Nelliebly413672: Glad you liked it. Sorry I couldn't update sooner, school sucks, lol. I'm also glad you liked the couple stuff. That was in there just for you. :) Thanks for the review.

Meadow567: Glad you liked the cliffhanger. There's another one this chapter, dun dun dun... I haven't actually read any of your story yet, but I'm going to start. Hopefully I'll have time this weekend to catch up on it:) I'll review when I do. Thanks for reviewing.

Emador: Glad you liked it! There's a bigger cliffy this time - and you'll really want me to update sooner! Thanks for the review.

A/N: This chapter has a lot of doctor jargon, and the whole thing is at the hospital. There's a list of what some things mean at the end, and all of the conditions and drugs are real.

A/N2: Please don't kill me!

Chapter 21

Once Doc, Jack, and Maddie arrived at the hospital, Doc went inside to get a wheelchair. Jack wheeled Maddie in, and Doc went to check in with the doctors. Maddie's contractions had slowed down, and they were a lot less painful now.

Just as Maddie started to tell Jack she was okay to leave, a young, good-looking doctor came over to see them, and asked Maddie questions about the pregnancy so far.

"Hi Madison, I'm Doctor Shepherd."

"Maddie, please." He nodded. "Where's Dr. Warner?" Maddie asked.

"He's away for the week. I'll be delivering your baby."

"I'm not having the baby tonight. The contractions stopped-"

"We're going to run some tests and check everything out to be safe."

"Aren't you a little young to be a doctor?" Jack asked. Maddie almost sensed a hint of jealousy from Jack. She would admit the doctor was a little cute, but she had no idea why Jack would be jealous.

"I can assure you that I'm very capable of delivering the baby. I'm not as young as you think. I've been delivering babies for seven years already, and I've lost track of the number."

"Oh," was all Jack said in response. The doctor turned back to Maddie.

"How many weeks are you?"

"Thirty-two," Maddie responded.

"Is this your first pregnancy?"

"Yes."

"Have you had any problems so far?"

"No, everything's been fine. I was right on schedule," Maddie said, starting to worry a little more, as she felt a little pain coming back.

"Okay. We'll get you all settled in your room, and I'll be up shortly. You're in room 127."

Jack wheeled Maddie upstairs to her room and Maddie changed into the gown and got into the bed.

"So, you don't like the doctor, do you?"

"He just seems so young Maddie."

"No, there's something else, isn't there?"

"No."

"You're jealous, aren't you?"

"Jealous?"

"Yeah. I can tell. But I don't understand why. He's just delivering the baby."

"Exactly. I don't want him, like . . . I don't know. Forget it."

"Jack, he delivers babies for a living. He won't see anything he doesn't see everyday," said Maddie laughing.

"Okay, fine make fun of me," Jack said, pretending to sound hurt.

"Come, here." Jack walked over to the side of Maddie's bed, and she gave him a lingering kiss. "No one could ever replace you anyway. Not even a cute doctor."

"So you admit it!" Jack joked. "You think he's cute."

"But you're hot," said Maddie, half whispering.

"Well, I still am not totally comfortable with him."

"What would change your mind? Knowing he's happily married with a kid?"

"No. Ten kids," said Jack, sounding serious. Maddie just laughed in response.

"Hi Maddie," Doctor Shepherd said, walking into the room and closing the door behind him. "I'm going to run a few tests and determine what's going on with the baby. Has your water broke?"

"No."

"That's a good sign. If you are in pre-term labor, we may be able to stop it," the doctor said, starting to check Maddie's vitals. He checked the baby's too, and reported a good fetal heart rate.

"So, do you have kids, doctor?" Jack asked, who had been intently watching the doctor do his job.

"Jack," Maddie warned, not wanting him to be nosy.

"No," Doctor Shepherd answered, responding to Jack's question.

"Oh. Well, are you going to?"

"Jack!" Maddie said again.

"Me, personally? No," the doctor said, joking. "But my wife is expecting in March."

