Playing House

Oh God.

Oh God.

Oh God.

No. This is not happening.

This. Is not. Happening.

I sat up in my hospital bed, waiting to feel it again. The feeling I remembered the first time I went into labor, with the twins.

Part of me was happy this was finally happening. These triplets were so fucking heavy, and my whole body ached from housing their wombs. I was also bored out of my fucking mind after all the bed rest. I know I complained when I was at the house, but this hospital bed rest was brutal.

But another part, a larger part, was afraid. Popping one baby out isn’t easy, let alone three. Within minutes of each other.

What if something went wrong with the babies?

What if something went wrong with me?

What if-

“Oh shit,” I muttered, feeling another contraction. I breathed in deep, pressing the call button by my bed. Of course these little devils decided to come out at two in the morning, when there were no visitors and everyone was fast asleep. I bet they got that from Ben.

A nurse hurriedly walked into the room, and I collapsed back against my pillows.

“I think I’m going into labor,” I said flatly, causing her to chuckle.

“You don’t sound all that excited,” she mused, checking my vitals.

“I’m just ready. Relieved. Ugh, I just want these babies out,” I said dramatically. Suddenly another contraction hit and I shot up, holding my stomach. “Ah Jesus,” I groaned, breathing heavy.

“That’s more like it,” the nurse noted. I glared at her, but she ignored me as she called another nurse in to go and phone the people on my list to tell them I was in labor.

***

THIRD PERSON P.O.V.

A persistent ringing sounded through the house, and Ben knew it wasn’t his dream anymore. He groaned and rolled over, feeling a body next to him.

It took him a while to remember why he was on the floor, but then he remembered the indoor camping party he had with Beau, Maddie, and the rest of the guys. He was currently laying on a spread out comforter, with Beau on one side of him and Maddie on the other.

Ben sat up, careful not to pull the blanket off the twins, and rubbed his head while looking around. His teammates were sprawled out everywhere, knocked out.

“Dude,” Adam Burish muttered a few feet away. “Turn that ringing off.” He finished by shoving a pillow over his head swiftly. Ben chuckled, but by the time he carefully stood up the ringing had stopped. He knew his phone usually rang longer than that, so when he heard a voice in the kitchen he figured one of the other guys answered it.

Ben yawned, looking at the clock, and saw that it was only seven minutes past two AM. Who the heck was calling-

“Mal’s in labor!” Marty yelled, busting out of the kitchen.

“Whaaaaaaaaaat?!” Adam Burish exclaimed, throwing the pillow off his face and bounding up.

"Mal's in labor!" Marty repeated. The other guys were starting to groggily wake up, wondering what all the commotion was about.

“What’s going on?” Patrick Sharp mumbled sleepily, eyes half closed.

“Mal’s in labor!” Marty again stated. The men who were already awake all shot up, and began waking up the men who were still lagging.

“Ben!” Duncan Keith called out, his cell phone pressed to his ear. He was probably calling Lyss. Seabs was also on his phone, probably calling Erin, and all the men turned to look at Ben’s unmoving form. “Eags! Man, come on, let’s hustle eh?”

"Yeah! Mal's in labor!" Marty yelled yet again.

Patrick Sharp shoved Ben toward the stairs, and the soon-to-be-father-of-triplets finally got himself together. He bolted up the stairs and into his bedroom, but he once again froze.

What was he supposed to do again?

“Ben!” They called out from downstairs. He heard Beau and Maddie start crying, and he got even more flustered. He sat down on the edge of his bed, putting his head in his hands and taking a deep breath. Patrick Sharp came into the room soon after, wondering what was taking Ben so long.

“Eags, what are you doing?” he asked, his tone urgent.

“I’m totally failing Sharpie. I’m defective, or something. I can’t get my shit together, I can’t-”

Patrick pulled Ben up, clasping him on the shoulders.

“Did you and Amalia talk about bags you’d pack and bring over when this happened?”

Ben looked thoughtful for a moment, but then his eyes lit up.

“Yeah!” He ran over to his closet, pulling out the bags he and Mal organized while she was still at the house.

“Alright, is there anyone you’re supposed to call? Like, Tina, or your nice Aunt, or Mal’s parents?”

“Mal doesn’t have parents. Well she does, but uh…they, you know. Don’t talk to her,” Ben said.

“Why?” Patrick asked, confused. Ben gave him a pointed look and Patrick finally understood. “Alright well, regardless, are you supposed to call anyone?” Patrick pushed Ben out the door and down the stairs where everyone was waiting.

