April 2

Brian sat down on the couch in the media room, not paying any mind to Justin, who was fiddling with something by the TV. He piled up a few pillows against the arm and leaned back, his eyes immediately gravitating to the delicious ass that was proudly on display as Justin bent over to press a few buttons. Still the finest ass in Pittsburgh; he was the luckiest man in the world to have such an intelligent and beautiful partner.

Dragging his eyes away from Justin's ass, he watched his husband set up the TV, and frowned when a blank black background flickered on the screen. When Justin had suggested dinner and a movie that night, he had assumed that the twat was going to drag him out on a date. His husband occasionally got one of those bees in his bonnet and wanted the full treatment; Brian for his part hadn't gotten over his sheer loathing for the ritual, but it still wasn't his favorite thing to do.

But he tolerated it because he loved Justin, and it made him happy; fuck, the things he did for this man. It was ridiculous just how firmly he'd wrapped Brian around his finger.

So, he was surprised that when he got home, Justin was still dressed in a t-shirt, hoodie and his yoga pants. He'd smiled and greeted Brian with a deep kiss and then told him to go get comfortable as, instead of going out for dinner and a movie, he thought that they'd have dinner here and then watch something they hadn't seen before in the media room. Brian was confused by the change in plans, but he wasn't going to complain; he would much rather spend the evening in with Justin than sit in some movie theater, trying to watch a movie, while teenagers made out all around them.

Looking up, he smiled as Justin finally made his way over to the couch; he clambered up and scooted between Brian's legs, leaning his back against Brain's chest and his head against his shoulder. Justin squirmed and wiggled, piquing his dick's interest in the process (the little brat), until finally he was comfortable; and then he set down a book and a small device onto the footrest by his hand.

"What's that?" Brian asked, trying to get a better look at it; but Justin's hand was covering it, and blocking his view.

"Remote mouse," Justin said as he moved it around on the book, waking up the screen on the TV. Brian felt a trickle of dread run down his spine.

"A remote mouse…" Brian reiterated, an alarm blaring in his head; especially when Justin looked over his shoulder with a bright and mischievous smile. "For what…"

"It's out favorite time of the week," Justin intoned brightly, that spark of mischief growing as comprehension dawned and Brian stared at his husband in horror.

"Oh, no," Brian groaned; he dropped his head against the arm of the couch, and added a couple of thumps for good measure. He should have known that there was a reason that Justin hadn't wanted to go out this evening; and fool that he was, he fell right into his trap. The sneaky, little twat.

"Oh, yes," Justin said, clapping his hands happily that he'd gotten one over on Brian; and that just confirmed his initial dread.

"Justin…" Brian whined; yes, he fully admits that he was whining; but there was only so much of this one could tolerate before they reverted to Mikey-mode.

"Must you whine every time we do this?" Justin huffed, even as he started navigating to the website that Brian immediately recognized and had come to dread.

"Yes," Brian grumbled; but he knew there was no getting out of it, so he might as well just resign himself to his fate since the clever little devil had him cornered.

"The pout, while adorable, isn't going to work on me," Justin said far too gleefully for Brian's comfort. "Let's get this done."

Brian sighed and once again resigned himself to the inevitable as his favorite Baby Guru Edith flashed on the screen with a title that said Chapter Four: Medical Procedures During Labor and Delivery. Why Justin insisted on watching these, frankly, useless videos, he had no idea; but he wished that the twat would leave him out of it. Not that that was ever likely to happen; Justin seemed to derive far to much amusement out of watching Brian's reactions to said videos.

"Why exactly are we watching these again?" Brian huffed, rolling his eyes when he was met with Justin's very serene smile.

"Because I live to torture you?" Justin quipped, a smirk firmly in place.

"Well, at least you're honest about it," Brian snorted. "There are so many more important things that I can think of doing with my evening. Like watching paint peel."

"And here I thought that I might offer to payback one of my IOUs tonight," Justin said, his smile taking on a sly edge; Brian instantly perked up, in more ways than one, at the sight of it and the little remote that he pulled out of his pocket. "But if you have more pressing things to do, I suppose that I can just go to bed early and take care of myself."

"Is that…?" Brian trailed off and squirmed as he recognized it; his dick instantly hard and leaking as he stared at his husband in disbelief. Suddenly, life wasn't all that bad.

