Start Anew

The atmosphere was dangerously heavy as Brie took methodical breaths to calm her contractions as they ripped through her body. Everything was making her shoulders shake with anger. She couldn't tell what direction the air was blowing through the vents but she knew that whichever way it blew, it annoyed every fiber of her being.

Deep breaths weren't working to control her carelessly wandering mind. Every possible outcome of this birth ran through her thoughts, good and bad. The only thing she could focus on was the strange font on her hospital bracelet. Why didn't they just use something legible? She could hardly make out her full name and it brought panic to her chest.

Gripping onto the sides of the hospital bed, Brie recounted the moments that got her to this position. She knew, obviously, the ultimate reason she was about to give birth, but the details were hazy.

Roman wasn't her husband. He wasn't even her boyfriend, necessarily. He knew he was the father of this baby boy and he had already told his wife of the misfortunate event that resulted in Brie's untimely pregnancy. The untimely pregnancy that ruined two marriages and brought two friends to hysteria.

Nine months ago...

They knew it was wrong, but they didn't care. It felt better than they imagined it would.

"I want to kiss you," Roman whispered in the dark. They were standing inches from each other in Brie's nearly pitch black hotel room, refusing to take their anticipation to the final level. Once they consummated their confusing relationship, there was no going back. They wouldn't be able to ignore each other at work or pretend that nothing happened. Especially went the simple build-up was electrifying.

Brie blinked away any hesitations. She wanted this, she really did; even if it meant that her marriage might come to an end, she couldn't control the urge she had to just be with this man. "Then what are you waiting for?"

The permission he needed allowed him entry and he took advantage of the moment, sealing their space with a kiss. A passionate kiss that led to intimate and adulterous connections.

Present

Brie watched the expressions on the nurses face change as they checked her dilation. Apparently, she wasn't progressing well enough for the natural delivery she was hoping for and they were scheduling her for a cesarean section down the hall.

The brunette shook her head once the room cleared out and tears fell from her eyes. None of this was going as planned: Roman wasn't even there yet. He hadn't returned her calls after the initial "I'm going into labor" one and as far as she knew, he'd gotten hit by a bus or something. Her nerves were stinging and every breath brought her closer to another blistering contraction.

She just wanted this baby out of her, pronto.

Hours passed and more nurses and more doctors came in to check on her progression, which was practically nonexistent. Eventually they decided that they were putting off the inevitable: she was in dire need of a C-section at that very moment.

"I can't," she explained through painful contractions, "I have to wait for his father to get here."

"I'm sorry, ma'am, but we simply have no time. If we don't get this baby out within the next hour or so then his chances for survival are very limited." The nurse gave Brie a calming pat on the shoulder, but it didn't work. Brie wasn't going to be calmed down by any means.

Brie resumed sobbing while the nurses prepped her for surgery. Nobody was brave enough to console the worried woman as she fought through each stabbing breath because they all knew what happened when a laboring woman was angered: hell would break lose.

The nurses carefully pushed her bed out of the room and into the hall where Brie's family stood impatiently. They were ordered to wait in the designated waiting room, and after tearful prayers sent to her from outside her oxygen masked face they obliged to the nurses' orders.

All but one person in particular.

Brie looked up above her oxygen mask at the piercing blue eyes that were staring her down. He was finally there, standing over her with those same magical eyes that brought them together in the first place.

"I know, I know...I'm late."

"Late?" Brie yelled through the mask before ripping it off. "You're a century late, dumbass. I called you hours ago!"

"I had to fly over here from Toronto," he explained. "You've got a full house out there waiting for this baby, by the way."

The brunette attempted to control her anger, but all she could do was drop the mask back down onto her face and close her eyes. Her bed was wheeled into the surgery suite, where further preparation was taken place. Roman was escorted out so he could put on a gown, hairnet, and mask so he wouldn't contaminate anything and when he returned it was show time.

Brie's nerves couldn't be controlled and the curtain blocking her eyesight wasn't helping. She wanted to get everything over with and hold onto her baby boy until the world ended. The hospital around her was too much for her; she needed to get away.

"What about Ronald?"

The man's voice caught Brie's focus. "What?"

"For his name? Why not Ronald?"

