OOC - Thread set on March 17th, 2011

CLANK, CLATTER, BOOM Tarin cursed, loud and fluently as the crib crashed to the ground for the third time. He’d sort of had an idea that this was going to happen…he’d had even more pieces this time than he’d had the two times before. But hey…companies put extra pieces in the boxes all the time, right? In case people lost some, and needed more.

The instructions were across the room, glaring at the Medium from the place he’d tossed them when he’d opened the box. The crib had said ‘easy to assemble’ right on the side of the container, and it was kind of bullshit that he was having so much trouble.

Lee hadn’t been any help either…she’d suggested that he read the directions. He didn’t need directions. The box. Said. Easy to assemble. Things that were easy to assemble didn’t need directions… and sure he’d had some small problems…but it was the first time he’d done something like this. Surely, he assured himself, the crib would go right together this time.

The jumble of wood and springs and other…stuff…suggested otherwise and Tarin cursed again. For frick’s sake…he had dominion over the land of the dead. Why couldn’t he put together a damn crib?

BOOM

Lee jumped slightly from where she was standing in the kitchen when she heard yet another crashing sound coming from the extra bedroom. No, from the nursery.

Taking a deep breath and shaking her head, Lee made her way slowly in that direction as she heard her husband's voice coming out. He was cursing at furniture again. She had really liked this whole handyman thing when they started putting together the nursery, but Lee had quickly come to realize that would have been much hotter if he would have just looked at the instructions first and thus cut out all the swearing.

"Are you still fighting with that thing?" Lee asked as she stopped in the door way and looked down at her husband and the pieces of wood and metal that should have been a crib by that point.

Tarin looked up as Lee appeared in the doorway and growled….actually growled at his wife. His pregnant wife. His very pregnant wife. That earned the crib another glare, it was making him into a mad man. A fool.

”Yes…” he said quietly and dangerously, still glaring at the pile of parts that should have arranged themselves into a respectable crib by now. ”I’m convinced that the damn company put extra parts in this box just to be a pain in my ass.” he said, tossing the screw driver on top of the pile and moving to stand next to Lee.

”I have half a mind to call the company and just rip them a new one about calling this death trap ‘easy to assemble’ “ He said huffily, then kissed his wife on the cheek.

”How are we doing?” the Medium asked, deciding that maybe a little break from activity would help him get his logic and mechanical skills back. They were close…really close to the due date, and that crib needed to be together and ready.

”I’m sure that next time I try it’ll go together with no problem….I’m pretty sure I figured out where I messed up.”

Tarin actually growledat her as he looked up at her. So Lee simply stood there and crossed her arms as she leaned against the door frame.

Apparently, Tarin thought that growling at her and glaring at the crib pieces was the way to get things done. Rather than reading the instructions. She could have put the crib together herself by now, Lee was sure, the instructions she had glanced at before Tarin's attitude had sent her out of the room hadn't looked all that complicated. Except for the fact that Tarin was barely letting her do anything now that they were counting down the days, rather than weeks or months, until her due date.

Lee's arms were still crossed above her stomach as Tarin came over to stand beside her. Then relaxed slightly as she felt him kiss her cheek. Shifting slightly, Lee leaned against Tarin rather than the door frame, shrugging slightly at his question. "He's moving around a lot today," she said softly, uncrossing her arms as her hand came to rest on her stomach. "He almost seems excited or something."

Tarin could tell by Lee’s demeanor that she was aggravated with him. Well…he’d known that to be the case from the moment he’d absolutely banned her from the nursery. It had been for her own good anyway. A woman in Lee’s condition didn’t need to be messing around with tools and putting together a crib. Especially when it was so simple a task, and something Tarin could so easily do himself. He let her mild gloating go, deciding that he’d have been grumpy too in the same condition. There was, after all, a fully developed child hitchhiking inside Lee’s belly.

She relaxed when he kissed her cheek, and in response to his question about the baby Lee said that he was restless, almost excited. Tarin grinned, “ He should be excited.” the Medium pointed out, ”He gets to live in this awesome nursery.” And it really was awesome, they’d meticulously planned and researched every piece of equipment and furniture…then added a few personal touches to make the place feel like home instead of something out of a baby magazine. The only thing missing…was the crib.

The Medium sighed, looking at the stupid pile of stupid parts, then at the instruction booklet he’d tossed aside. ”I guess I need to use those, huh?”

Lee couldn't help but laugh when Tarin pointed out the reason why the baby should be excited. And about how awesome the nursery was. Well, they had put a lot of effort int the room, getting it ready. Even though they had ended up having months less than they had originally planned to get everything done. Or maybe that was why they had done as much planning as they had with it, to make sure that they could get it ready in the short time they had in front of them.

