Johnny and Lucia are beyond surprised by the early phone call, but ecstatic at the news. The conversation ends with promises to be there as soon as they can. Calling Jakes is better to be left until after the baby is born, for everyone's sake. Mike sighs and prepares for the call he's been dreading. He's tempted to call Paul so he can avoid the verbal beating he's sure Charlie will be giving him, but his fears of what she'll do if he doesn't call her directly are worse so he picks speed dial three and waits anxiously for her to answer.
"What the hell is it Mike?" Comes a groggy voice, thick with sleep. Mike panics for a moment.
"Hi Charlie. Um… Well… You see," He mumbles like a drunken idiot.
"Spit it out, Mikey," He can hear the sigh in her voice, see the hand over her face as she listens to him babble.
"Paige is in labor!" He blurts, all traces of his cool gone. There is silence on the other end and Mike's worried she's hung up on him. "Hello?" He musters, but the line is dead. She never was a morning person. Resigning himself to the fact that he is a total mess, he walks back into Paige's room. She's in the thick of a contraction and he's pretty sure if she squeezes the bedrails any harder they will shatter.
"Here, honey, take my hand," He offers to her in a soft voice. She doesn't respond, but grips his outstretched hand like it's all she has left. Mike tries to let the growing pain in his hand go unnoticed until the contraction subsides. When it finally does, she releases his palm and he shakes it out to get circulation going again. He absently wonders if that's how hard she holds her gun when she's in a stressful situation.
They continue in this cycle of hand-breaking and numbing for the next half hour or so, only interrupted by a nurse coming in to check Paige's dilation. She is a full four centimeters dilated when Paul and Charlie arrive. Of course, Charlie is a mess, laughing and crying and doing what any other woman would do. Paul is much more reserved, though, bordering on uncomfortable. Mike notices that Paul's hanging out by the door and really only halfway standing in the room. He motions with a little jerk of his head and he and Paul disappear into the hallway.
"How are you not freaking out right now?" Paul says once they're out of earshot. His eyes are wide and he looks like he's about to have a panic attack.
"Who says I'm not? Maybe compared to you, but…" Mike trails off with a little laugh. Paul rolls his eyes.
"I guess it just hit me that this'll be me and Charlie in a few months. I mean, this makes it all feel more real. We're going to be parents," Paul rakes a hand through his black curls as they walk into the elevator, laughing silently in a slightly hysterical fashion. "It's so crazy."
Mike is now totally gone. "Oh my god, you're right. I'm going to be a dad. I'm not ready for that! What if I forget how to change a diaper? What if I drop it? What if—" His words aren't even coherent anymore, just little mumbled nothings.
"We're so screwed," Paul's rousing words of encouragement send Mike over the edge, and he crumples to the floor in a heap, eyes wide. He'd probably fall over if not for the wall of the elevator. His legs are sprawled out in front of him and his head is leaned against the side of the car.
Just then, the doors open into the lobby and they face a large group of people waiting for a car. They all mechanically turn towards the door, prepared to go in, but they stop upon seeing the emotional breakdown taking place. Paul smiles his apology, trying his best to avoid the creepy stares he's getting from the group. He decides that he and Mike will get off on a different floor and take the stairs down. Preferably the basement. Or the roof. So long as it's deserted, Paul doesn't care. The doors are about to close when they hear a shout from outside.
"Yo, Briggs! Hold the elevator!" Johnny is weaving his way through the crowd, dragging Lucia by her hand towards the rapidly closing elevator doors. He gets his hand in just before the opening shuts and the doors recoil, widening quickly to allow them entrance. Lucia and Johnny rush in, the doors closing after them. "What's with Mikey?"
"Labor seems to have done a number on him. We got in here and he was fine, but about two floors in, he was having a full blown panic attack," Paul states matter of factly, ignoring the sounds of Mike's hyperventilation in the background as if they aren't there. "We elected to stay in the elevator until his emotional breakdown ceases."
"Ah," Johnny mumbles in understanding, turning around and sitting down next to Mike, leaning against him in a comforting gesture that realistically only he could get away with. Johnny manages to snake an arm behind Mike's back and pull him close in a hug, willing him to relax. The group remains in silence, the only sound being Mike's erratic breathing. And eventually, he does relax. The shaking subsides, his breathing evens out, and he's back on his feet.
They're out of the elevator soon after, walking the stairs down to the ground floor. Briggs leads the charge, Johnny trails behind, and Lucia flanks Mike, all of them prepared to catch him should his legs give out. Once the stairs open to the airy lobby, Mike is steered towards a bench and gently sat upon it.
"JT, get some water," Briggs instructs casually. "Mike? You need anything else? Something to eat?" Mike nods briskly at the mention of food. He's just now noticed how hungry he is. Briggs gives him two thumbs up and saunters away in search of something edible, leaving him and Lucia alone.
It's quiet for a moment when he leaves, and Mike revels in it. He's been surrounded by a lot of silence tonight, but that was a thick kind of soundlessness, filled with stress and anxiety. It was a pregnant silence. Mike giggles a little at his own joke, which honestly isn't funny, but it's five-ish in the morning and his wife is in labor, so the idea that the quiet could be pregnant is mind-blowingly hysterical right now.
"Mike?" She snaps a finger and waves a hand in front of his face in an attempt to get his attention. He doesn't know how long he's been sitting there laughing like a mindless idiot at seemingly nothing, but it must have been a while if Lucia is getting impatient. I mean, the woman married Johnny, and if that doesn't speak to the insane amount of patience she has, Mike has no idea what does.
"Huh? Yeah?" He manages. Lucia smiles warmly at him.
"Are you sure you're okay?" She mumbles with a tinge of concern in her voice. She pushes a stray lock of his hair out of his eyes and he nods his answer.
"Yeah, Luka. I'm okay. A little shaken up is all."
"It's okay to be scared, you know," a slightly mocking tone jokes. Mike giggles a little at that one, before swiftly moving to poke her in the side. His little giggle turns into a full blown laugh at the way she doubles over. They laugh together as she recovers her composure.
"I'm not scared. Intimidated? Absolutely. Anxious? Damn right. But never will you see this tough guy scare at a little thing like childbirth." Mike grins at Lucia, but she doesn't really seem to be paying attention to him. Her gaze is glued to her buzzing cell phone.
"That's all well and good, Mike," She breathed out through a laugh before looking down. "But just so you know, if you don't get back in there soon, Paige is going to sic Charlie on you."
"Charlie? Yikes," He mumbles, smiling nervously. "Early morning Charlie?"
"Double yikes," Lucia finishes for him. "Go on up there. I can handle those two idiots for a little while." Mike kisses her cheek and thanks her before calling the elevator and making his way back into the labor and delivery room.
