Who: Caden Flint and Finn McLaggen
What: Mackenzie's Death, Marcus' Birth
Where: St.Mungo's/Finn's apartment
When: July 13, 1974



Caden really couldn't remember what he had been doing about an hour ago. Everything had happened so fast, and he could barely trace back his steps to figure out he had gotten to where he was. He could remember Mackenzie telling him that she had a bad feeling about the baby, and that she was in pain, and she couldn't feel it moving, and it was always moving. Usually, it kept her up all night. But now it wasn't. Caden told her that it was probably nothing, that the baby was probably just...resting. But what did he know? No, Mackenzie insisted that they leave right away. She was worried about it, and wanted to make sure it was alright. That was why he took her to Mungo's.

They got there, and they checked everything out. There was a lot of commotion, and they asked Caden to leave the room because they needed to do an emergency cesarean, since the baby's cord had gotten tangled around it's neck, and it wasn't able to breathe. His kid wasn't breathing, and his heart started racing, and he started pacing back and forth in the waiting area of the hospital. No one else was there, he didn't expect this to be happening right now, his kid wasn't able to breathe and they had to cut open his wife to get it out and...so much was happening. He was going to be a Dad, and--

Holy shit, he was about to be a Dad. Was he ready for that? Were they ready for that? They were both really young, and he probably wasn't going to be around much, so Mackenzie would have to be there for the most part, and he'd always be off doing something, but he'd really try to be a good Dad but...oy, she was the one that wanted kids bit...Fuck! No, this was a good day! This was, he was about to be a Dad, and she was about to be a Mom.

Or, so he thought. When the doctor came out to speak with him, the first question he asked was "Is it okay? Is-...it's okay, right?" the doctor nodded, and opened his mouth to say something else, but before he could get another word out, Caden started again. "So there's nothing wrong with it right? It's...perfectly healthy? And it's gonna be okay? And how's Mack, she's alright, yeah? Did she see it yet? And what is it? Is it a boy or a girl? We didn't want to know, but she wanted a girl, I didn't really know what I wanted, and...fuck, sorry, I-...everything's alright, yeah?"

The Doctor swallowed and looked down at his chart, which made Caden furrow his brows. "What is it?"

"There were...complications with the surgery, Mr.Flint."

"But you-...you said it was alright, you said it was fine."

"Oh, yes, the baby is fine, it's...it's Mackenzie."

Caden felt his jaw clench and his heart stop beating. "...what about her?"

"It's very rare for this to have happened, we did all we could to-"

"What happened to my wife?" His heart seemed to be making up for the beats it had missed just a moment ago because it sped up.

"...Mackenzie lost a lot of blood, because of the cesarean...we had to get the baby out, but we did all we could to stop the bleeding, and when we tried to get everything placed back inside after the baby was out, her uteran wall ruptured, and...--"

This couldn't be happening. This couldn't fucking be happening. "And what?!"

"...she...hemorrhaged to death. There was nothing more we--"

That was the last thing he remembered. He didn't remember what he said, but he did remember that six people had to pull him away from the poor doctor who was pinned up against the wall. He didn't remember that he had punched that same wall, so why his hand was bleeding, he didn't know. He didn't remember that they had asked if he wanted anyone there, and he didn't remember that the first person who came to mind was his best friend. Not his Mom, not his Dad, but Finn McLaggen. Honestly, all he knew was that he was currently sitting in the waiting area, on the floor with his legs pulled close to him, his elbows resting on his knees as his palms pressed against his forhead, trying to figure everything out.

Caden Flint was a godsend. Not that Finn would ever, in all of his many wizarding life years, tell the bloke that, but honestly? He would've shipped himself off to the air force after his first season with the United, if it hadn't been for Caden. Last year was his rookie year, and the first few weeks had been utter hell. The team was pissed that the coach was starting a rookie over their seeker (not Finn's fault that the guy sucked, honestly) and he literally didn't speak in Puddlemere Pitch unless spoken too for at least a month. Until Caden stepped up and asked him out for drinks, which Finn stuttered and agreed to. Since then, not all of it the fault of his subconcious, Finn had found himself attached to Caden. It helped build bridges to the other teammates, it helps his overall performance on the pitch and he'd just this past weekend signed a contract extension.

