Chapter Text
The steady beeping of a heart monitor greeted him as he slowly woke up, his eyelids felt like they were made of lead as he struggled to open them. His senses came back slowly, he registered the warm pressure surrounding his right hand, and beyond the rhythmic beep of the machinery, he heard quiet whispers. He almost couldn't place the language, until his brain caught up with his ears and realized, he knew that voice.
“Mmmrrrruu?” God, his lips felt swollen, he could barely move them, and the croak that came out of his mouth would have been embarrassing. He opened his eyes just the tiniest bit to see a mass of purple-black move, and a pair of piercing green eyes.
“Duke,” the raw relief in Shadowmaru's voice made Duke wake up a bit more. “You're awake. How do you feel, love?”
The Englishman let out another pitiful croak, his throat felt like it was stuffed with cotton. Something with a slightly sharp edge was placed to his lips by warm fingers.
“Easy now, my white Knight, have some water.” Maru’s voice was still raw with emotion, relief being chief among them, but Duke was still too muddled to question it as he took the straw and gulped down the cool liquid that soothed his dry throat.
“What happened?” He asked, still struggling with his vision. Through all of this, Maru never released his grasp. He felt his partner's strong, clever fingers squeeze around his hand. “What's the last thing you remember?”
Fighting the muddy cloud from his mind, Duke frowned. “We were coming back from a mission… It went well, and then all of a sudden,” his left hand twitched over where it lay across his stomach, the odd crinkle noise from the movement telling him that he was wearing a hospital gown. “I felt a sharp pain, but nothing else.”
Maru was silent, the only sign that he was still in the room being his warm hands clutching his own, until he spoke again.
“Do you remember what happened before the mission? When we were talking and you mentioned being in pain?” Duke huffed, his eyelids still closed. He'd been having pains in his abdomen all morning, and had briefly complained to Shadowmaru about it before they'd had to deploy. He hadn't given it a second thought throughout the battle, but he wondered… Had that pain been a warning of something?
“I thought it was just period cramps,” Duke admitted. “Was it something else?” He finally managed to open his eyes, they felt crusty, and was finally able to fully take in his boyfriend’s appearance.
Maru looked wrecked, his hair wasn't as shiny as it normally was and was even knotted in some places that he could see, there were dark bags under his striking eyes, which were dull and bloodshot, and his clothes looked wrinkled. Maru always looked so put together and clean that seeing him like this shocked the redhead, who held up his other hand to cradle Maru’s cheek and whispered, “What's going on, Shadowmaru?”
His lover grabbed the hand on his face and brushed his lips over the palm, seemingly grounding himself with Duke’s presence, which made him even more worried.
“The pain…. It wasn’t…” the taller man couldn’t speak, unable to find the right words. Duke’s gut twisted painfully, and he flinched, catching Maru’s attention again.
“Sorry,” he apologized as his partner looked at him with worry. “It feels like my organs are trying to rearrange themselves.” To his surprise, Shadowmaru managed a wry chuckle.
“That’s not far from the truth, dearest…” Now Duke was really confused. He remembered getting back from the mission, feeling relieved when he could finally get out of his too-tight armored suit. He’d been gaining a bit of weight recently that he had been trying hard to get rid of, to keep himself in shape for work, but his suit was always getting tighter every day for the last month or so. And not two minutes later, pain. Pain so sharp and sudden, he distantly remembered blacking out.
“What. Happened?” Duke demanded, making his partner fully look him in the eye.
“You were in active labor all throughout our mission, Duke.”
His words hung in the air. Duke stared at him. Active labor? What did that even mean?! “What are you talking about?” Maru opened his mouth to answer when a nurse opened the door.
“Oh, Knighto-san, you’re awake.” She came in quietly, closing the door behind her. She was an elderly Filipino woman with fine gray hair in pale blue scrubs. Her hands were gentle but quick as they checked his IV line and the monitor.
“Maru, what do you mean, I was in labor?” Duke decided to ask, seeing as Maru did not speak. The nurse looked at him with concerned eyes. His partner flinched at the redhead’s harsh tone.
“You were in the process of giving birth, Duke, we barely got here in time.” Duke brought a hand to his face to scrub at his eyes.
“I know what labor means, but what do you mean, giving birth? I’m not pregnant, never was. I can’t, I made sure of it.” Duke’s throat threatened to swell closed as the nurse opened the top of his gown to look over the monitor lines attached to his chest, revealing his surgical scars. Her dark eyes widened a bit, before they softened with understanding. Maru looked down at the hand he clung to, giving it a gentle squeeze.
“You were pregnant, Duke, your blood work confirmed it-”
“Then where is it?” Duke cut him off, hating how his voice edged on hysteria. “If I was supposedly pregnant, where's the child?” The nurse spoke softly now.
“In the NICU, a little girl, about 952 grams. She's a bit small but she's reacting well to treatments.”
No… No, that can't be right…
“Do you want to see her, sir?”
I shouldn't…… This is a bad idea, there's no way I could have been so-
“Please…” The words were soft, but the plea was there. He had to see this with his own eyes.