Fan Fiction ❯ You Make Me Crazy ❯ Nine Months Later ( Chapter 27 )

About nine months later, Malon sat in a rocking chair, staring out her bedroom window and thinking about the fun Link and Zelda were probably having together.

 

“Staring out the window again?” Ivo asked her.

 

“Yeah…” Malon replied, exhausted. She was tired of being pregnant. She spent her mornings vomiting and waiting for the day. Of course, she also hated having a big belly with a baby inside. She still didn't want to have it.

 

“It should be coming soon,” he said. “I can't wait.”

 

“Easy for you to say! You're not the one who has to push it out of you!”

 

“Yeah, that's what you're for!” he laughed.

 

“Not funny. I…I…oh no…”

 

“What?”

 

“I think…it's coming!” she wailed.

 

Ivo immediately rushed over to Malon and led her downstairs and into a horse-driven wagon, where he took her to the hospital in Kakariko.

 

“Out of my way! My wife is about to have a baby!” he pushed his way through the crowded village. “Move it!”

 

Malon had never been so nervous in her life; she was about to become a parent. She was now eighteen, a legal adult, and she was expected to be able to care for a child. She just wasn't ready, and she was terrified of having to give birth.

 

As the two of them set foot into the hospital, Dr. Knil came along and saw Malon.

 

“Is it time?” Dr. Knil asked. “Right this way!”

 

She was laid down on a bed where a nurse removed her clothes and told her to breathe.

 

“I AM BREATHING, GODDESS DAMNIT!” Malon shouted.

 

Ivo stood around, anxious for his kid to be born.

 

“Sir, you might want to leave the room. I think it'd be best if you waited outside.” The nurse told him.

 

“Fine,” he mumbled angrily as he waited outside the room.

 

“Keep breathing! You're doing great!”

 

“AHHHHHH!” Malon wouldn't stop hollering as the pain coursed through her.

 

Another nurse came in and put a cold washcloth on her head.

 

“Push!” the nurses demanded. “PUSH!”

 

Malon pushed her hardest. “UGH! AHHHH!”

 

Time seemed to slow down as she knew the baby was finally coming out of her. The pain began to subside as the final push came to an end.

 

“Congratulations! It's a baby girl!” the nurse said as she wrapped the baby in a towel.

 

Ivo entered the room. “Is it…here?”

 

“You have a newborn daughter!” one of the nurses said gleefully.

 

Ivo ambled his way over and reached out as the nurse put the child into his arms. Malon had never seen him this way before. For once, he looked…normal. He didn't have his usual creepy grin, and he didn't make his usual creepy laugh. He looked like…a father. He only frowned when the nurse took the baby from him.

 

“We'll have to make sure she's healthy, sir. She can go home with you in a few days.”

 

“Okay,” he agreed as they left. “That's a damn good-lookin' baby, Malon. I'd say we did a great job.”

 

Malon was surprised to hear him calling her something other than `bitch' or similar names. He referred to her as Malon…and no one was around! Sure, he called her Malon with her father around, but whenever they were alone, he always made cruder names for her.

 

“Why are you doing this?”

 

“Doing what?” Ivo asked.

 

“You're…acting so different. Like…a decent guy. I'll bet you're going to be a bastard again as soon as we get home, huh?”

 

Ivo didn't answer.

 

During the next few days, Malon stayed at the hospital with her child, and so did Ivo. She knew that as a mother, she was supposed to love her child, but why didn't she have as much affection for her as Ivo did? She was supposed to be the loving one, not him.

 

“Miss Malon, your baby appears to be perfectly healthy. You may go home with her now.” A nurse said, handing the baby to her. “But before you go, you need to tell me what you're going to name her. Have you and your husband agreed on a name yet?”

 

Malon hasn't talked to Ivo in days since the baby was born.

 

“Rose,” Ivo suddenly said. “We've decided to name her Rose.”

 

“What a lovely name. I'll write it down on the certificate. Give me a second.” She hobbled over on her stocky legs to another room and pulled a sheet of parchment from a box. She took out a quill and wrote in a lovely cursive handwriting, “Rose.” She gave the parchment to Ivo and congratulated them once more.

 

“Thank you.” Malon smiled as she walked out to ride the wagon back home with Ivo.

 

Neither of them said a word, and Malon wondered why he wasn't making his usual wisecracks anymore. She didn't quite miss it, but she would've much rather had things be the same as before without the baby. She just didn't want to be a parent…

 

As the wagon pulled up to their house, Ivo helped her out and asked to hold the baby. She didn't really want to hold the baby, anyway, so she handed her to him.

 

A week passed by, and both parents still didn't say a word. They both, however, were equally involved in taking care of Rose.

 

One day, Malon found Ivo playing with Rose in the corral, letting her pet the horses' noses. She couldn't help but shed a tear of happiness that just maybe, Ivo had changed. Maybe he wouldn't force-feed her potion anymore, and maybe she wouldn't get raped. Malon hoped it wasn't too good to be true.

 

“Malon,” Ivo addressed her one day. “Why are you so quiet?”

 

“Why are you so…different?” she asked.

 

“What do you mean?!” he exclaimed.

 

“Ever since we had that child, you've been so…amazing. I can't believe I'm saying this, but…you're a good father.” She couldn't believe that she had complimented Ivo, her worst enemy of all time! But…she did.

 

“Don't think you're off the hook. We're having more after this one.”