"Nick, wake up."
The relaxed form of the man on the bed grunted a little. With a hint of impatience the woman next to him shoved his shoulder again, a bit harder now.
"Nick."
He rasped and cracked one eye open, staring at the window with his back to his girlfriend. "What?"
"We need to go to the hospital."
Still mostly asleep, Nick rolled onto his back and frowned at her. She was beautiful, even with her hair rumpled and her eyes a bit puffy with sleep. He was too focused on the moonlight bouncing off her strawberry blonde hair to hear what she said.
"Are you listening?"
Nick blinked a few times, waking up a bit more. "Sorry. What?"
"My water broke."
The words resonated strangely, and Nick tried to process them through the fog of sleep. He'd never been good at waking up. Then he shifted and realized his hand was touching something lukewarm and wet. Nick twitched, sitting bolt upright and rubbing his eyes.
"Did you hear me that time?" she asked, voice a bit amused at his reaction.
Nick felt his mouth hang open before answering. "It's time?"
"Yep." she popped the 'p'. "Are you gonna gape at me all night or should we get going? The contractions are about five minutes apart."
Her boyfriend of nearly two years let out a deep breath through his nose, trying to think. "Uh…Five minutes…Didn't Dr. Castillo tell us to come to the hospital at five minutes?"
"That's why I'm waking you up, babe." she spoke as if to a toddler, fondly patting his leg through the thick comforter. "We should get going. Whenever you're ready."
Nick shook his head, finally awake enough to stare at her incredulously. "You're just waking me up now?"
"I thought maybe they were Braxton's, but apparently not. My water only broke a minute ago, so I thought I should wake you up."
Nick groaned and rubbed his face again. "What time is it, Ash?"
"About two in the morning." she checked the digital clock next to their bed. "Contractions started when we were having dinner."
"What?" he nearly shouted, a bit worried by her overwhelming calm. Then again, she was always pretty calm. "Why didn't you say anything?"
"Like I said, I thought they were false alarms. I've had them before, and they weren't anything. Remember when we went to the movies with Rochelle and Francis?"
Nick nodded numbly. "Yeah, we went to the hospital and it was nothing."
"Right. But this is the real deal. So I'm going to change into something clean, and you get my bag into the car, okay?" Ashley squeezed his leg reassuringly. "Sorry I had to wake you up. I thought I might make it until morning."
Untangling himself from the soiled bed, Nick nodded once more. "Yeah…Okay. What do you wanna wear, I'll get it from the closet."
"Anything comfortable. Thanks, babe." the woman propped herself up on her elbows, grunting a little to look over the huge lump of her belly. "Man, will I be glad to see my feet again…Are they gross?"
"Your feet are gorgeous." replied Nick automatically as he pawed through the drawers in the closet. Everything about her was gorgeous, even swollen with pregnancy. "Black sweat suit?"
"That hasn't fit since month seven." she chuckled. "Um…Your Lakers t-shirt and those red shorts you got me in Tijuana?"
"You got it." Nick snatched the two items from her pajama drawer and threw them at the bed, then grabbed the large duffle bag next to the chest in the closet. "Back seat or trunk?"
"Back seat would be easier. Would you grab my cell on the way out?" she threw her legs over the side of the bed with another low grunt. "It's charging next to the blender."
"Sure thing."
As if in a trance Nick went out to their Saab 9-3, grabbing her cell as asked on the way, throwing the bag in the back and considering starting it but deeming it unnecessary. It was pretty warm as far as nights went, and fairly dry, too. Nick tripped on the stairs back into their house, mumbling curses as he walked through the door.
"Ashley?" he snapped when he saw her grasping the counter and hunched over in pain.
She forced a smile through her grimace, free hand clutching her big stomach through his purple and yellow '24' t-shirt. "I'm okay. Just a really good one. Reeeaal good. This kid wants out, and they want out now."
The words hit Nick like a frying pan to the face. 'This kid wants out'. His kid…His kid was coming out. Abruptly the room spun and Nick put a hand on the wall to steady himself, Ashley's contraction ending just as his eyes started to roll back.
"Nick!" she shrieked. "Don't you dare pass out!"
He shook himself, brushing off his gray t-shirt and flannel pajama pants but still leaning on the wall. "Oh my God. We're about to have this baby."
"I know, that's what I've been trying to get through your skull for the last half hour." she grinned at him, patting the crest of her belly. "Did you take Lunesta again? You know it turns you into the living dead…Not literally, of course."
