Nora panted heavily, sweat dripping from her dishevelled hair, her feet in the stirrups and the hospital gown hiked up to expose the convulsing white mound of her swollen belly. Jack stood next to her, occasionally muttering encouragements. Some of the staff were intrigued or at least amused by the vast age difference between the twenty something girl in labor and the tall, white-haired man who introduced himself as her boyfriend. They might have been even more intrigued and amused to know neither half of the mismatched couple was what they appeared to be. In fact, they would have been astounded.
You see, the young woman in the process of giving birth had not always been Ms. Nora Volancort. Once, just about nine months ago actually, she had been Jack Merlin, and the man calling himself Jack Merlin had been the true Ms. Volancort. Now they lived each others' lives and answered to each others' names, and, hearing the painful pitch of Nora's grunts and squeals as each new contraction racked her slender body, the new Jack Merlin decided he had definitely gotten the better end of the bargain.
"I can't - - I can't do it," Nora gasped, tears in her eyes, "I don't want to have this baby!"
"It's a little late for that, sweetie," a nearby nurse said not unsympathetically, "Just hang on. It'll be time to push soon. Then it'll be all over."
"Push?" Nora whimpered with a dismayed look, "Oh God!"
"Be strong, love," Jack said in a perfect imitation of encouragement. He was loving every second of this, "Not much longer now."
"I hate you!" Nora shot Jack a venomous look, "You did this! This is your fault! You should have to do this!"
It was nothing the hospital staff had not heard before, though they were not likely to believe just how literally true Nora's words were.
"It's okay, honey," Jack said patiently, "I love you and I know you love me."
"Grrrr! Go to hell you - - aaahhngh!" Nora gave up cursing the man who had set her on this path as a new contraction pulsated through her womb. This was torture! When would it end? Really, how had it even come to this? She began to cry. She hated herself for it, for the weakness it showed to the man who had stolen her face, but she couldn't help it. It just wasn't fair.
"It's okay, baby," Jack squeezed her hand. He was rather pleased with how all this was going, "Cry it out."
Jack was actually quite curious what was going on in Nora's little mind. She who had been male for so long, who had grown up, fathered children, and grown old to now be cast in this completely different role. It must be maddening, Jack decided.
All her former power gone, completely at the mercy of their mutual enemy, touched by him, fucked by him, completely his possession. Not just to be a woman, but to have been so brutally initiated into that womanhood, and then to experience the most fundamental moment of womanhood - - birth itself. It must be very, very humbling for one who had formerly been such a power in the world. Jack smiled.
The more he saw, the more he though about it, the more Jack reconsidered ever wanting to return to this fragile, female form. Yes, he had missed its softness, its gracefulness, its capacity for pleasure, but so long as he had Nora he still had all those things and more. Now he could enjoy possessing all that from the outside in, no longer prey to womanly weaknesses.
He was Jack Merlin now. Strong. Handsome. A legend. This silly knocked up plaything was less than nothing to him.
The door to the delivery room swung open and in walked Dr. Gladstorm, a balding, sixty-ish man with a more businesslike demeanor than his name would imply. At first, Nora had been embarrassed. In her old life Gladstorm had delivered two of her children by two different women. Now he was about to do the same for her and Nora didn't care that his hand was up there inside her, checking her dilation. She just wanted this baby out!
"Okay, Nora," Gladstorm nodded as if satisfied, "Everything looks ready. On your next contraction I want you to push just like we talked about, okay?"
Of course, it wasn't okay. Nothing was okay, but she couldn't explain or she'd be thrown into the nuthouse. So instead she gulped back a sob and nodded. Listen and obey. That was what had gotten her through this alive so far.
When the next contraction came Nora pushed, and she pushed some more, and she kept on like that for some time. Finally, stretched as far as she could go, her voice a high breathless hiss, the baby was crowning. Jack was cheering in her ear. Gladstorm was was exhorting her to one last big push.
In a brief jet of blood and fluid her baby slid free, no longer a part of her, connected only by the cord, right into the doctor's hands. Seconds later, after a quick initial check, Gladstorm held up her child and there was a tiny mournful little cry. It was a boy.
Nora discovered she was bawling like a baby herself. Jack did the honors and cut the cord with a wicked little grin. The afterbirth came after that.
A little while after that they finally let her rest and Nora was almost immediately fast asleep.
