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Epilogue
"Jason." Elizabeth said walking into the kitchen of their house. "I think it might be time to call Kelly."
"Now." He said watching his wife rub her tummy. The pregnancy had been text book, and it had flown by. The nursery had been completed a month ago and now they were just waiting. "My phone. I need my phone." Jason said checking his pockets. "Keep breathing baby. How far apart are the contractions?" He said checking his pockets again, there was no way he didn't have the damned device on him. It was always on him these days.
"Ten minutes." Elizabeth had been walking around in the backyard for the last hour timing them while Jason was in his office working.
"That close?" Jason just looked at his wife with wide eyes.
"That's not that close." Liz pointed out. That was just when Kelly said to make the first call. "We probably have hours still to go." Liz wasn't expected to be told to head in. The ob/gyn just wanted a heads up.
"Hours?" Jason repeated finally finding his phone, and calling the doctor. He hung up and muttered 'he was calling someone who actually knew what to do' while dialing. He listened said okay and hung up. "We should go into the yard and walk. Gram is on her way over. I'm not sure Kelly knows what she is talking about."
"She said to stay home?" Liz was trying not to laugh. Her rock steady husband was falling apart.
"Yes, she said to call her back when the contractions got closer. You need to be looked at before then. I want a second opinion." Jason said following his wife outside.
"What do you want me to tell him?" Audrey asked her granddaughter. There was no way the older woman was going to countermand Kelly's orders. Dr. Lee was the best in the state. Also Audrey agreed with the assessment, Elizabeth didn't need to go to the hospital just yet.
"If you say anything other than I need to go to the hospital he won't be happy." Liz said taking in a deep breath as a contraction hit. Her husband was standing in the sun room talking with Steven. Audrey had felt backup was prudent and Monica was working. "Your labor is progressing quickly." In the hour Audrey had been here the pains went from ten to seven minutes apart. That was fast for a first baby. She took her granddaughter's pulse again. "It's within the normal range. I'm going to have to tell him you don't need to go in. Milo is here, he'll protect me right?" The retired nurse practitioner asked.
"Please, Jason adores you. He will just pout more." Liz said as they started another circuit of the yard. "Sarah and Steven both said mom had short labors." Carolyn had refused to fill out the forms that Kelly sent over. Since this was Liz's first child they would look to her mother for an indicator as to what might happen.
"Short is a relative term. Sarah took eighteen hours to arrive." Audrey passed along. "How long have you been in labor?"
"Fifteen hours, the back pain that started late last night was the beginning of things." Liz was starting to feel it, she was tired. A nap sounded like a wonderful idea, but there was no way she was sleeping through her contractions.
"Probably." Audrey nodded. "Come back into the house I have few things that might help." They had walked long enough. Liz would take a break before walking again later.
At the twenty hour mark Monica arrived at the house with Alan. "How is she doing?" He wanted to know. Steven had answered the door.
"She's fine. I think Jason is on the verge of a stroke." The Chief of Surgery was glad that they had adopted. Watching Liz in pain was hard. There was no way if Maggie had gone through this that Steven would have stayed calm. "We may have to admit him before we admit her."
"I'll take Jason, you check on Liz." Alan said moving deeper into the house.
"That's a good plan." Monica nodded knowing she had gotten off easy.
They followed Steven into the sun room. Liz was once again walking the backyard with her Gram, while Jason watched them from inside the house. "Hi." He was relieved to see his parents, surely they would agree with him. "I want her to go to the hospital." He told them.
"Your mother is going to go out and talk with Liz. Have a seat Jason." Alan told his son. "Scram." He said to Steven.
"I'll send out updates." Steven said heading out into the yard as well.
"Jason, you need to calm down." Alan wasn't going to sugarcoat it. "Liz doesn't need to be worrying about you right now. She needs to be focused on herself and the baby. You're driving her blood pressure up." He hadn't even talk to Liz yet, but he had watched her with his son. He knew that part of her mind was on how all this was effecting her husband. "Man up and put on a brave face. I know you're scared, you should be. You're about to become a parent, and that's terrifying. But she doesn't need to see that."
"Your bedside manner sucks." Jason told his father.
"I'm retired, I don't have to be nice." Alan shot back. "Do you want to be banned from the delivery room? Kelly will do that if you don't pull it together."
"She's in pain." Jason told his dad. "I can't make it stop. I can't do this for her. I don't want her to hurt."
Alan smiled at his son. "She won't remember the pain when they put that baby in her arms. She will remember how long it took though." The doctor said laughing. "And Liz will remind you often of exactly what that number was."
