Zero Two Three One | John Laurens X Reader [Hamilton]

LVI: Two Amorous Friends

❝I swear I couldn't love you more than I do right now, and yet I know I will tomorrow.❞
—Leo Christopher

January 11, 2039.

Twenty years ago. Rabynya, Russia.

Two different women, from two different towns, carrying two different babies, from two different fathers, have two different stories. They've never met in their lives. What they have in common is that they both are going into labor.

Among the six towns outside of Moscow, only Rabynya has a doctor — and an under-supplied one at that. But this doctor, along with her training assistant, has helped dozens of women give birth.

Tonight, however, they have their hands full, when two women came stumbling into the makeshift "hospital", which, in reality, is a single-room building. Swollen bellies about to burst, pain-filled groans and moans, and friends of the women helping them in.

The doctor wasted no time settling the two women on two separate beds.

That night had also been the night of the harshest snowstorm to hit Rabynya in recorded history. And it was drawing nearer.

The first baby came quick, as though unable to wait to be birthed any longer. As the first baby was born, the snowstorm began. The first baby cries were distinct and unafraid; a wonderful declaration of life

The second baby was far more reluctant. The mother bellowed out in pain, her screams only dulled by the sound of the house swaying against the wind and snow hitting the window, along with the cries of life from the first baby.

The delivery was long, lasting several hours. But just as the snowstorm ended, the second baby was born, as if only realizing that life was awaiting. The second baby cried out, but only for a minute, before falling into content muteness.

The first baby was still crying, but as both mothers began breastfeeding their baby, all sounds ceased. And at last, with the storm having passed, the world was dipped into blissful silence.

Everything was quiet, and nothing could be more perfect.

Several hours into the night, after the doctor and her assistant made their occasional check on the babies, one mother decided to finally talk to the other.

"Hello."

The second mother was taken back by the first's attempt at conversation, but she didn't resent it.

"Hello."

After such an intense experience, they each find it hard to speak or interact. But hell, they do their best.

"What's your name?" the second mother asks.

The first mother pulls a small smile. "Rachel Sadovshickov. And you?"

"Anastasia Vasiliev."

Rachel nodded, glancing at the child in Anastasia's arms, sleeping soundly. "Your baby is beautiful."

"As is yours," Anastasia says. "Boy or girl?"

Rachel smiled down at her baby. "Boy. Yours?"

"Girl."

For another minute or so, they each coddled their sleeping baby, wondering what could be more perfect. A mother's love, such a powerfully unbreakable force right from the start.

"Where is her father?" Rachel asked Anastasia.

Anastasia emitted a soft sigh. "In some government building in Moscow, perhaps living a lush life."