endlessdel | (no subject)

Entry tags:

asher,
rob

(no subject)

In her entire lifetime, both human and non-human, Delirium could not recall ever feeling this nervous. Not even on her wedding day had she felt this nervous, she'd simply felt happy and joyful. It was only later that she had felt vengeful and hurt and everything went inside-out wrongways round until she was no longer herself and had become something else entirely. But today, today of all days she felt nervous.

It was not a feeling that she had recognised at first; the fluttering feeling in her stomach, the faint tightness in her chest and the unending worry that she had felt since it had really, really dawned on her that she was carrying a life inside her. It wasn't as if today was special or different, she was just going to have a picture taken of the bump that was all. She was just going to listen to the bunsquid, just to hear it- oh barnabas, she felt sick.

Biting on her fingernails, Delirium looked up at the approaching footsteps and made a face at Asher. Why couldn't Asher have his stomach scanned instead? That would be nice and then she wouldn't have to worry so much.

"i FEEL sQUirmy, bad squiRMY not goOD squirmY squishy." Delirium told him promptly, rubbing her hands and bitten nails over her stomach.

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Asher wasn’t really nervous so much as he was incredibly uncomfortable. The clinic still put him on edge with all of its pristine surfaces and that weird, wrong smell that everything medical had. He’d visited Del there a few times, and had gone in willingly after being attacked by a fucking bear, but other than that, he kept his distance until now.

"You’ll be fine," he said, trying his best to sound reassuring. "I don’t think this sort of thing takes very long. It’s a baby in a stomach, not a needle in a haystack." He was of course assuming that whoever would be doing this wasn't a complete idiot and knew what they were looking for.

Chase had been expecting them (or at least, he'd been hoping they would turn up so he didn't look like a complete idiot) and had all the equipment ready and a little area of the clinic cordoned off for the tests. "Hey Del," he greeted, an edge of nerves in his voice. "How're you feeling?"

Delirium nodded though she still wasn't convinced that her stomach didn't contain a vast void of space or a million tiny little jack in the boxes as well as bunsquid. She smiled a little more easier at the sight of Rob, he always made her feel better.

"squiRMy anD TwiSTed in knOTS inside Like i'm goinG TO THRow uP BUt nOT Like i'm siCK THROwing up. juST THE Head kinD OF THrowiNG up," Delirium said patting his hair fondly. "bUT apART FROM that i aM FEELing pEACHY keEN. AnD i thinK Bunsquid is TOo."

Asher made a point of taking in The Hair. The way Del had talked about it, he was sort of expecting it to speak for itself, maybe greet her the way the guy beneath it just had, like it was a separate entity all together. Fortunately for him, the island was still fucked, but not that fucked.

He stayed silent; he wasn't there for friendly chitchat, just to make sure that the squirmy thing inside Del was okay and had all the pieces it was supposed to. Could that machine pick up tiny fangs?

Okay, so maybe he was a little bit nervous.

"Well, we're going to get a good look at it today," Chase assured the both of them as he started to amass the supplies he would need for the procedure and he had to remind himself that nothing was bound to leap up through Delirium's stomach.

...maybe.

"Okay, Delirium, I'd like you to lie on your back and just lift your clothes for me until I can get at your bare stomach," Chase coaxed gently.

"WhAT iF buNSquiD is SHy and DOesn't waNT hiS OR hER piCTUre takeN?" Delirium asked, wondering whether he or she would make a break out of her stomach or just silently seethe inside her until he or she was born and then it would hate her forever. Delirium made a face but nodded eventually in agreemant and swung her legs up and over before lying down. She pulled her t-shirt and fishnet top up over her belly and smiled a little nervously at Rob. "i EVen woRE UndERWEAR toDAY sO yOU DidN'T FEEL BLushY AND bad. tHEY HAVe uniCOrns on thEM."

Asher tried his best to fight a grin as Del spoke, turning his attention to the machinery instead. "Have you done this before?" He asked Doctor Hair, before quickly clarifying. "Here, I mean." Here, where people who weren't always people in the technical sense, were capable of reproducing. He thought asking if he'd ever seen anything that had two heads and a tail might have been a bit much.

"Delivered babies?" Chase glanced to Asher and asked with a dubious look on his face. "Or done sonograms." He was already fiddling with a couple of pieces of equipment, starting to get everything set up. "I've drilled open heads to deal with blood pressure, handled several difficult births, and fixed a dog's broken leg once," he commented with a bit of sarcasm.

"I think I can handle it," he assured, glancing to Delirium with a bemused smile. "Underwear is always good," he agreed, getting the machine on. "And even if he or she is shy, we'll get a glimpse of something, right?"

