Note: The part everyone's been waiting for…the primary focus is Nadine. I was a poet in my younger days, and a couple of lines are featured in this chapter (please be gentle!). I thought the chapter title was appropriate. Enjoy. :-)

Chapter 21: This Is It!

Nadine POV

Michael, Mom, Derrick, and I were on our way to the hospital, and my worst nightmare was about to come true. This couldn't be happening right now, I thought, I had almost three more weeks until I had to do this! I sat back while Mom and Michael were holding my hands and telling me to keep taking deep breaths, but these contractions were unbearable. They were coming in less than minutes apart and I could feel that Sefra was on her way out fast. We made it to the hospital in twenty minutes and upon getting there Michael and Derrick carried me out of the car (it was painful to walk) and into the emergency room, where my doctor had just walked up to the information desk. He then rushed to get a wheelchair and I was being sent to a room. Derrick opted to let Mom go with Michael and stayed in the waiting room. When I got into a room I traded in my blue gown for a hospital gown and was lifted onto the bed with monitors checking my heart rate as well as Sefra's. I was wincing in pain, this was so unbearable, and the worse part hadn't even happened yet. Michael and Mom were on each side of me, holding my hands as I tried to keep my breathing.

"I'm so scared," I said, looking at Michael.

"I'm scared too baby," he said, "but we're going to get through this."

"That's right," Mom said, "and soon Seferah will be in the world." She kissed my forehead.

The doctor came in the room with mask and gloves ready.

"How are you feeling Miss Nadine?" he asked.

"Not too great," I said. I'm in labor, how the hell do you think I feel, was what I really wanted to say.

The doctor looked under my gown to see if I was dilated enough to push. I was hoping that I wasn't so I could at least get something for this pain. I was on the verge of tears it was hurting so bad.

"You're fully dilated," he said.

"Already?" I asked. That wasn't the answer I wanted.

"Yep," he said, "Did you start having contractions before your water broke?"

"Um, yeah…," I said.

"You already had contractions and didn't tell me?" Michael asked frantically.

I bit my lip.

"I didn't want you to worry," I said.

"Well, you're set to go," the doctor said, "You're ready to push this baby out?"

"Do I have a choice?" I asked between breaths. He was so lucky I didn't like to curse, because I had a few choice words for him.

"Okay, we're going to do this," he said. A couple of nurses walked into the room with everything ready. It was now up to me.

"Now Miss Nadine I need you to push for ten seconds and relax," the doctor said.

"Okay," I said as I started pushing. As I was holding for the ten seconds I squeezed Mom and Michael's hands extremely hard, with sweat and tears down my face. When I reached ten I relaxed and kept with the breathing. It was the longest ten seconds of my life, and I had to keep going.

"That was good," the doctor said.

"Baby, you can do this," Michael said in my ear.

"This hurts so bad," I said, more like crying at this point. If I had known childbirth was going to be this rough…damn!

"Gotta push for me again!" the doctor said.

I pushed, but when I got to the eighth second I gave out and kept with breathing.

"I can't do this," I said, "This is terrible!"

"Yes you can Kalere!" Mom said, her hand pulling the strands of hair away from my face.

"Why did this have to happen now?" I cried, "Sefra wasn't supposed to be ready now!" Michael rubbed my hand with his thumb and got close to me.

"But she is," he said sweetly in my ear, "Sefra is ready to meet the woman who carried her, talked to her, and sung to her all these months." He then proceeded to kiss my hand and that was all I needed to keep going. Even at my worst, Michael knew how to light a fire in me with his sweet nature. I pushed again and it felt as though everything was coming out, draining me, but I couldn't stop.

"The baby's right there," the doctor said, "Just one more push!"

Michael and Mom held my hands as I pushed one last time and the next thing I heard was my baby crying. I started crying tears of joy because Seferah Denise Jackson was finally here. Michael and Mom kissed me as they were crying too. The doctor gave Seferah over to the nurses to clean, weigh, footprint, and dress her in the standard onesie and cap. After I was cleaned up and situated, the nurse then walked over to me with my daughter.

"Ten fingers, ten toes, and weighing six pounds, eight ounces," the nurse said with a smile, "Congratulations."

The nurse handed Seferah to me, all wrapped up. I couldn't stop smiling, I couldn't believe it. My little girl was here.

"I'm proud of you," Mom said, kissing my forehead, "I'm going to go tell your brother." She then left the room and it was just Michael and I with Sefra, our little family.

"You just couldn't wait, could you?" I said to my baby sweetly.

Sefra made a crooked smile and moved her tiny hand to cover her face, her eyes still closed. Already my shy little baby, I thought. I was in love.

"She is beautiful," Michael said, "like her mother." He then kissed Sefra's forehead.