The baby kicked again, hard, and up into her rib cage as she heard her husband sigh, and Lee couldn't help but wince. Some of those kicks, even though they came from something so small, hurt. A lot.

But then Tarin made one of his first smart decisions since deciding to toss away the instructions. Lee nodded. "It would probably help," she told him. "I'm getting tired of wandering in here to check on how you're doing, and the instructions would let you finish up faster so we can go relax on the couch. It's really starting to get hard lugging this guy around, even for me."

”Alright, alright…instruction booklet it is.” he said, moving away from Lee and digging through the pile of off cast debris until he found the folded pamphlet-looking-thing. From there…it was simply a matter of following the directions. ”Why don’t you go wait in the living room, and if these directions are as ‘easy-to-follow’ as they claim…I’ll be out there in a little bit and we can relax.”

True to their word…the stupid directions made the job a lot easier, and in half the time it had taken to mess the crib up the first time, Tarin had the thing half together. How was he supposed to know that there were two sets of screws for every leg? It didn’t change his overall opinion though…if something said ‘easy to assemble’ on the box…it should have been able to be accomplished without instructions in the first place. A few more minutes, and the rest fell into place. The crib was together…with no extra pieces, and sturdy as a rock. Damn it to hell.

Dusting his hands and gathering all the trash and boxes, Tairn made his way out of the room and deposited them by the door for the next time they left before returning to Lee in the livingroom.

”All done.” he said with a grin.

Finally Tarin gave in and agreed to use the instructions that had come with the crib. He even went across the room and picked them up from where they were laying underneath some of the "extra" pieces.

Lee continued to stand and simply watch her husband work for a few minutes, even after he suggested that she go and sit down. It was nice watching him work with his hands like this, but her feet didn't seem to like the idea.

So out to the living room she went, stopping briefly part way as she felt a pang in her stomach. DocProf had told her a month ago that those were just Braxton Hicks contractions, nothing to worry about. Not that she had istened to that until both the doctor and a number of pregnancy books explained to her that it was just her body getting ready for delivery. That she could deal with, though it didn't make them any more comfortable or less painful.

But she had been noticing a lot more of them today than she had, or at least noticed, in the past.

Sitting down on the couch, Lee waited and sure enough, heard her husband coming out of the nursery not much longer after that, sounding much happier. But he didn't come into the living room right away.

Just as she heard Tarin finally entering the room, Lee felt another contraction. Frowning, even more than the pain was making her, she barely heard what Tarin was saying as she tried to think about time. It really hadn't been that long since that last one, not unless she had fallen asleep and not realized it. Looking over her shoulder, she took a moment to try and take a breath. "I think we need to see DocProf," she said.

The grin faded from Tarin’s face at Lee’s words. There had really been very few ‘false alarms’ during the pregnancy and Tarin took them seriously. There had been the Braxton Hicks fiasco, and that had been dramatic for everyone involved, but since then things had cooled off considerably. The way Lee was sitting there, though, looking over her shoulder…yup. Probably the real thing.

”We....yeah…the bag….I…” he said, moving forwards and nearly stepping on Axel, who had somehow gotten under his feet. A few choice words later, Tarin was running to the bedroom where they’d left the packed bags a few weeks ago. Travelling between the Mansion and the apartment was silly. ”Call the cab company!” he shouted as he grabbed them, ”And don’t forget to remind them how well we tip! I’ll call Doc.” he continued, dropping the bags in the entry hall and pulling out his phone.

The direct line to the infirmary at the Mansion was on speed dial, and Tarin hit the button while he made his way back to Lee in the livingroom.

They were probably having a baby.

Those simple words got the point across to Tarin quite easily. Not that Lee would have been surprised by that, had she actually been thinking about the fact, but with those simple words Tarin went into full on man having a baby panic, stammering about the bags and everything.

Well, Lee thought as she pushed herself up off the couch a few moments later, after watching her husband almost trip over the dog, at least he did remember the bags. But was leaving getting the cab to her while he called the Mansion and got said bags.

Walking slowly to the phone, Lee leaned against the table as she dialed, listening to her husband rushing around.

It didn't take long to make the call to the cab company. All Lee could hope for was that they'd do as they said and have a cab waiting downstairs for them. Hopefully, the driver would get them to the Manor in record time, too.

Call made, Lee made her way to the front door, one hand on her lower back hoping that would ease the cramping pain there. Surely with all his running around, Tarin would be ready to go by the time she got her coat on.

Tarin was standing at the door, trying to figure out what the hell he was forgetting, and why he knew it was something important when he realized what it was.

His wife. Yeah, the one having the baby.

