Chapter 14

An incessant alarm pulled Lucy from her sleep. She fumbled around to snooze it, her eyes refusing to open. When they did, she could tell by the light in the room that it was a grey and miserable day outside.

She'd tossed and turned all night trying to get comfortable. If she was too flat, she got short of breath. If she was propped up, she couldn't sleep. In the end she managed to find a compromise by ramming a blanket under her mattress to lift the head of the bed up. She'd give anything for an electric hospital bed right now. And then there was the constant getting up to pee from having a baby lying on her bladder and from the diuretics she was taking to try and clear some of the fluid on her lungs and heart.

She eventually pulled herself up to a sitting position, looking around her room at the piles of baby stuff that was slowly taking over. Dave had built a crib which was tucked away into the corner next to her bed, and there was a matching changing table next to that with plenty of storage space underneath. She'd got some clothes, a travel system stroller, a breast pump, bottles, and a sterilizer, but there was still so much to get, and she only had five weeks left until her c-section. She felt completely unprepared for motherhood but supposed that was normal.

There was a knock at her door. She groaned out loud as a signal it was safe to come in. The door swung open, and Dave was stood holding a cupcake with one lonely lit candle in it. He walked in slowly singing 'Happy Birthday' to her.

"Make a wish." He said as if she were a ten-year-old kid.

"Don't patronize me!" She screwed her face up at him. "Eugh. Do I have to be thirty-four?"

"We can pretend you're not, but that would be a lie. Come on, blow it out." He instructed her.

She rolled her eyes at him and reluctantly blew the candle out. He removed it and presented her with the cupcake minus the 'ta da'. "It doubles as breakfast." He chuckled.

"Wow. I'm honored." she said less than enthusiastically.

"Come on. Cheer up. It's your birthday!" He flopped across the bottom of her bed, looking up at her from his lying position.

"God, why is my life so pathetic?" She groaned before shoving the cupcake into her mouth, taking a massive bite. She didn't care if it wasn't breakfast food. It was her birthday.

Dave rolled over to face her, propping his head up on a hand. "Your life isn't that bad."

"Really? It's my thirty-fourth birthday. I'm seven months pregnant with a body that's about ready to give up. Perpetually single, living with my best friend who I know is only staying because he feels sorry for his pathetic friend. And I have to go to work and respond to the million emails sitting in my inbox, a ton of phone calls to make, and a stack of paperwork to get through. All before twelve when I have to go to a funeral." She was exhausted just thinking of the amount of work she had to get done today, and she'd neglected to mention her OB appointment.

"Shall I throw you a pity party?" He pouted his lips and mimed waving a tiny flag around.

"At least it would be a party!" She laughed, putting a massive blob of buttercream on his nose.

Lucy didn't know what he had planned for her birthday. As far as she knew, he was taking her out for dinner somewhere nice. Instead, he had hatched a plan when they found out the funeral was on her birthday, and everyone would be in town.

"At least you get to have dinner with me tonight. Where else would you rather be?" He scraped the buttercream off his nose with a finger and ate it, making an approving noise. "And I don't live with you because I feel sorry for you."

"So, you think I'm pathetic then?" She gave him a sly smile.

"Maybe a little...Hey." Lucy shoved him over with her feet. "You know I'm too lazy to move."

"You do realise there's going to be a screaming baby here in a month keeping you awake and cramping your sex life." She reminded him constantly, but he really didn't seem to mind.

Dave stood up just shrugging his shoulders. He really didn't care about that. He was really looking forward to being 'Uncle Dave'.

"We'll see if you still have that reaction in two months!" She didn't think a screaming new-born fit into his bachelor lifestyle. Though she couldn't be sure, she suspected he hadn't been seeing anyone since he moved to Chicago. He always seemed to be at work, or with her.

"Right, come on, Shorty. Time to get up. Have you had your shot yet?" She shook her head. "Meds?" She shook her head again. He held out his hands to help her up, reminding her to get up slowly. He held her as she steadied herself and could see she was breathless already just from that little bit of exertion.

Forty minutes later and Dave was sat on the sofa, flicking through the morning news channels while he waited for Lucy to finish getting dressed. He looked at his watch and they only had ten minutes until they absolutely had to leave.

