A New Arrival

Sam shook his head and lifted her into his arms against her protests. -You.are.going.- He ignored her fussing at him and headed out the door. Martha saw him carrying her and he nodded, she opened the door quickly and rushed out to the jeep to help him get Luna in there. Sliding her into the passenger seat, Emma came running from the house all excited.

"Here's the bag! I'll stay with Gramma. Bring me home my baby....I can't say..." She grinned and looked up at Martha with a wink. He smiled and took the bag, tossing it into the back and rushing back to Emma to kiss her forehead. 

-Thank you princess. We'll be back soon with your brother or sister.- He stood and looked at Martha. -Thank you too, for everything. I'll keep you updated.-

He rushed over to the other side and started the jeep, shaking his head at her pleas to have the baby here. -Luna, we are not taking any chances. We're going. That's that.-

"Martha! Martha, you take care of her and you do not.... OH FOR THE LOVE OF FUCKING CHRIST!" She let out a quick breath and gripped her stomach as she met Martha's eyes. "Do NOT let her do anything with the pack. Not until I get back. I MEAN IT!"

She didn't want to go to the hospital; one, she didn't trust Martha not to do something stupid with Emma, and two.... She had shifted on national TV. People EVERYWHERE had seen it. They would recognize her, she just knew it! And her instincts were telling her that they were headed for the lions den. But would Sam listen? Of course not. Stubborn ass man.

"Then fucking get me there already!" Her contractions were closer and closer; she knew it wouldn't take long for them to be close enough for her to push. She reached over and gripped Sam's leg as he backed out of the driveway and gave it another squeeze as they took off for the hospital.

He drove like a bat out of hell to the hospital partially because he was afraid of her popping their child out right here and there and partly because he was losing circulation in his leg that she was gripping with a force. Trying to ignore the pain and thank God it wasn't his bad leg, he turned into the hospital emergency area and got out.

Rushing inside, he found a nurse. -My...my wife, she's in labor. Her water broke...help.- She nodded and grabbed a wheelchair to follow him as he limped back outside. The nurse asked if that was his vehicle and he nodded. She opened the passenger door and smiled. 

"Hello there, let's get you inside. It looks like we're having a baby." 

He watched on as the nurse helped Luna into the chair, smiling although she continued to give him the 'you are so dead' look. 

"Sir, I'll need you to move your vehicle from the ambulance entrance." 

He nodded and headed back to the jeep, but not before kissing her forehead and telling her he'd be right back.

"I'll be fine. I've done this be.....UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Her stomach tightened and it felt like she had been hit by a semi-truck. Their Peanut was trying as hard as it could to get here, apparently.

"Wow, they seem to be pretty close together don't they, sweet heart?" Luna tried her hardest not to snap at her. Nicknames... She hated nicknames. "Yes. They are really.... fucking.... close.... Now get me to a fucking room before I get up, squat in the floor and HAVE THIS BABY RIGHT HERE!"

The nurse gasped a bit and started pushing her a bit more quickly, leading her into the room and helping her into the bed quickly. As she sat on the bed, she immediately shot up and let out a scream loud enough to rattle the walls. The pressure was outrageous, the pain white hot and searing; all she wanted was for this baby to get out of her. Right. Now.

"Ma'am, you're gonna have to lay on the bed," the nurse started to say, but Luna cut her eyes at her and glared. "I've had a kid before. I know what I'm doing. SAM! HURRY UP!" The nurses eyes shot open and she ran out of the room, leaving Luna to stand there wincing and trying not to push.

When he entered the hospital again, he could have sworn he heard Luna...couldn't be, could it. He pushed the button for the elevator and waited to go up to labor and delivery. Once he exited the elevator on the fourth floor, the same nurse came rushing to him with a terrified look on her face. It was then he heard , "SAM! HURRY UP!" and went to rush to her room. The nurse stopped him. 

"I'm sorry sir, I need you to fill out some forms."

-Fuck the forms, I'll fill out the forms when my wife and child are safe. Right now we need to worry about her. Deal. You don't know Luna, she can be...well...she'll kill us both if we don't get the baby out.- 

The nurse sighed and looked back at the room, wincing at the yelling. She nodded and looked back up at Sam. "The doctor is on his way, I paged him. Do you know if she wants a natural birth or would she like something to take the edge off?"

