Chapter Six

Special Delivery

For a moment Woody looked completed horrified…and then that expression melted into pure terror. "No," he managed to whisper. But the darkening upholstery fabric under Jordan testified to the truth of her statement. Her water had broken. "What do we do now?"

"We don't do anything. I have the baby," Jordan retorted, trying to stifle a groan against the sharp pains that were cutting across her abdomen now, not to mention the intense pressure that was now building in the same area. "I…oh…" Her brow furrowed in pain.

"No. Jordan. You cannot have this baby in my car. Not now. Hell, we're stuck in a tunnel…"

"It's not like I have a lot of choice in this, Woody. I didn't plan it this way. If I had known my water was going to break, I would have kept my happy ass back at the morgue, believe me."

"Paramedics. I'll call the paramedics…"

Jordan vaguely heard him as he placed the 911 call and told them to hurry. Then there was a flood of creative swearing when the emergency operator told Woody it would be a while before they could get to Jordan due to the accident. "But don't worry…if it's her first baby, it's going to be a while detective. You've had all the first aid classes, right?" the operator asked.

"Right."

"Then just hold her hand through the contractions and help her breathe," the operator continued. "And I'll be right here if you need me. By the time she's ready to give birth, you'll be out of the tunnel and she'll be on the way to the hospital."

"Good." Woody cast a quick glance over at Jordan, who was leaning back in her seat, fighting the pain against another contraction. "You okay?"

"Does it look like I'm okay?" she snapped back, pinning him against his side of the car with her hard glare.

"Sorry….Did you hear the emergency operator? By the time you're ready to give birth, you'll be out of here."

"Yeah, sure," Jordan puffed through the next contraction. "Back seat," she managed to bite out.

"Back seat?"

"Yeah, back seat. I want to have my wicked ways with you, Hoyt," she retorted. "No… I'll be more comfortable in the back seat."

"Can you move?" Woody asked, his concern growing with each passing moment. Jordan was in more pain than he had ever seen her deal with and the contractions were growing stronger by the minute.

"I think so. I may need a little help." She pushed open the door.

"Hang on. Don't set a foot outside this car until I'm with you."

Jordan nodded breathlessly and waiting until Woody came over to the passenger side. Gingerly he helped her to her feet and opened the back door. Then another contraction nearly bent her double. "Oh God," she ground out. "This hurts."

"I know…" Woody murmured, hoping to comfort her in some small way. He guided her into the back seat and helped her recline. "How close are they…the contractions?"

"Less than three minutes."

Woody laced her fingers through his. "It's not going to wait, is it? The baby?"

Jordan slowly shook her head. "No. I already feel I have to push."

Woody nodded. "Then we'd better get ready," he said slowly, his eyes not leaving hers for a long moment. Finally he slid his fingers from around hers and went to the trunk of his car, pulling out a blanket and a medical kit. He had to go through CPR and first aid training every year. Now was a hell of a time to see if he actually remembered something more than just how to clean a cut, but at least the 911 operator had volunteered to talk him through anything else. And Jordan was a doctor. "Okay," he breathed. "Let's slide this under you and take it a minute at the time."

"I'm sorry, Woody. I didn't mean for this to happen." Jordan felt tears come to her eyes as she lifted her hips for him to place the blanket beneath her. "I really didn't. I had no idea…my due date's not for another six weeks."

"I know…I know. It's okay. We've been in some tight places before with each other, what's one more? I just didn't ever think I'd be delivering your baby…" He teased her with a dimpled grin.

"I'm sorry," she managed to say one more time before another contraction and another gush of amniotic fluid brought her back to the task at hand. "Woody…" her hand sought his one more time. "I have to push…"

"Hold up one minute." Woody gently eased her elastic-waist maternity pants down and then flipped one side of the blanket up to partially over her. "Okay…"

The intense pressure was the only thing on Jordan's mind for seemingly endless minutes after that. Pressure and worry. Was the baby going to be alright? Was it really too early? Did it really have to hurt that much? Jordan made a fleeting promise to the powers that be to never, ever have sex again and remain chaste until the end of her days. She'd give the nuns at St. Inez a run for their money and their chastity belts.

"Hold up," Woody's voice broke through her haze of misery. "The head….the head's almost out…the operator says I need to get one shoulder out and then the other…don't push anymore…."

"Don't push? Are you out of your ever-loving mind?" Jordan hissed.

"You're doing a great job, Jor. Just hang on…." One shoulder followed the other and the baby slipped easily into Woody's hands. With the 911 operator giving him directions, he quickly cleared the infant's air passage and the cry of the baby could be heard mingling with the sounds of ambulance sirens in the distance.

"Is it…he okay?" Jordan asked softly, looking at Woody anxiously.

"She…is she okay," he corrected. "And she is. She's beautiful, Jordan," he replied, equally softly, before gently placing the baby girl in Jordan's arms.

"A daughter…I have a daughter…" Jordan cradled the tiny infant against her for a moment before she did the "mommy thing" – counting all the fingers and all the toes.

"You do. And a very beautiful one at that. She looks just like her mother." Woody softly stroked the baby's dark chestnut hair with one hand while the other arm was around Jordan, helping her to sit up as they waited on the approaching paramedics. "You did good, Jo. Real good."

"Thanks." She glanced up at him. "And thank you…for everything…you were more than wonderful, Woody."

It happened then, as if always did when they were by themselves in a precarious situation…that tenor of unspoken tension and loyalty that they always had to each other reverberated through them. It was a silent promise they had made to each other so long ago to always be there for each other, no matter what, no matter when, or no matter where. Jordan felt it. And by the look on Woody's face, despite his current attachment to Detective Simmons, he felt it, too.

"You're welcome. It's not everyday I get to deliver a baby…especially the baby of my ex-best friend." He smiled at her, but the smile didn't reach his eyes.

Jordan swallowed hard. "Yeah…"

The sirens came to a sudden stop. "Ma'am?" One of the paramedics poked his head through the open back car door. "Are you doing okay?"

"For a woman that's just delivered a baby, I'd say she's doing remarkably well," Woody replied, easing out from the back seat to let the EMTs take over. It only took a matter of seconds for them to slide Jordan out of the car, load her and the baby onto a gurney, and whisk both of them away to Boston General.

Leaving Woody with but the statement he had made to Lu this morning circling around in his mind … If Jordan had gotten pregnant at the Lucy Carver Inn, she would already be close to delivering. It's September 15, sweetie. And she's not due until October 28.

The baby looked full term. That doesn't mean she was, but Woody knew the baby was a healthy weight and had no trouble breathing. He ran a hand down his tired face. What if…he glanced around the car. There was nothing left to answer his question but a slightly bloody blanket and a dark, wet stain on the front seat of his vehicle. He climbed in the driver's seat and put the vehicle in drive, radioing into Seely that he was taking the rest of the afternoon off and why.

"You did what?" was Matt's incredulous reply.

"I delivered Jordan's baby," he said matter of factly, pulling his already loose tie the rest of the way off. "Could you call the morgue and tell them? They'll want to know. Especially Macy."

"Sure…you going home to rest?"

"No," Woody replied, shaking his head even though he knew Seely couldn't see him. "I'm going to the hospital…." He had one burning question left and there was only one person that could answer it. And as soon as the doctors had checked her and the baby out, Jordan would tell him once and for all if the tiny girl he delivered in the back seat of his squad car was his…or someone else's.