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Keep That Crown: Easter Special

A HUGE shoutout to @shhhsecretsideblog and @exponenshul for writing the original story here, And thank you shhhsecretsideblog for allowing others to continue this amazing idea, and for offering me feedback on this story!

~•~

"Goooooood evening guys and girls. It's Saturday night, we're live, and welcome to another episode of…" "Keep That Crown!" The audience cheered, applauding wildly.

The TV presenter, Danny, continues, a wide smile on his face. "For those of you who are new to our little corner of television, this is a game show where we take five mothers-to-be and put them to the test in a number of household challenges. Sounds easy enough, right? Well, the catch is that each mum-to-be is in active labour, and fully dilated! Whoever can complete all five challenges without giving birth has a chance to win our grand prize, with the last one standing winning a jackpot of £100,000.00!"

The audience cheered, clapping and whistling in excitement.

"And now, let's meet tonight's contestants!"

Danny moved over to a set of podiums, five of them, each one with a name on it and a heavily pregnant woman behind it. Stopping at the first podium, Danny leaned on it to speak to the woman.

"Lucky contestant number one is Scarlett! She is 40 weeks pregnant with her first, a boy, if I understand correctly?"

Scarlett nodded, "That's right Danny, And, oooffff…" She broke off, breathing through a contraction, but perked back up after a quick breather, puffing a strand of her blonde hair out of her face. "I'm having a boy, and he wants out."

"How are you holding up?" Danny asked, rapid fire.

"So far so good," Scarlett said with a smile, "Water hasn't broken yet, so there's that!"

"Good starting position then," Danny said smiling as he moved onto the second podium, "And our second contestant tonight is the lovely Natalie, Natalie who is 39 and a half weeks along with her own boy. Natalie, how are you holding up so far?"

"I'm doing just fine love," Natalie said, smiling, rubbing her belly, "But things are definitely moving along!"

"And I should be too, but good luck out there today!" Danny strolled onto the next podium, where the mother-to-be was leaning over the hard surface, bracing herself through a rough looking contraction. "And next at 41 weeks with a girl, we have Maria! That one is looking a little tough there Maria, how are you hoping to do tonight?"

Panting a bit, Maria straightened up and said through a somewhat forced looking smile, "Well, that jackpot looks pretty good Danny, but I'm… I'm just hoping to make it past the first round at this point, OOHhh…"

Danny winced sympathetically, "Alright then, we should try to get things going quickly then eh? Good luck out there!" Moving on, Danny came to the next woman, who by comparison, seemed like she was in total control, breathing deeply and holding herself completely upright with her legs together. "And next we have Jaime! Jaime is 40 weeks with her second! Now Jaime, you said that you and your husband don't know the gender yet?"

Jaime shook her head, "That's right. You guys get to find out with us!" The audiences cheered and 'awww'd at the news, and Danny smiled too.

"Well, that's a first for us, this should be exciting!" Danny moved on quickly to the last podium, a shorter ginger woman who was also panting heavily. "And lastly we have Jenna! Jenna, you said that you had a secret weapon tonight?"

Jenna nodded, her lips pursed as she breathed through a contraction. "That's…. that's right Danny."

"Now, I'm hoping it isn't anything like this one." On the screens, footage of an earlier episode played, an unlucky woman named Becky screamed as she worked to tug off a chastity belt. "As you know, in an earlier episode a third time mother tried using a chastity belt to keep everything inside, which is strictly against our rules here."

Jenna smiled, "Oh, it's nothing I'm wearing, it's the someone I made this with."

Danny tilted his head, "Oh? And that would be?"

Jenna waved at the audience, "My husband out there in the audience."

Danny turned to the audience and called out, "Mr. Jenna's husband, why don't you stand up… good LORD!" Jenna's husband stood up, a biblical GIANT of a man, standing well over 6 feet tall, maybe close to 7. Danny looked from him to the much, much shorter Jenna and back, and looked like he wanted to ask a follow up, but simply shook his head and moved on with the show. Women were waiting after all. "Well, that should definitely help if your baby takes after him. I hope everything goes well. Ok, now that we've met our mothers-to-be, let's meet our first challenge!"

The curtain on the other half of the stage rose, revealing a collection of fake trees with fruit hanging on them. "Our first event is the orchard of plenty! Each of you is given a basket, and you must go out into the orchard and fill the basket with at least 5 different fruits from the trees. You can pick any 5, but remember, the heavier fruits are on the bottom of the trees, the lighter ones are at the top, but you will need a ladder to reach them! And boy aren't our trees strange?" Danny lifted a hand and pointed at, of all things, a watermelon hanging from a low branch, the audience laughing at the absurdity of the sight. "Now, this is a timed event, so you have to work quickly to collect what you need. And remember, no matter how much you want to push, you just have to…"

"Keep that crown!" Chanted the live audience.

Raising a hand, Danny counted them off, "ON your marks, get set…. GO!"

Light hearted music pumped into the studio as all 5 mothers moved away from their podiums as quickly as their laboring forms would allow, with Danny keeping a running commentary of the action.

"As they get going viewers, we know that this particular event is more for our autumn episodes, but we've had some technical difficulties with some of our more 'spring themed’ set pieces, so we thought we'd wheel this fan-favourite. But right off the bat, we see Natalie and Jenna going for ladders, hoping to select lighter fruits. But from the looks of things, Jaime isn't hampered much by the height issue."

She couldn't quite reach the lightest fruits at the tops of the trees, but the darker skinned woman was able to reach some of the fruit in the middle of the trees. On the other side of the orchard, Maria set her basket on the ground and pressed both hands between her legs, panting hard. "Ohhhh, come on, staaaaayyy….."

"Uh-oh, Maria, are you going down already? Come on, you gotta…"

"KEEP THAT CROWN!" The audience roared enthusiastically, and their cheering grew even louder when Maria grabbed her basket and stood upright, moving forward on shaky legs to start picking fruit.

"Good job Maria!" Danny called, "Now deep in the middle, we have Scarlett trying to do it as quickly as she can!" Scarlett was simply going from tree to tree, grabbing the first thing she could reach to fill the requirements of the challenge. She'd picked a watermelon, a pumpkin, a squash, and was going for a large bunch of bananas. Her arm was shaking from the sheer weight of the produce she was carrying, gritting her teeth. Though from the effort of lifting the basket, or the effort of trying not to push was unknown. "I will say, ladies and gentlemen, that if Scarlett does pull off that particular strategy, it would be the first time I've seen it done successfully. And speaking of success!"

Jaime had already managed to get her variety of fruits back to the podium, leaning heavily against it as she panted through a contraction. Still in the orchard, Maria had managed to get a melon into her basket, but had immediately decided to change tack and head for a ladder, working with Natalie and Jenna, who at this point had almost gotten everything they needed, but while Natalie was able to get up and down the ladder with only a bit of difficulty despite the contractions, Jenna was struggling badly. The sheer size of her belly was getting in her way nearly constantly, and she was panting heavily from both the effort and the contractions that wracked her petite frame.

"And Scarlett finishes second, with, and can we get a weight on this… 21.7 kilos! That's a new record for this event!"

Scarlett raised both of her arms in celebration, but instantly regretted it, doubling over around her belly, "Ow ow ow ow ow….."