"She already has your smile," I said as I handed her to him.

Michael held Sefra and I could tell he was falling in love too. He smiled as she moved her hands in what looked like in praying position, her thumbs in her mouth.

"Hi sweetie, it's Daddy," he said to her. Sefra then opened her brown eyes and Michael choked up.

"Daddy's little girl," I said.

"On the day of love, our baby was born," he said, "Made from love."

I reached over to stroke Sefra's cheek when I glanced at the ring Michael had given me.

"First I'm engaged," I said, "Now I'm a mother."

Michael laughed.

"All we need now is the wedding," he said.

Mom came back with Derrick, who was holding a small blue bag. He came up to me and gave me a hug and a kiss.

"Well you look like a train wreck," he said with a laugh.

"Thanks, I love you too," I said jokingly.

"How do you feel?" he asked, rubbing my leg.

"I'm a little exhausted, but she's here," I said, looking over at Michael and then at the bag he was holding.

"What's with the blue bag?" I asked.

"Oh," Derrick said, "I saw this in the gift shop and thought it was perfect for my niece."

He handed me the bag and I opened it to find it was a pink onesie with music notes across the front.

"It's beautiful," I said, "I love it. Thank you little brother."

"Want to hold your niece, Uncle?" Michael asked.

"Yeah," Derrick said, smiling.

Michael handed Sefra over to him and he was in awe.

"So, I'm the coolest uncle you'll ever have," Derrick said to my baby, and then looked at me, "She's so tiny."

"Reminds me a lot like you when you were born," Mom said to me, kissing my forehead again.

"Thank you for being here with me," I said to her.

"Anytime, baby," she said.

"You're such a P.Y.T.," Derrick said to Sefra, "Pretty young thing."

Michael and I laughed at the reference. Mom leaned to give Sefra a kiss and play with her cheeks before Derrick gave her back to me. Sefra was starting to whimper.

"We're going to get something to eat in the food court," Mom said, "and let you two have your first moments as a family."

Mom and Derrick left and it was just the three of us. Sefra continued to whimper, and I pulled down my hospital gown to feed my baby girl. She readily accepted as her tiny hands clasped onto my breast as she suckled. I started getting emotional again, it was our first feeding. I looked at Michael and he leaned to kiss me, his hand on the side of my face. He then got into the hospital bed with me, since it was big enough.

"Sefra's so precious," he said, "and you were wonderful."

"I couldn't have done it without you," I said, "Thank you."

"I love you so much Nadine," he said, kissing me again.

"I love you too," I said, "and we both love you, Seferah Denise."

Michael cuddled with me as I continued nursing Sefra. I knew I was happy but I could tell Michael was more ecstatic to have not only one, but two special ladies in his life. This was the best Valentine's Day gift he could have ever received.

Michael POV (One week later)

So I might be a little biased, but Seferah Denise Jackson was the most beautiful baby in the world, and the best part was that she was my baby, our baby. There was no one else in the world I would have wanted a child with than my new fiancée, whom I loved even more for giving me such a precious gift. I was able to take Nadine and Seferah home from the hospital three days later and get things situated with the nursery. Not too long after just about all of my relatives came over to see the newest addition to the Jackson family, and Seferah couldn't be any luckier to have so many people who love her. It was Friday night and our one week old baby girl was whimpering. Nadine started to get out of bed, but I told her to rest. I got out of bed and went into the nursery, where our daughter then started crying. I took her out of the crib and sat in the rocking chair, which was by the window. I started humming to my baby as I rubbed her back, and her crying was down to whimpering again. I had her against my chest as I was rocking her back to sleep when Nadine came into the room. She walked up to me and played with my hair, looking down at our baby.

"It's still hard to believe," she said.

"Our little angel," I said, kissing Sefra's forehead.

"Maybe Sefra could hear her song," she said.

I smiled as I looked down at our baby, her brown eyes opened a little bit, fighting sleep.

"Sefra, I have a little song for you," I whispered to my daughter. Daughter…I liked saying that word. Sefra still whimpered. I started to hum, and then I sang my song. Although I had spent so much time writing it before she was born, the inspiration didn't hit until our eyes met for the first time. A moment that was just so simple, like it should be.

When I first looked into those eyes,

My heart rose and fluttered like butterflies,

Because I was falling, it was a call of love,

You are an angel who came down from above,

I am so thankful to God that you're here,

Every day and night I will hold you dear,

No need to worry, no need to fear,

Close your eyes as I keep you near,

I love you Sefra, my little angel

I looked down at my baby girl to see she was sound asleep. Nadine smiled at me with tears in her eyes.

"That was so beautiful," she said, kissing me.

