Chapter Four
Birth

She swam through the ocean, revelling in the feeling of being mobile. It was an unusual feeling these days, what with looking like she’d swallowed a beach ball. The water allowed her to move more freely, the heaviness of her own body no longer so obvious. Her balance was still a bit off, even in water, but it was far less than on land.

Emma and Cleo swam with her, and for a moment, she envied their thin bodies, the lack of obstruction. But then the baby kicked – as it was wont to do these days, hard enough that she suspected she looked like a big bruise on the inside – and a feeling of love washed over her. It would be another three weeks before the baby was due, and she was looking forward to it. She knew the baby would be a lot of work, and there was still a part of her that wondered if she and Zane were insane to have a kid already, but still—she wanted it. Nine months of waiting would soon be over.

They broke the surface in the moon pool at Mako Island, and Rikki took a deep breath of air.

Cleo chuckled. “Good god, you’re really huge.”

Rikki blushed.

“But you’re still graceful in water,” Emma said.

“Unlike on land, you mean,” Rikki said. “Where I look like a stranded whale.”

“I didn’t say that,” Emma protested, but at Rikki’s raised eyebrow, she conceded, “Yeah.”

“I guess we won’t be swimming all that much in a few weeks,” Cleo said, sounding rather sad all of a sudden. “You’ll have the baby and you won’t have time for us.”

“I’ll always make time for swimming,” Rikki said, “although I probably won’t be able to go as often as I do now.”

“We’ll have to come by and play with the baby instead,” Cleo said. “It’ll be so cute. Oh, I wonder if it’s a boy or a girl. What do you want?”

“A healthy baby,” Rikki answered honestly. She’d thought about whether she wanted a boy or a girl, but she could see pros and cons with either sex, and she’d ended up undecided, only wanting one who was healthy and happy.

They lunged about in the pool, enjoying the water and playing with their powers. Since her scare with getting hot a few months ago, Rikki had been more careful about using her powers – and about getting upset or angry. Zane had driven her to madness on one occasion with his over protectiveness, after the first time, and she’d ended up torching their dinner. He’d been able to calm her down fast enough that time, though, and she’d managed to stay calm since.

“God, my back is killing me,” Rikki said groaned, rubbing her back, which had been acting up all morning. It had been better since getting in the water, but now the pain was increasing again.

“Perhaps we should get back,” Emma said.

“No,” Rikki said. “It’s even worse when I’m not in water.”

“I could rub your back for you,” Cleo offered.

She swam over, hands running down Rikki’s back, massaging carefully. Rikki relaxed slightly, the touch nice and gentle.

“You’re good at that,” Rikki said.

“Lewis says the same thing,” Cleo said proudly.

Rikki winced, as a particularly sharp pain travelled through her body.

“That doesn’t look pleasant,” Emma said. “Are you okay, Rikki?”

“Just—back pains,” Rikki said.

“Are you sure?” Emma asked.

“What else would it be?” Rikki asked.

Emma gave her a look. “Labour.”

Rikki snapped her head around to look at Emma. “What?”

“Back pains are usually part of labour,” Emma said. “When did it start?”

“This morning,” Rikki said. “And there’s been these twinges—” She stopped, looking down at her body, and then up at Emma, realization dawning. “Oh great..”

At that moment, the water started bubbling around her – and suddenly, her tail split in two, forming legs instead. Clad in her maternity gown and unused to swimming without a tail, she was quickly dragged under water, panicking as soon as she realized that she couldn’t hold her breath as long now that she was human rather than a mermaid.

Two strong hands grabbed her arms and pulled her up to the surface.

She sputtered and coughed, feeling rather like a drenched cat.

“I’m going to go out on a ledge here and say that I think you’re in labour,” Emma said, rather pointedly.

Rikki didn’t answer, as the pinch she’d felt when she was a mermaid suddenly had turned into full-fledged contractions, and it felt like a hand had grabbed here insides and was twisting them around. She gasped and nearly went under again, unable to swim to stay at the surface, but Emma and Cleo held onto her, keeping her head above the surface.

