Conception - Alternate - Part 3
Dec. 10th, 2010 10:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
diandrahollmanYes, I'm back. Hopefully my muse is too. Or at least she will be once I finish all the handmade Christmas presents piling up. :)
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.
Dedication: 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.
Previous chapters here
***************
Conception – Alternate
By Diandra Hollman
***************
Jack realized he must be delirious with pain when his father suddenly walked out of the jungle toward them.
“Dad,” he panted, reaching a trembling hand out toward the figure.
Sawyer felt his stomach go cold. He snatched Jack’s wrist and clutched it to Jack’s chest, tightening his embrace. “Don’t even think about it,” he hissed in Jack’s ear. “You stay with me, damnit.”
Jack didn’t respond, his eyes fixed on the man kneeling beside him, smiling kindly.
“They can’t see me, Jack,” Christian explained.
“I’m sorry,” Jack blurted.
Sawyer tried to shush him and Kate rubbed the hand Sawyer wasn’t gripping.
Christian smiled again but there was a flicker of something – sadness maybe, or even regret - in his eyes. “You have nothing to be sorry for, kiddo.”
Jack couldn’t hold back a scream as pain surged through him. He arched and writhed in Sawyer’s grip as fire licked outward from his abdomen, engulfing him in a red haze. He vaguely heard voices trying to reassure him, including Juliet directing him to breathe and try not to fight it, and he wondered – not for the first time – if he was strong enough to survive this.
He felt his father’s cool hand rest on his abdomen as he resurfaced and his pain seemed to lessen a little.
“You *are* strong enough, Jack. You will survive this. It’s not your time yet.” Christian watched Sawyer kiss Jack’s temple and murmur a few soothing words in his ear. Anyone could see the Southerner was frantic with worry – though he hid it well. He barely flinched when the next contraction came and Jack squeezed his hand far too tightly.
“He loves you,” Christian said plainly. “Do yourself a favor – don’t push him away.” He pulled his hand back from Jack’s abdomen and squeezed his arm gently. “I’m proud of you, kiddo. I trust you’ll be a better father than I was.”
He started to stand and Jack panicked, his arm flailing toward the specter. “No!”
Sawyer and Kate tried to soothe him. He felt their comforting hands on him, but he couldn’t tear his eyes from his father.
Christian caught his hand and lowered it gently. He felt entirely too real to be a ghost and Jack wondered if he had officially gone insane. “Take good care of my granddaughter, Jack. And keep an eye on your sister. She needs you more than she’s willing to admit.”
Jack frowned as his fevered brain tried to make sense of Christian’s words.
Christian smiled, seemed to blink back tears, and squeezed his hand. “You need to push now.”
The pain surged again, this time accompanied by an intense pressure and Jack knew he was right. “I have to push,” he gasped out before the pain overwhelmed his senses. He gripped Sawyer’s supporting arms and let out a guttural cry as he bore down.
“Okay, easy, Jack,” Juliet warned from between his thighs. “Don’t try to force it.”
Jack ignored her and strained.
“Jack,” she snapped.
The contraction ended and Jack stopped pushing, leaning heavily against Sawyer and gasping for breath.
“Pushing harder is not going to deliver this baby faster, Jack,” Juliet scolded.
Jack just made a pained noise and leaned further into Sawyer. Kate rubbed his distended abdomen lightly.
“What can we do,” she asked Juliet, feeling helpless.
“What you’re doing is fine right now,” Juliet assured her. “This could take a while.”
Jack’s breath caught and he stiffened, grunting as he bore down again.
“Breathe, Jack,” Juliet reminded him.
A sharp cry exploded from him and Sawyer winced. “Easy,” he murmured in Jack’s ear. “Try to relax.”
Kate helped Jack drink when the contraction subsided, holding the water bottle to his lips when his hands proved to shaky. Then she left his side to stoke the fire, which was quickly becoming their only source of light.
“That’s good, Jack,” Juliet encouraged. “Just a little longer and you can hold your baby.”
Jack nodded absently, reaching back to grip a handful of Sawyer’s shirt sleeve. “Take care of her.”
Sawyer looked into his pain-glazed eyes, startled. “What?”
“Our daughter. Take ca...” he broke off with a strangled cry.
“Push,” Juliet reminded him.
Sawyer covered Jack’s hand with his. “Shh...just breathe darlin’.” ‘Daughter?’ he thought feverishly. ‘I thought he said it’d be a boy.’ His confusion was quickly thrust aside as the rest of Jack’s words sunk in. ‘Take care of her’. He still didn’t think he would survive this. “You’re doin’ good, baby,” Sawyer babbled. “Just hold on. It’s gonna be alright.”