So, Caden Flint was a godsend, and when Finn got the slightly morbid, strange owl from St. Mungo's, he was there in an instant. He'd never been to the hospital before, so it took him quite a bit to find the maternity ward (Creature-Induced Injuries? The wizarding world never ceased to surprise him). After going up the wrong lift twice, Finn finally skidded into the maternity ward, spotting the waiting room---where was Caden?

"Excuse me," Finn asked the front desk quietly. The girl behind the counter's eyes widened and a part of Finn was excited that someone recognized him, because that hadn't happened yet; oh man, that meant people were actually paying attention to him---ah, McLaggen, get back to the point, "Could you tell me where Caden Flint is?"

The woman's eyes saddened immediately and pointed across the room, and Finn followed her hand. He spotted Caden's curled up position and rushed across the waiting room, kneeling down in front of his friend, "Caden?"

Even as he heard the familiar voice, Caden remained silent and still. There were so many thoughts running through his mind right now, and he just wanted the pain to go away, and he just wanted his wife to still be alright, and...fucking hell. If it wasn't for the slight shift in his position, Finn might have thought that he wasn't even aware of his presence. That wasn't the case at all, but Caden just...he couldn't do anything. All he wanted to do was hurt someone, and all he wanted to do was have his wife back. They just needed to give Mackenzie back to him and he'd be fine, he would be fucking great. But no, they couldn't. They were fucking useless. They were able to save the kid, but not her. What fucking good did that do anyone?

"...it's a boy."

His voice was rough and quiet, a bit muffled by his arms because of how he was sitting. But, he eventually was able to drop them down so they were limp between his knees. Most normal human beings would be crying right about now, but Caden just...he couldn't. Anger replaced his grief. He was angry at everyone right now, all for different reasons. All he knew was that he wanted to hurt someone, and he wanted everything to not be real. He couldn't grasp everything all at once. He was definetly in a daze, and he couldn't handle it right now.

"It's a healthy baby boy."

Why he felt like he had to repeat this information, he didn't know. Maybe it was because it was what he was originally supposed to tell everyone when they got to the hospital after she gave birth, and not 'Mackenzie died'. He was prepared to tell everyone that the baby was alright, and what she had given birth to, and how happy they were.

Fuck his plans, right?

Finn wasn't a genius, he wasn't that socially inept, but he put things together quickly. Something was wrong with Mackenzie, if the baby was okay and Caden was sitting here looking ready to die. He looked around for a healer (that's what they were called, right?) before looking back down at Caden. How do you ask something like that, and of course Finn was fearing the worst, but...that couldn't be it. The whole team had been so excited about Baby Flint, they were all welcoming a new person to their family, and--Finn shifted out of his kneeling position and sat beside Caden, trying to figure out what he should do or say, or if he should do anything at all.

Maybe he should just wait for Caden to say something, or for a healer to come by. Buggering hell, he'd gotten a bad feeling from the owl, but there was no way he'd have thought something like this. Finn didn't even know what this was and he already felt like complete shit.

He did all he could do at the moment, he didn't need to find out details to comfort his friend; Finn put his arm loosely around Caden's shoulders and let out a breath.

"Don't."

Caden moved away from what he knew was supposed to be a comforting gesture, rising up to his feet with hardly any effort at all. The last thing he wanted was to be touched right now. If someone touched him, he had a feeling he'd just want to punch them more than he already wanted to punch something. He knew his Mom would just try to hug him and tell him it was alright, and his Dad would do that thing where he patted Caden on the shoulder, or wrapped his arm around him, much like Finn just did, to try and make him 'feel better'. What the fuck was that supposed to do? What fucking good?

Caden spent a good minute or so, slowly pacing back and forth infront of Finn, one arm crossed over his chest as the other was propped up against it, his hand rubbing against his jaw as he tried to figure everything out.

"She said there was something wrong."

Honestly, he wasn't trying to be cryptic, but he was trying to piece everything together. If Finn wanted to get the whole story, he'd really have to be patient here. Flint wasn't someone who was good with words to begin with, so now that he had to explain that his wife had just died during childbirth? Yeah, it was going to take him a while.