“Let’s get you up here,” Emma said.

They pulled themselves up on the side of the pool, and then helped Rikki up as well. She sat there, dripping wet and panting, pain wrecking her body – and she had to admit that she was frightened. This wasn’t how she’d planned to give birth. The plan had been to be at home, where Lewis had set up enough equipment for it to look like a small hospital.

But she wouldn’t be leaving now, she knew. There were only two ways out – either she climbed up the steep, wet rocks at the other end of the caves, or she had to swim out through the underwater tunnel. She could do neither now – heavily pregnant and in labour, she was in no position to climb rocks, and as she had obviously lost her tail, albeit hopefully only temporarily, she couldn’t swim either. She would be giving birth in here, whether she wanted to or not.

“I’m going to get Lewis and Zane,” Cleo said. “You just stay here.”

“Where do you think—” she gasped, “I’m planning on going?”

“Good point,” Cleo said. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

“Hurry,” Emma said.

Cleo dove, disappearing out of view in a swirl of bubbles. Rikki laid back, sopping wet and gasping for air.

“Remind me next time,” she said between gritted teeth, “that pain whilst a mermaid equals labour as a human.”

“Will there be a next time?” Emma asked, wiping away wet hair from Rikki’s forehead.

“Doubtful,” Rikki ground out.

The contraction had released its hold on her, and she relaxed, only the dull pain in her back and the insides of her thighs still hurting. She hoped she’d have time to recuperate, and for that matter, that there was still time between the contractions, because otherwise she might be having this baby before Zane had time to get there. She didn’t want to give birth without him there.

She had no idea how much time had passed – it could have been seconds, or minutes, or more – when the hand seemed to reach back into her and started painfully twisting her insides again, the grip like a vice. Tears started trickling down her cheeks at the pain, and she grasped Emma’s hand and held on tight.

Emma held a hand to her forehead, cooling her sweaty brow off with a bit of mermaid power.

“You’re doing good,” Emma said, probably more to keep them both calm than because it was actually true. Rikki was only doing what felt natural, and what she’d read up on doing – breathing in and out as calmly as she could.

“Where are they?” she gasped, coming down from the contraction.

“She’s only been gone five minutes,” Emma said, a pinch of compassion creasing her brow. “I’m sure they’ll get here as fast as they can.”

“He’d better,” Rikki said. “It’s his kid, and I’m not having his kid without him here—”

Emma smiled slightly. “They’ll be here soon.”

Rikki nodded. The baby was calm within her; she’d read that during labour, the baby stayed still and scrunched up, so that it could pass through the birthing canal. It was nice to not have it kicking her in her ribs, but then the kicks had been replaced with contractions a thousand times more painful, so it wasn’t really a good deal after all.

“Can you dry us off?” Emma asked. “I’ll probably be more useful if I can move around.”

Rikki nodded, glad for something else to think about. She was feeling hot, and suspected that her fear was driving her temperature up. It didn’t take much to dry them both off, and then Emma could move around, sitting behind her instead so that Rikki could lean into her as the next contraction started taking over her body.

Six contractions later – they were coming closer and closer together – Cleo returned. Her dark hair pooled around her as she took in the scene before her.

“They’ll be here in a few minutes,” she said. “I’ve never seen Zane run so fast.”

“He’d—better—be,” Rikki gasped, holding onto Emma’s hands, probably so tightly she was hurting her. Emma didn’t protest though, she simply spoke quietly in Rikki’s ear, encouraging words to keep her calm. Rikki barely heard what she was saying, but appreciated it nonetheless – the last thing she needed was to get so upset that no one could touch her without being scalded.

She was in the middle of a contraction when Zane and Lewis finally rushed into the cave. Rikki barely registered how Lewis stopped to stare – she only saw Zane, felt his hands on her face and rubbing her stomach.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

She wanted rather badly to punch him. “I’m in labour!”