Danny held a hand out as if to support her, "Now Scarlett, don't give in just yet, you just finished the first event here." Turning his attention back to the orchard, the last three women were all coming back in at once, Maria with mostly lighter fruits and a single melon, Natalie with nothing larger than a grapefruit, but Jenna had rushed and fit a large pumpkin into her basket and was balancing it against her belly, and she was clearly not enjoying the extra pressure on her womb.

"And it's neck and neck for the last three, but… yes, Maria, followed by Natalie followed by Jenna!"

The audience cheered at the completion of the first challenge, which had yielded an unexpected bonus. "Ladies," Danny said beaming, "As none of you gave birth in the first round, we’re adding an additional £50,000 to the prize pot!" The Audience went wild with the news, and all five mums-to-be smiled wearily at each other at the good news. "But who will win it? We'll find out as we go on, but let's get a quick word from our sponsors!"

~•~

"Welcome back to Keep That Crown! We've had a lucky start so far, with all five mothers making it through the first round, adding an additional £50,000 to the grand prize! But as is usually the case, our second challenge of the night has never failed to get at least one crown! Up next, we have the Laundry room!"

The curtains rise to reveal 5 identical sets of washers and dryers, which Danny began to quickly explain, his overly white teeth gleaming in the light. "Each washer is filled with clean laundry, but these washers don't have a fresh setting, so all of the clothes are still wet and heavy. So each of our mums-to-be must get the laundry out, and make sure it isn't balled up before putting it in the dryer. But, as you can see, they are all top loading machines!" Danny flipped open one of the units to demonstrate, before continuing, "So you'll all need to get creative on how to unload the washer, and don't forget to…"

"KEEP THAT CROWN!"

"3-2-1, GO!"

As the cheerful music began, all five women waddled over to the washing machines. Right away, two of the women ran into a problem.

"And as we start, we can see Natalie and Jenna struggling to reach the contents of their washers. Jaime is having no problem once again!"

As he said, the tall woman was easily able to reach into the machine, but as a result, she was the first to encounter the real challenge. The heavy, tangled and balled up clothes. She heaved at the contents, trying to pull out as many of them in one go as she could, prioritizing speed over everything else, but quickly realized that was a mistake. Freezing in place, she gripped the edge of the washer drum, her legs beginning to shake slightly.

"And Scarlett has come up with an interesting way of doing this, climbing on top of the dryer to reach into the washer. We've seen this before, it's one of the most surefire ways to get this one done, but hopping down can be a bit of a hassle."

Hearing this, Jenna and Natalie both began to struggle up to the top of their dryers, Natalie managing it first by opening the dryer door and using the opening as a step, and was now sitting cross legged with a heel wedged between her thighs, panting heavily. Jenna abandoned the attempt after a short struggle and stood on her toes, pressing her side hard into the machine as she grabbed an armload of clothes. Maria was doing the same as what Jaime had started, but was taking items out by tugging until a single item came free and snapped each item flat before tossing it into the dryer.

"And Maria is pulling a huge lead on everyone else. Scarlett is detangling her clothes and setting them on the dryer next to her and so is… No, Natalie is tossing them in the open dryer as she goes! Smart move! Jenna is close behind them and… Jaime, how are you holding up love?"

Jaime had overdone it right off the bat, trying to rush and pull all of the clothes out at once. The sudden effort had sent a huge surge of pressure down her birth canal and now she stood rigid, unable to do anything other than concentrate on not pushing. "Come… on… Stay in babyyyyy….. Mustn't puuuuushh.."

"Jaime, you have to unload the washer to move on from this challenge."

Jaime nodded, her eyes beginning to fill with tears and shakily took one hand away from her clearly bulging leggings, but instantly groaned and fell into a deep squat, her groan turning into a grunt, "I can't… I have to puuush!"

"Keep that crown! Keep that crown! Keep that… awwwww." The audience's enthusiastic chant died off as, with a shuddering gasp, the head clearly popped free in Jaime's leggings.

"As I said, the second challenge gets someone every time." Danny stood aside as a team of medics rushed over to help Jaime remove her pants and get the baby out the rest of the way. As she was carried away on a stretcher, Danny continued his commentary for the last four contestants. "And it looks like Maria is almost done, Scarlett and Natalie close behind… Maria finished in first! Oh, look at this, Jenna is catching up!"

Jenna, having not climbed on top of her dryer, was now free of having to deal with getting down from it. It had taken her a while to get all of the items from her washer, but now she was unballing the last pair of jeans and tossing them in.

"And Jenna comes in a surprising second place! Oh! Are you alright?" Right as Jenna had finished, Natalie, trying to get down had been hit with a contraction at an inopportune moment, falling heavily.

"AHHH! Ow…." She cried, rubbing her hip. Fortunately, she had avoided landing on her belly, and the impact seemed more painful than serious. "I think… Ah… I think I'm alright."

"Ok, why don't you come lean on your podium for a minute. Scarlett, make sure you get down safely."

"I'mmm mmmmph! I'm working on it…. Ah…." Scarlett was inching forward, holding herself on top of the dryer with the palms of her hands, sliding her butt across the corner to try to place her feet on the ground, but clearly struggling with both stretching her belly and applying pressure on her tailbone. Her face red, she seemed to come to a decision, and let go with her hands, dropping the last foot to the floor, and began tossing her clothes in the dryer rapidly, panting heavily as she worked, finishing last, but still pregnant.

"Well, we'll get Natalie checked out during our commercial break. Ladies and gentlemen, one down, four babies to go! We'll be right back after this commercial!"

~•~

When the stage had been reset for the next challenge, the lights came back on and Danny stepped forward, his ever-present smile plastered to his face. "And we're back for part three of tonight's episode of Keep That Crown! We're already one mum down, but four still remain. Maria, how are you doing?"

Maria nodded, sweat beading on her face from her labour, "Uh… hooo…. I'm hanging in there Danny!"

Danny swung the microphone towards himself again, "I gotta say, I was a little worried for you in the orchard, but you certainly made a comeback on the laundry challenge. Speaking of worries…" Danny moved on to Natalie, who was holding one hand under her belly and breathing deeply through her nose. "Natalie, you had us all worried for a minute there from your fall, how are you feeling?"

Natalie tilted her free hand, "Doesn't hurt compared to the contra-ah-ah-ah…" She broke off as a contraction made her wince and rub at her belly.

"Well, at least you didn't get seriously hurt in that fall."

Danny's attempts to talk to Scarlett fell flat, as she was biting her lip hard and breathing deeply through contractions, unable to speak. Coming to Jenna, he gestured at her belly. "And how is your secret weapon holding out?"

Jenna shook her head in almost mock-worry, "I don't know how it's gonna come out."

Danny smiled, "Well, don't worry, no one is pregnant forever. But the show moves on, and for our third part, we've arrived at our changing challenge!" Danny swept an arm aside to reveal the four remaining contestants, all standing on one side of a line, facing a pile of bags.

"Today's theme is a day on the beach, so when the buzzer sounds, all of you ladies will go in order of how you finished the last event, select one of the bags and return with it to your podium. Once you return, you will change into the swimsuit inside, and go to sit in the pool!"

Danny pointed at the other side of the stage where a shallow kiddie-pool had been set up.

"Once you have sat down, you may get up and return to put your original clothes back on. And don't worry, each bag has a towel. But!" Danny leaned in, "Each bag contains a different type of swimsuit. You may not open the bag until you get to your podium, you cannot change the bag once chosen, and you cannot intentionally ruin the swimsuit. Do you all understand?"