Jack moaned brokenly and sagged into Sawyer’s supporting embrace. “Take her...back to camp.” His back arched as another contraction barreled down on him and he fought to breathe and push at the same time. His hand gripped Sawyer’s so tightly that all of his knuckles turned white.
Three more contractions came and went with barely enough time between them for Jack to take a breath. Kate returned with a refreshed cool rag and washed the sweat from his face and neck, her soft encouragements mingling with Sawyer’s.
“I see the head,” Juliet finally announced.
Sawyer’s eyes slipped shut for a moment in relief. “You’re almost there, baby,” he murmured in Jack’s ear.
Jack didn’t seem to hear him and nearly smashed Sawyer’s nose when another contraction came and he arched, his head snapping backward, landing heavily on Sawyer’s shoulder.
“Lay back a little,” Juliet instructed when Jack’s body eased slightly. “And when the next contraction comes, don’t push.”
Sawyer helped Jack recline a couple inches and watched, confused, as Juliet seemed to reach her hand inside his body. Jack cried out and stiffened in Sawyer’s arms.
“What the hell d’you think you’re doin’,” Sawyer barked, straining to hold Jack’s upper body still.
“Making sure the chord isn’t wrapped around the baby’s neck,” Juliet grunted, wincing in sympathy as Jack continued to wail like a wounded animal.
Kate cupped Jack’s face between her hands. “Jack, look at me,” she ordered, the panic in her voice barely controlled.
Juliet’s hand re-emerged a minute later, fingers covered in blood and amniotic fluid. Her relatively clean hand pressed gently to his lower abdomen. “Don’t push,” she repeated.
“Look at me,” Kate repeated, her voice calmer now that Jack had stopped shrieking. “Breathe.”
Jack’s glazed eyes met Kate’s and he struggled to copy her deep breathing, moaning loudly, the sound so helpless and tortured that Sawyer wanted to scream at Juliet to make it stop.
“That’s good, Jack. One more and then you can start pushing again.”
Jack writhed in Sawyer’s arms, batting away Kate’s hands. “I can’t,” he whimpered between gasps. “I...” His mouth opened in a soundless scream and his back arched.
“Don’t push,” Juliet snapped.
“Hey,” Sawyer cut in, reaching around to turn Jack’s face toward him. “Quit bein’ a stubborn son of a bitch and do what she says, would ya?”
Jack blinked at him stupidly for a moment, then let out a garbled yelp and pushed, unable to hold back the impulse any longer.
Juliet cursed under her breath. “Stop!”
Jack collapsed back into Sawyer.
“What happened,” Sawyer demanded.
Juliet shook her head. “It’ll be okay. Kate, get me the heated towel.”
Kate darted over to the fire where a scrap of cloth had been draped over a small tin of boiled water. She handed it to Juliet, her eyes widening as she caught sight of what was going on between Jack’s legs. “Oh my god.”
“What,” Sawyer asked anxiously.
But Kate’s wide eyes were filled with more wonder than fear when they met his. “Look.”
Sawyer followed her gaze and was stunned when he was able to catch a fleeting glimpse of the reddish-pink object emerging from Jack’s body.
Juliet pressed the warm cloth beneath the baby’s head and ordered Jack to push on the next contraction, but this time to do it “gently”. Jack tried, but that was difficult to do when every instinct told him to push the foreign invader from his body as quickly as possible. Kate and Sawyer helped him through it with gentle voices and soothing touches, but he wasn’t sure how much more he could take. It was for all of those reasons and for no reason other than the desire to have the whole painful ordeal over with that on the next contraction he sat up and pushed for all he was worth.
Juliet bit back whatever scolding remark came to mind at his disregard for her instructions and said simply, “the head’s out.” She rearranged her posture, preparing herself to catch the baby. “One more, Jack.”
Jack gasped and panted, his head lolling on Sawyer’s shoulder.
Sawyer stroked his cheek a little rougher than necessary, keeping him alert. “You’re doin’ good, baby. Stay with me.”
Jack let out a wail that sent involuntary shudders down Sawyer’s spine, gripped his hand bone-crushingly tight and pushed with all the strength he had left.
Kate and Sawyer watched, enthralled, as a slimy mass of tangled limbs finally slid from Jack’s body into Juliet’s waiting hands.
“It’s a girl,” she announced before turning the infant over and rubbing her back firmly with two fingers. After a long moment the baby made a wet gurgling noise and started to cry.
“Jesus,” Sawyer muttered under his breath. “Jack...” It wasn’t until that moment that Sawyer noticed Jack had gone almost completely limp in his arms, head resting a little too heavily on Sawyer’s shoulder. He tore his eyes from his newborn daughter, his stomach going cold when he saw Jack’s bloodless face and closed eyes. “Jack!”
