"Elizabeth?" Rachel asked nearly an hour later as she came down the stairs. She had been expecting to find her lying on the couch but she wasn't there. She went into the kitchen, and still didn't find her. "Elizabeth?" She called again, growing concerned. She ran back up the stairs and checked Elizabeth's bedroom, still nothing. She was running back down the stairs when the doorbell rang.
She quickly made her way to the door and threw it open, exposing a huge amount of snow and ice as well as Susan Lewis.
"How's Elizabeth doing?" Susan asked as she stepped inside and closed the door firmly behind her.
Rachel shook her head. "I have no idea, I went upstairs to put Ella down about an hour ago and I just came downstairs. I can't find her."
Susan quickly peeled off her coat. "Elizabeth?" She called just before they heard something being dropped in the downstairs bathroom. Susan and Rachel quickly moved to outside the door. They looked at each other for a moment before Susan knocked gently on the door. "Elizabeth?" She asked quietly. After several moments without any response Susan checked to see if the door was locked.
When the door handle turned she gently pushed the door open, not sure what she was going to find. The first thing she saw were several Tylenol pills on the floor, she immediately panicked and quickly pushed the door open to reveal Elizabeth sitting on the edge of the bathtub gripping her stomach.
"Elizabeth how frequent are the contractions?" Susan asked immediately as she moved over to support her.
Elizabeth shook her head. "I'm fine… I'm just having cramps I just need some Tylenol. I dropped the bottle and it broke..." She explained the mess on the floor.
"Elizabeth…" Susan said gently.
"No. I'm not in labor." Elizabeth insisted before moaning and gripping Susan's open hand.
"I can see that… But just as a precaution let's move you to your bed, alright?" Susan said gently as the obvious contraction subsided. Elizabeth nodded and Susan motioned for Rachel to help her support Elizabeth. "Rachel I need you to time these." She said quietly as they made their way up the stairs.
"Rachel don't bother I'm not in labor." Elizabeth replied insistently.
"Of course not. It's just a precaution." Susan lied as they finally made it to Elizabeth's bedroom. They helped Elizabeth lie down, with several pillows supporting her back. "Alright Elizabeth you just rest. We're going to go check on Ella." She lied before quickly pulling Rachel into the hallway and pulling the door shut behind them.
"She's…" Rachel began awkwardly.
"In labor, definitely." Susan finished for her. "I'm not sure why she's denying it but I'm fairly certain she knows what's going on."
"Why wouldn't… why wouldn't she want to?" Rachel asked clearly confused.
"I don't know Rachel, but I'm going to need help." She told her simply. "I'm going to call Abby she doesn't live very far away and she was an OB nurse for several years."
Rachel nodded. "I left a message on Carol's cell so she's probably either busy or coming."
"Good… good…" Susan affirmed. "Can you go time Elizabeth's contractions and try to figure out why she's freaking out so much?"
Rachel nodded before going back into Elizabeth's room. "Hey." Rachel said awkwardly with a smile.
"Hello Rachel." Elizabeth said simply. "How are you feeling?"
"Uh… Elizabeth?" Rachel replied clearly confused. "How are you feeling?"
"I'm fine." Elizabeth replied before biting her lip and grabbing onto her sheets, tightly. "I'm…. I'm fine… I promise…"
"Elizabeth…" Rachel began again.
"No Rachel! I'm not having this baby right now, not today!" Elizabeth yelled angrily. "It's just going to have to wait for a few more hours."
"Alright… calm down." Rachel said gently as she got up off from the bed. "I'm going to be right back." She promised before quickly running down the stairs.
"Do you know if Elizabeth or Mark keep any medical equipment around?" Susan asked as she went through the medical cabinet.
Rachel shrugged. "I really don't know." She said distractedly. "…I figured out why she… I know why she's freaking out."
Susan looked at her expectantly. "What?"
"It's Dad's birthday." She said quietly. "February 27th."
