Quickie:

HotChilliGriffin - Kate is about 7 months along.
LordXwee - Well darn those plot bunnies. Ben should take care of them!
Martebarte - Man. Finding a good name.
Diger - I know. I'm sorry!

sigh Again. I did it again. I am so sorry I'm taking forever to update. The real issue is that I can't update on my Mac because it's weird and doesn't let me edit things right. So I have to go on my OTHER computer which is a piece of crap. And it's just annoying. I know, that's terrible of me. We're getting down to the nitty gritty though. So I'm gonna try and update more often now. I know, I know. You've heard that before. Please don't lose faith! I love you all very much and hold you close to my heart.

P.S. - Sassy? Where'd you go:-(

Enjoy the roller coaster ride that's about to begin!

Chapter 60

The ride to the hospital was a blur. As soon as they got in, Kate was put into a wheelchair and out of sight. Sawyer was left in the waiting room with a pile of papers before he could follow. So he sat, Clementine beside him, anxiously filling out line after line.

"What's going on?" Clementine asked, still groggy. "Where are we?"

"We're at the hospital, Sunshine."

"Why?"

"I don't know why," he said, annoyed.

Clementine looked down, frightened. Sawyer sighed, and put an arm around her.

"Somethin's wrong with Kate is all," he said quietly.

"Is she gonna be okay?"

"I don't know."

Clementine studied her father's weary expression with concern. Without delay, she got up, standing in front of him. He hadn't noticed, for he was too busy staring blankly at the paperwork before him.

"Daddy?" she said in a small voice.

He looked up with an even wearier face. She put her small hands on either side of his face.

"Kate's gonna be okay."

"Think so?" he smiled.

"Yeah."

"C'mere," he said, lifting her into his lap. "You wanna help me fill out this paperwork?"

"Okay."

A little over a half hour later, Sawyer was finishing up the last page in the pile. Clementine was in the chair beside him again, fast asleep. He brought the papers up to the front desk, and minutes later, a nurse appeared.

"You're the father?" she asked.

"Yeah," he said, uneasily.

"Okay. Follow me. I'll take you to see her."

"Well, I…" he looked over at sleeping Clementine.

"Oh, I see. Well, we can put her in an empty bed for now, and one of our nurses can watch over her."

"Yeah," he nodded. "Yeah that sounds all right."

He was led to a room where Kate was lying in bed in a hospital gown. She looked terrified. When she saw him, she forced a smile, and he hurried to her side.

"Hey," she said quietly.

"Hey yourself," he said, looking her up and down. "Gotta say, Freckles. Polka dots ain't really your look."

She smiled, genuinely this time. His smile, however, faded.

"They say what's the matter?"

Now her smile faded. "Yeah."

"Well?"

"They said I was having contractions."

"Contractions? But I thought – "

"I know." She paused for a moment. "They're about ten minutes apart. They said…it might be…a premature labor."

He stayed quiet, as she went into another contraction, giving her his hand to hold for the pain. In a few minutes, Dr. Park appeared.

"Hello, Kate. Hello, James. How's everything going? Okay?"

Kate nodded, still clearly in pain. Dr. Park went over to the monitors and picked up the paper that was printing, taking a look.

"Okay," she said, still reading. "Those last two were seven minutes – a bit closer than the ten minute contractions you've been having. Now, as I understand, we're still eight weeks short."

"Right," Kate breathed.

"Let's just take a look," Dr. Park said, pulling the chair to the end of the bed. After a minute, she said, "Everything looks okay. When did your water break?"

Kate stared at her, confused. "It…didn't."

"Oh it definitely did," Dr. Park smiled.

"I don't…" Kate shook her head. "I didn't…"

"You took a shower," Sawyer pointed out.

Kate's eyebrows lowered. "Wouldn't I have…"

"Not necessarily," Dr. Park said. "Let's just do a sonogram and make sure everything is all right with the baby."

After setting everything up, they were all staring at the sonogram monitor.

"Okay…everything seems to be in ord – "

Dr. Park stopped, noticing something on the screen. Sawyer felt his hand being squeezed again, and looked at Kate. She was having another contraction. Dr. Park stared now.

"That wasn't even five minutes, Kate."

Kate breathed unsteadily, an expression of worry filling her face. Dr. Park got up and picked up the phone in the room. Sawyer smoothed Kate's hair away from her forehead.

"It's gonna be all right, Freckles," he said quietly.

She nodded, slightly trembling.

Suddenly, everything started to happen fast. Nurses and doctors filed into the room, helping to get Kate onto the stretcher. They all rushed into a delivery room, where Kate and Sawyer were parted. He was shoved into a small room being forced into blue scrubs and an unattractive cap. Then, he was beside Kate again. Her contractions were ongoing now.

"I don't want to do this!" she started to panic. "I can't!"

"You have to, Freckles," he tried to calm her.

"No! I can't. I can't do this, James!" she cried.

"Hey," he put a hand on her face. "Listen. You're gonna do this. You're gonna have this kid. You hear me?"

She stared at him, her eyes full of fear, nodding.

"Just think of how it's going to feel to hold the little bundle in your arms afterward," Dr. Park said.

"There ain't no backing out now," Sawyer whispered. "No more running, remember? This is it."

She stared at him, long and hard, absorbing his words. He was right. No more running.

"Okay," she breathed.

He kissed her forehead, and held her hand once more.

"Okay, Kate," Dr. Park said. "You know what I need you to do."

Kate nodded, still horrified. Sawyer blurred out all of the noise in the room, and even forgot the pain in his hand from Kate squeezing it. He watched with his heart pounding in his chest, as everything seemed to happen around him. Kate's screaming brought him back to his senses. He stared at her, in fright. He kept silently telling himself over and over that nothing was going to happen. This was normal. She'd be fine. Everything was going to be okay. They would be fine. They were having a kid. They loved each other. And then out of nowhere…

"Marry me," he blurted out.

Kate stared at him, shocked. "What?!"

He stared back, shocked that the words even slipped out of his mouth. How was he going to save himself with that one? But he didn't have to. Kate forgot what he said with the next wave of pain. In a moment, the sound of crying filled the room. He hardly heard Dr. Park announce the gender.

Sawyer turned back to Kate in time to see her head fall back against the pillow and her eyes close.

"Freckles," he shook her gently.

The monitor sounded off with a rapid beeping noise. The baby had disappeared from the room and suddenly all of the doctors' voices rose.

"We're going to have to take her to the OR," he heard Dr. Park say.

Sawyer had no idea what was going on. He kept shaking Kate, trying to awaken her, to no avail.

"Kate!" he started yelling.

"Get him out of here," Dr. Park said.

"Kate!" he kept yelling, as doctors grabbed his arms. "Get the hell off me!"

The doctors pulled harder, and he pulled back.

"Lemme go you son of a bitch!"

He fought as they pulled him out of the room, but his worry and fear had overpowered his strength. All he could see as he was pulled out of the room was the crimson that covered the bed, and a lifeless Kate laying in it.