"Oh. So you're married?" Jack asked, surprised.

"Yes."

"Why didn't you just ask him that from the beginning?" said Maddie, sarcastically. "Cause it's not like you weren't totally obvious." The doctor just laughed.

"It's okay. It happens all the time. With these good looks, a lot of fathers are worried their wives will run off with me after they give birth," he joked. Jack laughed, and was a little more at ease now, knowing the doctor was married. He also liked that the doctor was joking around. But now the doctor became serious, and started speaking in a language Jack could no longer understand. He just hoped Maddie could understand what he was saying.

"Well, I have good news and bad news. The bad news is you're in active pre-term labor and four centimeters dilated, but the good news is that we might be able to stop it since your water hasn't broke yet."

"Okay," Maddie said.

"There are a few things other things you should know now though. We need to do an ultrasound to check for a placental abruption. The fetal heart rate is fine, but I'm a little concerned because you are presenting with symptoms of an abruption. Your belly is hard, you experienced some pretty intense pain, and you are in pre-term labor, but you're not bleeding, which is good. The baby is anterior, so we won't need to turn it if you do deliver tonight."

"Is the baby going to be okay?" asked Jack.

"As long as everything goes according to my plan, their will be minimal complications," the doctor said.

God, this guy is almost as cryptic as Herb, Jack thought. What the hell does he mean. According to his plan? Minimal complications?

"We're going to start you on an IV and give you Brethine to attempt to stop the contractions. If it works, you'll be on bed rest until the baby's born."

Maddie sighed, not liking the sound of bed rest. The doctor said he would be right back and left the room. She started explaining what the doctor had said to Jack. After talking for a minute, Maddie felt a sharp pain again in her abdomen.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Maddie said, holding her stomach. Suddenly, she felt really wet. Jack, go get the doctor."

"Okay, we should probably see if everything's okay. I mean, if you're in pain again-"

"Jack get the doctor."

"Will you be okay if I leave for a minute? Cause we can probably press the emergency button and-"

"Jack! My water broke. Go get Doctor Shepherd!"

"Oh my God. Your water broke. I'll go get the doctor," Jack said, running out and Maddie tried to focus on something other than the pain. Seconds later they were back. The doctor checked Maddie's cervix and noticed she was now six centimeters dilated.

"Maddie, we're going to have to deliver. Once the water breaks, there's no way of stopping labor. And with the way you're progressing, you're having this baby tonight."

"Oh my God, no! It too early."

"Maddie, it's okay. We'll take good care of you and the baby." Maddie winced in pain again and Jack gave her his hand to hold. The doctor turned to the nurse that was now in the room.

"We need to monitor her and the baby. Any changes, get me immediately. Once she's ten centimeters, we're pushing. If she wants an epidural, get it now. Also, give her an injection of Betamethazone. We need to make sure the lungs are completely developed." The doctor left and the nurse followed his orders. After a minute of contractions, Maddie was okay.

"You better go tell Doc," said Maddie. Doc had been waiting in the waiting room to hear the news.

"Will you be okay?"

"Yeah. I can manage for a few minutes." The truth was that Maddie was still convinced the baby wasn't coming tonight, as was Jack.

"Can you call my parents too?" Maddie asked. "I would, but there's no phone in here."

"Yeah," Jack said, trying to hide his annoyance.

"Thank you." Maddie really appreciated him calling them for her and she knew that he wasn't really looking forward to it. They would want to know what was going on, even if they were still not thrilled with the thought of being grandparents. "Hey, at least they can't kill you through the phone," Maddie said smiling, trying to lighten the situation a bit.

"It's okay. I can call. After all, since we're getting married, I need to be able to talk to them eventually."

Jack left the room to make phone calls and tell Doc what was going on. After explaining the situation to him, Jack talked him into going home. Jack promised Doc that he would call once anything happened. Jack called his parents next. Until his dad answered sounding really groggy like he was just sleeping, Jack forgot about the time difference and that it as after midnight in Boston.

