Conception - Alternate - Part 1
May. 22nd, 2010 09:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
diandrahollmanDedication: To everyone who stuck with me through the original epic story. To the Powers That Be and the fandom of the greatest, most ground-breaking and mind-boggling show in recent broadcast television history, possibly ever. Yes, I might be getting nostalgic. *curls in a ball and sobs*
Author's Notes: This started as an alternate scene to Christine’s birth in my story “Conception” that takes place in an alternate universe where A) Jack is able to give birth without a c-section and B) Jack escapes the Others at the same time as Sawyer and Kate or is still pregnant when they go back for him (you decide). It sort of grew into a short story of its own.
You probably don’t need to read “Conception” to understand this. Just reading the above note will pretty much give you all the background you need.
E-Mail: diandrahollman@yahoo.com
Rating: R? TV-14?
Keywords: Slash, mpreg, labor, Jack/Sawyer
Spoilers: Ha! Yeah, right.
Disclaimer: They don’t belong to me, but I suppose technically they belong to fandom now that Darlton and Bad Robot and ABC are done with them.
***************
Conception – Alternate
By Diandra Hollman
***************
Jack’s progress through the jungle was slow, frustrating all of them, but especially Jack himself. His hands clenched into fists, his jaw tight every time he stopped to catch his breath. Sawyer coaxed him to keep going. They couldn’t afford to stop moving, even if they were moving slow.
“I think we lost them,” Kate announced the next time Jack stopped, her eyes scanning the jungle behind them over the barrel of her stolen rifle.
“They won’t follow us this far,” Juliet confirmed. “But they aren’t the only danger on this island. We should keep moving.”
Nobody could argue with her.
“C’mon, Doc...” Sawyer gripped Jack’s arm, drawing it over his shoulders.
Jack made a weak noise of protest and trudged alongside him, letting Sawyer support some of his weight.
Sawyer winced. Jack was obviously exhausted – drenched in sweat, gasping and stumbling. He radiated unnatural heat, his skin flushed a distressing shade of red. His adrenaline had run out. Sawyer could only guess how much stress their escape from the Others had inflicted on the baby.
They didn’t get much further before Jack stopped again with a nearly inaudible cry of pain. He pulled away from Sawyer and leaned against the nearest tree, moaning softly between deep, unsteady breaths.
Juliet was at his side in an instant, running her hands along his swollen abdomen and giving him a ‘don’t fuck with me’ look when he tried to slap them away.
“How long have you been in labor, Jack,” she asked with measured calm.
Jack just glowered.
“What,” Sawyer spluttered angrily.
“False labor,” Jack protested.
“No, it isn’t,” Juliet said firmly. “How long?”
Jack sighed and caved reluctantly. “Since this morning.”
A string of curses erupted from Sawyer. Juliet ignored it.
“We have to move inland, find water, start a fire...”
“No,” Jack snapped. “We need to get back to the hatch.”
“We’re nowhere near the medical station and Swan station is gone.”
Jack squinted at her. “Gone...”
She sighed. “Somebody used the failsafe key. The station collapsed. That’s all I know.”
Jack’s face twisted angrily. “When were you gonna tell me this?”
“It wasn’t important. No one was hurt. Now I need you to focus. How far apart are the contractions?”
Jack closed his eyes and muttered under his breath, his hands curling into fists against the tree trunk. When he regained control he mumbled “seven minutes.”
Juliet blew out a breath. “Jack, you’re going into active labor. You need to...”
“I *need* a sterile environment and my supplies,” Jack snapped.
Juliet’s face hardened. “Jack, listen to me. You are not going to make it back to your camp. You will collapse long before you reach it and you will have used up all the strength you will need to give birth. We will keep moving until we find a water supply but we will move slowly and when your body tells you to stop you will not fight it.”
Jack stood silent for several moments, eyes closed and Sawyer got ready to step in if Jack tried to argue again. He didn’t really understand the mechanics of childbirth but he didn’t like the idea of Jack being too weak to deliver the baby.
