For approximately ninety seconds, Junior forgot how to breathe.
She forgot how to breathe during the 10 seconds that followed Jake's panicked phone call in which she was stunned into silence. She forgot how to breathe as she attempted to call him back 14 times, which was about 70 seconds. For the remaining 20 seconds, Junior stood in the middle of an overpacked conference center lobby, teeming with the nerdiest of nerdy medical researchers. And she forgot how to breathe.
"I'm in danger. The baby's in danger."
Junior could still hear Jake's voice, how small it sounded, how she could feel every ounce of exasperation that seeped in his normally baritone timbre. Before she had time to let out an animalistic howl, someone gently tugged at the sleeve of her blazer.
"Ms. Hesse, your research absolutely blew us all away. Profound work. I'm Dr. Brant with UC Riverside," an older gentleman with thinning hair offered her a liver-spotted hand, but she just stared at it. "My colleagues and I would love to invite you to—"
"I have to leave. Now," she stated bluntly, and moved past the dumbfounded man.
It was such a jarring sight. All around her, primly dressed people were shuffling in and out of rooms. Laughing. Engaging in schmoozy small talk. Mindlessly scrolling through their phones. And Junior was currently riding through the first waves of a major panic attack.
Still numb (and still wearing her professional heels), Junior broke into a run and managed to make it to the front steps of the conference center. The afternoon breeze brushed her cheeks. It was then that she remembered to breathe, and quickly punched several digits into her phone screen.
"Dr. Arborgast. Jake needs us. We need to leave now."
Within 30 minutes, Larry and Junior packed up their room, checked out of their hotel, and found themselves in the middle of Bay Area rush hour, gridlocked. Even though Larry was meeting with investors willing to put Expectane back on the market, he, too, left instantly. He could tell that Junior was doing everything in her power to look ahead, to continuing breathing in and out. He knew he couldn't tell her this, but he was, too.
"Can you remind me exactly what Jake said on the phone?" he asked gently, beeping his horn several times at the driver ahead of him.
"He said he was at the mall, and something about Quentin. He mentioned he was in danger at least twice." Junior said slowly. "I think he might be in labor."
"Quentin?" Larry sounded baffled. "I thought that asshole left for Boston a long time ago. Sorry for the language, Junior."
"He did," she admitted, and offered him a weak smile for his unnecessary apology. "With the timing of it all – so close to Jake's due date – I can't help but feel like he planned this."
"What we need to focus on right now is our plan, Junior," he responded, noticing that her eyes began to fill up with tears. "We need to find out where he is, and start preparing for a safe delivery."
She nodded, and took a deep breath. "I need to make sure he's not home. I'll call my neighbor to see. If that's the case, then he could very well still be at the mall. We need to figure out which one he's at."
"Ok. I'm going to call Angela and tell her what's going on. And I need to get Ned Sneller to prepare a delivery room, too."
"Can we trust him?" Junior asked.
"Yes," Larry couldn't help but chuckle. "This isn't the first time he's delivered a baby in… unconventional… circumstances."
Junior raised an eyebrow and was planning on responding, but pushed forward with her action plan. Within a matter of minutes, she was on the phone with Jake's (now their) neighbor, Mariam, an elderly woman from Egypt who mostly kept to herself and mostly spoke (and understood) Coptic.
"Mariam! Hi, it's Junior… I live right next door… yes… with Jake," she did her best to sound normal, and turned to Larry. "I think she just referred to your son as a 'human planet' in Coptic."
Larry smiled lightly as he passed the car in front of them. An additional 10 minutes were added to their ETA because of the painstakingly slow traffic.
"I'm looking to see if I left, um, my straightening iron on in the downstairs bathroom. There should be a key underneath the aloe plant. Would you mind checking for me? I would ask Jake but I can't seem to get ahold of him... You can stay on the phone… Thank you so much."
While this conversation was happening, Larry had already phoned his wife and Alex to notify them of the emergency. He figured that she, Alex and Diana would be part of their "search crew", if it ended up that way. Though part of him wanted to utilize Alex as a personal assassin to rip Quentin to shreds.
"The iron wasn't even there? Strange… and you said Jake isn't home? But the car is…? Ok, thank you so much Mariam. If he comes home, will you ask him to call me? Oh, I… yes, I'll look into that for him. Thanks," she pressed END on her phone with a frustrated sigh.
"Nothing?" Larry asked. Junior shook her head.
"She told me to look up a vegan Egyptian recipe to help Jake lose weight," she mumbled. "The car's there, which make sense, since he hasn't been able to fit behind the wheel since he began his third trimester. So he took public transportation to get to the mall."
"There are quite a few malls where you live" Larry noted. "The good thing is, Jake's size makes him pretty noticeable, and slows him down a bit. That'll make it easier to find him."
"It also makes him more of a target," Junior retorted, feeling even more desolate. She just checked the balance of their shared checking account on their phone to see if there was any activity. Nothing.