The woman took a second to think about how obnoxious the man was to suggest an outdated name, but then quickly turned her anger into amusement with a hearty laugh. "There's no way in hell that we're naming our son after a president."

"What's wrong with naming him after one of this country's greatest leaders?"

"He's going to be a baby boy, not a politician straight from the womb. Or, worse, a spokesperson for McDonalds."

Roman shook his head and reflexively placed a hand on Brie's head, generously playing with her soft hair. Despite the sweat that was drying on her brow, she still looked mesmerizing under the fluorescent lights. He always thought she was prettier in the light, even if they're most exhilarating moments happened in the darkness of night. He wanted to be able to see her, all of her, for what she was.

A beauty queen.

"He can't be born without a name."

"Well then keep giving me ideas because we aren't going with Ronald," she explained with a disgusted expression planted on her tired face. Besides her newborn son, the one thing she needed was sleep. Lots and lots of sleep, in particular.

Roman looked down at her with curiosity. How she did it, he would never know. The entire pregnancy was hers and she never even attempted to share it with him. No matter how often he called in to check on the baby, regardless of how she was feeling or the place they were in at the time, she never detailed how things were going. She was too afraid to scare him away, thinking that mysteriously surviving such a pregnancy would attract him to her.

It worked, clearly, or he would never had continued to call. Every time she declined his paternal advances, he pushed harder.

"I'm not going anywhere," he assured her. "No matter how hard things get or how much you hate me, I'm not leaving. I'm going to take care of you both."

"We don't need you for that. I've got this under control."

"You only think you do. I'm the one who has been through this before."

"So I should just take everything you say as gospel? You aren't exactly Father of the Year, if you ask me, or anybody for that matter. You hardly even see your daughter anymore."

Roman clutched his left fist out of frustration but kept it down by his side. "I've done the best I can with what I've been given."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"You've turned me down at every opportunity. You never invited me to your appointments or allowed me to take care of you when you were sick. I only know that we're having a boy because you told Nikki and she told Renee, who told Dean." He could feel tears forming from all the pain he'd felt. He just wanted to take care of the mother of his newborn child. Call it pride or call it nurturing, but he couldn't stand the idea of the woman he cares about being left alone with his baby. "I told you from the beginning that I was going to do everything in my power to make sure you and this baby were taken care of."

"We can take care of ourselves."

"It doesn't matter. I'm going to love this child and you, regardless of how you feel about me."

Brie never took her eyes off of him. She'd nearly forgotten how strong he was, even with tears stinging his eyes. She allowed a few more tears to slip past her control before hearing the first wail come from her newborn son.

"Congratulations! It's a boy!"

The proud parents looked up at the baby with youthful eyes. The nurses placed the healthy boy on his mother's bare chest and allowed Roman and Brie to share a quiet moment as they patched up her abdomen.

Brie, who could barely see through her joyful sobs, placed one hand on her son's warm back and the other on Roman's larger hand. "He's here..." She placed a loving peck on the baby's head as he cried against her chest.

Roman smiled gleamingly at the sight. It was in that moment that he knew, without a doubt, that he loved that woman. She'd given him a son and a future. She was his forever and always. No matter how much he cared for his former wife, she wasn't Brie. Brie was everything to him. It made no sense to him, or anybody else for that matter, but the feelings that stormed his body as they made eye contact assured him that this wasn't a mistake.

Love isn't a mistake.

And it was always her. Since they met, it was always her that he wanted. Now, years passed and a child later, he knew it was for certain.

Once the nurses took the baby to be cleaned and weighed, Brie and Roman embraced for the first time in months. Their lips passionately brushed against one another's and they shared a silent moment as their son was attended to. In that moment, the atmosphere was no longer heavy. Love had lifted the burden of anxiety and fear.

"His name is Liam," Brie stated as they parted. Their foreheads remained attached and their tears mixed as they continued to fall. "Our son's name is Liam."

"I love it," he said softly. "I love Liam and I love you. My God, I love you."

"I love you too." Another kiss followed their revelations and they were once again joined by their sweet baby, Liam.

It was a scene made for the movies. A movie that would earn the new parents Oscars for their dramatic performances. One thing was for sure: Brie and Roman settled the score. They were able to move forward with their lives and start anew with their son, together as a beautiful family.

A beautiful family with everything ahead of them.