so i was playing bitlife -cause i'm cool- and something came up asking if i wanted to become friends with Hannah Martin-Deacon. i am shook. what is this sorcery
++|++
The house wasn't finished. The house was nowhere near ready for the baby being born. Roxanne only had three weeks left to go and she was starting to stress.
Every spare moment was spent at the house and today was no different. What was different, however, was that John had brought the band over to help him with getting the baby's room set up.
Roxanne was downstairs, going over her plan for the room one last time - she wanted everything to be absolutely perfect but with her house currently looking like a building site, she wasn't holding out high hopes.
John comes downstairs carrying a plank of wood on his shoulder, putting it down on the floor when he sees her crouched over the table.
"Love?"
"John!" she exclaims, "John please tell me that you're almost done up there. I need to-things need to be in the bedroom and I can't do it when you lot are arsing about!"
"Well..." he scratches the back of his head and she groans.
"John! We are three weeks away from my due date and the-we don't-"
"Alright, alright," John quickly puts his hands on her shoulders, "Calm down, love. Deep breaths, yeah? In and out, that's it."
She breathes with him and feels herself relax. "We don't have long, John. And there's still so much to do! We still have to get clothes, things for the nursery and-"
"Why don't you go do that then?" he suggests, rubbing her arms gently, "We're going to be here a while yet and it doesn't make sense you staying here stressing."
She shrugs, "I guess I could do that. I could get the bus at the end of the road."
"You can." he nods.
"Alright," she agrees, "Neutral colours, yeah?"
"Whatever you want. Oh, why don't you take Freddie with you?"
She looks at him in confusion, "He's helping you?"
There was a word for what Freddie was doing and helping, was not it. John loves his friend but right now, he has to get Freddie out before he or one of the others killed him.
"Well, yes, but I just thought that you said he has a good eye for decor and all that stuff, maybe he could help you out."
"I did say that, didn't I?" she murmurs, "I suppose it wouldn't hurt to ask him." She moves to the bottom of the stairs, "Freddie?"
"Yes, my darling?"
"I'm going into town! Do you fancy coming with me?"
He appears at the top of the stairs, "What are you buying?"
"'m not sure," she replies as John helps her into her coat, "Baby things probably."
"And stuff for the nursery," John interrupts, "Pictures, ornaments. Stuff like that."
Roxanne grins when he happily agrees, practically flying down the stairs with Brian and Roger in tow.
"Oh, are you going, Fred?" Roger asks as he grabs his packet of cigarettes to go out the back for a smoke, "Shame. I might actually get this crib built up."
"Don't sound so happy, Roger," the singer mutters, "Roxanne, darling, where is the phone? I'll ring a car to come get us."
"That's nice of you to offer, Freddie but I thought that we could just get the bus."
"The bus?" Roger cackles from where he's stood at the back door, "Freddie, take the bus? That's hilarious."
"What's wrong with the bus?" John furrows his eyebrows, "I took the bus the other day and nobody recognised me. It was great."
"I'm sorry darling," Freddie shakes his head, "But I'm not setting foot on another public bus. Bad experiences. I'll ring Paul and he'll send a car."
God, it's been a while since she'd heard his name being mentioned.
"Besides," he continues, "It's a lot more comfortable for you, Roxanne."
That was true - buses were ridiculously uncomfortable and so she agrees, kissing John goodbye before they disappear out the door.
Finally, they could work in peace.
++|++
Roxanne loves going shopping with Freddie, he always knows where to get the best stuff, knows what he's looking for and, most importantly, he knows where to eat.
They'd just had the most amazing lunch in a cute -but very expensive- cafe and Freddie practically drags her towards a baby boutique, a place that the car's driver -who had five kids of his own recommended-, that spans three floors.
It was then that Roxanne realised that they were in no way prepared for the arrival of this baby. They still had so much left to get; a changing table, a pram, sheets for the crib to name a few.
They think that the best thing to do is split up; Roxanne goes towards the clothes and the little toys while Freddie looks at more decorative items and he comes back to her side every couple of minutes when he finds something that she might like. Which is pretty much all of it.
They might need a bigger car.
She's got a basket on her arm and every so often, she's dropping little onesies into it or a stuffed animal and it's not long before she's going back to the door to grab a trolly.
Freddie drops things into it as well, things that he thinks will go well together in the baby's room.
Roxanne smiles at one of the sales assistants when she starts restocking some breast pumps, something she has to buy too and as she moves to pick up one of them, she stops.
You know when you're standing in a queue or something and the face you get when your period sneaks up on you and starts there and then? Yeah, that's exactly how her face looked right now.