TBC
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.
Dedication: 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.
Previous chapters here
***************
Conception – Alternate
By Diandra Hollman
***************
Jack realized he must be delirious with pain when his father suddenly walked out of the jungle toward them.
“Dad,” he panted, reaching a trembling hand out toward the figure.
Sawyer felt his stomach go cold. He snatched Jack’s wrist and clutched it to Jack’s chest, tightening his embrace. “Don’t even think about it,” he hissed in Jack’s ear. “You stay with me, damnit.”
Jack didn’t respond, his eyes fixed on the man kneeling beside him, smiling kindly.
“They can’t see me, Jack,” Christian explained.
“I’m sorry,” Jack blurted.
Sawyer tried to shush him and Kate rubbed the hand Sawyer wasn’t gripping.
Christian smiled again but there was a flicker of something – sadness maybe, or even regret - in his eyes. “You have nothing to be sorry for, kiddo.”
Jack couldn’t hold back a scream as pain surged through him. He arched and writhed in Sawyer’s grip as fire licked outward from his abdomen, engulfing him in a red haze. He vaguely heard voices trying to reassure him, including Juliet directing him to breathe and try not to fight it, and he wondered – not for the first time – if he was strong enough to survive this.
He felt his father’s cool hand rest on his abdomen as he resurfaced and his pain seemed to lessen a little.
“You *are* strong enough, Jack. You will survive this. It’s not your time yet.” Christian watched Sawyer kiss Jack’s temple and murmur a few soothing words in his ear. Anyone could see the Southerner was frantic with worry – though he hid it well. He barely flinched when the next contraction came and Jack squeezed his hand far too tightly.
“He loves you,” Christian said plainly. “Do yourself a favor – don’t push him away.” He pulled his hand back from Jack’s abdomen and squeezed his arm gently. “I’m proud of you, kiddo. I trust you’ll be a better father than I was.”
He started to stand and Jack panicked, his arm flailing toward the specter. “No!”
Sawyer and Kate tried to soothe him. He felt their comforting hands on him, but he couldn’t tear his eyes from his father.
Christian caught his hand and lowered it gently. He felt entirely too real to be a ghost and Jack wondered if he had officially gone insane. “Take good care of my granddaughter, Jack. And keep an eye on your sister. She needs you more than she’s willing to admit.”
Jack frowned as his fevered brain tried to make sense of Christian’s words.
Christian smiled, seemed to blink back tears, and squeezed his hand. “You need to push now.”
The pain surged again, this time accompanied by an intense pressure and Jack knew he was right. “I have to push,” he gasped out before the pain overwhelmed his senses. He gripped Sawyer’s supporting arms and let out a guttural cry as he bore down.
“Okay, easy, Jack,” Juliet warned from between his thighs. “Don’t try to force it.”
Jack ignored her and strained.
“Jack,” she snapped.
The contraction ended and Jack stopped pushing, leaning heavily against Sawyer and gasping for breath.
“Pushing harder is not going to deliver this baby faster, Jack,” Juliet scolded.
Jack just made a pained noise and leaned further into Sawyer. Kate rubbed his distended abdomen lightly.
“What can we do,” she asked Juliet, feeling helpless.
“What you’re doing is fine right now,” Juliet assured her. “This could take a while.”
Jack’s breath caught and he stiffened, grunting as he bore down again.
“Breathe, Jack,” Juliet reminded him.
A sharp cry exploded from him and Sawyer winced. “Easy,” he murmured in Jack’s ear. “Try to relax.”
Kate helped Jack drink when the contraction subsided, holding the water bottle to his lips when his hands proved to shaky. Then she left his side to stoke the fire, which was quickly becoming their only source of light.
“That’s good, Jack,” Juliet encouraged. “Just a little longer and you can hold your baby.”
Jack nodded absently, reaching back to grip a handful of Sawyer’s shirt sleeve. “Take care of her.”
Sawyer looked into his pain-glazed eyes, startled. “What?”
“Our daughter. Take ca...” he broke off with a strangled cry.
“Push,” Juliet reminded him.
Sawyer covered Jack’s hand with his. “Shh...just breathe darlin’.” ‘Daughter?’ he thought feverishly. ‘I thought he said it’d be a boy.’ His confusion was quickly thrust aside as the rest of Jack’s words sunk in. ‘Take care of her’. He still didn’t think he would survive this. “You’re doin’ good, baby,” Sawyer babbled. “Just hold on. It’s gonna be alright.”
Jack moaned brokenly and sagged into Sawyer’s supporting embrace. “Take her...back to camp.” His back arched as another contraction barreled down on him and he fought to breathe and push at the same time. His hand gripped Sawyer’s so tightly that all of his knuckles turned white.
