I think I made this table just for this one post. ._. Teo's done helping.
Her thanks was enough for him. He'd long since forgiven her for her cruel words, the way she'd sided with Giuseppe over him that day, how she'd hated him so cruely. That was in the past. He regretted his actions, his words, but he didn't realize just how right he'd been.
Then it time for the real labor. It was quicker than he'd expected. She cried out in pain and he had to hold back everything not to reach for her, to hold onto her, as she worked through it on her own.
Then she leaned forwards, a sign that this part was done, at least for now. No towels. He knew what that meant and rather than cringe or turn away, he watched desperately, waiting for those tiny sounds... that never came.
Her words were far louder to him than they really were. Ebony. Ivory. Son and daughter. All she could give them... names...
Then she moved their tiny, barely fuzzy bodies over to him, holding them gently. He'd gone cold. Frozen. Her voice snapped him out of it though, and he leaned forward, shakily taking both tiny pups, a long, sharp whine sneaking past him as he did.
He didn't even notice Gemma, sad to say. He brought both pups, his son, his daughter, to his chest, lowering his face to them...
...and he cried. He'd never lost children before. He hadn't even been there when his parents were killed in the fire. His first real loss. His first born son and daughter... dead before he could know them.
Italians also tended to take loss very, very badly. He was done. His help was over. As much as he would've tried to help her through out the entire birth, this had all but killed the poor man, who leaned away from her and cried, clutching those tiny pups and seeming lost in his own world of hurt.
Somewhere amidst his cries and sobs, tiny whispered words. I'm sorry... I'm so sorry... oh God... why... sorry... Broken by his cries and by Italian words of the same meaning, hardly understandable in the first place. My babies... my pups.. sorry... so sorry... forgive me... Yup, and of course he blamed himself.
Image courtesy of SMN@Flickr; table by the Mentors!
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