Since she had woken up that morning she had been uncomfortable and in pain. Not like that was unusual at this point in her pregnancy. It was getting harder to find a position to lie or sit in where her ever growing stomach didn't get in the way or have the baby press down upon an organ. Not that she had a choice these days, she was forced to stay in bed after a scare in the past. For the most part she was able to suck it up and stay in bed, or on the couch, she was willing to do anything to keep her baby safe even if it meant have to stay behind.
This was the team's first mission since her maternity leave started. Rittenhouse had given them a little break after the scare and allowed the parents a moment to regroup and rest. She had hoped she wouldn't hear that stupid alarm again until after the baby was born, but that was wishful thinking.
She saw him wanting to protest as she got out of bed and walked as quickly as she could towards the source of the noise, but he knew better than to comment and followed closely behind her. Once they had learned the date and place for the jump she immediately got to work. She didn't want her team to be unprepared and quickly started writing down all she could remember. She even got him to grab the books that could help the team while also making sure some part of original history would always be remembered.
An uneasy feeling come over her as the team started to pile into the lifeboat without her. He must have noticed it too because he stayed an extra moment longer than running to time machine.
"It's going to be okay." He whispered taking her hands into his.
"I know." She agreed trying to smile and hide her fear.
"We knew this day was coming and you've done more than enough to ensure our safety. You just need to focus on the baby now."
She nodded her head not trusting herself to speak as tears started to form in her eyes. She didn't expect it to be this hard to watch him go.
"Come here." He said and quickly pulled her into a hug. "We're going to be fine okay? We're going to treat this jump like all the others and make sure we stay low and not change history too much. You've given us plenty on information to make sure we do that and I know I'll be able to focus more on the job knowing that you and the baby are here and safe."
"I know." She mumbled into his shoulders and pulled away to help prover her point.
He gave her a small smile. Before leaving, he looked down, put his hands down on her stomach, and whispered "be good".
She waved sadly at all of them as the door slid closed. With a loud whoosh they were off to the past.
Just as suddenly as the team left a sharp pain shot up her back and stomach. It wasn't like anything she'd ever felt before and she couldn't help but let out a cry until it had passed.
Immediately the remaining members turned to look at her.
"Are you okay?" Her boss asked walking closer to her.
"Yeah I'm fine." She lied, or at least tried to. "It was just as Braxton Hicks."
Deep down she knew that wasn't it though, and she could see it in her friends' faces that they didn't believe her either. The pain was worse than anything she had felt before.
"Have you felt anything else."
"No." She lied, but the mother knows better look her boss gave her as soon as the word came out made her tell the truth. "Nothing like that, but there has been an increase in pain."
"Has it been coming sporadically or in timed increments?"
"I don't know." She answered honestly. She hadn't been paying too much attention to when the pain came, only the severity of it.
"It's probably nothing but…"
"But what?"
"There is a slight chance your labor has started."
"No that can't be it!" She shouted as true fear started to set in. "It's still too early! I can't be in labor yet!"
"It's probably nothing Lucy. Like you said there is a good chance it is Braxton Hicks contractions. But the doctor did say you could go into labor early and it made me think."
"No I cannot be in labor! The pain isn't that bad honestly. It's it labor, it's not!"
She kept repeating it over and over again to herself hoping that she could will it to be true. But the more she thought about labor the more scared she got. Maybe that gut feeling she had when the alarm sounded wasn't for the team, maybe it was her body's way of saying she was the one in trouble.
"I'll call the doctor to confirm just to be safe and reassure us. Okay?"
"No we don't need the doctor! I know I'm not in labor. I haven't…"
Just as she was about to mention pain another sharp cramp struck her. She let out another cry, more out fear and shock. Instantly her other friend was by her side and helping her stand up.
"Maybe you should sit down. You're still on bed rest after all and the doctor didn't want you standing for longer than you had to." She gently suggested.
"I don't want to." She started to cry, but for what reason she did not know.
"Jiya is right Lucy, you shouldn't be in your feet."
Her friend carefully lead her over to the couch and she slowly sat down, the tears now freely streaming down her face.
"I don't want to be in labor!" She cried.
"You need to breath Lucy. You're working yourself up and that's not good for you or the baby."
She tried hard to slow her breath down and stop the tears, but the tears kept coming.
"Please Lucy focus." Her boss begged crouching down in front of her.
She tried even harder to think only the air filling up her lungs, but her mind kept circling back to labor.
"I need Wyatt! I can't do this without Wyatt!" She finally shouting admitting her biggest fear.
She couldn't go through labor without him and didn't want him to miss the birth either.
Her two coworkers looked at each other as if they were dealing with what to tell a small child.
"He's going to be here Lucy." Her friend finally said.
"How do you know?"
"Because I know Wyatt, and he would never miss this moment and would do anything to make sure he's here to support you."
She looked over at her boss who nodded her head in agreement. Only then was the expectant mother able to breath.
"Why don't you rest Lucy. That will help you feel better."
She nodded her head in agreement, exhaustion suddenly hitting her. She was even too tired to move to her bedroom and instead laid down on the couch. She felt someone lay a blanket over and wanted to say thank you, but she wore herself out too much.
"Do you think she's really in labor?" She overheard her friend ask their boss a moment later.
She did everything in her power to stay awake and hear the conversation. She wanted to open her eyes to take part in it too, but her body had other plans.
"I honestly don't know. A big part of me says she isn't, but then again she's not that far away from her due date and we knew she was more likely to deliver early."
"Will the baby be okay if she does give birth today?"
"She's close enough that it should be, the doctor didn't seem too worried about that."
"So what do we do now?"
"We just wait. When Lucy wakes up we'll have a better idea if those were real or false contractions. If they're false we make sure she stays in bed until Wyatt gets back."
