A Bitter Sweet Surprise
Chapter 1: Say Hello to the world
(inspired by the Sour Sweet Stories by Nico-Stone Rupan)
Sour closed her eyes, hospitals weren’t her thing. They were never her thing. The fact this should be a great reason to come to one didn’t change the fact that she hated them. She felt the hand in her own, the reassurance that everything was okay.
“You okay Sour?”
She nodded, feeling her husband’s hand holding her own. They’d tried being apart, seeing if either of them could really handle the world on their own. That was the first semester of college. She talked to him, in fact she’d ended up spending more time on Skype than actually going out on weekends, and he did the same. In the end the both of them decided to attend the same college, move into an apartment together, push their plans ahead a little, and get married the semester before graduation.
The birth control stopped being took about a year after graduation, the marathon sex during ovulation began happening right after, and that lead to this point.
“Sweetie, I love you,” she said in a breath before a contraction caused her face to scrunch up, “But if you ever stick your dick in me again without protection I’ll fuck you up!”
She didn’t mean it. Not in the slightest. Well mostly, okay she was sure she wouldn’t mean it after their child was out of her, and it was a couple of months down the road, or years, yeah years sounded better.
“You’re doing great! I want you to know that as your nurse I’m more than…”
“Shut up! Are you pushing an entire human out of your vagina?! No! Then no fucking room to talk!”
She didn’t see the nurse’s sympathetic look. She didn’t want to be mean to Nurse Redheart, after all she was kind, but right now damn it she was kind of busy.
“Alright, let’s deliver a baby! Now… Wow, that head is crowning,” came the voice of Dr. C. Horse, “Okay, this is normal. Push.”
“What do you think I’m doing?!” she seethed.
“Sour…”
She felt his reassuring hand in hers. She focused on what was going on. Not the doctors, not the nurse, not Second’s family… Oh God Second’s family… when they found out that Second was having a child and not First, whom they were still trying to come to grips with First being gay. It wasn’t like it was that hard to figure out. The time she met him, when he didn’t know that she was his soon to be sister-in-law, and the fact that he said, and she’d quote, ‘I’d pound that harder than a jackhammer’, when he looked at Trenderhoof, yeah, she figured that he was super gay.
She felt it, the tear, and she opened her mouth only to hear a strangled cry. Only shortly after she heard the wail of her baby, their baby.
Wrapped in a throw-away blanket was their first born. Her hair was so similar to her own, a lighter shade of cranberry to be sure, but so similar. She barely noticed that second cut to cord, or that his hand was back on her arm, instead she was looking at this little miracle, a little miracle that she was going to protect…
Images of everything she’d been through, the hallucinations, the worry, all of it crossed her mind, and the voices, voices she had medicated and meditated into silence began to creep back up on her. Warning that she was going to fail at this. She’d never be a good mother, but the voice that stayed with her, the voice that sounded like Second told her that she was going to be awesome.
“Bitter Honey, say hello to the world,” she whispered.
She held her child, content with how things were.
Three hours later
“She’s adorable,” her mother said, “Oh! Well it’s not too late to take back the little boy clothing.”
She grinned. In truth she was exhausted. Sleep sounded awesome, and right now she was thankful that Second was keeping almost everyone out of the room. Especially his parents, or especially his mother, who was already trying to pick out schools for girls, ones that taught girls to be little house cleaners. Yeah, she wasn’t going to be one of the people that Bitter Honey got to spend too much time alone with.
She heard the door open, some footsteps, and she looked toward it hoping to see Second, but instead it was her father. He gave her a sad smile. That was another thing that Second had helped do. He’d helped repair her relationship with her father. The family patriarch moved toward the newest addition, her mother carefully letting him take Bitter honey into his arms. Worry gripped her, not that he would hurt her, not at all, but that he’d find some fault in her.
“She’s perfect,” he said before handing her back to her mother.
Her mother brought her over to Sour, letting her cradle her granddaughter in her arms. Her father came over, kissing her forehead, “She’s beautiful.”
She smiled up at him. She couldn’t help the next few words out of her mouth, “Thanks. She’s perfect. And after all of the dicking he gave me to make her she should be!”
Her father looked surprised, held his response. He’d learned, through trial and error, that Sour was just how she was. A voice caught their attention, and slowly both her mother and father left only to be replaced by Second. She looked up at him as he offered to take their daughter. Her hands gently let go of the bundle that he cradled like the most precious thing on Earth.
“She’s going to look like you,” he said, “It means we might have to be careful when she gets old enough to date.”
She laughed, “As long as she’s smart, and careful, I’m not going to mind. I want her to be happy. And whoever dates her better be treating her like a Queen.”