"I mean, what on earth drove him to go on a shopping spree?" Jake's father beeped his horn for a solid three seconds, partly due to the fact that the car ahead of them was barely moving, but mostly because his anger was becoming increasingly difficult to manage.
"I don't know," she said.
If anyone did though, it was Jules. Even though Junior and Jake had spent nearly every waking minute together since their reconciliation, he was still accustomed to his daily double phone calls with her sister. She was beginning to see how much he relied on Jules—how much they relied on each other— during their separation. They discussed everything: their babies' movements, cravings, last minute nursery preparations. She was pretty confident that their children would enter into this world already best friends.
But Junior was adamant about not letting Jules know about this crisis. By now, Jules was two weeks overdue, incredibly uncomfortable, and prone to snapping at people (mostly Connor) at the most unpredictable moments. This would utterly devastate her. Still, Junior was determined to scour the entire state of California to find Jake, and any information could help.
Junior picked up her phone once more, and dialed her sister.
"Junior? Junior!" Jules sounded ecstatic. "Is it time? Is Jake in labor? I told him to call me first when it started. Jeez."
Junior felt the tears prick her eyes again, but she slowly exhaled. "Jules, listen. I'm calling you because –"
"Ok, I'm kind of relieved. I'm so sick of being pregnant. I even sent Connor to go on this work retreat because I can't stand anyone right now. If his baby beats my baby into this world, I'm going to be –"
"Jules. Jake is in trouble. Quentin found him, and we think he's about to have the baby," she let the urgency reveal itself in her voice. "He said he was at a mall. Do you have any idea which mall he could be at?"
"Oh. My. God," Jules spaced each word with several seconds. "Oh my God! No, I don't have any idea! Last time we talked it was mostly about finding comfortable sleeping positions. Junior. How far away are you? I need to go find him now. Shit! Nurse, can you please take this out of me? Now?!"
"Where are you right now?" Junior could hear several machines beep in the background.
"At the doctor's," Jules now sounded as frantic as her sister. "It's nothing. Mom's in the waiting room. We're leaving now. Nurse? We're leaving NOW."
"That's not necessary Ju—" Junior tried to say, but her sister cut her off.
"Don't tell me what to do, Junior! I'll be fine. We're going to find Jake, I'm going to search every single mall. AND we're gonna beat Quentin's ass. In fact, I'll do it myself!" she could tell that Jules was beginning one of her pregnancy tantrums, and there was nothing she could do to stop it.
"We'll keep you posted," Junior said, and cut the conversation short before her sister launched into another tirade.
"Damn it!" Junior yelled, and slammed the phone onto the floor. In her mind, this situation was hopeless. In her mind, she had failed Jake yet again. She burrowed her head in her hands, repeating, "I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do."
Finally, Larry approached the exit needed to escape the congested city traffic. He took one hand off the steering wheel to rub her back. "I think I have a plan, but it's definitely not pretty and there's definitely a lot of risk."
Junior let out a shaky breath and nodded. "Okay."
"There's no point wasting time trying to figure out which mall he could be at. Even if Ange, your parents, and Jules split up and scout every inch of the place, it could take all day," Larry said all of this carefully, as if he were speaking to an inconsolable child.
"We don't know where he is," he continued. "But we know someone who does."
For Junior, this took a few moments to sink in. "Dr. Arbogast, I can't think about Quentin without wanting to disembowel him. I don't want anything to do with him. Can't we find Jake without contacting Quentin?"
"I know, believe me, but think about this, Junior," Larry urged. "He was the last person to see Jake. He won't stop until he's found him. He just won't. In order to save Jake, we need to get rid of Quentin, too."
She contemplated this. "So what do you suggest we do?"
"We need to offer a trade. If he can tell us where Jake is, then we'll give him Jake," he said. "Not actually, obviously, but if we can convince him of that, then not only are we focusing our search efforts on one location, but we're also ensuring that Quentin will never bother us again."
Larry looked at Junior. He saw the anguish ridden in every single line on her face, so telling of the care he had for his son, for his future grandchild. She was clearly thinking this over in such an intense manner, he decided not to say anything. He couldn't help but think to himself, I was the first person you ever met. I always wanted to have my own daughter, but I am even more grateful to have you.
"I know this is a big ask, Junior, but it's the best chance we got."
At this, Junior steadied herself. She looked down at her phone on the floorboard and shook her head, still in shock that her day was completely turned around because of one single phone call. She knew what she had to do.
"What?" an angry, spiteful voice shouted at her.
"Quentin," she breathed. "It's Junior."
"Junior," he quickly cleared his throat and tried to relax his voice, guising the impatience that was clearly detected when he first picked up the phone. "It's been a while."