"Hello?"

"Hi dad."

"Jack, what's wrong?"

"Sorry about calling so late. I just wanted to let you know that Maddie went into labor a little while ago."

"The baby wanted to be a Christmas present, huh?"

"Apparently. I'm sorry for calling, I forgot how late it was."

"Don't worry about it. I'm glad you called. I hope the Maddie and the baby are going to be okay." Jack wondered why they wouldn't be and started getting a little worried.

"I'll call you as soon as anything happens."

"Okay Jack. Merry Christmas by the way."

"Yeah, you too."

Jack hung up, wondering whether to call Maddie's parents. It was so late, but like she said, they would probably appreciate knowing Maddie was in the hospital. He hesitantly dialed the number and waited for someone to answer.

"Hello?" Maddie's dad answered, sounded even less happy than his father.

"Hi Mr. Reynolds, it's Jack."

"What do you want? You do realize it's after midnight, right?"

Great, he sounds really annoyed, Jack thought. "Uh yeah, sorry. Maddie wanted me to call you. She's in the hospital."

"What? Is everything okay?"

"She had some contractions and is in pre-term labor. The doctor said the baby should be okay though."

"You know what Jack? I'm more concerned about Maddie right now. If anything happens to her because you couldn't keep it in your pants, you won't have it to use again," he said seriously.

"With all due respect Mr. Reynolds, I am not the only reason your daughter is pregnant. We both made decisions and a baby is the result. I don't care if you don't like me, but I would at least hope that you could put it behind you for your daughter and grandchild's sake. I'll call you tomorrow with an update and Merry Christmas," Jack huffed and hung up the phone.

God that man pisses me off, Jack thought. What will make him realize that I love Maddie?

Jack walked back into the room and Maddie immediately knew he called her parents.

"So my dad answered the phone, huh?"

"Yeah, how'd you guess?" Jack asked sarcastically.

"You're pissed."

"I'm sorry," Jack said walking over to her, grabbing her left hand and looking at the engagement ring. He sighed and sat down. "I just don't know what your dad has against me."

"He just feels the need to protect his oldest daughter."

"Will I ever be good enough for you?"

"It doesn't matter. Hopefully my family will come around, but I'm marrying you, my family's not, so it doesn't matter."

"Yeah I guess," Jack said shrugging.

"I haven't had a contraction for ten minutes now. I think the baby decided to wait."

"That's good." No sooner than they said that, Maddie had another contraction. This set was the worst yet. Maddie squeezed Jack's hand hard and she tried to counter the pain.

"I can't have this baby tonight," Maddie said, between the sharp pains in her stomach. "It's too early. We're not even ready. We don't have a crib yet, or a stroller, or a car seat."

"Maddie, don't worry about it. Try not to talk, it's making the pain worse."

"Jack, I'm so scared," said Maddie, realizing the baby was coming tonight. She was afraid the baby wouldn't be okay.

"It's okay, baby. I'm right here." Maddie started crying, but not because of the pain. "Everything's going to be okay," Jack said, trying to comfort her.

"Promise?" Maddie asked. Before Jack got to answer, the doctor walked in with three nurses close behind. Maddie was now ten centimeters dilated, and it was time to push.

Okay, Maddie. Next one push, okay." The next contraction came and Doctor Shepherd told her again to push, but she shook her head. "Maddie, you need to push."

"It's too early," Maddie said, shaking her head again.

"Do you want a chance to have a healthy baby?"

"It's too early."

"Maddie, listen to me. If you don't push, the baby will go into distress and we'll have to perform a C-section.

"No," Maddie said in protest.

"Then push."

"Come on Maddie. Push for me, baby," Jack said, starting to worry something bad would happen if she didn't.

"I can't," said Maddie crying. She was in so much pain now, and wished she didn't opt out of the epidural.

"Fetal heart rate's dropping," the nurse said.

