sundrop whispered, "Nor am I." He muttered back, She let out a laugh and gave him a kiss, "Go do your duties and come back here." She gestured for him to leave with her book, he smiled and pushed his hair back.

Glancing back to her once more, he left, closing the door with a gentle tap. Sundrop paused, and with a grunt slowly got out of bed. The door creaked open, "Knock knock," A friendly face smiled, Sundrop nodded her head. "Oh Doula don't you have anything to speed this up?" Sundrop groaned, looking over to her midwife as she brought in a bag. "I wish but with a hybrid we can't speed up nature." Doula set down her stuff and walked over to help the Queen sit down, Sundrop gave a grunt and fell onto the Sofa with a thud.

Sundrop watched as the hybrid brought her bag over to the sitting area, Doula was a kind woman. Pastel green hair always kept in an ornate braid that hung behind twin horns that twisted into a heart shape. Her scrubs never seemed to have a crease or a stain, and Sundrop worried she spent all night pressing them clean. "How's your hunger?" Doula asked, wrapping a stethoscope around her neck, "Better, I don't think I've eaten a lot in the past day or so." Sundrop watched as she put on her gloves, one for a dragon claw on her right, another for her hoof to the left.

"That could mean the baby is getting ready." Doula muttered, placing the cold stethoscope on Sundrop's chest, "Big breaths." She muttered, Sundrop did as she was told, and Doula checked everything. "I've seen a birth being almost a month late, so it's no worries." she tried to soothe Sundrop's nerves as she chartered everything down. Sundrop just sighed and turned on the TV, "I just hope it won't last too long." Sundrop flipped through the channels, "Waiting?" Doula asked, Sundrop shook her head and tossed the remote to the side. "The birth, my first son took 27 hours to squeeze out!" She hissed, just briefly remembering the painful exchange.

Doula threw her head back and laughed, "Don't worry, we've got much better painkiller nowadays." She packed her things up, and Sundrop just sniffed at the remark. "Well, I'll be down the hall, holler if anything is off." Doula looked around to make sure she hadn't lost anything, Sundrop smiled at her and stretched her legs out. "I'll be here." She muttered, lying her head down to watch the TV coverage of the trial about to go down.

Sundrop had fallen asleep, the light pitters of rain rolling down the windows and the monotone drone of commentators going over protocol Sundrop already knew about. It was the perfect napping conditions, that was until a shock ran through her. Her snoring stopped and she jerked awake, pausing trying to get her mind back from the haze. The light ache and unmistakable smell, she glanced down at her fine couch now ruined. "Are you kidding me? My water broke on my couch?" Sundrop gawked with a scrunched up nose as her body rose from a wave of pain, "Kid when you get here I swear I'm g-" Sundrop was stopped by the pain coming back.

She froze where she was, tensing her shoulders and gritting her teeth. Rocking back and forth waiting for the pain to lift again, and with a sigh of relief she welcomed the release, "Could someone go get my midwife please?" Sundrop hollered as she walked herself towards a wall to lean on, A guard poked her head into the room and Sundrop looked at her with tight eyes. "Pleeease." She groaned as she fell back into a dip of full body pain. The guard's eyes went wide and her jaw fell agape, quickly hollering down the hall, Sundrop took shaky steps towards the door. Waiting to be greeted by the absence of pain, and as the wave pulled out slowly, Doula slid into the room with a large bag on her back.

"Look at you taking it like a champ!" Doula grinned as she rushed over to the Queen's side, Sundrop nodded her head as she walked forward. "You're not even crying!" Doula beamed up at Sundrop, who just huffed and shuffled her feet. "Not yet." She muttered back as they entered the drafty hall, Sundrop's eyes snapped to a guard who had passed out. Propped up by a colleague and being fed a glass of water, She would have said something if she had the energy. But all she wanted to do in that moment was just lay down somewhere safe. "Flame?" sundrop asked looking down to Doula,

She nodded her head and kept pressing forward with her, "He'll meet up at the hospital." She responded, eyes fixed as they went down the hall towards an elevator. Sundrop's pain let up a little and a gasp escaped her lips, "You know normally I get this feeling." She muttered as Doula slapped the down button, she glanced up at Sundrop. "On the day I normally gave birth." Sundrop braced herself as another wave started to build up, Doula agreed with Sundrop, but in a way where she seemed to be not fully paying attention.

"And it's normally in the wee hours of the morning." Sundrop gritted her teeth as she stretched out a wing to steady herself, Doula looked at her with wide eyes. "If you feel like you're going to lay down," She quickly said, "Don't." The doors slid open and Sundrop chuckled as she buffered and stepped over the threshold of the elevator, "I'll tell you when." She joked as they pressed forward to get into the car for the hospital. "Don't forget to breathe." Doula calmly told as two other staff helped Sundrop to the garage, "Where's Flame?" Sundrop asked, looking over to a guard. "They're still in the trial, Queen." His voice wavered, she cocked her head at him with wide eyes.

"Well, get him OUT." Sundrop's voice jumped as she was racked by a heavy jump of pain, she could hear the guard give a shake in his armor and nod. A captain rushed over and tried to help, "Captain Totter, where is my husband?" She asked as he and the others got her to the garage, "We've sent the word over, the phones are out right now." He slipped his helmet off and looked at her as she slid into the car, her eyes squinted, "why are the phones out." She hissed, a shiver ran up his spine, "They're doing rewiring ma'am." He grinned, and she rolled her eyes.

Someone told her to breathe, but she could barely let out a huff when her thoughts bounced around in her head. She scrambled to turn on the small screen in the car but Doula got in her way as she tried to get her settled better. As the car started moving Sundrop let out a long whine, "Don't you have some pain killer?" She questioned, Doula smiled and rubbed her shoulder. "Just a little longer,"