Dylan x Anastasia
The ticking of the clock was probably the most noticeable sound in the room. Her last exam had finally been here. And she was scared as hell that she’d fail. For just a second, she went in sure she’d forget everything she’d ever learned and wouldn’t be able to name off a single piece of information she knew she should have had. Sure enough though, she’d managed. She ignored the slight irritations of clicking pencils and pens, the clock baring down on her, the supervising teacher’s sighs as they seemed unimpressed with their magazine. Halfway through was when the cramping had starter. Braxton Hicks, she had been expecting those. This last week had been awfully hellish for them actually. She even managed to stay on task despite her discomfort. And eventually, the test was done. It was only a matter of waiting until the teacher dismissed them when the allotted time was up. The false labor contractions got worse, and she tried not to show her discomfort notably. Twenty minutes. She had this. Finally, she heard the beeping of the timer and quickly rose from her seat, as soon as she stood, she felt the rush of wetness down her legs, and saw a crimson soaking through her jeans. Panic rushed her. Things happened quickly from there, really quickly. A student noticed the blood, and soon the teacher was over, helping her back to a seat while they called for an infirmary escort. There was a wheelchair, a lot of people fussing. When she got to the infirmary there were machines quickly attached, blood work, tests, sonograms. Her diagnosis, premature labor. Not something comforting at seven months. Ana was trying to keep calm, constantly reminding herself to keep a clinical brain about her as she sat in the hospital bed. They wanted to avoid the labor, but there were doctors on standby to take her to the bigger hospital if they couldn’t. Clinical mind. She kept reminding herself. She would be a doctor if she passed. She had to stay calm. So she called the sitter to pick up the twins and shot off a text to Dylan, who had already been notified by nurses as her emergency contact. Though she knew they didn’t give the full story over the phone. She just wanted him to know she was okay, in case he’d heard rumors for the three or four other royals who’d been taking the test.
For once in his life Dylan felt like the world wasn’t just passing him by. He was actually able to focus on the things that really mattered. He wasn’t filled completely with self hatred and self doubt. By being able to confront every burden he had in his life, it was as if living finally felt worth while again. Not just some endless void until you die. This final test was the only thing that Ana could talk about for the last week. Like everything she had worked so hard for all this time could easily slip through her fingers. What she didn’t realise was that half the time she would rattle off information in her sleep. That’s why he knew no matter how much she doubted her efforts that she would pull through. That morning Dylan decided to plan a surprise party for her after her test. Just because it would be a while until she got her test results back didn’t mean they couldn’t celebrate. Talking his way into a day pass was easy enough. The charm aspect worked well, that and the fact that he hadn’t asked for too many favours lately. Dylan had his own car imported to the estate, which felt like another word being on the open road. While in town, Dylan did a couple of things. One was going around different places and asking if any of them were hiring. Being cut off from the family meant that he was pretty low on income. It was only a matter of time before he ran out. A lot of the money he did have he spent on the engagement ring for Ana, even if it was very simplistic. With no luck on the job front, his next stop was a dollar store. He was able to get a few helium balloons with things like “congrats grad” and “you did it, kid” written on it. Also party poppers, he thought that Ana’s girls would get a kick out of anything fun and that made noise. Mainly for the fact that it would annoy other people more than anything else. He was still learning the things that interested them, but he was trying. While the balloons were getting filled up Dylan heard the tone of his phone ringing. Raising it up to his right ear while a bag of the party poppers were in his other hand. “Yello,” he answered, rather playfully as he was in a good mood. Hearing what Ana was experiencing shot his nerves up. Concern was the only thing on his mind. Hoping that her and the baby were okay. “I’ll be right there.” Dylan hung up ready to leave there and then but he was stopped by the person behind the counter who handed him the balloons. Dylan raced to his car and shoved everything onto the passenger seat. When he started driving, Dylan was definitely speeding to get back to the estate. While driving he heard a ding of his phone indicating that there was a text coming through. Instead of looking he simply sped up. It might not have taken that long to actually get back with the speed he was doing. But for Dylan it felt like a lifetime. As a reflex he grabbed the balloons and other supplies and carried them into the infirmary. It was only then that he remembered about the text so he checked that it was from Ana and how she was okay and he shouldn’t worry. Shoving his phone back into his pocket he asked the reception what room Ana was in. Being given a number, the raven haired male began to wander the halls until he found it. Nudging the door with his side he saw the redhead laying down on the bed with a number of machines around her. Dylan didn’t know this world like she did so he didn’t know whether he should be worried about anything. “You know there were easier ways to get my attention,” he murmured as he held the balloons out in front of her. “How are you feeling?”
