Page 21 of Dreaming of His Omega
“They say it goes by fast.”
He smiled at me. “I'm sure. But hey, as long as the baby will take a bottle, you know I'm happy to…” Traviel trailed off and then added softly, “Happy to sit up with him, so you can get some sleep.” His sad eyes met mine and I forced to smile. We both knew it wouldn't happen. Not unless we could figure out why he was vanishing. There was no way I could trust him to hold the baby; not unless I was right there, ready to catch the baby should Traviel disappear. It wasn't a very comforting thought. And I was fairly certain neither one of us really wanted to talk about it. My lover looked around the nursery sadly.
“Should we look for a fountain?” I said, hoping to distract him.
“Yeah, I think that would be a great idea.” He flashed me a weak smile, then offered me a hand and helped me to my feet. We shared a kiss, before heading downstairs to browse for fountains online. I would have loved to go to an actual garden store and wander around, but the late June weather was too hot for me, and I wanted to do as little walking as possible.
“We also need to plan our tent for the summer music festival. It starts tomorrow,” I reminded him.
Vale Valley it was holding a week-long summer festival with music and vendors and, I hoped, plenty of food. Since we were a relatively new local business, Traviel and I were setting up a tent to promote ourselves and show off our skills. Well, Traviel would be showing offhisgrowing skills. Assuming the baby held off, I wouldn't be using my energy this late in my pregnancy, and Traviel and I doubted I would be at the festival at all, if the baby were born next week.
“Right, how big is the tent again?” Traviel asked me.
“Let me find the information packet they gave us,” I said, groaning as I slowly stood.
He watched me in concern. “You okay?”
“Yeah.” I rubbed a hand across my stomach. Everything was feeling somewhat tight and crampy. “Just uncomfortable.”
I walked out to the kitchen to find the information about the festival, and stood there for a moment, reading over it and looking for the size of our tent. I heard a strange, watery pop, followed by the feel of water running down my legs. My belly blocked my feet from view, but I could see liquid pooling around me; I was standing somewhat large puddle! I just blinked at it for several moments. What on earth?
“Are you alright in there? Looking for some food?” Traviel called.
“Something spilled here,” I said, still staring at it. I felt like I should know what it was. And yet, all I could do was wonder how I had spilled something on me. My shirt looked perfectly dry, but the liquid was obviously all over my legs and feet.
Traviel came in. “You spilled something?”
“Yes. Watch out, I don't want you to slip.”
He hurried over, carefully watching his footing and extended a hand to me. “What did you spill?” he asked.
“I don't know…” I carefully stepped away from the puddle. As I moved my leg, I felt like someone pushed suddenly on my stomach, and a fresh rush of liquid gushed down my leg. Gods! My water! “It's me!” I blurted.
“What's is?”
“Its water! I mean,mywater it.”
“You… your water broke?!”
“Yeah.”
Traviel looked at me in alarm, then stepped back to get a better look, still holding on to my hand. “I thought the baby books said that it's usually just a trickle, if it happens at all!”
“Obviously, not all the time. There's nothing else it could be.”
“Are we supposed to go in now, or do we wait for the contractions?” Traviel cried.
“I don't remember,” I said. All I could think about was the fact that it was happening.Right now.The tension in my abdomen increased, as though someone were squeezing me, and starting to get a little painful. “Speaking of contractions, I think they’re starting.”
Traviel pulled out his cell phone and frantically dialed the number to the hospital. “Yes,” he barked as soon as someone answered. “This is Elarian’s mate, Traviel. His water just broke. Do we wait for the contract – uh huh. Okay.” He hung up the phone and turned to me. “Okay, they're going to send someone to come get you. We just need to get your bag and be ready."
I nodded, still rooted to the spot. "My bag's upstairs in the baby's room. And..." I looked down at the growing wet spot on my pants. "I need new pants."
"I'm pretty sure it's nothing they haven't seen before," he said. "Besides, you kind of take a while put pants on..."
I glared at him, and he quickly backed out of the kitchen. He was back in a flash with the hospital bag and a fresh pair of gaudy, flowery pants and boxers. They were loose fitting, stretchy pants, that I was pretty sure were designed for pregnant women. Traviel bought me a pair as a joke, and they ended up being so comfortable, I now had several. I took my wet pants off, right there in the middle of the kitchen. Traviel helped me settle a towel beneath my fresh boxers, and then get my pants on over them.
"Right then," I said. I started unzipping the hospital bag.