"The remote to that vibrating butt plug you love so much?" Justin purred as he waved it over his head. "Why yes it is; I wonder how that got here…"

"And you're wearing…?" Brian asked, swallowing thickly as he continued to stare down into lust-filled blue eyes; fuck, but Justin was hot when he got like this.

"Maybe?" Justin said in a sing-song tone; he stared up at Brian through his lashes. "Why don't you stick your hand down there and find out?"

"Or, I can just grab that and find out for myself," Brian said as he lunged for the remote, only for it to be snatched away and shoved into Justin's pocket.

"You could, but you won't," Justin huffed, a calculating gleam in his eyes. "This is your incentive."

Brian pursed his lips thoughtfully; he could easily pin his husband down and take the remote away from him. Justin was in no position to resist him. But Brian also couldn't help being curious as to where the twat was going with his little game, and was in the mood to indulge his brat. Besides, Justin's games always led fun places.

"For?" Brian asked, wondering at the details of this particular venture.

"Watching the videos, of course," Justin said with a smirk. And, of course; he should have known that was going to be part of the conditions.

"Terms?" Brian arched a brow, only the smallest hint of trepidation running through him.

"You watch all the videos…" Justin started, but Brian cut him off when a horrific thought came to mind; because no way in hell would he last through this if it was a condition.

"Please tell me that you aren't going to tell me to take them seriously?" Brian pleaded, his unease growing when Justin tapped his lips thoughtfully with one finger and let the moment draw out. "Because I can't do that, Sunshine."

"No, even I'm not that optimistic," Justin snorted; and then he laughed outright when Brian sighed and shuddered in relief. "Just that you must watch them all without trying to get out of it, or employing any delaying or distraction tactics."

"Same rules and same safe word?" Brian asked, pointing to the remote still buried in Justin's pocket so that his husband was clear on his meaning.

"Same rules and safe word." Justin nodded.

"Deal!" Brian smirked, rubbing his hands together theatrically as Justin snickered at his gleeful expression. "Your ass is so mine tonight, Sunshine."

"You say that like you're expecting me to complain," Justin purred, his lids sliding half mast as he gave Brian a thorough once over before turning and pressing the play button.

Monitoring Your Baby During Labor

"Ah, Edith," Brian intoned, making Justin roll his eyes. "My favorite Baby Guru and Owner-of Far-Too-Many-Bland-Jackets-than-One-Person-Needs; please, impart your wisdom upon your humble and devoted, but oh-so-unseasoned disciples…"

"Vocabulary must not be your strong suit if you think the word humble applies to you in any way." Justin stated dryly, snickering when Brian pinched him in the side.

"Are you calling me less than modest, Sunshine?" Brian complained in mock outrage. "I think I should be offended."

"I'm not even going to dignify that with a response," Justin snorted, batting Brian's hand away s that he could focus on the video; Brian sighed again and settled down to be bored off his ass for another evening.

How many more of these damned classes were there?

"Fetal monitoring is one of the most common interventions," Edith of the boring and bland beige jacket said with a small smile. "And almost all women are monitored at some point during labor to make sure that baby's heart rate falls into normal parameters. This allows the doctors a timely reaction if the baby's heart rate becomes alarmingly fast or slow and they fall into distress…"

"Wow," Brian snarked, his tongue tucked into his cheek. "I feel as if my knowledge expands with every viewing of these videos; I don't know what I ever would have done with my life if I had never been exposed to Edith's wise and thoughtful council."

"You just can't help yourself, can you?" Justin huffed; and Brian could tell that he was rolling his eyes just by his body language alone.

"As I may have pointed out a time or two, Sunshine," Brian snorted, even as he pressed a kiss to the side of Justin's head. "I have yet to really see anything that common fucking sense wouldn't tell a person. I'm still waiting to be wowed here."

"Only a time or two?" Justin snorted, looking over his shoulder with a single brow raised.

"I figured tacking the thousand onto those numbers would be redundant," Brian said with a bland smile, and then smirked when Justin chuckled. "Why waste my breath on something that you've bitched about every week?"

Justin just shook his head and turned back to the video.

