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“Wednesday, would you please stop being so stubborn about this and go to the hospital!” Tyler was at his wits end. Wednesday’s water broke half an hour ago and he would have thought they would be on their way to a hospital right now but to his befuddlement, she refused.
Sitting in her favorite armchair with a weapons magazine open, she only briefly spared him a glance. “No.”
“I’m pretty sure this is, like, what you’re not supposed to do,” he argued. “What if you have the baby here? What are we supposed to do then?”
“Your endless dramatics are tiresome,” Wednesday rolled her eyes. “I’m perfectly fine. Nothing will happen except perhaps a murder.” Unamused, he glared at her. “Do not test me. I can raise this child on my own while visiting your grave every year.”
He groaned loudly. He loved his wife more than anything, but sometimes he wished she could be a bit more reasonable.
“We will leave when I am ready.”
“Or I’ll take you myself.” If Tyler would have to take her kicking and screaming then so be it. He’d use her slightly weakened state to his advantage, tying her to the passenger seat and taking her that way.
“You may try it but I assure you, you will have difficulty doing so without legs,” her steely glare lingered on him, but Tyler was not fazed. He’d been on the receiving end of that look for years now.
“How long do you think you’ll wait?” He demanded.
“As long as I intend to.”
Well, that wasn’t going to happen, Tyler decided. Wednesday was out of her mind if she thought he was going to let her do this. He might not have any experience with labor or birthing, but he had enough common sense that told him they should be going to a hospital just in case.
He perched himself on the arm of a chair, eyeing her. “Aren’t you having any contractions?”
“Yes,” she responded, flipping a page in her magazine.
“And don’t they hurt ?” He asked with emphasis.
“No,” she said.
“They don’t?” he said with skepticism. As far as he knew, they were supposed to be painful. But than again, Wednesday had a much higher pain tolerance than most people. She regularly partook in things that would have been far too dangerous for someone else to do. It was entirely plausible this didn’t faze her at all.
“No,” she confirmed. “Now you must stop worrying, Tyler, it is grating on my last nerve.”
“ Wednesday ,” he sighed, shooting her a look of plea. “Please just go to the hospital. It would really make me feel better.”
“No!” She barked.
“Why?” He folded his arms. “Why can’t you go?”
“There is no need to,” she argued. He sputtered, incredulous by her nonchalant attitude.
“No need -”
Despite the utter disbelief, Tyler felt like there was something she wasn’t telling him. As the pregnancy reached its end, her behavior started to change. No one else seemed to pick up on it, but he did. He saw the subtle signs. She tended to switch the subject if it was about the baby, her body tensing up. A part of him had worried that she was regretting the whole thing.
Predictably, the one time he tried to carefully ask her about it, she didn’t give him an answer.
“Wednesday, Sweetheart,” Tyler rubbed her shoulders while she wiped off her eye makeup.
“What?”
“Are you alright?” He knew she didn’t like it when he spoke softly to her like that. She found it demeaning while he wasn’t trying to be, he also didn’t want to sound accusing. He just wanted to know what was wrong.
“Why wouldn’t I be?” She challenged him.
He wasn’t fooled. He’d seen the slight shift in her expression in the mirror. “I was just wondering. You seem off lately.”
“That is your own false perception,” she went back to what she was doing.
Tyler pressed a gentle kiss to her hair. “You know you can talk to me about anything. I won’t judge you or tell anyone.”
“Yes, I know,” she said with an edge. “But I do not need to. I am perfectly fine.”
Getting Wednesday to talk about her feelings wasn’t easy. Most of the time, he let her do things the way she wanted, which included keeping things to herself unless he felt it was absolutely necessary. She had learned the importance of communication through their relationship. And truthfully, she wasn’t as bad as she used to be. But that didn’t mean she would say anything willingly without a bit of a fight.
“What aren’t you telling me?” Tyler asked her point blank.
“Nothing,” she said stubbornly.
He brushed her cheek with the back of his knuckles, looking at her earnestly. “Are you nervous, Wednesday?”
