Chapter Fifty-Eight

At hospital, Lucy bent over the bed with Harry behind her, rubbing her back. With three months to go in the pregnancy, drugs had just been administered to her, hopefully, to stop the contractions. She got into bed with a huff and Harry waited patiently beside her. It was going to be a few hours before the drugs were going to work, but her waters hadn't broken so that was a good sign.

Lucy brushed her blonde hair back and laid on the bed. Her chest went up and down. Within her, the baby girls moved quickly, throwing themselves into her sides. That pain wasn't the concern at the moment. Harry held her hand as another passed. A doctor would've checked on them again soon, anyway.

"Names?" he asked.

Shaking her head, Lucy changed the subject, "Tell me something happy. Make me laugh."

"Um... okay." Nothing came to Harry's mind at the moment. White light just danced above his eyes. There was a buzzing sound in his head. "Well, um...."

"Faster," she hissed.

"Um...." Still nothing came to mind.

"Distract me."

"Um... um...." Why was this so nerve racking for him? "I once had a bodyguard named Jamie Winchester, and she is American. And I worked with her in war zone. There was a strike and she ended up being my bodyguard, because she was cheap and it was constantly her scolding me."

Lucy's eyes swept over to him. "That's all you got?"

"I dated a girl named Meredith once." Why did that pop into his mind? "I slept with a journalist once... or multiple times." Why did that come out of his mouth?

As for calming down Lucy, it wasn't working. Glaring at him, she huffed and wasn't calm. Harry knew he fucked up.

Harry thought about it more. "Um... do you want to know how I was going to ask you to marry me?"

"You're telling me the kitchen wasn't your original idea?" Lucy's hand slowly released Harry's, with the pain gone. Panic was still there but she needed to be calm. She needed to breathe.

"I was going to take you to the beach originally, because I know you love the beach. I know you love the ocean. And I was going to do it with flowers and candles, with the sun setting, but then I thought about dropping the ring in the sand and losing it. Or what if it was raining or it was windy? I know you wouldn't care too much, but I wanted it to be perfect.

"So then I thought about National Gallery in London," Harry continued, "and I thought about asking you to marry me in front of one of the exhibits, but then I knew you would get distracted by the history and then I'd lose my nerve. I thought about doing it in the gardens at Buckingham Palace but you have allergies and you're not a huge fan of flowers anyway. Anything I thought of, I talked myself out of it because something was always going to go wrong. I just wanted it to be perfect."

"And the kitchen came about because?"

"I had enough confidence."

Lucy laughed out right. "Are you serious?"

"Yes. I didn't want to lose my nerve so I ran upstairs and grabbed the ring and came back downstairs. It had to be there and then."

"Did I scare you off that much?"

"No, but I wanted it to be perfect."

"For you?"

Harry nodded. "I knew-- I hoped you would say yes, and that you wouldn't care how it was done. It's the same way you didn't care if the wedding was perfect or not. You care about the big picture. I wanted it perfect for me, for my confidence."

Lucy touched Harry's face and smiled. "It was perfect. All of this has been perfect." The words left her mouth as she sucked in a quick breath. Another contraction hit. Gripping his hands harshly, they held onto each other. Harry put his forehead to her head and breathed with her. Lucy breathed deeply-- in and out, in and out-- and then she froze. Harry noticed the change immediately. "Harry."

"Luce?" His blue eyes searched her.

"My waters broke."

Quickly thereafter, the doctor entered and checked Lucy. There wasn't a way to stop the contractions now. The baby girls were coming, three months early. Fear managed to pump through Lucy now, burning through her veins as more medicine was pushed into her IV. Harry hung onto her hand, knowing the fear. Once again it was about their baby girls, but then there was, for the first time, Lucy's fear for herself.

Lucy didn't like hospitals, and she went out of her way not to ever go near something that required surgery. Lucy had hurt her knee a few years back and she continued to ignore pain and sometimes a limp so that surgery wasn't needed. Her fear of hospitals went far back, all the way back to sixteen years old, when she was shot. It didn't help with how many surgeries she needed afterward. Moving on from that, surgeries had come and gone throughout her life. Lucy did her best to stay away from them.