Maybe it was the fact that she had shut herself down to the panic. Maybe it was even her brain trying to keep her mind busy so she didn’t think of it. But she was worried about the outcome on the test. A part of her worried she’d been playing down her pain so much that she might have failed it. But maybe that was just a manifestation, an easier fear to be distracted by then the fact her baby’s life and well being was in peril. She was a doctor, and statistically she knew that babies born only a month or two early were better off than say if she was delivery at six months. She knew that. But at the same time, she also knew there were so many things that babies needed in the last two months to grow. So many things were supposed to develop. She had been lucky with the twins. She’d been lucky to be pregnant all. But while that pregnancy had been hard and grueling, at the same time, she hadn’t faced more than a little bit over the usual in exhaustion. She carried her two very healthy girls to term and while they’d been a little smaller than expected they’d been perfect. Ana hadn’t expected to get pregnant again, and the events around her had certainly been more exhausting. Dylan’s arrest, still dealing with the after affects of Ryder’s death. It had been a lot. So many things to worry about. Including finishing up her medicine studies. Now this. Early labor. She almost felt like a failure, being unable to carry her babies safely to term. No, she quickly denied the thought. She wouldn’t let herself do that. Calm, medical mind. Things were fine. She wasn’t far along, maybe they could stall the process. Ana looked up as she saw Dylan, her fiance. How strange to think of him as that. She saw the balloons which made her smile a little. “I’m okay, the contractions are a little painful. Honestly with the girls I barely labored for an hour. This is all very new,” Ana admitted. Maybe small details would keep him from tapping into her real panic.
When Dylan first stepped through the door it looked as though Ana was in her own world of thoughts. He didn’t blame her. In the time he had taken to actually get there, there were a thousand thoughts of worry that shot through him. Mainly because he didn’t really get the full story of everything that was going on. All he had been told over the phone was that something had happened during the test and Ana was bleeding and being rushed to infirmary. It was all he needed to set some alarms off for him. There was no doubt though that no matter what fears were burning through him that Ana would be feeling them ten fold. Honestly he didn’t know whether it made it worse or better to have knowledge over the things she was experiencing. It was probably a curse as much as it was reassuring. Dylan tied the ribbon of the balloons onto the side of her bed so that he could focus his full attention onto the femme. It didn’t look like she was going anywhere yet, so it gave Dylan a chance to settle on one of the chairs that were next to it. It still felt weird to Dylan that this was really happening. For so long he buried his feelings for Ana because of the fears that she would be a new target to get his attention. It was the whole reason that he acted so drastically and ended up in prison. Now they were a somewhat normal couple, having a family. It still shocked him to believe. “They say that every labour is different. No matter how many children you have.” When he first found out about Ana being pregnant he had done some reading on pregnancy and a couple about the birthing process. Dylan was attempting to assure her of her worries. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to know that there was something weighing on her more than she was letting on. Her hair was frazzled. Tucking a few fallen strands of red hair behind her ear, he simply shook his head. “Do I need to call you princess to get an honest answer out of you nowadays?”