Finally Jack sighed. “Fine. We’ll move inland.”
Juliet nodded and gestured to Sawyer to take his arm again. “If the contradictions get any closer than five minutes apart, you stop immediately. Do you understand?”
Jack grumbled and gave a vague nod.
Sawyer drew Jack’s arm back over his shoulders and they started moving again, slower, Kate a few yards ahead clearing the way and Juliet several steps behind. “When this is over I am gonna kick your sorry ass for not tellin’ me,” he muttered.
“If I’d told anyone, we wouldn’t’ve gotten this far,” Jack panted.
“Yeah, well, at least you had your ‘sterile environment’ back there.”
“I had a *hostile* environment back there. I wasn’t about to give birth with a dozen Others breathing down my neck if I could help it.” He sucked in a breath suddenly, digging his fingers into Sawyer’s shoulder.
Sawyer slowed his step, his arm tightening around Jack’s waist. “You need to stop?”
“No,” Jack growled through his teeth. “Just...help me time the contractions.”
“How do I do that?”
“What time is it?”
Sawyer twisted his arm around, craning his head to look at his watch without letting go of Jack. “’bout 4:48.”
Jack nodded, his grip beginning to ease. “That’s one contraction. Keep watching the time. Next one should be in about six or seven minutes. The closer they get, the closer the delivery.”
“So how bad are we talkin’?”
Jack frowned. “What?”
“You givin’ birth in the jungle. How risky is it gonna be?”
Jack blew out a breath. “Women have been giving birth in less sterile conditions for centuries. If there are no complications it doesn’t make that much of a difference.”
“And if there are complications?”
Jack pressed his lips into a thin line. “A lot of women have died in childbirth. A lot of babies were stillborn.” He gripped the hand Sawyer had around his waist. “If anything happens to me, Juliet will know what to do.”
Sawyer clenched his jaw. Complications or not, he would fight back Death himself rather than give Jack up. He slowed again as Jack hissed in pain and looked at his watch. “Not quite six minutes, Doc,” he muttered. “What happens when it goes under five?”
“It just means I’ll be in active labor,” Jack panted. “Maybe. It’s pretty arbitrary. The contractions will get stronger and closer together. It’ll still probably be hours before I need to push.”
Kate doubled back suddenly. “I hear water coming from over there.” She nodded in a direction slightly off the path. “How’s he doing?”
“I’m fine, Kate,” Jack answered before Sawyer could say anything. “This is normal.”
Kate’s expression suggested she didn’t really believe him, but knew there was very little she could do about it. At least nothing Juliet hadn’t already done.
Several minutes and one contraction later, they reached a small waterfall. Jack tried to insist they move a little further, but the idea was quickly vetoed by all three of his companions, who knew Jack well enough to not trust his objectivity on such matters.
“Can you help me gather wood for a fire, James,” Juliet asked in a tone that suggested the idea wasn’t really debatable. “We’ll need to boil water for sterilizing.”
Sawyer glanced at Kate, who was over by the fall refilling Jack’s water bottle. “Shouldn’t you stay with Jack? I’m sure Freckles can...”
“Jack will be fine. He shouldn’t need me for a few hours.”
Jack looked back and forth between the two of them and nodded to Sawyer. “It’s okay. Go.”
Sawyer hesitated, biting his lip. He didn’t like leaving Jack, but it wasn’t like he would be alone. Kate was armed and had a deadly protective streak when it came to Jack. Sawyer pulled off his watch and wrapped it in Jack’s hand, bending to kiss him. “I’ll be right back.”
Jack nodded and looked away before Sawyer even stepped away from him, all of his focus turned inward, his free hand massaging his abdomen lightly.
Sawyer marched off into the jungle, determined to get this over with as quickly as possible. Juliet followed behind him.
“Stop for a minute,” Juliet said when they were a safe distance from the fall, her hand reaching out to land gently on Sawyer’s shoulder entreatingly.
