Chapter 14

"Where's Sarah?" A naked Adam asked as Tabitha sauntered into the dining room. She had just arrived home from her friend's house at the other end of the street and scowled at the man crouched over their dining table with newspaper spread out and a dirty piece of machinery being cleaned by him.

"She's not here, she's gone somewhere else," Tabitha said gruffly. "Where's Nat?"

"She's not home," Adam replied. "It's just me."

Tabitha snorted. "And that better be getting cleaned up," she warned.

Adam groaned but didn't look up. "It's just some plugs," he told her and then put the small item down. "I told 'im to change 'em but Carl's a tight-arse."

"He's a racist," Tabitha spat back and began to sift through a pile of pregnancy magazines on the sideboard.

"Oh don't start this again," Adam replied in a scornful tone, putting the last of the spark plugs back into a small cardboard box and screwing the newspaper into a ball.

"He is," Tabitha told him looking up. "I heard him and you are just as bad. I can't help it that I have to live with you but I don't need to speak to you."

Adam shook his head at her and sighed, walking out of the room with the scrunched up newspaper. What could he do to make the girls forgive him? Sure, the watching of her private pornographic films was a bit disrespectful but it was mostly Carl. Surely it was time for the girls to move on and see past that? Not that it mattered too much, he had been to see the house a few days previous and saw most of the work had been completed. He was a couple of weeks away from getting the keys back.

He threw the newspaper into the bin in the kitchen and walked upstairs to use the bathroom; the girls would only moan at him if he used the kitchen tap to wash his hands. "Adam," a voice bellowed as he turned on the taps and lathered his blackened hands with soap. Adam ignored it, it would only be Tabitha complaining that he had spilt a drop of grease on the table. "Adam." He waited. "Adam," the distressed voice called.

Adam lathered inside his fingers as best he could and rinsed his hands. He heard Tabitha again and groaned, walking out of the bathroom to the top of the stairs. "What is it?"

Tabitha appeared, panting at the bottom and looked up. "It's coming," she squealed. "My waters..."

"What's coming?" Adam asked, his face still scowling. "Oh shit, the baby? It can't be, you ain't due?"

"Adam, it's coming," Tabitha cried. "Help me, please."

"But you ain't due. Stop it," Adam told her with panic in his eyes.

"I can't stop it," Tabitha snapped and then screwed up her face and gripped the banister. "I can't."

"Just keep your legs together," Adam told her. "The baby can't come out if ya legs are together."

"I can't keep my legs together," Tabitha barked. "Get me to the Hospital."

"Hospital, yes. Right, fuck. Shit. Ambulance," Adam ranted and picked up his mobile from his pocket. "No, it'll never get anywhere near here in the snow." He ran down the stairs and peered out of the front door, oblivious of his naked state. Tabitha looked at him as he smiled. "We could go on the bike."

"I'm not going on the bike," she told him and he shook his head.

"It'll be fine. I've only come off once before. OK that was in the snow and ice but I'll be careful this time."

"I ain't goin' on a bike," she shouted and took a number of quick breaths. "Get me an ambulance."

"We can be at Lancaster Royal in ten minutes," Adam offered and Tabitha glared at him. "Fuck's sake," he muttered and dialled the number for the emergency services as Tabitha walked into the lounge and lay on the sofa. "Shit. Woman. She's about to drop," he panted.

"Ambulance, sir?" The voice asked and Adam grunted.

"Yeah. Ambulance," he said to the operator and the phone rang again as he was put through to a control centre.

"Woman. About to drop," he repeated as a cheerful female voice came on the line.

"Excuse me sir."

"Woman. Going to drop. Need ambulance to maternity."

"Can I take your address please?"

"Ahh shit. It's ... Tabitha what's our address?" Adam asked as his jittery hands held his mobile as his mind went blank. Tabitha reached up and snatched the phone from him and spoke to the woman at the end of line. Adam watched for a moment and then reached onto the table for Tabitha's mobile, dialling "Sarah."

The phone rang and went to voice-mail, so Adam swore, dialling it again with the phone going straight to the answering service; Sarah clearly didn't want to speak to Tabitha, but she needed to speak to him. "Sarah, you stupid girl. Answer your fucking phone. Tabitha is about to drop," he left as a message.

Tabitha gave a cry and threw her arms out, passing Adam his mobile back. "Go get my bag," she told him.

"What dya want ya 'andbag for?" Adam asked. "Ya about to drop one and..."

"My maternity bag," Tabitha yelled. "It's in my room on the floor."

"What's a maternity bag?"

Tabitha panted and gripped the side of the chair. She started trying to regulate her breaths and closed her eyes. "It's a hold-all with ma shit in, ya dumb fuck. Just get it."

