honestly, they should have fetched one of the finest doctors from kingsbury to help assist with the birth, but neither michael nor howl wanted to leave sophie’s side for one second. her sweat is wiped away with wet cloths soaked in warm water, her stomach is kneaded at soothingly, and michael stays between her parted legs as she pushes and grunts and cries while howl holds her hands and kisses her face and gives soft whispers of, “it’ll be all right.”
hours upon hours pass. howl’s exhausted, as is michael, and he imagines sophie is too. they’re all starving. it seems like sophie’s about to give up hope before the baby actually comes, and howl grasps at her face and tries to coax her back into consciousness before those big doe eyes slide shut. and the moment they do, a piercing cry fills the air and relief crashes over howl in a tidal wave.
howl nearly shoves michael aside, gently taking hold of the baby boy covered in blood and other fluids. the umbilical cord is cut, and once the rest of the womb follows morgan, it’s quickly disposed of. not even calcifer would eat something like that. it’s such a relief, for it to be done and over with. for a few moments, he cradles his baby boy close to him, not caring about the blood smearing onto his shirt, then he hands him over to michael.
"please, clean him off. i need to tend to sophie."
calcifer peeks up curiously from over his logs at the baby as michael carries him up the stairs and to the bathroom, then those beady orange eyes travel to howl and the unconscious sophie. “is she dead?”
"no, no, just tired… she’ll be fine." and with a grunt, he plucks sophie off of the floor and carries her up the stairs to clean the woman and cast a spell on her, anything to numb the pain and have the process of her healing go faster. and when he’s done with that, he rests sophie in their shared bed just in time for michael to hand morgan back to him. the baby’s stopped crying, finally, but is now fast asleep. he’s just as pale as sophie, but has wisps of black hair around his head.
howl begins to cry.
shrouded in the sea of unconsciousness, sophie wanders in and out of darkness. distant voices of howl and calcifer make her stir, but she's still far too weak to move on her own. when moved to the bed, sophie sighs in relief-- the awful pain in her lower back is somewhat relieved by the end- less cushions and soft mattress. she's paler than before from losing so much blood, but howl's magic keeps her steady and safe. a long sigh of contentment leaves her lips. morgan is healthy. the hatter couldn't be any more grateful-- for if her and howl's baby was anything but, sophie's poor heart would have surely been broken. at the sniffles of her husband, she reaches out with a shaky hand to wipe away his tears with great effort. "don't... cry," she breathes out, a small smile gracing her tired features. "morgan will be sad... if his papa is crying. it's all right." her hand drops. she wants to see her baby, she longs to hold him in her arms, but sophie barely has the strength to stay even awake at the moment. "he has your nose," she giggles, looking upon their child with unconditional love. "oh, how precious..." shifting her weight, sophie makes room for both her husband and child on the bed. weakly, she pats at the empty space by her side before motioning howl to join her.