”Oh shit.” he cursed, turning to run back in her direction only to nearly bump into her on her way into the entry hall. ”Oh good. You’re here.” he said, grabbing the bags and realizing he forgot to open the door.

”Shit…” he cursed again, dropping the bags, opening the door, and picking the bags back up before making his way through the portal….again leaving Lee behind.

”I SUCK AT THIS.” came his voice through the door as it swung to shut itself behind him. Bags dropped, again. Door opened again. Tarin held it with his foot while he picked the bags back up.

This was harder than the crib.

”Elevator?” he said, bustling Lee in that direction as he hoped the taxi would be where it was supposed to be. (Lee hadn’t ever let him make her do a dry run of this whole process…no matter how many times he’d suggested it.)

They made it down, though Tarin had to make a note to tell the concierge how slowly the elevator was moving these days. Pushing the button over and over didn’t help either, and Tarin was pretty sure he’d pissed off the old woman three floors down when he shut the doors in her face. They were in too much of a hurry to pick up any other passengers!

After forever, the doors opened in the lobby and Tarin bustled out, a few steps away he realized he was alone again. Back he went to Lee and the elevator. ”Sorry….sorry.”

As Lee saw her husband again and again rush away, leaving her behind again and again, Lee couldn't help but think that maybe attempting a dry run like Tarin had suggested would have been a good idea after all. She had thought what's the point, since they had been through many other much more stressful, dangerous situations than this before. At least she thought they had.

But that didn't stop Tarin from continuing to rush ahead of her, then coming back. Lee knew that they needed to hurry, if only for Tarin's sanity, but with the extra weight and the contractions, Lee just couldn't manage to make her feet move any faster than they were.

Finally, they managed to make it down to the lobby, even going so far as Tarin closing the door three floors down from them and not letting a woman on the elevator. Only for Tarin to rush out ahead of her again, then realize his speed and come back to her apologizing.

"Relax a bit and slow down," Lee said. "You rushing off won't get me there faster."

Lee told him to slow down and Tarin tried, God help him…he tried. The anxiety was building though…how had he been so calm through this pregnancy? This thing was scary…a child was going to EMERGE from his wife. Ew…that even sounded disgusting in his head. Taking a moment to wonder what the hell kind of possession had taken place, and realizing that wasn’t even funny thought to be having at present, Tarin took a deep breath and let it out. Somehow, oxygen cleared his head a little and the Medium was actually able to moderate the speed at which he walked towards the doors of the apartment building.

The cab was there. Thank god.

Getting Lee loaded in side was another thing entirely, and by the time they’d done it, Tarin was worried they’d be doing a rode-side delivery.

Once they were inside, the doors were shut, the meter was running, and they’d pulled away from the curb, Tarin got the driver’s attention.
“She’s having a baby, and it’s going to happen in your back seat if you don’t get us to the address I gave you as fast as humanly possible.”

The back seat as nice, and the cabbie didn’t fancy getting on the news, not even for a baby. He floored it. It wasn’t rush hour, after all, and everyone was at parades. Back roads would be fine, and quick.

Tarin appreciated the effort.

”Doc said he’d be ready for us the moment we got there.”

Tarin at least somewhat slowed down after she spoke, but Lee could still see the stress and nerves on his face. Lee couldn't blame him, she was nervous too, but knew that that wouldn't help them get to the mansion.

Getting into the cab was much more difficult than she would have imagined, though. Apparently her body didn't want to move that way right at that moment. But finally, with Tarin's help, she was inside, and Tarin seemed to feel that the baby was going to be coming soon, possibly sooner than they'd be arriving at the mansion.

A thought that probably wasn't helped by the fact that as he finished speaking to the cabbie, another contraction hit her. Teeth clenched, Lee tried to breath through the pains as she somewhat heard what Tarin was saying, eventually managing to mutter out a "good" in response.

Please let us get to the Mansion…Please let us get to the Mansion… It was a mantra and a prayer as Tarin sat in the back and patted Lee’s hand... God, why was he afraid to touch her? Having a baby didn’t make her breakable. What the hell had they said in that Lamaze class again?

”Oh! Breathing…pregnant breathing thing, Lee!” Tarin said, pleased with the way the cabbie was weaving in and out of traffic. They were definitely making their way towards the goal.

Please let us get to the Mansion, please let us get to the Mansion.

Somehow they did…and somehow the gates were open and waiting for them, and Doc was there…and they were going inside.

Images assailed Tarin, images of Lee having the baby in various places, and he almost wondered if he needed to be ready to catch the thing. He felt like he was in the back seat now…and as they hurried Lee off…he stood for a moment, just trying to breathe.

”Hey! Wait up!” he called, running to catch up.

OOC – Lemme know if I took them too far Lee…but I thought we were in a good place.