"Come on Maddie. The baby's heart is tired and it's not getting enough oxygen. You need to get your baby out." Maddie finally gave in and pushed. "Good job Maddie. Keep going, you can do it."

"Fetal heart rate's eighty," the nurse reported.

"We need this baby out now," Doctor Shepherd told the nurse. "Push hard Maddie." She did as Jack kept talking to her calmly, encouraging her to push. Maddie kept squeezing Jack's hand harder and harder. Jack figured he'd have a bruise at this rate.

"Fetal heart rate, seventy-five."

"Only a few more good pushes, Maddie." She pushed hard again.

"I think we have an abruption," the doctor said.

"What does that mean?" Jack asked.

"It happens when the placenta detaches the uterus before the baby is born."

"Will the baby be okay?"

"If we get the baby out soon. But we also have to worry about excessive blood loss for Maddie."

"Seventy," the nurse said, referring to the fetal heart rate. "Mom's at fifty and dropping. BP's ninety over sixty."

"Get to units of O-neg ready," the doctor said. Maddie wasn't paying attention to what the doctor was saying, and was focused on pushing, but Jack was really starting to worry. He didn't know much, but it sounded like Maddie might need a transfusion, and he was getting really worried.

"Come on, baby," Jack said, to Maddie.

"Maddie, two more good pushes," Doctor Shepherd told her. Maddie pushed, but was getting really tired from the blood she lost.

"Head's crowning," the doctor said, as he took the forceps the nurse handed him. "One more Maddie. Push now!" Maddie pushed hard and the baby came out.

"Congratulations, you have a baby girl," the nurse said, taking the baby from the doctor. Maddie was out of breath, but nevertheless excited that the baby was out. Jack kissed her forehead and they smiled at each, both very happy and excited. Maddie tried to look up and around for the baby, and saw a nurse holding her.

"Maddie lay back down. We need to get the placenta out. This is the easy part. I need some light, easy pushes."

"Wait. The baby!"

"Maddie, it's okay. Just get the placenta out. You're bleeding and the faster we get this out, the faster you will clot. I don't want you to lose any more blood."

"But the baby! Why isn't she crying? She's supposed to be crying!" She looked at Jack as he was watching the nurses with the baby, and noticed that Jack looked scared. Maddie tried to sit up again to see the baby. All she saw were nurses crowded around, and another doctor who had recently come in the room. Jack and Maddie could both hear parts of the conversation between the other doctor and nurses, but she didn't know what they were saying. Jack started to walk over to the baby so he could see her. All he could see were the nurses around her, ready with tubes and other devices that looked to be way too big for the baby.

"Shows signs of apnea. We need to intubate her and get her on a respirator," a nurse said. "Heart rate's still seventy. She might have PDA."

"Maddie lay down," Doctor Shepherd said.

"Why isn't the baby crying?" Maddie asked, starting to cry herself. "Jack, why isn't she crying?" she asked again, through tears, fearing the worst. All Maddie could think about was the baby.

"She lost too much blood, she's going into shock," Dr. Shepherd said as Maddie slipped out of consciousness.

A/N: Okay, I know I'm mean, lol. Sorry about the cliffhanger. Please review! Don't make me beg, cause I will. Next chapter will be next week, unless I get at least lots of reviews, then Monday.

Here's a little list of what some things mean...

Abruption: placenta breaks off uterine wall before the baby is born - it can cause a lot of blood loss

baby being anterior: baby is head down

Brethine: helps stop contractions in cases of pre-term labor

Betamethazone: drug to help develop baby's lungs if pre mature - helps to produce surfactant which is a chemical that the lungs need to work properly

apnea: newborns who don't take at least one breath in twenty seconds

PDA: Patent Ductus Arteriosus - when the ductus arteriosus (a blood vessel connecting the pulmonary artery to the aorta) doesn't close after birth like it normally does - can result in a heart murmer

Now, before you kill me, I'm running away and hiding.