Here's chapter three! Maybe I've gotten my writing groove back. I hope so, because man it's frustrating when I can't get my ideas down on paper.

"God, I'm so bored," Paige said.

"This one isn't as good as the original," Walter agreed. "Why does he need a love interest? He's already got the little bear."

"Well you know, Walter," Paige said jokingly, "some studies are now suggesting that you can have a significant relationship with more than one person."

Walter rolled his eyes. "Of course I know that. I just mean...this particular bear."

"They're animated talking bears, Walter," Paige said. "One of them used to be a human. We're already suspending belief a little bit here, and this specifically is not even a stretch."

"They're not technically talking bears," Ralph said. "Remember when he was trying to talk to Tanana in the first one? She said she didn't speak bear."

Paige grunted and shifted her weight. "You know," Walter said, "if the contractions aren't hurting yet, why don't you see if you can get back to sleep?" It wouldn't help Walter and Ralph pass the time, but it'd help her.

"I won't be able to sleep," Paige said. "They don't hurt per se, but it's too uncomfortable. I can feel them, in that way they're too strong for me to be able to fall asleep."

"I wish there was something I could do to help you," Walter said, running a hand over her stomach.

"My mom told me that she was in labor with me for almost a week. But it was like this – weak, erratic contractions, she was uncomfortable but things didn't progress enough for the hospital to admit her until the fifth day. Once they got regular and strong, I came along in just six hours. Which wasn't bad for a first baby. Sometimes, you can start having contractions, and they'll go away, and then it's days before they start up again. This is so complicated and so different for every woman. Which makes it suck all the more because you never know what to expect. Or, I guess..." she smiled and shrugged, "I guess we could spin it as more fun instead."

Walter leaned over and kissed her cheek. She put a hand on his chest.

"Are you hungry, Mom?" Ralph asked. "I could make us sandwiches. Unless...unless you need to stop eating."

"I don't think I'm far enough along to want to just go to water and ice," Paige said. "I'd love a sandwich, Ralph. Thank you."

Ralph grinned, jumping up. "Walter, do you want anything?"

Yeah, I want to stop doubting your motivation behind everything you're doing. "No, buddy, I'm good. You're doing a great job helping me take care of your mom."

Paige turned toward Walter, smiling, and took his hand. "My boys," she said, her eyes bright despite her fatigue. "Walter, I know that...I know that this wasn't exactly...entirely on purpose, but...but I'm really happy."

Walter hesitated, then smiled back at her. "Me too, Love. Me too." He realized it was the truth. He loved Paige. He loved Ralph. They loved him. What he felt at the knowledge that Ralph wasn't excited about the baby for the reasons he and Paige were was undeniably crushing disappointment, but...but he couldn't think about that right now. There were so many other things to be happy about. He swallowed hard. I'm not telling Paige what Ralph said. At least, not today.

"I need to get more deodorant," she said. "Help me up."

"Oh, okay," Walter said, getting to his feet. Paige grabbed his hands, wobbling slightly as she rose. "I'll be glad to have my center of balance back soon," she said.

"Oh, you don't like me needing to be there every time you use the bathroom?" Walter asked jokingly.

"Well you know, I'm comfortable enough with you for you to knock me up," she said with a smirk, "but while I may be comfortable with you helping me use the bathroom, I much prefer the activities that got me into this state."

"Hey now," Walter said, "don't be looking at me like that when it's six to eight weeks before I can do anything about it."

Paige's grin lasted only another second or so before she looked down, gently rubbing her stomach. "They still don't hurt?" Walter asked, mentally counting the seconds.

"Nope," Paige said. "Like very mild menstrual cramps." She took in a deep breath. "But the discomfort is...is different. It's hard to describe. What is easy to describe is I'm sweating buckets and I need my deodorant." She raised her eyebrows pointedly, and Walter realized he was standing in the doorway of the bathroom. Stammering, he stepped to the side, letting her in.

"Do you want me to get you a new shirt?" Walter asked.

"God, the pressure is unreal," Paige said, turning. She closed her eyes, gripping Walter's hands as she faced him, drawing in a long breath and slowly blowing out.

"We can go get you sitting on that ball if you'd like. The one that's supposed to relieve your pelvis." Walter knew she knew what ball. He didn't know why he specified.

"Maybe." Paige nodded, shifting her hips from side to side. Walter watched her for any signs of immediate distress. She was clearly extremely uncomfortable, but she either had the highest pain tolerance he'd ever seen or her contractions weren't that strong yet. She'd been laboring for three days. That was taxing on the body, even though they were still in the early stages. He wished things would speed up soon.

When the contraction eased, Paige drew in another breath. "Whew."

"You okay?"

"Yeah, but...oh God."

"What is it? What's wrong?"

"Uh..." She waddled over to the tub and leaned over, placing a hand on the edge and using it for balance as she slid a hand under the waistband of her shorts, shifting her knees apart. Walter saw her face change. "Oh God Walter, he's coming."