Susan's eyes widened and she began to speak again. "Okay… I'm going to try to get someone from the hospital to bring me clamps and a suture kit. In the meantime I would appreciate it if you could try to find Elizabeth's at home fetal monitor."
Rachel nodded. "I think it's in the attic… Is there anything else you need?"
"Uh… A bed sheet and a tarp… And a bowl… And as many towels as you can find." Susan said quickly. "As soon as you find them meet me up in Elizabeth's room I'm going to try to calm her down, I also called for an ambulance but all of them are stuck out on current jobs and haven't made it to the hospital yet so that's not really looking like an option."
"Okay." Rachel said shakily. "Bed sheet, tarp, bowl, and towels." She said to herself. "Am I forgetting anything?"
"Fetal monitor." Susan reminded her quickly before going up the stairs.
"Elizabeth!" Susan was protesting as Elizabeth tried to get up.
Elizabeth shook her head. "I'm not having this baby. I'm just going to take a hot shower to help get rid of these cramps." She insisted.
Rachel came in then with all of the things Susan had requested from her. "Elizabeth?" She asked clearly concerned for her step-mother.
"I don't know what to do." Susan admitted quietly. "Is Abby here yet?" She asked softly.
Rachel nodded. "She's downstairs patching up her knees, she slipped and accidentally scraped them on her way over."
"Okay I'm going to run downstairs and talk to her really quickly. Keep an eye on Elizabeth." Susan instructed quickly before running down the stairs.
"Is she alright?" Abby asked as soon as she saw Susan.
Susan shook her head. "I'm fairly certain she's in active labor, the contractions are still a bit further apart than they usually would be but they're long and strong."
"Is she still refusing to get examined?" Abby asked as she washed her hands quickly.
Susan nodded. "I have no idea if she's dilated completely or not…"
"Alright." Abby said. "Let's do this." She said before following Susan up to Elizabeth's room.
"Rachel where's Elizabeth?" Susan asked, not seeing Elizabeth in the room.
"She locked herself in the bathroom… I'm sorry I didn't mean to let her but she…" Rachel tried to explain.
"It's okay Rachel." Abby assured her gently. It was then that the doorbell rang. "Go get the door." Abby instructed before softly knocking on the bathroom door.
Rachel ran down the stairs, tripping slightly over the last few and landing face first on the carpet. She moaned slightly before getting up to get the door. "Robert?" She asked surprised to see who was on the other side of the door.
"You need clamps and a suture kit?" He asked holding up the aforementioned materials.
"Uh yeah…" Rachel said. "Susan called you?"
"She called the ER I was the first person available. Do you guys need these or not?" Robert asked impatiently.
"Thank you." Rachel replied taking the things from Robert. "Uh… We'll probably need some help with something… I'll have Susan or Abby come down as soon as we know more." She explained awkwardly before running back up the stairs.
"NO!" She could hear Elizabeth's voice coming angrily from her room.
"Robert brought these." Rachel said quietly as she handed them to Susan.
"Thanks." Susan said distractedly. "Are we just going to break down the door?" She asked Abby quietly.
"I don't know what else to do…" Abby replied quietly.
"Wait did you say Robert was downstairs?" Susan suddenly asked. Rachel nodded. "I'll be right back." She said before running down the stairs. "Robert are you willing to be a complete jerk?" Susan asked suddenly as she appeared in the living room.
"That depends on what you want." Robert replied, cocking his eyebrow.
"Elizabeth locked herself into the bathroom and we're fairly certain she's in active labor, most likely heading into transition." Susan explained quickly.
"Why…?" Robert questioned, having not been filled in on the entire situation.
Susan sighed. "It's Mark's birthday she doesn't want to give birth today." She said quietly. "I haven't taken any vitals and it's been hours. I need someone to piss her off enough…"
"Don't say any more." Robert replied before running up the stairs.
Author's Note: Will continue writing because there's nothing better to do right now! Probably will have another update tonight or tomorrow! Please keep up the reviews!