Disclaimer: I own nothing that has anything to do with Veronica Mars or the characters, unless you count the DVDs. This is just for fun.

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Enjoy


Chapter 2

Keith Mars had been sitting at his desk working when the phone rang, he answered it on the second ring. "Good afternoon, Mars Investigations, this is Keith Mars."

"Mr Mars, it's Duncan. Veronica's sick, we're in an ambulance on the way to the hospital."

Keith was instantly fearful, he knew Veronica hadn't been well that morning. "…the baby?"

Duncan paused for a moment, "The paramedics say she's in labour, they're trying to stop it."

"Okay, tell Veronica I'm on my way," Keith said, already hunting for his car keys. "What hospital are you going to?"

"San Diego Women's and Children's"

"I'll meet you there as soon as I can. Take care of my girl." Keith said, his voice heavy with emotion.

"I will. See you soon."

Within a minute Keith's car shot out of the driveway, and sped away towards the hospital.


Keith arrived just forty minutes after Veronica's ambulance, he parked his car haphazardly in the hospital's main carpark, before he rushed towards the main hospital tower. He all but ran into the foyer, only to be stopped in his tracks by a considerable line of people waiting to speak to the receptionists, he tapped his foot uneasily as he waited in the queue for several minutes before giving up and pushing his way to the front of the line, ignoring the looks of frustration shot at him by everyone he moved in front of, the receptionist had no chance to tell him to wait, before he said, "My daughter was just brought here, Veronica Mars, can you tell me where she is?"

Sighing, the receptionist typed the name into her computer and after a moment she told the clearly worried father, "She's on ward 4b, room 17. Take the lift to the fourth floor and go left, it'll be at the end of the hall. Good luck."

Before the last words even left her mouth, Keith was running towards the lifts, catching one just as it was leaving, and going straight upstairs.


Back in Veronica's room, the medical staff was still working quickly to stop Veronica's labour from progressing, hoping to keep the baby from making an appearance just yet.

Duncan was still fixed to the back wall, transfixed on what was happening, but unable to bring himself to move back to Veronica's side, until-

"Duncan? Please," Veronica called out in a frightened tone as she stretched out her arms towards him. The staff had put her back rest basically upright, and so Duncan was looking her in the eye as she asked, seeing the tears welling, he couldn't bring himself to stay back, and stepped up to Veronica's side, once again taking hold of her hand.

The obstetrician, Dr Gregory looked up at Veronica's face from where he was sitting on the other side of the bed, performing an ultrasound of the baby. "Alright Veronica, the baby looks okay at the moment, strong heart beat, developed well for twenty six weeks, there's no signs of placental abruption or previa, which is good, it means that as far as we can tell you aren't in immediate danger. We're giving you some medications that sometimes work to stop labour, but we're also going to give you a medication that will help mature the baby's lungs in case of a premature birth."

"Please, please just make it stop, it's too early." Veronica pleaded as Natalie connected two more IV bags to the ever increasing number.

Dr Gregory nodded reassuringly, as he told Veronica, "We're going to do everything we can, you just need to try to stay as calm as possible, keep your breathing nice and slow, it'll help."

"Okay," Veronica replied softly, "Just please make it stop."


Luckily the medications worked in just minutes, and Veronica started to relax. Dr Gregory looked at the monitor that was measuring the contractions, and after a moment, he comfortingly told Veronica and Duncan, "It's looking much better, the contractions have stopped now, we'll keep you on the magnesium, and with any luck that will keep labour from starting again until this baby's ready to make an appearance."

Veronica sagged with relief. "Thank you, thank you so much." She then lay back against the back rest, suddenly exhausted. "So tired."

"An unfortunate side effect of the magnesium, I'm afraid you'll have to put up with it. Just try to rest as much as you can. Now, I need to go check on my other patients, but Natalie is going to stay here with you for awhile, and if you need anything just ask her."

"Thanks." Duncan replied for Veronica, he could see how worn out she was.


Veronica was resting when her father arrived, Duncan wasn't doing much better, the adrenaline had worn off, and he had his head resting beside Veronica's arm.

Keith approached the bed cautiously, he didn't want to wake the pair, just from looking, he knew they needed to rest. He gently kissed Veronica's forehead, before moving away to take a seat in a lounge chair in the corner of the room.


It was over two hours before Veronica woke up, and when she did, her father was at her side in an instant. "Veronica? How are you sweetheart?"

"Dad... I'm okay, the baby's okay. Sorry you had to come all this way," Veronica told her father sleepily.

"Don't even think about it, I'm just glad you're alright. What happened?"

"The doctor said I was in premature labour, they've got me on drugs to stop it. Dad, they said I'm stuck on bed rest here until the baby's born."

Keith just leaned closer to his daughter, and kissed her on the forehead softly as he stroked her hair, murmuring, "I'll be alright, I promise honey, it'll all be alright."

"I'm scared, Dad."


It was five hours before Dr Gregory came back, he strode over to the bed, and greeted Veronica, "Hi Veronica, good to see you looking a bit better. How are you feeling?"

"Still pretty wiped out," Veronica replied, before she introduced her doctor to her father, "This is my dad, Keith Mars. Dad, Dr Gregory, he's been taking care of me."

"Nice to meet you," Keith said, shaking the doctor's hand. "You have met Duncan here, right?"

"I don't think we have officially met," Dr Gregory replied, before extending his hand to Duncan, "Good to meet you, young man. I take it you are Veronica's boyfriend."

"That's right."

"The baby's father?"

Veronica tensed immediately, fearful of Duncan's reaction, but Duncan took it in his stride, "No actually, we've only been back together a couple of months. It's complicated."

It wasn't really, but saying that was easier than going into the details, with would've most likely have been more than Duncan could handle.

"Okay then..." Dr Gregory said awkwardly, before he quickly changed the subject to what he was there for, "Do you all want to hear how everything's going? I'll just warn you, it isn't all good news."

"Please just tell us," Veronica requested softly, taking her father's hand, seeking comfort.

Dr Gregory sighed slightly, before informing them, "Right now, Veronica and the baby are doing well. But in my opinion it is very unlikely that Veronica will be able to carry the baby to full term, the best we can hope for is that we can hold off on delivering until the baby's more developed, the best thing would be if you don't deliver until thirty-two weeks, but realistically that won't happen, but even if we only give the baby a few days, or a couple of weeks, it will make a big difference. I understand that this is a lot to take in, and not an easy time for any of you, one minute things are fine, there's a baby on the way and you're getting ready for that, then you're facing the reality of having a premature baby who will most likely need to spend time in the NICU. I give this advice to everyone who comes through this unit, this is a marathon, not a sprint, right now things seem to be happening very fast, but in the coming months, Veronica you are going to be strong, and both of you need to be there for her, it won't do anyone any good if you let yourselves get worn down."


"How'd you hide it from us?" Duncan asked out of the blue, "Why couldn't I see it?"

"You mean why don't I look like a blimp, you know being twenty six weeks pregnant, and all?"
"Well yeah."

"It's pretty simple, I was worrying that the baby must have been too small, maybe I'd got my dates wrong. My OB explained it to me, your first child, your stomach muscles are better, it takes longer to show."


After that they stayed sitting there, mostly silent until a thought suddenly occurred to Duncan, he glanced up at the clock, it was nearly ten o'clock at night, he had to get back to Neptune for school.

Little did he know how much school he would end up missing in the coming months.

"Oh man, I'd better go. Sorry Veronica, but I've got to get back for a civics test first thing tomorrow. I'll come back after school tomorrow, okay?"

"No problem, I'll be here. Stuck in this damn bed."


TBC...