"She wants three more children." Jason said looking out the window. "I won't survive that."
"Labor gets faster each time." Alan told his son, that wasn't always true but it was the norm. "Go get Liz's bag, and pack some clothes for yourself."
"We're going to the hospital?" Jason perked up.
"No, the mansion. Which is closer to the hospital than your house." Alan would give him that. "We also have the rose garden. I'm sure Liz would like to spend some time looking at the blooms while she walks around."
"Alright." Jason would call for a volunteer to watch the dog and bunnies since they were leaving.
At hour twenty-five Liz was admitted to labor and delivery. Not because she was ready to give birth, but because she was exhausted. Despite being only four centimeters dilated they gave her an epidural so that she could get some sleep. Jason sat by his wife's bed holding her hand and praying. Kelly said that everything still looked good, and that neither Elizabeth nor the baby was in any danger. Still Jason would relax when their little one was here and all this was over.
"Let's have a look." Kelly came in and grabbed some gloves. "How are you feeling after your nap?"
"Better." Liz said scooting down the bed for the exam. "The rest helped. Jason even got a little bit of sleep."
"Good." Kelly said removing the glove. "Nine centimeters, and fully effaced. In the next couple of hours you two are going to have a baby. You are at thirty-one hours of labor, the numbers for both of you are looking good. So we are just going to wait it out. Keep the epidural flowing, remember you cannot OD on it." Liz had the pump in her hand. "Let's get dad some coffee and some more ice chips so he can keep mom hydrated." Kelly told the nurse. "I'll be back. I'm sure someone will come visit you in my absence." She didn't mind having the Chiefs looking over her shoulder. Her work was top notch.
Kelly was right, Monica and Steven stopped by. So did Sabrina and Leyla. Nadine popped in on her break from school, and Georgie came in with Johnny. Francis and Diane came to visit and were followed by Sonny who made Jason take a walk while Audrey sat with her granddaughter. It was a page that made Jason return to the room. "What happened?"
"My water broke." Liz said panting. "I think it might be time. Gram is paging Kelly."
Jason walked over to the side of the bed. "How are you?"
"Scared and excited." She said giving him a smile. "We're going to be parents in a little while."
"I know." Jason said giving her a kiss. "I need to get changed. I'll be right back." He said as Audrey returned.
"Kelly is on her way now." The older woman grabbed a towel and wiped Liz's forehead. "Sarah called, she and Nikolas are flying out shortly. She wants the baby to be here by the time she arrives." Audrey said laughing.
"I'd like that too." Liz groaning as another contraction hit. "I'd like to push."
"Not until the doctor looks at you." Audrey said picking up the tennis ball and rubbing light circles on her granddaughter's back. "Here she is now."
"Where's dad?" Kelly asked gloving up.
"Getting changed. I'm subbing for now." Audrey said looking at the monitors. Everything was looking good.
"Okay. Someone is ready to have a baby!" Kelly said taking off the soiled glove. "I need a gown. Hi dad, just in time. Audrey are you staying?"
"No. I'll wait down the hall." Audrey kissed Liz and then Jason. "I get to come back first." She said before walking out.
"Jason help Liz scoot down the bed some." Kelly said as the bottom was pushed down and the stirrups snapped into place. Nurses helped Liz get settled while Kelly got dressed. "So what do you think you've been cooking all this time? Boy or girl?"
"Boy." Liz answered before Jason could.
"Dad wanna guess?" Kelly said getting into position. "I see the head in the birth channel. No hair though." The doctor kept up a running commentary.
Jason just tuned her out and focused on his wife. They were holding hands and her grip tightened each time a contraction hit. She had eased off the epidural saying she wanted to be able to push hard. Kelly said it was fine during her last check up so Jason didn't argue. "I love you." He said looking into her big blue eyes.
"I love you too." Liz said looking back at Kelly. "I really want to push."
"Good, because I really need you to push. Ready?" The doctor asked and when Liz nodded she replied. "Go." Kelly counted down from ten, told her patient to take a deep breath and said to push again. "The baby is crowning. Good job mom, keep pushing." They went through the pattern again. Liz pushing, Kelly coaching, and Jason giving his wife words of encouragement. "One more big push to get those shoulders out." Kelly instructed. "Push!"
"Grrr." Liz growled and pushed as hard as she could.
"It's a boy!" Kelly said laughing as the baby slid right into her hands. That never got old. Carefully she put the new born on Liz's stomach as he started crying. "That's what we want to hear."
"A boy." Liz said crying. "We have a son."