Lucy was in her room hurriedly trying to decide what to wear. She'd bought a crossover black maternity dress two weeks ago right after Anspaugh had died, but now her boobs were on full show. They were borderline unprofessional, but there was nothing else in her closet that she could wear, unless she wore the same black maternity pants she wore for work. She needed to know what Dave thought. "Dave." She shouted for him.

Dave opened her door to see what she needed. She looked flustered. "What's wrong?"

"Does this look ok? The girls are front and center." She turned towards him, hunching her shoulders forward to try and make them appear smaller.

"Yes, they are." He leaned against the doorframe crossing his arms while eyes wandered down.

"Yo. My face is up here." She led his eyes back up. "I need director of the ER, not sexy secretary. And you just proved my point."

"Lucy, your boobs are huge. And your bump is huge. You're seven months pregnant. There's no escaping it. You should embrace it while your boobs are still above your waist." Her hairbrush bounced off his thigh after she launched it at him. "Ouch. It's cold anyway. Just put a jacket over it if you're self-conscious...come on or we're going to be late. And my boss is a real hard ass."

"That wasn't even funny two and half years ago. You need new jokes."

Lucy had got most of the work that needed doing that morning done by the time her OB appointment came round at eleven. She'd have to take the other stuff home with her. Dave was going to try and be there, but she told him not to worry if it was too busy in the ER. She was sat waiting to go into Coburn's office when Dave came running up to her, breathless from running up the stairs.

"Do you need some oxygen?" She joked.

He ignored the comment, instead panting to try and catch his breath.

"I told you not to worry about getting here."

"It's fine. Morris just arrived, so he's covering for me while I'm here." Dave and Gloria were taking the day shift while Lucy, Morris, and Simon were at the funeral. They'd called in a locum to cover the night shift, with Morris on call at home.

Once they were called in, Lucy got changed into a patient gown. She was having an ultrasound, but Dr Coburn wanted to do a sweep as well, just to check everything.

"I've looked over your notes from Dr Sharma. I see he upped your lasix. Has that improved your breathing?"

"A little. I'm still getting some shortness of breath on exertion. And I'm constantly peeing."

"How much exertion are we talking?"

"Getting out of bed. Walking around." Dave answered for her before she could try and downplay it.

"Thank you, doctor. I can answer for myself." She frowned at him.

Their relationship always amused Janet. They clearly cared for each other a lot, but they also bickered like a married couple which made her chuckle. "He knows you too well. And so do I...Let's have a listen." She listened to Lucy's chest to see how much fluid was there. She furrowed her brow. "There's still some fluid on your lungs. We're going to have to keep a very close eye on that."

She then moved to check her vitals and furrowed her brow even further as they all looked at the screen with Lucy's blood pressure causing the machine to give out a warning. It was down to eighty-seven systolic.

"I'm trying my best to drink a lot, but I just keep peeing it all out."

"Another thing to keep an eye on. And your labs from the other day show you're borderline anemic. It's a trifecta of concern for me if I'm honest. Each problem is affecting another and only making it worse. We may have to consider delivering you earlier if it gets worse. And if you're not careful, I'm going to have to admit you for bed rest!" She warned.

Early? She really didn't want to have him before she was at term, and she really didn't want to be confined to a hospital bed. "Yesterday was my last day doing clinical work. I'm starting my maternity leave tomorrow. I've still got some work to do, but it's all going to be from home. So, if you recommend that I go on rest, then I can do that. At home."

"I'm glad to hear that...Right. Lie down for me and we'll get started." Janet completed the sweep to make sure there were no early signs of labor, and everything was fine. She performed the ultrasound, noting that the baby was getting rather big. He was over six pounds already! Everything else was satisfactory, and she printed out a new picture for her. "I meant to ask. Have you decided if you want anyone in the OR with you when you deliver?"

"I hadn't thought about it to be honest." She had been so preoccupied with other things that it completely slipped her mind. She dreaded the thought of doing it alone. Yet, another reminder of how pathetic her life was. If she'd told Carter about the baby, then maybe he would be there. She still had time to tell him.

"Just something to think about."

