#maz watches 911

[virtie333]

Day 25 - Life Day Damerey Celebration

Prompt: Peace

Summary: Poe and Rey receive an extra special gift for Christmas

Notes:

The following story is based on actual events. Check out the Catholic All Year blog with Kendra Tierney if you're curious!

Merry Christmas!

Warnings: If the idea of childbirth makes you queasy, best stop here.

AO3

It certainly wasn’t what they had planned for Christmas.

They had gone to the 4:30 Children’s Mass at church the evening before, on Christmas Eve, and then had come home for dinner. They had opened presents, let the children excite themselves into exhaustion, then gone to bed. They planned on driving to Kes’ house Christmas morning for a big brunch and more presents… if the weather allowed them to. It had started snowing and blowing, with temps below zero and wind chills even colder than that, on their way home from mass.

Leia and Shara had been super well-behaved through all the holiday hubbub, but their little sister decided she wasn’t going to be as accommodating.

It was shortly after one a.m. when Rey woke in a cold sweat, her back screaming, and the area she was lying in bed was wet. She had been on her left side, the side she was most comfortable sleeping on, and she reached around behind her and started smacking Poe hard. He jerked awake immediately.

“What?!” he shouted. He sat up sharply. “What is it?!”

Rey gave him a panicked look. “I think I’m in labor!”

Poe stared at her for a moment, his eyes wide in the dark, then he jumped out of the bed, turned on the light, and rushed around to her side. Together they threw back the blankets as Rey struggled to sit up. The baby wasn’t due for another two weeks. They had actually been joking about maybe getting a New Year baby, but their other daughters had been right on time, being born within a day of their due date, so they expected the same from this one.

As Rey swung her legs over the side of the bed, Poe raced for the closet. “Let’s get you changed," he told her, then he looked back. “Or should I call Maz first?” Maz was Rey’s midwife. Though Leia had been born in a hospital, Rey had used Maz as her birthing coach, and when Shara came along it had just been Maz and Poe with her right here at home with no problems.

“Call Maz,” Rey said. “I don’t think I have time to change.” She tried to stand and doubled over as a contraction hit hard. Poe rushed back over to her. Rey stared at him. She could feel… “Poe, I think she’s already here.”

“What?!”

“Get me to the tub,” she said, panting. Poe helped her to their connected bathroom, then sat her on the closed lid of the toilet as he grabbed up blankets and pillows, setting them up in the bathtub. Rey pulled her nightdress up and off her body, then shimmied out of her soaked panties. Poe helped her into the bathtub, where Rey spread her legs so both she and Poe could look.

Sure enough, the baby was already crowning.

“Holy crap,” Poe mumbled. He looked up at Rey.

“Call Maz!”

Poe ran back to the bedroom to get his cell as Rey continued to pant. She wanted to push. She knew she should push. But she was scared. Yes, she had been through this twice before, but never had it happened this fast. Was everything okay? Was there something wrong with the baby? Why did this have to happen in the dead of night on Christmas morning during a blizzard?

Poe appeared in the doorway, phone on speaker in his hand, two scared little girls and one excited French Bulldog on his heels. He squatted down to talk to his daughters. “You two stay right here in the door, okay. Do not come inside. Just stay here and watch.” He glanced back at the dog, who was running circles in the bedroom. “You, too, BB!”

“I couldn’t get hold of Maz,” he told Rey as he kneeled down at the side of the tub. “So, I’m going to try 911.”

“Poe, we don’t need 911,” Rey gasped. “I need to push. And I need you here with me. We can call them after.”

Poe took a deep breath. “I was afraid you were gonna say that.” He grabbed a couple of towels from the closet, then got in the tub with Rey, kneeling between her legs. “Okay, we can do this.” He glanced at the girls, who were watching them wide-eyed. “Ready to meet your sister?”

Rey smiled as they both nodded solemnly, but then a contraction hit.

“Push,” Poe said firmly, his hands gentle on her knees.

Suddenly afraid again, Rey shook her head, closing her eyes tight.