“No, Tina’s on the hospital list and she’s got her own list of duties. Which I hope she’s not failing at too,” he mumbled.

Patrick pawned Ben off onto Dustin Byfuglien, who led him toward the front door.

“Tazer, call Q, and tell him what’s going on, ” Sharpie ordered quietly.

"Why?" Jonathan asked, looking confused but pulling out his phone nonetheless.

"Because Mal's in labor!" Marty blurted. Patrick Sharp looked at him, telling him to go get some fresh air. They all walked out of the house, piling into as few cars as they could.

The hospital staff looked scared, to say the least, but really who wouldn’t be with a horde of hockey players running toward your front desk? All the men started speaking loudly at once, trying to see if Mal was in the same room or if they moved her.

The person at the front desk just sat there, dumbstruck, so Ben grunted and went to the room he figured Mal would be in.

***

The door to my room suddenly burst open, and every Blackhawk on the roster poured into my room. I looked up with wide eyes, trying to keep my breathing steady as my contractions were coming closer and closer together. The babies still weren’t due out for a while, the nurses said, but that didn’t mean it still didn’t hurt like Hell.

“What do you all think you’re doing?!” A nurse exclaimed. “No, no, no. Family only. Who is family?”

“I am,” All the men said collectively, raising their hands. I couldn’t help but laugh at that, and suddenly Joel Quenneville pushed his way through the boys.

“Joel!” I exclaimed. “Elizabeth!” I added, seeing his wife push through as well. Although I didn’t know them very long, Joel and Elizabeth Quenneville had kind of taken me under their wings and made me feel like their own daughter. It meant a lot to me that they were here, especially since my own parents were not.

“Mal?!” Someone else yelled, behind the boys.

“Tina?!” I called out. The boys looked like the Red Sea parting when she came through with Mr. And Mrs. Jensen in tow.

“Benjamin!” Mrs. Jensen called out. She embraced her nephew in a hug and Mr. Jensen patted him on the back. “We’ve called your parents and they are so excited. We have to keep them updated, and-”

The whole room began to buzz with conversations, so much so that no one heard the nurses still yelling for everyone to get out. Lyss and Erin also showed up, waving at me excitedly before going to their respective boyfriends.

Suddenly a big booming voice of a doctor was heard, telling people to quiet down. A large, handsome man strode into the room, and everyone looked at him.

“Hey! The Chicago Blackhawks! I’m a big fan,” he announced, shaking the guys’ hands.

I groaned and collapsed against my pillows once more. The doctor heard me, and suddenly straightened himself up.

“Oh right. Um, I’m sorry, but we can’t have this many people in the delivery room. Where’s the father?”

“Here,” Ben and Adam said at the same time. Ben whipped around and glared at Adam, who immediately cowered away.

“It was a joke, gosh,” Adam muttered. The doctor turned toward Ben.

“You’ve taken all the proper classes then?”

“What?” Ben asked.

“Childbirthing class,” the doctor said. Ben looked over at me worriedly before looking back at the doctor.

“What the fuck would I need a birthing class for?”

“Alright, I’m sorry, but you can’t be in here either. Now-”

“What?!” Everyone yelled simultaneously.

“No, fuck that. If he wants to be in here, he’s going to be in here,” I said, pushing myself to sit up.

“I’m sorry, but the hospital insists that the father of the baby-”

“No,” I refused. “No. I’m not doing this without him. Ben.” He was at my side in an instant with Beau and Maddie, telling me it would be okay.

“Can’t you make an exception? They have a weird situation. They weren’t together for a while, and then they were, and then they weren’t, and then they were-”

“Bur, shut up,” Brian Campbell stated. The doctor still looked hesitant, so Joel pulled him aside.

“Hey, you like the Hawks, right? You like season tickets, too?”

The doctor sighed, an amused smirk on his face.

“You are evil people,” he joked. “Fine, but really, no amount of season tickets is going to change the fact that you all can’t stay.”

Tina came over and kissed my forehead before grabbing Beau and Maddie.

“I’ll be in the waiting room okay?” She smiled. I nodded, smiling back. Erin and Lyss dragged Duncan and Brent out as well, all offering their well wishes.

One by one the room started to clear out after words of encouragement, and soon almost everyone was gone.

“Sharpie,” Ben called out. Patrick turned around, looking over at us. “We want you to stay. We want you to be their Godfather.”

