Vera had spent the vast majority of her day in the office trying to deal with the typical end of the year problems. For instance having some of the graduating class pulling pranks and worst yet stripping at the final games of the year. Shifting in her seat Vera took a deep breath and tried to get comfortable though it seemed impossible today. She had to admit she had been having tiny little contractions for the past week but since she was three weeks from her due date Vera didn't honestly worry about it too much. Today however rather than having only one or two and then they went away this day was a bit harsher. It would be hours before another one would come back and then closer to 30 minutes with them getting a little more intense. Not quite what she'd consider 'show time' strong but enough it was now an actual concern.

Grabbing her phone she tried to call Hamish but found his phone just went to voicemail. Vera instead tried sending him a text, a quick 'Hey, put down what you are doing. It's time.' She waited a moment to see if he read the message but it wasn't checked yet. Vera looked up at the clock and rolled her eyes, great, he was in class. Walking out of her office she started down the hall feeling like things were very calm, for now. Vera had to remind herself where the classroom was that Hamish was TA for. This was a much easier track to walk when she wasn't holding a lot of extra weight and even better when she wasn't feeling like she was getting hit by pretty intense cramps every thirty minutes.

By the time she reached the classroom Vera felt winded, not because of the long walk but rather because she was going through another contraction and this was actually pretty painful. Catching her breath Vera knocked lightly on the door before leaning up against the wall. She could hear Hamish's voice faintly before telling the class to hold on a moment. Once Hamish opened the door he looked at Vera and noticed right away something was off. "Vera, everything alright?"

"Yeah, everything is great, check your phone Hamish." She put a hand partially on her side feeling like she needed to stretch out a muscle. Hamish went over to check his phone reading her text and instantly addressing the class.

"Alright everyone, I'm sorry I have to cut this class short but I have to head out now." Hamish was tempted to say he had to go to the hospital now and become a dad but his mind was already racing and the first big concern was she was still almost a month away from her due date. "Okay Vera." He closed the door behind him suddenly feeling sick to his stomach. "How are you doing? When did your contractions start? Are you timing them?"

"I'm fine and they started this morning but i figured it was just more of the usual false alarms but they are getting a lot stronger and they are getting closer together." Vera was remaining fairly calm through this situation right now, breathing in through her nose and and breathing out her mouth with a zen like quality. "Let's get to the hospital. Do we need to get there right now? I mean, you are early so it might be a good idea right?"

"I'd say yes, it would be better to go in now." Especially if they could actually halt it right now and maybe even buy her a few more days though Vera didn't like the idea of being trapped in the hospital for days. Following Hamish out of the university she quickly grabbed his hand and squeezed it tight.

"Is that one? How far apart?"

Vera held up her phone looking at the time between this one and the last one. "That's seventeen minutes."

"This is actually happening." He felt dizzy now but Hamish had to pull it together. "I'll go get the SUV Vera, you call the hospital and let them know we are coming and don't...don't have the baby right here okay."

"I think we still have a bit of time left before that becomes an option."

"That's a good thing." Hamish grabbed her arms and kissed her lightly before she handed him the keys to the vehicle. Hamish rushed through the parking lot pressing the unlock button as he held the keys up over his head and tried to send a text to Jack. 'Jack it's happening, tell the others.'

Hamish could hear the vehicle unlock and ran over to the SUV pulling the door open. His phone vibrated though Hamish got down in his seat and started the engine before reading the text. 'What's up?'

Hamish felt his fingers flying over the phone mostly using predictive text to get out a quick response. 'Baby on way, heading out.' Checking for any cars coming up behind him Hamish pulled out and drove up to the sidewalk where Vera was waiting. Putting it in park he jumped down running over to her side and opening the door so he could help her up. "Get comfortable Vera." She sat down shifting a little before getting buckled up. Hamish closed the door and ran back over to his side climbing back into the vehicle and buckling up. He reached over and rested a hand on her knee making sure everything was still good. "Still feeling alright?"

"Yes, for now."

"Okay, okay we got this. You think it's going to be today or maybe tomorrow?" He really didn't know how quickly this whole thing was going to go. It could be hours or minutes based on multiple factors. One of them being that baby was so hyperactive he was shocked she hadn't decided to come even sooner than this. As they pulled out from the university Vera leaned forward clenching her jaw and leaning back in her seat looking uncomfortable. "That's about fifteen minutes now Vera?" Great, they had a ten minute drive from here so as long as they kept being spaced out they could pull into the hospital without incident.

It had felt like the longest ten minute drive in all his life, in fact Hamish felt sometimes like stop signs he'd never seen before were just cropping up and roads were getting longer. Pulling up to the hospital Hamish double checked that he parked the SUV and jumped out before running over to Vera's side and opening the door. "Calm down Hamish there isn't a fire." Calm down? How could she be calm? They were having a baby, this was big, it was scary and here was Vera keeping that strange zen calm.

"I'll go park the car, you get checked in." He didn't want to leave her side but he also couldn't leave their car in the emergency dropoff. Walking into the hospital Vera kept her cool, she'd called ahead so they already knew she was coming. Walking up to the front desk Vera checked herself in, "Vera Stone."

"I'll page the doctor." The lady at the desk picked up the phone and pressed a button on it before paging him and hanging up. "A nurse will be right down for you."

"I'm going to stand here for a while, I'm waiting for the baby's father to park our car." No way in hell was she going anywhere without him. The nurse had come down with the wheelchair around the same time Hamish came running back in . He helped Vera into the wheelchair holding her hand for a moment but still she was pretty calm. Maybe he just needed her to calm him down.

"We are going to be heading up to the second floor maternity ward."

Vera tensed up again grabbing the wheelchairs arm and shifted in her seat. Hamish checked his phone again, still fifteen minutes. "Are they getting worse?"

"No, they are just getting obnoxious." It wasn't anything she hadn't dealt with before. Memories started coming back to her the night her first daughter was born. At least this time she had Hamish with her, before all she had was a high school friend by her side. They got into the elevator to head up to the second floor. An elevator had never felt so claustrophobic and as badly as he wanted to go into full panic he had to hold it together for Vera. There was both a sense of fear and excitement, this had been the day he'd waited for so impatiently for the last seven months.

"I can't believe we are going to meet her today." Maybe today anyways, he wasn't rushing anyone, especially their baby. She could come when she felt like it but it would have been great if it was today. Hamish remembered his phone then and his texts to Jack. The elevator doors opened and he followed partially reading the group chat that had come up on his phone. Everyone was a bit concerned asking what was going on and Jack only having a small portion of the information. Hamish quickly wrote up what he could as he followed to the room. 'Vera went into labour, baby is happening soon.'

Hamish went into the room looking at Vera standing up from the wheelchair, a light feeling in his chest and butterflies in his stomach. This was single handedly the most terrifying and most amazing day he'd ever known in his life but she couldn't have been any more amazing and perfect. He chalked Vera up to dumb luck, how else could he have gotten her? But in the end maybe it had more to do with fate, maybe it wasn't about them but about Theo. After all this baby was about to change everything in the Order, for better or worse, their daughter was the big change the Order might need. Putting his phone back in his pocket he went to Vera's side and put his arms around her holding her tight. "I love you so much Vera."

She put her hand on his back remaining quiet for a moment, "Hamish." She paused leaning back from him and looking a little alarmed. "My water just broke."

Okay, yeah today was most certainly the day. Hamish looked over at the nurse having that first time dad panic all over him. That just wasn't something he was going to be able to hide honestly. He was between wanting to laugh and scream but most of all he just wanted it to be quick and painless for Vera so they could get to the start of being a family.