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historyrepeatsitself-phff · 7 years

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Chapter Seventy-Four Part Two

A/N: You can read Part One here if you missed it. I hope you enjoy, let me know what you think!! 💖

“And now we have some breaking news,” the newsreader said on the TV – yes, the Lindo Wing was so fancy it even came with its own TV set. “It has just been announced that The Duchess of Clarence has gone into labour. The announcement, tweeted by the official twitter account for Kensington Palace, says that she was admitted to St Mary’s Hospital, a private hospital in Paddington, at six o’clock this evening in the early stages of labour. Prince Harry is with her at the hospital, and we can go live to our junior royal correspondent, Hannah Jones. Hannah.”

The screen shifted to the view outside their window, where dozens, perhaps hundreds, of press from around the world had been camped out for weeks. A young journalist whom Emmy had never seen before – and she guessed had just been stationed outside the hospital because no one else wanted to do it – was centre of the shot.

“Yes, Sophie, I’m here outside the Lindo Wing of St Mary’s Hospital and the atmosphere has changed within the last few minutes. For the last few weeks we’ve had cameras and equipment set up here waiting for this moment, and then finally the tweet came through – the Duchess of Clarence is in labour. The feeling has changed, suddenly everyone is very serious, very excited. There’s some crowds gathering down the street, down there. The news of the tweet spread rapidly throughout our group of journalists and now we’re all fighting again for the best spot, discussing when we think they’ll be leaving the hospital, whether it’ll be tomorrow or the day after.”

“And what do we know about this birth? The Duchess is apparently overdue, if I’m not mistaken?” Sophie said.

“Yes, Prince Harry earlier on this week let slip that it was the Duchess’ due date on Tuesday, so she was four days overdue, and that tardiness has only made the whole affair that much more exciting. We know that The Duke and Duchess arrived at the Lindo Wing around six o’clock, that was tweeted by Kensington Palace. And the fact that they told us that, that they almost wanted us to know roughly when she went in to labour suggests that they will be keeping us updated concerning when the baby is born, when they think Emmy will be leaving the hospital. When it was the Duchess of Cambridge in this hospital giving birth, the palace were incredibly cooperative with us, with the press. They even e-mailed members of the press, telling them that Princess Charlotte had been born, before they’d even announced it on Twitter, so we are waiting and hoping for the same sort of approach with this royal birth as well. Of course, any updates that we are given by the palace we will let the viewers know as soon as we do.”

“Hannah, how different will this birth be compared to the births of George and Charlotte, not only in terms of tradition – because, of course, this baby will only be sixth in line to the throne – but also in terms of time, both George and Charlotte were born in the day but Baby Clarence could very well be born in the middle of the night looking at the time Emmy was admitted, will that change any of the announcement procedure?”

“Although Baby Clarence is only sixth in line to the throne the announcement will be exactly the same. The easel will be put up outside Buckingham Palace, there will be gun salutes to celebrate also. We also expect there to be a town crier here once the baby is born to “traditionally announce” the royal arrival. If the little baby does arrive in the middle of the night, I should think that will only delay the usual procedures. We would like to think that Kensington Palace would announce the birth of the baby as soon as possible, regardless of whether it is in the middle of the night or not, and we will have a colleague of mine here overnight to report on any updates we receive through the course of the night. Whether they announce it in the night or whether they wait until morning, I think it’s safe to say that the other typical things we see – like the easel, and the town crier, will not happen until later on tomorrow. We also don’t know exactly what is going on, we may see the Duke and Duchess of Clarence tomorrow if the baby is born during the night. Most of this is speculation, Sophie, but we will, of course, let you know of any firm updates that are given to us over the course of the evening and the night.”

“We know that Harry is there with Emmaline, yes?”

“Yes in the tweet from Kensington Palace they confirmed that the Duke of Clarence is with the Duchess in the hospital behind me. It’s not very surprising, especially after Prince William was present for the birth of both of his children, and we all know how excited Prince Harry has been for this baby. Earlier this week, during a visit to an injured athlete’s charity he spoke non-stop of his little baby and how excited his is. And – oh, actually Sophie, it appears we may have an important arrival here at the hospital. The journalists around me are certainly getting very excited over this car, it may potentially be a member of the royal family.”

The camera panned out to show Skippy, Jake and Taylor jumping out of the car, blinded by camera flashes and deafened by the shouts of the paparazzi before them. They spared small smiles for the cameras, Taylor leading the way into the hospital, and then the screen was back on Hannah.

