Simone held the door to BJ's open and waited for Kendall to catch up. She smiled as Kendall waddled up to the door. The baby was due in two weeks and this poor child could not get here soon enough.
Kendall sighed and glared at her friend. "I'm too big. You are going to have to open both doors."
"Oh, for the love of God Kendall. You've gained, like, what 30 pounds?"
"35" Kendall grumbled.
"Just shut up and get in there. Do you know how many women would kill to only gain 35 pounds while they are pregnant?" Simone retorted as she gently shoved her friend into BJ's.
"I'm mean, look at me Simone" Kendall exclaimed as she stretched her arms out. "I'm as big as a house."
Simone couldn't help herself – she laughed out loud. Usually she was able to ignore Kendall's rants and raves, which seemed to be coming more and more the closer it got to the due date, but it was almost too much this time. She doubled over with laughter while Kendall just glared at her.
"Glad you are finding this so funny."
"Oh please, Kendall" Simone said, regaining her composure. "You are not as big as a house."
Kendall was about to respond when they heard "Kendall, Simone" come from behind them. They turned around to see Tad heading toward them. He gave Simone a kiss on the cheek before turning his attention to her.
"Kendall, you look fantastic. When's the baby due?"
"Two weeks."
Tad looked her up and down. "Two weeks? Really? You barely look like…"
"I TOLD YOU SO" Simone yelled, pointing at Tad but staring at Kendall.
"I hate you both" Kendall growled. She glared at both of them and crossed the room to sit down at a vacant table.
"Hormones?" Tad asked.
"You have no idea" Simone chuckled back.
"Well, good luck with that" Tad said as he smiled and walked out the door.
"I'm starving" Kendall said as Simone sat down. 'Always' Simone thought to herself, but thought better about verbalizing. She merely smiled at her partner and waved for the server to come over and take their order.
Simone and Kendall were halfway through with lunch, talking about what else Kendall needed to get for the baby and the house when Anita noticed them across the restaurant. She walked over to the table.
"Afternoon Simone, Kendall."
Kendall, not being a huge fan of the Santos clan grumbled a hello and returned to her baked potato. Simone glared at her for a moment before turning back to Anita.
"Hey Anita. How's it going?"
"Not too bad. You about you two?"
"It's good. Just taking a long lunch before heading back to the office. You working today?"
"Yeah, I'm on my way to the hospital, but I needed to grab something to eat first. I've got to work a double and…"
"Ohhhhhh" Kendall moaned. Anita and Simone both looked at her and noticed the grimace on her face.
"Kendall, you alright" Anita asked.
"Fine. I think it's just some indigestion. This baby also kicks like a champ so… ohhhhhhhhh" Kendall moaned again.
"Kendall?" Simone shot out of her seat and came around the table.
"I'm fine. I told you it's just…"
"Simone, help me out here" Anita said as she motioned for Simone to help her pull Kendall's chair away from the table. They got the chair turned away from the table and Anita crouched down to check Kendall out. It only took about a second to figure out what was going on. She looked up at Kendall.
"Yeah, Kendall, it's not so much as indigestion as it is labor. Your water broke."
"WHAT?" Kendall and Simone screamed at the same time.
Anita smiled at the two women. "Yeah, it would seem that baby Slater is on his way this afternoon."
"WHAT" they screamed again, staring at Anita like she had just sprouted another head.
Anita giggled at their reaction. "So, I take it this is the first time either of you have been around a woman in labor?" Judging by their blank stares and lack of response, Anita decided that that was a yes. She grabbed one of the servers as he walked past the table. "I need you to call 911 and tell them to get down here – there's a woman in labor."
"Labor?" Simone breathed out looking at her friend. She immediately noticed the terrified look on Kendall's face. "Oh god… Kendall, it's going to be fine. Women do this everyday. Will's on his way – it's exciting."
"Exciting!" she screamed. "This isn't… I'm not… I'm supposed to have two more weeks! You hear that Will" she yelled at her stomach. "You aren't supposed to be here for another two weeks!" Kendall glared up at Anita. "Crack pipe doctors – what the hell!"
Anita looked down at Kendall and smiled. "Yeah, well, most of the time due dates are an estimated guesses."
"I'm not ready" Kendall whispered to her.
"You'll be fine" Anita whispered back. All three women looked toward the door as they heard the ambulance pull up and two paramedics flew through the doors. "Back here guys" Anita yelled to the two men. Anita and Simone both stepped back as the men assessed Kendall and helped her onto the stretcher. Anita grabbed her take out from one of the servers and looked over at Simone. "You alright?"