“Of course not!” She snapped back instantaneously.
“It’s okay if you are,” he said reassuringly. “I’m nervous too but we’ll be okay.”
Wednesday lowered her magazine, glancing down at her bump, then bringing her gaze back up. “This pregnancy has gone by faster than I thought it would,” she spoke quietly.
“It has,” he agreed, resting his hand on her swollen abdomen. “But we got this, Wednesday. We’ll be alright.”
She wasn’t looking at him as she said, “I am not certain that I’m ready for this now that it is here.”
“I don’t think anyone ever feels ready.” Ajax had been absolutely frazzled when Enid had gone into labor and almost stoned himself because of it. “But it’s gonna be okay. I promise.”
“You cannot possibly know that,” she said immediately.
“I know that you can do anything you want to,” he said, to which she rolled her eyes at his cheesiness. “And I know you’ll be the best mom ever.”
She exhaled through her nose, leaning her head against his. “You have far too much faith in me.”
“I could never have too much,” Tyler whispered, using two of his fingers to move her chin so she was looking at him now. “Let’s go meet our son.”
Wednesday was only in the early stages of her labor, only a couple centimeters dilated. For now, they would have to wait. She laid in her hospital bed with a scowl, her figurative feathers ruffled after the examination from the doctor. She did not want to be touched by anyone. Tyler understood, but at the same time, he didn’t want anyone injured today. It would just mean it would take longer to see their son and probably a lot of unnecessary paperwork.
At the moment, she was instructing him on what to do if anyone else from their families or respective friend groups stopped by. He knew all this already. They’d discussed ahead of time that they did not want anyone else around until a day or so after she gave birth. They wanted to use that time for themselves so they could become acquainted with their child. Plus, he was pretty sure Wednesday’s temper would leave Enid in a flood of tears if she were here.
“Are you comfortable?” He asked when she was done.
“I’m fine.”
“Are you sure?” He pressed. “Do you need another blanket or another pillow?”
“Perhaps a new husband would be a nice change.”
“Do we get to pick him out together?” Tyler said idly. “I’m not sure I trust you to do that.”
“Why would you get any say?” She scoffed.
“I want to know whose hands are going to touch you.”
“I think not,” she retorted. “The say should be my own and no one else’s.”
He hid a grin, resting his chin on the top of her hand. “But there’s one problem.”
“What?”
“You won’t find someone as handsome as I am,” he said with mock seriousness. “I’m afraid you’ll have to settle for fourth best.”
“What happened to second best?” She quirked her brow.
“Let’s face it, anything below me is a serious downgrade.”
She placed her head back onto the pillow. “You’re ridiculous.”
He chuckled. “Are you still nervous?”
“I was not nervous to begin with,” she lied. “I was simply analyzing the situation from a realistic perspective.”
“ Okay . And are you still analyzing?”
A few seconds trickled by before she replied.
“Somewhat.”
The hours slowly passed by and she was nowhere near close to delivering. She was only dilated at about five centimeters now. The contractions, he suspected, were starting to become a bit more intense than what she’d admit. She’d started sweating a while ago, so he pinned her braids up on her head to keep them out of her way. Surprisingly, Wednesday didn’t fight him on this.
“Do you want an epidural?” He asked, concerned with the way she grimaced.
“I’ll be fine.”
“Wen, if you need it-”
“I want to experience the pain,” she cut him off.
He was about to say something but then his phone rang. Taking it out of his pocket, he saw it was Enid. Bringing his eyes back up to meet Wednesday’s scowl, he told her who it was.
“Give me that and I will show her exactly why she ought to leave us alone as we requested.”
He held it away from her. “Enid, now’s not really a good time,” he started.
Enid kind of bypassed over what he said, sounding frantic. “Oh em gee! Is she okay? Did she have the baby yet? Are you okay? Are you freaking out?”
“We’re fine,” Tyler interjected. “Wednesday’s fine, I’m fine. But no baby yet.” He heard her pull the phone away from her ear, shouting to Ajax about what she’d been told.
