Here we are…the final chapter of Hook, Line and Sinker. After 14 weeks, it is complete :)
I really really hope you guys enjoy this last (and long ;)) chapter. Maybe enough to bring this story to 500 reviews? Maybe? ;)
I will post an A/N letting you know as soon as they first chapter of the sequel is ready. Love you guys and thank you for sticking with me throughout HLS.
Laurie.
Chapter 51
After a couple of seconds of shock, Dimitri snapped into action. He was immediately at my side holding my hand.
"Are you okay?" he asked me. "Do you feel anything?"
"Nope." I told him. I was glad that the horrible contractions that everyone talked about hadn't started yet – truth be told, I was dreading them. "Can you call Liss and let her know?"
"Sure." He kissed my head and had Lissa on the phone within a minute.
He spent less than 60 seconds on the phone before he was back at my side.
"Lissa's going to call everyone else and meet us at the hospital, okay? She said she'll take care of everything."
I smiled at him and rested my hand on his cheek. As I touched him I felt just how tense he was.
"Breathe." I told him and chuckled, trying to smooth out the crease between his eyebrows. "Everything's gonna be okay, comrade." I caressed his cheek.
"Now help me up so that I can go and have this baby," I said to him, grabbing his hand. He helped me up and I led him to the bedroom. We hadn't thought of packing a bag yet as the baby wasn't due for another three weeks so we needed to put a few things together.
I went and grabbed a bag out of the closet while Dimitri bustled around, grabbing everything he thought we'd need, including my pillow, some clean pyjamas, a dressing gown, one of his old t-shirts that he knew I loved to wear, some of my toiletries, some fresh clothes as well as a phone charger. I grabbed my toothbrush and hairbrush and stuffed them in the bag too.
"Do we need to bring stuff for the baby?" I asked him. Thinking about it, it would be a good idea. Dimitri grabbed a bag of diapers while I picked out two cute onesies that had been given to us.
"This is it." I said to him once the bag was full. We were finally ready. Dimitri looked as excited as I felt…as well as a little nervous. I was too…I wasn't exactly sure what to expect.
"I love you Roza." He said and kissed me sweetly.
"I love you too."
Dimitri picked up the bag and took my hand as we walked out of the apartment.
"Wait! What time is it?" I asked him. I wanted to know the exact time I went into labour.
"It's just after 10pm." He told me and squeezed my hand. We walked as quickly as I could into the elevator and then out to the car. We met some of our neighbours from downstairs on the way who wished us luck. I just smiled at them while Dimitri thanked them. I was getting a little nervous now. I had heard that labour hurt but…how much did it hurt exactly?
Dimitri drove – a little too fast – to the hospital. I could tell that he was anxious to get me into expert hands despite my efforts to soothe him earlier.
Lissa was waiting by the door, on the phone, standing beside Christian when we pulled up. When she saw us, she thrust her phone at Christian who took it and began speaking with whoever was on the other line. She arrived at my side of the car with a wheelchair.
"Liss, I don't need-"
"I don't care. You are sitting in this wheelchair whether you like it or not." She instructed sternly. I thought it best not to argue and sat down with the help of both Lissa and Dimitri.
"Who's Christian talking to?" I asked her as Dimitri wheeled me inside.
"Sydney. She's on her way to collect Mia and they'll be here soon. I called your father, Rose, he said he'd let your mother know. I've also called Ivan and your family Dimitri. They're on their way also." She said efficiently.
"Thanks Lissa." Dimitri said gratefully. She had really saved a lot of panic and stress for Dimitri and I by calling our families and friends.
"Hi, my name's Lissa Dragomir, I called you on my way over on behalf of my friend Rose Hathaway," Lissa said to the woman at the front desk once we were inside. "I asked for a private room to be ready."
"Of course," the woman replied and signalled for someone to come over. A nurse hurried over and took over pushing the wheelchair so that she could lead us to the room.
"You're the best, Liss." I told her.
"I know," she grinned at me.
The nurse led us to a plain room that contained one bed, a fairly big beside cupboard and a door leading off to what I guessed was a bathroom. Another nurse entered the room and together, they managed to get me onto the bed.
"Dr. Olendski will be here shortly," the second nurse told me, fluffing my pillow to get me comfortable. I looked at Lissa.
"Oh, and I called your doctor," she explained quickly. "I thought you'd be calmer if she was here."
"Lissa, I seriously love you. Is there anything you haven't thought of?" I asked her incredulously.
