Chapter 13

Vincent Corleone's Home
Micheal and Jarod's Bathroom
2:25 a.m.

Micheal leans back against the bathroom counter with her eyes closed, rubbing her belly as she takes long deep cleansing breaths. She looks down, "Not now ok guys?" she whispers and then smiles at the little kicks as they're response. A sharp pain surges threw her and she grips the edge of the counter so hard her fingers turn white from the intense grip. She breathes out a deep cleansing breath as the contraction passes.

She wipes her sweating forehead with the back of her hand and steals a glance at her watch, 2:36 a.m. She calculates that she's having contractions every two minutes. That's too fast, she thinks, as she pushes off the counter heading back into their bedroom. She holds under, supporting her belly, the pressure increasing as she walks into the room.

Micheal stands at the edge of the bed and turns on the lamp on the nightstand, sending a soft glow through out the room. She looks at Jarod sleeping soundly, peacefully unaware of what's happening in his life at that very moment. She grimaces at the contractions starting to crash on her with out giving her a chance to rest in-between. She braces her body leaning over with her hands holding her body to keep from dropping to her knees in anguish. Micheal slowly raises her head and glares at the sleeping man, who in her mind is responsible for this torture she's having to go through.

She had never wanted to punch someone so much in her life as she gazeses upon his innocent looking face. Micheal starts to reach over to wake him when another contraction hits her but much more demandingly, making her knees buckle and groan. She looks down at the floor feeling fluid pouring down her legs, not noticing Jarod sitting up in the bed just looking at her.

She flips her hair off her face and tries, but fails, to stand up straight. "They're coming" she says confirming what's running through his mind seeing her leaning over their bed, gripping the sheets in her fists. Jarod jumps out of the bed and jerks on his pants and a shirt. Micheal perches on the side of the bed watching Jarod racing around their room, getting dressed and searching for his, keys she guesses, since he's digging in his pants that were on the floor.

Jarod stops mid-search for the car keys hearing her moans. He looks at her and for the first time notices the huge wet spot on the floor at her feet. "Oh shit." he proclaims as he tries to run across the room to the phone on her nightstand, slipping only once in his haste. He picks up the phone and dials 911 as he surveys the trashed room. He bends down in front of her, breathing with her trying to help her concentrate.

"Micheal honey, how far apart are they?" he repeats the question asked to him by the emergency worker on the phone. She shakes her head, gritting her teeth against the pain. She opens her eyes at hearing Jarod yelling into the phone that he needed an ambulance now, not in an hour. He cuts off the phone, tapping it on his forehead in disbelief that an ambulance couldn't reach them for at least an hour because of some stupid snow. Micheal takes a deep cleansing breath and is finally able to answer his question from like five minutes ago, "They're on top of each other. It's like they don't stop." she informs him beginning to pant and blow again. "OK um... I need to go,"

"Don't you DARE leave me you son of a bitch! This is all your fault!" she yells, grabbing his fore arm, squeezing it to almost the point of breaking it.

Jarod starts to pry her fingers from around his arm, "Micheal I'm just going to go get your father. I'm going to need some help." he explains calmly as he stands up starting to run from the room to Vincent. "I HATE YOU!" she screams bending over a little rubbing her tight belly. Jarod bursts threw his father-in-law's door and stops seeing Vincent and Bell asleep wrapped around each other in his huge bed. If I had time, this might be sweet, he thinks, cutting on the lights in the room. "Vincent," he watches him sitting up groggily, the bedspread falling to show his bare chest, "Micheal's in Labor and there's a storm that's preventing the ambulance from getting to us. I need some help." he concludes then runs back to their room, in the hall he could hear her groans and heavy breathing.

He turns the corner and sees her clinching her knees, grimacing. "No, Micheal! Don't push!" he instructs loudly running toward her. Jarod drops to his knees in front of her and in between her slightly spread legs, looking at her sitting there. "I need to push." she breathes out on an exhale and looks up to the source of her pain, or so she thinks. "Get away from me. Don't you touch me! This is all your fault!" she growls in his face, pushing his hands away from the gentle strokes he was giving her thighs.

Jarod ignores her insults as he stands up and rips their bed sheets into 6 even pieces. He stops when she's quiet and sees her starting to push again. "No Wait!" he yells to her breaking her concentration. Micheal grabs his shirt tail and jerks him down to face level, "I said I need to push. Which part of that statement did you not understand?" she says threw clenched teeth. "Baby listen to me, I"

"Don't you Baby me, you smug bastard." she comments in serious pain now, the pressure increasing with every passing second. She can tell how close she is to delivering them, feeling the head of one forcing it's way threw the birth canal.

"Micheal I need to move you so I can check to see how close you are." Jarod demands gripping her upper arms trying to force her back on the bed, feeling her trying to fight his pushing her back to lay down. "Daddy make him stop." she pleads swatting Jarod's hands on her shoulders, "Stop it! Stop touching me! I can do it myself, I'm going to have these babies without you touching me!" she yells standing up the best she can, but falls toward the floor. Luckily, Jarod is there to catch his obstinate wife, laying her down on the floor for a second before Vincent helps him move her back to the bed.

