I&#39;m A Darker Dream That Has No Ending

This early in the morning, Sam was still in bed, and -- for the time being -- very much asleep. He frowned as he picked up Phoebe's pain through the bond and twitched. Hard. Possibly elbowing Cole.

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Cole was already stirring, feeling the same pain. It took a second for his fuzzy mind to figure out exactly what it was, but once he did he was instantly awake and shimmering downstairs, taking Sam with him. Pity they weren't dressed.

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Too bad Phoebe was in such a state that she couldn't appreciate the sight in front of her.

"I think... the twins..." she managed to gasp out through a contraction.

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Okay, now Sam was awake. "What? When? Now?"

Flailing: imminent.

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It was also contagious and made demons forget exactly what they had planned to do when this moment arrived. "You have to lie down!" he said. "We have to get you to the clinic!"

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"Yes,now," Phoebe responded to Anders, trying not to let her emotions get the best of her. Then she looked at Cole.

"No, we need to go to the hospital in New Orleans and cal my doctor."

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"I -- yeah." Sam put his hands to the sides of his head and shut his eyes in a desperate and mostly futile attempt to compose himself. "Hospital. Right. Let's go."

He glanced at Cole impatiently, as if to say "What are we waiting for?"

Minor detail: still no clothes.

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Cole was reaching down to Phoebe, helping her to her feet. "We need your bag, right? Anything else?"

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Phoebe looked at them both and tried to stop the flood of hysterical giggles she wanted to let loose with.

"The girls won't make their appearance for some time yet... so maybe the two of you should get dressed before we go any where?"

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"We're d --"

Sam glanced down, then over at Cole.

"Clothes. Oh, frak, clothes!"

It was probably a minor miracle of some kind that he had the presence of mind to run for the laundry room and return with the basket full of clean clothes he hadn't bothered to bring upstairs last night.

There were socks but no underwear, but Cole was used to that and, well . . . Sam could just deal.

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Cole hastily pulled on a pair of jeans and a shirt. He even managed to find shoes and Phoebe's prepared hospital suitcase. "All right, we're dressed, now we go?" He needed Phoebe to give the orders here because he was in way over his head.

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When they were both dressed, Phoebe nodded.

"Now we can go to the hospital," she agreed.

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"Bag," Sam said, struggling with his left shoe, "clothes, what are we --"

His eyes widened and he made a mad dash for the bedroom upstairs, returning triumphantly with his cell phone and charger. And the camera. And then there was a detour into the study for the laptop, because after all once there were twins to take pictures of there was no time to be wasted in sending out an email, was there?

"Okay, let's go!"

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Now Cole was helping Phoebe to her feet again. He'd already scouted the hospital a few weeks ago during a moment when he still had a brain, so he knew where they could shimmer safely. His other hand had the suitcase, so he looked over to Sam. "Grab hold, tech boy, let's go."

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Phoebe stared at Anders and all of his equipment with a little bit of shock.

"What is all of that?"

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"Gonna need it," Sam said firmly. "Later."

He shoved all of it into the laptop bag and wrapped an arm around Cole's waist. "Okay. Having babies here. Let's go let's go let's go!"

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"Wait!" Cole said, having a sudden thought. "Is it safe for you to shimmer like this?"

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"You don't need a laptop at the hospital," Phoebe said firmly. "You. Don't. Leave it here or I'm not going."

Phoebe gave Cole and exasperated look. "You have shimmered me when I have been badly hurt or dying. I am quite capable of being shimmered."

Oh he, the pain was starting to mess with her mood and emotions.

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"You can't not go!" exclaimed Sam, who kept his phone and camera but -- looking reluctant -- dropped the bag. Looking at Cole, he pointed out, "What are we gonna do, all take my bike? Not like we have a car . . ."

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"I haven't shimmered you while you were about to give birth!" Cole protested, but a sharp look from Phoebe shut him up. "Okay, we'll shimmer there as fast as we can -- but slowly."

Sense and Cole were not one with each other this morning. He still had hold of Phoebe, and Sam had a hold of him, so he started to shimmer them to the hospital. And, oh look, his foot just happened to be touching the laptop bag so that came, too. When they appeared outside the hospital, he nudged it over to Sam, blocking it from Phoebe's view. "Okay, we're here," he said to Phoebe. "Are you okay?"

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No, I'm not okay, Phoebe thought crankily.

"I'm fine," she murmured out loud, looking around, gasping as another contraction hit her.