"Yes, actually…I seem to have forgotten that I left my fiancé outside." She joked. "I'll be back in a few okay? Is there anything you want?"
"No thanks, Liss." I told her and she left to find Christian.
"How are you feeling?" Dimitri asked me, coming closer to me and squeezing my hand.
"Fine, actually. I don't really feel anything."I told him honestly. I should really have been smarter than to believe that when a woman went into labour, it was non-stop pain and screaming.
"Hey," I called to the nurses who were leaving the room. "Do contractions really hurt as bad as everyone says they do?" I asked them.
They just looked at each other, looking unsure how to answer.
"Oh shit." I said to myself. I mean, these were two people who worked with women in labour all the time – who would know better than them?
The second nurse dismissed the other one and came to my side.
"Don't worry honey." She said and stroked my head. She looked about fifty years old and had a certain motherly-quality about her. "We'll be here with the whole time." She said, indicating herself and Dimitri, who was watching me with concern. "And once that baby comes out – it's more than worth it."
"Do you have children?" I asked her. She spoke as though from experience.
"Five." She replied, smiling sweetly at me. "So I would know."
She gave my head a small pat and left to see if my doctor had arrived.
I asked Dimitri to give me the bag so that I could make sure we had brought everything we would need. It was also something for me to do.
There was a light knock on the door a while later. poked her head through.
"Can I come in?" she asked, smiling at both of us.
"Of course," Dimitri replied and opened the door completely for her.
She entered and placed a bag of medical stuff at the end of the bed. She asked Dimitri if he could leave while she was doing a few routine check-ups on me and to see how far along I was so he went outside to see if his mother had arrived yet.
After helping me change into one of those god-awful paper hospital gowns – at least it wasn't the type of gown that was open at the back – she gave me a thorough check. By the time she was finished, Dimitri was ready to come back in.
"Well, you're only two centimetres dilated," she told me once he was back in the room. "It doesn't seem to be moving very quickly so I'll be back in a while to check you again."
Dimitri and I both thanked her and she left.
"Has anybody arrived yet?" I asked Dimitri.
"Just Ivan." He answered. "He's outside waiting for the doctor to leave."
"You can let him in if you want," I told him and Dimitri left to get him. I took a few deep breaths, grateful to get a few seconds alone to calm myself a little. I knew that I didn't have to hide my emotions from Dimitri, but showing him just how scared I was, wasn't going to help either of us. Plus, I knew it was normal for me to be a little frightened. I mean, I was about to go through the biggest change of my life. I was entitled to be.
"Well, well, well…Three weeks early – you never were patient, were you Rose?" Ivan's voice joked from the doorway.
"Ivan," I greeted him as he walked further into the room so that Dimitri could close the door.
"So, when is the little monster going to be born? I left a girl in my bed to be here for this." He said.
"You're such a pig, you know that?" I said jokingly.
"Yes, I do actually." He replied, grinning cheekily.
Dimitri had just taken his seat beside me when his phone beeped.
"Mia and Sydney are here." He informed us.
"Will you get them for me?"
"Of course Roza," he replied and kissed my forehead.
He returned no sooner than two minutes later with Sydney, Mia, Lissa and Christian.
"Hey guys," I said them, a little sheepishly. It was quite late after all.
"Only you Rose," Mia said. I looked at her in confusion.
"Only you would time the birth of your child so that he was going to be born three weeks early on your birthday." She explained further.
I laughed, having forgotten that tomorrow was indeed, my birthday, meaning that I would share my birthday with my baby boy. That is, unless the baby was born within the next two hours – which was highly unlikely by the looks of it.
Suddenly, I felt a strange tightening in my stomach.
"Dimitri…" I said warily. "I think I'm having a contraction."
He was by my side in a second, as was Lissa. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see both Christian and Ivan looking a little nervous.
The strange tightening sensation contracted and releasing a couple of times. I had braced myself for pain but it felt more uncomfortable and unusual than actually sore.
"Oh, it's not so bad." I told them surprised. I saw Dimitri looking a little relieved. I had to remind myself that this was a new, and probably almost equally scary, experience for him too. I tightened my grip on his hand in a supportive manor, letting him know that we were in this together.
I got a soft smile in return and I small peck on the cheek.
A young nurse knocked on the door moments later.
"Some more visitors to see you," she told me and opened the door wider. Behind her, Dimitri's mother and sisters were standing. They walked in and the door closed behind them.
