Natasha of the goats (somebodyseyes) wrote in paradisolog, @ 2016-09-19 22:39:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | leonard mccoy (dammitjim), natasha romanoff (somebodyseyes) |
WHO: Leonard McCoy, Natasha Romanoff & Gertrude the goat
WHERE: The barnyad
WHEN: After this
WHAT: McCoy’s taking a look at Nat’s goat
WARNINGS: None
STATUS: Complete when posted
McCoy was trying to get used to this place and so far he had to admit it wasn’t bad. It was good to be close to Christine again, it was good to be on the solid ground of a planet and one that was actually pretty nice. It was gorgeous, nothing was trying to kill him or his friends and the people he’d met had been awfully welcoming. He didn’t have a lot of experience with animals, but they didn’t exactly have any veterinarians here and he couldn’t resist offering when Natasha had asked for help with the goat. He was confident he’d be able to figure it out, at least. He might not have much experience with animals, but he was well versed in human and alien physiology. He was also probably the best person here to deal with this. Arriving where Natasha had told him, he nodded a greeting at her. “Natasha, it’s nice to finally meet you in person,” she said as he reached out a hand to shake hers. She’d had to learn to do a lot of things in her line of work in order to maintain her cover but taking care of animals was not one of them. Natasha had started hanging around the animals when Bucky had been here and then Lagertha had helped her learn how to milk the goats and how to make cheese. Much to her surprise, she actually enjoyed spending time in the barnyard and strangely enough she’d come attached to a couple of the goats. One in particular who was always happy to see her and whom she’d actually given a name. Not that she told anyone she’d named the goat but she had. She’d named her Gertrude and she’d always been one of the best milk producers. Under the last couple of days when she wouldn’t let Natasha near her. Thankfully McCoy had agreed to look at the goat even though he wasn’t a veterinarian but hopefully that wouldn’t matter. He could figure it out, she was sure of that. She smiled when he arrived and shook her hand. “It’s nice to meet you too. I hope you can figure out what’s wrong with Gertrude...I mean the goat.” she laughed. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I got kind of attached and named her. I haven’t gotten around to naming them all yet but I probably will.” McCoy wasn’t especially an animal lover, at least not in the sense of getting attached to them. He’d had a dog as a kid, but that was a long time ago and most of the creatures he kept around these days were for science. Still, he wouldn’t begrudge someone else the attachment and he smiled a little fondly as Natasha called the goat by name. “Nothing wrong with getting attached,” he said good-naturedly. “Let’s have a look, shall we?” He got to work, then, taking a few moments to examine the goat with the limited tools he had at his disposal. For several moments, he didn’t say anything past a few hmms and ahhs. Finally, he leaned back on his heels and looked over at Natasha. “Well, I guess congratulations are in order. You’re gonna have a kid on your hands. Probably pretty quickly if human gestation around here is anything to go by.” Natasha’s mouth dropped open. “She’s pregnant? Oh my god. I never even thought of that.” It made sense, there were both male and female goats in the barnyard and they’d be as likely to reproduce as the humans. It just hadn’t crossed her mind that there might be expecting a goat. “Well animals pretty much know what to do, right? Like they just have their babies without any help unless something goes wrong? Like being in the wild?” “Pregnant,” he confirmed. He was kind of amused by her shock. She had to know the animals here could reproduce as easily as the humans could and from what Christine had told him, that was very easily, if both parties wanted it. The academic in him wondered if the same was true for the goats or if Arva had just decided they needed another. “It’s mostly instinct,” he assured her, smiling again at her questions. “Sometimes, just like with people, they need a little help, so it would be a good idea to watch her and have someone there when the time comes, just in case, but most likely she’ll be fine.” “I wonder how pregnant she is,” Natasha knelt down and rested her hand on the goat who didn’t flinch this time. “I’m not sure how long it takes for goats but she’s been really fussy for a couple of days now. Maybe that means it’s soon?” she looked up at McCoy. “I mean I’d be fussy if was about to have a baby and someone kept grabbing me in places I didn’t want to be grabbed.” “Normal gestation is about 5 months,” he answered. “With the way pregnancy’s accelerated here, it might be less. I’d guess about 6 weeks if it’s on par with the shortened human gestation and it’s hard to say how long ago she conceived. We’d be smart to be ready at any moment.” He smiled fondly at the way she acted with the goat. Natasha had acted pretty tough when they’d first met on the network, but he felt privileged to witness a softer side of her here. He got the sense it wasn’t a side many people got to see Natasha was studying the goat while McCoy talked and suddenly she reached out and grabbed his arm. “Um..I think we have our answer about how far along she is…” The goat had started bleating and plopped down on the straw and rolled over onto her side. “I think that we’re about to have a baby. Not us...I mean she...is about to have a baby.” She looked up at him. “So Doc, what do we do? I mean if she was human I’d hold her hand but she’s not so should I sit at her head and talk to her while you catch?” McCoy’s eyes went wide as he caught on. He’d hoped for a little more time to prepare for this, not that he could actually access databanks or do