yelled thirty minutes later. “I’m serious! This is just fucking awful. I am going to have a talk with my mother and every other motherfucking god responsible for fertility and childbirth. They are clearly a bunch of sadists. I mean, who would make this up? Pushing a literal human being from a body orifice! It’s pure insanity.”
While Ryker agreed with Max, he also found her rant funny as hell and a single chuckle got loose before he could stop it. Max whipped her head around from her position on all fours – a position she had deemed more comfortable three contractions ago. The glare he received contained enough heat to rival the sun and he quickly apologised. “Sorry. I completely agree with you.”
“Damn fucking right you agree with me,” Max grumbled, hanging her head once more. “I swear, I better not rip from hole to hole. That’s a thing you know!”
Considering Ryker was currently at the same end as said holes, he really, really did not need that visual. He wasn’t sure anyone could hear them in their weird little dome, but he still prayed to any god listening to leave Max’s holes separate. He didn’t claim to be an expert on female anatomy, but he knew those holes were supposed to be like eyebrows – there should always be two. “How are you feeling?” he asked, changing the subject and rubbing the small of Max’s back. Her contractions were now coming practically on top of one another and Max was beginning to show signs of fatigue.
“I feel like I need to push.”
It was the third time Max had told him as much and although he knew a lot of childbirth was instinctual and automatic, he also knew it could be a bad thing to push too soon. After the first time, Ryker had warily checked between Max’s legs. The transformation down there brought tears to his eyes, but he let that go and tried to focus on what Max said he should be seeing – and feeling. Yes, Max had made him check how much of his hand he could fit and also if he could feel the baby’s head. He knew he was going to need a lot of therapy after this and only prayed he would develop amnesia for certain portions of the delivery process. After his initial investigations, it was deemed Max should wait a bit more before giving in to her body’s urge to push. Taking a deep breath, Ryker prepared himself to check the situation again, only to rear back in panic a second later.
“What? What is it?” Max screeched at him over her shoulder.
Ryker swallowed with difficulty. “I can see the head.”
Max went startlingly white, causing her turquoise eyes to appear even more vibrant. “You can see her?”
Ryker nodded. “I, ah, I think it’s time to push with your next contraction.”
“Really? You think?”
Sarcasm dripped from Max’s mouth like molasses, but Ryker didn’t take offence. Instead he smiled and rubbed her back. “Come on, sweetheart. You got this.”
Max’s breath exploded in a burst of air and tears rushed to her eyes. She nodded once with determination. “I got this.”
The following seven minutes were a blur of noise and fluids, but three long contractions later, Ryker was finally holding his squalling daughter in his arms. She was very pink and very slippery, covered in all sorts of goop and blood. Her dark hair was stuck to her scalp and she was arching her back, screaming her displeasure to the world. And Ryker fell in love instantly, irrevocably, and without prejudice. Tears ran from his eyes as he kissed her angry little brow before helping Max turn over and placing their daughter on her chest. Max gasped, cradling the baby, her eyes eating up every single detail while Ryker did his best to tie off the umbilical cord in three places – twice closest to Max and once close to the baby. When it came time to cut that lifeline between mother and baby though, he finally hesitated. His hand shook and he was terrified of cutting that last and vital connection.
“It’s okay. She’s okay,” Max told him, clearly reading his hesitation. The baby let out another angry mewl, causing them both to laugh. “See?”
Ryker nodded, quickly cutting the cord now. He then wrapped his daughter up, put clean bedding underneath Max, and coaxed her through birthing the placenta. He was horrified at what the life-sustaining organ looked like and he quickly wrapped it up, pushing