"If your caregiver needs a more accurate reading, he or she might use an internal monitor, which is inserted through the cervix and attached to the baby's scalp," Edith said, pointing in the vague direction of a drawing demonstrating just that.

"Well, that sounds pleasant," Brian deadpanned, grimacing at the demonstration.

"So, glad that I don't have to deal with that," Justin huffed in agreement.

"You know, you would think that would have updated these things to take the male anatomy in," Brian complained as the words of the video went in one ear and out the other. He just didn't see the point in retaining any of it.

"I guess they figured that men were less likely to watch?" Justin said with a lazy shrug. "Or maybe it's still rare enough that they didn't feel comfortable making one geared towards male carriers?"

"No excuses, Sunshine," Brian said, and then turned back to his doom. And this was only the first video of the night; how was he going to make it through the next five?

"Electronic monitoring doesn't hurt, but it can limit your ability to get up and move around, whether it be continuous or intermittent monitoring. To rectify this, some hospitals do have wireless monitoring, and even waterproof devices that can be used in the bath or shower; so, you might want to ask your health provider if those are options."

"Huh," Justin hummed. "I never even thought to ask about that."

"Well, it is kind of a pointless question in your case," Brian pointed out. "Given that you're having a c-section, you'll need continuous monitoring anyways and are likely to be bed-ridden the entire time due to the spinal block."

"Well, yeah," Justin agreed with another little shrug. "I know that now; I just meant that before, when my blood pressure wasn't an issue, I didn't even think to ask about the types of monitoring available."

"They didn't mention it either," Brian said. "It may mean that they don't have it available."

"Oh, well," Justin conceded with a small frown. "I suppose it doesn't really matter anymore; at least for this pregnancy. I t just would have been nice to have been informed of my choices when we took that tour. I'll have to ask Liz about it later."

"Well, you could ask for the future," Brian said, rolling his lips under. "After all, I know you wanted to have one or two more after Sunbeam."

"Uh, you do know that I'll likely have to have a c-section for any subsequent pregnancies, right?" Justin asked, looking at Brian over his shoulder.

"You will?" Brian asked, frowning in confusion when Justin nodded; he could have sworn that he had read somewhere that it was fine to have a natural birth after a c-section.

"Yeah," Justin said as the video came to a halt. "Once they have had one cesarean, most carriers will likely need a c-section for any other births after that because a natural birth can cause medical issues."

"I did not know that," Brian said, wondering why he had thought otherwise.

"I read up on it in an article," Justin said as he navigated to the next episode button. "It will depend on the kind of incision made; if Liz does a vertical incision, a natural birth is risky because the contractions could cause a uterine rupture. If she does a transverse, or horizontal, incision, the likelihood of having a safe natural birth is greater; but even then only 60 to 80 percent are successful in having a safe natural birth. I don't like those odds and would rather not risk it."

"I concur," Brian nodded and then settled back for mindless video number two.

How and Why Labor is Induced

"If your labor is induced," Edith stated with a bland smile. "It means that your caregiver will use medication or other techniques to kick-start the process…"

Brian pinched the bridge of his nose and viciously bit his tongue on the question he was dying to ask yet again – what was the fucking point to them watching this shit. But he didn't; he'd managed to restrain himself in time because like hell was he missing out on three hours of tormenting Justin time. And speaking of the little twat.

Justin was turned around, watching him, his whole body convulsing with laughter at the look Brian was certain was etched onto his face. But he had never promised not to show his disdain for this process; only that he wouldn't hider the viewing or use any distraction techniques to put a halt to said videos.

"I hope you appreciate the amount of self-control that I'm exerting by not saying what I really think about this one," Brian huffed, glaring at his snickering husband.

"You're the model of self-restraint," Justin intoned piously, his eyes wide and guileless in his faux innocence. "And worthy of emulation."

"There is no need to be mocking, Sunshine," Brian groused, eyeing his husband with no little amount of irritation.

"On the contrary," Justin disagreed with a wild grin. "There is every need,"

"Laugh while you can twat," Brian taunted the brat he called his husband. "Just remember that at the end of this evening, you will be at my mercy and you might not be laughing then."

Justin gave an unconcerned shrug; much to Brian's further annoyance. Oh, he couldn't wait to make the little twat eat his words and rue his attitude. Scrubbing his hand over his face, Brian turned back to the video with a pained sigh.