Except she wasn't getting her period. No, Roxanne was pretty sure that her water had just broken.
It had to be her water breaking, whatever was running down her legs, that was too much to just be pee, right?
"Oh god," she whispers, eyes darting to the shop assistant who is still stocking away, "Oh fuck."
The woman hears her, giving her a concerned glance, "Are you alright?"
"I..." she swallows, "I'm not really sure."
The woman takes quick glance down at her now soaking skirt, a look of complete and utter sympathy washing over her and she steps forward, "Oh, love, it's alright."
Roxanne shakes her head, "No, no it's not alright. No, we're-they're not supposed to come for another three weeks."
"Let's finds you a seat, yes? And I'll go find your husband," she instructs softly, leading her towards the checkout area where there is a two-seater.
"H-he's not my husband," Roxanne stutters, "He's just my friend."
"Alrighty then," she helps her sit down, "How about you tell me his name and we'll fire out a tannoy for him."
"Freddie," she says, "Freddie Mercury."
She looks at her as if to say really? But when Roxanne nods, she goes to make the announcement.
"Okay," she whispers, putting her hand on her bump, "Alright, little one. What's going on, hm?"
She can't be in labour. She just can't be. It's too early.
She hears the woman calling for Freddie over the tannoy system and it's not long before she sees him coming down the stairs from the next floor.
"Roxanne?" he frowns, dropping the picture that he's carrying and rushing toward her, "Darling, what is it?"
"Her water has broken," the woman, who she doesn't know the name of, swoops out of the backroom but Roxanne shakes her head.
"No. I can't be. I-it's not time."
"We see this in here all the time. And I can tell you that you are definitely in labour."
"Labour?!" Freddie all but screams, "What-no! How the hell am I supposed to get her to the hospital?"
"Calm down," she puts her hand on his shoulder and Roxanne finally gets a chance to read her name tag, "We'll phone you an ambulance and get you off to the hospital."
Carrie. That was her name.
"Freddie," she cries, searching for her friend's hand, "Freddie,"
"Calm down, darling," he soothes, squeezing her hands, "It'll all be alright. Are you having contractions?"
She shakes her head, "No."
She tries to wrack her brain, trying to think back to the books that she'd finally read. Could this be false labour? It could, right?
"Ambulance is on the way," Carrie hums.
"Could we borrow the phone?" Freddie asks, looking up at her, "I'm sure she'd feel better if I rang her husband for her."
"Of course!"
Reluctantly, Roxanne lets his hand go for him to go do just that and Carrie takes his place beside her.
"This is your first?" she asks.
"How can you tell?" Roxy jokes and she gives her a smile in return.
"The fear on your face."
"It's too early," she whispers, "Isn't it? It's too early."
"I'm afraid that babies don't follow a schedule, dear."
"If I am in labour," she murmurs, "They'll be okay, right?"
"They'll be fine," Carrie puts her hand on hers.
"Roxanne," Freddie calls, "Roxy, darling, Deaky's wanting to talk to you. He wants to know if you're alright."
"The phone cable should stretch," Carrie nods and gets up, allowing Freddie to sit back down beside her and hands her the phone.
"John?"
"Roxanne?" immediately, she can tell he's panicking, more so than her, "You're in labour? Is Freddie joking because if he is, that is a new low even for him."
"He's not," she admits, "I think I am, John,"
"Oh god," he breathes, "Oh god. I need to sit down."
"Yeah, that's what I'm doing right now." she smiles.
"Three weeks, Rox. We were supposed to have three weeks-"
"It might not be," she says quietly, "It might not be labour, maybe I've just wet myself."
"Freddie says that they've rung you an ambulance?"
"Yeah," she confirms.
"Roger," she hears him say, "Roger, I need you to drive me to the hospital. Roxanne, we'll meet you there."
"John, please don't rush there," she begs, "I'm not even having contractions. It might not be labour."
"I'll meet you there," he repeats, "Okay?"
She nods even though he can't see her, "Alright."
++|++
It was in the ambulance on the way to the hospital that Roxanne got her first contraction and holy shit, did it hurt.
She squeezed Freddie's hand so tight that he swore she was going to break it.
And then she had the next one. And the next one. And the next one.
She might not have read all the books but how fast they were coming, she felt as if that shouldn't be happening.
At the hospital, she's taken up to a delivery room and by the time she's settled into the bed, the contractions are coming with just five minutes in between.
It shouldn't be happening this fast.
Freddie's fretting by her bed as a doctor comes in, pulling on a pair of rubber gloves.
