Work Text:
Forceps
Hux kept shifting around during the night, elbowing him and flipping over and dragging the blanket with him. The bed wasn't that big, so Ren could feel every single movement. After an hour of just laying there, unable to sleep with Hux fidgeting, he gave up. He grabbed Hux and wrapped around him, holding him still with his arms and legs.
"Ren!" Hux squirmed, trying to break free.
"Stop moving... just sleep."
"Let me go." Hux grumbled. "I can't get comfortable, and my stomach hurts."
"Does it?" Ren put his hands over Hux's abdomen, enjoying the feel of the amount of weight gain the redhead had acquired recently. Hux had been eating normally the past few months, and accepting sweet treats from Ren, and now it was finally paying off. His middle was soft and perfect to feel up. "Is it a stomachache or a cramp?" He dug his fingers in a little, gripping Hux's love handles.
Hux wriggled uncomfortably, "Don't do that, it makes it worse. It's- it's a reoccurring cramp. I don't know why. It makes me nauseous."
"Reoccurring?"
"Yes, and they're getting closer. It's been happening all day."
Ren thought for a moment and then chuckled. "What, like contractions?" Hux was quiet, but Ren didn't notice how still he had gone. "You should go to the medbay, get some kind of medication or sleep aid. Uh... Hux?"
"Oh gods..."
"What?"
"They are contractions."
"I was joking, Hux. You're a male, you can't-"
"I'm half alien, Ren, I've got a uterus! No wonder I've been so shaky and hungry recently..."
"There's no way you're pregnant."
"The medbay will confirm it."
-
The medbay confirmed it. As did Hux's water breaking right after the medical droid came back with the results of a blood test. And a scan after changing Hux into a medbay gown revealing 3 little shapes nestled inside of Hux, a fourth one on the move downwards. Hux winced as another contraction tightened his abdomen.
"What are you feeling, sir?" The droid asked.
"A lot of pain, and pressure..."
"I will call for assistance, sir."
Hux hunched over on himself, hand going to his abdomen. "I think I need to push."
"Of course, sir." The droid pressed a button on its arm. "Sir," it addressed Ren, "Help the General onto a bed. It will be much easier for him to deliver on that than the examination table."
Nodding, Ren helped Hux to his feet and acted as a supported as they left the examination room. The droid guided them to a private medical room. Ren aided Hux into getting onto the bed. The droid pulled up stirrups from underneath it and strapped in Hux's legs. Hux took Ren's hand again, squeezing with a contraction.
"Relax your lower body and push, sir." Hux wasn't very sure how he could possibly manage to relax himself, but obeyed anyways, bearing down. "Very good, sir." Another droid entered the room and set to work taking Hux's vitals and fetching supplies from cabinets and drawers. It brought over a towel to place between Hux's legs, which it handed to the first droid which did so. Then it went back and retrieved a bottle of medical lubricant. It also handed some sort of metal tool to the first as well.
The first droid took the bottle and opened it, squeezing out a few drops onto its hand. It beeped and then rescanned Hux. The droids beeped at each other. Then, the second one turned to Hux.
"Sir, since you are ill-prepared for this, and our prediction that delivering these offspring will be difficult due to their shape and size, we'll be aiding you in an assisted delivery. Just continue pushing and relax so we can prep you and insert the forceps without difficulty during your next contraction."
"Alright."
A minute and a half after his previous contraction, another started. As Hux pushed, the first droid inserted its hand into Hux to prep him for the removal and tool so it could slide in easily. As soon as the first baby was low enough, the droid inserted the forceps and slid them into place. It gently tugged, bringing it to Hux's rim. The second droid applied more lubricant, "Relax, sir, or else you may tear."
The first droid continued tugging, and Hux tightened his grip on Ren's hand as it stretched him. He squeezed his eyes shut. It popped out, and the droid placed the baby onto the towel.
"I am not sure what to call it, but your first child is out, sir." The second droid picked the child up to wipe it off with another towel on the counter. Hux wanted to see it, but had to focus back on delivering the next baby, pushing again. The droid between his legs waited again for the baby to lower enough before it could insert the forceps again.
During the reprieve, after trying to catch his breath, Hux said to Ren, "You're... oddly quiet..."
"Oh- it's kind of traumatizing to watch." Ren realized how pathetic that sounded and wished he hadn't responded. He'd killed people with his own hands, yet watching his partner give birth was what left him speechless?
Hux scowled, "You're not the one it's happening to, you- Pfassk!" The next contraction started quicker than the previous and he yelled as he bore down. The droid inserted the forceps again and then the next child was being pulled out shortly after.
"The second is out, two more to go."
During the small gap he finally managed to look over at the counter where the second droid was busy wiping off the babies and securing them in a topless container. It had a towel in it, and Hux watched as the droid placed the second baby into it. He got a glimpse of a black sphere before the pain was back.