"And if they're real?"
"Then I guess we're going to have a baby. I'll go call the doctor and see what she says. Can you stay with her?"
"Of course."
The woman in question continued to lie on the couch wanting to shout that she could hear them, but her exhaustion level was too high. She hear shuffling and assumed her friends went about their plan. She waited to see if anything else would be said before allowing herself to fall asleep. Hopefully after a nap her body would feel better and the pain would be gone for now. She knew her baby wasn't ready to enter the world yet, she just needed to make sure everyone else knew it too.
A shooting pain was what woken her up and the feeling of being very uncomfortable. She bit down on her lip to suppress a cry. She continued to lie there once to worst of the pain subsided not wanting to admit what being waken up like this meant.
She slowly opened one eye to see her friend sitting on the chair in front of her on her laptop. Immediately the other woman saw that she was awake and put her laptop down on the coffee table.
"How do you feel?" She asked.
"Not good." She answered honestly and slowly sat up. There was no point in hiding anymore.
"Do you want me to get Christopher?"
She shook her head no.
"Do you need anything?"
"Just a moment to think and wrap my brain around the fact that I am going to have a baby today."
"You don't know if it's going to be today. It still could be false labor and if it is real your labor could last for over 24 hours."
She let out a laugh, "Well that's real comforting."
She was about to make a comment back when pain shot through her again.
"I'm going to get Christopher."
Her friend jumped out of her chair before she could protest, not that would have done any good. Now that she was calmer she was better able to accept that she was going to deliver this baby sooner rather than later. She placed her hands on her stomach and took a deep breath in and out.
"I hope you don't end up as stubborn as your father and I." She said to the still unborn child. "Could you please at least try and wait until Dad gets home? I know he would hate himself if he missed your birth and I think he's done enough self loathing for a life time. Plus I kind of need him here too, after all I need someone's hand to murder while you're trying to make your way into this world."
She heard footsteps and looked up just in time to see the other two walk back into the room.
"Lucy how are you feeling?"
"The pain is still there, but better than before."
"I talked to a doctor and they said there is a chance you are in early labor. While it still could be awhile before anything progresses, but we might as well get you settled and ready just in case. There's no harm in being over prepared,"
"And if it really is false labor?"
"Then we can all go back to our normal routines. Look on the bright side, at least you don't have the embarrassment of taking a trip to the hospital only to be turned around."
She gave her boss a small smile and laugh.
"Come on, let's go get you set up."
She carefully pushed herself off the couch and waited a moment to make sure a contraction didn't strike before following the other two woman. They were going back into the room where she officially learned she was going to become a mother, the room where she heard her baby's first heart beat, the room where she got to watch the child grow inside of her. It was fitting that this was the room where she was going to give birth.
She had always imagined she would be giving birth to future child in a hospital room and not in some back room of a bunker, but like most dreams she'd had before the lifeboat she hasn't prayed too hard for it to come true. For most of her pregnancy she was able to push aside her fear of labor. It was still a big unknown at the end of a long marathon. She knew the finish line was there, but she liked to pretend that she actually got to cross a ribbon instead of having to push a baby out, especially without drugs.
Once the trio was in the room they went about setting up for the big event. The expectant mother changed into a nightgown and laid down upon the bed.
"Now what do we do?" She asked once everyone was settled.
"Now we wait."
She let out a deep breath and leaned back against the pillows.
"It will be okay Lucy." Her friend reassured, "I'll go grab my laptop and we can watch bad TV shows until this baby makes up their mind. It's exactly what we had planned to do today anyway, just in a different location."
She was able to give the other woman a smile, thankful to have her by her side while they waited this out.
"Did you hear from my doctor." She turned to ask her boss.
"I have some news about that. Your doctor is sick and isn't going to make it."
Her eyes grew wide, "sick?!"
"I didn't think doctors got sick." The other woman added.
"Well they can and they do and yours is. They have another doctor on hand, but we want as few people to know about you as possible. If there is an emergency he will come, but if everything goes smoothly I'll be the one delivering your baby."
"You think you can do this?"
"Your doctor has been training me to help her during the delivery. I think we should be able to do it. And if not we have a doctor on call ready to drive over. Do you trust me? I won't be offended if you say no and I will make that call."
Without any hesitation she answered, "I trust you."
"Good. Now you sit back and try and relax. I'm going to learn as much as possible and how to deliver a baby." The eldest of the trio left the room with a little nod.
"Looks like I got promoted from second assistant to first." The second woman laughed.
"Glad you're able to step up like that."
"Wyatt's going to make it back in time too."
She paused unsure of how to reply, "that was kind of random."
"I know you're still worried about him, and don't even try to deny it. I can see it in your face."
"You really think he's going to make it back?"
"I know so. Now I'm going to fulfill my assistant duties for a moment so I can grab my laptop and some previsions. You listen to Christopher's orders and try to relax. Stressing out will only make this baby come out sooner and none of us want that."
She gave the still pregnant woman's hand a squeeze and left the room.
"It looks like it's just you and me one last time." She said to her stomach. "I know it may not seem like it, but I am very excited to meet you. I was just hoping it would be a little closer to your due date. Whatever your decision is I will be there for you, not like I have much of a choice since I'm the one that has to push you out."
She laughed and placed her hands on her hard stomach for possibly the last time, "But in all seriousness, I'm just as impatient as you are to finally meet. I know your dad is too. If today is your day to enter the world we are ready for you and if you want to stay in there a little longer that's fine too. I would prefer that option, but I guess I don't have too much of a say huh? No matter what know that your dad and I love you so much already and we are ready for your arrival."
Keeping her hands on her stomach she fully relaxed into the pillows ready to wait out the next few hours and see what they would, or would not, bring. Whatever was going to happen would happen and she finally felt ready for it.