Sawyer stopped and glared at her. “Let me guess. We ain’t out here to collect firewood.”
“Oh, we are. But I also needed to get you away from Jack so we could talk,” she said simply.
Sawyer barely bit back a groan and ran his fingers through his hair, tugging a little in frustration. “What?”
“I need you to be aware of just how high the stakes are here. It could be several more hours before this baby is born and the pain is going to get much worse in that time. A woman’s body is designed to withstand the pain of childbirth, but Jack’s body is mostly male. If it gets to be too much for him – if he passes out – I may have to do an emergency c-section.”
Sawyer frowned. “Why don’t you just do it now?”
“Because we’re in the middle of a jungle, James. I won’t cut him open here unless I absolutely have to. His chances of survival are better if I don’t.”
Sawyer swallowed heavily and looked away from her piercing eyes for a moment, forcing back the scream clawing at his throat. “So what d’ya need me to do?”
She took a step closer and placed a warm, gentle hand on his elbow. “I need you to be calm. No matter what he says, he will need you for the next few hours. Even when he can’t bear to have anyone touch him, he will need you close by. And he will need you to be calm – no matter what happens or how much pain he’s in. He needs you to be strong right now. He needs you to help him get through this.”
Sawyer blew out a heavy breath. He rubbed at his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. “That’s it?”
“Yes, James, that’s it. Stay with him, keep him calm and comfortable and remind him to breathe. Let me worry about the baby.” She peered intently into his eyes. “Can you do that?”
“Yeah, I got it,” Sawyer grumbled. “Let’s just get some firewood and get the hell back there.”
Juliet nodded reluctantly and watched Sawyer brush past her to pluck some of the smaller limbs from a fallen tree nearby. She wasn’t sure he would be the most soothing presence for Jack, but there wasn’t much choice. At least she could reason with him. Jack would likely be more difficult.
TBC
Author's Notes: This started as an alternate scene to Christine’s birth in my story “Conception” that takes place in an alternate universe where A) Jack is able to give birth without a c-section and B) Jack escapes the Others at the same time as Sawyer and Kate or is still pregnant when they go back for him (you decide). It sort of grew into a short story of its own.
You probably don’t need to read “Conception” to understand this. Just reading the above note will pretty much give you all the background you need.
E-Mail: diandrahollman@yahoo.com
Rating: R? TV-14?
Keywords: Slash, mpreg, labor, Jack/Sawyer
Spoilers: Ha! Yeah, right.
Disclaimer: They don’t belong to me, but I suppose technically they belong to fandom now that Darlton and Bad Robot and ABC are done with them.
***************
Conception – Alternate
By Diandra Hollman
***************
Jack’s progress through the jungle was slow, frustrating all of them, but especially Jack himself. His hands clenched into fists, his jaw tight every time he stopped to catch his breath. Sawyer coaxed him to keep going. They couldn’t afford to stop moving, even if they were moving slow.
“I think we lost them,” Kate announced the next time Jack stopped, her eyes scanning the jungle behind them over the barrel of her stolen rifle.
“They won’t follow us this far,” Juliet confirmed. “But they aren’t the only danger on this island. We should keep moving.”
Nobody could argue with her.
“C’mon, Doc...” Sawyer gripped Jack’s arm, drawing it over his shoulders.
Jack made a weak noise of protest and trudged alongside him, letting Sawyer support some of his weight.
Sawyer winced. Jack was obviously exhausted – drenched in sweat, gasping and stumbling. He radiated unnatural heat, his skin flushed a distressing shade of red. His adrenaline had run out. Sawyer could only guess how much stress their escape from the Others had inflicted on the baby.
They didn’t get much further before Jack stopped again with a nearly inaudible cry of pain. He pulled away from Sawyer and leaned against the nearest tree, moaning softly between deep, unsteady breaths.
