Her Inked Scars

love you, baby

POV: Celeste

[3 months later]

"How are you feeling?" I mutter as Nyoka lays in the hospital bed, large bags under her eyes from being awake for over 24 hours.

"Exhausted, but I can't sleep," she murmurs, rubbing her eyes as her bottom lip pouts, clearly upset and a little delirious from not being able to sleep. "Can I just see them?"

The nurse in the room with us shakes her head, pity in her eyes as Nyoka groans, on the brink of tears though I can tell she's a bit dehydrated after crying so much earlier from how much pain she was in.

Everything was fine with Nyoka but the triplets had to be taken away to be checked since there were a lot of concerns about them possibly having medical complications. Nyoka barely got to see them before they were taken away and she was too exhausted to ask earlier.

I managed to hold each of them in my arms to comfort them as they cried but I do wish Nyoka could have gotten the chance to hold them after so much stress and strain.

Now she's uncomfortable and just wants to hold them but has to wait until it's certain they don't have any severe medical issues. All I can do is stroke her forehead and hold her hand until we get some kind of news.

"I'm sure they'll be just fine," I assure her, rubbing her forehead that still has some sweat.

"They seemed fine at a first examination so it shouldn't be too long before we can bring them to you," the nurse says with a gentle smile, rubbing Nyoka's leg as she finishes her check up on Nyoka's body. "I'll bring you something warm to eat and drink so you can get some energy back. I won't be long."

She leaves Nyoka and I alone as Nyoka tries to sit up, instantly hissing in pain as she accidentally sits on her stitches. Her arms shake as she tries to sit up, me helping her as best I can.

Nyoka whines as she rests her head on my shoulder, feebly reaching for her phone in my bag. I pass it to her so that she doesn't strain her body any more, letting her use it to distract herself from all the hormones and adrenalin pumping through her.

It takes a few minutes before she puts her phone down beside her on the bed, rubbing her face as she sighs, glancing out the window, seeing that it's dark again since she went into labour at about two in the morning and couldn't sleep even before that from how uncomfortable her bump was.

"After I've had something to eat, if we still don't hear anything, I'm going to try and sleep," she grumbles and I can hear the defeat in her voice.

"Just rest, Nyoka," I tell her, giving her a tired smile. "There's nothing you can do right now except rest up. I'll be here the whole time and I'll wake you up if I hear anything, okay?"

She whines but agrees as she yawns, the nurse returning with a tray of food and hot tea for both of us. Nyoka tiredly eats it, her eyes brightening a bit as she gets some of her energy back but she suddenly starts crying for seemingly no reason.

"What's wrong? Do you not like the food?" I ask, rubbing her back as she wipes her tears.

"No, it's the best tasting food I've ever had!" She says through sobs. "It tastes really good. I just miss them even though I haven't even held them."

The nurse assures us that being so suddenly emotional is normal before leaving us alone so that Nyoka can calm down and finish her food. She warms her hands with her tea, calmly enjoying it between frequent yawns, laying down once she's finished it.

She tugs on my sleeve as I scroll through some business emails, catching my attention as I finish my coffee. I lean down and give her a kiss on her lips making her give me a weak smile.

"I texted my Mama to come see us and she said she'd be here in an hour or two so could you be a sweetheart and get her when she gets here?" Nyoka pleads in a way I definitely can't refuse.

Nyoka and her mother went on a few lunches together to try and reconnect and it seemed to have mostly worked though her mother still doesn't like me. She's definitely still homophobic but we both suck it up oir hated for each other for Nyoka's sake.

I accept and hold Nyoka's hand as she starts trying to sleep, dimming the lights in hopes of making it easier, but we're not allowed to turn them off completely so we just have to put them to the lowest setting and try our best.

It doesn't take long for Nyoka to fall asleep, softly snoring, struggling to turn onto her side since she had to get stitches between her thighs after everything and putting any pressure there causes her a lot of pain.

My hands run over her hair as she lightly sleeps, loving the sight of her finally relaxing for a moment after being awake and uncomfortable for so long.

Once I'm certain she's asleep, I quietly get up, needing to use the bathroom but there isn't one in our room. I'm sure there was one just down the hall though so I shouldn't be gone long.

The instant I step out of the door one of the midwifes from earlier walks up to me, politely asking for to follow her. I reluctantly do so, still kind of wanting to go to the bathroom. That coffee just went straight through me.

I follow her to a room where there's quite a few newborns in cribs all swaddled tight as they sleep. She leads me up to a set of three cribs together, the triplets all snoozing comfortably. They all seem fine to me so I can't help but wonder why they haven't brought them back to Nyoka.

"They all seem fine currently, though one of the girls has a slightly fast heartbeat, but that could settle in a day or two so we're not too worried," the nurse tells me as I admire my children. "We suggest letting them and your wife sleep before we being them to your room and try breastfeeding."

"We're not married," I correct her.

"Oh. Well I'm sorry for assuming," she apologises but she has given me an idea.

I love Nyoka and we have been together for a while. Even though right now isn't the best time, when she's healed and we've settled into a routine with the babies, I want to do something sweet for her and officially make Nyoka mine.