He nodded.
“This, it’s all real right? All of this, it’s not…”
She felt him kiss her forehead, “It’s real, this is real, and it’s going to be real for a very long time. Get some rest.”
Her eyes closed, sleep sounded good. She had a feeling that for the next couple of years sleep might be a very difficult to find.
A Bitter Sweet Surprise
Chapter 2: Waiting…
(Inspired by Nico-Stone Rupan’s Sour Sweet Stories)
Waiting is a virtue. That’s something that you’ve heard all of your life. The fact that you’ve got friends there waiting with you, Lemon Zest, Sunny Flare, Indigo Zapp, and even Gilda… Which you’re still scratching your head over when exactly it was that Gilda became such a good friend of Sour’s, and yours by extension.
Still, at this moment waiting isn’t so much a virtue as it is a job that should be done by a professional. Sour had said that you need confidence, you need to man up. And right now that confidence you’ve been working on is getting its first real workout with your parents. Your Dad has no less than six presents that is completely going to piss Sour off. A Chef Gustave Le Grand’s little Chef’s easy bake oven, Fleur De Lis’ little Miss Runway kit, and Fashions by Coco action fashion doll all sit beside your father along with other stereotypical toys that would normally be fine, if your daughter was old enough to want to play with them.
Instead you know that Sour is going say that your father is attempting to shove his perceived gender role right down your daughter’s throat, and she’s not going to let that happen.
“Son, I just don’t understand why you don’t want these cute little dresses!” your Mother cries, “They’re all straight from the happy homemaker’s catalogue.”
“Mom, it’s not that… look, we’ve been getting clothes ready for her for a while, we could use diapers, formula, that kind of…” you begin before she looks at you in shock.
“She’s not going to breastfeed that baby?!!!”
“Now Dear, perhaps that’s for the best.”
The amount of facepalming that happens is beyond all understanding. You look at your father, and you know that you’ve got to be glaring at him, “What is that supposed to mean?”
“Son, look, she’s a very sweet girl, but I know she has her little personality quirks that tend to make her… Unique. Since she’s taking medication for those… issues, it just might be a better idea if she doesn’t breast feed our granddaughter.”
Oh, he just did not go there. You go from a passive glare straight to Mistress Mare-velous glaring at him.
“We’ve checked and nothing she’s taking is going to hurt Bitter Honey, the formula is for when Sour goes back to work and isn’t able to pump before hand, and I can’t…” your angry response is stopped by a hand on your shoulder.
You turn around to see First Person there. Beside him is his boyfriend, Blueblood. You’ve never exactly seen eye to eye with your brother, but after he came out, well things changed. For one he began treating you like a real human being, and since he moved in with Blueblood the two of you had been talking more.
“Dad, chill, seriously.”
“What are you doing here?” your Mother’s icy voice askes.
“I’m here to support my little bro,” he hands you a card, “We weren’t sure what you needed so we got you a gift card for Babies R’ Us. They’ve got like everything anyway.”
Your Parents take the hint to leave you alone, seemingly upset that their formerly favorite child is here. You can see your mother actively attempting to see if anyone they know might be coming. Of course it makes you feel bad for First, but you hear him chuckle.
“Sorry that it got put on you little bro.”
“Thanks, it’s okay, so how’s everything going?”
Blueblood grins, “Swimmingly! Can I tell him, please?!”
Your brother nods, and Blueblood’s eyes shimmer, “We’re getting married! Auntie Celestia has a friend in Las Pegasus that is going to oversee the entire thing. Oh there’s just so much to do! We’ve got to get a band, and of course the catering, and Oh, I’m just so excited!”
“Wow, good for the both of you!”
“Oh God, First, honey, please!” your Mother shouts.
“Ma’am, you’re going to need to settle down, or you will be asked to leave,” a Security guard says.
“Settle down?! My son, my son is a pillow biting…” She doesn’t even finish before he reaches for a walkie talkie.
“What are are you doing?” your father asks.
“That’s hate speech, and hospital protocol is to remove anyone that seems capable of violence from the property. So Ma’am, you can step off now, or I can taze you and have you hauled off.”
To her credit your mother stands, gives you a hug, looks at your brother and shakes her head before heading out. Your father follows her, looks back at you and gives a sad wave goodbye. You’re not going to cut them from your life, or from Bitter Honey’s life, but you aren’t leaving them alone with her either.
You look toward the door, and you see Indigo Zapp sticking her head in and saying something. She motions for you to come over, and you give First a hug before heading that way. Your father-in-law and mother-in-law give you hug before you walk in and see the most beautiful sight in the world. There holding your daughter is Sour, and at this moment, everything is perfect.