Emily and Lucy had asked the girls what they wanted to do as a special celebration to commemorate the end of being a family of five (counting Declan). They knew that, between the new baby, Clara going into the first grade, and Aurora starting preschool, their time together was only going to become scarcer and scarcer as time went on and they wanted to make the most of what they did have.

The girls had decided they wanted to go to the zoo and then have what they'd termed a 'nest day' (it involved pulling all the blankets and pillows in the house into the living room and creating a makeshift bed in which to watch movies and eat junk food).

Emily hadn't been thrilled with the idea of walking around the zoo in the August heat for several hours, but she'd reluctantly agreed for the sake of her daughters. That didn't mean, however, that she didn't spend most of her time sitting on a bench and watching the girls from afar.

While Declan took the girls to see the giraffes, Lucy joined Emily on the bench, pressing a bottle of cold water into her hand. "You don't seem like yourself today," she commented quietly.

Emily shrugged, sipped the water. "I'm just feeling a little uneasy," she said eventually.

With a frown, Lucy asked, "Uneasy how?"

"I don't know," she confessed. "Maybe because the baby hasn't been moving very much today..."

That instantly had Lucy's full attention. "When was the last time you felt him move?"

She pursed her lips in thought. "Sometime this morning?" she estimated. "He hasn't been very active at all lately, though, so it's hard to tell." A beat. Then, in a small voice, she said, "But that's normal, though, right?"

Not wanting to scare her, Lucy said, "Well, the more they grow, the less room they have to move around..." It wasn't a direct answer, though, and they both knew that. She reached for Emily's hand, squeezing it tight. "I'm okay to run and get you an orange juice, okay? The sugar should wake him up and get him moving."

Emily accepted the juice with a trembling hand, immediately sipping it greedily. Lucy watched with what she hoped was her most reassuring smile. (She'd given Declan money to get the girls ice cream and sent them off to the nearby playground in the hopes that they wouldn't notice Emily's obvious distress.)

"Now what?" Emily asked, once she'd finished guzzling the juice.

"Now, we wait," Lucy said quietly. "Give it ten minutes or so and he'll probably start moving." Probably being the unfortunate and operative word...

Emily's next breath shuddered on the exhale and it was clear she was struggling to hold back tears. Lucy was tempted to tell her not to be scared, that everything was going to be okay...but she honestly wasn't certain she believed that. For her part, Emily wanted to ask what was going to happen if he didn't start moving, but couldn't seem to bring herself to speak those words aloud.

At the ten minute mark, Emily seemed to hold her breath, her hands desperately searching her belly for even the faintest sign of movement.

Lucy didn't need to be psychic to know she wasn't finding any. She didn't try to tell Emily it was going to be alright, didn't try pacifying her with platitudes; she knew there was a very real chance that things weren't, in fact, okay...

"Okay," Lucy said with calmness she didn't feel. "We're going to Uber to the hospital and Declan can stay with the girls, then drive them home when they get tired of the zoo."

"But..." Emily started to protest.

Squeezing her hands, Lucy insisted, "We don't want to worry the girls until we know for sure something is wrong. We'll just tell them that you need to take a nap."

She gave a small shaky laugh. "I do take a lot of naps," she agreed.

With an encouraging smile, she cupped Emily's cheek. "We'll get through this," she said, hoping it was more convincing than it felt.

Aurora came toddling over then, face and shirt covered in melted ice cream. "MAMA," she hollered, sticky hands extended towards them as if for a hug.

"Yes. Sunshine?" Emily said with a surprising lack of tremor in her voice.

"Come play," Aurora whined.

Lucy snatched her up just in time to prevent smears of ice cream all over Emily's pants, proceeding to wrestle the child in an attempt to get her hands clean, Aurora squealing like a piglet the entire time. When she finally set the now slightly less sticky girl back on the ground, she said gently, "Mama is really sleepy, so she can't play right now."

Aurora pouted a little. "Nappy?" she asked.

Emily nodded. "I'm going to go home and take a nap," she lied. "But you and Buggy can stay here with Declan and see all the animals, okay?"

She thought on that bargain for a few moments, then asked in her sweetest voice, "Ice cream?"

Lucy barked out a laugh. "You are absolutely not having any more ice cream, kiddo. Declan is going to have enough trouble corralling the two of you by himself."

Declan and Clara approached then, Clara blissfully oblivious to what was going on underneath the plastered-on smiles, but Declan was clearly concerned.

"Say bye to Mama," Lucy instructed Clara, then lead Declan aside to have a whispered conversation about what was going on.

Clara knelt on the bench to wrap her arms around Emily's neck, then surprised Emily by leaning down to kiss her belly, patting it gently. "Bye Baby," she said sweetly and Emily very nearly broke down completely in that moment. Before she could, though, Clara hollered in her ear, "MAMA! I saw the giraffe pooping!"

Emily just sighed softly, attempted a smile. "Lovely," she said diplomatically. "Be good for Declan, okay? Best behaviour?"

Clara gave a long-suffering sigh, but nodded.

"You too, Aurora," Emily added.

Aurora just shrugged.