"Roza! How are you feeling?" Olena asked me, kissing me on each cheek and feeling my forehead to see if I was hot.
"I'm good, thanks." I told her and smiled. She moved on to say hi to her only son.
"This is so typical Rose," Vika said jokingly. "I was getting ready to go on a date, you know?"
I gave her a proper look over and suddenly noticed she was fairly dressed up.
"Oh yeah? With who?" I asked her. "Anyone special?"
"Maybe," she replied slyly. "We'll see."
"Who is he?" I asked her, glad to have something to talk about other than labour and contractions.
"He's just a guy I met. He's not from town but he visits fairly often." She told me, sitting on the edge of the bed.
I was about to ask for more details like where they met, but walked back in.
"Could everyone leave for a few minutes please? I need to check and see how Rose is progressing."
Christian and Ivan didn't have to be told twice and were the first ones out the door. Lissa rolled her eyes and followed him out, as did the others. I asked the doctor if Dimitri could stay with me this time. I didn't want him to be away from me anymore than he had to be.
He held my hand as …did her thing.
"You're still not very far along. It looks like it's going to be a while." She informed us. "You might want to prepare yourselves for a long stay."
We thanked her once again and she left, letting everyone back in in the process.
"What'd she say?" Lissa asked me.
"That it's gonna be a while." I replied. My back started to get sore from the way I was half-sitting half-lying so I shifted to get more comfortable.
"You okay?" Dimitri asked me, helping me sit up.
"Yeah, could you just lift the pillow a bit?" I asked. He did what I asked and I settled myself back, feeling instantly better. Dimitri went to the bag and grabbed my own pillow from home and laid it behind my head. I immediately felt calmer from the familiar smell and feel of my own pillow.
"What time is it?" I asked Dimitri as he sat back down beside me.
"Just after half eleven." He told me after checking his phone.
"Anyone heard from my parents?" I asked the room. Their silence was all the answer I needed.
I was well aware of my rocky relationship with my mother, and even though I was a little closer to my father than my mother, it still wasn't a normal father-daughter relationship. Despite all of our problems, I still half-expected them to be there when their grandchild was going to be born. I couldn't help but feel the disappointment course through my system.
I suddenly felt the tightening in my stomach once again.
"Dimitri, here comes another one," I told him, grabbing his hand. He leaned forward in his seat to be closer to me as I sat up a little to relieve the pressure.
"This one's not so bad either…Oh, wait, yes it is!" I exclaimed suddenly, the pressure suddenly getting stronger, causing me to wince in pain and squeeze Dimitri's hand. My other hand balled up a fistful of the bed covers. I stayed still and waited for the contraction to pass, which it did, after a moment.
"Are you okay?" Dimitri asked me, looking worried.
"Yeah, I think so." I wiped my forehead, starting to feel a little clammy.
The doctor returned not long afterwards, shooing everyone out in the process.
"You're still not very far along." She informed both Dimitri and I.
"How is that possible? We've been here like three hours?" I exclaimed.
"You are moving along…just slowly," she said, looking at me sympathetically. "You look a little hot Rose – are you warm?" she asked.
"Yeah," I replied, feeling very warm indeed. Dimitri pulled the heavy blanket that had been lying over me down to the end of the bed so all that was left covering me was a light sheet. handed him and cold, wet cloth, which he held against my forehead. I instantly felt better and leant into the cloth.
"Can I have another one?" I asked them. A nurse returned a minute later with an identical cloth which I held at the back of my neck.
"Rose, guess what?" Mia said suddenly.
"What?"
"Happy Birthday!" she exclaimed.
"Really? Is it twelve already?" I asked her. She nodded.
"Happy birthday, Roza," Dimitri said and kissed my forehead.
"You're still very clammy," he observed, turning the cloth over and pressing it against my hot skin.
"Am I allowed to eat or drink anything?" I asked who was still taking notes down on her clipboard.
"Just ice chips," she replied.
"I'll go get you some," Karolina told me and both she and the doctor left.
"Where are Paul and Zoya?" I asked, realising that there were some missing members of the Belikov clan.
"Grandmother's looking after them," Sonya replied. Just then Karolina returned with a plastic cup filled with ice. I took it off her gratefully and popped a piece into my mouth.
A few hours later
"Oh my goddddd," I groaned, righting myself after another painful contraction. "How much longer is this going to take?" I exclaimed.
"I'm sorry, Roza," Dimitri said. "I wish there was something I could do."
