Motherhood - The Begining

Saveli Pendleton

Mother of Two // Ded
 
Messages
922
OOC First Name
Cole
Blood Status
Mixed Blood
Relationship Status
Married
Sexual Orientation
Reuben <3
Age
6/2026
Saveli knew that she was going to be due soon, and she had told Monty when he needed to leave that she would Owl him right away. The blonde insisted with quite certainty that she would do her birth at the house, but at two in the morning on the day of September 4th, she felt a pain like no other and her nurse (have a muggle birth they said, it's more holistic they said) was forced by Saveli's commands to take her to the nearest hospital - but not before Saveli demanded that she ring Vivi and tell Viviana to contact her father right away to let her know that she desperately needed someone to be there for her.

Over the years Saveli had of course become semi-dependent on her father, learning all over again how to be a good person after years of being taught incorrectly by her blood father. However she was convinced by her own independent mindset that she wouldn't need Monty, and that she'd just owl him once the baby was born. After the third contraction though Saveli was unable to think straight, she'd never even broken a bone after all. So this pain was foreign and she needed her dad. They arrived at the hospital - and Saveli was sat down and made to wait. It wasn't an emergency, her water had only just broken. She'd need to fill out paperwork. Once Monty got there she was going to have him take her to a wizarding hospital. This was just not going to do.
 
It was fortunate Monty slept poorly, for he might not have noticed the change in his watch had he not been checking it every five minutes. Not his regular watch, of course, but the watch he'd charmed some weeks ago with a Protean charm. Saveli, Viviana, and Reuben owned identical watches. When Viviana transfigured the master watch, the other three would change along with it, alerting them that Saveli had gone into labour. Originally, Monty had assigned the master watch to Saveli, but Saveli had passed it on to Viviana, trusting her better to remember the signal. Now, the watch faces grew bright and began to glow. In America, Reuben's would be doing the same, though sadly he was in school and unable to come to the hospital. He'd insisted having a watch anyway. He wanted to know when it happened, so that he could think of Saveli.

Immediately upon seeing his watch glow, Monty put on his shoes, grabbed his wand and his coat, and left his quarters in the dungeons, feeling sick and scared and excited all at once. He'd tried to imagine what this moment would feel like - to prepare himself for it, perhaps - but his estimations had fallen far short of the reality. This was really happening. Saveli was having a baby. Was she ready for that? Was anybody ever really ready for that? Or did they just improvise?

Monty found the hospital Viviana spoke of easily; he'd been there before. Instructed by one of the nurses, he headed for the correct waiting area, where he found Saveli sat alone. A few nurses drifted in and out. None looked to be in any rush. Monty tried to recall what he'd read about this, but he'd gone completely blank. Had he read about this? Surely he must have. But in that moment, he couldn't remember a single thing.

"Hey," he said, sitting down on the chair beside her and offering his hand, if she wanted to hold it. "Hey. How are you feeling? Have the nurses seen you, yet?"
 
Saveli had very little experience with pain, even her tattoo hadn't particularly hurt. She was grateful that her pregnancy hadn't ruined the art on her sternum, but she hadn't gotten very big either. Frankly she felt like she had only just started to look pregnant, and question if the baby would be very big for that reason. Her nurses all through her pregnancy had assured her the little bean was growing just fine though. The next contraction struck the girl harder than the first. That was what was supposed to happen. "Jesus Mary and Joe." She spoke, a phrase she'd learned from an american girl in her birthing class. "Oh my god, is it supposed to hurt like that. Please tell me it's not going to hurt like that all day!" She whined, clutching at the front of her stomach and her hospital bed. Tears welled in her eyes and the minute Monty walked through the door the first words she could thing of was she wanted to do a magical birth.

However when her father sat down beside her offering a hand she knew she could go through with this as she wasn't alone. Saveli grabbed his hand. "I'm probably going to break your hand if another pain comes. Erm. Contraction." Saveli remarked, trying to keep the language direct so it would make sense, and so she wouldn't confuse herself or Viviana. "The nurse that came in last said they're monitoring and pushing liquids. That's all I really got." She spoke, not admitting that she'd screamed at the nurse before she could tell her anything else. Saveli couldn't help it - this kid was ripping out her insides she was sure. As another mild one came along the blonde squeezed Monty's hand tightly. "They better get this kid out soon or I'm going to do it myself."
 
Monty laughed, squeezing Saveli's hand. "Break it," he said. "I've got another." He nodded as she brought him up to date with the situation. It was going to be a long night, they could be sure of that. And Monty would hold her hand for as much of it as he could. He left her side only once or twice to get a drink, and to take a very short walk once the sun had risen, and then finally once more when it was time for the baby to be delivered, because while the nurse gave him the option to stay, he and Saveli had agreed in advance that he wouldn't be much use to her passed out on the floor beside her bed. Even outside in the hall, he had to sit slightly bent over his knees; the sounds coming through the closed door were almost more than he could take.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, so must have felt like several eternities for Saveli, Monty was invited back into the room to meet his granddaughter. Saveli looked shattered, dark circles ringing her eyes, strands of damp hair stuck to her forehead. In her arms, sound asleep and wrapped up in white cotton blankets, her little baby girl. Monty approached her bedside cautiously, almost afraid to disturb either mother or child. "Hi," he whispered, slowly sitting down in the plastic chair. He squeezed Sav's shoulder, hoping she could see the pride in his eyes when he looked at her. "You did it." He looked down at the resting baby, exhaling at length. "Wow." She was as beautiful as her mother - and Monty got the feeling she was going to be as stubborn, too. For a while, he didn't really know what to say; he'd never seen a newborn before, never known the strange, overwhelming sense of happiness at new life being brought into the world. So he just said, "Wow."
 