"PooR dOggiE," Delirium said absentmindedly as she played with her own hair seeing as Rob's hair was busy and Asher's hair was too far away. Delirium had made Barnabas stay. He hadn't liked that at all and she was going to be in the Dog House when she went home and told him all about her day in the Clinic. "i wANTED oNES with the ALiEN QUeen riDing unicoRNS WhiLST VomiTing rainBOws but the BOX oNLY GAVEme oNES with uNicoRNS ON. THey'rE VERY PrETTY."

Delirium watched Rob set things up and tried to take the deep calming breaths she'd practised. "i hOPE so, i waNT TO see."

"Vet, too? Well, aren't you just an overachiever," Asher commented flatly, stuffing his hands into his pockets. He decided then that, if he ever needed any life or death surgery on the island, he'd choose death. While Del continued rattling on about unicorns and aliens, he wondered if there was any official paperwork he could fill out that would make his skull a no drill zone.

"It's not like I applied for it," Chase mumbled under his breath as he started to dab gel on her stomach and move the machine to allow for the picture to start displaying on the screen before him. Conversation became secondary as he turned his attention to looking for anomalies on the scan (if there were any). "Okay, we should be getting picture...now," he mumbled, starting to press the appropriate pictures to freeze it so he could take a closer look.

"bE nicE OR i wiLL mAKE YOU FEEL aLL PaNiCKed aGaiN," Delirium said making a face at Asher. She rather liked the 'oh god my water just broke' game but no one else seemed to especially not Asher. Delirium giggled at the gel on her stomach- cold, cold, cold- and watched the screen curiously. "tHaT's... thAT's pEOpLE insiDE me. sEE, ASher pEOPLE babY."

"I was being nice," he muttered bitterly, but said nothing more on the subject for fear of being ambushed by that water breaking stunt Del had already pulled on him. He'd kept his hands and teeth to himself, so where was the not nice?

Asher squinted at the screen, but to him, it all looked more like something from that tape in The Ring than a people baby.

Chase was definitely seeing something that couldn't be mistaken and he rolled his chair in front of the screen, eyes glued there and he blinked, gaping in slight panic at what had gone from a very simple thing to something slightly more worrying.

Fuck, he cursed internally, manipulating the image just to be sure.

"hUMANS DoN'T LikE it whEN You do THe toNE on thEM, You cAN DO thE TONe on sTEPHen LAteR," Delirium said patting Asher's arm before looking at Rob to see if his feelings had been hurt. He didn't look upset though, he looked like... Oh, oh Blank Face. She hated that slightly panicky face. Delirium pointed at him and looked worried at Rob. "BLanK FACE. AsHER maKe HiM STop doiNG THE BLanK FAce."

"What's wrong with it?" Asher asked, sounding genuinely concerned. Short of forcing Del to live in a protective bubble, he thought he'd kept her - them - safe enough. And he knew it wasn't just him; she had a lot of people watching out for her and the baby. He couldn't have possibly seen the Blank Face when he'd used it on Del, but seeing it now, it was no wonder Del hated it so much.

Chase shook his head, tracing the shapes with his eyes and glancing back to both Delirium and Asher. "As of right now, with this scan, there is nothing critically wrong with them," he said, professionally, wondering if they would catch onto that or if he'd have to get a lot more specific.

Delirium looked blankly at him, wondering why he was making the panicked face if there was nothing wrong with them...oh. Delirium blinked as she leaned forward to try and look around Chase at the image. Them.

"Oh! Oh, peachy keen." Del said with a smile as she shifted to look at her belly. How did she fit two-or more- people inside of her? "i'M LiKE A CLowN CAR."

While he did avoid a completely blank expression to washing over his face (only because he'd promised), Asher paled slightly, looking thoroughly panicked. He'd made no promises in regards to that.

"Them?" he echoed, ignoring the screen and concentrating on Chase now. The screen still looked like a jumble to him, but facial features, he could read. "How many of them are stuffed up there?!"

"Unless one's hiding in the shadow of these, only the two," Chase assured, sending the pictures to be printed before he wheeled back over to Delirium to keep feeling around slightly. "It's looking pretty good as of right now," he advised. "I mean, clearly I'm concerned about you and...well, doubly so, now. Can you tell me how you've been feeling, Delirium? Over the past few weeks."

"TwiNS, oh LiKe Desire aND Despair. TwO Asher, tWO bunsquids inSide me. doN'T paniC aSher, ChaseY saiD iT LOOKs pretty good." Delirium said rubbing Asher's arm with a smile. His poor human heart would kill him at this rate and then she'd be very annoyed with him. Delirium lifted her hands so Chase could poke and prod as much as he wanted. "dO You mEAN HEadwiSE or BODYwise?"

Delirium thought about the question, reaching up for her own hair so she could play with it.