"Well, there isn't." I snapped at him. He'd been ignoring a lot of my snappy comments towards him and even that was starting to piss me off. He and Lissa exchanged a 'look' and my annoyance grew.
"Do you think I can't see you guys?" I growled. After a couple of hours, the doctor had given instructions for everyone to go wait in the waiting room as the room had gotten very stuffy and was not helping me in the slightest. Lissa and Dimitri had been allowed to stay however. "If you guys are gonna do that then please just go wait with the others."
I didn't mean it of course: There was no way in hell that I was going to be having this baby without Dimitri by my side…but I was just so damn pissed off.
"I'm sorry, Roza," Dimitri said, rubbing circles into my palm with his thumb. "I know how fed up you are, but the doctor will be back any minute to see how much longer this baby's going to be."
did come within the next few minutes, only to tell me that I had only dilated a little more than one centimetre in the last couple of hours.
"Oh come on!" I exclaimed. "Doctor, you gotta do something! Please, just give me drugs or something!"
"I'm sorry, Rose, it's too early-"
"Too early!" I cut her off. "I've been here all night, how the hell is it too early!"
She just gave me another one of her sympathetic looks and left to get me some more ice chips.
"I'm seriously gonna kill someone soon," I said, impatiently pushing hair out of my face.
"Here," Lissa said. She pulled my hair up into a ponytail so that it was out of my face.
Dimitri hadn't said anything in a little while.
"You okay?" I asked him. He looked a little frightened at being addressed by me.
I chuckled and ran my hand through his hair. "I'm sorry." I said to him. I knew I was being hard on him. "I'm being such a bitch."
"It's okay, you're allowed to be." He smiled at me, looking relieved that I hadn't threatened his life for once.
I looked at the screen of the machine that our doctor had hooked me up to to monitor my contractions. The steady beeping had picked up pace and the green line was moving sharper than before.
Dimitri held onto my hand tighter as the contraction progressed. My body relaxed when it was over and my eyes started to droop. We'd been here for nearly eighteen hours without much result and I was exhausted.
"Rose," walked through the door. "How are we?"
I groaned in response, no longer able to express my exhaustion through words.
She checked me and studied my monitor.
"Well, you're six centimetres dilated so we are still moving along."
There was a knock at the door. It was Ivan.
"Eh, sorry!" he said quickly, slapping his hand over his eyes for fear that the doctor was not finished examining me.
I laughed at him. He was such a girl.
"Ivan, it's okay, I'm covered." I told him and I saw him visibly relax as he uncovered his eyes.
"I just thought I'd let you know that you're parents are here," he told me.
"Really?" I felt a strange sense of happiness wash through me. "Can I see them?" I asked the doctor.
"Of course," she replied. Ivan went to get them and returned shortly. I could see the concern etched into my father's face as he entered, followed by relief when he saw that I was okay. My mother walked behind him, also looking relieved.
It just occurred to me that maybe she cared more for me than I had originally thought. I mean, she had been through all of this before with me. How could someone not have an emotional connection to a being that had grown inside of them for nine whole months?
"We'll be back in a few minutes," Dimitri said and kissed my temple. I knew what he was doing. He was giving me a few minutes privacy…and I loved him for it.
"Hi," I said quietly once there was no one but the three of us in the room.
"Little girl…" my father said and walked over to me. He was smiling softly at me. I think it was the first time I had ever saw him let his guard down. To my surprise, he gave me a small hug and his hand rested on my baby bump.
"How is everything?" he asked me.
"Everything's going fine. Slow, but still good. How are you mom?" I decided to make the first move seen as though she still hadn't said anything.
She walked over to the chair Dimitri had previously occupied and sat down.
"Rose…I know that I haven't been a very good mother to you. And I'm sorry. I never meant to hurt you…but I don't want you to think for one second that I never loved you. You are my daughter…my baby girl and you always will be."
She was crying by the time she had finished talking, and I was aware that thick tears were making trails down my own cheeks. My father looked at Janine with pride.
I leaned in and gave her an awkward hug. I couldn't help but hope that this would be the start of something new for both of us. I didn't need to answer her with words. My hug said everything that I wanted it to.
They left after a couple of minutes and then Dimitri was back by my side.
A few more hours passed and by this stage, I was so far passed wrecked. All I wanted to do was sleep which was impossible with the constant contractions.
"Dimitri…why doesn't he want to come out?" I whined a little, leaning further into the cold cloth that he was holding to my head.
