This Can Hardly Wait

[first_in_time]

Barbara glanced at the clock on the kitchen wall. Ian's break time had just started. She knew because he sometimes called her instead of going into the staff room and eating with everyone else. Today, however, she wasn't going to give him the chance to eat for the moment, not with such important news.

The dial tone ws loud and clear as Barbara picked up their telephone, and each number she punched in had it's own sound to make. When she heard the ringing on the other end, her heart sped up and almost leapt from her mouth when a secretary answered.

"Yes, hello. I'd like to speak to Ian Chesterton please. This is his wife."

Comments

This Can Hardly Wait

[splendid_roman]

Ian was slightly late going on his break because they'd nearly exploded something they shouldn't have and had to sort that out. It was all in hand by the time he left the lab and the break would give him time to think.

Except that a secretary accosted him just outside the lab to tell him his wife was on the phone. He was happy to forego food to talk to her.

"Barbara." He was smiling when he picked up the phone.

Re: This Can Hardly Wait

[first_in_time]

She could hear the smile in his voice as he answered. "Ian. It's so good to hear your voice," Barbara said and smiled too, "are you enjoying your day?"

Re: This Can Hardly Wait

[splendid_roman]

"Yes, it hasn't had any explosions, which always makes a good day." He chuckled. "Hearing your voice improves any day."

Re: This Can Hardly Wait

[first_in_time]

"I'm very glad to hear that," Barbara replied and paused for a very brief moment before continuing: "I wanted to call because I've been given the day off to go to the doctors. I have some news."

Re: This Can Hardly Wait

[splendid_roman]

That didn't sound like it could be good news, despite her tone, and he stood up straighter. "Is everything all right?" he asked cautiously.

Re: This Can Hardly Wait

[first_in_time]

"For the moment it is." Barbara paused purely for effect then grinned widely into the mouthpiece of the telephone. "Ian, you're going to be a father."

Re: This Can Hardly Wait

[splendid_roman]

Ian was silent for a moment, while he tried to take that in. "Really?" He was open-mouthed, astonished, not expecting that at all. "That's amazing." He was smiling again, starting to be less surprised at it.

Re: This Can Hardly Wait

[first_in_time]

Barbara giggled down the phone line. "Isn't it? I'm sorry that you had to find out like this but I simply couldn't wait until you got home. Doctor Williams said that I'm about a month along and everything is going well for the moment but he still recommends regular visits to keep an eye on things."

Re: This Can Hardly Wait

[splendid_roman]

Ian didn't care that much about how he heard the news, but he had been counting on eight months. "A month? That means you'll be due around the beginning of the school year." When he would be leaving the army and starting a new job.

[first_in_time]

Barbara lay awake in the early hours of the morning, staring at Ian's back in the darkness and watching it gently move with his breathing. She hadn't slept much that night or indeed any night for the past while, ever since Baby was big enough to squish organs. That night, however, it was doing something peculiar. It felt as though Baby wad pinching the inside of Barbara's stomach. Just every once in a while. It would grab a hold and pull for a short time then release.

At first the pinches were gentle and far apart but they were starting to hurt her. She wondered if she should wake Ian up and ask him about it. He did have his first day of school in a few hours, she should probably let him rest.

Then a pinch made her gasp in pain and a moment later, Barbara list control of her bladder. A feeling of shame (mixed with exhaustion) made her want to cry but she realised that it didn't feel right. Something wasn't right. Barbara climbed out of bed and turned the bedside light on.

"Ian!" she called out to him, rolling up her dressing gown and trying to mop up the water between her legs, "Ian please wake up! I'm in labour!"

Re: This Can Hardly Wait

[splendid_roman]

Nervousness about his first day of school and thinking about whether he had everything ready had kept Ian from falling asleep for a while. Once he was asleep, though, he was fast asleep. And he was used to Barbara getting up in the night. Not so much when she turned on the light and announced she was in labour.

He was still half-asleep, though, as he blinked in the sudden light. "You can't be," he protested, "I have to go to school in the morning."

Re: This Can Hardly Wait

[first_in_time]

Barbara sighed at him. She could be angry, he was half asleep and Barbara knew how slow he was to wake up. "My water just broke."

