The next day started off like any average day did for the Wests and Ruthie. Wilson left for work just as Mary was waking up, and within the hour she was dressed and feeding Billy breakfast. Ruthie was still asleep when Mary went outside to walk Billy to the bus stop that was at the end of the street.

The weather that day was beautiful, the epitome of splendor for the Sunshine State. The sky was a crisp azure blue with only slight wisps of clouds instead of the gigantic thunderheads that usually reared above everyone's heads. Winter in Florida was one of the few things Mary was grateful for in this world. The sun shone strong on the December morning, a warm 59 degrees with "a high of 63" expected by the end of the day.

Mary and Billy always got to the bus stop earlier than most, giving Mary a chance to scope out the fellow children in the morning. She saw a boy who was in Billy's class and lived about three doors down from them coming to the corner. Billy went off to talk to him; Nicholas was his name if Mary remembered correctly. Then, two girls walked down the street. Mary recalled seeing them before, but she never really took notice until today. The girls were older than Billy, looking like they were going into the fourth and fifth grade. The younger one had blonde hair and the older had brown. They walked down the street giggling away and talking about how their older brother was such a pain. Mary observed the younger one look up at her elder with the utmost respect and love. They had to be sisters.

The bus came to a stop in front of Mary's face and the two girls walked onto the bus after Billy. As the bus pulled away, Mary sighed to herself and turned back to her house. "I miss Lucy," she thought. If anyone ever asked her about this Mary would undoubtedly deny it, but the truth was she needed someone to talk to right now. Wilson was not a woman, no matter how much he could relate to her. Mary wanted that strong sisterly connection that she had with Lucy. Not only that, but she wanted, no needed, a friend.

Mary walked back into the house and started to do the breakfast dishes. Since she didn't see Ruthie putting around, Mary was certain that she was not up yet. About 45 minutes later, Mary had the dishes finished and the living room picked up when the bathroom door opened and Ruthie appeared. She had a strange look on her face and it was obvious that she had been crying. Mary stared at Ruthie from the kitchen. She felt so badly that she had yelled at Ruthie the night before. Anything Ruthie was going through had to be twice as worse than anything that was bothering Mary.

"What's wrong?" Mary asked.

"I…I…"Ruthie grabbed her stomach as if she was in pain. "I think I'm having the baby."

Mary's face went white. Deep down she knew that this day was inevitable, but she never really thought that it would happen. She knew that Ruthie was pregnant and fully understood what that meant, but Ruthie just couldn't be a mother- at least not in Mary's eyes.

Ruthie grabbed her stomach again as she leaned against the wall and started to cry. Mary rushed over to her.

"Are you sure?"

Ruthie nodded.

"T-then I have to get you to the hospital."

Ruthie stared up into Mary's eyes for guidance. She grabbed Ruthie's hand and squeezed it gently.

"Everything is going to be fine."

"I'm scared," Ruthie admitted for the first time.

"Don't be. I'll be right next to you…if you want me to be. I won't let anything bad happen to you. Now let's go."

They made it to the door before another contraction set in. Ruthie grabbed onto Mary's arm for dear life and closed her eyes tightly. More tears fell, but eventually it was all over and they made it to the car. Miraculously, Ruthie made through the entire ride to the hospital without another contraction. As soon as she stepped inside, however, another hit. Ruthie breathed through it and persevered enough to make it into a room. Mary saw her in before ducking out to call Wilson on her cell phone.

"Hello?"

"Wilson…" Mary wanted it say more but she couldn't. She had started to cry harder and the words just would not come out.

"Mary? What's wrong? Are you crying?" Wilson could still hear her sobbing, but she said nothing. "Mare, calm down and talk."

Mary wiped her eyes. "I'm at the hospital. Ruthie is having the baby."

Wilson was unable to say anything until the shock wore off.  She was actually going to do this. "Is she OK?"

"Yeah, she's all right, but I'm not."