"He will, Roza, he will," he reassured me. "He just needs time to get ready."
Dimitri had been fantastic…better than fantastic…he had been amazing over the last couple of hours. He held my hand when I was having contractions, he fluffed my pillows for me every fifteen minutes, he held cool cloths against my forehead when I was hot and put woolly socks on my feet when they were cold.
"What time is it?" I asked him.
"Nearly 10pm," he replied.
"Ugh...we've been here more than twenty four hours!" I exclaimed. "This is the worst birthday ever."
"I'm sorry, Roza." Dimitri said looking sad. "I promise that we'll celebrate it properly once we get out of here. The three of us."
I smiled at the last part.
"I can't wait to hold him," I said quietly to Dimitri, brushing his hair back from his face.
"Me either."
Five hours later
"Ten centimetres," announced. "We're finally ready to go."
My head snapped up, as did Dimitri's…suddenly, I didn't feel so tired anymore.
"Really?" I asked her, not sure if I had heard her right.
"Really." she replied smiling. "You're about to become parents."
My nerves suddenly rushed back into my stomach.
"Don't worry, everything's going to be okay," Dimitri reassured me, not loosening his grip on my hand. He did however, have to let go and move out of the way as the nurses prepared me for the delivery room.
Before I knew it, I had been wheeled into a room that was bustling with nurses and of course, .
"Okay, Rose, I need you to push." said, a slightly urgent tone in her voice.
I didn't reply with words. I just did as she asked while Dimitri whispered calming things in my ear.
I groaned in pain as this internal pressure pushed against me.
"It's okay, Roza, you're doing great," Dimitri said to me.
"Don't you 'Roza' me!" I growled at him. "This is your fault!"
I ignored the look of concern on his face. I knew I wasn't being fair, but I had to blame someone for the pain I was going through…and he was the closest.
After forty-five minutes of pushing, I heard the sweetest sound I'd ever heard in my lifetime.
The cry of my own baby.
"Here he is." said, lifting him up so that Dimitri and I could get a good look at him.
Just looking at the small bundle, crying and moving his small limbs made me cry.
"He's so beautiful," I whispered, not even trying to wipe the tears away from my face.
"He's just like you." Dimitri said close to my ear. The doctor handed our baby to one of the nurses to get him cleaned up. I looked at Dimitri.
He looked at me with so much emotion in his face and eyes. I could see his love, pride and pure happiness shining brightly.
"I love you." I said simply, hoping that those three small words would make up for all of the mean words I had said to him in the last 30 hours, as well as tell him how much he meant to me.
He smiled, truly happy, and returned those simple, but powerful, three words.
"I love you."
I redirected my attention to the small bundle wrapped in a soft blue blanket that was being handed to me.
"Hi baby," I whispered to him, noticing how he fit into my arms perfectly. "Thank you for coming out of me."
Dimitri chuckled softly and continued gazing at the amazing being in my arms.
"He's so like you," I said to Dimitri, noticing all of his flawless features – his smooth, tanned skin, his perfect nose, his ten tiny fingers, and of course, his beautiful brown eyes.
His crying had quietened as he got used to the outside world. I watched him in awe.
"Did we really make something this perfect?" I asked Dimitri.
"He's our baby, Roza," Dimitri said, as though only just realising it. "He's ours."
"You wanna hold him?" I asked him after a moment.
Dimitri looked up at me, looking a little nervous.
"Don't worry, you won't hurt him," I told him. It was my turn to soothe him. I lifted my arms out towards him as he tentatively reached forward.
I smiled at the sight of my son in the arms of his father. He looked so tiny.
"Do we have a name yet?" asked us, looking like she didn't want to interrupt our happy moment.
Dimitri and I glanced at each other. We had talked about it but hadn't officially decided on a name.
"No, not quite yet," I answered her.
"That's okay," she replied. "For now we'll just call him Baby Boy Hathaway." She scribbled down on her clipboard.
"No!" I said quickly. "Baby Boy Belikov-Hathaway." I corrected her, sparing a glance at Dimitri. He looked at me with so much love that I felt like bursting into tears.
"Baby Boy Belikov-Hathaway it is then." She wrote it down and left us to be for a moment.
"We need to decide on a name." I told Dimitri.
"Don't worry, we have time."
I looked back down at the breath-taking bundle in my arms.
"He looks like a Luka," I said out loud to Dimitri.
We looked at each other. Dimitri smiled at me before he replied.
"I was thinking the same thing."