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Sam was trying to figure out how to hide the laptop bag and go get help at the same time; he ended up slinging it over his shoulder and doing an awkward sideways shuffle into the hospital lobby. One downside to the immediacy of shimmering: there wasn't enough time to call ahead to the hospital, and Sam was left half-coherently stammering at the receptionist that yes, Phoebe was in labor, and no, they hadn't called ahead because, well, um, they hadn't thought about it.

(Oh, the aghast look the receptionist gave him.)

He was out in a minute or two with a wheelchair and an orderly in tow.

"They're getting a room ready for her," he said, his breath coming a little quickly. And it wasn't because of exertion.

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Cole helped Phoebe to sit down in the chair. "Just relax, sweetheart," he said. The orderly started to try to push the chair but Cole gave him a look and started pushing himself. "We're almost there. You're going to be fine."

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Phoebe took a breath. "They probably won't be born until this evening... so we need to make some calls."

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"There wifi in here anywhere?" Sam muttered to the orderly out of the corner of his mouth. Yay priorities.

He fell in beside Cole as the orderly, who gave in with a sigh, just led the way for them. "See, told you we'd need the phone at least. Let's get you settled in first, though, okay?"

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"And then we'll call Piper and your mom," Cole said. "Anyone else? Do you want them here? We can tell them to have Wyatt or-drive them. Are you going to be comfortable enough here? Do we need them to bring pillows from home?"

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"Isabel, Paige and Veronica," she said softly. "THey'd never forgive us if they're not here,"

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"Babe, I don't know if they'll let us have all of them here," said Sam, who'd noticed the orderly's eyes starting to bug out. "At least not all at once, but they can figure out shifts among themselves."

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They reached the room, and Cole helped Phoebe into the hospital bed. "They're not kicking me or Sam out," he said in a low growl.

"Sir, unless there are complications, the father is allowed to remain," the orderly started to say.

"Fathers," Cole corrected. The orderly's eyes bugged a little more.

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Phoebe glared at the orderly. "They. Are. Staying."

The hospital really didn't want to piss her off too much right now.

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Sam got the laptop bag safely stowed beneath the bed and leaned over to kiss Phoebe on the cheek. "Trust me, you'd better listen to her," he advised the orderly, who was staring alternately at him and Cole with a growing look of consternation on his face.

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Cole had a moment's respite from the flailing, enough to quite deliberately kiss Phoebe's other cheek, then lean over to give Sam a kiss, too. Then he looked at the orderly. "Go get the doctor."

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Phoebe ignored the pain for a moment as she was overcome by hysterical giggling at the look on the orderly's face.

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Sam lingered over them long enough to watch the orderly start sputtering, then flee like his life depended on it to get the doctor.

He grinned, enjoying the reaction, and went right back into panicked-father mode. "Are you okay? Do you need us to get you anything? I -- are -- oh my gods . . ."

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Let the flailing recommence. Cole fluffed the pillows and stacked them behind Phoebe. "Lay back, love," he said. "If these pillows aren't soft enough, I'll get some different ones for you."

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Once Phoebe could breathe again, she shook her head at both guys. "I'm going to be okay," she reassured them softly. "The pillows are fine."

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"These sheets aren't soft enough," Sam said, scowling at said unfortunate bed linens. "And we need another chair in here. And . . . and . . . what am I forgetting? I know I'm forgetting something!"

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"Do you need anything to drink?" Cole said, hovering. "Water? Tea? Do you need any painkillers?"

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"Juice would be nice... and I can't have pain killers until they put the needle into my back."

Phoebe may have forgotten to explain the concept of an epidural to the guys.

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Sam had been about to head out into the hallway and shake someone down until they provided an entire beverage cart or something when he heard that bit.

"Needle?"

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"Nobody's sticking anything into you!" Cole growled.

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Phoebe sighed and reached for the phone on the bedside table. When she got the voice mail (http://notabondgirl.livejournal.com/1099.html?thread=435275#t435275), she left a message and then laid back against the pillows to look at the boys.

"They'll be putting the needle in my back to make the pain easier by numbing areas of my body."

Phoebe didn't like needles -- something left over from when she was younger -- but really was thinking that the epidural and IV drugs could come any minute now.

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"Needles hurt," Sam said stubbornly, and waved down a passing nurse to bring a pitcher of juice.

"And another chair," he called after her. He paused, listening to her response, and yelled, "Yeah, I know! We're both the fathers, dammit!"

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"Isn't there a spell we could use instead?" Cole said.

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"Personal gain," Phoebe said, then bending forward through another contaction.

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