It was hard to try and be medical and rational when it was her own baby’s life. It was easy telling the patients, calming them down, telling them what they wanted to hear a lot of the time. But she couldn’t help but feel guilt now, more than ever. After months of not really stopping, and just constantly going. All the stress she’d put herself under, was this her fault? She knew most mother’s took the last two weeks before delivery off, maybe she should have too. It was hard to say the regrets out loud. Ana relied so much on being put together. She couldn’t let anyone see her in a mess or a state. Even Dylan. She wasn’t sure he’d seen her cry very much at all. Sure, she was frazzled, but it was hard for her to not hold back anything at all. After all the girls needed her, and Dylan needed her, this baby needed her. They all needed her to stay sane. She couldn’t lose it. “I know, I’m one of the people who says that,” she told him rather lightly. Ana sighed a little and leaned into his touch. He’d taken a big leap, proposing to her instead of pushing her away. Maybe he was closer than most to her, even Ryder she was sure hadn’t been close enough to break down her tight wound walls. But she still didn’t let him in, not enough to completely let go. She looked at the ring on her finger and knew she couldn’t let her wanting to be stoic and everstanding wouldn’t help this relationship work any better. “I feel…guilty,” she admitted the words slowly, as if she was learning them for the first time. “Everyone told me to slow down, and I didn’t. Now this baby…what if it’s too early and something is really wrong? And it’s because of me?” Ana asked carefully.
When Dylan met Ana in the hospital they were both going through vulnerable stages in their lives. It was as if they used each other somewhat as a crutch to get through that time. They both had their ways of dealing with things. Both as counter productive as the last. Dylan tended to avoid his feeling and drown any sense of it in the closest bottle of liquor. Ana on the other hand had always been the strong one in any situation. It was like she didn’t want to be seen as weak, or even the slightest bit vulnerable if she could help it. He understood it. She had more than just herself to think about all the time. Dylan didn’t hold the same responsibilities that she had. He wasn’t going to rub any of it in by asking why she couldn’t take a page out of her own book. He had more sense than that. Instead he continued his light touch against her head. If she wanted to tell him what was running through her mind then she would. None of this situation was about Dylan. Even if he had his own fears with everything going on, his sole focus was Ana. The one person who managed to push him out of some old habits. When she finally started to speak, Dylan listened intently and waited to hear her full thought before even saying anything. “Anastasia,” he used her full name as a way to grasp her attention. Unless he was teasing her he wouldn’t usually stoop to that level. But this was different, it was a more loving tone. “Babies come early sometimes. It’s happened since the dawn of time. And I know none of that knowledge means anything to you right now. But this baby is part you. And that means that he or she has just as much fight in their little pinky than others have at all.” Dylan meant every single word he spoke. From the day Ana had always been one to fight and defy all odds. She beat cancer, she got married, even had twin girls and then went on to study medicine. Leaning down, the raven haired male place a soft kiss onto her temple. “I may not know the end results of everything. Whether the baby will need to stay in care for a while or not. But there is something I know for complete certainty,” he assured her as he gazed down into her eyes. “You aren’t in any of this alone.”
Ana might not have been cruel about it like some people could be. She might not have ridiculed, and mocked or even hurt people to drive them away. But she knew she had been a stonewall in a lot of ways. Unmoving. She barely cried, barely let it all go. She couldn’t be weak of course. Her parents needed her more than she felt she needed them while she was sick. Dying hadn’t scared her that much. It did a little, but she hadn’t had enough concept of life to be truly worried for what might happen when she went. She worried about what her parents would do if they lost their daughter, or what Ashton would do. So she learned how to put on a brave face, and it never left. Even when she was losing hope for what life would be upon getting out of the hospital. She had kept that face on. And soon Ashton needed her more than ever. So even when she was trying to desperately break away from her parents expectations, he needed her to stay strong. So she didn’t let the pain that fighting with their parents all the time slip through. So many times she fought to hold back the river of emotions that it had become a sea. She did not know what would happen if she let herself break, or if she’d ever get back. Perhaps once, she’d let it all go. After Ryder. When Ryder was gone that wall was knocked down. But it was time, to start deconstructing that wall brick by brick, it was time. Dylan and this child needed her. And she couldn’t do that if she turned to stone. “I know babies come early, but I’m a doctor, and I know sometimes that things you do during your pregnancy makes the babies come early,” Anastasia protested, trying to defend her thought process, or perhaps wanting to stay in her guilt. She knew he was right, perhaps they didn’t know the outcome but no, she wasn’t in this alone. She had Dylan. She reached out, taking one of his hands. “I’m scared, and I don’t know how to deal with it,” she admitted out loud.