Ten minutes later, Janet was seeing them out of her office. "I'll see you at the funeral in a few hours. And happy birthday." She gave Lucy a friendly smile, winking at Dave over Lucy's head, knowing what he had planned.

Dave walked Lucy back down to her office. She was quiet and her mind elsewhere. Coburn's question played on his mind. He would love to be there but knew it should be Carter. And hopefully, it will be if he shows up today like he said he would in his email back to Morris last week. "Why don't you try and have a nap before you come down."

She contemplated how tired she felt already, and how much of the day was ahead of her. "I think I will. But I need to pee again...you know you pee too much when you can't remember how many times it's been and it's not even lunch time yet!" She said bye to him, used the bathroom, and returned to her office to lie on the couch and try to sleep before she had to go downstairs to meet up with everyone.

A knock on the door woke her up. She opened her eyes and saw that it was after twelve already. She shouted out for whoever it was to come in, while she awkwardly tried to sit herself up.

Susan and Abby came in with flowers and a bottle of champagne. "Happy birthd..." They said in unison, but then stopped as they took in Lucy's pregnant form.

"Well. I guess you won't be wanting this?" Susan said, holding the champagne.

Abby stood mouth agape not able to find any words.

"Surprise." Lucy looked at them sheepishly and shuffled over to give her friends a hug. "Thanks for remembering my birthday. And for the champagne and flowers."

Susan had a confused look on her face "Hang on. I saw you in April and you didn't say anything...And you were drinking beer. Did you not know?"

"I wasn't pregnant then. I'm only thirty-two weeks."

"Wow. That's one big baby!" Abby exclaimed.

"You're telling me! I'm so uncomfortable. My pelvis hurts, my back hurts, and I can't lie on my back in bed." Lucy had a hand on her lower back trying to give some support in her discomfort.

Susan urged her to sit down, seeing her discomfort. "I remember it well. Sit down. You look like you need it."

"The last few weeks have been rough." She admitted with a sigh, though not fully as to why.

The three friends took a seat to catch up on the last seven months of Lucy's life.

"...I legit became a sex addict when I was pregnant much to Chuck's amusement." Susan confessed.

"I haven't had sex in seven months! I'm always horny." She laughed. "I missed you guys."

"Who's the father?" Abby couldn't hold it back anymore.

"He's not in the picture."

Susan narrowed her eyes while she did the math in her head. "You and Carter left the bar together the night the center opened. And now you're seven months pregnant." She raised an eyebrow. "He's the father, isn't he?"

Lucy knew there was no point denying it. Susan had already connected the dots. "It was a one-night thing."

"I can't believe Carter wouldn't want to be part of this. He loves you." Abby never thought of Carter as the type to abandon his own child.

"That's because he doesn't know, does he?" Susan knew them both well. If he knew, he would be here. And Lucy was the stubborn type. Lucy just shook her head. "Why haven't you told him?"

"Things didn't end well the morning after. We argued and he stormed off back to Africa."

"So, you just didn't tell him?" Susan was finding it hard to hide her disappointment in her friend.

"I was going to, then I just didn't. Right or wrong he doesn't know." Lucy didn't want to have to try and explain her reasons to anyone else. She already had enough from Dave about it.

"Is he coming today?" Abby and Luka hadn't heard anything from Carter for a while, so wasn't sure if he even knew about Anspaugh.

"I have absolutely no idea. I haven't heard from him in seven months." He was never far from her mind, but it was hard when people talked about him. It actually made her heart ache.

Seeing the sadness in Lucy talking about him, Susan changed the subject. "Do you know the sex?"

"It's a boy." She stared down at her bump and lovingly stroked it.

"That's wonderful. Do you have a name yet?" Abby asked.

"I do. But it's a secret." She had a coy smile on her face because she didn't want to reveal his name to anyone. Not just yet.

"Oh, come on. You've got to tell us. We promise we won't say." Susan was impatient. She didn't like not knowing something.

"Nope. Not until he arrives."

"Spoil sport." Susan feigned sulking. "We'd better get downstairs. Come on fatty!" They all burst out laughing.

"Yeah. Well, help a fatty off this sofa, will you?" Lucy held out her hands and they took one each to help pull her up.