He smiled sheepishly. “Is there anything I can do?”

“Get this thing out of me,” Rikki growled.

The contraction released its hold, but she could already feel another one building.

“We need to get your underwear off,” Lewis said. “Can you do it yourself?”

Rikki nodded, making a face. She’d be far from in private here – then again, if there was anyone she wanted present for this, it was the four people who were there with her now.

With some help from Zane, she managed to pull her underwear, which was soaked with stuff coming from inside of her, off. She didn’t look very closely; she simply threw them in a corner of the cave.

Emma and Rikki stayed back while Lewis, who looked a bit pale but set in concentration anyway, kneeled between her legs. Rikki felt her face flushing with embarrassment, and she turned into Zane, who stroked her hair and told her everything would be fine.

The next contraction hit her, and she held back a scream.

“You’re eight centimetres dilated, if I’ve figured this out correctly,” Lewis said.

“No ifs,” Rikki said, panting and groaning, twisting this way and that as she tried to get more comfortable. “You’re supposed to know.”

“Well, this is kind of new to me too,” Lewis said.

She glared at him for a second, before squeezing her eyes shut as she tried to breathe through the pain. She held onto Zane’s hand, not caring much at all if she happened to break it – this was his fault! This pain was all his fault, and he had to take none of it.

When the next contraction washed over her, she screamed. “I want to push!”

“You can’t, not yet,” Lewis said. “You might tear.”

Rikki growled, panting and trying desperately to get enough oxygen into her lungs to drown out the pain. It didn’t work; it simply came stronger and stronger, and the primal need to push the baby out of her was overwhelming.

Finally, after seconds, minutes or hours – Rikki had no idea which – Lewis said that it was okay to push. She didn’t know if she had enough strength left as tears trickled down her cheeks and her hair was wet with sweat. But Zane sat by her side, holding onto her hand, stroking her hair, and comforting her with words she didn’t hear, but knew nonetheless.

It seemed to go on forever – she felt the baby’s head pass, and then the excruciating pain of the baby’s shoulders, and then, with a sort of wet, slippery sound, the rest of the baby was expelled from her body, leaving her crying from the sudden relief. Zane moved away from her, and she leaned back, her head falling to the side as exhaustion took over. She knew to continue to push for a little longer, the afterbirth sliding out of her, and then she lay there, panting.

She heard cries filling the cave, and it was the most amazing sound she’d ever heard.

Emma and Cleo were both there, cleaning her off with moist towels, and she wondered briefly if she’d turn into a mermaid.

“Congratulations,” she heard Lewis say. “You have a beautiful baby girl.”

He must have brought the blankets and towels, because Zane turned around with a little bundle in his hands, it was wrapped up in a yellow blanket with teddy bears on it. There was a look of shock on Zane’s face as he gazed down at the little baby. He kneeled carefully in front of Rikki.

“Look what we did,” he said.

Rikki let out a cry of happiness and relief at the sight of her daughter, cheeks pink and blue eyes open, staring at the wide world she’d suddenly been thrown into.

With great care, and an air of unease because he couldn’t remember ever holding a baby, Zane placed their daughter on Rikki’s chest. The baby found her nipple, and started suckling, both tiny hands curling in contentment.

“She’s beautiful,” Cleo said.

“Absolutely gorgeous,” Emma agreed.

“She seems perfectly healthy from what I can tell,” Lewis said. “And she has no reaction to water.”

Then they fell silent, as Zane sat down and cradled his fiancé and daughter to his chest, holding them both close. Rikki closed her eyes, revelling in the feeling of a baby, her baby, feeding from her. It was odd, but at the same time, perfectly natural.

“I’m a mom,” she said softly, looking down at her daughter. She looked up, finding Lewis who was still cleaning up. “Thank you.”

Lewis looked surprised. “Of course. You’re welcome.”

Rikki smiled at him, and closed her eyes again. Zane kissed the top of her head, and Lewis, Emma and Cleo all smiled at the little, new family.

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