"Roxanne Deacon?" he asks and she nods, "Excellent. My name is Doctor Elliot and I'm going to be checking you out today. Is that alright?"
"Why are the contractions coming so fast?" she asks, resting her head back against the uncomfortable pillow.
"That's what we're going to check out," he says softly, "If you'd like to just get comfortable."
She does what she can. Putting her legs up so he can check her cervix and she tries not to be embarrassed as he gets right in there.
He does this all the time.
Freddie averts his eyes, looking anywhere but at the doctor and when he's done, he pulls the gloves off and goes to wash his hands in the tiny sink.
"So you're at around six centimetres," Doctor Elliot informs her, "We need you at ten to push. You're moving along quite quickly. When did you say your water broke?"
"I don't know," she mutters, bracing herself when she feels another contraction wrapping itself around her lower back, "Half an hour, forty-five minutes maybe?"
He hums, looking down at her notes, "Alright well there's nothing to do but wait I'm afraid but with how fast you are moving, I don't think it'll be too much longer."
"What?" she cries, squeezing the railing of the bed until the blinding pain subsides, "How can this be happening?"
"Babies come on their own schedule." the doctor shrugs and Roxanne is sure that those are the same words that the woman back in the shop used, "We'll be back to check up on you in a bit."
"Okay," she nods, letting go of the railing as Freddie disappears into the small bathroom.
This can't be happening she thinks, resting her hand on her stomach, "What the hell, kid? We had an agreement."
In response, her body gives her another painful contraction that has her gritting her teeth and makes her feel as if she's going to pass out.
Okay, it was happening.
According to the doctor, who came to check on her as promised, this was one of the quickest labours that he'd ever seen. She was now at eight.
Roxanne starts to panic now. It was too late for her to ask for pain relief and she's just two centimetres away from bringing their baby into the world and John was nowhere to be seen. Would he even make it in time?
Freddie, sensing her worries, rubs her arm, "He'll be here, darling. He wouldn't miss this for the world."
She really hopes he does because if he doesn't, he'd never be able to forgive himself.
The contractions are coming closer and closer together now and when Doctor Elliot comes back to check her again, she doesn't want to let him. She's terrified in case she opens her legs and gets an urge to push.
"Mrs Deacon," he says softly, seeing the reluctance on her face, "I know how uncomfortable yo-"
"No," Roxanne snaps, "No, you don't. Are you having contractions? Are you preparing to push a human out of your vagina? No, you are not so if you don't mind, I'd really appreciate it if you could shut the fuck up."
Freddie has to turn away so the young man doesn't see him laughing.
His grin soon fades though when she's gripping his hand again as she suffers through another contraction, "Where the hell is John?"
"Nine centimetres," the young doctor announces and Roxanne glares at him.
Why was he still talking?
"Roxanne, don't you worry," Freddie pats her head with a wet cloth and she suddenly feels like she's in some surreal fucking dream, "I'll be right here by your side until Deaky gets here and I've read all the books."
"Really?" she can't help but sound impressed.
"Well, Brian summarised them for me."
"Then why the hell would you say that?" she gasps, gripping his free hand again.
"To make you feel a little better. Did it help?"
The glare she gives him lets him know that it didn't.
"Almost there," Doctor Elliot says, patting her leg gently, "Might want to start getting ready to push."
Roxy shakes her head and crosses her ankles - as if that's going to delay the baby in leaving her, "No. No. John isn't here, I can't."
"He's still got a little bit of time," Freddie dabs her forehead with the cloth again, "And I'll be here till he gets here, remember?"
All through the waiting of the last centimetre, Roxanne stares at the door while gripping Freddie's hand or the metal bed railing while the doctor continues to marvel at how quick she's dilated and he says that he doesn't think that the delivery is going to take very long either.
"Her husband isn't here," Freddie tells them, standing up, "Isn't there some way that you can, I don't know, stop it?"
"I'm afraid it doesn't work like that," the doctor says softly and Freddie looks down at Roxanne when she grabs his arm.
She's just got the most overwhelming urge to push.
No, she silently begs, please no. John isn't here. He can't miss it.
The doctor knows that expression on her face though. He's seen a lot of women look exactly as she does right now and so he grabs himself a stool, sitting himself down at the bottom of her bed, "Shall we have a look?"
Roxanne knows it's pointless to try and hold it up. It might cause harm to her or her baby and so, as tears run down her face, she sits up and gets ready.
"Oh fuck," Freddie breathes, "Oh fuck, this is happening. I'm going to be your birthing partner, darling. I always thought it'd be Brian..."