"We got here...they said that the...cord, was wrapped around it's neck. It wasn't breathing so they had to, go in and...fix it." He scoffed at the word 'fix' and shook his head, moving so both of his hands were behind his neck, leaning his back against the wall opposite from him.

"She bled to death."

Fucking hell, even as he said it outloud he couldn't believe it. This wasn't happening.

"What--" Finn was too shocked by Caden's words to scramble to his feet, it felt like he'd been knocked in the head with a bludger (like that one time in fifth year--) and his eyes searched for something to focus on that wasn't Caden. Mackenzie couldn't be dead, there had to be a mistake; no, she was supposed to bring Baby Flint to opening day, they were supposed to embarrass Caden with a locker full of blue pacifiers, they were supposed to happy. He finally stood up, hands sitting at the top of his head because he had no idea what else to do with him.

This couldn't be happening, this didn't make any sort of sense---Finn dropped his hands, they were shaking so hard and---"Get out!"

A cluster of nurses and passersby had formed by the entrance of the waiting room, and Finn stormed over, "Get out!"

He didn't care if they would report this to one of those gossip rags, or how the headlines would make him out to be a hothead youngster---Caden didn't deserve to be watched and gawked at while he suffered. Finn slammed the door shut, pulling out his wand and locking it.

It was a good thing that Finn had noticed the doctors and Nurses, because Caden was certain that if he had been the one to catch them staring at him like they were, things would have ended badly. But really, who was he kidding? He was barely aware of his surroundings right now let alone people staring at him. He knew where he was, and he knew why he was there, but there was too much to focus on. Too much to think about.

Fuck, his head hurt...

His hands rose up to rub at his eyes, not even flinching as the door slammed shut. He couldn't say 'thank you', or anything of the sort, so he just remained silent at Finn got everyone away from the room. Part of him figured that the kid's temper was just going to draw more attention, and there would be a flock of people waiting outside when he actually left. He had a feeling that it wouldn't just be Doctors out there.

"I don't know what I'm gonna do...what the fuck am I supposed to do? How the fuck am I supposed to--..."

He stopped talking, pushing his palms against his eyes as he squatted down, sliding against the wall so he was squatting.

"I told her it was nothing. That everything would be fine, that the baby would be...fine..." he went quiet, and there wasn't a sound from Caden until at least a few minutes later.

"It's fine. It's fine, it's fucking fine, and she's not, and...I can't do this. I can't fucking...do this, it wasn't supposed to be like this, it wasn't supposed to be her...I wasn't ready to lose her...I wasn't ready. I wasn't fucking ready, she was supposed to be fine..." His voice started to shake as he spoke, the anger and pain reflected in each word he spoke.

Finn turned back to Caden, watching him mutter and literally melt to the ground. He didn't know what to do. He didn't know what to do. Tibs would know, but he couldn't exactly go and--Finn ran a hand over his head again and took a breath, taking a step and pausing before he continued toward Caden. They couldn't stay locked in the room forever, and if they left through these doors then the nurses and fans would really be swarming after Finn's little display. No, they needed to leave, and Finn bent down in front of Caden, visibly shaken by the anguish in his mate's voice.

"We're going to get out of here, okay? And you can do whatever you want to do, but we're going to get out of here." Finn didn't give Caden an option; sometimes you just needed to take charge to fix a situation. His hand went onto Caden's shoulder and he side-along apparated them to Finn's hole in the wall flat. He still hadn't gotten that big contract deal, so for now---

"Okay, okay---"

Caden didn't have a chance to say anything, or do anything before he felt the horrible feeling that happened during apparation, his hand gripping at Finn's arm as they popped from the Hospital room to his apartment. As soon as he gained his sense of balance, he shoved his friends arm away from him once more, now standing as he moved around the apartment. Part of him did think it was a good idea for them to leave that room, since he was going insane just being cooped up, but he couldn't really do anything here, either. He moved over to Finn's couch, placing his hands on the back of it so he could lean, closing his eyes as he listened to him start to speak again, shaking his head at the one repeated word. "No, Finn, it's not fucking okay so just...stop!" He hung his head down and sighed. His entire body was tense, and he really just wanted to throw himself infront of a moving train, since that would probably be less painful than what he was feeling right now.