Re: This Can Hardly Wait

[splendid_roman]

He groaned, then realised there was a wet patch that was making it over to his side of the bed. That at least made him get up. "Do you think we need to go now?" he asked, and yawned. "It could be hours yet."

Re: This Can Hardly Wait

[first_in_time]

Brbara wass was starting to panic, given that her dressing gown was now sopping with water and her husband was reluctant. She tied to tell herself that despite all of their talks and all the books they'd read together, Ian would never fully understand, not to mention he'd just woken up and had a new job to get ready for in a couple of hours.

"Why don't you grab some towels to put over the mattress and I'll clean myself up. Let's start with that."

Re: This Can Hardly Wait

[splendid_roman]

"All right." He went off to get some towels, then came back and stripped the bed and wiped the mattress a little, which was damp, and lay some towels on it. He did feel better for something to do and he was at least awake now.

Re: This Can Hardly Wait

[first_in_time]

Barbara had waddled into the bathroom and sat on the toilet until the water stopped. She hung her dressing gown over the side of the bath and dressed in some spare clothes. She was just fixing her hair a little so that she didn't look completely scrambled when they went to the hospital when another contraction made her grip the sink.

"Ian!"

Re: This Can Hardly Wait

[splendid_roman]

Ian dropped what he was doing to rush to the bathroom, worried about what might have happened. When he got there he realised it was just a contraction. Barbara might not agree with the 'just' but he'd been doing some reading before starting his new job and therefore knew exactly what was going on biologically. Which was really no help at all.

"Are you all right?" He stood next to her awkwardly, not sure what to do to make it better. "Would you like me to rub your back?"

This Can Hardly Wait

[first_in_time]

"....and then I'll teach him to like ballet and wear tutus!" Harry told Ian and Barbara. "I'll be the best uncle ever." He grinned pointedly at Ian and adjusted his army issued tie.

Barbara was laughing so hard that it hurt, most of which was purely from the look on Ian's face.

Re: This Can Hardly Wait

[splendid_roman]

Ian was trying not to look too horrified. "You can tell all your friends why your nephew is into such girly things."

"Oh, I will." Harry's grin didn't change.

"And then when you have kids I'll do the same to you."

Re: This Can Hardly Wait

[first_in_time]

"No, you'll be much worse. You'll teach then about science!" Harry gave Ian a horrified look of his own but it wasn't iras powerful given that he was still giggling.

"I think some science in your life will do you some good," Barbara told him, "you might understand something out then your bicepts."

"Now Barbara, there is nothing else I need to understand. isn't that right, Johnny?"

Since his nephew had finished feeding, he was alert enough to stare at the direction of Harry's voice. He grunted at the question and wriggled a little in the basonet.

"See? Even your son agrees."

Re: This Can Hardly Wait

[splendid_roman]

"I'd say that was disagreement," Ian said, grinning.

"No, I think he likes me better," Harry decided.

"Don't you have to leave soon for your date?" Ian asked. He wasn't trying to get rid of Harry, but he had been here when Ian arrived and he was looking forward to telling Barbara about his day at school.

Harry looked at his watch. "No, I've got ages yet. And how did you know I was going on a date?"

"Because you're wearing a tie."

Re: This Can Hardly Wait

[first_in_time]

"I wear ties on other occasions!" he protested, "like work and I wore one to your wedding."

"If you had worn that tie to work today you'd have already taken it off and possibly tried to burn it," Barbara told him. "So who is this lovely girl?"

Re: This Can Hardly Wait

[splendid_roman]

Harry gave in. "The same one I've been seeing for a while."

"When are we going to meet her?" Ian asked. He wondered if she liked babies and bringing her to meet John would help Harry's chances with her.

"When I've been seeing her for longer," Harry said, unhelpfully.

Re: This Can Hardly Wait

[first_in_time]

"Are you afraid we're going to chase her away?" Barbara chuckled.

"Of course not! But you know what it's like - you don't introduce them to family until it's serious."

Re: This Can Hardly Wait

[splendid_roman]

"I suppose not," Ian agreed. He certainly hadn't been quick to introduce any of his girlfriends to his family. So much so that Barbara had been the first. "Is it likely to become serious?"

"I don't know," Harry said slowly, fiddling with his cuffs. "I don't want her to think that introducing her to my nephew means that I suddenly want to get married and have babies."