"I'm not sure… I mean… should I be doing something?"
Anita just smiled at her. "C'mon. Grab her stuff and we can ride with her. Oh, and you might want to call Zach when we get to the hospital."
"OH MY GOD, ZACH! I completely forgot about him."
Anita just laughed. "It happens. Let's go."
Simone grabbed Kendall's purse off the table and headed out the door, on the heels of Anita Santos.
Zach had just entered minute 55 of a very irritating conference call and he was starting lose his patience when Edie popped her head into his office. He covered the receiver with his hand and started banging it against his forehead. "What?" he barked at Edie.
"I've got a call for you on line…"
"NO! No more calls. I'm about to finish this one up and then I'm going to throw the damn thing out the window."
"But, sir, line three is…"
"Take a message. I'm not taking anymore calls for awhile. I haven't eaten lunch yet and…" He noticed that Edie sighed and leaned up against the door jam. "What?"
"Fine, but I need to know what time you would like me to tell Simone you will be getting to the hospital." Zach just stared at her as she continued on. "It would seem that your wife, you know, the lovely Kendall Slater, went into labor at lunch and just arrived at the hospital. Simone was calling to let you know and…"
"Gentlemen, I've got to go" Zach said into the phone. He dropped it into the cradle, all while staring at his assistant. "Kendall went… she…LABOR?"
"So it would seem" Edie said, smirking at her boss. Immediately, he shot out of his chair and grabbed his suit jacket.
"Well, why the hell didn't you say so!" he screamed at her as he ran through the outer office toward the elevators.
Edie just turned and watched him run. "Well, I was trying to… so you want me to let her know that…"
"I'M ON MY WAY" he yelled as the elevator doors shut. Edie just smirked and walked to her desk, picking up line 3. "Simone, let Kendall know that Zach is on his way. I'd imagine he'll be there in record time. Good luck." Edie smiled as she hung up the phone, knowing that this was going to change everything.
Zach flew through the hospital doors and looked around for someone, anyone that could help him find his wife, but there seemed to be no one around. He was about to grab the next orderly he saw and demand information when Anita Santos came around the corner.
She looked up and saw him looking lost. "Umm... Zach?" she said, snapping at him. "She's this way." Zach just stared at her as she turned and walked back the way she came. He was quick to follow.
Anita managed to get him out of his suit jacket and tie before he entered the delivery room. She just giggled as they walked into the delivery room. Zach was staring at his screaming wife, being completely unsure as to what to do.
"SON OF A BITCH" Kendall screamed at the top of her lungs. Glancing over, she noticed Zach staring at her. "Jackass!" she spit out at him. That seemed to break him out of his reverie. He walked over to her and planted a kiss on the top of her head.
"Don't kiss me. You did this to me. Jackass!"
Zach laughed out loud. "Actually, my love, I had absolutely nothing to do with this and…"
"Yeah, well, you're my husband and I'm going to blame you, so deal with it."
He just smirked at her. "Yes dear."
Dr. Madden came in to check on Kendall's progress. "Well, it would seem that this baby is going to be here sooner rather than later. You are fully dilated, so it's time."
"Time?" Kendall whispered. Zach looked down at her and saw the tears in her eyes. "What is it?"
She looked up at Zach, her wonderful husband who had had her back this entire time. "I'm not ready."
Zach bent down and looked her in the eye. "You're ready. We're both ready. Are we going to learn as we go? Absolutely. This is the first time we've done this, so we've got some stuff to learn, but we'll learn it. Do you believe me that we are going to do this together?"
Kendall just nodded at him, tears streaming down her face. "I'm scared."
Zach smiled sweetly at her and leaned in for a quick kiss. "Me too, but we'll be fine."
"Zach, I'm sorry that I was mean when you first came in and….. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Zach stood straight up and looked at Dr. Madden.
"Zach, help me get her into position."
Zach and Dr. Madden helped Kendall sit up and get as comfortable as she could as the nurses finished preparing the room. Zach stood next to Kendall, one arm around her back, as she gripped onto his other hand for dear life. Dr. Madden moved to sit in front of Kendall.
"You ready?" he asked. Kendall looked up at Zach and then back at him and nodded.
"Good, alright, here's what I need you to do."
45 minutes later, William Alexander Slater let out his first cry and was welcomed to the world by two sobbing and ecstatic parents.
TBC….