Chapter 17

That Friday at 3:00 in the morning, Karen went in to labor. She had been having huge waves of pain the night before, but she had thought nothing of them. It wasn't until they had gotten so bad that she couldn't sleep that she decided to tell Nathan.

"Nathan." Karen whispered, trying to breathe evenly.

"What is it, sweetheart?" He mumbled, half asleep still.

"I think it's coming." Karen ran her very well manicured fingers up and down Nathan's back, rousing him from sleep.

"You what?" Nathan turned over, and looked at her through groggy eyes.

"The baby." Karen pointed at her stomach, just as a strong pain went shooting through her stomach. She cried out and doubled forward, trying to make it go away. By now Nathan had shot up in bed and was kneeling down in front of her.

"It's coming?"

"I think so." Karen nodded.

"Oh my God!" Nathan cried. "It's coming!" He got up and raced around the room like a mad man, checking to make sure everything was ready. He pulled on some clothes as he went and helped Karen get dressed as well. Her water had broken only moments before and that had been her motivation for waking Nathan.

She allowed him to usher her out the bedroom door and through the penthouse, her bags clanging against the wall as Nathan was holding them and didn't seem to have much control over them. He was too worried about getting Karen to the hospital to care.

Driver was immediately notified and he met them at the front door, taking Karen's bags for Nathan. The three raced to the waiting limo on the street and Nathan helped Karen in as Driver placed the bags in the trunk.

"Are you okay?" Nathan asked, running his hand through Karen's hair. It smelled of flowers, he noticed, for she was leaning her head on his shoulder.

"I'm doing okay." She bit her lip as another pain went shooting through her body. She squeezed Nathan's hand which he had given to her and it caused him to wince. "Make it stop!" She pleaded.

Nathan had done his research once again, and he didn't quite have the heart to tell her that it was only going to get worse.

"Do you want to call the kiddies?" Karen questioned, trying to keep her breathing as even as possible.

"Oh, right…yeah…" He fumbled around in his pockets for his cell phone. He quickly dialed Grace first, then Jack, and then Will, telling them which hospital to go to and to get there as fast as possible.

Karen smiled at him and once he got off the phone with Will, who sounded ecstatic, she leaned in and kissed him.

"How are you doing?" Nathan asked, noticing they were approaching the hospital.

"Good." Karen nodded, surprised at how well the whole thing was going. A pain shot through her and she winced, but it didn't hurt as bad as she had thought it would.

The limo pulled up to the hospital doors and Nathan hoped out, helping Karen out. Driver grabbed her bags and handed them to Nathan, who ushered Karen in while juggling the bags so Driver could go park the car. Once a nurse caught sight of Karen waddling in, she quickly grabbed a wheelchair and greeted them at the door.

"Do you know how far apart the contractions have been coming?" The nurse asked after handing Nathan a clipboard.

"I…uh…um…" Nathan was so perplexed, so out of it.

Karen calmly answered, after glancing at her watch, "Probably like every ten minutes or so."

The nurse nodded as she wheeled Karen in to a hospital room, Nathan clunking behind, trying to get everything organized. Several other nurses had joined her and they helped Karen to change and get in to the bed. Just as she was laying down another contraction hit her, except this one was long and strong. She cried out, and Nathan, who had taken a seat in the corner to try and fill out the paper work, bolted up and raced to her, grabbing her hand. "It's okay, baby, you're okay." He whispered, gently running has free hand up and down her back.

"Are you done with that?" A nurse asked, pointing at the clipboard Nathan was still holding.

He nodded and handed it to her, not taking his eyes off of Karen. She relaxed in to the bed. "God, this hurts." She bit her lip and closed her eyes, placing her hands on her stomach, trying to relieve the pain.

Nathan just nodded and took a seat on the side of the bed.

The contractions began to pick up intensity, and became more frequent. Karen hated this. She'd lash out at Nathan, or a near by nurse. She had never experienced pain like this before in her life. Nothing was worth this much pain.

Nathan watched her, unable to help her through the pain, to comfort her. All he could do was sit and watch as she experienced huge amounts of pain, shooting through her. He hated to see her like this. Her delicate features did not do well under stress, or pain. She looked uncomfortable. Nathan hated that he couldn't do anything for her.

A stoke of luck, and in came Jack. He looked excited, bouncing up and down as he came parading in to the room. A smile immediately ensued on Karen's grim face and Nathan relaxed, knowing that Karen felt slightly better. "Jackie!" Karen cried, reaching out to receive and awkward hug from Jack.

