To Build A Home

Chapter 10- Love And Longing

   To put the current situation simply, it was the most uncomfortably painful week of her life.
Krolia had been suffering from Braxton Hicks, and suffering badly. At least three occurrences daily, and with a much worse amount of pain than normal.
Both her and Steven had agreed that she was experiencing them at such a degree because of her biology. She's not human, and her body doesn't know how to deal with a human baby. She was supposed to give birth two whole months ago. At six months. Like a normal Galran would have.
Thanks to her baby being part human, though, she has not yet gone into labor.
The body of a Galra will do almost anything to keep the unborn child alive until labor ensues. It'll even adapt to, more or less so, mimic the womb of another species, copying those needs.
This being said, Krolia's body simply was not be prepared to carry a child for this much time. The chances of her pregnancy continue for longer than a week or two was highly unlikely. Which would be dangerous as there is a chance that the more human parts if the fetus would be underdeveloped.
   Size was not the problem in this situation. If anything, she was on the small side in comparison to other Galra. The problem was in her DNA. She wasn't made to carry a child in her womb for more than six months, much less a child who is part human.
Despite her efforts, she simply couldn't bear the discomfort alone any longer. After weeks of keeping it held in, she came clean, telling Steven everything.
Now he that he knows these challenges and problems, he has become the single most protective person in the universe.
On this particular morning, around six am or so, she was pulled from her sleep by a false contraction. Krolia gasped slightly, the sudden feeling of pain flowing over her back and lower abdomen. Her immediate reaction was to wake her lover. A good decision really. "Steven...!"
Silence.
"Steven...! Wake up...!" She was louder this time, but still nothing. Krolia would have yelled, but the sheer pain of the Braxton Hicks contraction completely stopped her breathing for a split second. Instead, she kicked him. She kicked him hard, her heel rammed into his leg just below his knee.
Steven jolted awake, instantly sitting up. "What's wrong?!"
"Another one of those damn contractions...! Braxton Hicks woke me up...again."
He didn't have to wait for instruction, in a second he was rubbing her back, massaging it in circles.
"I'm getting really tired of these...!" She moaned, running her hand over her stomach. "I get it, okay...?! I'm close to giving birth but do I really need to feel these contractions daily?!"
   Krolia was just over thirty five weeks in. So terrifyingly close to the last month. She was so uncomfortable in her own skin, even without the fake contractions. Her stomach was, for her, huge, but somehow she still had a week or two for it to reach its final size. Luckily, that wasn't much bigger. To her dissatisfaction, however, once again, her clothing was tight on her. She no longer fit comfortably into any apparel for a human at the end of their term.
   Ten minutes had passed since the first contraction before they faded.
   "That's one way to wake up..." Steven commented, a hint of humor in his tone.
   "I'm not in the mood." Krolia oriented herself into an upright position, her feet dangling over the edge of the bed. She felt a sudden pain rush through her lower abdomen, stopping her movements completely. It wasn't a contraction, thankfully. Just the weight of her unborn child shifting positions inside of her.
   "Do you need help?" Steven asked her, ready to provide assistance if her answer was yes.
   "I'm fine...!" She snapped, blinking away the pain. Krolia hated  how his worrying caused him to treat her as if she was incapable of doing anything on her own. It wasn't too far off from the truth. Even the simplest tasks were becoming increasingly more difficult with each passing day. "I'm just getting some water. You're welcome to go back to sleep."
   "I was only askin' because I—"
   "I said I was fine! I don't need you to help me stand up. I can do it just fine on my own! Go back to sleep, I can tell that you're tired."
   The heavily pregnant Galra waited for Steven to no longer be worrying about her before she forced herself to her feet, pushing down on the mattress below her to stand. Krolia leaned back as she did so, trying to counteract the weight of her unborn child.
The infant kicked hard, throwing her off her balance. Krolia did what she could to work past the sudden discomfort, but unfortunately, her right hand slipped out for under her. She yelled in pain as she hit the ground hard, cursing multiple times under her breath.
   Steven hadn't seen her fall, but he sure heard it. Mere seconds passed before he was at her side. "Are you alright?!" He asked, his voice fraught with panic.
   "Yeah... I'm fine..."
   "Are you s—"
   "No! Of course I'm not fucking fine! I just fell!" She shut her eyes, clutching her stomach with her left hand. "Shit this hurts!" Krolia slowly let go, burying her head in her her hands, moaning as she felt the infant push and pull the walls of her uterus in two different directions.
   "Are you... crying...?"
   "No...!" She was. She was undoubtedly crying.
   "Hey, hey... It's okay..." Steven placed a hand on her cheek, softly rubbing it with his thumb. "You're alright. You just lost your footing."
   "Lost my footing?! That's really all you think happened?! I fell, Steven! The only thing I could have lost was this child."