"You might be induced for a variety of reasons including, but not limited to: you've significantly gone past your due date, it's been twelve to twenty-four hours since your water broke, your placenta doesn't seem to be working properly, you have low amniotic fluid, you've been diagnosed with pre-eclampsia or the baby or your health is at risk."

"I don't know about you," Brian said with a frown. "But those last two seem to be reasons not to induce and to simply get your ass into the operating theater for a c-section."

"I suppose it would all depend on the condition and how high your blood pressure is at the time?" Justin said, his tone lilting at the end, making it more of a question than a statement. "But yes, I agree; the thought of them putting that kind of strain on my already strained body would make me uneasy. I think at that point I would demand a c-section just to be on the safe side."

"Today, more than one in five carriers in the United States have their labor induced; an increase of more than double the amount from just twenty years ago…"

"That's a disturbing number," Justin shuddered, his frown deepening.

Brian couldn't help agreeing and then grimacing when she began prattling on about the different methods of inducing labor, each one sounding worse than the one before – inserting medicine into the birth canal, giving an IV infusion of Pitocin (the synthetic form of oxytocin), putting pressure on the cervix with a small, water-filled balloon, stripping or sweeping the membranes (using a finger to separate the amniotic sac from the lower part of the uterus), and breaking the amniotic sac with a small, hooked tool.

"Are you sure that these are actually birth classes for medical procedures?" Brian asked, squirming a little at the visual that last method had induced. "You didn't accidentally stumble onto a 'how to torture your husband 101' tutorial did you?"

"You'll never know," Justin drawled in a secretive tone; Brian arched a brow, but Justin only smiled with a hint of menace around the edges.

"I don't know what's more terrifying," Brian said in a disturbed tone. "Edith's fashion choices or the way you looked at me as you were saying that; should I be worried?"

"I'd sleep with one eye open if I were you," Justin advised, his eyes filled with laughter.

"Oh, you're just racking up the points tonight, Sonny Boy," Brian huffed, poking his husband in the sides and sending him squirming.

"I'll attempt to feel some concern about that later," Justin said airily, as he dodged Brian's fingers for a second time. "Much later."

"Keep them coming, brat," Brian warned him; but Justin just dismissed him with a small wave of his hand. "I'm so going to enjoy this."

"Due to medicinal intervention," Edith finished off, the uplifting music swelling in the background, and then the first of many 'real moms' popped on the screen. "You'll need continuous fetal monitoring as some induction methods, like Petocin, can occasionally make the contractions come on to hard and too fast, stressing you and the baby.

"Oh look!" Brian exclaimed in mock excitement; Justin rolled his eyes. "More 'real' mom testimonials so that we can relate to people in our situation and…oh, wait…"

"You're such an ass," Justin snorted even as he was reaching for the remote mouse to cue up the next video.

"And, yet you keep subjecting me and yourself to these insipid videos," Brian snarked. "Truthfully, I'm beginning to think you have a latent masochistic side…or was that sadistic? I can never tell these days."

Having a C-Section

"Finally, something of use," Brian huffed as the title flashed across the screen. "And it only took four classes and how many videos…?"

"Are you saying that you haven't enjoyed our little bonding moments with Edith?" Justin said in a honeyed tone; and then the little shit had the nerve to flutter his lashes at him.

"I'm not even going to dignify that with a response," Brian said, rolling his eyes at his husband's simpering. Justin just grinned and looked away.

"What?" Justin mocked, shaking his head in despair as Edith finally made her opening salutation. "Out of snark already? I'm so disappointed in you."

Brian snorted and pinched the mouthy brat on the ass, making him yelp and rub said ass as Brian added a couple more minutes' punishment onto his growing tally. The brat had better watch himself, or he might just end up with more on time opposed to rest time with the handy little toy that he was wearing. Well, so long as it didn't cause issues with Sunbeam; he would never do anything to hurt either of them.

"A cesarean section, or c-section, is a surgical procedure used to deliver the baby through the abdomen…" Edith said as Justin hit play.

Brian just shook his head and bit his lip at the inanity of it all; God, who the hell approved that these video scripts? Because really, this was just ridiculous.