Jack seemed rather off set by Karen lying in a hospital bed. He did not care much for this sight, but he reminded himself that she was only having a baby. She wasn't dying. "Hey, Kare." He beamed down at her.

"I'm glad you're here." She squeezed his hand, but her squeeze turned in to a tight clutch as another contraction took over her body.

Jack's eyes bulged out, her hand tightly grasping his, and her cry something new. It was not devoid of emotion, it was a true yelp that frightened him. He was in shock. He had never experienced Karen in this naked, informal way before. "Um…Karen?" Jack couldn't quite form a thought, or anything to say for that matter. He was left, for the most part, speechless. He'd thought this would be fun, but obviously it was not.

"Go sit down over there, gay boy." Karen whispered, once the contraction had passed.

Jack just nodded, slowly, and dragged his feet to a vacant seat in the corner. He stared on at Karen, not knowing what to say or how to act.

The next to enter was Grace. Her auburn curls were a mess and she looked like she had literally just gotten up and come as she was. She made her way demurely over to Karen and bent over to kiss her on the forehead. "Morning beautiful." Grace whispered as her lips parted from Karen's forehead.

Karen smiled, needing that praise just then. "You're looking good yourself. When this is all over we need to talk." Karen smiled as Grace nodded. Just then another contraction came about and sent Karen howling.

Will had chosen this very moment to enter. Months ago he might have intelligently come up with some quip about Karen being possessed by the devil, but now he knew her better, and knew she was in pain. He went to her, not noticing Jack or Grace, hovering about in the room.

"Will." Karen smiled, once the pain had passed for the millionth time. How many more hours until it would stop?

"Hey, Karen." He pulled a bouquet of flowers from behind his back. "I thought you might like these."

She smiled, "Of course I do."

Nathan took them from Will and sat them on the bedside table.

"Great, show up with presents. That's not how to win someone back in to your good graces." Grace sneered. She had not seen Will since that night, nor had she wanted to see Will.

"Grace, I was never on Karen's bad side. What you mean to say is, I can't win back your good graces by buying you presents. Which I beg to differ, since we settled our last argument when I bought you that scarf from Saks." Will pushed back.

Grace gave him an evil, disgusting look.

Karen didn't like this one bit. "Hey, hey, hey. Today is about me. Not you, or you." She pointed angrily and then another contraction hit her. "Red! Go over there and sit down, and homo go sit by gay boy." Karen demanded, her knuckles going white on the bed's side bars because she was squeezing them so hard.

"Calm down, honey." Nathan tried to soothe her. She was going through enough pain; this added anger was not helping.

The hours passed and before anyone knew it, the sun was gently peeking in to the room through the slits in the blinds. Those awful blinds, Karen had been staring blankly at for the last three hours she had been in the horrible room. Staring at the same walls, the same white on white, it was making her sick. Not to mention she was having contractions at an even faster interval and they were fierce. She hated this, and she made it known to everyone that she hated this.

The doctor would come in every now and again to assess her situation. As the hours bore on, Karen was more and more ready to get it over with. By 7:45, the doctors had deduced that it was safe for her to go in to labor. The baby had begun to crown and she was fully dilated.

The gang, bar Nathan, stayed put in the ugly hospital room that Karen had grown so bored of. She was excited to get out of it, but also very frightened about what was about to happen. The nurses wheeled her down the hallway and to another room where she would be pushing for quite awhile. Nathan left her side, unwillingly, to suit up. He had to put on some scrubs.

Karen cried and bellowed for him as if he had left her for good. She wasn't paying a lick of attention to anything any of the nurses were telling her. She only listened when Nathan appeared at her side, a calm washing over her body. He dictated to her what the nurses were trying to say and she listened, heeded to their instructions. Nathan's reappearance and the offering of medication through injection quieted her.

She could hear the doctor instructing her to push. She pushed at uneven intervals. There would be periods of rest, and then she would be right back at it, pushing as hard as she could. The sweat was forming, she felt hot and sticky. Her hand was squeezing Nathan's hand so hard that both's hands were white. Nathan winced at the pain, but couldn't keep his eyes off of Karen. He kept glancing down, however to see how the baby had progressed. So far the whole procedure was going good.

Not to long and the head was out. Nathan had to look. What he saw both humbled and scared him. The poor thing was covered in blood and disgusting mucus. Babies, he realized, never looked good when they first came out.