“Rey.” Poe’s soft voice made her open her eyes. “Look at me.” She focused on his face. He smiled softly at her, and when her next contraction hit, he nodded. “Now, push.”

She pushed. The baby’s head appeared. The contraction eased and Rey let her head fall back to lean on the wall behind her. Poe was looking down at the little face frowning at him, then he glanced back up at her, a wry smile on his face.

“You know, I think I might have been in this same spot when she was conceived.”

“Shut up,” Rey said on a giggle. The next contraction came, and Rey pushed without any encouragement. And just like that, their baby girl slid out into the world, Poe catching her with a gasp and a smile. “Oh, my God,” Rey huffed as the baby started crying, softly at first, then harder as Poe wrapped her in one of the towels. She was red and wrinkled and wriggling like mad as Poe handed her to Rey. He grabbed the first aid kit he set on the sink, took a roll of gauze and cut two pieces to tie off the umbilical, then doused the scissors in alcohol before cutting the cord. Rey couldn’t help but smile, knowing her neurodivergent husband had been paying close attention the last two times they had done this.

Suddenly, his cell rang, making everyone in the room jump. Poe had to get out of the tub to reach it from where he had set it down on the toilet tank. He looked at the screen and huffed a laugh. “Hey, Maz.”

Rey giggled, then focused on the little one in her arms as Poe ushered the other littles back out of the bathroom while telling Maz what had just happened. BB rushed in, his nails clicking on the linoleum. He peeked in at Rey and the baby, then circled several times, grunting and screaming happily, then ran back out. Poe came back in after a while, and Rey knew he had put the girls back to bed.

“Maz is on her way, but it might take a while. The roads are really bad. She’s called an EMT to come, too, just to make sure everything is okay with the two of you, but she doesn’t think you’ll need to go to the hospital.” He took a deep breath. “Let’s get you guys cleaned up.”

While he was bathing the baby, Rey felt another contraction and easily expelled the afterbirth. Then she carefully stepped out of the tub and began cleaning herself up. “I like this better,” she said to Poe as he held on to her arm, keeping her steady. “Just us. No hospital.”

“Sweetheart, you’re lucky I’m still sane,” Poe told her. “I’m still shaking, here.”

She smiled. “Me, too.”

Poe helped her into a dry nightgown, then left her to sit in the chair with the baby while he changed the bedding. She offered her breast to the baby, but the little one was too busy observing everything around her. Her big light brown eyes weren’t focusing, yet, but they were sure curious anyway. Finally, Poe assisted her back into the bed, propping her up on several pillows as she finally got the baby to nurse. He moved to look out the window, his body radiating tension.

“Poe,” she said softly. “Come lay with me until they get here,” she said.

He nodded and climbed back into the bed, wrapping his arm around her shoulders, his body relaxing as he looked down at their little girl. He shook his head, his expression awed. “We did this.”

“All by ourselves, from start to finish.”

He huffed a laugh and looked at her. “You were amazing.”

“So were you.”

He ran the tips of his fingers over the baby’s cheek. “A Christmas baby.”

“Tala,” Rey said. “Tala Noel.”

Poe smiled. They had already agreed they liked the name Tala, but Noel was the perfect addition. “Yes. I love it.”

“I don’t think we’re going to get to your father’s today,” Rey sighed, laying her head on his shoulder.

“I think he’ll understand.”

The baby stopped nursing as she fell asleep. Poe wiped away the bit of milk that lingered at the corner of her mouth, then he laid his hand gently over Rey’s where she held the baby. He closed his eyes, a smile playing on his lips. Rey shifted a bit, then settled, her whole body lethargic. As quick and easy as this birth had been, she knew she would still be sore for a few days. But as always, it would be worth it.

Soon, Maz and the medics would be here to check her and the baby over, but she knew they would find nothing wrong.

A peace she had never known enveloped her. She closed her eyes and fell asleep.

#fanfiction #damerey #jedipilot #poe x rey #childbirth #christmas #fluff