-I don't know, we never...I mean she never said....can we just drug her drink or something?-

The nurse laughed, "I guess I'll need to ask her." 

Sam followed her back towards the room Luna was in and he smiled softly to calm her. Moving over to where she stood he placed a hand on the small of her back and took her hand. -Why don't you lay down, we don't want it falling on the floor or anything....you know.-

"Miss Garza, would you like an epidural?"

"I can't lay down. It feels like there's a fucking watermelon trying to push its way out of my vagina." She was close to tears, her body aching like it was being ripped apart from the insides, and she was terrified of being recognized.

"I don't want drugs. No drugs." She had to be alert; what part of that didn't he understand? "Please. Just... I need to push. I want to push." Something wasn't right. She felt a jerk in her stomach, almost a tearing pain, and blood started to slowly drip down her legs.

Her eyes shot up and she stared at Sam, fear evident on his face. "Get. It. OUT!" Please, don't let her baby die. That's all she could think; she couldn't bear it if she lost her Peanut. Not after all they had been through. "Come on, Peanut. Hang on."

He watched in horror as his face paled from the sight of blood leaking from her body. -That's...that's not normal is it.- The nurse snapped into action. 

"Okay Miss Garza you NEED to lay down so I can check you. Otherwise you're risking your child's life. I know you can't lay down because of the pain, but I need you to try. Please try." 

He looked at Luna, anxiously waiting her decision. When she nodded, he let out a sigh of relief and walked closer to help hold her hand as she climbed on the bed. Other nurses came in and began to start an IV for fluids, one cleaning her up and helping her remove her pants and under wear. Sam watched on not saying a word, nervous that something was wrong. He just listened. 

"I need 4 cc of Demerol intravenously, stat. How dilated is she?" An older man in a white coat entered and began ordering things. He pulled on his gloves while the nurse checked Luna. 

Another nurse started her IV and soon after an RN pushed a small syringe of pain medicine into the tube. 

"We're at an 8 doctor." 

He looked up at Luna, narrowing his eyes and looking like he recognized her. Sam stepped in. -Hello, I'm Sam and this is Luna. Is everything okay?- The doctor nodded slowly and cleared his throat. 

"Miss Garza, we're going to need you to hold off on pushing. Can you do that? I know it's hard, but you risk hurting yourself if you try to push now. You're dilating fast so we should be at a 10 soon."

She saw recognition on his face and tried to speak, tried to get off of the bed but her legs weren't working right. She tingled all over and her eyes widened a bit. They had given her drugs. "I.... I didn't want..... the..... I didn't....." She shook her head and tried to clear her vision, but things just continued to stay fuzzy. Soon enough, she didn't care about the pain anymore.

The doctor said don't push? Nooooo problem. A tear streamed down her face and she looked at Sam, her body feeling weaker and weaker by the second. "I wanna push. Let me... Let me push, please. I need to." Nodded her head slowly and looked at the doctor speaking with the first nurse in the corner; they had frowns on their faces. What were they talking about? Paranoia tried to kick in, but the synapses in her brain weren't firing right. Why was she worried again? Something about a TV and people watching. She couldn't remember.

Sam went over to her side and sat next to the bed, running a cold cloth along her brows. He held her hand and shushed her, trying to offer comfort. -I love you, you can do this...but you have to listen to the doctors. We have to get to ten, you can do it baby.- He kissed her hand and looked back at the nurses. A good twenty minutes had passed.

-Can you check her again or something, come on...don't just stand there!-

The nurse came over and looked between her legs, checking her cervix for dilation. She looked behind her, over her shoulder and nodded at the doctor. "Ten."

The doctor and nurse switched positions, "Alright, you can push. We're going to count to ten as you push then you rest. Okay here we go give me a big push. One...two...three...four...five...."

Sam was counting with the Doctor as Luna squeezed his hands. 

"..Seven...eight....nine....ten. And Breathe."

She breathed in fast, and deeply, as they counted to ten and immediately went back into pushing.

One.... two..... three..... four..... five... six..... seven........ eight......... nine..............ten!

