Sam

On Friday, he was asked to use his substitute teaching credentials. Not for his wife. She was still going into work and waiting on the baby, that was taking his dear sweet time. It was for Mr. Schuester, who wanted one last weekend getaway with his wife and had taken a personal day on Friday.

Sam eagerly accepted the job. For one thing, he liked the idea of seeing some of his friends from glee club. But mostly, he was glad because he would be able to drive Amy to work that day and then to the doctor's office for her check-up after work. Plus, the middle school was close enough to the high school for him to get there in a matter of minutes, if needed. Which turned out to be a good thing.

They were almost to the school that morning when Sam noticed she was breathing deeply in the passenger seat and holding her stomach in a way most concerning. "Tell me what's going on," he said, eyeing her nervously.

"I'm not entirely... sure," Amy said, straightening up as it seemed to pass as quickly as it had started. "Not sure if this is more Braxton Hicks or the real thing. I'm glad I'm seeing the doctor today. I guess we'll know later, if it's for real this time."

The night before, it had seemed like something was happening, but they had turned out to be Braxton Hicks contractions and had stopped coming around 3:00 AM, when Amy finally fell asleep. Sam was the one who lay awake, unable to turn off his brain.

They'd been trying since Wednesday night to get the baby to come. They'd even tried to induce labor the way her doctor had suggested, for the past two nights, with no results. Well, except that there were other benefits. Sam, for one, had enjoyed it. And then, of course, walking. Every evening, as soon as they had spent some time relaxing in the pool, they were walking all around the neighborhood.

He stopped in front of the middle school, still staring apprehensively at his wife as she hoisted herself out of the car with obvious effort. "Amy," he began. "I don't know. Are you sure you want to go to work?"

"My new kids are performing their audition songs for the group," Amy countered, with a pout, pausing by the open door to consider the question. "Besides, I don't have my usual sub today. He's busy covering for Mr. Schue."

"Well, hang on," Sam said, leaning over to stop her before she shut the car door. "I have an idea. We can both take our kids to the auditorium for practice. That way I can at least help you this afternoon."

Amy hesitated and thought about that. "That means my newbies have to perform for the upperclassmen, too," she said, looking uncertain about the whole idea. But she definitely looked like she knew she needed the help. "Alright. It's a deal. We'll see you there." She leaned over, as best she could with the belly in her way to give Sam a quick kiss. He watched her waddle towards the front door with a most ominous feeling.

Sam, who wasn't particularly fluent reading in English, knew he was not cut out to teach Spanish. In fourth period, his last class before lunch, he had Kitty in the class. She graciously volunteered to read the entire passage aloud in Spanish, sparing Sam the task of reading any of it. This was the Honors class, which he was really not cut out to teach. As Kitty read, he was thinking about Amy and the baby and hardly paid a bit of attention.

"Hey Sam..." Marley approached him at the end of class, to turn in her quiz. "I mean, uh, Mr. Evans. Sorry. I couldn't help but notice you look a little... distracted?"

"It's the baby," he confessed. "Amy might be in early labor. I don't know. We'll see, I guess."

Kitty overheard that from the front row. She, too, jumped up and hurried to turn in her quiz. "Does Artie know?" she asked, looking excited.

"Don't say anything yet," Sam begged. "We don't know for sure if it's happening yet. We have a doctor's appointment after school, so he can tell us more later."

Marley and Kitty just squealed and, before Sam knew what was happening, they were hugging him. He was pretty sure his orientation specifically stated that subs were not to have physical contact with students.

On his lunch break, he hiked over to the middle school campus and found Amy in her break room, calmly eating lunch with a couple of her fellow middle school teachers. But when she saw Sam, she happily moved to a table to eat alone with him.

"Have you had any more contractions?" Sam wanted to know.

"Yes," she said, serenely, as she nibbled her salad and crackers. "They're really not bad. I'm able to work through them, but they do keep coming, about every twenty minutes or so and it just lasts about a minute."

How she could sit there so calmly and discuss this, as if it were nothing, was beyond him. She went on to start talking about her seventh grade English class, which Sam was going to take over while she was on maternity leave. But all he could do was stare at her. He forgot all about his lunch.

"I'm gonna try to finish grading the stack on my desk before I leave today," she was explaining, going into unnecessary detail, as only an Abrams could do. "Everything you need, all the worksheets for the next month, are filed away. And my plans are on my desk calendar. When that runs out, if I need to, I can come up and help you prep for the following month after hours..."

She only stopped talking because she was having another contraction. For about a minute, maybe longer, she winced and started taking slow, deep breaths. Sam reached for her hand under the table, and she gave his a reassuring squeeze. Finally, she looked up.

"So far, not bad," she said, with a shrug. She then took note of Sam's brown paper sack. "Sam, you need to eat. You're running out of time, and then you have to get across campus."

She was right. He did have to go, but he was reluctant to leave her side again. Finally, he kissed her and took his bag with him, gnawing on the banana as he crossed the parking lot between the two schools, realizing he was going to have to hurry if he wanted to make it for his fifth period class. He couldn't even remember what they were doing but this was just Spanish I, so hopefully he could get away with talking about Spanish food or something. That sounded like a decent lesson plan to Sam. But it also made him hungry.