Juliet was at his side in an instant, running her hands along his swollen abdomen and giving him a ‘don’t fuck with me’ look when he tried to slap them away.
“How long have you been in labor, Jack,” she asked with measured calm.
Jack just glowered.
“What,” Sawyer spluttered angrily.
“False labor,” Jack protested.
“No, it isn’t,” Juliet said firmly. “How long?”
Jack sighed and caved reluctantly. “Since this morning.”
A string of curses erupted from Sawyer. Juliet ignored it.
“We have to move inland, find water, start a fire...”
“No,” Jack snapped. “We need to get back to the hatch.”
“We’re nowhere near the medical station and Swan station is gone.”
Jack squinted at her. “Gone...”
She sighed. “Somebody used the failsafe key. The station collapsed. That’s all I know.”
Jack’s face twisted angrily. “When were you gonna tell me this?”
“It wasn’t important. No one was hurt. Now I need you to focus. How far apart are the contractions?”
Jack closed his eyes and muttered under his breath, his hands curling into fists against the tree trunk. When he regained control he mumbled “seven minutes.”
Juliet blew out a breath. “Jack, you’re going into active labor. You need to...”
“I *need* a sterile environment and my supplies,” Jack snapped.
Juliet’s face hardened. “Jack, listen to me. You are not going to make it back to your camp. You will collapse long before you reach it and you will have used up all the strength you will need to give birth. We will keep moving until we find a water supply but we will move slowly and when your body tells you to stop you will not fight it.”
Jack stood silent for several moments, eyes closed and Sawyer got ready to step in if Jack tried to argue again. He didn’t really understand the mechanics of childbirth but he didn’t like the idea of Jack being too weak to deliver the baby.
Finally Jack sighed. “Fine. We’ll move inland.”
Juliet nodded and gestured to Sawyer to take his arm again. “If the contradictions get any closer than five minutes apart, you stop immediately. Do you understand?”
Jack grumbled and gave a vague nod.
Sawyer drew Jack’s arm back over his shoulders and they started moving again, slower, Kate a few yards ahead clearing the way and Juliet several steps behind. “When this is over I am gonna kick your sorry ass for not tellin’ me,” he muttered.
“If I’d told anyone, we wouldn’t’ve gotten this far,” Jack panted.
“Yeah, well, at least you had your ‘sterile environment’ back there.”
“I had a *hostile* environment back there. I wasn’t about to give birth with a dozen Others breathing down my neck if I could help it.” He sucked in a breath suddenly, digging his fingers into Sawyer’s shoulder.
Sawyer slowed his step, his arm tightening around Jack’s waist. “You need to stop?”
“No,” Jack growled through his teeth. “Just...help me time the contractions.”
“How do I do that?”
“What time is it?”
Sawyer twisted his arm around, craning his head to look at his watch without letting go of Jack. “’bout 4:48.”
Jack nodded, his grip beginning to ease. “That’s one contraction. Keep watching the time. Next one should be in about six or seven minutes. The closer they get, the closer the delivery.”
“So how bad are we talkin’?”
Jack frowned. “What?”
“You givin’ birth in the jungle. How risky is it gonna be?”
Jack blew out a breath. “Women have been giving birth in less sterile conditions for centuries. If there are no complications it doesn’t make that much of a difference.”
“And if there are complications?”
Jack pressed his lips into a thin line. “A lot of women have died in childbirth. A lot of babies were stillborn.” He gripped the hand Sawyer had around his waist. “If anything happens to me, Juliet will know what to do.”
Sawyer clenched his jaw. Complications or not, he would fight back Death himself rather than give Jack up. He slowed again as Jack hissed in pain and looked at his watch. “Not quite six minutes, Doc,” he muttered. “What happens when it goes under five?”
“It just means I’ll be in active labor,” Jack panted. “Maybe. It’s pretty arbitrary. The contractions will get stronger and closer together. It’ll still probably be hours before I need to push.”
Kate doubled back suddenly. “I hear water coming from over there.” She nodded in a direction slightly off the path. “How’s he doing?”