Adam tutted and left the room, bounding up the stairs to Tabitha's bedroom, opening the unlocked door and picking up a pink hold-all from the floor. He sprinted upstairs to throw on a T-shirt and a pair of jogging bottoms; if paramedics were coming he should at least be clothed. Tabitha was still squealing when he returned and he hesitated. "Sure you don't want to go by bike?"

"Adam, shut up," Tabitha cried and panted. "Just shut up."

"OK," Adam muttered and watched Tabitha take deep breaths. "Do you want some water, or owt? Or do you want to get naked, 'cause the baby'll get trapped in ya knickers?"

Tabitha stared at him and gulped. "Ambulance'll be here soon," she told him and wiped her eyes. "Where's Sarah?"

"I left a message," Adam told her. There was a knock at the door, and he ran down the hall to let in two paramedics. "She's in the lounge, there."

He looked at the curtains twitching around the little street as his neighbours frantically tried to look and see why the ambulance had arrived at their house, and almost wished that he hadn't got dressed, but closed the door and walked down the hallway to the living room.

The paramedic beckoned Tabitha to stand and asked if she was OK to walk to the ambulance. "I'm fine," Tabitha replied breathlessly.

"Have you had any complications during pregnancy?"

"In hospital for dehydration," Tabitha told her and then panted a bit. "In hospital a few weeks back."

"Right, let's get you to maternity," Tabitha was told and she looked at Adam.

"Can you grab me bag?"

Adam nodded and carried Tabitha's bag out to the waiting ambulance. Tabitha shut the door behind her and Adam touched his pockets for the keys. "You got your keys?"

"No," Tabitha cried and Adam hesitated.

"I'm locked out then," he moaned and the paramedic looked at him.

"I think your friend might need some support," she told him firmly and Adam rubbed his eyes.

"Tabitha, she won't want me."

"Adam, shut up," Tabitha cried. "And carry the bag." The paramedic smiled and sat next to the pregnant girl as the ambulance whirred into life and drove down the little street through the snow.

Adam watched in silence, his heart beating fast as Tabitha squealed again and then looked up at the top of the ambulance. "You OK?" The paramedic asked and Tabitha nodded.

"Hey, just as well you'd only just come home," Adam told her smiling. "Any other time of the day you'd be going to the hospital naked." The paramedic looked at him and Adam smiled. "She's a nudist. Always running around without her keks on."

The paramedic held on to Tabitha's hand as she screwed her face up and her body tensed. She groaned loudly. "Ah shit," she cried.

"She ain't gonna like drop here, is she?"

"Adam," Tabitha yelled. "Fucking shut up, ya fucking ... oh, ahhh shit!"

There was a bump in the road and the ambulance stopped, pulling up slowly. The paramedic shouted to the driver who replied that they were at the hospital and she jumped down, helping Tabitha into a wheelchair that was wheeled to the maternity ward.

Adam followed a few steps behind as she was taken to a small whitewashed room with a bed in the middle and a couple of chairs dotted around the spartan delivery suite. Tabitha stripped the moment she arrived as the midwife came into the room holding a gown in her hands. "Are we OK to call you Tabitha, dear?" The young lady asked and Tabitha nodded.

"Are you coming in?" The midwife asked Adam hovering in the door and still holding the pink hold-all. She looked at Tabitha who nodded.

"I'm just bringing this," Adam told the midwife.

Tabitha lay on the bed naked and stared across at her house-mate. "Don't leave me," Tabitha pleaded as Adam hesitated at the door of the delivery suite. "Please."

The midwife watched Adam tentatively come into the room and pull up a padded brown chair. "I'm not..."

"It doesn't matter," the midwife told him, her face lighting up as she smiled. Adam pulled out his mobile and sent a text to the landlord asking him to "Tell Sarah, Tab droppin. Bring key. I locked out. Adam."

Tabitha gripped Adam's hand and squeezed as she cried, her body tensing and her head thrown back. "Ahhh, that hurts," Adam moaned and Tabitha looked at him panting and grabbed the "gas and air" to take a few breaths.

"It fucking hurts me more," the black girl replied, her eyes glazed. The midwife offered encouragement to Tabitha who hollered mercilessly into the delivery suite.

"Yeah, but, it's not my fault," Adam told her and the midwife looked up. "We aren't together," he said as an explanation. "In fact, she's lez-zes up, she ain't into men. A bit, 'cause she got knocked up but it ain't me 'cause I dain't know her at that point but..."

"Adam, shut the fuck up," she warned him and screamed again crying out into the plain delivery suite. Adam reached for the mask and offered it to Tabitha who shook her head as tears swelled in her eyes. Adam took a lungful of it and rolled his eyes

He felt slightly dizzy, preoccupied and not completely aware of what was happening. He felt in a dream, a daze and utterly distracted. "It's good," he muttered and Tabitha snatched it from him.