"Look, Quentin, I'll cut right to it. Jake called me, said something about you and that he was going to have the baby," she said, trying to muster up as much strength as possible. "If you tell me where you last saw Jake, I'll help you find him and bring him to you."
Quentin let out a chilling laugh. "This is rich, Junior. You know that? I know you guys are like a couple or something, I've been paying attention to things. I can't believe you think I'm that foolish. And I used to think highly of you."
"Ok, Quentin. I can't stand you, and I know you don't really care much for me. But I know you're stressed. You'd never admit this, but you know you need my help. Put your ego aside and trust me on this," she replied.
"And why is that?" he barked.
"Because Jake is carrying my baby, and every second that goes by only puts them more at risk." When Junior said this, Larry cast her a concerned expression, but she bit her lip and nodded her head to reassure him.
"Ho-ly shit," Quentin whistled. "Jordan was your egg?! No fucking way! God, this just keeps getting wilder. Listen, Junior, I'm so sorry to rupture your quaint domestic family dreams, but researchers in Boston are me paying thousands of dollars and waiting rather impatiently for me to bring them a pregnant man. So unless you have an amazing counter offer then I'm going to have to –"
"I don't care about Jake," Junior spat out, and the falsehood of those words immediately brought tears to her eyes. But she maintained her unwavering voice. "I actually have to marvel at your naivete, Quentin. You think I actually care about him? That's laughable. I'm just in it for the baby. As soon as the baby was born, I was going to make sure that he never ever got to see it again. You're actually making my job easier by doing what you want with him."
Tears were now flowing incessantly down her cheeks. She bit her finger to prevent a sob from escaping her mouth. The other end of the line was still silent.
"Jake is nothing but an immature, selfish, womanizing party boy. I honestly can't wait to get rid of him," she continued. As she said these words, she realized they came from a part of her, nestled under layers and layers of memories accumulated over the past several months: these were things she initially felt about Jake, before they began their relationship.
Now, she saw Jake as nothing short of incredible.
"If you can promise a safe delivery of the baby, and put it in my arms before Jake has a chance to ruin everything, then I will gladly dispose of this arrogant, awful person," she concluded.
Larry cleared his throat, and gripped the steering wheel even tighter. From the corner of her eye, she could tell he was trying to hold back tears, too. Even though Jake was indisputably the love of her life, she thought she offered enough persuasion in her voice to convince Quentin that Jake meant absolutely nothing to her.
Finally, Quentin responded. "We're gonna run a few tests to ensure the baby is healthy, then that thing is all yours. How soon can you find Jake?"
Junior glanced at the GPS. They were still over three hours away from their home, and that didn't even factor in the amount of time it would actually take to find Jake. When she through about all of the time, and all of the pain Jake was experiencing, it was too hard to bear.
"Give me four hours. Just tell me where you last saw him, and where you want to meet me."
"Grand Orchard Mall. When you find him, I want you to send a picture of him, in your car, to prove that you got him. Meet me in the loading docks at the bottom of the parking garage. 6 PM. Don't fuck with me, Junior."
The beep signaled that Quentin had ended the conversation, and Junior instantly began to weep. Deep, body-convulsing sobs that almost shook the entire car. They sounded like a harrowing, mournful cacophony, it almost scared Junior knowing that those sounds came from her. She didn't even try to wipe the tears that were staining her grey suit pants, she just kept rocking slightly with her back hunched over and hair splayed in a frazzled mess.
"Hey, hey," Larry said lightly. "Junior, you did great. We're going to find him."
"But what if he doesn't make it?" she croaked. "I abandoned him once, and I just did it again. He is alone, the baby's alone, and I'm three hours away. He's not going to make it."
"Junior, hey, listen," Larry tried to say, but his voice was barely audible over her earth-shattering cries. "Jake is my son, he's one of the strongest people I know, Literally, and figuratively. We tried to raise him that way, but there was something inside of him, something so tenacious and unshakeable, that he was just born with."
"He is so stubborn," Junior was able to say.
"You're goddamn right," Larry said proudly. "He's going to stay strong. And that baby? It's part of you, too, and if there's anything I know about you, Junior, is that you fight for the ones you love. That's why I'm so happy my son found you. It was about damn time, too."
She wiped her nose and looked woefully at him.
"If your dad was able to hang on, alone, and ride through 12 hours of bone-crippling labor pains, then I am more than confident that Jake will get through this. I promise you," he asserted, and locked eyes with Junior for a brief moment.
"My dad was alone when he was in labor?" Junior looked baffled.
"Well, his extensive collection of hair wigs and matronly jewelry probably gave him some company," he chuckled, then looked back at her. "Did your dad ever tell you about it?"
Junior shook her head, her expression turning even more puzzled. "Wigs?"
"Oh man," he whistled. "Let me tell you about a place called Casitas Madres."
For the remainder of that car ride, despite the tension and uncertainty they were going to face that evening, Larry told Junior about the fateful, beautiful day she was born.