When all four nodded, Danny started the event with a final note. "And don't worry, you won't need to completely strip for this, just down to your underwear will suffice.” Then, with a countdown and the blare of the horn, the challenge began. As the music started, and all 4 ladies chose a bag from the pile, Danny began his commentary.

"And all four have selected their bags and are returning to their changing areas. Let's see what everyone has… And Maria has gotten a-"

His comments were drowned out by the audience cheering and whistling as she pulled out a small, red bikini. Maria flushed as red as the outfit, a combination of pain from her contractions and embarrassment at the ordeal to come reddening her face. As she began to peel her shirt off, Danny continued his running commentary, being drowned out again as Jenna unpacked an equally small bikini, hers a bright shade of blue. But it wasn't just a bikini. It was a stringkini, and the sides of it were untied, meaning that Jenna had to tie it onto herself.

"Can I at least… Mmph! Can I get some help with that at least?"

"Sorry Jenna, but you have to put it on yourself."

Making a face, Jenna began stripping down to put the pointlessly complex, barely there swimwear. But as she heard the others cry out in dismay, she realized that she had gotten off fairly easy. Natalie had gotten a simple, but fairly small single piece bathing suit, but she seemed to be struggling to stay upright, her tight leggings proving to be putting up quite a fight as she struggled to remove them. With a grunt and a hard shove down, they managed to get clear of her butt, but…

"Natalie, it looks like there's a head starting to come out there," Danny called, "I-"

"I KNOW!" Natalie howled, trying to cross her legs and shifting her weight back and forth, looking for all the world like someone desperate to use the restroom. Taken aback, Danny gave Natalie a bit of space and moved on to commiserate with Scarlett, who had pulled a complex cluster of fabric from her bag. It was some sort of designer swimsuit, that was somehow both a one piece, but had the side ties of a stringkini, all held together by a band of fabric that would go up over her belly and connected with a complicated looking buckle. It was less swimwear and more an outfit for a fancy pool party.

"You've got to be kidding me," Scarlett complained, struggling to simultaneously keep her legs together, untangle the complicated mess of a swimsuit and focusing on not pushing, "How am I supposed to put this on?"

"One leg at a time," Danny said, smiling. However, his attention was dragged quickly away as Natalie gave a soft cry, and a splashing sound was heard.

"Oh god, my water broke, my water broke, my waaAAAA!" Natalie sank to her knees, wadding up the swimsuit and pressing it as hard as she could to her crotch. "No no no no no, Don't… ARGH!"

"KEEP THAT CROWN, KEEP THAT CROWN, KEEP THAT CROWN, KEEP THAT CROWN!" The audience cheered.

Red faced and shaking, Natalie struggled to try to get back to her feet, but simply stayed where she was on the ground, her upper body convulsing with her increasingly futile efforts to stop herself from birthing the head.

"It looks like Natalie might soon be out of this race. But speaking of races, let's look in on Maria and Jenna!" Danny began running a play by play of the first two women, Maria who had already, and easily, managed to pull on the simple bikini and was less waddling, but more shuffling her way to the pool, clearly doing her best to keep her thighs close together. Jenna in the meantime was struggling to pull her legs close enough to pin the bottoms of her stringkini together so she could tie the strings. The top meanwhile was on, but tied sloppily and hastily.

Scarlett in the meantime had managed to untangle the swimsuit and was struggling to get into it, her main fight now with the strip of cloth that buckled the bottoms to the top, which seemed like it had not been made with pregnant women in mind. Eventually, she managed to get into it, hunched over slightly and she began moving to the pool to complete the challenge. Natalie on the other hand…

"KEEP THAT CROWN! KEEP THAT CROWN! KEEP THAT CROWN!"

Natalie was virtually paralyzed, unable to submit to her own body's instincts to push, but unable to do anything other than tremble on her knees. "Natalie, you have to change and get in the pool if you want to move on," Danny encouraged. With that last bit of encouragement, Natalie, shaking, slowly pulled the wadded swimsuit away from the massive bulge. It was all the incentive her body needed too. With a sharp cry, her hips bucked, and the head popped free with a second gush of fluid. The audience groaned as Natalie was quickly attended to by medics who swept her away to be treated.

"And that's another mum down folks!" Danny called out, returning to Jenna, who had sort of managed to get the strings tied and was just now making it to the pool, "But good job Jenna, you're halfway done with this challenge!" Turning to Maria, he congratulated her on finishing already. Maria could barely acknowledge the praise however, as she had started to bulge out slightly. Scarlett for her part had just gotten back to her podium and was struggling to remove the overly complicated clothing, and was clearly getting frustrated by it.

"AH, Careful Scarlett, you mustn't ruin the swimsuit…" "I'm… ARGH! Who designed this! It's impossible…." She began wiggling, desperately trying to get out of the suit without ruining it, but only getting more worked up. "Scarlett… the… buckle…. ARgh… It twists!" Maria called out from her podium, and mimed twisting the complex piece of metal. Her eyes red with tears of frustration, Scarlett mimicked the motion that Maria made, and the two halves of the swimsuit came neatly apart. Sobbing in relief, she began to deftly strip the idiotic clothing off. She managed to finish removing it just after Jenna had. Jenna was really showing signs of struggling now, her overly massive belly visibly rippling with contractions, and while she was clearly making pushing noises, had yet to visibly bulge from her efforts.

"Well there we are folks!" Danny said as the remaining 3 women managed to get their original clothes back on, "3 Mums left and two challenges to go! Who will get to our final round? Find out after this break!"

~•~

When the lights came back on, the three remaining pregnant women were huffing and puffing near large curtained off sections of the stage, Danny standing in between all of them.

"Aaaaand welcome back to Keep That Crown ladies and gentlemen, the only show where the winner does not have a crown in the end!" The audience laughed at his joke, though Maria, Jenna and Scarlett, if they even heard the joke, did not so much as crack a smile at it. "I'd like to share some news with the audience, Jaime has given birth and wanted to share the announcement to the crowd that she had a girl!" The Audience cheered and whistled at the news. Danny let them go on for a short time, but raised his hands to quiet them down. "Normally I'd have a quick chat with each of our remaining contestants about their own labours at this point, but things are moving a tad quickly, so we should be as well."

Danny swept his arm aside and all three curtains rose up to the ceiling, revealing a trio of mock-up living rooms, each cluttered and trashed.

"For our spring episode, we have a bit of spring cleaning! Each contestant must complete the following, move the furniture pieces back into their assigned spaces, the floor is marked where each furniture item should go, then the larger items must be picked up and put on the shelves, the garbage must be thrown away and the floor must be vacuumed to clean all of this highly visible orange sand. Any item in the living room may be used to help clean it. At the end, each mother may take a breather and have a seat on the couch, but!" Danny leaned in, smiling as he revealed the next bit of news. "They may not want to, as the winner of this event gets to take home the furniture set, so try not to push anyone out on the new couches ladies!"

Despite the intense struggle of their labours, each of the women seemed intrigued by the opportunity.

"Danny… whooo… The… the couch… is it waterproof?" Scarlett asked, a hand rubbing the underside of her belly.