"Get the theatre ready. We're doing a cesarean."

Harry kissed her head. "I'm right here. I'm with you. I love you." He squeezed her hand. "I love you."

"We need to go now. Your highness, go with this nurse and he'll get you changed to be in theatre with your wife." The doctor turned to Lucy and gave her the best smile he could. Yet the doctor said nothing; he gave no words of encouragements or hope. He wheeled her off with Harry left behind.

Being taken off to the side, Harry was given a surgery gown with a surgery cap and cloth coverings for his shoes. Outside waited Tony, Lucy's personal bodyguard and current middleman, gave the change in condition. The boys had been moved to William and Catherine, and their children. Harry followed the nurse down the hallway and into the theatre. Lucy was already under sedation, no longer able to feel below the chest. Blue sheets were hung and her stomach laid out. Her eyes were closed.

A lump formed in Harry's throat. He felt sick. Bile raised. He walked over to Lucy slowly and her eyes immediately opened. There wasn't fear but bravery. There was fear deep inside of her, but Lucy refused to be scared, like always. Harry held her hands, which trembled. Kissing her on the forehead, he looked away as they cut her open.

Lucy's eyes closed and hummed to herself, all so that she didn't see what happened around her. If she ignored it enough, then it wouldn't have been there. This wouldn't have been happening. Harry hummed with her, and then there was a first cry. It was small and squeaky, unlike fully awake, as if still underwater. The baby was small as it was pulled away and placed under a hot spotlight. Harry watched his daughter go, as her unofficial name became Baby A. Baby B came out next, squeaking slightly still. Baby A was already gone, rolled out of the room. Baby B was placed in the spotlight. The squeaks filled the room before it exited.

There was a shuffling of paper and something else. Harry's stomach churned. Baby C was pulled out; the smallest of the girls. She made no sound. Baby C was pulled off to the side and exited the room before Harry could get a good look at her. He watched as they went, his hands still holding hers tightly. The times were announced, all within a few minutes of each other. The times blurred in his head. The only number Harry could remember was the date: first of July 2027. The three tiny baby girls entered the world.

Harry's blue eyes came down to Lucy, and he didn't want to leave her. However, she told him to go; his little girls needed him. Harry kissed her again, hesitating above her face. He rushed out of the room, following his three little girls.

Lucy stared at the ceiling. Any time she closed her eyes, terrible thoughts happened. The smell started to get to her. The sterile of the room made her nostrils burn. And then there was the smell of her blood, pooling out like always, as there was yet another scar on her skin. Metal clanked against each other, never ending as a doctor talked with nurses around him. Lucy swallowed and breathed deeply. But it was like she felt everything that moved within her, like she felt the hands in her stomach. She knew that was impossible; it was her fear getting to her; yet it felt so real. It felt so wrong.

"Are you okay, your highness?" the doctor asked after noticing Lucy's increasing heart rate. It was too quick, and she knew it.

Lucy couldn't answer without a scream. There were hands in her body, moving things around. She wanted it to end as fear pumped through her veins.

"Your highness, I need you to calm down please." His voice was strong and focused, like he, too, panicked.

Lucy couldn't do it. She caught sight of the blood coming from her body, perhaps a normal amount but Lucy didn't know. Either way, her heart rate rose again. It soared higher. Lucy truly felt something inside of her, like the hands of the doctor.

"Put her out," the doctor commanded. "Your highness, we're going to put a sedative in you so that you fall asleep. You won't feel anything. You'll wake up once the surgery is done."

Whatever the sedative was, it was already into her IV, already making its way into her system. Lucy stared up at the bright white lights in front of her as darkness surrounded her from every edge and every angle. The darkness wanted her. Panic filled her, as memories flashed in her mind, when she went under the knife the first time. She had been awake before surgery, after she was shot, and she watched as doctors rushed around her and nurses never stopped talking. Darkness claimed her as Lucy fell asleep.