*I thought I would combine the last 3 chapters of this into 1 long one. Hopefully it makes sense. Like a lot of the rest of the story, it jumps around. It is titled "Memories", after all. ;)
Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!
*
Chris remembered being a nervous wreck in the weeks leading up to Larissa going into labor. He worried irrationally, maybe because of the previous miscarriage, that she would have the baby early, while he was doing some voice overwork. Or, even worse, the baby would be late and he would already be on his press tour promoting Star Trek. He was both relieved and scared shitless to be home with her when their first daughter did start coming.
"My back kind of hurts and I'm having some weird aches. I'm going to go soak in the bath for awhile," Larissa announced one morning, three days after her due date had passed.
"Do you want me to help you or get you anything?" Chris asked from the couch, turning towards the stairs. The odd, slight wince that had flashed across her face briefly hadn't gone unnoticed.
"No, I think I'm good," she began walking up the stairs slower than normal.
"Larissa?" he said her name with a disbelieving tone.
"I'm fine, I'm fine," she insisted as she ascended the staircase.
Chris went back to reading the paper, but listened as she ran the water in the bath. He felt like his ears were pricked up like a dog's, listening for any strange sound or commotion. After 10 minutes of silence, he went to check on her. Chris gently knocked on the door.
"Can I come in?"
"Mmhmm," her voice was muffled not only from the door being closed, but from having a wet rag over her face as well.
"Everything alright?" he took a seat on the toilet. Larissa left the rag on her face.
"Yah. I just can't seem to get comfortable," she shifted in the tub.
"Well, you are 40 weeks pregnant. When have you ever been truly comfortable lately?"
"This feels...different," she spoke quietly. "Why don't we go for a walk?" she removed the rag from her face suddenly and looked at him.
"Are you sure? You don't want to soak longer?"
"No. Can you help me get out of the tub?" she laughed as she reached a hand out to him.
They walked around the neighborhood for a good hour. Chris noticed Larissa's grip on his hand would tighten ever so noticeably every now and then and her pace slowed slightly, but he said nothing.
"Chris?" she asked as they neared their house.
"Yah, babe?"
"Don't freak out, but I think I'm in labor."
"I think you are too,sweetheart," he squeezed her hand reassuringly.
"How far apart are they now?"Larissa exhaled after another contraction had passed. "It seems like they're getting closer," she took several deep breaths.
"They are. They're getting real close to 5 minutes. You ready to go?"
Larissa nodded her head quickly. "Yah. I think so."
She had insisted on laboring as long as possible at home, so long as everything seemed to be going well. It was well into the evening, around 6 o'clock, when she finally decided it was time to head to the hospital. She had been pacing, rocking, hunching over, and everything else around the house for hours. There was a certain grace in it, but Chris hated seeing her in pain. Personally, he would have opted for the drugs.
Things slowed down for a bit at the hospital. He remembered Larissa saying that was one of the reasons she wanted to stay at home for as long as possible. That she had read that a lot of women actually labor for longer there or completely stall out. He hoped the latter wasn't happening. Maybe Larissa knew what she was doing after all.
They had checked how far she was dilated, of course, when they first arrived in triage at the hospital. The nurse tried to check several other times over the next hour after they had been put in a regular room. Larissa had refused each time, perfectly happy with not knowing or worrying about how close she was, growing increasingly agitated each time the nurse came in.
"I don't like this," she spoke quietly, trying not to let herself devolve into full blown hysterics.
"You can always get the epidural, sweetheart," Chris tried to reassure her.
She shook her head. "That's not what I mean. I can handle the pain. I don't like it here. I can't relax. I wish we had stayed at home. If that nurse comes in one more time, I'm going to lose it."
Chris stroked her hair and let her cry. After all, she deserved a good cry. She had been in labor for close to 12 hours. They had determined she was around 8cm dilated when she arrived. She had to be getting close, even though her contractions hadn't gotten any closer together for an hour.
Right on time, the nurse walked in 15 minutes later. Chris hopped up and approached her before she had a chance to do or say anything.
"Can I talk to you in the hallway for a minute..." he paused to look at her name tag, "Jean?"
"Sure," she nodded and followed him out of the room.
"Listen," Chris turned towards her and spoke low, "I know you're just trying to do your job, but she really doesn't want checked or anything. She's not going to change her mind. Trust me," he chuckled. "Can you just give her some space? She was doing great until we got here. Now she's suddenly not making any progress. I think she's just feeling too pressured and it's stressing her out.
The nurse was obviously miffed,but gave in. "Alright, but I still have to come in and check hers and the baby's vitals every now and then."
Chris nodded his head in understanding. "Thank you. I really appreciate it and I know she will too."
"You know, it really won't belong once her contractions start increasing again, right?"
"Yah, I figured as much. Thanks," he gave a quick smile and re-joined Larissa.
Chris stood in awe a little over an hour later as the doctor held his first-born up for him and Larissa to see. He was vaguely aware of the warm liquid running down his face as their baby was placed on Larissa's chest. She was crying profusely too as their daughter let out her first cry.
"Hi, Emily," they spoke to the crying, angry baby as the nurses cleaned her off as best as they could.
"She's perfect," Chris spoke to Larissa, smoothing the hair away from her face. "You did so good." He was not only in awe of this new human being that had come into their lives, but of Larissa through the whole thing. She hadn't cried out or screamed once, even as she had pushed their child out. Never once did she complain about the pain. He knew she was a strong woman, but he gained a new respect for her that day.
***
Chris was nervous. He hadn't been on Ellen since the first Star Trek reboot was released. Normally, he didn't mind doing talk shows too much, at least the late night ones. 1) They filmed in the evening, so he was actually awake and coherent by then. 2) It was always males hosting, so he would just go in, shoot the shit, talk about whatever project he was promoting at the time, crack a few jokes and be done with it. Ellen was different, though.
Ellen, being a woman and whose audience was made up by a large percentage of women, liked to ask personal questions. She had managed to turn him red a few instances last time, which was no easy feat. Now that he was a family man, he was scared to death he would say something he shouldn't and piss Larissa off. After all, they tried to keep their personal life fairly private. Actors or not, some matters were just nobody else's business.
He heard his name at the end of Ellen's introduction and made his way on stage, putting on his best smile and waving.
"How's it goin'?" Ellen asked as they sat down. "It's been awhile."
"Yah, it has. What is it? 6 years, I think?"
"Something like that. You're a hard man to get a hold of," she teased. Chris laughed politely. "You've been a busy guy over the past few years, on camera and off."
