The Roses and The Lilies

𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑟 19－ 𝐶𝐴𝑁𝐶𝐸 𝐼 𝐶𝐴𝑁'𝑇 𝐷𝑂 𝑇𝐻𝐼𝑆

Cancer was trying to fold laundry.
She'd dismissed the house staff just after everyone left. She couldn't deal with anyone at the moment.
Taurus was somewhere, probably doing yoga or something similar. Maybe he was calling Virgo.
Back to the laundry.
She felt a jab and she let out a groan, bracing herself on the basket.
They weren't spaced out yet. She didn't have to panic. Everything was a-ok.
Her phone started ringing.
"Oh!" She swiped and answered.
Her husband's face appeared on the screen.
"Hey love," he greeted.
"Have you found them?" She asked, resting her phone into the laundry basket.
"Yeah. Sagi and Libra got hurt, there's a doctor seeing them now," he answered.
"Oh," she frowned. "How bad?"
"Not life threatening," he assured her. "We'll be back by tomorrow,"
She didn't think the baby would last until tomorrow.
She smiled. "So mostly okay?"
"Yeah. Everything okay down there?"
"Yep! I dismissed the staff, Taurus is somewhere. I'm doing laundry,"
He narrowed his eyes. "The doctor said you should t do anything stressful,"
"Laundry isn't stressful," she retorted. "I just wanted something to do,"
"No contractions or anything?"
"Nope!" She lied. He narrowed his eyes. "Reminds me. I should call my mum. She's looking forward to seeing the baby,"
"Cancer,"
"Everything is fine! Love you! Bye!"
He sighed. "Love you too,"

Five hours later, cancer decided she should probably acknowledge the new pains.
They were getting worse and much more frequent.
"Taurus," she said. "Taur,"
"What's up Cance?" He looked up from his book.
"I think I'm in labour,"
"Thought so," he hummed, closing his book and getting to his feet. "Let's move you to your room, and I'll call the midwife,"
She nodded and let him usher her up the stairs.
"How far along do you think you are?"
"I got no clue. Water hasn't broken yet- ooohhh it has now," she groaned.
"Ok Cance I really can't do this myself," he winced as she crushed his hand.
"You said that you'll call a midwife didn't you?" She hissed.

"Sir. Sit down. You're stressing her out," the midwife chided as Taurus paced.
"I'm sorry but this is stressful! Oh my god I need to call Scorpio," he exclaimed.
"Don't you dare," cancer hissed. "If my husband gets fined for speeding I swear to all the gods out there-,"
"Okay, okay. I'll call my husband,"
"Don't call anyone," she growled. "Oh fuck that's another one,"

The pain of labour lasted four hours before screaming of a baby was heard.
Taurus was pretty sure cancer had broken his hand by how hard she was squeezing it.
"You have a son," the midwife said. "Born at 2:45am,"
"Oh," cancer sighed, letting go of Taurus' hand. "Can I see him?" She said weakly.
"Of course," the midwife said gently, setting the baby into his mother's arms.
"Hi baby. Hello my love. Draco," she cooed.
"I'll draw up his birth certificate. What's his first and middle name?"
"Draco Tauri," she answered. "Thank you, Taurus," she smiled at her friend.
He grinned back. "Glad to be of service. Now can I call your husband?"
"No. They should be here soon, I hope,"
"I'll get going and get Draco counted in state," the midwife gathered their things and promptly left.

The others arrived back ten minutes later. Taurus had gone to bed, already fast asleep. Virgo joined him almost seconds after arriving in their room.

Cancer was upright in bed, staring down at her son.
"You're in for an interesting life, little one," she said softly.
"Cance? Why are you awake?" Scorpio shuffled into the room, dumping a bag down by the door.
"Sh," she hushed him. "Your son is asleep,"
"What-,"

"We'll get you sorted with a doctor in the morning," Ophichius informed Sagittarius as he accompanied the man and Capricorn towards their respective rooms.
Sagittarius was in Capricorn's embrace, and was seemingly pretending not to enjoy it.
"Right," he said shortly. "Wake me up I guess,"
"Aqua and I can come with you," Capricorn offered.
"No. Libra will be going too, right?" Sagittarius ignored Capricorn's gaze to instead look over at his boss.
"Yes. Leo and I can come too, if you'd like,"
"I'll ask Gem,"
"Right. I hope you get some sleep, Sag, Capricorn. And Sagittarius..." Ophichius paused just before Capricorn left the corridor to move into Sagittarius' room.
"What?" The archer said irritably.
"I'm sorry," the gang leader said simply before striding off.

Leo looked over at Pisces as she shut the door to Libra's room.
The younger girl was staring at one of the paintings on the wall, obviously distracted.
"Pisce?" She called.
She looked up. "What's up Lee?"
"Do you want to spend the night in my room?"
Pisces nodded softly. "Yeah. I'd like that,"
"Let's get some rest," Leo offered her hand.
Pisces took it.

"We had a nice little holiday," Gem grinned at Aries. "But we're home now,"
"You're home," the redhead retorted. "I'm just... back where I've been living for the past several months,"
"Could count as home?" Gem shrugged. "You know, home might not be a place,"
Aries rolled her eyes and started picking at her nails.
"That's a bad habit," Gem mused.
She shot him a scathing look. "Go to sleep, Gem,"
"Okay. Night, Aries," he kissed her head before striding away from her, humming to himself.
She scoffed and entered her room, slamming it shut.

"You okay Aqua?" Mini questioned. "Sag and Libra are gonna be okay, you know,"
"I know. I'm just thinking. Are Cap and I still gonna get married after all this? Surely now we've shown our loyalties to each other,"
"Are you saying you don't want to marry Capricorn?" Mini raised an eyebrow.
"No, I just," Aquarius frowned. "Feels like we're betraying Sag, in some way,"
Mini bit her cheek in effort to not grin. "Talk to them both. Then go to Ophi,"
Aquarius shrugged. "Maybe. Maybe not. We'll see,"
"Night, Aqua,"
"Night Mini,"