an: thanks for reading this! means a lot!

disclaimer: the guys belong to themselves.

If you've ever heard a beating heart
A rhythm for the songs we're too afraid to sing
Nobody here is perfectly fine
A delicate frame, a fragile design

As I walked through the kitchen on my way to the loo, I noticed that Lauren's and my very pregnant friend Donna sat at the table with tears in her eyes. I stopped and sat down next to her.

"What's wrong, Donna?" I asked as the tears started to fall.

"I think the baby's com – " she began, but cut herself off with a scream of 'ouch'. She looked highly uncomfortable as she sat there.

When the pain seemed to pass, she looked up from her swollen stomach to me. "Contraction," she simply explained, confirming what I had thought it was.

"Where's Jonny?" I asked of her boyfriend, who, although wasn't the father, had been with her through the entire pregnancy; we didn't talk about the father – ever.

"He—he had to go away on business for the weekend. He went this weekend as the baby wasn't supposed to come for another month—at least," Donna told me.

"Oh, well…how, er, far apart are the contractions?" After she and Jonny had gone to the… birthing classes, I believe they're called, Donna told us about what she learnt – not too much, though. So, I knew a few things, but not that much. Other things I knew from the movies and television shows.

"About every… thirty minutes or so."

"Oh, we should get you to the hospital. Can we take you?"

"Yes, thank you."

"Okay, you just sit here for a minute while I go grab Tom, all right."

"Thanks, Dare."

I gave her a quick hug before running off to find Tom. He was talking with Lauren's brother Fredrick when I found him. When Fredrick saw me running, he looked up; Tom turned to face me. Tom asked me what was up, asking for the both of them.

I explained that Donna had gone into labour and we had to take her to the hospital. That made Fred back off – he hated hospitals and always felt sick whenever one was mentioned, let alone being in one.

Tom, on the other hand, seemed to be all right with them. He told me he would go get the car. As he left the house, I took Fred's arm, taking him to help me with Donna and getting her to the car – not that I couldn't do it myself, but it would make things a little easier.

About ten minutes later, we were on our way to hospital, and another twenty after that, we were in hospital.

I had Tom stay with Donna while I went to call Jonny and get him back to London before the baby came – hopefully it'd be possible.

When I returned, Tom found me and brought me to the room where Donna now was. I thanked him and told him he could go, but he insisted that he should stay, in case we needed anything and he could get it for us.

"How are you doing?" I asked Donna once her doctor let us in the room. "Can we get you anything?"

"Just Jonny."

"He's catching the next flight. Said he'd call when he knew when it was, but it shouldn't be –" I was cut off by the sound of my mobile ringing. I answered it quickly.

"Is it Jonny?" Donna asked, sounding a little desperate and excited at the same time.

I nodded before getting the details of the flight then telling Jonny I was putting Donna on and handing her the phone.

Tom and I left the room for a few minutes to give her some privacy.

"You think you could do me another big favour?"

"Shoot."

"You think one of the guys could pick Jonny up in about three-quarters of an hour? They're a lot closer to the airport."

"I'll get one of them on it." He pulled out his mobile and called one of them. He talked to one of them quickly, asking me a few details, before hanging up. "Danny's on it."

"Oh, awesome! I'm going to owe you big time," I said as I reached up and gave him a quick hug and kiss on the cheek.

As I walked back into the room, I heard him mumble something like, "No, you don't own me anything…." I asked him what he said, but he told me that it wasn't anything. Shrugging it off, I went back into Donna's room, where she was just saying 'goodbye' to Jonny.

I told her I needed to speak with him for a moment and she handed my mobile over. I told him that Danny – they had met at my birthday party – would be waiting outside for him in his car, telling him what the car looked like. He thanked me before telling me that he had to run if he was to catch the flight and hung up.

Just then, though, Donna had another contraction, and I rushed to her side to help her through it the best I could. A few minutes passed, and so had it.

About an hour later, Donna had me go get her ice chips. I sent Tom to stay with her, as her contractions were getting closer and closer and she had opted for going without the epidural – and with every contraction becoming more and more painful, the closer they got, she asked herself why she had decided to go down the natural road.