"But ya' didn't. That's a good thing."
Krolia pulled her legs up to her chest, or at least as much as she could, and rested her head on her knees. "You're being too optimistic... I'm suffering. I really don't know how much more of this awful pain I can take..."
"It's only goin' to get worse if you think like that..."
   "I know, I know...!"
   To prove his point, the unborn child began kicking madly. They felt the change in their mother's composure, reacting accordingly.
   "I'm going to kill this child. I swear I'm going to do it...!"
   Steven shook his head slowly, "no, you're not going to do that. You know you won't." He wrapped his arms around her, resting a hand on her abdomen. "Even if they're makin' ya' this uncomfortable."
   "How come they always stop for you...?!" She complained, feeling her child settling down. "It's so unfair...!"
   "It's just how it is."
   Krolia let out a sigh, one suggesting she was in a terrible mood. "I'm so close to losing it...! If they're not born within the weekend I will force them out...!"
   "You're not doin' that either."
   "Why can't I?"
"Because, for one, it won't work, and two, it'd be extremely dangerous for both of you if you try to an' induce labor without medical help."
   "Then you better think of a solution, and think of one fast." Placing a firm hand on the floorboards next to her, and another on the bed behind her, she pulled herself to her feet, staggering a few inches before stabilizing herself.
   "Whoa whoa!" Steven hopped to his feet, standing directly in front of Krolia. "Where do you think you're going?!"
   "Downstairs...? It's six in the morning, and I'm hungry."
   "Absolutely not...! You're stayin' up here and restin'."
   "You can't make me sit up here all day!"
   Steven placed his hands on her shoulders. He applied light pressure from his palms and forced her to sit down. "You wanted a solution. This is your solution. You've lost countless hours if sleep and I'm not goin' to let you roam this house in your current state."
   "I just want something to eat..."
   "And I'll bring ya' somethin'. But I want you to try an' rest. Alright?"
   "And what are you going to be doing while I 'rest'?"
   "I'll be in and out, makin' sure you're okay."
   "Fine..."
   He planted a kiss on her forehead before heading downstairs.
   Krolia curled up on her side, pulling her shirt up just below her chest. Her stomach was swollen. Not necessarily from size, but in all likelihood, from the amount of time she's been carrying the child. The child kicked, just once. "Why are you so energetic...?" She asked her child, gently stroking the underside of her abdomen. "You're already in so much trouble, you know that right? Mama is not pleased."
   She watched as her skin was stretched out by a few kicks before her unborn child settled down again.
   "Mama hates you so much...."
   The expecting mother pulled her shirt back down over her large stomach. She felt the fabric creep up an inch or two. It didn't quite fit her current physic. Nothing did.
   "You just have to take advantage your mama, don't you?"
   With a sigh, she rolled on her back, her hands immediately resting on her stomach.
"Mama hates you so much sometimes...." Krolia shook her head slowly, "No... Mama hates your actions... Not you."
   Regardless of what she told her son or daughter, or how many times she threatened their life, there was no way she could ever hate them. Even she knew how much she loved them, and was not afraid to admit it. Nor was she afraid to admit she was only acting in such a way due to a hormonal mood swing.
   Krolia undoubtedly loved her child. They weren't born yet, nor were they fully developed, but she already wanted to protect then with her life.
   Though she was neither ready to give birth or take on the full responsibilities of being a mother, she desperately wanted to see her child. She wanted to be a mother more than ever. She wants to be able to hold them in her arms, to cradle them when they wake up crying, and to finally be able to look after them. She wants to do all of these things, so much so that even the thought of anything happening that could harm her child made her terrified and sorrowful. Krolia wanted to protect her infant, no matter their species, their gender, or their appearance. She didn't care what her child was, it was hers and she would lay down her own life in a heartbeat if it meant they could live.
Despite never saying anything like this to Steven, he knew. He knew that she was looking forward to being a mother. He knew that she wanted to keep them safe and happy. But most importantly, he knew that her feelings of love towards the child were real. They weren't just nesting needs or maternal instincts brought on by hormones. These were real. It made him proud. Especially since she's able to look past all of the awful things she's been through since the two found out about the child. Steven too is eager to meet their son or daughter, but not in the same ways as Krolia. While he does already love his child, he sees the situation from a father's perspective. Though similar to that of a mother's, there is a slight difference. One that's more psychological than anything else.
With just under two months remaining, things can be quite tense. Krolia, however, has dealt with the stress a little better than Steven. Yes, she is in no way looking forward to the painful process of childbirth, the process in which she must push the child out of her womb and out into the world. No one in their right mind would look forward to that, but it's what happens after that keeps her going. Holding the child she's longed to see for the past few months. That's enough of a reward to keep her going no matter what life throws her way.