Vic crossed another day off the calendar, 2 weeks until the baby's due date, 7 weeks until the wedding, she smiled, and the baby kicked. Travis was handling a lot of the wedding details, and surprisingly, he was good at it. There was a small band booked, he had rented the tables and chairs, gave her a few suggestions from the florist and Vic had settled on wildflower bouquets and centrepieces, and he was helping Ruby organize the food. The dress on the other hand was a problem, she wouldn't be pregnant on the wedding day, so she couldn't try on dresses at 8 and a half months pregnant, she would have to wait and buy off the rack after the baby was born. Cady had insisted that she help with the dress, and Vic was more then happy to let her.

Walt had enlisted Bob Barnes to finish some of the details in the cabin, the kitchen cabinets, the much needed tile in the bathroom, squeaky floor boards and trim work, the big project was turning the unused back room off the bedroom into a nursery. He had trimmed out the window and painted the walls a soft yellow, a choice Vic had agonized over. There was a dresser that Walt had picked up at the second hand store and spent a weekend fixing the drawers, adding new handles and white washing it to match the soft decor of the nursery. Ruby had brought by a baby quilt that she had made, it was covered with little fuzzy lamb appliqués, and Cady had stocked the shelves in the cupboard with diapers, and blankets and tiny socks of all colours. The room seemed empty without a crib though, Walt said he was taking care of it…she trusted him but she was getting worried now that the baby's birth was imminent.

The new deputy had settled in at work , and Cady had indeed been smitten. Walt wasn't exactly happy with the idea of his daughter dating another one of his deputies, but at least he was aware it was happening this time. If nothing else, her dating kept her in Durant.

Vic heard the front door open, "Vic?"
"yeah, I'm in the nursery" she called back to Walt.
"Can i get a hand for a second?"
Vic made her way through the bedroom towards the living room, "yeah, sure, whats up?" The strong afternoon light streaming through the open door blinded Vic momentarily, and then she saw it, the crib for their baby sat waiting on the front porch, "Oh my gosh, is that the crib?"

"yup…can you hold the screen door so that Bob and I can carry it in without scratching it?"
"absolutely!" Vic moved quickly towards the door, Walt moved aside to make room for her belly. The last few weeks, the baby had grown rapidly and as beautiful as Vic looked, she had started to look uncomfortable. "Hi Bob" Vic smiled a warm smile at her new favourite handyman, Bob had grown on her, and he was very attentive and made her laugh with all his funny stories.

Vic held the screen door open, Bob and Walt took hold of the precious crib, and slowly maneuvered it through the front door, careful to to bang or scratch it. Vic followed them through and closed the door behind them, she stood in the doorway of the nursery as they put it in place along the long wall opposite the window. There was an empty space above the crib where Vic wanted to hang a sign with the baby's name and date of birth, that would have to wait until after the baby was born. She leaned on the door frame and Walt turned to look at her smiling face, "where did you get it?"

Walt paused momentarily and gave Bob a quick look, "Bob and I made it…. we've been working on it for a while now. Do you like it?"
"You made it," her eyes widened, "really…." Vic walked up to the crib and noticed all the fine detail, she touched the carved footboard lightly with her fingertips, there were small flowers that looked like violets, and vines that trailed down the corner posts. The spindles were turned exquisitely, spirals that joined the bottom rail that connected to the carved feet.
"Its absolutely gorgeous" she turned to look at Walt as a tear fell to her cheek "I can't believe you made this, its the most beautiful thing I have ever seen" Vic turned to Bob and reached out to give him a huge hug.
"This baby is pretty special…to all of us" Bob said quietly into Vic's ear. She pulled back, took his scruffy bearded face and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
"thank you Bob, for everything you've done to help us get ready, but this, this crib is the most special gift, and I will treasure it ….and your friendship"
Bob smiled, maybe even blushed a little, and he tried to choke back tears of his own.

Walt put his hands of Vic's shoulders and turned her to face him, "now….all we need is that baby of ours. Are you ready?"
Vic let our a loud laugh, wiped the tears from her face, "I'm ready for the baby to be born, i definitely would love to see my feet again, but I would be lying if I said i felt I was ready to be a mom"
Bob walked up beside them, "no one is ever ready for that darlin'….Walt, I'll be going now" Bob nodded at Walt, gave a quick wink at Vic and shuffled out the front door, closing it behind him.

"not hungry?" Walt looked across the small kitchen table at Vic.
It was hard for her to get close enough to the table to eat properly now, the baby felt heavy, her feet had started to swell, and she had a very hard time sleeping more then 2 hours at a time. Vic knew that it wouldn't be long, and so did Walt.
"mmm, not really, I'm not feeling great, indigestion" Vic rubbed her belly and blew an errant hair from her face.
Walt took a last gulp of water and stood to clear the table, "you know what, I'll put this in the fridge for later, you may get your appetite back"
"ok….thank you" Vic cracked a small smile at the love of her life, as tough as he could be at work, with criminals and killers, he was the most thoughtful, kind and gentle man she had ever known, he would make a wonderful father to their child. Vic still wondered if she would be able to give him a son, as much as he loved and devoted himself to Cady, she thought it would be wonderful to see him raise a son, a son to carry on the Longmire name.