Why were they slowing down on the counting? Didn't they know that she had a baby to deliver? A new member to bring into their family and to let Sam have the family he had never had before? She needed her Peanut. She needed that baby here NOW!

"Sam. Sam, I'm scared." The doctor had a glint in his eye, and the nurse was whispering something to him as he messed around under the gown she was wearing. "What are you saying?" Her body trembled and another contraction hit causing her to push harder than before.

Sam was getting nervous that something was wrong with the baby and they weren't saying. They continued to count and Luna continued to push. He looked at the clock and she'd been pushing for twenty three minutes now. -How long does this take?-

"The baby is crowing, once the head is out it should go fairly fast. Come on Miss Garza, one more big push." The doctor went back to counting and grinned when he saw the head come out more. Sam wanted to look but refrained. Some things were just not meant to be seen. 

-Come on baby, push. You can do it.- He ran the cloth over her head again and kissed her cheek.

She let out a yell when she pushed the final time, and felt the baby slide out of her body. The sense of emptiness was strange after so many months of feeling kicks and flutters, but she didn't care. Her Peanut was here!

"Let me...." Silence. Wait, no.... There was something. She heard a strange sound, a gurgling sound, a strangled cry, and more silence. She looked at Sam, eyes wide and tried to move her body on the bed so she could see her baby.

"Let me see my baby! What's... what's wrong? Shouldn't.... Why isn't Peanut crying? What's going on? GOD DAMMIT, TALK TO ME! WHAT'S GOING ON!"

Something wasn't right......

Sam craned his neck to see when the doctor pulled the baby free and cut the cord. The nurses rushed and took the baby, sucking out his nose and mouth. Tears filled his eyes when he saw it was a boy. 

"It's a boy. Congrats you two. I'm sure he's fine, we're going to bring him get washed up and checked out and they will bring him right back."

Something felt off, but he couldn't place it. He looked back at Luna and felt warm tears. -It's a boy...we have a son.- Kissing her forehead, then lips he tried to calm her. Looking back, he watched the nurses carry their son out of the room.

~Thirty minutes later~

Luna was going in and out of sleep from the medicine, even vomited a few times. Sam was pacing a hole in the floor, his leg severely throbbing but he didn't care. No one would tell him anything. He begged for answers and only got the same answers, standard procedure, testing...

When Luna woke again, he rushed to her side and ran his hand over her forehead. -They should be back soon. I promise. Have you picked a name?-

30 minutes. 30 whole minutes had passed since their little boy, their Peanut, had been brought into this world. 30 minutes since that first strangled cry and then the God awful silence.

"Where is he?"

She spoke too soon. The doctor came back in, his hands still coated lightly with blood, and a reserved look on his face.

"Where. Is. My. Son?" Luna's eyes were on fire, her heart racing and pushing the drugs through her system. But her mama instincts had kicked in; something wasn't right. She wanted her child, and wanted him now.

The doctor looked at her and shook his head slowly. "I'm afraid that our best efforts weren't enough. His lungs were cleared, but for some reason he just couldn't keep breathing. He didn't make it, Ms. Garza, Mr. Merlotte. We will bring up a snip of his hair and take his feet prints and hand prints for you. I'm sorry for your loss."

The doctor turned on his heel and left the room, leaving them to stand there open mouthed, unable to believe what was going on.

"He.... Wh...." She looked at Sam and felt tears well in her eyes, her heart breaking into a million pieces as they did that. Their son, their Peanut..... was dead.

He looked up when the doctor walked in, sighing in relief but seeing his facial expression, his blood went cold. 

"I'm afraid that our best efforts weren't enough. His lungs were cleared, but for some reason he just couldn't keep breathing. He didn't make it, Ms. Garza, Mr. Merlotte. We will bring up a snip of his hair and take his feet prints and hand prints for you. I'm sorry for your loss."

Sam was in shock, his face contorted to pain, hurt, grief. He grasped Luna's hand tighter and hid his face against the bed, crying silently. Their child...was gone. His only son, only biological child...dead. His free hand gripped the blankets of the bed as everything around him seemed to disappear and he drifted into the blackened hole of despair. He couldn't look at her, couldn't see her pain. Couldn't bare to hear her cry. The door closed to their room and his body shook with tears.