He was settling down on the stool in front of his empty classroom when he got a phone call. Since there were still a few minutes until the bell and since he saw it was Artie calling, he answered.

"Hey," Artie greeted him. "Listen, I heard from Kitty that you guys are having a middle school-high school brundle-rehearsal in the auditorium today. Kitty also mentioned that Mr. Schue says he wants to cut down on alumni visits this year, but well, he's not here today. So I was wondering, can I come? I want to meet the new kid in the chair."

"Sure, that's fine," Sam said, furrowing his brow. "Did Kitty tell you anything else?"

There was a pause on the other end. "No..." Artie seemed to catch on. "Why, is there something to tell? Is Amy in labor?"

"Early labor," Sam said, keeping his voice low as the bell rang to signal the end of lunch. His students were going to start coming in at any minute. He turned his back towards the door. "She's still at work, she says the contractions are bearable right now. Anyway, I have to go, the sophomores are here."

Artie paused again. "I tried to tell you my sister was crazy, dude."

"I know," Sam said, looking over his shoulder and smiling when he saw that Roderick Meeks was in this class. He didn't really know the guy, but he knew his voice, of course, and would be getting to know him better soon. "I gotta go. Later."

"Mr. Evans," Roderick addressed him, with a nod, as he slipped off the enormous headphones he'd been wearing. "Uh, looking forward to having you in glee club with us today, sir."

"Likewise," he said. "I really can't wait to hear you sing some more numbers with your brother, like you did at Christmas last year."

"Thank you, sir," he said, and all this sir business was taking some getting used to. Sam was just glad he'd normally be subbing at the middle school. It had been weird, trying to teach kids who weren't all that much younger than he was.

"Uh, listen, Roderick?" he asked. "How good at you at Spanish?"

"Pretty good," Roderick said. "My parents put me in Spanish immersion Pre-K as a kid, so I'm almost fluent. But the school still makes me take Spanish I."

"That's fantastic," Sam commented. "Because my wife's going to have a baby really soon and I'm a nervous wreck. You think you could, like, teach them something?"

After getting Roderick to teach fifth period, he managed to make it through the last two classes of the day, but by the skin of his teeth. He kept sending texts to Amy to check up on her, even though he wasn't supposed to text during classes. She kept telling him she was fine.

"You don't look fine," he countered, as he walked into the auditorium to find her breathing through another contraction right before the kids were set to arrive. "Can I get Artie to take you home when he gets here? He was coming to watch but—"

Amy held up a hand and breathed for a few more seconds before she answered him. "No," she said. "Besides, I know Artie wanted to see Liam. I'm okay, for now." With that, she patted his arm and left his side to greet the glee kids as they filed in, both middle schoolers and high schoolers alike.

"Listen up," Amy was saying, and Sam had to admire how she took charge. Even while she was in labor. "Today's my last day. I wanted to set the tone, before I leave, that Next Direction and the New Directions will work together even more this year. Now, partly, this is to help Mr. Evans, but mostly, it's to make sure you guys are always looking to the future. New Directions, these kids are your future. So... teach them well."

"That's from a song," Artie called out, as he wheeled himself through the back door and found his usual spot in the accessible row. Or would have, except it was already occupied. The two shook hands, both sporting similar pairs of leather fingerless gloves.

"That was not intentional," Amy said, blushing. But then she smiled at the sight of her brother meeting her newest handicapable star. "Liam, meet my brother, Artie. Artie, this is Liam.

"And he's got a famous uncle in the U.K.," Sam added, forgetting about Amy for a moment. "By the name of Mark Ronson. Liam just treated us to his new and still-unreleased hit the other day. You're gonna love it."

"'Uptown Funk,'" Liam supplied, blushing at all the attention he was getting. He turned back to Artie. "It's a real honor to meet you. I saw you in an assembly back when I was in elementary school, and... it was just cool to know that if you could do it, then so could I."

For once, Artie seemed to be at a loss for words. Sam actually thought his brother-in-law might have been trying not to tear up.

"That means a lot," Artie finally said. "Thanks."

"Okay, we need to get started," Amy announced, holding up the baseball cap she'd brought along. "I put all the new members' names in this hat, so we'll let fate decide. Sam, do the honors?"

Sam drew the first name, then grinned. "Liam Ronson, you're up first!"

The boy in the wheelchair did not even hesitate to take the stage first, using the ramps that Sam knew the glee club had paid for, after they'd once been trying to raise money for the accessible bus and had that mysteriously covered by Sue. At Artie's suggestion, the money went to cover the cost of ramps for kids in chairs who would come along after he graduated. Well, here he was.

Since nobody had heard the catchy song that would be coming out later that year, it was quite a treat. Sam and Amy took seats on either side of Artie, who cheered the loudest for Liam when he finished.

