Disclaimer: Biologically not mine (but I'd adopt them in a heartbeat).

A/N: Written for Challenge #287 'breathless' at the KH Drabble community on LiveJournal.

To Have and to Hold

© Scribbler, May 2012.

She puffed and panted, every breath a chore. There wasn't enough air in the room. There wasn't enough air in the world! Every few seconds a new band of pain laced her abdomen, squeezing so tight she thought she would die from it.

"That's it. Come on now. Just a little more."

She gasped. It was too much. She couldn't do this, not without … without …

"Wh-where is …?" Another involuntary squeeze. She bit down on a scream.

"He'd be here if he could, I'm sure of it."

Of course. He was always off saving worlds, fighting the good fight and keeping the universe safe from the forces of evil while she stayed home. She had known what she was getting herself into. She had accepted it; even been proud of him. But not right now. Not when she needed him like this. She was one person against a universe of needy souls, but if she could just have him here for this, she would never ask for anything ever again –

The door slammed open in the middle of a scream she couldn't contain. Murmured voices shifted aside and a hand lifted hers off her belly to lace her fingers with his own.

"I came as fast as I could." He was panting.

She met his eyes. "You… you're here…"

"As if I could be anywhere else? A million Heartless wouldn't be enough to keep me away."

A smile tugged at her lips, but dropped away as fresh waves of agony ripped through her.

"You have to bear down, your majesty."

She tried, squeezing his hand with the effort. He winced but didn't let go, for which she was grateful. Several more waves came and went, before finally she screamed at a pitch to shatter glass, her cried mingling with a gurgling warble from the end of the bed.

She wheezed her way through the aftereffects, barely registering anything until someone crooked her arms and placed a warm bundle into them. "It's a boy. A healthy baby boy."

"Oh my…" he murmured wonderingly.

She smiled, drained but exultant. "Say hello to your son, Mickey."

Fin.

(Beginning?)