"Wait...wait..." Walter looked at her in alarm. "What do you mean?"

"His head, I can feel it." She bent at the waist, her other hand curling around her stomach. "Walter, I gotta push."

"No!" He crouched down next to her. "Paige, it's early yet. Let's get the bag and get to the car. We'll go to the hospital. No pushing, Paige, do you hear me?"

"Walter, I can't." She straddled the tub, sinking down on it and leaning forward, balancing on her arms. "Oh my God."

He ran his hand up and down her back. "Paige, breathe, just breathe, you're a little freaked out right now, but that's okay, you hear me? We'll just get you calmed down and then we'll go get the bag. This is just early labor..."

Her brow had quickly broken out in sweat. "Walter, this isn't early labor." Her hands slid under her bump. "The contractions just haven't hurt as badly as we expected." She closed her eyes and leaned sideways against him. "He's coming, Walter."

Walter could feel his heart pounding in his chest. Now? He'd thought – they'd both thought they were hours away from having to go to the hospital. And yet this didn't even count as fast labor. She'd likely been in active labor for hours – and they just had had no idea. It would certainly explain why she was so exhausted. "I thought your water hadn't broken yet."

"Well, it must have!" She shrieked.

"Let me get Ralph," Walter said. "He'll call an ambulance for us."

"Don't go," she said, looking at him with wide eyes.

"Ralph!"

The boy appeared almost as quickly as he could have. "Mom?"

"Her contractions haven't been painful," Walter said. "She's a lot farther along than we thought. Call an ambulance. No – call Cabe. No!" He shouted as Ralph turned to go. The boy turned back, his face pale. "Call an ambulance and call Cabe. Okay, Ralph?" Walter asked. "Can you do that for me?"

Ralph nodded. "Mom!"

"It's going to be fine, baby," Paige said with a warm smile. "Just go and call them for us, okay?" Her completely calm expression made Walter wonder if maybe things weren't quite so progressed.

He was proven wrong seconds later, when Ralph vanished and Paige's demeanor changed, almost instantaneously. "Walter, I can't..." she panted. "I can't stop it. I gotta push. I gotta..."

"Okay," he said. The classes had said that panting could slow things down, if only just a little. But she was already doing that. "But let's get you to the bed first. You don't want him to come into the world here, do you?" She bit her lip as she looked at him. "What?"

"I'm afraid if I stand up he'll slip right out."

Walter wished Toby was on hand to reassure her on that. "You can't give birth where you are right now."

"We're supposed to be in a hospital," she said, her voice shaky.

"And instead we're in the comforts of home," Walter said. "Remember? You were scared with Ralph because you spent so long in an unfamiliar place, you were alone, you had no idea what was happening. Now you do. Now you're with your family in a place you love. This is going to be okay. But you gotta stand up and walk for just a minute. Okay?"

She nodded, shakily getting to her feet, one hand clinging to Walter's arm, the other back inside her shorts. Walter slid an arm around her as she hobbled to the bed.

"Oh my God," Paige said, crawling on all fours to the middle of the mattress then stopping, lowering her head and panting. "Oh my God."

Walter climbed up next to her and gently rubbed her lower back, where he knew she'd been having some pain. "Just breathe."

The sound of his voice seemed to calm her, if only for a few seconds. "Walter, my shorts," she said frantically. Understanding, he eased them off her hips and she managed to get them off of her legs as she shifted her knees apart. "Oh God," she whimpered.

"Does it hurt now?" He asked.

"No. But it's so uncomfortable." The last word sounded strained. She slowly rocked back and forth, grunting in discomfort. She dropped her head, her whole body tensing as she grunted again.

Walter kept massaging her back. He had no idea what else to do. Everything he'd read was failing to show up for role call. He had an IQ of 197 and he couldn't remember the basis for coaching Paige through delivery.

Where was Ralph?

Paige rose up on her knees, leaning against Walter, and he kissed her on the temple, wanting to tell her it would be okay, but not wanting to draw attention to the fact that Ralph was not back yet. She wrapped an arm around his neck. He could hear her breathing through her teeth.

Then her breathing shortened to a pant, and he felt her fingers digging into his arm as she tensed again. Then she gave a small yelp and her posture faltered, nearly dropping her to the mattress. She pulled away from Walter, dropping back onto all fours, then turning around and bracing on her arms, her legs bent, knees far apart. Walter froze. Suddenly, the top of their son's head was visible, revealing what looked like thick black hair.

He lifted his eyes to see Paige looking right back at him. Her own eyes were wide, her brow glistening with sweat, and the shirt she'd been sleeping in clinging to her body. He moved closer to her, running a hand up and down her leg. "You're doing great," he said.

"I'm so tired." She wiped her brow, then shifted her weight, curling her hands into fists around the corners of the pillows behind her.

"You're almost done. You know that." Walter shook his head, remembering all the times that Paige had mentioned how much the contractions were tiring her out. If Toby had been there, he'd have checked her dilation. He'd have realized that she was in active labor. They would have gone to the hospital hours ago.

