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#60 / Laying

“I’m not leaving until you tell me what’s wrong, and don’t try lying to me,” Eione told him. “Now, come on. You look like you need to sit down. Myce, dear, follow along.” His son nodded, and stayed right behind them as Eione helped him walk towards the back of the store. He groaned as he stumbled down the aisle. Moving just made the cramp, the contraction, feel worse, more intense.

“Is Mama gonna be okay?”

Eione hesitated in responding, but then told the boy, “He’ll be just fine, kiddo.” Ares assumed that she had chosen her response to be fitting to the fact that Mycenae was barely more than a toddler, and would have been greatly upset by any other answer. “Ares, where’s Paris? They should take you home.”

Great Moon, he felt like he was going to vomit if he opened his mouth. He just shook his head, immediately regretting the action as it didn’t help his dizziness at all. Head spinning, he stayed silent, swallowing hard.

Mycenae answered for him, little voice wavering. “Papa is- is gone.”

“Gone? Where?”

“I dunno… Papa said they’d be back in a few weeks.”

Ares had never had much instinct to rely on, but the horrible feeling in his core gave him the impression that Paris might not ever be coming back. It was an awful thing to think about, and he hated the lump that developed in his throat.

“Myce, do you know what’s wrong with your mom?”

“Um… The eggs make him sick, sometimes.”

“Ares, are you rejecting a clutch?” He managed to nod. There was a warm, wet feeling between his legs, and then he collapsed. The room spun around him as he look up. Vaguely, he could feel Eione trying to get him to sit up, Mycenae’s little hands clinging to him. She gave up on that and put his head on her lap. It looked like she pulled out a cellphone. “-on, Ares. I’m calling Andy. We’ll drive you to the hospital.”

Mycenae started to cry, burying his face against him.

“Okay, Andy’s on her way. One of our kids will look after Myce, so you don’t have to worry about him, just yourself.”

“I wanna stay with Mama…!”

“Shh, I know. But he has to go to the hospital, and it’ll be easier if you stay with my family, okay?” Mycenae just cried harder, his grip almost painful.

By the time Andromeda arrived, his dizziness had abated to a more tolerable level. He could walk, with help from Eione, to her car. One of their daughters came and picked up Mycenae, holding him tightly when he squirmed to try and get back to his mother. Andromeda got out to help him into the car, and she and her wife switched places, her sitting in the back with him, Eione taking the driver’s seat. As soon as the door was closed, Eione started to drive.

“What’s happening, Ares? Talk to me.”

“J-just rejecting an infertile clutch… It happens, makes me sick.” He leaned against the door, taking slow, even breaths.

She put a hand on his shoulder and asked, “Where’s Paris? Did you call them yet?”

“Paris left a few days ago… They didn’t take their phone.”

“Left?”

“Like I did… I don’t think they’re coming back.” It hurt to say that out loud.

Andromeda didn’t understand what he meant. “Don’t say that. Paris loves Mycenae, they wouldn’t abandon the both of you and start a new life somewhere. And Troy, too- they love your kids.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“Huh?”

“They’ve been acting different. I think… They’re gone for good.” He shouldn’t have let them go. Now that he’d said it aloud, he wished he’d realized it earlier and stopped them, begged Paris not to go off and kill themselves.

“What, like, they ran away to go, uh-” Eione hesitated, and then finished, “-kick the bucket?”

“Eione!”

“Andy. Great Moon, Ares, you should have called us.”

“...I know you’re not very fond of me.” Before they could answer, another contraction tightened his middle. He held his belly, gritting his teeth. “Oh…”

“Relax, Ares, and breathe.” He’d never been able to relax when he was in pain, not even with Paris’ help. But he could breathe, do the exercises he’d learned over the years. It was a bit hard to focus on them as the pain and pressure increased. He could feel the eggs lowering inside of him, making their way to his cloaca.

He glanced out the window to see where they were, and realized that he definitely wasn’t going to be making it to the hospital before he needed to start pushing.

-

He grunted and groaned, leaning forward and holding onto the seat in front of him. His grip was tight, making his fingers hurt with the strain, but the position helped. Andromeda had him get up a bit to put a folded towel underneath him, and he could see that it was already stained with blood and fluids. She rubbed his back, encouraging him to breathe through the intense contractions as they suddenly started to come a lot quicker.

The pressure inside of him continued to grow, the underdeveloped eggs entering his canal. He tensed up, biting his lip.

“Ares?”

He steeled himself, and then gasped, one hand going between his legs. He unbuttoned his pants, yanking down the zipper. “I- I need to push. I need to-” He bore down, moaning. Grabbing the seat again, he dug his chin against his collarbone.

More fluids oozed out of his slit, and he knew he’d completely ruined another pair of underwear and pants. Andromeda rubbed his lower back.

“Uh, Andy, should I pull over?” Eione asked, glancing back at them.

“No. He needs to get to the hospital as soon as possible,” Andromeda told her wife. She focused back on Ares. He panted a bit, and then resumed pushing, groaning low. “That’s it, Ares, just do what your body wants you to do. Good… Now, breathe.”

Andromeda coaxed him through each contraction, and Ares was grateful for the help, even if he greatly preferred having Paris with him. Though he liked having someone talk to him during his laying, Andromeda was only giving him encouragement or telling him to breathe. Paris actually talked to him, distracted him from the pain and discomfort he was in.

“Ergh… They’re coming out…!”

“Here, I’ll help you get your pants off.” Andromeda rolled up his long sweater and tugged down his pants and underwear. If his scales weren’t already black with discomfort, he would have flushed. A soft egg stretched open his slit. He grit his teeth and pushed, and it slid out onto the stained towel he was sitting on. With barely any shell covering it, it split open. Albumen and yolk spread over the towel and his thighs. It felt gooey and warm, and he wasn’t looking forward to how much would be all over him as he delivered.

-

His breathing was ragged, and his head spun as he reached a point in his laying where the eggs were coming out right after the other. Pushing made him feel nauseous, but Andromeda refused to let him give in to how sick and tired he felt, practically ordering him to continue. If his stomach wasn’t empty, he knew he would have vomited. Instead, he merely dry heaved, coughing.

The mass of blood and broken eggs between his legs felt horrid, but he couldn’t do anything about it. He blacked out, and was vaguely aware of Andromeda holding him up as he lost consciousness.

When he next woke up, he was lying in a hospital bed, a breathing mask over his mouth and nose. Everything felt numb, and the weight of the eggs in his belly was gone. He blinked a few times to clear his vision, and realized there was something pressed against his side. He looked down, and could see Mycenae curled up against him, sound asleep.

A hand grabbed his own, and Troy asked him, “Mother, how are you feeling?”

“Tired.”

“That’s to be expected. You lost quite a bit of blood, the doctors tell me. Do you remember what happened?”

“Yes… What are you doing here?”

“Well, you’re going to be in here for a few more days, so Eione called me and asked if I wanted to take Mycenae. She thought he would be happier with a family member. We decided to drop in to see you before we left.” Troy was quiet for a moment, and then added, “I do think you need to consider getting sterilized. All these eggs are doing you more harm than good.”

“Think they’ll do it the day I’m cleared to go home?”

“I’ll ask for you.”

“That way you don’t have to make extra trips to get your brother.”

“How considerate. I’ll tell Raaden. The children will be delighted to spend even more time with their uncle, I’m certain.”