“That was three friends of the Duke and Duchess, of course one of which, Taylor, you may recognize as being one of the bridesmaids at the royal wedding last June. The other two I believe are close friends of Harry’s, one of which was present on his infamous holiday to Vegas five years ago. We don’t know what their arrival signifies - maybe this means that the little royal baby has arrived, or maybe they are simply turning up to offer their support to the royal couple-”

Harry switched the TV off. “God, it’s all just speculation.”

“I didn’t realise they were coming,” Emmy mused, brushing her hair into place. It had gotten disheveled in the twenty minutes since the announcement, during which she’d had a particularly painful contraction that had made her rub her head into her pillow in agony. Mary had come back and checked, and they were now still only 4 centimeters gone.

“I said it was going slowly,” Harry said. “I guess they wanted to come and say hi.”

“Might as well, we’ve got all the time in the world,” she said bitterly, glaring at her bump. He laughed lightly, reaching for her hand and giving it a squeeze.

As Taylor, Skippy and Jake arrived, Claire and Edward left for the visitor’s room down the hall, worrying about overcrowding Emmy. As soon as she’d entered the room, Taylor squealed in delight.

“Oh my god, Emmy!” she said. “It’s happening! Oh my god! Harry told me! Are you excited?!” She hurried over and sat on the end of Emmy’s bed.

“I just want her out of me,” Emmy complained. “She’s taking so long.”

“She must like being in you,” Taylor said gently, smiling.

“Takes after her dad, then,” Skippy muttered, sniggering.

“I’ve already made that joke,” Harry said.

Jake barked a laugh, then threw Emmy a smile. “How’s it going, Em? You coping?”

“I’m fine,” she said.

Harry scoffed. “That’s what she says, after biting my head off for leaving her to go to the toilet.”

Taylor rolled her eyes. “Think of the pain Emmy’s going through right now, you could at least try and hold it.”

“I bet we’ve got a few more hours yet,” Harry said. “I wasn’t going to hold it all day.”

Emmy sighed at that. “A few hours,” she quoted miserably.

“Hey, don’t be upset,” Jake said, smiling reassuringly. “This is one of the most exciting things to happen to you, trust me. Don’t wish it away. You’re going to look back at this and wish you’d enjoyed it more.”

“Yeah,” Skippy said, snickering. “Last few hours without a little baby.”

Emmy nibbled her lip anxiously. “Shit, it is,” she murmured.

“Ignore them,” Harry said gently. “Skip’s just trying to scare you.” He threw his best friend a glare, and Skippy chuckled. “Think of how beautiful our little girl’s going to be when she gets here.”

That earned him a breathless smile, and he grinned, stroking his thumb over her knuckles soothingly. “So, what’s everyone been up to today?” Emmy asked, trying to make conversation to take her mind off everything.

“I went and saw my parents,” Taylor said. “They send you their love, you know.”

“Thank them for me,” Emmy said. “How’s Izzy?”

“Izzy’s good, she started uni back in September, so she was telling me about how drunk she’s been lately,” she replied, with a roll of her eyes. Izzy was Taylor’s younger sister.

“And I was out shopping,” Skippy said, grinning. “Looking for new baby presents for a certain someone.”

Emmy giggled lightly in anticipation as Harry rolled his eyes. “Skip, you don’t need to do that,” he said, sheepish.

“But there’s no point in taking any gifts back now,” Emmy said hastily, throwing Harry a scowl.

He chuckled, brushing her hair from her eyes. “You just love getting presents, don’t you?”

Before Emmy could answer, a contraction tore through her womb and drew a cry from her. She scrunched up her face, balling her hands into fists as she tried not to scream out. A minute passed, and then she relaxed, puffing air up onto her face.

“Oh Em,” Taylor said, wide-eyed.

“Maybe we should go,” Jake said gently. “It wasn’t a good idea for us to come and see you guys, you should be resting and getting ready for the birth.”

“You guys don’t need to go,” Emmy said, looking worried.

“We don’t want to intrude,” Jake said. “This is a personal time for you guys, we should go.”

Emmy watched miserably as they bid goodbye, each of them hugging her in good-luck, before they left them to it. She pouted as they went. “Do you think they should’ve stayed longer? They came all this way?”

“They just wanted to pop by and show their support,” Harry replied, settling back into the chair and leaning forward, taking her hand in his. “Besides, we’ve got bigger things to think about.”