"Freddie," she says through gritted teeth, feeling the contraction wrap around her once more, "Freddie, I love you but could you please shut up and give me your hand?"
"Right, of course."
"Alright, Roxanne." the doctor smiles, "That contraction there, you're going to feel another just like that in a few seconds. I want you, on the count of three, is push as hard as you can for ten seconds, yeah?"
"I'll try," she sobs.
"As I said, this baby is coming fast and-"
"Just like their father," Freddie snickers and Roxanne glares at him, "Sorry."
The doctor knows when she's ready to push and he gets ready to guide her through it, "Ready Roxanne? On three; one, two, three."
On three, the door swings open and it's John, Brian and Roger.
He was here.
"'m here," he says, stepping into the room, "m here, Rox."
"Oh thank god," Freddie says, kissing his cheek, "I was getting ready to cut the cord for you, darling."
John ignores him and he, Brian and Roger take their leave (but not before the blonde darts into the room to wish Roxy luck with a kiss to the cheek), taking his place beside Roxanne, who is now crying.
"I thought you were going to miss it," she chokes as he wipes under her eyes and then he presses a kiss to her forehead.
For a few minutes, so did he.
Doctor Elliot clears his throat and they look down at him, "Roxanne, you have to push on this next one."
"She's pushing?" John asks, looking down at his wife, "You're pushing?"
She nods.
"We're going to have a baby," he whispers and she smiles but she then lets out a painful gasp.
"Roxanne, you feel that one? Alright, push on three; one, two and three."
John helps her sit up once more and her hands white-knuckle the bed rail as she pushes and fuck, she has never felt a pain like this before.
"Eight, nine, ten!"
As soon as he's finished counting, Roxanne falls back against the pillow, panting.
"That's it," John praises, pushing her hair back, "You're doing so well, my love."
"Roxanne," Doctor Elliot drags her attention away from her husband's praises and she can't help but hear the disbelief that's in his voice, "I can't quite believe that I'm saying this but you're crowning. We could have your baby in just two pushes."
Hearing those words gives Roxanne a burst of energy that she's quite clearly needing. Nobody told her that it as going to be so fucking hard! She couldn't quite believe that just hours ago, she was stood in a shop and now, she was mere minutes away from having their baby.
"Hear that, love?" John is practically bursting with excitement, "You're so close!"
"Another push just like that, Roxanne," the doctor says enthusiastically.
Roxanne does as he says, choosing to grip John's hand this time instead of the railing and she lets out a cry - it feels as if she's being torn apart.
"It hurts!" she sobs, "John-"
"You're doing incredible, love," John continues to shower her in praises, "If I could take the pain away, I would."
She knows that. He'd take it all in a heartbeat.
Roxanne blocks everything out; the sounds of the machines beeping, the other staff who are all waiting to check the baby over when they finally make their way into the world and the doctor, his voice was starting to grate on her and so she just focuses on John's soothing voice.
"One more," he whispers, kissing her cheek, "Just one more. You can do it, I know you can."
When the doctor tells her to push again, she does, doing it with all her might.
Then, all of a sudden, there's a relief and all she can focus on now is the loud, piercing cry that fills the small room.
"You did it!" John cries and Roxanne doesn't have to look at him to know that he's crying.
But she's crying too and when the doctors put her tiny, naked baby on her chest, she knows that she's a bigger wreck than he is.
"A boy," he chokes.
They had a son; Baby Deaky was a boy.
She's not completely sure where she's supposed to put her hands considering that he's covered in...whatever it is he's covered in but she doesn't care.
"John?" one of the midwives appear beside him, "Would you like to cut the chord?"
He nods and once he's snipped where he needs to, as much as Roxanne doesn't want to, they take the baby from her so they can get him cleaned up.
"Don't worry," the same midwife smiles when she hears the new mum let out a small whimper, "They won't be long."
And she's right, they're not and while they're cleaning him up, John hovers over them while the doctor and a nurse take care of Roxanne.
When they're both cleaned up, when Roxanne sees the midwife bringing the baby back to her, wrapped snugly in a bundle of blankets, she slowly pushes herself up so she can hold him.
"Oh," she breathes. Now that he's all cleaned up and she's sort of calmed down, she can see him perfectly. He's got tufts of dark hair and the cutest little nose - definitely John's nose, "John, look at him."
He sits down on the edge of the bed beside her, gently wrapping his arm around her shoulder, "He's..."
"Perfect," Roxanne whispers, completely in awe, "He's absolutely perfect."
++|++
idk if babies can come that quick but hey ho, we have a deakling. my babies have a baby and dad deaky will be out in full force