"OK, I'll go pick Billy up from school and I'll be right there."

"Bye."

Mary pulled herself together and walked back into Ruthie's room. Inside, she found Dr. Hammond talking to Ruthie.

"Mary, hello," he greeted her.

"So, is she OK? Is she really having the baby?"

"Yes, everything seems to be fine and she is indeed in labor."

Another contraction came and Mary rushed over to Ruthie's side. It only lasted for a few seconds, and for that Ruthie was very thankful.

"Well," Dr. Hammond said, "she is only dilated about 2 centimeters, if that, so from what I can tell we're going to be here for a while. I'll come back and check on her in a about a half an hour."

Mary smiled at the doctor and he walked to the door. Just before he left, he turned back around to Mary. "If you don't mind me asking; you've never had a baby have you Mary?" Mary shook her head. "Well, if you guys have any questions, concerns, anything at all, just get someone to come and find me. You two are some of my favorite ladies…and you and I both know I see my share of women."

Ruthie and Mary both smiled. "Thanks," they said in unison.

Dr. Hammond walked all the way out the door and left Mary and Ruthie alone. Ruthie grabbed Mary's hand and stared at the floor.

"Ruthie, I'm sorry for yelling at you all the time. I should have been a lot nicer to you while you were here."

"Yeah you should have, but I'll forgive you if you forgive me for bringing up Mom and Dad all the time."

"Done."

Ruthie sighed heavily. "So, did you call Wilson?"

"Yeah, and he was leaving right then to go pick up Billy. They'll be here in a little while."

"Good," Ruthie responded with a smile.

"You really like Wilson, don't you?" Ruthie nodded. "Why is that?"

"I don't know. He's just really nice to me; he treats me like a real human being and not just some messed up kid. And he's a very good listener, too."

"Yeah, he is." A smile crept up on Mary's face, followed by the onset of tears welling up in her eyes.

Mary and Ruthie sat in silence for a while until there was a knock on the door. Mary and Ruthie both looked up.

"Uh, come in," Mary said.

The door opened and Wilson's head poked through the crack.

"Thank God," Mary said aloud. She got up from her chair and looked down at Ruthie. "I'll be right back, OK?"

"Don't take too long."

Mary nodded but didn't really pay any mind to honoring Ruthie's request. She just needed to see Wilson right now. She walked outside and threw her arms around Wilson. He held her back and wiped the tears that were flowing freely down her face.

"How is Ruthie doing?"

"She's OK."

"What about my wife? How's she doing?"

"Not great."

"Wife?" someone said from behind them. Mary turned around to see Dr. Hammond. More time must have passed than she had realized. "So this must be the infamous Wilson that I've heard so much about. It's a pleasure," he said sticking his hand out to Wilson for him to shake.

"And you are?" Wilson said.

"Dr. Hammond, Ruthie's doctor."

"Oh, right."

Dr. Hammond crouched down. "And who is this little guy?" he said to Billy.

"This is Billy, our son," Mary said.

The doctor looked perplexed. "But you said…"

"I know. I didn't give birth to Billy," she clarified.

"Oh, I see," he said trying not to make a big deal out of it. "It's nice to meet you, too, sport. But if you can excuse me, I have to go check on your aunt."

"Aunt?" Billy said.

Wilson put his hand on Billy's back. "C'mon son."

Wilson, Mary, and Billy all went into the maternity waiting room. Surprisingly, there was no one else in there. A television was suspended from the ceiling, tuned to a news network. Wilson reached up and flipped through the channels until he found some cartoons to keep Billy occupied. Instantly he was glued. Billy settled into the second-rate couch and Mary sat down with Wilson on the other end. Mary leaned her head on Wilson's shoulder and he wrapped his arm around her. Wilson wondered what was wrong with Mary, but he hesitated to ask her. No one needed her to be crying again.

"Tell me she's going to be OK. Tell me that nothing is going to happen to her and she'll give birth to a beautiful boy or girl and eventually her life will be in order."