"We do." Jason couldn't take his eyes off his son. It seemed almost surreal that he was finally here. "He's beautiful." The mob boss said tearing up. They watched as the nurses took him to get weighed and to have his APGAR scores recorded. Maggie had wanted to work the birth but hospital policy said she couldn't so she sent her Fellow.
"Here you go mom." The nurse said bringing the baby back over. "Eight pounds, ten ounces. Twenty-two inches long. All nines on his APGARs. Ten fingers and ten toes." She told the new parents.
"Look at him." Liz said looking at the child she had carried for the last thirty-nine weeks. He looked like a mix of both of them. His dad's nose and mouth. The eye shape was hers and so was the shallow dent in his chin. "Ready?" Liz asked Jason who was sitting next to her.
"Yeah." He held out his arms and cradled his son. "I love you. Both of you." Jason didn't know his heart could hold so much love. "We need to give him a name."
"Yeah we do." Liz watched her husband holding her son and let the joy of the moment fill her heart. She bit her lower lip and gave it some thought. They had both made lists of their favorite names and listed them in order of preference. The problem was that there was no overlap in the names. "Cameron." She said picking the name from Jason's list she liked the best.
"Cameron Alexander." Jason said picking the name from her list that he liked the best for their son's middle name. "Cameron Alexander Morgan."
"I love that." Liz said leaning forward and kissing him before kissing their son.
"Good looking kid." Kelly said coming over and taking a peek. "What are we calling him?"
"Cameron." Liz told her friend.
"Cool name. Are you breastfeeding, if so you can go ahead and give that try before he has to go to the nursery. They will bring him back down in time for his next feeding." Kelly told her friend.
"Okay." Liz shifted some, with the help of a nurse and opened her gown. She had taken a class on breastfeeding and now was the time to see what she had learned. When she got Cameron in the right position she helped him latch on and he started feeding. Right now he was getting colostrum but her milk should come in soon.
"Good job." The nurse said having worked with Liz she wasn't surprised that her friend got it on the first try. She assisted in switching breasts and then left the family alone.
"I'll start pumping when my milk comes in so you can feed him too." Liz knew that feeding was also a bonding time, and she wanted Jason to experience that as well.
"Okay." Jason got to burp his son and then handed him to the nurse. "I'll go tell everyone he's here then come back. How long before you transfer rooms?"
"About twenty minutes." Liz let him know.
"I'll be back before that. I love you." He had to say it again. "Thank you for my son."
"I love you too. Thank you for loving me, and giving me the life I've always dreamed of." She said leaning in and kissing him. "Go tell everyone we are okay."
"Be right back." Jason said stepping into the hall. He pointed and Lee walked down the hall. He would stay with Cameron until the little guy was brought back down from the nursery. They passed and the guard offered his congratulations making Jason smile. He was a dad now, and that felt amazing.
Two days later they brought their son home, and Mabel found a new baby to love. The bunnies didn't really seem to care much about the new arrival. Guests came over and visited. Sarah made a huge fuss over her nephew and announced that she was moving to Port Charles. She and Nikolas had discussed things and decided they wanted children too. And that they wanted their children to have a sense of family. That news was just the cherry on the Sundae for Liz. Things were pretty much perfect.
One month to the day of Cameron's birth, Johnny and Georgie welcomed a little girl. They named her Keela which was Gaelic for beautiful, and that she was. The little girl was the spitting image of her mom with beautiful dark blue eyes that sparked a betting pool as to what her final eye color would be since neither one of her parents had that particular shade.
Eleven months after that Edward Quartermaine threw his great-grandson a party that would have Port Charles talking for years to come. Liz and Jason didn't even try to rein him in. They figured if he got it out of his system now, then going forward things would be calm. But this was Edward they were dealing with, and Cameron's second birthday party put the first one to shame.
That night as they were tucking their son in Elizabeth made two announcements. One Edward didn't get to plan anymore parties. Two she was thinking it would be nice to add to their family. Since Jason had been thinking along the same lines, he didn't hesitate to agree.
But that's a story for another time.
Another tale from the dark regions of my mind has come to an end. I had a lot of fun with this one. I enjoyed reading all the comments, and laughing along with you guys. Next up with be a romance, with a little more drama and less humor than this one. It is currently in the editing stage, so look for it in January. I do have other stories in the works so we'll get to hang out as the year progresses.
Thank you Deb for the prompt.
Thank you Liason102 for the edit.
Hoping that everyone has a blessed and Happy New Year! I'll see you again after the calendar page has turned!
Thanks for the reviews, the follow, the favorites, and the continued support.!