“I’m fine, Kate,” Jack answered before Sawyer could say anything. “This is normal.”
Kate’s expression suggested she didn’t really believe him, but knew there was very little she could do about it. At least nothing Juliet hadn’t already done.
Several minutes and one contraction later, they reached a small waterfall. Jack tried to insist they move a little further, but the idea was quickly vetoed by all three of his companions, who knew Jack well enough to not trust his objectivity on such matters.
“Can you help me gather wood for a fire, James,” Juliet asked in a tone that suggested the idea wasn’t really debatable. “We’ll need to boil water for sterilizing.”
Sawyer glanced at Kate, who was over by the fall refilling Jack’s water bottle. “Shouldn’t you stay with Jack? I’m sure Freckles can...”
“Jack will be fine. He shouldn’t need me for a few hours.”
Jack looked back and forth between the two of them and nodded to Sawyer. “It’s okay. Go.”
Sawyer hesitated, biting his lip. He didn’t like leaving Jack, but it wasn’t like he would be alone. Kate was armed and had a deadly protective streak when it came to Jack. Sawyer pulled off his watch and wrapped it in Jack’s hand, bending to kiss him. “I’ll be right back.”
Jack nodded and looked away before Sawyer even stepped away from him, all of his focus turned inward, his free hand massaging his abdomen lightly.
Sawyer marched off into the jungle, determined to get this over with as quickly as possible. Juliet followed behind him.
“Stop for a minute,” Juliet said when they were a safe distance from the fall, her hand reaching out to land gently on Sawyer’s shoulder entreatingly.
Sawyer stopped and glared at her. “Let me guess. We ain’t out here to collect firewood.”
“Oh, we are. But I also needed to get you away from Jack so we could talk,” she said simply.
Sawyer barely bit back a groan and ran his fingers through his hair, tugging a little in frustration. “What?”
“I need you to be aware of just how high the stakes are here. It could be several more hours before this baby is born and the pain is going to get much worse in that time. A woman’s body is designed to withstand the pain of childbirth, but Jack’s body is mostly male. If it gets to be too much for him – if he passes out – I may have to do an emergency c-section.”
Sawyer frowned. “Why don’t you just do it now?”
“Because we’re in the middle of a jungle, James. I won’t cut him open here unless I absolutely have to. His chances of survival are better if I don’t.”
Sawyer swallowed heavily and looked away from her piercing eyes for a moment, forcing back the scream clawing at his throat. “So what d’ya need me to do?”
She took a step closer and placed a warm, gentle hand on his elbow. “I need you to be calm. No matter what he says, he will need you for the next few hours. Even when he can’t bear to have anyone touch him, he will need you close by. And he will need you to be calm – no matter what happens or how much pain he’s in. He needs you to be strong right now. He needs you to help him get through this.”
Sawyer blew out a heavy breath. He rubbed at his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. “That’s it?”
“Yes, James, that’s it. Stay with him, keep him calm and comfortable and remind him to breathe. Let me worry about the baby.” She peered intently into his eyes. “Can you do that?”
“Yeah, I got it,” Sawyer grumbled. “Let’s just get some firewood and get the hell back there.”
Juliet nodded reluctantly and watched Sawyer brush past her to pluck some of the smaller limbs from a fallen tree nearby. She wasn’t sure he would be the most soothing presence for Jack, but there wasn’t much choice. At least she could reason with him. Jack would likely be more difficult.
TBC
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(no subject)
Date: 2010-05-23 08:59 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-06-01 01:45 am (UTC)Thank you! Glad I could make your day. :D
(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-06 06:54 am (UTC)Man, I love this fic and I miss them so much *sniffle*
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Date: 2010-05-27 11:45 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-06-01 01:41 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-04 04:21 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-06 02:53 am (UTC)Glad to see you're still around sweetie! Love you!
(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-04 12:58 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-10-06 02:54 am (UTC)