"S'mine."

"Can you make Tabitha a bit more comfortable?" Adam was asked by the midwife as she touched Tabitha between the legs. He was passed a cool tissue, moist but not wet. He looked at Tabitha and wiped her brow and then the sides of her face. "You are nearly fully dilated," she was told.

"Is that good?" Adam asked and the midwife nodded.

"Yeah, that's good," she said with a smirk and looked at Tabitha. "Did you go to ante-natal?"

"Yes, me and my partner."

"But not me," Adam added and the midwife smiled. "That's her lesbian partner, but she's not here."

"Yeah, I got that. Could you make her comfortable please? Is OK, Tabitha?"

"You want me to?" Adam asked. Tabitha nodded and then started screaming again, her fingers grabbing Adam's hand and clamping down hard on his bony wrist.

Adam took a deep breath and sopped the glistening body of Tabitha, her large breasts glowing with a radiant sheen as he dragged the soft tissue over her.

She sighed as he did and the midwife looked at her. "Did you think about any birthing positions?"

Tabitha nodded. "I wanted to be supported by my partner." She looked at Adam who rolled his eyes.

"Me?"

"Well you are her birthing partner," the midwife replied and Tabitha shuffled down the bed and then told the anxious man to sit behind her.

Adam leant against the metal headboard and had Tabitha leaning against his chest. He instinctively put his hands under her armpits and she crossed her arms to grip him as she squealed again. "Do you need any more pain relief?"

Tabitha panted and shook her head. "How long does this take?" Adam asked and the midwife stared back.

"Anything from ten minutes to four days."

"Four days?" Adam cried and the young midwife smiled. He hugged Tabitha and his hands touched her large breasts which caused him to recoil instantly. "You dain't look old 'nough to be a nurse," he told her and she smiled. "Ya only look a teenager."

"I am only nineteen," the girl replied with a smile. "I'm twenty tomorrow."

"Oh happy birthday. For tomorrow," Adam mumbled and Tabitha gripped his hand again, oblivious to the flirting Adam was trying to do with the student midwife. "How many babies have you had?"

"A few," the midwife muttered, staring at Tabitha and watching as she screamed loudly into the delivery suite. Adam panted, Tabitha was a dead weight when she leant back on his chest and he wasn't too comfortable but he guessed Tabitha was in more pain. "You're doing well," the midwife told her. "Really well."

"Yeah," Adam muttered as the midwife looked at him. "Really well."

"Adam," Tabitha hissed.

"Yeah, I know. Shut it. But I couldn't do it." The midwife sniggered at Adam but Tabitha tensed up and screamed, tears streaming down her face.

"It hurts," she cried. "It really hurts."

"Yeah, but you're doing well," Adam told her and held her tightly as Tabitha's body launched itself into another contraction. Tabitha slid down the bed slightly, embedding her head into his stomach and gripped the bed, yelling as another wave of pain engulfed her.

Adam did his best to comfort and encourage her as her contractions got more painful and the scared woman gripped his hands and cried uncontrollably.

"I can see it's head," the midwife told her after a particularly painful contraction. "Keep going, deep breaths, ride the contractions."

Tabitha panted and yelled as her body tensed. "Ride the contractions," Adam parroted. "Deep breaths. Do you want the gas?" He didn't wait for Tabitha to reply, grabbing the face mask and putting it over her face the moment her contraction stopped.

She gasped as she took a few lungfuls but her respite was short, her body strained as another contraction hit her. "It's coming," she was told.

"Ya hear that," Adam told her cheerfully. "Nearly a mother. How cool is that?"

The midwife shook her head as Tabitha's body rested for a few moments. "Nearly there, few more pushes Tabitha."

"Nearly there," Adam told her and squeezed her. "Nearly there."

"Adam shut the ... ahhhhh Christ," Tabitha shouted and her face screwed up, as tears flowed down her cheeks. "I can't do this."

"But you are doing it," Adam replied instantly. "Nearly there. You heard the midwife," he said reassuringly. "Nearly there."

Tabitha shook her head. "I can't, I just can't."

"You're nearly there," the midwife replied and pressed a button on the wall. A few moments later, another couple of midwives entered and the young nurse detailed Tabitha's state.

Tabitha screeched in the middle of it, and the nurse cried out. "It's here."

Tears streamed down Tabitha's face as she saw her little baby for the first time, a screaming, bloody mess being picked up and placed on her stomach. "Oh Tabitha, what a beautiful boy," Adam cooed.

"It's a girl," she said instantly and looked at the crying mess. "It's my girl. It's..." Tabitha sniffed and Adam held her tightly, wiping his own eyes. He had not expected to be affected by the birth of Tabitha's daughter but he found himself almost overcome with emotion.