"Mom!"

Walter and Paige turned to see the boy standing in the doorway, a horrified look on his face. "Ralph, where have you been?" Walter shouted.

"We drained our phone batteries playing those games earlier," Ralph said. "I was banging on doors until I found a neighbor that was home and I used her phone to call Cabe and the ambulance." He ran across the room, clambering up onto the bed at his mother's shoulder. "Mom!"

"It's okay, Ralph," she said. "Slight change of plans, though." She tipped her head toward him. "Baby, go in the other room."

"No." He put a hand on her shoulder. "I'm staying with you."

Paige closed her eyes, tucking her head to her chest. Ralph grabbed his mother's hand. "Just squeeze my hand, Mom," he said. "He's almost here."

Walter wiped his eyes with the back of his wrist. Paige was exhausted, and stressed from the sudden realization that she was farther along than they'd thought, but she wasn't scared. Ralph, for all his attempts to hide it, clearly was. This was his mother. And this wasn't how they'd expected things to go. "Good job, Ralph," he said. "Hold her hand. Paige, the head is almost here, okay? Ralph, hand me that pillow behind you." He took it from the boy, removing the case and throwing it over his shoulder. The last push had delivered more of the head, and Walter wondered at how much hair his son had. "Paige, he's head down, he's exactly how he's supposed to be." He rubbed her leg gently. "Can you push again?"

Paige drew in a deep breath, tucking her head back to her chest. Ralph added his other hand, squeezing hers with both of his watching her intently. Walter smiled at the sight before returning his gaze to between Paige's legs. "There you go," he said, reaching forward, gently helping to guide the head out. "Head's here, Paige, rest a minute. He's got thick, thick black hair, Paige."

She sat up ever so slightly, trying to peer over her stomach. Then she slid a hand down, lovingly stroking the baby's wet hair with her thumb. Then she slowly traced around the head, rolling her lower lip under. "You're not tearing," Walter said. "I promise. This progressing without us knowing could be a blessing in disguise." He wanted to keep talking; anything to drown out her heavy breathing, but he didn't know what else to say.

Paige lifted her hand up to her brow, wiping it, then wrapped it back around the pillow. "Almost done," Walter reminded her. As long as...Paige had told him that when Ralph was born, his shoulders had temporarily become stuck. Shoulder dystocia could be serious – thankfully in that case, all she'd had to do was change positions. But it could easily turn into an emergency situation. And they were not equipped. "Ralph, how long did they say the ambulance would be?"

"They're required to be here in under nine minutes," Ralph said. "I think that's the law. I don't know. I don't remember." His face changed.

"It's okay, Ralph," Walter said. "It's okay to not remember things, sometimes."

"It's only been four minutes," Ralph said.

"Walter," Paige said.

"Push again," he agreed, nodding. He gently turned the baby's head to one side, using the pillowcase to try and clean around the nose and mouth.

"Oh my God," Paige gasped, digging her heels into the mattress.

"Paige, he's...he's almost here, oh my God, you're doing so..." Walter slid a hand under the baby, supporting his head, and nodded rapidly at Paige. "Paige, he's almost here, he's..."

Then suddenly he was, sliding into Walter's hands. "Whoa, whoa," he said, sitting up, gathering the baby to his chest, terrified of losing his grip. "Oh my God..."

Paige's eyes opened, looking up at them, a smile on her face. "Oh Walter, let me see him."

"He's..." The baby squirmed in his arms. "He's...he's perfect." Walter walked forward on his knees, carefully extending his arms over Paige's body. She reached up, taking the baby from him and drawing him against her chest.

Walter looked at Ralph. The boy was smiling. A small frown came over the older genius' face. Ralph noticed, and he frowned too, looking confused.

Thankfully, Paige was too enamored with the newborn to notice. "Hi, little one," she was saying in a low, gentle voice. "Oh my gosh, you're so beautiful."

Walter smiled. He crawled up the bed, to Paige's other side, and settled down next to her. Paige looked at him lovingly. "Walter, he's perfect."

"I know," he said quietly, reaching over and drawing her closer by her chin. She closed her eyes as he kissed her. "I love you so much."

"I love you too," she said, resting her head on his shoulder while she looked at the baby.

"He's so little," Ralph said. The tone the boy used was unfamiliar. Walter looked at him. Ralph was staring at his brother.

"The ambulance will be here soon, right?" Paige asked. "We need to get him checked out."

No sooner had she spoken was there a knock at the front door. Ralph jumped up to get it.

"We need a blanket to wrap him in," Paige told Walter.

"The ambulance is here," he said. They'll make sure both of you are nice and warm."

"I wish Ralph hadn't been in here," she said, shaking her head. "He's just a kid, Walter. He's just a kid. And he saw..." she bit her lip. "He shouldn't have been in here."

Walter slid an arm around her back as she sat up, helping her cradle the newborn with his other hand. "I don't know," he said. "Maybe Ralph being in here was exactly what he needed."

One chapter left!