Last Call (Abi/Vilkas)

Abi had been here once previously, before the emergency which had left her at a large estate for most of the summer. Vilkas had seemed nervous then and Abi could only imagine how nervous he'd be seeing her now. She was officially thirty-six weeks into her pregnancy, and it more than showed. Walking was tricky, breathing took a little effort, and she was always hungry because she couldn't eat more than a few bites at a time.

Vilkas would have visited her had she asked, but she'd been taking exemplary care of herself. She did what light exercises she could, ate healthy, and was determined to make it as close to term as possible. She'd only put herself on bed rest after Dru had passed away. She needed out, though. She rapped on the door, then returned her hand to the large, tight ball she was finally used to carrying.

Vilkas answered the door within moments, his bare feet whispering on the mat in front of his door. Sure, there was a welcome mat outside of the door, but running around barefoot as often as possible meant that an extra layer of protection was generally a good idea. His jeans hung below his heels and the shirt he'd thrown on as a courtesy ended just at the top of his trousers. "Hi," he said, his face brightening as he stepped back, door handle in hand. "Come in. I've got something cooking, if you're interested."

When one craved meat as much as he did, cooking at home meant saving a hell of a lot of money, and he thought he was rather good at it. His eyes darted to her belly, but he refused to let them dwell. "How are you?" The door opened into the kitchen, which had a partial wall across from the door that had a bar-height counter accompanied by a couple of stools. A small table with chairs sat beyond that, and just through the open walkway the living room could be seen, which was filled with comfortable furniture he loved curling up into.

"I'm close," Abi said, "and whatever you're cooking smells wonderful." She couldn't have gotten onto a barstool without magical intervention so she proceeded instead to the table and sank gratefully into a chair.

"Do you want to help me with names?" she asked. "I know it's late, bUT I was busy overy the summer." She'd only written the vaguest details, that she'd been asked to a large house party as backup healthcare, that she wasn't participating but mostly spending time with their governess, a good friend of hers, and that her skills had been needed after all. With school in session she had decided that showing Vilkas she was well would be better than telling.

"A name? I don't know how to name anything, much less an actual, real human," Vilkas said, turning to the stove. At least with the half-wall he could still see Abi. "I don't even know...I mean, if we don't know if it's a boy or a girl, then how can we come up with a name?" Open the oven, slide in the meat, stir the vegetables. It was almost done, and at least speaking over dinner would give them something to do. Why did he have to be so...not confident when around her?

Abi smiled. "We choose more than one name," she replied. She looked down at her abdomen, much larger than the average single birth. Even without checking the sex, she had a strong feeling about this. Maybe she should check just so she'd know for sure, but this would likely be her only pregnancy and she wanted the joy of that surprise.

She looked back up and at what she could see of Vilkas. "I... I think we'll need more than one name anyway," she admitted.

Vilkas looked up at her without understanding for a few moments, then his eyes widened. "No," he said. The past months had been filled with preparations for one child, and just that had pushed his financial limitations and made him consider graduating to have a better job. While he knew Abi could likely care for any child on her own, he wanted to be just as much a part of the baby's life, damn it! Another child would force the issue. Maybe he should speak with Cat about graduate work. "Are you certain? I mean...that's a bit of a change, you know. I was expecting one, not a litter." Bad joke? Maybe.

Abi laughed a little awkwardly at that, and her cheeks pinkened. She looked down at her hands and played absently with the bracelet around her left wrist. "The only way to be certain would be to test myself, which would also tell us its sex." Or their sex.

"And I'm so close to having them. Him. Oh, I don't know!" Another Braxton Hicks contraction started, as though to remind her just how close she was. At least, she hoped it was Braxton Hicks. She tried to calm herself, to keep from crying. She'd been doing so well!

Vilkas reached for a kettle of water boiling on the stovetop and poured out a cup of tea, then brought it around to her. "Are you okay?" he asked, worry washing over his expression as he looked her over. Tea and dinner for a guest, some things that stuck with him from his mother were good. This wasn't a situation he had ever been prepared for. "Can I get you anything?"

Abi shook her head lightly. "False contractions," she said. "They're very common in the final weeks of pregnancy." Thinking about it objectively helped. When it had passed, she smiled weakly and accepted the tea. "Really, if I was carrying multiples I should have had them by now."

Vilkas eyed her warily, but opted not to voice any worries. She was a healer, she should be able to take care of things and know when to go ask for help from someone else. "Well, just ask, okay? And when it happens, well..." it seemed to be a given he wanted to be there. He took a breath and headed back into the kitchen. Why did he always end up feeling like an idiot whenever the topic of actual kid thing came up?

Vilkas was so quiet, nothing like the cocky, sexual being he'd been once, and it was difficult for Abi. If she'd only kept more potion on hand or stayed at that party instead of running off... She rested a hand on her abdomen. She didn't know anymore if she truly wished it hadn't happened, but only for selfish reasons. She'd delivered quite a few babies over the years and now she'd have her own little miracles.

Vilkas was so young though! Yes, he was an adult, most definitely a man, but he didn't have the means to care for children. She did. She was smart about saving, had a good career, and... Oh dear.

"Perhaps calling a Healer would be wise, after all," Abi said, her lips pressed thin. "It seems that my water just broke."

Vilkas' eyes widened, the announcement jerking him out of his thoughts. "Tempest up at the school is great, I can call for him," he said, quickly turning active rather than introspective. Thank god for magic, he thought to himself when it took only a couple of minutes to send off a patronus to the man and got the kitchen under control to wait all of it out. "I think he's probably used to random calls from me." It wasn't exactly uncommon for him to end a romp in the woods with a wound or two. Or three.

By the end of those couple minutes, Abigail was in the bathroom, cleaning up. She didn't know the university Healer and hoped he'd tell her that she could make it to a hospital. Any hospital. From what she could tell, she didn't have time, even with contractions coming slowly.

The language might have been a bit too quick and technical for Vilkas at first, but within twenty minutes Tempest was fairly caught up with Abigail's pregnancy thus far. They briefly went over statistics, nutrition, and overall health, then began getting things ready. Abi was in no state to walk, Floo, apparate, or Knight Bus to the university hospital.

Things proceeded swiftly and soon the first baby was crowning. Tempest glanced up at Vilkas. "Do you want to catch, or shall I do it?"

Vilkas' eyes widened, and his lips parted, and for a moment he was frozen. He had gone through a lot of potentials for this event, and catch the baby hadn't exactly fit into any of them. Did the babies come out fast enough to need catching? "I...I can do it." His expression set and in a second or two his mane of hair was tied into a short leather thong. "Just tell me what to do."