Patrick’s eyes widened, and he looked at me for confirmation. I nodded, smiling, and his face broke out into a grin. Ben went over and the two men hugged, and then Patrick came over and pecked me on the lips.

“Are you guys sure?”

“Definitely,” I nodded.

“And their Godmother?” Patrick asked. “Is it Tina?” Ben looked over at me curiously.

“No, Tina is already the Godmother of Beau and Maddie,” I explained. “You pick,” I told Ben.

“No way, I picked Sharpie,” Ben denied.

“No, I picked Sharpie,” I countered. “The fact that he happens to be your teammate is irrelevant.”

The doctor came over at that point and smiled at us, looking at Patrick who was clearly not about to leave.

“The rules I break for season tickets,” he chuckled, pulling the guys toward the door. “Alright men. It’s time to scrub in.”

The nurses were helping to make me comfortable as I waited for Ben and Patrick to come back in. They finally did, right as a contraction hit me like a Mack truck.

I screamed out in pain, and the doctor came over and spread my legs apart to check how dilated I was.

“Hey, uh, Doc? I don’t know if I’m so comfortable with your face up my wif- I mean, girlfriend’s hospital gown,” Ben asserted. The doctor merely chuckled.

“You and countless other men feel the same way whenever they see me in the delivery room. But I can assure you, I’m a professional, and I don’t think of it like that,” the doctor said, walking across the room near Ben to check a chart.

“Yeah, but-”

“Ben, shut your mouth,” I snapped.

“Yeah, but Mal, his face and hands are right up your-”

“Benjamin!”

He shut his mouth at my use of his full name, putting a scolded dog expression on his face.

“Isn’t there a woman doctor around here somewhere…?”

“Eags, just let him handle it,” Patrick tried amusedly. I let out another painful yelp, and Ben shoved the doctor toward me.

“Handle it!” He ordered. The doctor glared at Ben and walked over to me, and Patrick continued to talk to Ben to try and calm him down. I groaned in pain again. “Let’s get her some drugs, yeah?” Ben called out. The nurses kept walking around, ignoring him. Patrick put a re-assuring hand on his back as the two of them looked over me.

Ben was clearly not amused with his delivery room gig. I know he loved that he was able to be here for it, but I also know he’d be perfectly fine with sitting out in the hallway too. Yet, in the same token, I knew he wouldn’t miss it for the world. He was probably just nervous. As was evident by his freaking out at every small noise. Patrick was surprisingly calm, and I was grateful he was there to keep Ben preoccupied.

I screamed again as the nurse told me to breathe, and Ben looked at me worriedly. Once the next contraction ripped through me, I had had it. I couldn’t take it anymore.

“Get me some fucking drugs!”

“Get her some fucking drugs!” Ben and Patrick screamed simultaneously, a lot more high pitched than I thought they could ever go. The doctor nodded to one of the nurses, who I assumed went to get the epidural.

Ben came over and held my hand as he sat down, giving it a light squeeze. I wanted to smile when Patrick went to my other side and did the same, but I was in too much pain.

“I love you guys,” I breathed out. Ben leaned forward and kissed my forehead while Patrick just ran his thumb across my hand. I could feel another contraction coming on, and once again the room was filled with my scream. Patrick had been standing when I squeezed his hand, and his knees buckled from the force. “Sorry,” I muttered.

“It’s fine, sweetheart. It didn’t hurt that bad,” he lied, wincing. The nurse came back just then with the epidural and IV’s. The nurse hooked me up to the IV’s and walked away, letting me breathe for a little. A familiar scream exited my mouth with another contraction, and Patrick looked accusingly at the hospital staff. “What the fuck kind of lame drugs are those?”

“Those are IV fluids,” a nurse answered kindly. "She has to get a few liters of those in first before we can administer the epidural."

“Oh…heh. Sorry,” Patrick uttered, sheepishly. He looked down at me, and this time I couldn’t stop the tired smile from breaking out on my face. “I knew that looked too easy to be true.”

Eventually it was time to actually insert the epidural catheter, which was no easy feat. Have you ever tried to get a women pregnant with triplets to arch her back and lie on her side, coincidentally in the fetal position? Yeah well, let me tell you. It’s hard.

“Woah…” Ben and Patrick both sounded, looking at the needle that was going to go into my back.

“Now that makes more sense,” Patrick pointed out, Ben nodding in agreement. Once the catheter was in and everything was becoming delightfully numb, I laid back down normally and waited for the doctor’s instructions. Ben and Patrick re-assumed their positions holding my hands, and the three of us took a simultaneous deep breath.