Nick smirked at her joke, able to see a bit straighter but still reeling on the inside. "Okay, I'm good." that was a lie. He felt like throwing up and screaming all at the same time. "Should we call your parents?"
"Let's wait until we get to the hospital." she gave him a knowing look as she pushed her long wavy hair over her shoulder. "You gonna call Ellis and Ro?"
"I'll call Ro. She'll get the word out." Nick chuckled at the mention of his very close friends. "You ready?"
"Mm hm. I already called Dr. Castillo, and she'll meet us there as soon as she can." for the first time a bit of nervousness snuck onto her face, and her gray eyes sparkled a little as she bit her lip at Nick. "This is scary."
"Hey." he said softly, closing the distance between them with thankfully strong steps. He grasped her face between his hands, looking down into the face of the woman he loved. "I made it through most of Georgia, and you kicked ass all up and down Florida. We lived through millions of zombies, we can make it through one little old baby."
Her pink bottom lip shook a little. "Our baby."
"Yeah." Nick smiled, hiding the thrill of horror that sent through him. "Our baby. Now…let's get to the hospital so you can have my son."
Ashley finally relaxed, raising an eyebrow. "I knew I was making a mistake not finding out the sex. You've been driving me nuts for almost nine months, Nick."
"Correction: I've been driving you nuts since we met at that CEDA camp two years ago." he kissed her lips briefly, savoring her sweet taste before forcing himself to focus. "Come on."
Nick held her freckled hand in his as they left their house, both thinking that when they returned they would be parents, but neither voicing the thought to the other. Nick helped Ashley into the passenger's seat, watching her fiddle with the seatbelt before striding over to the driver's side. Before climbing in he took a few steadying breaths, trying to convince himself that everything was going to work out perfectly.
Since when had that ever happened for him?
"Ah, shit! Fuuuuck!"
Nick winced as Ashley's fingernails drilled mercilessly into the back of his hand, their palms connected atop the gear shift. "Contractions must be a bitch."
"I'd rather play tag with a witch." she huffed, getting a pained laugh from her boyfriend. "How close are we?"
Glancing irritably at the red light that was holding them up, Nick shrugged. "A few more minutes. You'll make it, don't worry."
"I'm not worried about making it, I'm worried about getting a good room." admitted Ashley with a soft chuckle, contraction finally fading. "We should have booked the suite, but I was too caught up about money -"
"When you know I have plenty of it." Nick brought her slackening hand up to kiss it. He'd been the one insisting they get her a private suite, but she had refused. "Now if you have to give birth in front of a bunch of strangers you have no one to blame but yourself."
Ashley flicked his nose with her forefinger, still held close to his face. "Not funny. You'll hate it just as much as me if random people get to see my most intimate areas."
"You're right." grumbled Nick, imagining a perverted old man in a hospital gown peering into the room while Ashley had his son. Because it would be a son. "I'd like to keep those all to myself."
"Too bad for you, they're gonna be wrecked for a good month." she snorted at Nick's downtrodden expression. "But my mouth should be just fine."
He did a double take at her, hand tightening on the wheel. "Did you just make a pass at me while in labor?"
"The light's green." she batted her eyelashes, sitting back in the seat and giggling to herself.
Nick shook his head as he took off at surely illegal speeds, but they were alone on the streets and he was feeling increasingly panicked. "Sometimes I don't know why a vixen like you stuck with an old fart like me."
Ashley sighed at the old argument. She was only eight years his junior, but he always made it seem like he was her freaking grandpa. "Definitely the money…Maybe the sex."
"Ha, ha." Nick feigned laughter. Then a red and white neon sign caught his eye. "There it is. Emergency Room…Oh, boy."
Smirking, she grabbed his shoulder and squeezed. "Deep breaths, Nick. Not like I'm the one going through indescribable pain or anything."
"Oh, I am, too." Nick held up his right hand, showing her the deep red crescent marks she had left with her contraction. "Maybe they'll give me an epidural, too."
"No epidurals, remember?" interjected Ashley. That was one of the things she was firmly sticking to. "I don't want our baby's first glimpse of the world to be all trippy."
"Bet you fifty bucks you can't make it without one." blurted Nick, gambler instincts getting the better of him.
Never one to back down from Nick's bets, Ashley shook his hand quickly. "You're on, Suit. Or more appropriate to your current attire: Jim-Jam."
Nick pulled into the emergency room parking lot laughing at his girlfriend, glad that even in such an unbelievably stressful situation she could still make him relax.
Just a little bit, anyway.