Three more contractions came and went with barely enough time between them for Jack to take a breath. Kate returned with a refreshed cool rag and washed the sweat from his face and neck, her soft encouragements mingling with Sawyer’s.
“I see the head,” Juliet finally announced.
Sawyer’s eyes slipped shut for a moment in relief. “You’re almost there, baby,” he murmured in Jack’s ear.
Jack didn’t seem to hear him and nearly smashed Sawyer’s nose when another contraction came and he arched, his head snapping backward, landing heavily on Sawyer’s shoulder.
“Lay back a little,” Juliet instructed when Jack’s body eased slightly. “And when the next contraction comes, don’t push.”
Sawyer helped Jack recline a couple inches and watched, confused, as Juliet seemed to reach her hand inside his body. Jack cried out and stiffened in Sawyer’s arms.
“What the hell d’you think you’re doin’,” Sawyer barked, straining to hold Jack’s upper body still.
“Making sure the chord isn’t wrapped around the baby’s neck,” Juliet grunted, wincing in sympathy as Jack continued to wail like a wounded animal.
Kate cupped Jack’s face between her hands. “Jack, look at me,” she ordered, the panic in her voice barely controlled.
Juliet’s hand re-emerged a minute later, fingers covered in blood and amniotic fluid. Her relatively clean hand pressed gently to his lower abdomen. “Don’t push,” she repeated.
“Look at me,” Kate repeated, her voice calmer now that Jack had stopped shrieking. “Breathe.”
Jack’s glazed eyes met Kate’s and he struggled to copy her deep breathing, moaning loudly, the sound so helpless and tortured that Sawyer wanted to scream at Juliet to make it stop.
“That’s good, Jack. One more and then you can start pushing again.”
Jack writhed in Sawyer’s arms, batting away Kate’s hands. “I can’t,” he whimpered between gasps. “I...” His mouth opened in a soundless scream and his back arched.
“Don’t push,” Juliet snapped.
“Hey,” Sawyer cut in, reaching around to turn Jack’s face toward him. “Quit bein’ a stubborn son of a bitch and do what she says, would ya?”
Jack blinked at him stupidly for a moment, then let out a garbled yelp and pushed, unable to hold back the impulse any longer.
Juliet cursed under her breath. “Stop!”
Jack collapsed back into Sawyer.
“What happened,” Sawyer demanded.
Juliet shook her head. “It’ll be okay. Kate, get me the heated towel.”
Kate darted over to the fire where a scrap of cloth had been draped over a small tin of boiled water. She handed it to Juliet, her eyes widening as she caught sight of what was going on between Jack’s legs. “Oh my god.”
“What,” Sawyer asked anxiously.
But Kate’s wide eyes were filled with more wonder than fear when they met his. “Look.”
Sawyer followed her gaze and was stunned when he was able to catch a fleeting glimpse of the reddish-pink object emerging from Jack’s body.
Juliet pressed the warm cloth beneath the baby’s head and ordered Jack to push on the next contraction, but this time to do it “gently”. Jack tried, but that was difficult to do when every instinct told him to push the foreign invader from his body as quickly as possible. Kate and Sawyer helped him through it with gentle voices and soothing touches, but he wasn’t sure how much more he could take. It was for all of those reasons and for no reason other than the desire to have the whole painful ordeal over with that on the next contraction he sat up and pushed for all he was worth.
Juliet bit back whatever scolding remark came to mind at his disregard for her instructions and said simply, “the head’s out.” She rearranged her posture, preparing herself to catch the baby. “One more, Jack.”
Jack gasped and panted, his head lolling on Sawyer’s shoulder.
Sawyer stroked his cheek a little rougher than necessary, keeping him alert. “You’re doin’ good, baby. Stay with me.”
Jack let out a wail that sent involuntary shudders down Sawyer’s spine, gripped his hand bone-crushingly tight and pushed with all the strength he had left.
Kate and Sawyer watched, enthralled, as a slimy mass of tangled limbs finally slid from Jack’s body into Juliet’s waiting hands.
“It’s a girl,” she announced before turning the infant over and rubbing her back firmly with two fingers. After a long moment the baby made a wet gurgling noise and started to cry.
“Jesus,” Sawyer muttered under his breath. “Jack...” It wasn’t until that moment that Sawyer noticed Jack had gone almost completely limp in his arms, head resting a little too heavily on Sawyer’s shoulder. He tore his eyes from his newborn daughter, his stomach going cold when he saw Jack’s bloodless face and closed eyes. “Jack!”
TBC
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-15 04:41 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-12-25 05:23 am (UTC)God, I miss this show and the endless debates that make my head hurt.