i got chapter 10 typed up! yay! so this is probably one of the most exciting parts of the story... at least i think it is. i'm not sure when i'll be able to get the rest up, i really need to go pack for texas now! so i hope you guys like it, and please review!

x.x peace


While I worked that week Maureen took Alexa shopping and helped her decorate her half of the nursery. Alexa had agreed to be home schooled by Maureen for the rest of the year, but we were requiring her to finish up at a private school in the city for her senior year.

When I got home from work on Friday I was greeted by Maureen who informed me that Alexa had gone over to a friend's house and that she would be staying there for the night. Normally I would have lectured Maureen about this, but right now I was more focused on finding time to be alone with Maureen before the baby came. We decided to keep things simple and just relax- something we wouldn't be able to do once Grace got here. Maureen had ordered a pizza for us earlier so we ate that and watched movies all night. Well, Maureen watched the movies. I was watching her. I could stare at her four hours. Her dark curls, her pale olive skin. I watched the little faces that she made whenever she readjusted herself to accommodate the weight of her belly. She was just so cute.

A little bit later (when I had actually started paying attention to the movie) I noticed that something was wrong with Maureen. She had been moving around more frequently and now she was making the faces that she made when she was in pain.

"Honeybear, are you ok?"

"Pookie, I think my water just broke."

Shit.

"Um, are you having contractions? Should I call the doctor? Do we need to go to the hospital?" I sat up and grabbed the phone. Stay calm, Joanne. Now is not the time to panic. "I think I'll call the doctor. How far apart are your contractions?" I asked her as I dialed the doctor's number.

"Five minutes. Maybe four."

"FIVE MINUTES! Holy shit Maureen, we need to get to the hospital!" I had never had a baby before, but I knew that when contractions were five minutes apart that meant the baby was gonna be here soon.

"But what about the doctor?" she asked as I ran back to our room and grabbed her stuff before ushering her out the door and onto the elevator. "What about Alexa?"

Shit. Did we even know where Alexa was, what friend she was with? I should have asked Maureen earlier, when I had first gotten home. "Did she take her cell with her?"

"Yea. She did." We were almost at the hospital now. The cab I had somehow managed to hail for us pulled up in front of the entrance and I pulled Maureen out of the car and dragged her inside. If it weren't for the fact that she had a zero tolerance for pain she would not be having the baby in a hospital because she hates hospitals.

When we got to the front desk it took me awhile to get someone's attention. I had a really hard time getting them to let Maureen go back before I had finished filling out the paperwork, but once she started screaming and yelling at them there wasn't any problem with that. Once they had Maureen set up in her bed and she had been examined by a doctor I handed her the paperwork to finish filling out so that I could call Alexa. Fortunately I was able to get a hold of her on my first try and she said that she would be at the hospital in five minutes. I turned my attention back to Maureen who was yelling at the nurse that was examining her now.

"I'm going to call your doctor because it looks like this baby is going to be here soon," she told me. She looked back at Maureen and said "You're 7 centimeters dilated already. I'm gonna send someone in here to start your epidural now."

"Thank god," Maureen said as she fell back against her bed. "Pookie, what are you doing all the way over there? Come here!"

I got up from where I had been sitting on the other side of the room and went and sat at her side. I let her squeeze my hand during each of her contractions and was unsuccessfully trying to get her to use the breathing techniques we had practiced. When the nurse came in with the epidural it became my job to keep her distracted and calm while they stuck the needle in her back. After battling with her to keep her still(she was scared to death of needles) while they cleaned off her back, I was finally able to calm her down significantly by pulling her face to mine and sticking my tongue in her mouth. When I pulled away she seemed slightly disappointed, but then remembered that she was about to have a baby and quickly forgot about it. As we finished getting her propped up in a comfortable position in her bed Alexa burst into the room, followed by a girl whom I assumed was the friend she had been staying with.

"Did I miss it?"

"No, but you missed Maureen getting a huge ass needle stuck in her back, which will probably never happen again," I said to Alexa as I smirked at Maureen, who returned my look with her infamous death glare.

"I'd feel a lot better right now if I wasn't a lesbian."

"Honeybear, you do realize that if you weren't a lesbian you'd most likely be in the situation, right?"

"Yea, I know that, but at least I could yell at the guy and tell him it's his fault that I'm here. With you, I can't really do that."

I actually felt a little bad for her when she said that. I mean, I was perfectly capable of having our baby, so why did she have to suffer for me?

"Honeybear, I love you so much right now." I leaned over and kissed her forehead and ran my fingers through her sweat soaked hair. "I can't believe you're doing this for me."

"Pookie, I love you. I just wish that this would be over with. Can't this go any faster?"

I giggled at her impatience. "Baby, if I could make it go faster, I would. I want to see our daughter just as much as you do, but we're going to have to wait," I told her as I continued to stroke her hair and looked into her eyes. Our silence didn't last for long, though, because just as Maureen's doctor walked into the room, my phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Joanne? Thank god you answered! I just got your message, how's Maureen doing? Has she had the baby yet? Is she ok? Is the baby ok? Do you guys need anything? I'm on my way over with Jess right now, so we can stop and get anything if you need us to."

"Mark, Mark, calm down! She hasn't had the baby yet, and everything is going fine. Alexa's here with one of her friends, so just take your time getting here." I was interrupted by Maureen tapping my arm. "Pookie, the doctor needs to tell you something."

"Mark, can you hold on for a second? The doctor needs to tell me something." I handed my phone to Maureen and turned towards the doctor. "Is something wrong? The nurse who was just in here said that everything was fine."

"Ms.Jefferson, calm down, nothing's wrong. I just finished examining Maureen, and she's fully dilated. I'm going to have her moved into the delivery room while I go get changed. As soon as everyone's ready Maureen and start pushing and we can get this baby out of there."

He left the room and a nurse came in and started getting Maureen ready to move to the delivery room and I took my phone back from her.

"Mark? How far away are you? The doctor said that Maureen's ready to start pushing, so try to get here as soon as you can."

"Sure thing, Jo. Jess and I are about 15 minutes away."

I hung up my phone and started to gather our stuff together before standing up and walking alongside of Maureen as we headed towards the delivery room.

Here goes nothing.


did you guys like it? love it? hate it? let me know! i'll be back when i'm done(or close to being done) packing! unless it's 9 and a girl like me is on... don't forget to watch it! and don't forget to review :-)