"Thank you," I said, blushing. I ran my hand through Sefra's soft black hair and kissed her forehead as I got up to lay her back in her crib. She rolled to her stomach and placed her thumb in her mouth. Sefra was the cutest thumb sucker ever. I turned to look at Nadine and held her close to me, my eyes taking quick glances at her lips. I began to kiss her passionately, my hands cupping her face and moving down her neck, chest, and waist. I loved her so much, not because she brought me Seferah, but for being the woman that she was. We continued when Nadine gently pulled away.

"Don't want to get carried away, no do we?" she said.

I blushed. She did just have a baby.

She took me by the hand and we went back to our room to lie in bed and talk. I was lying on my side looking at Nadine, who was looking at her stomach.

"You're still beautiful," I said to her.

"No, it's not that," she said, "I'll get my body back."

"Then what is it?" I asked.

"I miss the kicking," she said with a smile.

I smiled at her.

"We could always have another one," I said, touching her now flat stomach.

"Maybe," she said, "For now I want to enjoy having Sefra around."

"Me too," I said.

I kissed and held Nadine close to me as she was getting sleepy again, and it wouldn't be long before I would fall asleep too. Finally some shut eye, at least until Sefra started crying again two hours later…

Nadine POV (The next day)

Mom wasn't lying when she said that I was going to become a walking zombie due to Sefra's crying at night, either to feed her or to change her. I was so exhausted that I truly felt like I was in the Thriller video. She has been so helpful with Sefra, I couldn't thank her enough. I was in the dance studio with Mom and Seferah while Derrick and Michael were finishing up the album with Teddy (which was finally being called Dangerous), spending quality mother-daughter time. Mom and Derrick were going leave soon to go back to Atlanta, and thinking about being away from them was making me sad. Seferah was cooing in Mom's arms while I was doing some ballet.

"Who's my favorite grandbaby?" Mom said to Sefra, playing with her cheeks.

"Sefra's your only grandbaby," I said, laughing.

"For now she is," she said, "I already predict you and Michael having more kids."

I smiled.

"What about Derrick?" I asked.

"Ah, I don't see him having kids anytime soon," Mom said.

"Anything can happen," I said.

Seferah started crying and I knew it was time to feed her. I had started to recognize her different needs, and it felt like second nature. Mom handed her to me as I sat down and leaned against the mirror. Since I was wearing one of my v-necks, I pulled the neck and my bra down enough so my baby could start to suckle. Call me crazy, but I felt closest to my baby when I was nursing her. Sefra latched on and started to feed, her cute little hands holding steady. I then kissed her forehead.

"So are you going to pick up more choreography gigs?" Mom asked.

"Yeah," I said, "I want to have things under control with Sefra first though."

"Of course," she said.

There was silence between us.

"I don't want you and Derrick to leave," I finally said.

"Baby," Mom said, "You know we would stay if we could."

"Come and move here." I said it jokingly but in my heart I was serious.

"No," she said, "Our life is in Atlanta, yours is in California, Kalere."

"What if I need help with Seferah?" I asked, looking at my daughter.

"I'm a phone call away," she said.

I grinned.

"Now, I do expect to receive pictures of my grandbaby," she then said, "So I can flash them off to my girlfriends."

"Of course," I said laughing. Mom was indeed a proud grandma.

By then Sefra was done feeding. I had her over my shoulder and patted her back gently until she burped, and continued to hold her. She had those beautiful brown eyes staring at me as she reached out her hand and grasped my finger. I kissed her little hand and my baby started getting sleepy, and had let go of my finger to suck her thumb when she finally went to sleep. As much as I loved her doing that (it was so adorable!), I just wished she would do it at night, so Mommy and Daddy can sleep too.

"She is so precious," Mom said, "You're already a great mom."

"Thanks," I said

"Not only that, soon you'll be Mrs. Michael Jackson," she said, "I bet every woman in the world wishes they were in your shoes right now."

"Probably," I said.

"Besides, it's also your childhood dream," she said with a wink.

I laughed and was in awe. I remember dreaming that I would marry Michael one day, but never thought it would actually happen. I was the girl whose dreams never came true, and now I was both Michael's fiancée and the mother of his child.

"I think Seferah would sleep better in her crib," Mom said, looking at my baby.

"I agree," I said.

Mom and I got up from the floor and headed for Sefra's nursery, where I had laid her on her back in her crib. It wouldn't be long before she turned over on her stomach, her thumb still in her mouth. I leaned to kiss her forehead and whispered "I love you" before Mom and I left the room. She then suggested that while Sefra was sleeping that I should catch in on some lost sleep and made sure I went and took a nap. No matter how old I was, I was still Mom's little girl. It made me appreciate her that much more, and I wanted to be as great a mom to Sefra as she was to me and my brother.