Danny peered down and made a noise of understanding. "I see. Well, if your waters have broken, we should get this event going, and yes, the couches are fully waterproof and covered by a VERY generous warrantee. On your marks, get set, GO!"

The klaxon and the music sounded, and the three women moved into the fray. "And they're off, with Maria moving onto her hands and knees to start collecting things to put away, a good strategy. But while crawling can speed things along, it's far better than bending over or squatting. Jenna has taken off her shoes and is using her toes to pick things up, and look at her go!

Jenna was masterfully picking things up with her feet and passing the items up to her hands. She started with the garbage, picking it up and tossing it into the provided wastebasket. Her furious pace slowed quickly as bending sideways to reach the items around her large belly soon tired her, and she leaned against a shelf, breathing heavily, grunting as she tried not to push with the next contraction.

"And Scarlett is taking… well, that's certainly an approach."

Scarlett was simply hooking her foot underneath every item she could, and was kicking it onto the couch. Once that was done, she could clearly see where the furniture was supposed to go, and began trying to shove it around. But the dense carpet of the faux living room was proving to be tough to slide furniture around on. She pushed at it, then moved to drag it, but found she had to bend over and lift the front feet of the item in question, a high backed chair. She cried out as the position put extra pressure on her baby and she dropped the chair as she felt the head beginning to rapidly descend. "No… not yet…"

"And Scarlett seems to be in trouble. Come on, hold that little one in there!" Scarlett managed to compose herself and, with them shaking violently, she managed to pin her legs together and she began working to move the chair again. The audience cheered as she worked, and Danny resumed his chatter.

"And Jenna has gotten back into the swing of things, picking things up a bit slower now, but she's moving right along. And speaking of moving… Maria! Wow!" Maria had nearly finished cleaning the floor, though a few items remained. But she had begun dragging furniture around while still on her hands and knees and was done moving the chair and the coffee table already, and was now shoving the couch to where it belonged. Her exertions had gotten her a huge lead, but it had gotten something else huge as well. The bulge in her leggings was getting bigger. "Maria, remember, if the head is out, you can't continue the game."

"It's… OW! It's still stretchinggggggggg!" She put a hand on her crotch and stopped moving, breathing hard for a moment, but continued shoving the couch. Rushing now, she got to her feet and grabbed the vacuum. It was an all-in-one type that meant that you had to stand upright to use it, and after some struggling, Maria managed to do just that, shoving the device around as fast as she could, desperate to finish the event so she could focus on not pushing anymore.

As she worked, Jenna had managed to finish the garbage and was now picking the regular items off of the floor, crying, not in pain or stress, but in delight at one of the items she found, a grabber claw! She was using it to easily pick items off of the floor and put them, even onto the shelves that the shorter woman could not have otherwise reached. Scarlett had no need of the device however, having finished moving everything but the couch, and was now clearing it off, hardly needing to bend over to pick the clutter up from it's seat. Soon, she was also vacuuming. As she started and Jenna quickly followed, Maria cried out in distress.

"Uh oh, and Maria has had a technical issue!" Danny strolled over to see Maria turning the machine over to see that it had choked on a sock that she had missed while crawling around. Maria tried to pull it out, but it was stuck fast. "Have… AH, OW…. Danny, is that enough?" Danny shook his head, pointing at a few areas, "I'm afraid not, there's still some of the sand there and there." "But….whooo…But the vacuum is jammed!" "Try using some of the items you cleaned up. I remember there being a screwdriver in the mess somewhere." Maria looked at the shelves, hastily and messily packed with stuff as she came across it, and with a groan, moved to start looking for the tool. Scarlett had finished vacuuming at this point, and was now moving the couch, with Jenna not far behind, having nearly finished her own floor. As Jenna finished, she wrapped up the cord of the vacuum and gingerly sat down on the couch, hastily getting back up as attempting to sit put so much pressure on the head she had yelped in pain.

"And we have our first room cleaned!" Danny called out, moving the vacuum out of the way to congratulate her. Scarlett grunted one last time and had also sat on the couch, laying down on it as she rubbed her belly, screwing her eyes up and breathing in long, hitching breaths. Maria on the other hand…

"Oh… Oh GOD! OWWWW!" Maria had found the screwdriver and had started taking the device apart and had gotten the sock free, but the screwdriver and the vacuum were abandoned now as she put a hand to her crotch. The bulge in her leggings had gotten unusually huge, and she had peeled them down a bit to see what was happening. Danny rushed over, and he blinked in surprise. "Well… This certainly is an episode of firsts ladies and gentlemen. Maria's baby is breech!"

The crowd gasped as a camera moved over and zoomed in on the unnatural stretch in Maria's leggings. Panting, she pushed Danny away and struggled to get the screwdriver. "No… NO! I can do this, I cannnnnn… AH, ARGH! NO!" With an involuntary push, the breached baby surged forward, stretching her far farther than was normal in a birth. "Maria, why don't you let the medics take you back and-" "The head isn't even ou-out…" Maria sobbed, struggling to put the vacuum back together. "I'm afraid that even though this is the first time it's happened on our show, it's in the rules Maria," Danny said evenly, "Your baby is over halfway out. You're done honey."

The crowd groaned with sympathy for the poor woman as she sobbed, letting the screwdriver fall from her grip and putting both hands down to support the baby's half delivered body while the medics lifted her onto a stretcher and rushed her backstage to finish the suddenly much more complicated delivery.

"Well, that was tough for her, but I'm sure we all wish Maria good luck with the rest of that birth. But as we are, we now only have two contestants left going into part 5, and our final challenge for tonight! But before we go, congratulations to Jenna once again for finishing this event first, and winning this lovely couch!"

The crowd cheered again as the camera zoomed in on the panting, sweaty mother as she kept her eyes closed as she tried to keep herself from pushing.

"Now, who will take home the grand prize of £150,000? Who will give into the urge to push? Find out when we get back from this commercial break!

~•~

When the show's theme played once again, Jenna and Scarlett were nowhere to be seen, instead, two whimsical landscapes were displayed with cardboard cutouts of cartoonish children looking happy with baskets at their feet. Danny stood between them, his smile as large as ever, and just behind him were two white curtains. "And welcome back to the final part, and final challenge of…"

"KEEP! THAT! CROWN!" The audience cheered.

"And what a night this has been, our first televised breech, a bonus £50,000, and a couch as a bonus prize as well! But all good things must come to an end, and here it is. The bunny trail! As we get ready for Easter, we have all of these children on the bunny trails waiting for easter eggs. But who will deliver them? Why none other than our very own easter bunnies!"

The white curtains went up revealing the final two mums-to-be wearing little white dresses, knee high boots, white bunny ears, and even had little cotton ball tails. But were visibly distressed, and trying their best not to push. Danny strolled up to them, chipper as ever, and began his interview with them.

"So Scarlett, Jenna, you are our finalists. How are you both feeling?"

Jenna just gave a grunting moan, while Scarlett glared, red-eyed as she tried to keep her legs together to stop herself from pushing. "Just… Eunnnngh! Just… I can't… Start it already!"