Walt had cleared the table and put the pans in the sink to soak, he stood behind her and helped pull out the chair for her. Vic got up and picked up her water, she walked slowly to the living room couch, she turned to sit when she noticed Walt smiling at her. "what?"
"well….I wasn't sure it was going to happen…"
"not sure what was going to happen?" Vic stood with her hands on her lower back trying to relieve some of the pressure.
"you're waddling"
Vic's mouth open, she didn't know what to say.
"Vic, I'm sorry, I think its adorable"
"you think me waddling... me waddling like a duck, a hugely pregnant, swollen, itchy, water logged duck... is adorable?"
Walt kept smiling and walked towards her "yup"
Vic suddenly looked away from him, like she was trying to see her feet, her smile disappeared, her brow furrowed and her hands went to under her belly.
"Vic…whats wrong?"
She looked up at him with concern "um…..i either just peed myself, or…..my water broke"
Now the look of concern was mutual, he bent down to support her, she swung an arm over his shoulder, one hand went to her back, one to her belly, he could feel a difference right away.
"should we go to the hospital, I'll get your bag" Walt tried to keep his voice calm, but his heart had started to race with the thought of his baby being born tonight.
"no…no….i haven't even had contractions, we can wait, lets see what happens" and just as she said that she doubled over in pain. "ugh, oh my god" Vic grimaced.
"Vic…are you sure? come on, at least sit down" Walt lead her to the couch, he collected all the throw pillows and tried to make her comfortable. As quickly as the pain came, it was gone, but it wasn't long before it came back in waves.

It had been about 2 hours, the contractions came and went, Walt brought Vic ice cubes and held her hand, he called Cady quickly in between contractions. the contractions were not consistent, sometimes every minute, then it would be 5 to 6 minutes between some. Vic knew that first pregnancies usually had long labours, sometimes it would take days, she wasn't in a hurry to go to the hospital, but she new it was inevitable, she just didn't want to leave the cabin yet.
There was a soft knock at the door, and Cady poked her head in. "hi"
"hey Punk, come in"
Cady closed the door on the setting sun, Vic let out a low gutteral groan. "Hey Vic, I'd ask how you're feeling, but I think I can tell" Cady tried to lighten the mood, her Dad seemed anxious, Vic looked hot, in pain and very uncomfortable.
"Just to let you know," vic looked up at Cady, "labour SUCKs"
"good to know"

Another wave of pain hit Vic like a tonne of bricks, she squeezed Walt's hand hard, her knuckles were white, and he grimaced out of Vic sight line.
"How much time between contractions Dad?"
"It varies Punk, sometimes 5 minutes, sometimes 2, but Vic wants to stay here as long as possible."
"ok, but do you think we should contact your doctor Vic, so that she knows your in labour? make sure she'll be ready when you get to the hospital" Cady was calm, and trying to think ahead for the two of them, this was Vic's first time, and it had been a very long time for her Dad. "Were you in the delivery room with me Dad?"
Walt looked up at his beautiful daughter, he smiled, "your Mom was a trooper, the labour was short but hard on her, it was only about 3 hours. I was called off a case when they brought your mom in by ambulance, and I did see you being born…." he reached out and squeezed her hand with his free one, "it was an amazing day, one that I'll never forget"

Cady went to the phone and dialled their doctors number, gave her the info, and relayed a few messages to Vic about relieving the pain and when she should get ready to come in. Cady was about to say goodbye, when Vic's cried out in pain.
"Walt! oh my god, it hurts….i have to push, i have to"
"No Vic, no, not yet" he turned to Cady "tell Dr Sherman Cady, she feels like she has to push."
"ahhhhhhgh" Vic's eyes closed and she bared down, she couldn't stop herself, her body was on autopilot.

Cady quickly came over to Vic's feet, she pressed the speaker button on the phone, "we're all here Dr Sherman"
"Hi Vic, it looks like you have a baby on the way…Cady is going to check you, if you feel like pushing you may be crowning, but if not, you need to stop pushing, okay"
"okay Doc"

Vic had already taken off her stretch pants and was in her oversized maternity shirt under the blanket on the couch. Cady lifted the bottom of the blanket and asked Vic to spread her legs. "Ok, Cady, with the next contraction take a look to see if you can see a head, Vic try not to push, I know it will be hard"
"ok Dr Sherman, what if I see a head?"
"then I'm sending an ambulance asap, actually by the sounds of it, I may do that anyways"
Walt looked to Cady, and they both looked to Vic when the next contraction came.

"Cady? you're my eyes, what do you see?"
Cady looked up at her dad, her face was a paler shade of white, "Doctor, send the ambulance"