"...I could have dealt with losing a kid..." He straightend up, and moved around the room, just so he had something to do. The words that were coming out of his mouth were harsh, and maybe even a bit...morbid, but they were truthful. "If the baby died, it could have been alright...there could have been others, we could have tried again...I wasn't even sure if I was ready for kids yet, but she...she wanted one. She wanted someone to take care of when I wasn't there, and she wanted a baby, and she talked me into it, and I started to think that we really were ready...we got the new apartment with a nursery, we got the furniture, we got everything...and now it's just me." He stopped talking when he was infront of the couch, taking a seat on it as he placed his head in his hands. "We could have tried again...we could have adopted, and now--"

He stopped himself and moved his hands back to link behind his neck, still hunched forward. "I can't raise this kid. It's just going to be a constant reminder, and I can't fucking do it..."

A huge part of him wanted to shout at Caden and tell him that wasn't the way to think of this, to not look back at the 'mistakes' made, but Finn knew this was not the time or place to play therapist. He didn't stand behind Caden, no, he shuffled over dumbly to the kitchen. He'd let Caden rant, break his shit (it's not like he had anything worth anything anyway), he could do whatever he wanted if it made him feel a little better, because fucking hell if Finn knew he'd be a compleete and utter mess if one of his family members died.

Finn dug through his cabinet, finding a glass and carefully grabbed a vial of sleeping potion. He'd been keeping a stash because, well, the party life of a quidditch player did not bode well for six a.m. practices. He peeked over his shoulder before pouring it into Caden's water bottle (it was clear, Tibs would kill him if he knew he was basically dependent on the thing).

"Here," he said, tossing it over to Caden. It wouldn't look like he was being too sensitive, that way.

It was a good thing that Caden was still able to catch, because if Finn had just knocked him in the head with a waterbottle, things wouldn't have been any better for either of them. He would have said thank you if he was in the right state of mind, but instead he just twisted off the cap and took a large, much needed sip. His throat felt closed up, and his mouth had gone dry a while ago, but that was really the least of his concerns. He was a Dad. He was a Dad, and he couldn't get used to it. He couldn't get used to being a Widower, either. Both had happened at the exact same time. Births were supposed to be happy, weren't they? Why the fuck couldn't he feel happy? Nothing seemed to be going right for Caden. Nothing.

He remained sitting on the couch for a while longer until his head started to feel light. Instinctively he took another sip of water, but it didn't help. "...what the fuck?" He stared down at the bottle, blinking to try and focus on it, as though there was something there that he hadn't seen before. No, it was perfectly normal, so then why did he feel so dizzy? Just another thing to add to his list of why that day was probably the worst day of his life.

"Listen...I need you to do me a favor..."

He rubbed at his forehead as he tried to focus on what he was saying.

"I need you to owl my family, and hers...tell them-...tell them what you can...I can't do it again..."

Caden was quite lucky that Finn was a seeker, because there's no way a bulky beater would've been able to cross to the living room fast enough to catch his slumping body. There was a bit of a groan, as Caden wasn't exactly the smallest person in the world, but Finn did have a bit of height and weight on him, so after he got his grip was able to sling his mate's arm around his shoulder. By the time he got to his bedroom Finn had remembered he could've just pulled his wand, but no matter how long he'd been in the wizarding world, using magic still came second nature.

He dropped Caden onto the bed, not bothering to fix his position because he'd poured enough sleeping potion to...well, he'll just be asleep for a while. Finn ran a hand over his face and sighed. Do him a favor. Caden needed him to do him a favor. Jaysus fucking---

This wasn't a favor, this was having to break it to a set of parents that their daughter was dead. This was delivering the worst news of someone's life--Finn stood at the end of the bed for a moment, tongue twisting furiously in his mouth as he tried to build up the nerve. He was almost mad at Caden for making the request, but left the room and found his cloak. The thought of Mackenzie's family finding out through the media was even worse than what he was about to do, so Finn just sucked in a breath and disapparated with a crack.