"I can't start it yet," Danny laughed, unfazed by Scarlett's desperation. She moaned as he turned to the audience and began explaining the final challenge. "Now our Easter Bunnies" Danny said, gesturing to Jenna and Scarlett, "Must deliver eggs to each of the children's baskets on the bunny trail. As you can see, each side has no less than nine baskets. But, here's the kicker. You must deliver the eggs one at a time, no pun intended." The audience laughed again at his joke, and Danny continued. "You must also hold the egg in both hands as you go, as they are quite fragile. And if you drop one-" Danny dropped the egg, made of delicate blown glass, and it shattered to pieces on the ground, , "-you must return to the beginning to get a new one."

Danny turned as if done, but spun back as he 'remembered' the final rule. "And lastly, how do bunnies get around? They hop of course!" He mimed the required motion, the audience laughing at his antics while both Jenna and Scarlett paled in apprehension. "First to deliver all nine eggs is the winner. But! Even if your opponent gives in and gives birth, you must complete the challenge to collect the grand prize. So as you hippity-hoppity, make sure you…" "KEEP THAT CROWN!" "On your marks, get set…. GO!" The Klaxon sounded, and different music, a classic children's easter song, pumped into the studio as Jenna and Scarlett began. "And right away, we see that both mum's are having a bit of trouble with the hopping. Jenna can barely make the movement, and though Scarlett can hop she is having her own difficulties… Try to keep those legs together Scarlett!"

"Aaaaaaooooowwww, shut uuuup!" Scarlett moaned as she hopped forward, pausing after each one. Jenna, for her part, was barely able to get her formerly petite frame to perform even a small hop due to the size of her belly. She sobbed out with each attempt, her belly heaving and rippling with each of the violent motions.

"Come on Jenna, I know you can do it! The eggs are about one hop away and you can start delivering them!" Danny's words were meant to be encouraging, but Jenna moaned something, and he moved in to hear better. "What was that sweetie?"'

Jenna panted heavily, each breath sounding as if she had someone sitting on her chest. "P..p..please…don't…say…'deliver'"

Danny laughed as he backed off, "Fair enough, hard enough to keep your mind off of that right now I'd imagine."

On the other side, Scarlett had managed to collect her first egg and was only a few hippity-hoppities to the first basket when she yelled out, dropping the egg as she grabbed at her belly. "AH! OW, SHIT!" The egg shattered on the ground, and Scarlett nearly cried, stomping her feet as she tried her best to stop herself from pushing. "Language Scarlett!" Danny said in mock indignation, "It's a good thing It’s after 9, ha ha ha!"

Scarlett didn't look anything close to resembling amused, but just turned back to hop for a new egg. Jenna, meanwhile, had only just made it to the table and was leaning heavily on it, vocalizing with each breath, clearly about to give in and push. But as her contraction ended, she found new strength and grabbed her first egg and began hopping towards her own trail. Scarlett, not to be outdone, managed to get her second first attempt and moved back towards her goal. She was hit with another, hard contraction, but this time she braced herself, stopped hopping and stayed hunched over her belly, groaning, but high in her throat, doing her best not to push. Surviving the contraction, she hopped and gently laid the egg in the first basket. It lit up with a 'DING' and she flinched at the loud noise, one hand diving under her belly to provide support against the hopping trip back.

Jenna had just barely managed to get her egg to the first basket without dropping it, but had also laid hers in it's spot with a 'DING'. "And we're one and one right now ladies and gentlemen! And both mums are returning to the table… and as Scarlett takes a moment to breathe through the next contraction… or is she pushing?" "N-n-nooooOOOO!" "Well alrighty then! Jenna picks her next egg and is off again, Scarlett not far behind in her own delivery of the second egg… Oh, sorry Jenna, didn't mean to say that word again…"

Both women moved on, quickly depositing their second, third, fourth and fifth eggs without issue. But by now, both of them were screaming with each contraction, both had large bulges visible under their short dresses, and the floor was starting to get slick with various fluids. The crowd was cheering and chanting non-stop as they watched the struggling women. By now, both Jenna and Scarlett had to stop after each hop, and Jenna was clearly giving in, pushing as she went, but every time the head made a little progress, it went straight back in, despite the vigorous encouragement the hopping gave. Scarlett wasn't pushing with her hopping, but she cried out with each contraction, and felt the head threatening to pop out with each movement, but as long as she kept her legs together… "AUGH!" She cried out, making one last hop and setting egg six into it's basket.

She turned around as quickly as she could, hearing the 'DING' of Jenna's sixth basket as well. Gritting her teeth, she began the grueling journey back to the table. "And both mums have gotten to basket six!" Danny cried out, putting a hand on his forehead, "For both mums, this is a new record! Let's see who will make it!" Both made it to the table once again, with Scarlett simply grabbing the next egg and moving off, but Jenna gripped it with white knuckles as she shook, clearly pushing. "I… I CAN'T DO IT!" She cried out, and sank down, squatting through the next contraction.

"Don't push Jenna!" Danny called out, and the Audience redoubled their chanting. "KEEP THAT CROWN! KEEP THAT CROWN! KEEP THAT CROWN!" Jenna screamed and pushed, but as the contraction ended, she panted heavily, the head, not only not out yet, but STILL retracting back inside. "I… I got this!" Jenna said as the contraction ended.

The audience lost their minds as she took the next egg and hopped away. "AMAZING!" Danny shouted as she moved on, “Let's go number seven!" Scarlett was held up by her own contraction, nearly dropping the egg. She knew that if she dropped it, she might as well give in and push. Jenna was right behind her, and any mistake now would cost her the whole thing.

"Gotta… stayyyyyyy!" She shook as she locked her hips, doing her best not to push or let the contraction progress the head any more. The head was permanently bulging now, slightly visible with each hop. She hopped, but began to lose hope as she heard Jenna's seventh basket ding before she had quite gotten there. Scarlett's seventh went only a few seconds after, but at this stage with how hard it was to keep moving, it was a huge lead. "Jenna's catching up Scarlett, come on, you can do this!"

Scarlett growled and began hopping back, yowling as she forced herself to hop through a contraction. "Oh…oh…goooOOOOooodddd…. So…much…too…much…pressure…." She groaned to herself as she made it back to the table. She looked up to see Jenna there as well, leaning over and breathing heavily through her own contraction. With a growl, Scarlett snatched up her last egg and began hopping. Hearing a similar cry of effort behind her, she knew Jenna was doing the same.

"I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS! NECK AND NECK, ON THE NINTH AND FINAL EGG!" Danny exclaimed, "IT'S NEVER BEEN THIS CLOSE!" "No kidding,” Jenna groaned, as she continued, bellowing as she forced herself to keep hopping through the next contraction. She made it to the final basket and dropped the egg in, the final 'DING' a glorious sound, and turned to see where Scarlett was… only to see her staring at her as well, dumbfounded, her own basket lit up too.

"Its… A TIE?" Danny called out, "I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!" The crowd, prompted by screens that Jenna and Scarlett couldn't see, began a new chant. "SUDDEN LIFE, SUDDEN LIFE, SUDDEN LIFE, SUDDEN LIFE!"

Danny strolled forward as both of the laboring mums leaned over their knees, grunting and screaming as they tried not to birth their babies. "Scarlett and Jenna. As you have tied in the final event, we now move into Sudden Life!" The crowd cheered as Danny took an envelope from his inside jacket pocket and broke a red wax seal on it. "To break this tie on the bunny trail, each mother must return to the table and continue delivering eggs to the ninth basket! Last to give birth wins the original prize, and an additional bonus of £50,000, bringing our jackpot to £200,000!"