“By big things you better not be talking about me,” she said, scowling.

“You won’t be big for much longer,” he answered, unable to refrain from breaking into a grin.

Emmy sighed, leaning her head back and closing her eyes, and then she cried out as another contraction tore through her. “Oh, oh, fuck!”

Harry winced as she clamped down on his hand, feeling as though she was breaking his fingers but not wanting to say anything. It lasted a while now, almost a minute, and then finally Emmy’s grip loosened and she sank back onto the pillows, panting.

“That one hurt,” she complained weakly.

“And the others didn’t?” he said, trying to lighten the mood. His teasing earned him a scowl. “Sorry.”

She ignored him, rubbing along her bump and begging that it would speed up a bit. She wanted her out. She wanted this done. She didn’t want to be in pain and discomfort any longer.

Her contractions continued for the next hour and a half, and she said nothing as Harry put the TV on and found them a crappy movie to watch. He could tell she wasn’t paying attention – neither was he, really. They were both too absorbed in what was happening, both imagining the arrival of their little girl, both half-anticipating, half-dreading the moment when Mary would come and tell them Emmy was 10 centimeters gone.

Another contraction bought tears to Emmy’s eyes, and she gasped for breath, crushing Harry’s hand, before finally collapsing back onto the bed. She rose teary eyes to Harry’s.

“I don’t want her anymore, Harry,” she said to him, on the verge of sobbing. “It hurts too much, she’s taking too long-”

“Hey, it’s okay,” he murmured, crouching down beside the bed and holding both her hands in his. “Baby, it’s okay, I know that you’re scared. But we’re nearly there now. We’re nearly there, she’s nearly with us.”

“I just want her out,” Emmy wailed, reaching up to wipe tears messily from her face. “It hurts, it hurts!” She screamed the last word as her uterus contracted violently again.

Harry watched, helpless, as she rode through it, before she rolled onto her side and buried her face in the pillow, biting it as, after a few minutes, a smaller contraction happened too, almost like an aftershock.

“Harry,” she moaned, glaring at the floor from where she laid awkwardly on her arm. “This is all your fault.”

Harry fought a laugh as he got to his feet; Mary had just entered the room, ready to check again.

“How’s it going?” she asked the couple.

“We’re getting bitchy now,” Harry replied cheerfully.

“Hey!” Emmy snapped, scowling at him.

“Emmy, can you just roll onto your back for me, let’s see how far gone you are,” Mary said.

“The contractions are getting a lot closer together,” Harry told her, moving to Emmy’s head as Emmy moved her legs apart.

“And they hurt more,” Emmy said. Her voice was weaker now, she was exhausted and the worst hadn’t even come.

Mary nodded to them. “Sounds like you’re getting closer then, let me have a look.” And she ducked down, before emerging a few moments later and saying, “Well, she’s definitely sped up a bit, you’re between 7 and 8 now.”

“Ugh!” Emmy groaned. “Still two more to go?!”

“Yes, but think how far you’ve come now,” Mary said. “You’re in the final phase of labour now, the Transition Phase. You’re on the home straight, so to speak. The next stage is the birth.”

Her words sent a terrified shudder through Emmy, but she nodded, glad that things were finally moving along. She looked at Harry, who smiled and squeezed her shoulder reassuringly.

“I’ll be back in about five or ten minutes,” Mary said. “If your contractions start becoming worse, and even closer together, then do come and get a midwife. If you have any concerns as well, just come and grab one of us. I’ll leave you both to start preparing for the arrival.”

As she left, Edward and Claire returned, looking concerned. Claire looked tired.

“Maybe you guys should go home,” Harry mused. “Claire, you have your own daughter-”

“We’ve both phoned home, told them what’s happening,” Edward answered simply, taking a spare seat and sighing as he sat down. “How is everything going?”

“About 7 centimeters gone,” Harry explained, his thumb stroking circles on Emmy’s palm. “And we’re, er, ready for her to arrive.” Emmy was scowling at her sheets.

Claire yawned then, resting her head on the wall, and Emmy’s angry glare softened. “Go home, Claire.”

“I’m alright.”

“You’re dead on your feet,” Emmy said. “I don’t need you, it’s fine. Just go and get some rest.”

Claire hesitated, then came over and kissed the top of Emmy’s head. “Good luck, okay? You’re going to do great. Just remember to breathe.”

“I was at risk of forgetting to do that,” she replied, somewhat sarcastically. Claire looked over at Harry.

