I skipped ahead a month...

The WHAT?

Hope couldn't believe the e-mail from her sister. She had to read it twice.

Had she finalized the what?

Bella wanted to know if the couple had decided on the delivery room "guest list."

Hope wrote back:

We haven't yet, But we have selected the refreshments, Finger sandwiches and cookies. BYOB. We're still looking for a DJ.

That part of the e-mail was sarcastic of course,

Hope then added:

Are you INSANE? Never mind, I take that question back. I'm TELLING you, you're CRAZY! It's not a fucking party! I'll be GIVING BIRTH. Unless you're required medical staff, if someone wasn't there when I conceived, THERE'S NO ADMISSION!

Bella even asked in the e-mail whether Mac "minded" being present at the birth of his child.

Mac had been reading the e-mail exchange from behind his wife, unknown to her.

"Should she direct that question to me?" He said, feeling ticked off.

"You should write her an e-mail. And she has zero boundaries. Just to remind you."

Witnessing the birth of his child was something he was counting the days for. He wouldn't be anywhere else for the world. According to his wife and from what she let him feel—often, the baby was moving almost constantly.

"Geez," Mac said, his hand on Hope's belly when she turned around in the computer chair. "Does he ever stay still?"

"I often say that at three in the morning," Hope said, Mac leaning in and kissed her abdomen.

"No wonder you find it hard to sleep."

"Or stand up," she said with a sigh.

Mac smiled.

"Let me help you out there," he said, taking her hands and gently pulling her to her feet. "Better?" He asked.

"Much. I'll need the same help in a few minutes to set back down. How was your first day back?"

Now at seven months pregnant, Hope had gained over twenty pounds and her growing belly was making movement a complicated and sometimes a near impossible task.

"That's what I'm here for. Today was all right. Kind of boring not being able to leave the lab."

Later, instead of e-mailing his sister-in-law and starting her up, Mac called Alicia, his mother-in-law. She would absolutely give her daughter a "talking to." Alicia wasn't completely shocked to hear that her older daughter would be so intrusive.

She may not have been surprised but she was mad, as was Nathan.

"The situation will be dealt with, Mac," Alicia said. "Now how's my daughter doing?"

"Well," Mac said, "she says that she looks and feels like a beached whale. But she's great. Baby's doing fine."

"Still a boy?"

Because of the wrong results that had been determined by the hospital technician, ultrasound images from all patients, including Hope Taylor were being reviewed. The doctor had called the day before and told the couple the sex was their baby had been judged correctly. They were still having a son.

"Yep. We're still picking out a girl's name and getting some girl's clothes, just in case."

So far it looked as if the parents-to-be were going to name their son Jesse McKenna Taylor. No other name deemed to fit. If the baby happened to be a girl, they thought they might call her Avery Elizabeth Taylor.

"And how are you feeling? I heard you back at work."

"Yeah. Started today. I'm not sure if I'm liking it, yet." Mac laughed.

Hope heaved a frustrated sigh, looking at the 3:07am.

And she had to pee yet again.

"You all right?" Mac asked in the darkness.

"Yeah. I gotta pee again."

Ever the helpful husband Mac got up from his side of the bed and went to help his wife up.

"That wasn't a hint for you to get up," his wife said. She couldn't help but smile, even at this hour.

"I know. But I like to do what I can."

When she first laid eyes on Mac Taylor over two years ago she never imagined they would be where they were today. If he had been interested in a relationship with her, she wasn't sure if he would want a family and while there wasn't anything wrong with that, it was a deal breaker for her when it came to a long-term relationship. Forty-one years wasn't old for a man to be starting a family nowadays but for some men they did feel they were too old.

Hope was excited when Mac told her that he too wanted a family. She couldn't help but smile at how nervous Mac seemed when she asked her out to dinner for first time. From that date on, the two were inseparable whenever they weren't working. From the beginning it had been so easy and comfortable to be around each other. Hope didn't have a second thought when Mac asked her to move in with him.

When he proposed to her, it was like a dream. Mac lovingly stroked his wife's belly when she got back into bed. He smiled as his wife lulled off to sleep in his embrace wondering how he had got so lucky to meet such a wonderful woman.