The Klaxon blared as the crowd cheered, and both of them nearly in tears, Jenna and Scarlett began hopping their way back. It only took three hops before Jenna collapsed, crying. "No more, NO MORE! I caaaaaann't!" Afraid that she would get back up again, Scarlett continued hopping, not daring to push, hardly daring to breathe as she moved, only panting in short bursts between movements. She made it back to the table and began hopping back, but dropped her egg as the most powerful contraction she'd had all night rammed into her like a freight train. She shook life a leaf as she struggled to not push, to not move, to not to not not…. With a cry, Jenna gave in first. She had tried to get back up, but took one more hop and had given in completely, sinking into a deep squat, pushing with all her might, unable to stop her body's natural instincts one second longer. The head, fully visible under her dress was bulging more and more and more until with a burst of fluids, it popped out of her completely.

"AND WE HAVE A WINNER!" Danny called, moving over to congratulate Scarlett, "YOU'VE WON £200,000!" Scarlett couldn't care less aside from one thing. She had won. It was over. She didn't have to resist anymore. She fell to her knees, not caring about the scraping from the hard fall and bellowed, low and long, the sound getting higher and higher pitched as she fully gave into the unbearable pressure. It burned, it burned so bad as she pushed and pushed. Just when she didn't think she could stretch any farther, with a sudden high pitched cry, the head burst free. "Oh…oh thank god! Ohh…"

Danny stepped forward, all smiles. "Unbelievable night! Well, we're out of time for tonight, but we'll see you all next time, and remember to…

"KEEP THAT CROWN!"

304 notes · View notes

stew-ob-blog · 2 months ago

Text

Empath's Choice

Kayla approached the hospital doors but began to slow down as the butterflies in her belly fluttered harder than before. She took a deep breath and tried to convince herself it was only extra excitement eager to get out — a technique she remembered from a YouTube video she watched half of once. It didn't help. She settled on calling it first-day nerves instead and continued on towards the building's front door when her phone buzzed again in her hand. Naomi had sent a new reply.

"Dude, you can't still back out! Seriously. This is crazy for someone like you. Go home, say you had a change of heart and just peace out of there"

For a second, Kayla allowed herself to take that suggestion seriously. In fairness to Naomi, she was probably right. She managed to push that thought to the side, however, and continued walking and texting.

"I know it is but I'll never find out if I don't try.. I need to start learning what I can and can't do for myself.. x." she replied.

The building loomed large as her phone buzzed one more time. "Alright, I get it! But be damn careful Kay! keep your eyes down and don't make contact with any of the patients. I mean it! Oh, and make sure to take care of you first crazy girl! :) X"

Kayla pocketed the phone and walked through the doors into a building that was much more chaotic than she'd imagined it to be. The few staff she could see in pale blue scrubs were walking in all directions at once and not a single one appeared to be sitting down to talk to a patient. But perhaps, she thought, that was because there were so many crowded into the small waiting room she could see from the corridor. By her estimation, they outnumbered the seats at least two to one and many looked like they had spent the night there waiting to be seen.

"Note to self, don't get sick," Kayla thought to herself. "And if you break that rule, don't come here for help,"

As she walked past the waiting room to her right, a middle-aged man in a full leg cast crossed her path in a wheelchair. He looked unsteady on his wheels, first weaving left and then right as he fought to control his new carriage. He carried a new set of crutches across his lap and an expression of pain and resignation on his face. When he spotted Kayla approaching his direction he looked up to meet her eyes but Kayla darted her head to the side and looked away.

The man grunted with a deep snort that seemed to come from his belly and almost scoffed at her for being rude. She wanted to apologise, to meet his eyes and say sorry, that it wasn't him or even her, really, but to do so would mean making further contact and she could already feel an aching pain begin to build in her leg.

The last thing she needed was to impair her ability to walk through this place on her very first shift. She limped down the rest of the hallway with her eyes glued to the wall as firmly as she could manage. The pain began to fade again as she made her way to reception where an impatient nurse was already waiting for her.

"Kayla?" the woman snapped at her.

Kayla looked around to make sure it was indeed her she was talking to and then hurried the final paces closer to the desk. She was 20 minutes early but there would be no way to tell from the nurse's stern tone.

"Uh, yeah, yes," she replied. "Kay, actually..."

"Great." The nurse cut her off. "Follow me."

By the time Kayla had heard her, she had already turned on her heels and began walking down a corridor with enough pace that she had to run to catch up. Her hard plastic shoes made a fast rhythmic clacking that reminded Kay of an executive desk toy she used to keep on her desk. For a brief second, she imagined she was there now, without the sterile smells of the hospital walls or the anxiety of illness that surrounded her here. When she tuned back into the room she was in the nurse ahead of her was already explaining the rules and schedules to the thin air where Kayla should have been walking.

"...very short handed, as usual, so we've assigned you to Lauren, a first time mum who came in yesterday morning who was eight centimetres dilated 30 minutes ago and is getting pretty close to delivering.."

"Delivering?!" Kayla replied. She hadn't even found the break room yet.

"Yeah, I know, I'm afraid we're throwing you in at the deep end this morning. Normally we'd put placement staff in a more supportive role on the wards, at least until the paperwork is done, but like I said, we're really short staffed. That's ok isn't it?"

"Yeah, um, fine. No problem at all," Kayla replied with a forced smile.

"Great," the nurse replied. "You know, I have a kind of sixth sense about people Kayla, and I think you are going to be perfect for this job."

"It's Kay," she replied.

"What?"

"My name, you can just call me Kay, for short, if you want"

"Alright, Kay it is." she replied. "I'm Erin by the way, come on, it's in here,"

Erin gave two light taps on a hospital room door before entering almost immediately. Kay followed close behind through the door into a small enclosed area enclosed by blue privacy curtains.

When the door closed behind them, Erin swept back the curtain and stepped out into the room where their patient was sitting up in bed with both hands on her belly breathing in slow, meditative streams as if exhaling through a straw that only she could see.

"Hello, Lauren, how are things progressing?" Erin asked in a brighter tone than she'd used in the hall.

"Slow, too slow," Lauren replied without taking her eyes away from the foot of her bed.

"Poor thing," Erin said, almost to the room more than Lauren. "Well I've brought my helper for today, Kayla.. Kay! She is in training to become a midwife one day too,"

"Ok, great," Lauren replied. "If she can make this baby come any quicker..."

"Hi, afraid not," Kay replied with a forced laugh. She did as much as she could to avoid making eye contact — looking first at the walls, then the floor, anywhere but at her patient.

Lauren didn't reply, but her steady focused breaths began to pick up in both pace and volume as a new contraction appeared to be building. Her hands moved on her basketball-shaped belly and her feet shifted in the bed, bracing her against the mattress with her knees high and spread apart.

"Contraction?" Erin asked. Lauren only gave a slight nod in reply, but the grimace growing deeper and more pained in her face told her everything else.

Erin moved to a machine at the side of the bed just in time to watch the contraction rise to a point at the top of her graph and stay there for several consecutive seconds. Instead, Kay watched Lauren's face as it contorted into a pained sharp grimace. Breaths that came so easily just a few seconds before turned forced and rough as the soft voice turned into a guttural roar that filled the room with the same agony and energy that gripped hold of her body. Instinctively, she pulled her knees closer to her chest and clenched her teeth together — betraying the tight twisting agony that was happening inside.

