Ok, here's my next installment. I hope you all enjoy it! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE let me know what you think! It would be the best CHRISTMAS Present ever! wink wink alright... on with the story.

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The world around them seemed to move in slow motion. It was as if they had never been apart. His eyes locked on to her and refused to falter as she returned his gaze. He was amazed at what he saw in her eyes. Guilt, sorrow, fear, and most of all love was swirling about in her eyes. The door opened and the nurse spoke to them but he could only make out partial words.

"She's ready... joining her but... stay out of the way... NICU needs to take her... she's in distress..."

The sob that escaped her mother's mouth pulled him away from her eyes and look at the nurse.

"What?" He was startled by the tears falling from her face.

"Your wife is doing fine but the baby is in distress. You can join her but we need you to stay out of the way. The NICU doctor needs to be able to take the baby as soon as possible." The nurse repeated and placed a gentle hand on his arm. She turned and pushed the door open, waiting patiently for the two to take their place in the delivery room.

He didn't even realize he was moving. Before it could register with him he was standing next to her, once again locking his gaze on her eyes and holding her hand between his own.

"I'm so sorry" She whispered through the pain.

"We need you to breathe honey! Focus on your breathing." The nurse said sternly. She took a towel from the tray and wiped her for head with gentle pats.

He couldn't find the words to say to her that could express the pain and excitement that he was feeling at that moment. All he could do was offer her words of comfort and help her through the contractions.

"Just breathe baby, breathe." He stooped down on his haunches so he was just below eye level with her. She began to pant and breathe heavily through the waves that washed over her body. Her mother walked behind him and put a hand on his shoulder and her other on their joined hands.

"Mom" She panted. "I'm scared." She sounded so childlike at that moment.

"I know honey. We're here for you sweetheart. Everything will be ok." She nodded and turned to attention back to the doctors and nurses.

"Ok, we need you to start pushing with your next contraction." She nodded again and looked at him for comfort.

"Just squeeze my hand, I'm here. I'm never going to leave you." He regretted the words as soon as they left his mouth. He saw her flinch slightly and try to offer a weak smile and it shattered the already broken pieces of his heart. He mouthed the words to her so only she could see, "I'm sorry too." Her expression lightened slightly before the monitors began to beep again.

"Ok this is it. We need you to push-" Before the sentence could be completed she was already sitting up in the bed screaming and pushing as hard as she could. Her small body was wrecked with pain and tears streamed down her face to mix with her already sweat damped face. After just a few moments the contraction subsided and the doctor announced that her head was out.

"Would you like to watch your daughter being born?" The doctor asked gingerly. His eyes searched hers for permission and she smiled and nodded to him to join the doctor. As soon as he stood up and walked to the end of the bed her mother had taken his place and began to wipe her daughters face lovingly.

He was amazed at the sight before him. In all his life and all the beauty that he had seen didn't seem to compare to what he saw coming from his partner. A tear slipped down past the barriers and he looked up at her, smiling widely. "She's beautiful."

"Ok, this is the big one. One more big push!" She prepared herself and pushed up from the pillows and steadied her breathing. Without much warning the waves of pain crashed down over her body again and she let out a startled scream before beginning to push with all her might.

He watched in amazement as the small body was being guided from her by the doctor's gentle hands. She slipped out, to him, it seemed effortlessly but he saw the look of discomfort etched on his partner's beautiful face.

The room went quiet and the air around them stiffened. There was no crying from the baby and no orders from doctor to doctor. From afar, it seemed as if it were a well planned ballet. Their daughter was handed to the NICU doctor and they cut her umbilical cord and rushed her out of the room without giving them a chance to see their unplanned miracle.

"How is she?" He quickly moved to the other side of the bed and grabbed her hand. She looked up at him with pleading eyes and his gaze moved from her to her mother to the doctor that seemed to be picking his words carefully before he spoke.

"She's not moving air on her own. We needed to get her to the NICU quickly and get her intubated. They will take you up to see her as soon as you're ready." He started to move away from her bed and head for the door but her sharp words stopped him dead in his tracks.

"Damnit! I'm a doctor tell me! How is she!" Her voice was demanding and hysterical. He turned slowly and walked back to her. The nurses looked at each other nervously and began to clean up the mess that was made during the delivery.

"Her lungs are underdeveloped and she was deprived of oxygen when we began the delivery. That was why it was vital for us to get her to the ICU and soon as possible. She's got a strong heart but she will need to be on a vent for quite some time until her lungs developed. I've seen more critical babies pull through this." He offered a weary smiled and once again started to retreat from the room.

"Oh God" She managed through chocked sobs. Her mother put her hand on her back and whispered that she would be back, that she was going to check on her granddaughter and kissed her on top of her head. He watched her leave the room and briskly turned in the direction they left in. "What have I done?"

"She'll be ok," He sat down next to her on the bed and despite the nurses bustling about the room; she was the only person in the world at that moment. "It's ok." His eyes were watering and his photographic memory allowed him to relive the sight of her birth all over again.

"I'm so sorry." She repeated, fear surfaced in her eyes as if she was waiting for him to lash out at her.

"We'll talk about that later. Right now we need to be strong for our daughter." He wiped a tear from her eye and kissed her for head.

"Sir, we need to deliver the placenta. If you'd like, you can go up to the NICU and we'll bring her up shortly." He nodded reluctantly and kissed her hand.

"I'll see you soon." Her expression was blank but he saw understanding in her eyes. "I'll make sure they take care of her." With that he walked out of the room and found his way to the end of the hall. There was a sign above him pointing to the right that said "Neonatal Intensive Care Unit". He followed the arrow down the short corridor and was greeted by her mother watching through the glass window as they worked on the small child.

Doctors ran frantically around shouting orders to nurses and sticking tubes and IVs into the baby and putting monitoring probes on her fair skin. A nurse rushed to the door and pushed it open in a fleeting attempt to grab something off the shelf across the hall from them. It was open long enough to here the doctor shout to the room.

"She's lost her pulse! Charge the paddles!"