any kind of real research on the island. “You realize I’ve never actually birthed a goat before,” he said when she looked to him for advice. It would be mostly instinct for the goat. He didn’t they they’d have to do much. “We might need something sharp if the placenta doesn’t come off easy,” he theorized. “Otherwise, we just wait, keep an eye on her and make sure she’d not in any distress.” He really hoped this went smoothly, because when it came to actually delivering a baby goat, he really was talking out of his ass. He honestly had no clue what he was doing. “Wait. I’ve got something you can use if you need it,” Natasha reached in the pocket of her shorts and pulled out a knife. “What? Don’t all women carry around SHIELD grade weaponry?” she grinned. She usually kept it strapped to her thigh but when she was wearing shorts that was out of the question. She moved to squat in front of Gertrude and patted her head. “You’re gonna be fine, mama,” she said. “Even if neither one of us has a damn clue what we’re doing here. Thankfully animals have been doing this for millions of years.” Natasha looked up at McCoy. “Anything coming out there, yet?” He grinned back at her, deciding he liked her. While she moved to the goat’s head, he took the other end. He nodded approvingly as she spoke soothingly to the animal. It seemed like there were a lot of sides to Natasha Romanoff. She intrigued him a lot, but that was a thought for another day. For now, they had a kid to birth. “There’s some discharge, that’s actually a good sign,” he said after a few moments. “I think our kid is gonna make an appearance soon.” “Hear that? Not much longer, okay, hang in there,” Natasha rubbed the goat’s head and raise her eyes to look at the other end. “Well she seems to be fine so hopefully this won’t be too bad.” She was glad she wasn’t squeamish or she would have long since given up and left. Natasha had seen far too much chaos in her lifetime, not to mention causing a good deal of it, to let the birth of a goat get to her. “You’re doing great,” he said, not sure if he meant the goat or Natasha. He was actually pretty impressed by the latter. Not a lot of women could have done this without getting squeamish about it. He guessed Natasha wasn’t a woman who minded getting her hands dirty. It was a quality he liked in a woman. It was another 30 minutes without much more for either of them to do before the kid emerged and McCoy moved to help peel back the sac and watched to make sure the mama would do her job. He could jump-start the kid’s respiration if need be, but it was better if it happened naturally. “Oh my god….” Natasha’s voice was filled with wonder when the baby was free of the sace and got to it’s feet. “”You did it!” she said to Gertrude who was already nudging her baby toward its first meal. Standing up she took a quick glance and laughed. “I think it’s a girl? I’m not certain but I’m not about to look right now. I think Mama might not appreciate it.” She grinned at McCoy. “Nice job, doc. You might have a future in veterinary medicine.” “You did half the work,” he reminded her, grinning over at her. “Or at least a third of it. I think Gertrude actually did the most of it.” It was a hell of an experience, that was for damn sure. He’d delivered all manner of alien babies before, but this was a first for him. “Hard to tell at this point,” he added, “but we can check it out later. Give mama and kid time to bond.” Natasha nodded. “I think that’s a good plan. It certainly seems to be true, it’s all instinct. Makes me feel a little better about what it’ll be like if I ever have one.” she laughed. “Although it will probably take a little bit longer than that.” She paused for a minute. “Hey, I’m sorry I gave you a hard time when you first got here, about Pepper I mean. It’s just that she’s my best friend and I’m worried. I know she’ll be fine, I know that she’s thought this through up one side and down the other but it’s not something I’ve ever heard of before. At least you’ll be there and I know she and Pepper Jack will be fine.” McCoy shook his head at that. “It’s all right, Natasha. You didn’t know me and you were worried about your friend. It’s only natural.” He paused before making a further attempt to reassure her. “A water birth is actually a good idea, you know,” he told her. “It’ll help ease the discomfort and might speed up the labor. There’s some risk of infection, but she’ll have me and Christine there to make sure she and the baby are alright. This might have been my first goat, but I’ve delivered hundreds of babies before. She’s in good hands.” “Well I never would have guessed it was your first goat, you did great,” she smiled. “But yeah, I know she’s in good hands although someone might have to pick up Wedge if he passes out. I hope he can swim.” Natasha laughed. “But right now I am going to take a shower because I know this was the miracle of life and all that but I don’t want to walk around for the rest of the night smelling like a goat.” “Need a hand with that, too?” he asked with a grin that should have made it obvious that he was joking. He wasn't actually trying to join her in the shower, even if he could admit that Natasha was an incredibly sexy woman. She raised an eyebrow at his words. “I appreciate the offer but I normally don’t share the shower on a first goat delivery. Maybe the second, we’ll see.’ She shot him a cheeky grin. “Or wait until we deliver our first sheep and then we’ll talk.” “Well, then, I'll hope the sheep are as prolific as the rest of the island,” he returned, grinning back at her as he stood up. He was glad she'd taken his joke for what it was, even if he wouldn't have really objected much had she decided she did need some help. “Until next time, Nurse Natasha,” he added, still grinning as he gave her a little wave and started back toward the shelter he and Jim were working on putting together. |