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Hi, I'm back again (quite sure you guys are pretty tired of seeing me!) with a new OS. This is really not my style of writing but this just won't leave my head! It's in Gauri's POV and is about how Zahara came to this world. Do you like the name?
********
I wake up as a startling pain shoots across my abdomen. I don't open my eyes instead hit my hand around to where he must be asleep. My fingers clutch emptiness and I force my eyes open to find myself alone, not only on the bed but in the room.
There's silence in the room and a moment later I remember kicking him out of the bed. It was over something quite silly that I can't remember. Though certainly not enough to make him leave the room, I an quite sure.
Something is horribly wrong; I can feel it in my bones. And it's not his absence, I realise, as my brain reaches out for the cause of unease with another sharp pain in my lower region.
And that's when I feel it: my water has broken and these were no braxton hicks. The baby was coming.
"Omkara!" I scream his name trying very hard not to panic.
His answer doesn't come so I waddle to the corridor carefully, clutching the wall for support and scream his name once more,"Omkara!"
This time there's a rush of footsteps and he comes to my view, hair pulled back in a ponytail with smears of colours on his fingers.
Great, my husband has been painting right in the middle of the night, while his pregnant wife slept alone almost two rooms away. But maybe I should just be grateful that he has somehow managed to hear my voice and wasn't lost in his art.
"What's wrong?" he sounds panicked.
"The baby's coming. We-" he cuts me off before I can complete my sentence. "What? Now? But it can't! It's not due for another 2 weeks! It can't come now!"
I lose my patience then as I snap at him,"yeah? Fine, you stay here and try telling that to the baby while I go and get the bag and the car."
He stares fixedly at me for a few seconds with a stupid look on his face making me smack his shoulder in anger as I turn back to get the pre-prepared bag. He beats me there though, snatching it from the wardrobe before pulling me to himself.
"It will be alright," he whispers, wrapping his arms around me. I almost cry as I realise how much I needed those four words.
"I can walk," I hurriedly tell him as he moves to pick me up.
"I'm quite sure. But I doubt you'll be able to climb those damn stairs," he silences me, picking me up quite easily after shouldering the bag.
I snatch the car keys from the table as we pass by. I feel the start of another contraction and claw my fingers into his shoulderblade painfully.
********
"Mr. Oberoi, you'll have to leave," the nurse instructs after I'm all settled in the hospital bed.
"No, I'm staying with my wife," he looks at her and the commanding voice silences any counter arguments she would have had.
"You don't have to stay and see this," I tell him between contractions.
"Yes I do. We are in this together," he squeezes my hand reassuringly.
After some time, I'm quite sure he regrets the decision. I take in the worried frown on his face, wanting desperately to touch it away, as he tries hard to stop himself from wincing at the harsh hold I have on his hand.
I can feel my fingernails biting his skin harshly but the pain wins everytime.
"Get the baby out, please. I want it out now!" I mutter in a pleading tone before my face scrunches up again at the contraction.
It's quite a mystery, I think as I pant in the pause that follows the pain. The fact that I manage to leave the imprint of my fingers on his hand.
"It hurts Omkara... Make it stop, please...," I tug on his hand and he grimaces.
"I wish I could, but you've been so good. You're doing great! Sometime later you'll have your child in your arms, focus on that," he encourages me.
"Our child," I whisper to him and close my eyes as the pain hits again.
********
Its been hours. Or it could have been days, I don't really know as I take in a breather. "I'm tired, I want to sleep," I close my eyes in fatigue.
His fingers stroke my cheek, "It will be over soon." I don't reply, not until I hear a hushed, Don't let her sleep' from the nurse.
"You can do this! You've been great so far," he encourages me again but I just don't care anymore, I realize.
"If something happens to me... Just do what needs to be done. Or I'll make it a point to come back and haunt you from the grave," I whisper back finally and close my eyes, feeling energy drain out from my very fingertips.
"I knew this was a bad idea!" his voice reaches my sleepy mind and I turn my head to glare at him.
"Oh yeah? Well, just a reminder that it was you who couldn't keep his hands to himself," I retort back angrily and jerk his hand off my face.
"I wasn't the only one who enjoyed!" he counters back with a heart stopping smirk. I open my mouth to reply but all that comes out is an agonized scream as the pain shoots through me again. Instead, I crush his hand in mine, and almost smile as I hear his soft wince.
"Are we really having this conversation? Like, right now? You're in labor, for God's sake!" he exclaims hotly.
I reach up to push my hair off my eyes to look at him but he beats me there, his fingers brushing them away with a lingering touch.
"the perfect time then, because you are never ever touching me with your huge, filthy hands again," I growl only to cut it off by a piercing scream that is followed by the feeling of immense relief.
My grip on his hand loosens before losing complete contact with his skin as I close my eyes in relief. The sudden sense of tranquillity is broken by a piercing cry that I belatedly realize as not being my own. My baby! Our baby is here, I register as a smile creeps up my face.
"Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Oberoi; you have a daughter," Omkara peeks over at the child and the expression of wonder leaves me staggered even though I barely hear the words as I extend my arms eagerly. The baby isn't handed over immediately and I clutch his hand again in wild panic. "They're cleaning her up and taking the measurements. She'll be here soon," he assures me.
Few moments later, the nurse places the child in my arms who stares back with all the intensity that Omkara's eyes hold. Its overwhelming and I feel tears slipping down my cheek while he squeezes my hand softly.
"Our baby and she's so much like you. Have we decided on a name yet?" I whisper to him, remembering the long nights and the arguments over the name.
"I think it's time to break stereotypes and name her something different. Suggest something, " he says, staring at the sleeping child in my arms.
I hum in response.
"Gauri? What are we calling her?" he asks again.
"It's you who is the poet of the house. Suggest something," I look up at him.
"Zahara," the name is a hushed whisper on his lips and I immediately know it is a correct choice.
"Hello Zahara," I murmur reaching out with one hand to Omkara. He engulfs my hand in his, bending down to drop a kiss on it and I feel a warm glow in my heart alongwith a rush of fatigue.
"You like it?" he asks.
"I love it," I murmur while my eyes close of their own accord.
"Everyone is on their way here now. But you, love, you are now going to sleep," he mutters with a finality and expertly transfers Zahara to his arms before continuing softly,"Thank you. For completing me. For loving me unconditionally. For holding me every single time I faltered. For giving me a child... For everything."
I open my eyes to look at the sincere look on his face with a hint of a smile on my face,"I love you." the words come out quite easily, and I find it to be the best answer right now as a beautiful smile stretches on his lips.
But he has to speak and spoil the moment,"Enough to just ignore the last part? The one right before our child came to this world?"
The idiot smirks at me while I rack my brain through those hazy moments wondering what he's talking about. I understand it then when he traces a finger down my cheek.
I smile again,"Enough to do just that."
"Hush now, sleep," he adjusts the blanket over me and I don't have to be told twice as I close my eyes sleepily.
A few seconds later, I feel his lips on my temple with a soft 'I love you'; but somehow I can't muster enough energy to do anything else but smile faintly.
********
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