A/N: Many thanks again to Phish Tacko for her help beta'ing this. There will be a sequel soon. Keep your eyes out for "Sherlock and Marie".
Ch. 16
John and Sherlock had spent the day finishing up Marie's area of the main level bedroom. Sherlock had decided that he wanted to keep her close, and it wasn't as though they had an extra room for a nursery anyway.
After a dinner of spaghetti in homemade meat sauce, Sherlock had gone off to bed. He was tired. Marie would be there any day, and the closer he got to giving birth, the more tired he felt.
00
Around one in the morning, a sharp feeling of pressure woke Sherlock up. It was painful – very painful, much like the Braxton Hicks contractions that he'd had, except this time he noticed that his sheets were wet. His water had broken.
"Don't panic." He told himself. After the incident with the false contractions, John had told him what to expect when the baby really did come. He was prepared for this. It would all be okay.
Then another contraction hit.
"Ow… fuck! JOHN!" Sherlock called.
No answer. John must've been sleeping very soundly.
Sighing, Sherlock tried again, louder this time.
"JOHN! GET YOUR ARSE IN HERE! THE BABY'S COMING!"
00
Once John woke up and had seen that Sherlock's water had broken, he'd immediately taken him to St. Bart's.
Sherlock had been hoping for a fast labor. His mother had given birth to him in the car on the way to the hospital – maybe he'd be lucky in that sense, too. Get it all out of the way in half an hour or so.
Unfortunately, that was not the case. The contractions were very widely spaced, time-wise.
John sat by Sherlock's side as the labor progressed. Soon enough, dawn came and the baby still had not arrived.
Doctor Conroy arrived around eight in the morning. He checked on Sherlock, timed his contractions, and… did nothing. He wanted to wait a few more hours before giving any drugs.
This annoyed Sherlock. Marie was moving around and kicking him furiously as if to say that she wanted out, yet she didn't seem to be budging!
Finally, around noon, John persuaded the OB-GYN to give Sherlock a Pitocin injection to speed up the contractions.
The drug worked. It took another hour to work, but it did. The contractions were becoming more frequent and they were extremely painful. Sherlock was barely managing not to cry as they came over him.
John, still patient as a saint, continued to sit near him. He allowed Sherlock to squeeze his hand when the pain got to be too much. Sherlock nearly broke his fingers, but John did not complain.
The day went on.
By eighteen hundred hours, the contractions were becoming frequent enough that Doctor Conroy felt that the baby would be born soon. It was then that he administered an epidural, and John called Mycroft.
00
"The epidural should be blocking all of the pain," John said.
Mycroft was sitting on the other side of Sherlock's bed, allowing his brother to squeeze his hand.
"Well, it's not!" Sherlock growled. "Oh God, she's going to tear me in half!"
Mycroft looked at John.
"Is this normal?"
"No, no it's not. Sometimes epidurals fail, but it's rare. I'm going to get Doctor Conroy. You'll stay here?"
"Of course."
John stood up to leave. Before going, though, he turned to Sherlock.
"You're going to be just fine, Sherlock. I promise."
"Easy… for you… to say…" Sherlock answered through gritted teeth. Another contraction was passing over him.
It wasn't long before John and Doctor Conroy both re-entered the room.
Doctor Conroy did a quick examination of Sherlock to ensure that the epidural had been properly executed. It had been.
"The bad news is that you're one of the few that the epidural did not work on. The good news is that you're fully dilated. The baby will be coming along any minute now," Doctor Conroy explained.
Sherlock didn't reply. He was too busy gripping on to Mycroft's hand as another contraction hit.
Doctor Conroy looked him over once again.
"Oh my. I think she's actually coming now." The doctor pulled a stool over so he could help deliver the baby while asking John to call in a nurse.
As the nurse entered, Sherlock began to push.
"Good, good," The doctor told him. "Now, on the count of three, you need to push again. One… two… three."
There was a scream. A very loud scream. Almost everyone in the maternity wing could hear it.
"Holy hell, Sherlock!" John said, eyes wide. He hadn't thought that Sherlock could yell that loudly.
"It's like pushing a watermelon out of a sink pipe!" Sherlock spat. "You see how loud you'd scream if – Oh, ow! Oh God!" Another contraction hit, and Sherlock was told to push again.
Now, the baby was crowning.
"Just a few more pushes, Sherlock, and she'll be here." The doctor said. "Push again."
"Can't…" By now, Sherlock was drenched in sweat and shaking. He was pale – paler than usual, and he felt like he might faint.
John could see it coming and he quickly jumped into action.
"Oh no you don't. You're not going to pass out. Marie needs you to help her! Now push, Sherlock! Push!" Sherlock gave John a pathetic yet hateful look, but managed to push one last time.
Seconds later, the sound of crying filled the room.
00
For a newborn, Marie was gorgeous. She had darker skin and light eyes, much like DaShawn had, though she had a full head of wavy brown hair much like Sherlock's. Even the nurses were astonished by her beauty.
"Usually they're squinting more than that, since they've just been born. But she's beautiful," One nurse complimented.
Sherlock was holding her now. He smiled and thanked the nurse.
While in his arms, Marie was quiet. She seemed to almost be studying the world around her, staring at things, occasionally gripping Sherlock's finger if she could.
Once Sherlock was comfortable enough, John made calls to Mrs. Hudson, Lestrade and Molly while Mycroft called Sherlock's parents. When the group arrived, Sherlock announced the baby's full name:
Marie Elizabeth Holmes.
After that, the baby was passed around. Mrs. Hudson cooed at her and Molly held her awkwardly. Lestrade seemed more amused by the baby than anything, and Mr. and Mrs. Holmes seemed to be on the verge of tears when they got to hold their grandchild for the first time.
The large group and the noise that it brought was enough to make Marie cry, though. Much like Sherlock, she apparently did not like crowds. Photos were quickly taken, hugs were given and promises were made to see the baby as soon as Sherlock was settled back home. Everyone except John left the room.
00
After a feeding, Marie quieted down and went to sleep. Sherlock seemed about ready to do the same. He had just started to relax when he heard John's phone go off. Someone had sent him a text.
"What is it?" Sherlock asked.
"I sent a photo of Marie to Sierra. She says that she has DaShawn's eyes and that she hopes that she and her children can meet Marie soon."
Sherlock smiled.
"Tell her that we can arrange something."
"Will do."
As John typed away on his phone, Sherlock took one last look at Marie before he closed his eyes to sleep. He had never seen a girl any more beautiful than her.