Considering that Ana was the picture of confidence and like she actually had her act together, it was rare that Dylan got to see a glimpse at everything she tried to hide from the world. She always needed to be the strong one, so it wasn’t like she could just let it all out at any given moment. Consequences had never been something that Dylan was worried about. He would act out just for the thrill of it. It helped that a lot of what he did got on his father’s nerves. There was never a reason to think of the worst case scenario. Hell, when he first learnt that Ana was pregnant he nearly died in a ditch while completely blackout drunk and under the influence. It had taken him that whole time along with a nudge from the threat of life in prison and having to return back to the royal life to fully get his shit together and realise what was really important. In that moment though Dylan felt useless. Behind her fears were rationality ready to be backed up by the facts she’d learnt during the time of her study. The raven haired male offered a faint smile when she took one of his hands. Figuratively and literally she was reaching out for him. “I’m scared too,” he admitted. As much as he was trying to rationalize her darkest thoughts and provide some kind of comfort he knew that was somewhat useless. She didn’t need logic or facts and percentages. She needed someone to sit in the dark with her. “For you, for the baby, for the doctors that have to put up with me in the room the whole time.” It wouldn’t have been Dylan if he didn’t try to add a little humour in there to make a point. “Have they done any tests to check how everything is and whether you need to be sent to the hospital?”
Ana was pretty certain no one would be able to budge her from her thinking if she was honest. When her mind set itself in a dark place, no amount of coercing would shake her from her place. Not when she had all the information of her studies to back up her thoughts. When she was sure of something, especially when dark mass of guilt clouded her every passing thought. Right now she just needed him there, she just needed to know she had someone who wasn’t going to judge her. She wasn’t sure what she would have done if Dylan had recoiled from her opening up. “I worry for the doctors who have to deal with you too,” she said, putting on a little half smile. No, her problems weren’t forgotten, but she’d done more than she ever really did. The redhead shifted herself slightly in the direction of Dylan. For the most part, this wasn’t exactly easy with all the wires and such. “They did a few test. Their goal is to try and get the labor to last as long as possible, so that the baby has more time,” she explained carefully. Usually mom’s wished for a short labor.
As painfully difficult as it was Ana could be just as stubborn as Dylan was. Trying to soothe her mind with terminology and facts wasn’t going to cut it. Not when she knew more on the matter than he did. But he could just be there. Sit in the moment with her and not expect for things to just be suddenly solved. This wasn’t the situation for it. Just because he was making strides in actually changing and doing what he felt was right didn’t mean there was suddenly some perfect answer for everything. Dylan was learning rather quickly how difficult the world really was. Even when he had somewhat of a plan or idea in place, the world still worked in it’s own order and he couldn’t control that. Even if he might have wanted it desperately. “Does this mean I can officially start making dad jokes?”he questioned with an arch of his brow. Seeing Ana in such a state was difficult for Dylan. He didn’t want her to think he was overlooking what she was feeling, but he also didn’t want her to have to sit with the looming thought of what if the whole time they were there. And if they were trying to prolong the labour as much as possible he didn’t know how long they were actually going to be in there. Nodding along to her words, Dylan gave a reassuring hand squeeze to remind her that he was still there and wasn’t going anywhere. “So we have a couple of hours to talk about names so someone doesn’t end up with a ridiculous name like Kyle.” Shaking his head at his words he snickered. “My poor little brother.”