"There's really nothing for me to teach you, young grasshopper," Artie said, making everyone else laugh. Kitty smiled over her shoulder at him, looking like she'd rather be sitting with the "adults" than with the other glee kids.

It was almost enough to make him forget about Amy. Almost. She'd excuse herself anytime she was having a contraction and, pretty soon, her exits were becoming more and more frequent. After the last kid finally got up and sang, Sam announced they were winding things down early today.

Ending early was a little problematic, as it meant that a lot of the kids would have time to kill before their parents picked them up, which was sometimes a bad thing. It also meant that an adult would have to stay with them. Sam took that job, while Amy opted to go out to the car and wait for him. Kitty and Artie went with her.

After what seemed like ages, the last kid was finally picked up. Sam took off in a sprint down the empty halls and across the parking lot. He found his wife hunched over in the passenger seat of their van, breathing much harder now and almost unable to speak. Kitty stood beside the open car door while Artie sat in his chair, as close as he could get to Amy, and gripped her hand.

"I think that's what the contractions look like when it's time to go the the hospital," Kitty told Sam. "We just called the doctor and he's meeting you at the hospital instead of his office."

"Now it's really happening," Amy commented, as she stepped out of the small bathroom wearing the hospital gown. "This is legit. I've never been the patient before. How do I look?"

She turned to the side in the gown and cupped it underneath her belly for added effect. Sam snapped a picture on his phone. When he handed it to her to see, she looked horrified.

"Am I really that big?!"

It was just the two of them, for Kitty and Artie had followed them to the hospital but remained in the waiting room for now. Sam knew he was supposed to be the support person, but he was feeling pretty incapable of providing good support at the moment.

"I unpacked your bathrobe in case you get cold," he offered. "Your slippers are here too."

Amy was just nodding now and taking deep breaths, as another contraction was beginning to take hold of her. She stood by the bed and motioned for Sam to come over, which he did so quickly. She put her arms around his neck and swayed with him, like they'd been taught to do in that one birth class they'd attended last month. How she could even remember that right now was beyond him.

"Can we come in?" Artie appeared at the door, with Kitty trailing along behind. He caught sight of his sister holding onto Sam and stopped in the doorway. "We can go, if you don't want us here..."

"Stay for now," Amy managed to say, as she continued breathing through the contraction. They were just getting longer and harder as time wore on. She'd been pretty intent on trying to do this naturally, without drugs, and so far, Sam had to say that he was feeling confident in her. As the contraction subsided, she took a seat on the bed.

"Don't you think you should keep walking?" Sam asked. "The doctor did say that—"

Amy cut him off, rather sharply. "I know what he said," she said, reaching for her cup of ice. "I just need to sit down for a minute."

"I guess that was a no," Kitty commented, softly, smirking at Sam as he caught her eye. She took a seat in a corner of the room a safe distance from Amy.

"Mom's on her way," Artie said, wheeling closer to the hospital bed and reaching for her hand, giving it a little squeeze. "Dad too, but he's all the way in Akron, so it'll be a little while before he can get here. And Sam, your parents are on the way. They're dropping off Stevie, but Stacey wants to come wait at the hospital, if that's okay with you, Amy. She wanted me to make sure that was okay."

"Of course it is," Amy immediately replied. "I just feel bad. Tomorrow's her birthday. If this goes on past midnight then..."

"Then she gets to share a birthday with her nephew," Sam supplied, as he got behind her on the bed and began massaging her lower back, getting no objection from Amy. "It's pretty cool. I think she'd like that."

"I'd like him to hurry up though," Amy added, blowing out her cheeks. "I'm already tempted to ask for drugs but I really don't want them."

"Let's talk about something else then," Artie suggested. "You know that's always my tactic. But it really does help. I think both glee clubs are going to win at Nationals this year."

Kitty, catching on, spurred on the discussion by making suggestions for just about every member of both clubs, about potential solos and group numbers. Eventually, they got Amy involved in the conversation, between contractions, and this seemed to help keep her mind occupied for awhile.

The door opened as Amy's doctor entered the room. It had taken him awhile to get there, but from the looks of how slowly things were going, there wasn't really any rush. Artie and Kitty quickly excused themselves, as the doctor prepared to check Amy's progress.

"Six centimeters," he said, as Amy proceeded to look disappointed. "No, no, that's good news. Good progress already. Your waters are bulging, so I'll go ahead and break the bag and that should get things going."

"Um, wait—" Amy started to say, but he hadn't been asking. With a pop, the bag of waters broke all over the bed. Amy had to get up now, so the nurse could clean things up and change the bedding.

"Ugh," she groaned again, as a contraction seized her and she was grabbing for Sam once more. Sam, feeling pretty useless in that moment, held her and started to rub her back once more, as they swayed and tried to reassure her.

"You're doing an amazing job, Ames," he said, as the pain seemed to subside for the time being, yet Amy didn't let go and continued to lean on him for support. He was overwhelmed by how much he loved this woman.

He thought back to the first time he'd really noticed that Artie's older sister was kind of cool. And now she was his wife. And even if they didn't plan it, he couldn't think of anything he wanted more than his wife and his son.