He shouted curses as he pushed. The droids were both unfazed, but Ren looked somewhat nervous. The first droid reapplied more lubricant. This time the baby slipped down much faster than the first two, and the droid was quick to insert the forceps. Hux tried to ignore the painful feeling of it moving down, but couldn't.
Trying to be comforting, Ren kissed Hux's temple and said, "You're doing great, Armitage."
It did not have the intended effect. "Don't call me that!" Hux snarled. He gave a shout of pain. "Gods damn-!"
The droid, at fault, looked up as sheepishly as an expressionless robot could, holding the tool. "The forceps slipped, sir." It slid them back in. "Focus on breathing." It got a hold on the baby and resumed tugging. Hux took timed breaths. They became more forced as the baby neared his rim, the skin and muscle burning as it was stretched with the baby passing through.
"Third one out, sir. One more left."
Nodding, Hux steeled himself and then bore down, grunting. This one felt somewhat larger than the previous three, and definitely moved down slower.
"This is the biggest one, sir," the droid informed uselessly. "It may take a few pushes before it's low enough."
"I can tell...!" Hux shifted so his back was arched, propping himself up with an elbow, pushing harder.
"Be careful sir, if you strain yourself too much you'll hurt yourself."
As the contraction faded, Ren told Hux, "Relax for a moment, I want to try something." He reached down with his free hand between Hux's legs and focused. After a few seconds Hux could feel the baby being pulled down with the force. He willed himself to relax, taking slow breaths. The droid grabbed it with the forceps to ease it the last bit out and then it was over.
"That's all of them, sir." The droid handed the last baby to the second, who took it to clean and place with its siblings. "Now you just have to wait for the afterbirth to pass in a few minutes." It picked up the tool and towel to bring over to the counter. It placed the towel in a disposal box after wiping off its own hand, and the tool in a box marked 'unclean'. Then each droid picked up two of the babies, and brought them over.
"Here you are, General."
Hux cradled the four to his chest, staring down at them. "...What are they?"
"Eggs?" Ren suggested, equally confused. If they were eggs, they were the strangest eggs he'd ever seen. They were black and seemed to have plates of some kind. "Will they hatch?"
The droids scanned them, and the second announced, "They are not eggs. They are just curled up in some sort of armored shell. They should unfurl soon to be fed and explore."
-
The droids kept Hux in the medbay for another hour to make sure he was tended to and cleaned up after the afterbirth came out. They monitored his vitals to make sure they didn't suddenly drop, insisting that post-birth was when bad things could happen too. Once they were sure he was stable, they assigned him a few days of medical leave and sent him back to his quarters with the babies.
As soon as they were back Hux laid down on his side on the bed, placing the babies next to him so he could curl an arm around them. Ren followed suit, glad that they could finally go to sleep. Hux tried to stay up to watch over them, but after ten minutes of laying there, he fell asleep, drained.
-
Hux had completely curled around them by morning. The four didn't appear to have moved at all during the night. Concerned, Ren probed at them with the force. They were all alive, at least, he could sense. No sign of activity, they felt like they were sleeping.
He poked at them, trying to get them to wake up. One curled up even tighter, so he stopped. It wasn't helping at all. Shortly after he stopped doing that, opting instead to inspect them closely, Hux woke up. The redhead yawned, stretching out his legs and then wincing at the protest of his lower back when he turned over.
"Morning, Hux."
"Hello. Ugh-" Hux propped himself up on his elbows, "How're the babies?"
"They're all fine, as far as I can tell. They haven't unfurled yet."
"Really? That's... not good. How are we supposed to feed them if they don't unfurl?"
"They aren't in distress, so there's no need to worry yet. I'm sure they'll come out when they want to."
"I'm worried."
There was no helping it if Hux was already anxious. "Just rest and look after them. I'll get us food."
-
The four finally started to wiggle around while they were eating. Then, one by one, they unfurled, antennae and little legs peeking out. They stumbled, but then started crawling around slowly. One went to Hux and crawled onto his offered hand.
"Ren, what do we feed them?"
"Probably some sort of formula or nutrient paste, but we don't have that. Ah-" He was struck with an idea and took Hux's cup of cap. He pulled off the cap and then poured some onto an empty plate. He moved the four to the plate, and they started drinking it up, so he added more as it got low.
"Ren!"
"We have nothing else. Yours has sugar, so they'll at least get energy until we find something."
"You can't give newborns caffeine!"
He ignored that and continued slowly pouring caf onto the plate until the four of them were full and crawled over to Hux. The redhead fussed over them, letting them crawl up his arms and over his torso. Ren reached over and the smallest one crawled onto his hand and up his arm. It crawled to his neck and between his skin and cowl, and then balled up.
"I'm this one's favorite."
"It's barely been awake for a few minutes."
"You're jealous."
"No. I'm their mother, they were drawn to me first. You took that one."