Chapter 44

On the ride home Akaliiani told AJ that she's come up with a couple of name combinations that she wanted to run by him. He eagerly told her to go ahead. "Well, I thought that if both were boys then Robert and Richard and they would be called Robby and Ricky. Or if we had one of each what about Robert and Rebecca and we could call them Bobby and Becky? What do you think?" she asked.

"If I wasn't driving right now I would kiss you senseless! Those are perfect!" AJ exclaimed.

"You're really sure?"

"I am. Those are wonderful names, I can't wait to see what set we have!"

"Do you have a preference to which set you'd like?" she wanted to know.

"Not at all. As long as they and you are all healthy I will be happy with either."

She smiled at him and said, "Well, I'm hoping for one of each."

"Then I'll hope for that too."

During the next week they got daily updates from Gerald and Adel, unfortunately the news didn't change. The baby was slowly gaining weight but Collette was still in a coma.

A month after her birth Harley weighed in at four pounds! But her mother had not seen her yet.

As frustrating as it was Liiani kept having the Braxton Hicks contraction every few days. It got to the point that every time it happened all she wanted to do was to cry. AJ tried to console her the best he could but felt helpless that he couldn't do much more than to tell her it wouldn't be much longer.

AJ left for work as usual and just as Liiani was about to make lunch for herself when they started in again. Liiani had had it! She had just taken a plate out of the cupboard and in her upset she through it against the wall! It made such a satisfying crash that she pulled out another and threw that too. Several more plates later with tears flowing down her cheeks, she realized that this time might be different when her water broke.

She stared at the puddle a moment then grabbed the phone to call AJ. "You should meet me at Bethesda as soon as possible."

"Akaliiani am coming to get you! You shouldn't be driving if you're really in labor."

"I will call a cab as soon as I hang up, so just meet me there."

"Oh, okay, I will soon Darlin'," he told her and ended the call. "Coates!" She came running into the office at the urgent ton in his voice. AJ threw some papers into his briefcase and he headed towards the door. "Tell Rabb he's in charge until I get back. Akaliiani is in labor."

AJ was shown into a room where Akaliiani was in the middle of a contraction, he hurried to her side and put his arm around her just as the contraction ended.

"Oh AJ, I'm SO sorry!" she looked up at him with tears in her eyes.

"What do you have to be sorry about Darlin'? We knew that with all the false alarms you've been having that this would be soon."

"No, no, I wasn't sorry about being in labor! I'm sorry about breaking a plate when the contractions started."

"Darlin', that is fine, don't worry about it. Accidents happen and I will clean it up when I get home."

"It wasn't an accident…I thought it was the Braxton Hicks starting again. I was so upset that I threw the the plate I was holding against the wall."

"It's okay my love, I understand. It's only a plate, nothing to stress about," he insisted.

"You don't get it! The crash was so satisfying that I threw another…and then another, I'm sorry I did it but at the time…"

AJ chuckled, "It's alright Akaliiani. The plates don't matter. They can be replaced, you are the only thing that matters to me," he told her.

"So you forgi…" she started to ask before another contraction started. She grabbed him a hand and squeezed for all she was worth.

He bore it well so she drew up her knees and tried not to scream. They went through a couple more contractions before the nurse came in to check on how far she was dilated. The nurse said she was at eight centimeters and progressing nicely.

To be continued…..