The hardest part of the birthing of Saveli's daughter was when Monty left the room. She had been having contractions for a few hours, until sunrise, and by seven am she was into the nitty gritty of everything. The real labor started hours later when she began pushing, and pushing, and pushing. The blonde was absolutely through with this child before she'd even begun crowning. And then finally, at 8pm on September 4th Saveli pushed for the last time and thus her daughter was born. The exhausted mother was given a moment, but after the child had been wiped down and checked over, the crying bundle of pink blankets and wrinkles. Then she was handed over to Saveli, who had tears in her eyes and sweat on her face. "Hey." The blonde's voice shook as she said hello to the infant, brushing back at the towel to reveal a ginger color atop the baby's head, which only made Saveli weep more with happiness.

When Monty reentered the room the girl smiled at her father. "Here I thought I'd kill her before she came." She spoke with a dry laugh, exhausted to the point her laugh was breathing out small amounts of air. "Dad." She spoke cautiously, pulling back to reveal the red locks. "It's Roo's." She remarked. Who else could it belong to? She had blonde hair, her mother had blonde hair, her father had dark hair. Gabriel and Gabriel's family had no red hair. There was no mistaking it. "You know what that means...?" She asked. "You'll have to retire when she becomes school age, or else you'll finally go insane."
 
Monty really was trying not to cry, but he couldn't help getting a little watery-eyed. He laughed, knowing full well she could never have hurt her baby. Not before it had been born, not now, and not ever. The thought of whose it belonged to hadn't even crossed his mind until Saveli uncovered the baby's flame-red, feathery tufts of hair. Of course it was Reuben's. She looked just like her aunt Ray. Monty only hoped that hair colour was all she had inherited from her aunt - goodness knew she didn't need any more encouragement to grow up stubborn and hot-headed.

Monty laughed again. "I think that ship sailed some time ago," he said. "Wow. Have you and Reuben discussed what you're going to call her?" It seemed a horrible shame Reuben couldn't be here with Saveli in that moment. Monty knew the boy would have done anything to be by her side - it was one of the reasons Monty trusted him. Reuben cared about Saveli. Really cared. And Monty had watched him grow from a cocky, impudent first year to a thoughtful and mature young man. If he and Saveli stayed together - and Monty hoped they would - the professor knew that when the day came, no matter how it might pain him, he'd be OK to let his daughter go.
 
Saveli chuckled at Monty's statement. For a moment she paused and thought about Reuben's suggestions and hers. They had settled on one for each gender, in case the nurses were wrong. "We did." She spoke gently, looking down at the sleeping bundle of joy. "Ainmere Prudence Pendleton." Saveli had yet to reveal to Monty that Reuben had decided the children should take his last name. Saveli knew most likely Montgomery would never have children of his won, in fact Sav often thought her father was incapable of having a friendship with a female that wasn't a coworker. That didn't matter though, right now all Saveli could think about was every moment leading up to her holding her beautiful child. Every time she'd cried over her father, having no interest in REuben, sure that Gabriel would love her - falling in love with the right man. Everything, every open and shut door lead to this.

Memories flooded the Slytherin Alumni and she chuckled. "Do you remember how you came to find out about my situation?" She asked Monty, looking sideways up at her father for a brief moment. "Big ears." She whispered with a laugh. "I wanted to hate you so much, but without you this, everything, never would have come to be. i would have ended up like Gabriel without you. Completely loveless, and hurt, and dishonest." The blonde stroked at her child's head for a moment. "Monty I owe you my life, I owe you where I am as a person. Thank you for being the most amazing dad I could ever ask for. And always putting up with me when I was a little s***." She laughed slightly, eyes glossy from the tears that threatened to escape. "And i hope when the times comes, you'll forgive Ainmere for being a little s*** too. Because you know she will be."
 
Monty smiled, his eyes misting up all over again when Saveli told him what she'd decided to call the baby. Ainmere - that must have been Irish. Prudence, for her half-sister. And Pendleton. Monty knew that would change when she married, but to hear his own name touched him all the same. Perhaps it was the way Saveli said it - as if she was proud that her daughter was taking his name. Proud of him. It made him feel as though maybe - just maybe - despite the ups and the downs, the times he'd lost his temper, or hadn't known what to say, he'd not done such an awful job parenting Saveli after all.

And then Saveli said something that he knew, for the rest of his life, he would never forget. He hardly dared breathe as he listened, lest he miss a single word of it. And then he was crying, unable to help the tears as they poured from his open heart like rivers through the sky. For some time, he couldn't even respond; he rested his face in his hands, crying quietly, his sleep-deprived brain perhaps exaggerating his already wrought emotions. Eventually he dried his face, though fresh tears quickly came to replace those wiped away. "Sorry," he said, shaking his head. "Thank you. Thank you." Then he reverted, and had to take another moment to compose himself. "I remember how frightened I was to foster you. I stood outside the building for nearly an hour trying to work up the courage to go inside. And even then, I... I nearly turned around. You were like... like a riptide. I thought, 'What the hell am I getting myself into? This girl has done nothing but insult me since my first day.'" He laughed softly at that. "I thought I'd lost my mind. And then I fostered you, and realised I absolutely had. But every second of it, every second was worth it. And the madness... well, it wasn't really so mad after all. I wished for a long time that I could have fostered you earlier, perhaps from an infant, so that you wouldn't have had to experience the things you did. I could never protect you from the past, and that made me feel as if I were powerless to make you happy. You proved me wrong. I know you feel as if I've done you some enormous favour - and yes, I had to make sacrifices, and I was scared, and I didn't know what to expect - but I fear you're overlooking one enormous detail, and that is: for everything I taught you about being loved, you taught me something about how to be a father."
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top