This story is dedicated to clairebear97, who's an awesome person and she requested this story, too! This is set in Fall Of Night by the way. So Claire and Shane are in Boston, but Claire still doesn't know that Shane is there yet.

I walked into my apartment in Boston and threw my purse and keys onto the miniture table next to it. I noticed that the spot where Liz usually put her keys was empty, so obviously she wasn't home. Probably slutting it up with some professor somewhere. That was a little cruel, but I really didn't care. I was in a lot of pain, as I had been all day.

It was 11:30pm and I had another 6:00am start tomorrow, so it was probably too late to get a bath but I trudged upstairs and ran myself one anyway. While I was waiting, I swung open the bathroom cabinet forcefully and scoured through it for some ibruprofen or some kind of pain killers.

The bath was almost full now, so I poured in some bubble bath and lavendar to (hopefully) soothe my aching back before juming in. It was hot at first, but nothing I couldnt handle, especially compared to the pain that was burning through my back and stomach.

I was only in the water for about 10 minutes when a sharp, stabbing pain radiated through my stomach. I gasped, repressing a scream and lunged forwards in pain. After a minute or two, the pain down and I started to cry. What was wrong with me?

I got out of the bath and pulled a towel round me. I'd barely picked up my phone when the pain hit me again. That's when I remembered Shane's words: "when you need me, I'll be on your doorstep faster than you can imagine".

I don't what I expected Shane to do, he was halfaway across the country in Morganville and I was here, in Boston. I guess that I just had an instinct deep down, to ring him. I grabbed my iphone and furiously dialed him, begging for him to pick up straight away. He did.

"Claire?" he mumbled groggily.

"Shane..." I cried hysterically down the phone.

"Claire," I heard him snap awake, "What's wrong?"

"I don't know," I mumbled, still crying. Then the pain hit again and I let out a small scream, "What's wrong with me?"

"Claire, listen. Don't freak out but I'm in Boston." That made me quiet. I wanted to be angry that he followed me, but it could wait.

"Please help me," I whispered and burst into tears again.

"I'll be there in 5 minutes, okay?" He told me.

"Okay..." I cried and put the phone down. I steadied myself onto my feet and used the wall to guide me as I threw on my pyjamas and managed to get downstairs to wait for Shane.

After less than 5 minutes, he knocked on the door. I knew it was him, because he used his signature knock. He was sweaty and breathing heavily, he must have ran here, but I'd never been so happy to see him! I wrapped my arms around him.

"Claire are you okay?"

"I don't know" I answered honestly, just as the stomach pain hit again, this time it brought me too my knees. Shane held onto me as I fell, supporting most of my weight. I screamed slightly through gritted teeth. Shane looked how I felt: terrified.

"I have to take you to a hospital." He clarified, grabbing Liz's car keys and sliding his arms under me. He carried me to Liz's car and put me in the passenger's seat before sliding into the driver's seat.

Once again, the pain subsided slightly. Not fully, like the other times, but enought to allow me to breathe. Shane was holding my hand and driving with the other.

"Just breathe Claire, It'll help" he said and the pain hit again (damnit), "What's going on?"

"I don't know" I screamed.

"Shh, it's okay." He spoke soothingly, pushing my hair behind my ears as he stopped at the traffic lights.

As we arrived in A and E, there were nurses already waiting for me. Some time whilst driving, Shane must have alerted them that we were comng in, although I don't remember. They put me in a wheelchair and rushed me up to a room where they plugged wires into every inch of my body and a doctor asked me every question I could imagine. Was I pregnant? Was I drunk? Was I a drug addict? Did I fall over or something crazy like that? Yadda yadda yadda. Obviously, I answered no to all of them.

The doctors were rushing around trying to get answers while the pain kept hitting me like a hunshot over and over again. Shane didn't leave my side once during the whole debacle.

That's when the final pain hit, this time it didn't go away.

The doctor from before rushed in, followed by a parade of nurses carrying all kinds of equiptment. Shane and I looked at each other, both us were completely confused.

"What's going on?" I whispered to him.

"You're 7 and a half months pregnant" the doctor interrupted, "and you're in labour"

My heart stopped. I was pregnant? No, I couldn't be. I'd never been sick and my cycle had been completely regular! There was no way. But then when I thought about the pain I'd been having, it made sense that I was in labour.

I looked over at Shane who looked even more scared than I thought was possible. We'd fought vampires, Bishop, the draug, Captain Obvious and all sorts but I'd never seen him more scared than this. I could see him mentally doing the maths, as he realised that he was going to be a father.

Most people had 9 months to prepare for a baby. Shane and I had less than 5 minutes to get ready as the nurse told me to push.