"She's going to be OK, and after she gives birth to a healthy baby everything will be fine."

Mary sighed. "I want to believe that but I can't. I must be more scared than she is."

"Is that why you were crying before?"

"No, I was crying before because all this was going on and I don't have the energy to deal with it. You have no idea how tired I am right now."

"Are you getting sick or something?"

"I don't think so. I've just done too much lately."

"Then sleep," Wilson suggested.

"What? Here?"

"Why not?"

"Because Ruthie is in labor!"

"So? The baby's not going to just pop out of her right this instance, is it?"

"No, but-"

"But nothing." Wilson pulled Mary in closer to him. "Sleep. I'll wake you up if things get interesting."

Mary wanted to protest, but the opportunity of sleep sounded too good to pass up. Mary leaned up and kissed Wilson on the lips before settling into him and quickly falling asleep. It seemed like Mary had just shut her eyes when Wilson shook her awake.

"Get up," he said gently, "you've been asleep for an hour and a half. They're moving Ruthie into the delivery room."

Mary's eyes shot open. "Oh, is that all?" she said sarcastically.

"Well, not quite. Guess who I just met?"

Mary sat up and rubbed her eyes before standing up on her own two feet. "I don't know, the president?" Mary said as she walked to the door.

Wilson stopped her before she left by grabbing her arm. "Peter," Wilson said clearly. "Peter's here."

Mary stopped dead in her tracks. What did that low-lying scum want with Ruthie now? Was it not enough that he deflowered Ruthie? He needed more? "Are you serious?" she said.

"Unfortunately yes, and from the story Peter is telling Ruthie is very happy to see him."

"If he lays one hand on her…" Mary said as she stormed off in the direction of Ruthie's room. Mary opened the door and saw Ruthie gazing lovingly into Peter's eyes as he held her hand. They hadn't even noticed that Mary had entered the room. It was at that second that Mary knew she had lost Ruthie. She was long gone and needed more help then Mary could ever give her.

"Mary!" Ruthie finally said in a chipper tone. "You're up! How was your nap?"

"Fine," she snapped back.

Another contraction came, and Ruthie clenched Peter's hand tightly. Mary watched Peter wince as Ruthie squeezed the life out of his fingers. "Wimp," she thought as she watched him. Ruthie breathed through the contraction and when it finally stopped, Mary had to put her two cents in.

"So, Wilson tells me that this young man is Peter."

"Yup."

"You're Mary, right?" Peter said.

"Yes." Mary grit her teeth and went on to further interrogate the 13 year old boy. "So, what brings you to our fine city?"

"The train. When my mom found out I got Ruthie pregnant, she shipped me off to live with my crazy aunt in Missouri. I tried to stop thinking about Ruthie but I couldn't. I knew that her due date should be approaching, and I asked my aunt if I could come out here. She acted totally insane and let me come al the way by myself, just like that."

"Well, it is a very important day," Mary added.

"I guess so."

At this point Mary was fuming. Didn't he realize that today he life was going to change forever, all because he couldn't keep his pants on? A nurse came in and wheeled Ruthie's bed out into the delivery room, leaving Mary alone and flabbergasted. She walked back into the waiting room and plopped down in the spot next to Wilson.

"I hate him," she announced.

Wilson didn't say anything.

"What did you think of him?"

"Do you want the truth?" he asked.

"Yes."

"I didn't get a good feeling from him. Maybe it's just because of what he did to Ruthie, but I don't know."

Mary put her head in her hands. "This is not good, you know. Not good at all."

A/N: For all of you that guessed Ruthie would go into labor, CONGRATULATIONS, you were right. Next chapter will most likely be the last, unless I split my ideas up into two smaller chapters.

Next chapter: Ruthie has the baby, Mary makes a phone call, and Peter has an impact on everybody's lives.

Please review!!! I live off of your feedback.