“Good luck to you too,” she said, giving him a knowing look. He grinned.

“I’ll be fine,” he said.

“Damn right he will,” Emmy retorted. “What about me? I’m the one pushing a human out of my vagina!”

Claire laughed. “And I’m sure you’ll do it very well. Ed, let me know if anything happens.”

“Will do,” Edward said, throwing her a tired smile.

“Why don’t you go home too?” Harry said to Ed, as Emmy underwent another painful contraction.

“Someone needs to stay,” Edward replied. “Make sure everything is going smoothly and privately.”

Harry hesitated; he wanted his secretary to get some sleep, but at the same time he wanted everything to go well and for nothing to be leaked.

“I’ll go home once she’s born,” Edward answered, almost as though he read Harry’s mind. “And I’ll leave Zach and Jamie to keep guard for you three.”

“Zach and Jamie?” Emmy asked, raising an eyebrow. “Is it them now?”

“Mm-hmm, they’re going to do the “night shift”,” Edward said. “We don’t know what time you guys will be going to bed.”

“Never, at this rate,” Emmy said, glaring at her bump.

“She’ll be out soon,” Harry said soothingly, squeezing her shoulder.

Emmy huffed, letting her head fall back onto the pillow and puffing air up over her face. Then she turned somewhat sad eyes to Harry. “Harry, I don’t want to go through this anymore. It hurts so bad.”

“I know, baby, but it’s nearly over,” he breathed, kissing her forehead. Then he looked at Edward. “Ed, can you come and sit with Emmy for a sec, just while I go to the loo?”

“Of course,” Edward said, getting to his feet, but he looked wary. He’d seen how hard Emmy was crushing Harry’s hand during those contractions. He fought the hesitation, and moved to replace Harry in the armchair. “How are you feeling, Emmy?”

Emmy raised an eyebrow at him, then said, “I’m nice and comfortable, thanks. Happiest time of my life.” Her voice was dripping in sarcasm. Edward chuckled.

“Stupid question, I know,” he said, and then, to his horror, another contraction engulfed Emmy and she started moaning. Instinctively he reached out to try and help her, and before eh could correct his actions Emmy had grabbed his hand. She squeezed it tightly, a scream leaving her, and Edward hissed too, feeling as though his fingers were breaking. But, finally, after what felt like a very long time, Emmy collapsed back onto the bed, her muscles relaxing, and Edward pulled his injured hand back into his lap, massaging it.

Emmy saw the pain on his face, even though he tried very hard to mask it. “I’m sorry,” she said genuinely.

“You have every reason not to be,” he murmured. “I can’t imagine the pain you’re in.”

“You don’t have kids, do you?” Emmy asked. She knew Edward was married, but she’d never heard talk of any children.

“No, my wife never wanted any,” he said. “And neither did I. My job has always been too important for me. First the army, and now supporting Harry which is like fighting a whole different war.”

She laughed lightly. “You’re very important to Harry, you know.”

“He’s very important to me too,” Edward admitted. “He’s a friend.”

“You’re more fatherly to him than his dad sometimes,” she added. “We’d both be lost without you.”

He reached over and patted her hand – surprising for him, since he was always so reserved and hated physical contact. “I’m just doing my job, Emmy. As are you, and right now your job is to give birth to that perfect little baby.”

She smiled at his smooth way of changing the subject. “Yeah,” she said, not missing the way his eyes had lit up at her words. It was good for Edward to realise how much he was appreciated.

Harry returned then, and he smiled lazily at Emmy as he crossed the room. Her heart sped up slightly at the sight of him, looking shockingly handsome for someone who was so tired and disheveled, and she reached out. He entangled his fingers with hers before swapping seats with Edward, who returned to his chair in the corner. Harry sat forward on his knees, watching as Emmy had another contraction. This one was incredibly long, long to the point that Harry wondered whether this was it, whether this one wouldn’t stop.

But finally Emmy laid back, panting. “Shit,” she said weakly.

“That was bad,” Harry said. “Ed, can you get Mary-”

But Mary entered the room at that moment anyway, and she looked concerned at the pain still written on Emmy’s face.

“Please check,” Emmy gasped. “That one was awful.”

“It lasted ages,” Harry agreed, watching Mary’s expression. “Is this it?”

Mary examined Emmy, then nodded, smiling slightly. “Ten centimetres. You’re ready, she’s ready. You’re about to become parents.”

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