"Don't say it," Justin huffed, pointing his finger at Brian over his shoulder.

"I didn't say a word," Brian smirked; but he sure as hell thought it.

"But you're thinking it," Justin accused, unwittingly echoing Brian's thoughts.

"And how can you possibly know what I'm thinking, Sunshine," Brian smirked; there had once been a time where the mind reading and finishing of sentences would have annoyed the fuck out of him. But these days he actually found it comforting to a degree.

"It's my super power," Justin bragged. "Rage has mind control powers, and JT has developed his own form of mind powers, in that he can read Rage like a book."

"Oh," Brian said, arching one brow. "So, what am I thinking right now, JT?"

He snickered as Justin dramatically squeezed his eyes shut and then pressed his index fingers to his temples in faux concentration, his tongue clenched between his teeth. And then he gasped, eyes popping open and he turned to look at Brian wide-eyed.

"I don't think that's anatomically possible, Rage," Justin said with a sad, doubtful smile; and then he rallied. "But I'm willing to give it the old college try."

Brian just laughed, bringing a sunshine smile to his husband's face; he pressed kiss onto those laughing lips and then turned back to hear Edith's next gem.

"A c-section is major abdominal surgery…"

"Really?" Brian deadpanned, an aggrieved look on his face. "And here I thought you'd be up and bouncing around in the matter of minutes, Sunshine. Are you saying that this is actually going to leave you bed ridden?"

Justin just rolled his eyes, not even bothering to reply.

"Where the hell do they even get this shit?" Brian bitched, reiterating a thought from earlier. "They really need to fire their script writers. I think Gus or Jenny could have done a better job when they were five."

Justin just patted him on the hand and continued to watch the video; Brian heived a sigh of exasperation and did the same.

"And in most circumstances, you'll be awake throughout the entirety of the procedure," Edith continued. "And receive anesthesia, like an epidural or spinal block. Your doctor will typically make a small, horizontal incision just above your pubic bone, cutting through the underlying tissues to reach the abdominal muscles. She will manually move the muscles apart and cut through your uterus and amniotic sac to pull the baby out."

Justin made a small sound at that, his skin taking on a greenish cast; Brian didn't blame him because the description had left him feeling a bit queasy as well.

"You okay there, Sunshine," he asked, rubbing Justin's back in a soothing gesture.

"Yeah." Justin swallowed thickly and grimaced. "I just really didn't need to hear the details of that; now, I'm going to have nightmares of all the ways that could go wrong."

"Fuck! Don't say that!" Brian cursed, his head filling with images of Justin hemorrhaging on the operating table; he closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Fuck, now I'm going to have nightmares too!"

Justin flashed him an apologetic smile.

"On an entirely different note," he said with a small, indignant frown. "Have you noticed that every time Edith mentions the doctor she automatically assume the OB with be female. Kind of sexist if you ask me."

"I hate to inform you of this, my little social reformer," Brian said with a bemused smile. "But most OB/GYN's are female; about eighty-five percent are women. Pediatrics rate pretty high too at seventy-five percent; and family medicine by a much lesser degree, but still there are more women practitioners than male."

"How do you even know that?" Justin asked, looking over his shoulder in surprise.

"Daphne," Brian shrugged; he vaguely recalled a conversation with her years ago when she was looking up statistics for some of her chosen specialties. "I can't even remember how it came up; I think she was discussing what field she wanted to specialize in and mentioned a bunch of statistics and it stuck with me."

"Oh," Justin said, nonplussed; and then he shrugged. "Still she shouldn't assume; as that still excludes fifteen percent of the practitioners."

"Yes, dear," Brian said with only a hint of a mocking edge in his voice.

"You're getting rather good at that," Justin praised, patting Brian on the arm. "You only sounded mildly patronizing that time."

"I do try," Brian intoned with a single nod of his head.

"C-sections are riskier than natural child birth, and carriers that have one face a higher risk of infection, excessive bleeding, and blood clots." Edith said, referring to a bulleted list flashed up onto the screen in bright blue.

"This is supposed to be the safer route for you?" Brian asked with a skeptical look.

