Marton and Angel. Practice Run.

[palace_marton]

Angelina rolled and sat up. "The fuck?"

She tried to lie back down and realized something wasn't - right. She waited a minute and another pain tightened her stomach. "Oh fuck me Bubba, middle of the damn night?" She shifted and rolled to the edge of the bed. Taking a breath she waited again - there, yeah, it was a contraction. She grabbed her com and dialed.

Marton was sound asleep when his com buzzed. His eyes flew open and he rolled quickly, fingers finding the unit in the dark with the unerring accuracy of long practice. "Yes." he answered, glancing over his shoulder to make sure the sound had not woken Will.

Angel gasped as her back muscle clenched. "Oh fuck." She heard Marton answer. "Hey, I think Bubba's coming. Fuck. Now." She said and stood up, pulling her self off of the bed with a grunt.

Angel! Marton was already sliding free of the covers and reaching for his sweatpants which were always kept handy on the bottom of the bed within easy reach. It wasn't the first time he'd been dragged out of bed to deal with one crisis or another but it was the first time in a long time that the crisis had been baby-related. "Okay." he said. "Stay in bed. I'm on my way down."

He put his com onto stand-by, dragged on his clothes and, turning around briefly, leaned down and kissed Will's forehead. Will murmured and his eyelids fluttered. "Going down to Angel." Marton whispered.

Will opened one eye. "Time?"

"Maybe."

"M'kay."

His lover rolled over and went back to sleep. Marton headed out to the lift.

Angel sat back down on the edge of the bed, breathing slowly. Everything had relaxed, the muscles loosening for the minute. She lay back, rolling to her side, taking a deep breath her stomach clenched and she ground her teeth together. "C'mon Daddy."

Marton, of course, could enter any door inside the Palace building without trouble and despite locks. He walked into the suite and padded across the carpet to the bedroom door, giving it a polite knock before entering. He peered around the door and smiled gently, "Hey? How doing?"

"Oh, great. About to pass a football, where none should go, but hey how are you?" She said and then huffed out a laugh. "I think I'm having second thoughts."

Smiling, relieved that Angel was still in a relatively good mood about this, Marton walked over and sat down on the side of the bed. He propped up some pillows for her and helped Angel settle back comfortably. "So?" he asked. "What's happened?"

"I woke up, and it hurts." Angel said, her brow furrowing as a pain tightened across her belly. "Damn."

Marton raised an eyebrow, asking permission and then laid the palm of his hand on Angel's stomach, feeling the ripple running across beneath the skin. "For how long? And has there been anything else?" he asked.

"Just a few minutes. No, well my back hurts. Like a charley horse. It just hurts." She said, lips pursed as she concentrated. "It's better now. They come and go, right?"

"Right." Marton watched Angel's face. "If there's been no other signs, we might just sit for a while, okay? Can I get you anything?"

"Isn't it gonna get awfully messy here in a bit?" She asked and then pointed to the bottle of water on the dresser. "Drink please."

Marton passed the bottle to Angel and folded his arms in his lap, crossing one long leg over the other. "Maybe." he told her. "Or maybe they're Braxton-Hicks. We'll wait and see."

"Who? Oh yeah." Angel took a sip of water and pushed her hair out of her eyes, frowning. "Well if real labor is worse than this there better be definite drugs involved." She grumbled and then looked up at him. "Were you asleep?"

Marton grinned at her. "No." he said solemnly. "I was doing my snoring practice."

Angel raised an eyebrow at him and lifted her hand, flexing her nails at him. "I'm hormonal and in pain and I know how to use these, be nice to the pregna- fuck!" She said and leaned up and a muscle spasmed in her side. After a breath or two it relaxed. "That wasn't as bad. Are they supposed to get easier?"

Shaking his head, Marton grabbed her hand and moved it down to his lap where he held onto it, his eyes twinkling. "No. They get more intense and closer together. If that felt like less, then we're most likely dealing with Braxton's. They're like practice runs."

"Practise? What the hell?" She said and held onto Marton's hand tight. "So does this practice crap happen a lot?"

"Depends I think." Marton tilted his head to one side. "Might be one for Phil, no? I've had experience, but I'm no expert. Except with the cigars. Cigars I'm good at."

"Good I could use one right now." She stretched her legs out and took a breath. "So this is practice? Well at least I know labor won’t be too bad then." She took another drink of water and grimace as a small flicker of pain passed through her belly. She shrugged. "Huh, I be damned. Looks like it's over. Sorry." She said and smiled at Marton. "False alarm."

"Not a problem." Marton averred. "I'd rather you called me than I missed something. You want I should go? I can hang around if you're worried. I don't mind."

"Uh - yeah, if it's okay. I'm not worried." She said, lifting her chin defiantly. "I'll just never get to sleep. You wanna see what’s on to watch? Or maybe play a hand of cards? Just for a few minutes?"

Letting go her hand, Marton went around to the other side of the bed, slid in under the covers and tucked Angel into his side, an arm around her shoulders. He reached for the remote and switched the vid on. Smiling, he kissed the top of her head and told her, "Your choice. What shall we watch?"