flamesburned | A Hospital on the Mainland

As Liz entered her last couple of days of pregnancy, she had been starting to feel more and more uncomfortable and had not moved much at all.

Then really early Tuesday morning her waters had broke and then her and Prompto had quickly gathered her emergency bag and made it over to the hospital.

She had been extremely nervous about the birth, especially since she was unsure how she would go with her powers but she was trying really hard to focus on her meditation and her breathing and she was extremely grateful for Prompto being there with her and helping keep her distracted from the pain and watching him take as many photos as he could.

Several hours later and Noctra had arrived, Liz was still extremely tired from the birth but after Noctra had been taken away to be cleaned and handed over to her wrapped in blankets and Liz couldn’t believe that they’d done it.

“Prompto,” she said in awe as she held their daughter, tears in her eyes as she looked from Noctra to Prompto, “we did it ... she's here, she's incredible ...”

[for Prompto who is modded with permission and NFB due to distance!]

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And the hospital did not burn down, either!

The whole things had been something that Prompto had thought he was ready for; he knew it was going to be intense and exhausting, he knew at every second, he was going to feel excitement and worry and dread and elation, but hoo boy. He was not even remotely prepared for any of it; he was pretty sure an experience like that was not something you actually could rightly prepare for.

And he hadn't even done any of the hard work!

But that moment, that first moment, of seeing Liz there, elated even though all of her exhaustion, with their daughter in her arms, made every second of it, even the awful ones where things got scary and rough and he worried he'd have to make a quick dive for a fire extinguisher, made it all worth it, a million times over.

Forget tears in the eyes; they were openly, messily> falling over Prompto's cheeks, even through the smile that he couldn't keep off of his face. They were going to have to hook him up to a saline drip, at this point, with how much he was going to be crying tonight.

"She's perfect," he said, and, in that moment, it was true, although his confidence in that would guiltily start to wane a little, the more he saw his own eyes reflected in hers, all those other little subtle details reminiscent of the face he still couldn't stand to see reflected back at him in mirrors, but that would all come much, much later; all there was now was love and relief and adoration, and moving over to Liz to plant a kiss on her sweaty forehead. "You're perfect."

And now he could glance down at the baby all wrapped up and squirming and making the most adorable little mewling sounds in Liz's arms, and, oh, hey, more tears! But also a softer sort of a smile, an absolutely devastating lurch in his chest, and he lifted a hand to waggle his fingers in a wave toward her. "Hey, there, little lady. Good job out there."

Liz was definitely extremely glad that the hospital didn’t burn down either.

“She is perfect,” she agreed happily, as she looked down at their daughter, “I can’t believe she’s here,”

She smiled tiredly at Prompto as he kissed her forehead , leaning into her pillows as she tried to get into a more comfortable sitting position. “Thank you,” she added, “I couldn’t have done this without you,”

The tears then started to spill down her cheeks as Noctra made the little noises, “would you like to hold her?” she asked as she looked up at him, when she saw those tears, normally she would have reached out to take his hand but both hands were full right then.

And here Prompto couldn't even argue against his role in all of this, because, well, yes, it was true, on a very technical and simple way, by the very nature of the beast, this couldn't have happened without him.

Well, it probably could have, obviously, he himself was living example of alternate routes of conception, but it would have been a lot more involved and complicated.

And while his first impulse was to answer that question with a firm and resounding yes, please, there were all sorts of tangled feelings going through him right now at the enormity of all of this and a weird sort of undertow of feeling wholly unworthy, for a multitude of complicated reasons, the most simple and direct of which is just that Liz sort of earned that right.

"I would like to," he said, the admission coming out with a faintly crooked grin, "but only when you're ready."

Which meant that maybe then he'd be ready.

Liz gazed down at Noctra and then back up at her husband, she did very much want to keep holding Noctra but at the same time she wanted Prompto to experience holding his daughter as well.

There was a bit of a longer pause as she considered.

“I … maybe a few more moments,” she agreed a little sheepishly as she looked back down at Noctra, marvelling at how her eyes were very much like Prompto’s, “I still can’t believe she’s here,” she admitted, she smiled as she looked back up at Prompto, “how are you feeling?” she asked gently, noting how he had worded that admission.

"Take your time," Prompto assured her, especially since that meant that he would have more time to prepare himself; he was already feeling another flood of tears building up just thinking about holding her. He was going to be a complete mess once it actually happened, and, even if that weren't the case, he knew what a cherished moment this must be for Liz, and he wanted her to be able to hold onto that as long as possible.

And what he was feeling was just so complicated and wild that when Liz asked, the only thing he could do at first was laugh. "Good," he told her, starting out there, since that was the simpleist. "Relieved. Happy...." He trailed off a little at that one, looking at Liz with a smile. "Proud."

But also frightened, terrified, nervous, guilty...but those he would deal with later.

"How are you feeling?"

That seemed the way more important question, anyway.

Liz smiled at that, nodding as she gratefully took those few extra moments, sitting there with Noctra in her arms.

“Tired,” she admitted, “but also really happy and also relieved,” she added, “especially since we didn’t need the fire extinguishers after all,”

That had definitely been one of her main concerns.

“It’s a lot to take in, isn’t it?”

That was a bit of an understatement.

And there was another laugh, one that seemed like it could have very nearly been crying, as well, and, marveling, Prompto shook his head.

"Yeah, it is," he agreed. "It's amazing."

And, unable to help himself from thinking about the circumstances of his own birth and the layers of existence here, in him, a clone, created in a lab, with an actual, natural-born daughter now...it filled him with a sort of pained wonder at the idea that anyone would be able to do something as incredible, as precious, as monumental as creating life, just to turn around and bastardize it, pervert it, destroy it, the way his father had...

His throat tightened, feeling the threat of sobs welling up inside of him again.

"I think," he managed to get out, arms opening up a little, "I'd like to hold her now."

“It definitely is,” Liz agreed happily, still not quite believing that Noctra was there, that they were all together.

Then her smile widened as Prompto said he was ready to hold her, “of course,” she said, as she shifted her position slightly so that she could gently hand Noctra over to Prompto’s outstretched arms. “Here you go, she’s amazing to hold,” she told him with a proud smile.

"Ohmygod," said Prompto, definitely laugh-crying now, as he leaned in to oh-so-carefully take the baby from Liz's arms into his own, and immediately, protectively, drawing her in closer to his chest, all the while just gawking down at the perfectly imperfect little bundle. "She's so tiny."

And so light, which seemed impossible, so something that was weighing so heavily on his heart, his soul, his everything.

And he just needed a moment, looking down at her, where he was openly, silently weeping, just letting it all come out, before he gave a shaky laugh again and managed to get out, "Hey, Noctra. It's me. It's your dad. Try not to be too disappointed if I sounded like I looked better from the inside."

Obviously, he knew she probably couldn't process any of this, except maybe the familiar cadence of his voice from all the times he had talked to her in her development, but, come on. He officially got a free Bad Dad Jokes pass now!

“She is is, isn’t she,” Liz smiled, waiting til she was sure Prompto was holding Noctra before she sank back into the pillows.

She watched with tears of her own as she watched Prompto hold their daughter, the pride she felt as she watched them interact.

The tears were rolling down her cheeks freely now as she watched this moment play out, just taking the time to watch her husband and daughter, at how happy he looked, at how perfect this all was.

She wanted Prompto to have as long as he wanted, so she was fine sitting back on the bed and watching.

A Hospital on the Mainland - Tuesday Evening

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