"Well," Justin hedged. "I suppose they had to weigh a potential infection against the complications that my high blood pressure could have during the delivery. Liz did say that most people could do a natural birth with hypertension; she just didn't recommend it in my case even if my blood pressure is only elevated. It would be different if I could take the meds to stabilize it; but with my allergies, I'm kinda fucked."

"Hopefully, it will stay that way," Brian muttered to himself. "I really don't want to deal with you if you have to on bed rest."

"Don't say that!" Justin exclaimed; and then he grabbed a pillow next to him and began to beat Brian with it. "Fuck, now you've jinxed me."

Episiotomy or Perineal Tearing

Brian stared at the blank screen in silence, not sure what to make of what they'd just seen. First of all, that was more of a woman's nether parts that he'd seen since his drunken, mistake fuck with Lindsay; and even then, he didn't remember much about it except in flashes that he desperately tried to block out. So, truthfully, it had likely been since health class during college.

Second, why they had thought they needed an animation of the actual procedure, he didn't know; but he again questioned what the creators had been thinking. Although, it would work well as a prevention aid. All they had to do was show this to a bunch of teenaged carriers and he'd bet that teen pregnancy would drop significantly when faced with the horrors that were giving birth and all its complications.

Jesus Fuck.

"Well," Brian said, finally breaking the silence between them. "That was more than I ever wanted to know about that."

Justin didn't say a word; he just kept staring at screen in mute horror.

"Justin?" Brian prodded, poking his husband in the side for good measure.

But Justin just continued to stare at the screen, shaking his head and opening and closing his mouth as if he wanted to speak, but lacked the capabilities.

"Justin?" Brian tried again, this time nudging him gently from behind; and that at least seemed to snap his husband out of his stupor.

"You know," Justin said faintly, still looking shell-shocked. "I am so going to hate myself for saying this; but I really could have happily gone the rest of my life not watching that. We really should have skipped it as it had nothing to do with my current pregnancy and I really could have lived without the visuals that were inflicted on my brain."

"HA!" Brian crowed, pumping his fist into the air; Justin didn't even react as he was still rambling on about the video they'd just watched.

"And seriously…what is with the fucking animations!" Justin cried in disgust, waving his hand at the screen much to Brian's amusement.

"Vindicated!" Brian crowed again, feeling quite smug that he had finally dragged Justin over to the dark side. He wondered if it was the offer of Twinkies that did it?

"Oh, fuck off…" Justin muttered, scrubbing his hands over his face as if he were trying to physically erase the last two minutes of his life.

"Oh, no you don't, Sonny Boy," Brian smirked; yeah, it was in bad taste to gloat, but in this case, he felt it was well warranted for all of the times Justin had forced him to watch this crap serene as can be. "You are so not living that down."

"Are you telling me that you actually found that worthwhile?" Justin asked incredulously; and God, those were music to Brian's ears. Justin was never going to live this down.

"No," Brian admitted wholeheartedly, "but…" He held up one finger. "I wasn't the one insisting we watch these damned things."

"I hate you," Justin muttered, knowing that he couldn't refute the comment.

"No you don't," Brian smirked, sitting back with another smug cackle. "But next week, when you're torturing me with yet more of these videos, I want you to remember this moment when you finally admitted that I am right."

"Fuck off," Justin huffed and cued up the next video; but not even that could destroy Brian's good mood because fuck it all, he finally got the twat to admit this was a fucking waste of their time and nothing could beat that.

"Oh, it feels so good to be vindicated," Brian sang to himself, grunting Justin elbowed him; fuck the twat and his pointy, little elbows.

"You are such a dick," Justin huffed, still pouting in the wake of Brian's gloating. "I don't even know why I put up with you."

Assisted Delivery: Vacuum or Forceps

For the second time in near as many minutes, Brian stared at the screen unable to process just what he'd seen; or, maybe it was just that his brain refused to process what he had just been watching. He shuddered and looked away with a grimace. Those tongs… forceps… whatever the fuck they had been were enough to give him nightmares for months. Jesus Fucking Christ.

The only thing that made him feel better about the whole thing – well actually, two things that made him feel better – was one, Justin was having a c-section and would have to deal with them; and two, Justin looked just as traumatized as he did. Seriously, who the fuck came up with these things; whoever did, must have a sadistic sense of humor.

