Someone asked me to hold off the angst for a little while - to just write mush... nice idea. But then the angst is what makes the mush so gloriously mushy! So enjoy the mush, for the angst shall return... evil laughter in the background, can't you hear it?

"Susan?" Carter put a chart back on the rack and jogged across the ER to meet them. "Is she okay?" he asked Mark.

"No." Susan answered, teeth gritted, as she reached for the closest chair.

"Can we get a gurney over here?" Carter yelled to no one in particular.

"How many weeks…?"

"Thirty six." Mark answered, "Contractions are six minutes apart – started an hour ago. It's probably Braxton hicks, but I just…"

"Fair enough." Carter helped Mark lift her onto the gurney and they wheeled her into exam one, Carter barking orders all the way.

"Looks good." Susan's doctor's instinct blurred with all the other instincts roaming her hormones, her eyes filling with tears while she watched the ultrasound.

"He's beautiful." Mark leant over the bedside, holding her hand and swallowing furiously.

"Yeah, it all looks good." Carter couldn't help grinning, watching them. "Blood pressure's a bit high but I'll tell you more when we get your labs." He headed out into the hall.

"I'm fine." She touched his face, knowing he was more concerned than it was reasonable.

"Yeah, I know." His smile was hardly convincing but she was too tired to put any more effort into reassuring him.

"Okay, everything pretty much looks good," Carter stood at the end of her bed, "There's some protein in the urine, but with a slight temperature it's probably just a UTI…"

"Yeah." Mark cut him off, concern etched into his face.

"We'll send you upstairs as soon as a bed becomes available. And if the contractions continue we can give you another round of Terbutalene."

"Or go with the epidural and get it over with." Susan wasn't sure she was teasing. Pregnancy was a joy she'd had quite enough of.

"I'll go and get someone from OB – they take forever." Mark stood up, not amused

"They'll be down as soon as possible." Carter said.

"Mark, I need you here – I was just kidding – I need you here." Susan insisted and he sat back down, taking her hand as another contraction hit. "Okay, maybe I wasn't kidding about that epidural." She said through gritted teeth

"Hey, the rumours were true!" Jing-Mei entered with a grin.

"AAAAaaah!" Susan let it all go.

"How many centimetres is she dialated?" Jing-Mei picked up the chart.

"She wouldn't let me look." Carter shrugged, while Jing-Mei just laughed.

Susan just looked at her, waiting for the contraction to subside, "What? Would you?"

"Actually I think I did."

"What?"

"Long story."

"Well, if this is the real thing then I might have a while."

"But I'm covering the ER." Jing-Mei escaped and Carter followed,

"I'll go chase up that OB/GYN consult."

Mark smiled at her, flexing his fingers, checking for damage.

"She had a baby?"

"Yup."

"But…"

"She gave him up for adoption." Mark said, then yawned dramatically.

"Why don't you try and get some sleep – this could take a while."

"When we get up to OB. How you feeling?"

She simply nodded in reply.

He was watching the monitors – her blood pressure was still high.

"Mark." She called his attention away from the machines. "I don't need another doctor."

"Sorry." He rubbed his tired eyes and kissed her hand.