“Can I talk to Wednesday real quick? Pretty please?”
“I don’t know about that, Enid...” Tyler glanced over his shoulder at his wife.
“Oh, please! I wanna give her some tips,” Enid said brightly.
Sometimes he wondered if Enid was unusually brave or stupid. “Uh, okay,” he reluctantly handed Wednesday the phone. She stared at it so he elaborated, “It’s Enid. She wanted to give you some tips.”
“That is nice of her,” Wednesday waited all of two seconds before she hurled his phone at the window. Tyler cursed, rushing around to bed to fetch it. There was a big crack in the middle of it. “If she insists on speaking to me, I will tell her exactly where she can put those tips of hers.”
Tyler stared at his phone in dismay. “Noted.”
Tyler’s heart was racing. She was now fully dilated. The time was coming, their son was going to be here soon.
It was now after midnight. It felt fitting for their baby. For hours, they waited impatiently, anxiously anticipating what was to come. During that time, he’d tried to silently convey his support to her, knowing that she was still uneasy about motherhood. She had no reason to be, she was going to be amazing and he knew it.
Still, he got it. In some ways, he wasn’t sure about his ability to be a father. He couldn’t help but fear that he’d mess up; maybe all those years he’d suffered with the emotional distance of his own father affected him too much. Could he be there for his son when he needed him? The doubt swirled around in his head ever since Wednesday told him she was pregnant. He hadn’t wanted to tell her, not wanting her to be burdened by his thoughts.
“Wednesday,” he whispered. She glanced at him. “It’s okay. I know you're scared. I’m scared too.”
Their attention was turned back to the doctor. “Okay, Wednesday, you need to push now,” he advised. Wednesday looked like a deer caught in the headlights. Tyler gripped her hand, giving her a forceful squeeze.
“You got this, Sweetheart.”
Wednesday did not make a lot of noise other than a grunt here and there. Droplets of sweat accumulated on her forehead, falling just as she was breathing out deeply. Tyler kept whispering encouragingly to her. At one point, she squeezed his hand back, and he kissed her knuckles.
“Keep going,” the doctor told her. “You’re almost there.”
Wednesday inhaled sharply.
“I see the head,” the doctor announced moments later. “One more push, okay? Just one more big push.”
Her nails dug into his hand so hard that they drew blood, but Tyler couldn’t even focus on that when he heard the crying that soon echoed throughout the room. He was frozen, stunned into silence. His son was taken over to a table where they assessed him, meanwhile Tyler seemed to snap out of his stupor, feeling tears come to his eyes.
“We have a baby, Wen,” he said, leaning his forehead against her temple. “You did amazing, Cockroach.”
Wednesday, normally touch-adverse in public, laid her head on his shoulder. She was drowsy after all that, he couldn’t blame her. “Where is he?” She muttered. “I want to see him.”
“He’s getting checked out,” Tyler told her. “He’ll be with us soon.”
He still couldn’t believe it. He was about to hold his baby boy after months of waiting.
“Here you go,” one of the nurse’s came over, handing him over.
Their son made a noise, all wrapped up in a blanket. Tyler felt his heart swell. “Hi,” he said softly, overcome with many emotions. “I’m your daddy.”
His son looked up at him with big blue eyes. He’d never seen anything so precious in his life.
“I love you already,” Tyler gently kissed his head. “I love you so much. Do you wanna go see your mama now?”
Wednesday turned her head to see her son as he was slowly lowered into her arms.
“He’s so beautiful, Wednesday,” Tyler admired them both.
“Yes....” Wednesday was getting choked up. He was mindful not to bring attention to it as she cleared her throat. “Yes, he is. Even though he seems to resemble you greatly.”
He laughed. “You’re full of praise tonight, Addams.”
They kept to their agreed upon name of Dean. Dean Wesley Galpin.
Tyler smiled lovingly down at his little family, grateful that kooky, beautiful girl had given him a chance, and more important,
this
.