"oKAY HEADwise, well different really bUT OkaY AND dOCTor sWEETS taLks to me anD he's reALLY nice. And bODYwise, i'VE Not eatEN things i'm NOT SUPPOsed to and i've bEEN DoiNG The PANTY thinG anD THe exerCise. SLeeping is HARD buT thAT'S BecaUSE i caN'T get coMFY. oR THen bUNsquid-they mOVe or kick and i wakE up or nEED to pEE." Delirium said not knowing if she'd answered the question or not. "but i'M MOstLY PeacHY kEen. ASheR Does a vERY GOOD jOB OF bEing an OVER ProtecTive bUBBLe."

Only the two. Yeah, well, that was easy for him to say, wasn't it? Not that Asher was the one in the room with any right to complain. That right kind of belonged to Del. She was the one who had to carry them, after all.

"I think it's a bit late for that." He was beyond panicked, he just put on a good front and kept himself together. The act would be as good as dropped the second he found himself alone.

Chase glanced to Delirium before his eyes skirted to Asher, eyeing him with a bit of worry in his eyes. "Have you considered going with Delirium to some of her sessions with Dr. Sweets?" he asked, still gathering as many pictures as he could to make sure the babies were really healthy (and trying to calm the voice in his head going 'twins? christ's sake').

"oKay thEN pAnic LateR anD thEN AFTERwards whEN your sisTER isn'T LookiNG, i'LL givE YOU A huG. aND YOU can wrAP Me uP in AS mUCH COttoN woOL and bUBBLE WRaP as yoU Can find," Delirium said to Asher, wondering if she could show Chase her underwear yet. "They're private. They're for me and Doctor Sweets."

Her voice was almost sharp and serious. "okiES? miNE and i'M not shaRing."

"You heard the lady," Asher said with a pointed nod down at Del. "They're private. Serious tone and all."

Sessions or no sessions, Asher had no doubts that Sweets was already analyzing every fucking thing he said or did, probably right down to how he blew his nose. It was the down side of having a live in shrink.

"Then I suggest," Chase said, a bit heavier, "that you have your own private sessions with him because this isn't exactly any kind of routine for you, I'm imagining. And that comes as head of the Psych department and not Delirium's GP."

"oH-oH doES GP sTAND FOr GRANDPa bECAUse i ALREady HAve oNE OF THem and hE MOCKS AND sCOrNS me. WeLL he givES Me LOOKs, i doN'T LiKE THE Looks thEY ReminD me of White things." Delirium rambled away quite happily, she wanted to look at the picture and she wanted to know things. She didn't care if Asher freaked, she thought that was what human fathers were supposed to do and occasionaly and very humourously pass out. "arE THey hEALTHY? bOY or giRLs oR Both oR in BETWeen? AnD SHouLD i bE Doing soMEThing ELse for thEM BecauSE THerE ARe tWO of them anD ONLY onE OF me."

"Because the kid who's more than twenty times my junior, never been anything but human and probably didn't leave any kids of his own back home... he gets it." There was nothing in his tone that made it sound like he was buying what this guy was selling.

"Look, if Del gets something out of seeing him, more power to her, really, but I'm not her."

Chase shrugged idly as he set the pictures to print. "Your loss," he offered, without much attachment to the idea. He pushed the chair over to find the pictures and to extend them to both Asher and Delirium. "Everything looks healthy, which means I want you to keep on with what you're doing. No lapsing now, okay? And GP is just a general practitioner," he clarified.

There was, however, one more look given to Asher. "Do you want to know the sex of the babies, before I tell?"

Edited 2009-01-25 13:41 (UTC)

Delirium took the picture eagerly, looking at the blurry grainy blob and trying to distinguish her bunsqu-her children, her beautiful children, in the image.

"Okay Chasey, I Promise With Capitals." Delirium said, touching the photograph fondly before she looked up. "i WaNt TO knOW, i wAnT to KNOW. tHAT's not faiR to KEEP SecRETS."

"Um... Yeah, okay." He'd just found out there were two of them in there, finding out what they were had to be relatively stress free in comparison. Asher hoped the surprises were over with now, and if there really was a third hiding somewhere, he didn't want to know till the delivery date.

"Well, unless the scan is being deceptive, and it has been known to happen," he started off with his warning, shooting the both of them a look, hoping they wouldn't take his word as law and run with it, "you're looking at having one boy and one girl. I'll know better and more sure as they grow."

"LiKE Desire aND Despair, excEPT Desire isn'T REALLY EiTHER SEX its bOTH and NeiTHER. A bOY ANd a giRL, ASher you're GOinG TO be a DADDy." Delirium said with a smile, looking at the picture fondly. Pulling her top down, she swung her legs over the side so she could hug Chase quite happily. "thANK YOU Chase. tWO HeALTHY babiES. i'M... delighted."

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