Karen obviously noticed his disgusted face and questioned him. "What is it?"

"It's beautiful." Nathan smiled at her.

"Just a few more pushes." The doctor beamed at an exhausted Karen.

As exhausted, and tired as she was, she was also relieved, excited. She was about to see her child, what she had been carrying for the last nine months. Once it was out it would end her fear of not being able to have children. How silly and childish that seemed now, now as she heard her child cry for the first time.

"It's out!" Nathan cried, his eyes moist.

"What is it?" Karen inquired, falling back on her pillow, her labor over.

"It's a girl!" Nathan's tears fell freely as the doctor placed the baby, wrapped in a blanket, in his arms. The doctor handed him the scissors and instructed him on how to cut the umbilical cord. Karen watched, a smile growing wider on her face as she watched her husband and daughter together. Once the baby was detached, Nathan brought her to see her mother. Karen held out her arms for the bright red baby and cuddled her close to her chest.

"She's beautiful." Karen whispered.

A nurse stood, smiling beside Karen, waiting to take the baby and do all the customary procedures one had to do once a newborn arrived. The baby was taken and the doctor emerged from the closing procedure of going in to labor. They congratulated Karen and her husband, and then checked on the baby who was getting cleaned, weighed, and measured.

Nathan stood by Karen, both watching their newborn daughter, waiting anxiously to hold her again. In not time the nurse's brought the baby back to the expectant parents and handed her to Karen. Several nurses dispersed and the doctor left so that Karen and Nathan were left, for the most part, alone with their daughter.

"She's absolutely gorgeous." Nathan ran his hand through the dark fuzz of hair that was growing on her head. She resembled Karen, yet had a hint of Nathan. You could see him in her nose, which fit perfectly in with her other more Karenesque features.

Her eyes had yet to open, so neither knew which eye color she had received. Whether they were her dad's blue, or her mother's dark eyes.

A nurse, standing near by, suggested that Karen feed her. Karen had no idea what to do, so the nurse gave her a crash course on how to breastfeed, since that was what Nathan and she had decided upon. Pretty soon she was feeding the thing, at first tickled by the strange sensation that occurred when her daughter (what a strange concept, her daughter!) sucked at her nipple.

After awhile, they had to take the baby away again. Nathan and Karen were so in awe that there was no much talk. After getting everybody cleaned up they took Karen back to the room she had started in, where Grace, Jack, and Will were waiting. They were relieved to see Karen the moment she rolled in the door. She looked stunning for a woman who had just delievered a child.

"It went perfectly." Nathan beamed, as the gang all exchanged hugs or kisses with Karen.

"But where's the baby?" Jack demanded.

"It's coming in a minute, Jackie." Karen grinned.

"Well what is it? A boy or girl?" Will chimed in.

Karen and Nathan exchanged glances. "It's a girl." Karen announced.

"Oh, I'm so excited for you guys!" Grace hugged Karen.

"Yay! A girl!" Jack jumped up and down.

When everyone was settled, the nurse brought the baby in for everyone to see. She was as beautiful as they all had assumed she would be. She looked so much like Karen, Jack mused. He wondered if she, too, would love the same things Karen loved in her life.

Grace and Will glanced down at the baby, both in awe in admiration. But their eyes accidentally met and a scowl from both ensued.

"This is what we could have had." Will whispered so that only Grace would hear. "Had it not been for you. It's always about you, isn't it?"

Grace didn't make a come back, she was on the verge of tears. She hated that Will hated her so much right then. What had she done? Frankly her leaving him that night had been one of the best things she had ever done. She had, after all, met Sadie. Had it not been for that fight she might never have found such a wonderful person in the world full of awful people.

Karen was beaming at her daughter, she looked radiant. She could not remember a happier day in her life. Nathan smiled down at his new daughter as well, so happy that she was finally in their lives, finally here. All the pain Karen had experienced in the last few months was over, and Nathan was relieved for her.

"What are you guys going to name her?" Jack asked, gently stroking the newborns soft head.

Nathan and Karen exchanged glances. They hadn't had a moment to think of names. Sure, they had a few picked out, but their minds had gone blank the moment she was born.

The names began coming back to Karen and she began flipping through them like she was going through a rolodex in her mind. She tried to match the names she had thought of with the babies face. None seemed to work for her. Nathan seemed to be doing the same thing, but both were blank. How to put a name to such a beautiful face?

TBC...any suggestions from the audience? Lol.