I figured it would be any minute that Jonny would arrive, but I wasn't sure. The doctor figured that Donna would be ready to push soon – Donna had decided that, if Jonny didn't arrive on time, I would be helping her though it (and who was I to argue?).

When I got back with the ice chips, Donna was having another contraction. I heard Tom saying that she could squeeze his hand as hard as she needed before I saw her in the contraction – which looked to be the most painful yet.

I admired the scene before me before rushing in just as the contraction finished.

"Your ice chips, m'lady," I said, before mentally cursing myself, knowing that she wouldn't be in the mood for that kind of talk – or anything, really.

She ignored me, though, taking the cup of ice chips, and asking where Jonny was. I told her I would give him a call.

Just as I was about to leave the room, the doctor came in, shooing us, only leaving Tom and I to exit the room for a few minutes.

"Jonny. Where are you?" I asked as soon as I had him on the phone.

"About ten blocks from the hospital. We're stuck in traffic—it's not moving."

I was about to say something, but I heard the doctor telling Donna that she was about ready to push.

"Mate, you're a runner, right?" I asked him instead.

"Yeah, why?"

"Get out of that car and run your heart out: She's having the baby."

Donna was insistent on waiting as long as possible before the baby came, hoping that Jonny would arrive before she pushed.

She wasn't able to wait long, though – ten minutes, maybe? – before the doctor told her she could wait no longer. She was practically in tears – partly because of the pain, partly because Jonny wasn't yet there – as the nurse got her ready to move.

I was at her side, holding her hand, as she was moved to a delivery room.

"Dara!" I heard Tom call from down the hall, towards the elevators.

I turned to find out why he called, but before I could blink, I saw Jonny dash down the corridor, only stopping when he reached us. I let go of Donna's hand, and Jonny took it instead, giving her a quick kiss as they moved further into the room.

I stayed back and Tom came over.

"Perfect timing," I pointed out.

"Sure was," Tom said, wrapping an arm around my shoulders. "Come on, let's go wait in the waiting room." He started leading me back down the corridor he and Jonny had just come from – and it wasn't like I could resist him, he was much larger than me, compared to my petite frame.

"You're a great friend," he told me as he sat on one of the empty sofas in the waiting room (I didn't know waiting rooms had sofas, and thought they had just row upon row of chair, until I brought it up and was told that most don't, this was just a special waiting room in a special hospital, or something).

Instead of sitting next to him, I put my head on his lap and flopping my legs over the arm – even though I was still wearing my knee-length bridesmaid's dress – suddenly realising how exhausted I was – I could only imagine how tired Donna was (and how even more tired she'd be after the baby was born… and then after they brought the baby home…).

"I was just in the way," I said before yawning. "You were a better help than me."

"I just helped her through one contraction and got her ice and stuff every now and then. You got her through everything – everything – else. You were amazing – you were even going to help her with the deliev – ."

"I didn't want to," I whined, cutting him off.

He laughed before continuing. "You were still going to, and that's what matters. And there will be no arguing over this."

I sighed. "All right. Thanks, Tom; you're a great guy." I sat up and turned to him, pulling him in for a hug of gratitude.

"Awe, look at the two of you," Danny cooed, having come in while Tom and I were embraced.

Leaving Tom, I got up and hugged him, too, thanking him for getting Jonny here just in the nick of time.

I went back to lying on the sofa with my head on Tom's lap, and Danny sat across from us on another sofa, joining us for the wait.

A while passed, we talked about random things – namely the wedding and the baby that would be arriving soon – before running out of things to talk about.

My eyes were just falling shut when I heard Jonny's excited voice coming from nearby. I opened my eyes again and sat up to look at him.

He had a huge grin on his face as he told us, "It's a boy!"

It was at that second that I realised I still hadn't made it to the loo.

song: bigger than love by my favorite highway

an: ehehe! ;)
as I'm out of town this week, it could be a bit of a longer wait before the next - hopefully not though!
thanks for reading, much appreciated! :)