Kay wanted to look away, doing everything she could not to watch the poor woman too closely. She needed to avoid her eyes, to keep herself a safe distance away from the patient she was supposed to be looking after, but found in a battle against her own empathy to maintain her distance. Despite herself, she moved closer to the side of the bed, just where her classes had taught her to be. She pretended to be interested in the monitors in front of Erin and acted as if she was reading the detailed information displayed on the screen. Even through her act, however, she found herself being drawn into her patient with every passing second.

Before Kay had time to react, Lauren's right hand had left her pained stomach and reached out for hers by the bedside. Instinctively, she grasped it in hers and held it tight, letting her know she was right there with her and they were going to get through this together. She could hear Naomi's voice ringing in her ears, telling her to stop, to back away now before that thought became literally true.

To hell with it, Kay thought, if she was going to do this — be there for her patients when they needed her — then she was going to go all in.

When the contraction had ebbed back again, Lauren looked at her with a grateful smile and Kay returned the gesture. She could already feel a deep-seated pit of pressure growing in her belly. Now, she could only hope that she hadn't just made one of the biggest mistakes of her life.

When the next contraction hit Lauren, Kay too felt a twisting stabbing pain begin in her lower back before spreading through her abdomen and round to her stomach. Within seconds she felt its firm grip hold onto her tight as if squeezing every last breath from her body until she was too afraid to move for fear of making this wretched agony worse. She allowed her thumb to trace over the top of Lauren's hand — knowing well that she was the only person in the world sharing her pain at this moment in time.

Taking a long slow breath, Kay looked to be coaching her patient well so that she might mirror her calm, controlled movements with ease. Erin looked over from the machine and was impressed by what she saw. In just a few minutes she had formed a bond with her patient and helped to make her feel at ease. She seemed to be a natural. Kay, for her part, was fighting her own battle to stay calm and in control. Then, a loud shrieking alarm sounded from outside the room, catching both Kay and Lauren by surprise. Erin, however, barely blinked. Something was happening on the ward and she needed to be there fast.

"Stay here," Erin said to Kay, already halfway out the door. The only rule the ward had, if it had any at all, was that when the emergency buzzer sounded everyone would come running. Erin felt safe in the knowledge that Lauren's delivery was far enough away that she could get back in time — these things rarely took more than 5 minutes. Besides, Kay was doing a remarkable job and she knew that she'd keep her patient calm for the short time it would take her to come back.

"But—" Kay managed before her mentor was already out of the room and out of earshot. She looked back to Lauren who looked a lot more tense than she did a minute ago.

"It's fine, shouldn't be a minute." she said, trying to reassure herself as much as Lauren.

Before Lauren could reply both women felt a tightness build in their stomachs, building to a crest before a sudden pop and slight release in the intensity of the pressure both women felt. A gush of fluid cascaded down between Lauren's legs, splashing over the far end of the bed at its furthest point. For a second, Kay doubled over and grabbed her own stomach, forgetting herself in this new setting, as she felt the warm wet feeling against her own dry legs.

"What was that?!" Lauren yelled, pulling herself upright in the bed.

"It's ok, it's fine, it's nothing," Kay reassured her with a hand on her shoulder. "It's just. your waters have broken."

"Get the doctor in here, quick!" she replied. "Where's Erin?! I need Erin!"

"I can't yet, they're still dealing with the alarm," Kay replied in as calming a voice as she could muster. Internally, she too was panicking as she felt her own stomach shift inside her. In the deluge, Lauren hadn't noticed her reaction, but Kay knew what was coming next. "You don't have to worry about a thing, we've still got plenty of time,"

Kay had barely got the last syllable of time out of her mouth before a sudden and excruciating contraction snatched hold of her body.

"Urghhhhhhhffff..." she grimaced and doubled over in pain, holding on to the bedside rail to remain upright. The agony pulsing through her belly had shifted several gears from the last. Now, there was an unmistakable urgency that came with it. She wondered if all deliveries were like this, whether this was happening down the hall and the reason for the alarm — but she didn't have time to think about that now. If she was feeling it in her then Lauren must have been feeling it too and she needed a professional by her side right now, not someone as helpless as she was.

Lauren's face was contorted in agony, her lips raised in a frozen snarl, her eyes screwed shut and her hand grasped at her belly as it tightened and stretched under her. She hissed and groaned at Kay who squeezed her fingers tight as much against her own pains as to soothe hers.

"I know, that's it, good," Kay whispered, but she noted something else shifting too. The pressure that had been gathering slowly before her waters had gone now felt like a great weight driving itself down through her body.

"Arggghhhh, I have to push," Lauren screamed.

She wanted more than anything to tell her how much she knew about what she was feeling, to let her know that she felt it too but it was the one thing she couldn't do. Even more than that, she wanted Lauren to push, to bear down, and shift his feeling of weight and pressure that was suddenly boring down through her own abdomen. But she needed Erin, there was only so far textbooks and tutorials could take you and this was a long way away from that.

"Don't. Push." she replied through gritted teeth fighting the urge to bear down herself through controlled breaths. "Erin. She'll be back soon. Just wait. just a minute Lauren!"

Naomi was right, this might have been a mistake. She had to find out for herself but nothing in the world could have prepared her for this. She doubled over in pain, grabbing at her belly as her empty womb somehow twisted and raged impossibly within her. She bared her teeth and grimaced, her hand gripping tight to the rail of the bed as she tried in vain to breathe against the wretched onslaught within her body.

"I can't!" Lauren screamed, suffering through the same agony. "I Can't!"

Kay realised she was right. She could feel the pressure aching and clawing deep within her own body and knew that neither of them had much chance of holding out.

"Alright," she gasped. Trying to remember every minute of her training. She picked up Lauren's hand again and placed her right on Lauren's ankle. "Give me a practice push, right down into your bottom."

Lauren wasted no time between one breath and the next. Given the all-clear guidance from Kay, she launched into an effort that Kay would have described as Olympian rather than practice. Before she had time to instruct her to slow down, however, she realised how good it felt to finally be moving with that pressure instead of against it.

"That's it Lauren... Good girl. Good push! Nnnf, keep that. oooof. Coming..."

Lauren continued building her efforts more and more as it went on, piling pressure against pressure determined to fight with everything she had to stop this wretched agony. Then, Kay began to feel something else inside her. The relief she felt against her unrelenting pressure suddenly wasn't the main focus of her attention as she felt a gargantuan weight heaved and bruised its way down through her cervix on its way to the birth canal.

"OHMY. FUCK." Kay yelled, bending double around her waist.

"What?!" Lauren shouted. "Are you ok, is everything alright?!"

As she surrendered her gargantuan effort to check on Kay, both women felt the release of pressure allow the mass of the head to retread back up into their bodies and rise deep inside. Again, it was Kay who screamed out and steadied herself against the bed. Her eyes closed tight and her breath stuttered against the weight pushing slowly and forcefully up into her.

"Fine! Ooof" She replied. "It's ok, everything's fine, you're doing great.."

"What's wrong? Do you need anything? Maybe, get..someone?" Lauren said.

"No, it's fine, You're just..doing so good, we're, er, you're making great progress...""

She smiled as convincingly as she could, but realised that she alone knew how close this baby was to arriving. She couldn't be the patient right now, for the first time, she doubted Erin would make it back and put her job and duties at the forefront of her mind.

