Colder than she remembered it being, Emily stared blankly around at the barren white walls; had it been this forbidding the last time she had been here? Her previous trip to the hospital had been just as lonely despite the figure lingering (this time uncertainly) by the door, but at least at that time Chris had known she was there. True, both times were because of him, and both times she had had company inside herself, but it was so different this time... Granted that the difference probably had something to do with the fact that she had unexpectedly gone into labor just after the movie had ended.

After the credits had rolled and the channel flashed what was coming on next, Todd finally succeeded in his pleas for a spare bowl of whatever she had gotten up to make, but she barely made it into kitchen before she found herself screaming in agony and reaching out to the wall for support. Poor kid was shocked senseless, as if just now discovering that she was pregnant. Poor dope. But somehow he had pulled it together (after a demonic-sounding death threat) and managed to call an ambulance to come pick them up outside. It was probably too much fuss since she wasn't about to drop just yet, but they were both frightened to the extreme. Among the rest of the craziness of the world, all of the recent news stories about roadside deliveries probably didn't help the rationing.

"Miss Vela?" The nurse - a simple yet pretty redhead with a hearing-aid - came into the room scanning the thick file on record. She seemed nice enough, but Emily felt as if her mind was splitting into two from the pain, so she didn't have time for that other woman. "Your doctor should be here soon, but in the meantime, is there anyone else you want to call? Family? The father?"

Chris was her only family, but could she really just call him out of the blue like this? He had every right to be here, and she wasn't trying to keep him away from their child, but could she really face him right now? She didn't need to look in a mirror to know that she looked horrible, and a lifetime of watching movies and hearing stories told her that she was only to get worse looking as the hours progressed. However, even knowing all of that, could she really face this alone? This was a pain unlike any other, and what if there was a complication? What if she died giving birth, or worse...?

[Chris's place]

Hardly daring to believe what he was doing - well aware that he could die even before he got to the elevator - Dave knew that Emily would be struggling over the decision about whether or not to call Chris and let him know that she was about to give birth (Todd had since been in contact with the bespectacled hero to let him know that he had taken Emily to the hospital). Whatever else was between them as individuals, it felt wrong to knowingly keep Chris from seeing his own child as it came into the world. Maybe he was channeling Mindy all the way from prison, but he wanted so badly to use this opportunity to make the other guy pay for what he had done to not only his and Mindy's fathers, but to the world at large. And as that thought came to mind for the fifth or sixth time, he saw Emily's face as she fell asleep on his bed, crying nightly. He couldn't do that to her, not on the day she was going to fully come to sympathize with the rest of the world, when she would get to be a mom, to hold a tiny life in her hands, to become truly happy for possibly the first time in her life.

No matter what, he had to let Chris know that she needed him.

"Who the fuck are you?" Glad that he was there as just plain Dave, the sight of this hulking bodyguard brought to mind Stu. Man, now that was some ancient history. Still half tempted to just bail, the hero gazed up at the additional three feet of leather-clad muscle, "I'm... A friend of Emily's."

Glaring at Dave, sizing him up, the nameless bodyguard clearly decided that a scrawny looking thing like him could never have possibly been a threat to Chris or his person, so he nodded and pressed the call button. "He's up there, getting high as hell." Awesome, that made Dave so much more sure that he was doing the right thing. If he didn't want to beat the fuck out of Chris already, hearing that this was how he was spending his time when the baby was so close to coming made the young adult that much angrier.

Silently, nodding stiffly at the guard as he was allowed by, Dave reminded himself yet again that this was for the best. Ushered into a gilded elevator, he ultimately found himself standing outside the door to the penthouse Chris was living in these days. Good to know that the villain was still living the high-life. If Emily didn't need this, Dave swore he would have just-

Ka-pow!

Before he could so much as knock on the door, a fist met his nose; not quite broken, the force asserted in that single fluid motion was not enough to break his glasses, but it was enough to make his eyes water.

"You have a lot of fucking nerve, showing your ugly mug around these parts." Chris sneered, eyes indeed glazed a slight pink.

Reminding himself why he was there in the first place, Dave figured that it was best to keep this as short as possible. "Yeah, well, I figured it was only right that someone told you Emily's gone into labor." Eyes widening and mouth falling slack at this, Dave could tell that that news had sunk it and hit home. That was something at least. "I doubt you'd find out any other way." That too hit a mark. Who knew that he could kick Chris's ass without lifting a hand?

Disbelief creeping into those dark soulless eyes, Chris shook his head, "Yeah right, like I'm going to believe you. The baby isn't due for another two weeks. You probably just have your gang of pussies waiting in the wings to jump me."

"Let's agree to set all the bullshit aside for the time being, shall we?" Going against the very grain of his being, he held out his hand to the other male, mind flashing back to a certain night... Aware that now was the worst time for memory lane, Kick-Ass shook his head, "I'm not that big of an asshole." Seeing the uncertainty gripping the young father, he said the one thing he could think of that would make Chris come to the hospital with him: the truth. "Emily needs you. She's managed to get by this whole time, but I don't think she can do this without you."

Yes, the red-head in question is Val. Honestly, I'm not sure if her hair is red or auburn/brown, but that's neither here nor there.

OMG, huge HUGE HUGE shout-outs to Kyle37 and JessBerry23! The continued support has really inspired me to keep going! I know it's horrible to just leave it here, but at least I can say I only expect the story to last for about another 2-3 chapters, depending.

Kick-Ass is the property of Mark Millar and John Romita Jr. Emily Vela is mine. Knight, and all minor characters too.