Jarod gives Vincent and Bell a list of things he'll need while he raises Micheal's dangling legs from the side of the bed, positioning them where he wants them. He lifts her wet gown and lays it around her waist holding it up with one hand as he looks at her, "Micheal I'm going to check you now and see how close you are," he informs her of every thing he's going to do before hand so she's expecting it, "Just breathe threw your contractions." he instructs then slides two, middle and index, fingers half-way inside her and they stop on the top of a hairy head. "Holy Shit Micheal, the baby's right there." he says in awe at how fast her labor is progressing. "You think I don't know THAT, and they call you a genius!" she yells totally hating him at this very moment.

Vincent walks in with Bell right behind him, both carrying supplies that Jarod told them they would need. A pot of hot water, clean towels, ice cubes, scissors, and four shoe laces. He stops on the side of the bed watching Micheal with her chin on her chest, holding the back of her thighs as she does as Jarod instructed. "8, 9, and 10. Deep breath and PUSH" he repeats kneeling in between her legs and watches the baby's head starting to crown.

Micheal leans back against the pillows Jarod moved to help support her to an almost sitting position, closing her eyes, taking deep breaths. "You are doing great Baby. A few more pushes and the head will be out." he praises, stroking the side of her thigh, trying to distract her from the pain. Micheal glares at him, pointing, "If you ever fucking touch me again I'll fucking kill you." she informs him in no-uncertain terms.

Jarod counts out as Micheal pushes again, guiding the skin around the small head emerging from her body. She takes a quick breath and bears down again and screams at the burning sensation scorching threw her body. "The head's out." Jarod announces supporting the tiny slick head as it turns. After groping on the floor for a few seconds he realizes that he forgot to tell them. "Vincent go get the bulb syringe out of the nursery." he orders, wiping the tiny face with a piece of sheet. Suddenly Bell is beside him handing over the asked for device. He thanks her keeping his attention on the baby and sucks the fluid out of the nose and mouth the best he can.

Vincent pushes Micheal's back to raise her in position as she bears down again. "Slow down... not so much." he orders as he guides the shoulders free. All of the air comes whooshing out of her lungs as she feels the baby slide out of her body. Micheal cries along with the newborn, laying on her some-what deflated belly. She touches the pasty and red face, looking into two slightly squinting dark brown eyes looking back at her, crying at the sudden loss of heat it was used to.

Micheal reluctantly lets Bell take her oldest child, wrapping it up in a couple of towels to clean it and keep it warm. She looks at Jarod so overcome by the emotions running threw her heart she can't say anything, just smiles as he finishes whatever he's doing. Jarod just finishes making sure the shoe laces are tight enough and he begins to prepare to do this all over with her, not really paying attention to her heavy breathing as he moves the ripped sheets and towels closer, making sure the bulb syringe is within hands reach as well as the shoe laces for the next umbilical cord. His head snaps up to her face hearing her calling him in a frightened tone of voice, "Jarod, there's something wrong... this doesn't feel the same." she pants out, starting her Lamaze again.

"I'm going to check you and see what's going on." he says calmly, though his heart is up in his throat. He slides his fingers into check her dilation and doesn't feel the head but the feet. Oh shit, it's turned, he thinks, as he quickly tries to ascertain which way he should try to turn the baby. He knew he could do the internal procedure since the first baby was the girl and she is the largest of the two but is hesitant to do that method because of the pain he would cause. He definitely didn't want to add to the pain she's already going through or will be in just a few moments.

Vincent pulls Jarod off to the side after seeing how upset he suddenly seemed after checking her, leaving Bell to hold Micheal's hand and talk to her to keep her calm. "Something's wrong, isn't there? What is it?" Vincent murmurs trying to keep his voice soft to where Micheal won't be able to hear their conversation. Jarod nods once, looking at Micheal in his perreiferal vision, "The baby's turned, it's coming breach." he whispers watching himself wiping his hands on a towel. "Can you turn it back straight or whatever?" Vincent asks his voice rising a touch, really scared for Micheal now after seeing Him just nod that he can. "So, why aren't you doing something?" he asks annoyed, that Jarod is stalling in reversing this turn of events. "It's very painful and I don't want to do that to her." he clues her father in on why he's hesitating.

Vincent looks at his watch, 3:12 a.m. It felt so much later than that to him for some reason. Probably because I just became a grandfather, he thinks, calculating how much time before the ambulance arrives. "Well how long can the baby hold out like this?" Jarod shakes his head as he answers, "Not long at all. She's already fully dilated again and having contractions."

"You don't have a choice. I'm going to get Bell and the baby out of here so you can do this in private." he instructs starting to walk back over.

Jarod grabs his arm, stopping him before he can take the first step, "You don't understand. I'm going to need at least you here to hold her down." he informs him and sees Vincent finally understanding how painful this procedure is. "I don't think I can do that." "You're going to have to. I can't because I'll be busy with the baby but it has to be you. Bell isn't strong enough with all the adrenaline running threw her now, she's going to be fighting me as well as you."