"Alright, let's take a look. We''ll see how close we are to meeting baby, and... and go from there, shall we?"

Kay moved herself to the foot of the bed, instinctively shuffling in a half walk, half waddle to protect a belly that she knew wasn't really there. As she moved she kept a close eye on the door as if she could somehow will Erin to come running through it at the last minute. She lingered there for a second, then another, fighting a battle against the excruciatingly intense pressure she felt building within her patient. Erin wasn't coming. Lauren, however, was already ahead of her — heaving into her next effort before Kay had a chance to brace herself for it.

Instantly, she felt that weighted rock in her belly heave downwards through her. In a split second, she fell forward onto the bed, reached out, and gripped hold of Lauren's ankles — doing what she could to hold on and breathe through the crashing pain for fear of falling any further. She could hear Lauren gurgle and groan, focusing her efforts down through her belly and felt her own breath catch in her throat as she too tensed around the mass. Slowly, it bore downwards millimetre by millimetre, stretching and shifting her from the inside in an intense and unbearable agony she felt could tear either one of them in two.

Soon, she began to feel full and rounded as the heavy weight of the head shifted down through her cervix through excruciating efforts. Slowly, Kay began to reconcile the dry dull theory that she had memorised in textbooks with the vivid red red-hot agony that was tumbling through her body. The head, she realised, was rearing past the cervix and filling the birth canal fast. It might not have been in a hurry to get here but it was now going somewhere fast. She lifted the sheet draped over Lauren's raised knees and widened her eyes as the dark wispy hair was on the verge of crowning.

"hooof, OH, hooof, Ok Lauren, you're doing, it, you're URGHHHH, You're doing good! I can see it, I can see the head! It's coming..."

Lauren released her breath and tumbled into a deep-throated scream that matched the energy she was pouring in behind that push.

"Arrrrrrrrrrrghh, Fuck, it hurts so bad!! I want this baby out!!" She no longer worried about Kay's agonised expression or the beads of sweat that trickled down her brow. There was nothing here but the pressure that filled her belly and the agonising pain that accompanied her efforts.

"I know," Kay replied. "Believe me, I know.. You're doing so good, just a couple more pushes and your baby is going to be here, ok?"

"I NEED it out!!" Lauren replied. "NOW!"

"Yeah, me too..." Kay said quietly, breathing through her own agony and preparing for the next. In another instant, Lauren was about to heave down again before Kay had a chance to slow her down.

"Woaah, woaah, easy there!" kay instructed. "Don't push! Not yet.."

"I Have to!" Lauren replied. "I have to push it's too much.. I..Can't.. HNnnnnnnnnnghh"

Kay bucked forward as a shock wave broke through her with the strength of Lauren's effort. She put one hand on each of Lauren's legs as Lauren scrunched her eyes tightly closed, gritted her teeth, and heaved every ounce of energy she had down through her abdomen. Kay felt the immense weight in her belly crush down on top of her vagina and push its way through her body. She too caught herself with a long slow breath and gritted her teeth against the agony that Lauren seemed to inflict on them both.

"OH....OWW..That's Good Lauren. Unngghff That's it. Good..oof...girl! Big push!"

More than anything else right now, Kay wanted to fall to the floor, lay down on her hands and knees and push against this immense weight she felt inside her. But she remembered why she was here. Not for her own care or birth — but to be there for others, to assist Lauren through the most agonising and difficult thing she's ever done in her life. With everyone else who should be here gone, Kay realised that she was the only professional that Lauren had left.

She grit her teeth through the burning stretching pain that radiated out from her abdomen to watch Lauren's labia begin to open ahead of the immense bulge pushing its way to meet her.

"Oh, shit," she said — hoping her utterance was quiet enough that Lauren didn't hear. This was the strangest, most out of body experience she had felt in her life. Watching the pulsing pushing agony she could feel moving down her body come towards her mere inches away. Inside, she felt every inch of that stretching and parting and a ring of burning pain torture her from the inside. She clenched her fist and did all she could to encourage her patient to push harder and stronger while suffering the agonising consequences of every ounce of effort she inflicted on them both.

"Bwhaaaaaaaahhh..." Lauren gasped, letting go of that push and expelling the air that powered it.

Kay instinctively bucked forward as she felt a weight shift within her that heaved back up through the walls of the birth canal with an almighty kick. The pressure and intensity that came with it returned too. As agonising as it was to feel the head heave through her body, it was now more painful to stop.

"Huuurgh, come on Lauren, straight back into it. Oooof ahhhhhh, atta girl. Come on. One, two, three, PUSHHH!!"

Lauren did as instructed. The air in the room was heated and moist, both women were exhausted, beaten, and drenched in sweat, but they were nearly there, so close to the line. Lauren took in another gasp of warm air and used it to push down, curling her head down into her chest and around that great big belly where she was at least beginning to sense some progress at last.

"HNNNNNnnnnghhhhhh" She grimaced and heaved with everything she had.

"nnnnnnnnnghhhhhaaaargh," she heard as almost an echo coming from the foot of the bed. She opened her eyes, barely enough to squint over her rounded belly, to see her trainee midwife Kay grimacing with her own red-faced effort as she too bore down at the foot of the bed in tandem with her efforts. She didn't have the energy, or the space to question her actions, but she could feel her assistance like a hand of god pressing through her belly and easing that weight down harder than she knew she could on her own. Somehow, Kay's efforts worked in tandem with her own, their combined strength surged together so that their whole efforts equalled more than the sum of them both.

Kay looked up to Lauren as she screwed her eyes shut tight once again to push as much strength and pressure as she had down into her abdomen. She looked down to her lips and watched the agony she felt within herself unfold in front of her eyes.

The teardrop-shaped bulge bloomed outwards again into a hard round ball before growing and growing in every dimension until it seemed to stretch her poor patient beyond the limits of what the human body could do. Kay didn't have time to pity Lauren, however, as she gasped and panted, feeling every millimetre of stretch and burn test her own limits.

"hoooo.. hooo hooo. Good. girl." she gasped, sweat beading up and falling from her brow. Again she bucked backwards and down, the urge to push no longer voluntary but a primal impulse as simple as gasping for air.

"HNnnnnnnnnnnnnnghhhh," she heaved down and back, watching as both her efforts and Lauren's pushed this baby further and farther down. She reached out, cupping her hands around the emerging head and urged Lauren to push hard with her one more time. As they heaved together Kay trembled, bucked, and grimaced — but held her grip steady as the head thrust free from its former home and gushed into the world through a torrent of fluid and agonised groans that seemed to fill the space between them.

Shocked, dazed, and humbled Kay didn't have time to even process her training before she heard the newborn cry in her arms and Erin enter the room with a bemused smile.

"Wow, look what we have here," she said with praise but not panic.

She took the warm mewing bundle from Erin with great care and handed it over to Lauren as she too processed what had unfolded between them.

"Looks like someone's earned their badge a year early," Erin said. "I knew you were a natural..."

In the time it took to change out of her clothes and go home early for the day, Kay had made up her mind. On the way out the door, she retrieved her phone from her back and lit up its screen for the first time in hours. 14 missed calls, all from Naomi. She ignored them and pulled up Messenger instead.

"Knew there was a reason I had to try, N. This career is perfect for me after all... X"

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