Nineteen

It's several months later and the early hours of the morning when Kitty's phone starts ringing. "Urgh," she groans, rolling over to the other side of the bed to grab it, head still muggy with sleep. "Hello?"

"Kitty, the baby's coming."

"What?"

"The baby's coming – I'm scared, it hurts," Flora's voice catches on a sob. Kitty sits up, rubs her eyes.

"Okay, I'm on my way over. I'll be twenty minutes, okay, just hang on in there."

"Thank you."

The line goes dead. Thomas' hand is on her arm, his eyes so blue in the darkness of her bedroom. "Do you want company?"

"No, it's okay. One of us needs to be here for Sylvie."

"Alright. Phone me when you need me."

She leans over to kiss him. "Okay. I will."

…

Flora's waiting by the door, doubled over, with her overnight bag on the carpet when Kitty arrives, one hand braced against her back. "Is it supposed to hurt this much already?" she asks, voice taut.

"How long has it been going on for?"

"I don't know? Couple of hours? I've been having phantom ones for days so I ignored them, but then my waters broke."

"Okay. We'll get you to the hospital."

"Will you phone Mum? And…and Charlie?"

"Charlie?"

"I think he has a right to know his child is about to be born, even if he doesn't want it. Shit." Flora grimaces.

"Okay. I will."

...

The hospital is sort of quiet as the midwife gets them settled in a room, and Kitty goes outside into the corridor. Flora's mother is fast asleep, and is snippy at being woken until Kitty tells her the reason. Then she turns into a panicked, breathless mess of Yes, we're just coming, we should be up there by morning, God, she didn't tell us she was due this early.

"She wasn't," Kitty says, amused. "Baby didn't want to wait."

And then, it's just the number Flora gave her on the screen of her phone and the silence, pressing down. Charlie. Kitty's steered well clear of meddling in Flora's business apart from being a shoulder to cry on and an ear to pour her heart out into – Flora's an adult, she can choose what she does – but it's been killing her to see her friend so brought down by her boyfriend's abandonment. Kitty's angry, she realises. Angry. Even if it is for the so-called right reasons, that man must be blind and deaf not to know how much Flora loves him, and not know her at all to think an accident would change any of that.

She presses call. It rings for several slow minutes, and finally, a thick, half-asleep voice answers. "Hello?"

"Is this Charlie Dawlish speaking?"

"Yes…whaddya want, it's half three in the morning."

"I'm Kitty Trevelyan, Flora's friend."

There's silence. She ploughs on. "Flora's gone into labour."

"And what do you expect me to do about that?" His voice trembles.

She sees red. "My friend is giving birth to your child and you have the nerve to ask me that! She loves you, I don't see why, quite frankly, given what you've put her through these past few months, and the least you can do is come and be there for her whilst your son or daughter comes into the world!"

"I can't…I can't make her look after a cripple a…"

"That's a flimsy excuse. It's 2014, not the middle ages – there's systems in place, you've got prosthetics! And Flora doesn't care, she really doesn't!"

A pause. She thinks he might have hung up or gone back to sleep when he finally says, soft and slow, "Which hospital?"

"Princess Royal Maternity. Alexandra Parade."

"I'm coming."

...

When Kitty gets back into the room, Flora's in her nightdress and talking to a midwife, pausing only to grit her teeth and inhale sharply. "Breathe," the midwife says. "I'll be back in two ticks to check how dilated you are, okay?"

"Okay," Flora says, breathing out hard. "Kitty…"

"Your parents are on their way up. They should get here mid-morning tomorrow, and…"

"And?"

"Charlie's on his way now."

Flora's eyes go wide, and then she reaches out to pull Kitty close, burying her face in Kitty's shoulder. Her words are muffled, but Kitty can just about make them out. "I don't know what you did, but thank you."

...

In the morning, Thomas is waiting outside the hospital with Sylvie as Kitty appears, wobbling slightly, and walks over to them. He puts an arm around her, and she leans into his embrace. "So?"

"A baby girl. Eliza Ruby Dawlish. Seven pounds and two ounces."

"Can we see?" Sylvie claps her hands together.

"A bit later. Charlie and Flora are having a talk, and then Flora's got to have a rest."

"Long labour?"

"Not too bad for a first-time mum."

"What does the baby look like?" Sylvie chirps. Kitty ruffles her hair.

"Not as beautiful as you were."

Thomas grins at her and squeezes her shoulders. "Don't let Flora hear you say that."

"Don't worry. I won't."

A/N Sorry, a bit of a short one but it came to its natural end. Epilogue next, and then it's all over - thank you so much for sticking by me, people! :) N xxx