Shuddering again, Brian looked down mournfully, muttering under his breath. "Well, that killed any hope of sex tonight…"

"Please," Justin snorted, finally coming back to life after their latest edition of Let's Terrorize the First Time Parents, featuring Edith 'the Bland' Bradenbury as host. "Three words for you – vibrating butt plug."

And that certainly worked at perking things up.

"And we have rallied!" Brian crowed, happily patting the evidence of his renewed libido.

"You're so easy," Justin chuckled as he hit the next episode button.

"Please, you love me that way," Brian smirked; and then he shuddered again as he thought about the tongs of doom… forceps…whatever. "But seriously; I think I'm traumatized on Sunbeam's behalf. I don't even have the words to express just how disturbed I feel watching that thing. Not even the uplifting background music could soothe me like it usually does. I definitely do not feel like 'we can do it!'"

Justin hummed noncommittally, looking far too serene for Brian's mental well-being; so, of course, he had to poke at his husband a little.

"But at least there was no animation," he hummed, snickering when Justin groaned.

"Oh, fuck you," Justin huffed, grabbing his favorite pillow and beating Brian over the head with it. "You just had to remind me of that, didn't you?"

"Yes," Brian said a bit smugly. "Yes, I did."

"Such an asshole," Justin muttered as he hit play for the last video.

Avoiding Unnecessary Interventions During Labor

Thankfully, the last video was short; only slightly past a minute long and seemed to be more about summarizing what Edith had covered and how to prevent the unnecessary interventions during labor and delivery. And, although it was more common sense crap like choose a caretaker you trust, and dedicate a support person or advocate to speak for you, and make sure you ask questions – is this necessary; what are the risks and benefits; are there alternatives and can it wait – being the prominent messages. Brian couldn't work up the sarcasm to mock it all; he was just so fucking glad they were done.

"So, what did we learn today kiddies?" Brian asked rhetorically, not expecting to get an answer at all; which was why he was surprised when Justin did answer.

"That I'm so not ready for this," Justin muttered, closing down the computer. "At all. Can you just tell them to knock me out completely?"

"Well, I don't know…" Brian hedged, tapping his lips with a finger.

"As the lady said," Justin said, giving Brian the stink eye. "Rule two for avoiding unnecessary interventions – have a dedicated support person and advocate. That means you buddy."

"Oh, but there is a huge difference between advocate and enabler," Brian said, just wanting to tweak his husband's nose; of course, he would be there to make certain all of Justin's wishes were followed to a T.

"Or," Justin huffed as he swung his legs over and slowly stood; he cast a baleful look over his shoulder. "I could just get my mother to stay in the room with us…"

"You know, there are only so many times you can threaten me with Mother Taylor before it loses its potency." Brian paused. "Besides, of the two of us, I doubt I'll be the one that cracks first and sends her away in a fit of temper; case in point, the other day."

"I would be able to put up with it," Justin huffed as he walked over and set the mouse down on top of the now closed laptop. "Because, as I told you; I plan to be knocked out."

"I don't think it works that way, Sunshine." Brian stood and stretched, working out the kinks in his muscles while Justin straightened out the room. "But, hey; if you can convince Liz to do it, I will stand behind you one hundred percent."

""Fine," Justin muttered as he stacked the throw pillows back onto each side of the couch; And Brian licked his lips as it gave him the perfect view of his husband's delectable ass; and speaking of that ass…

"Now that that is resolved," Brian said, rubbing his hands together as Justin turned towards him. "I do believe that you owe me, Mr. Taylor-Kinney."

"Well, I don't know, Mr. Taylor-Kinney," Justin said, tapping the remote against his lips as if he was thinking about it, and slowly moving towards the stairs. "I don't know if you deserve it; maybe I'll just take this and take care of things myself."

"Oh, no you don't, brat," Brian huffed, his hands on his hips as he watched his husband's fruitless escape; because really, there was no way Justin could out run him in his current condition even with a head start. "You are not reneging now."

"You have to catch me first," Justin smirked and then took the stairs as fast as he could.

"Run while you can, Sonny Boy," Brian taunted, slowly stalking behind him as his husband disappeared through the door; he'd give it a minute or so before he began his serious pursuit. Just enough time to think he'd gotten away with it. "Because when I catch up with you, you're going to wish you hadn't made that offer."