Chapter 40

~Farren POV~

I wanted to spontaneously combust for crying like that, not only in front of Derek, but Spencer. I needed no one's sympathy, I'd grown up with an abusive father for goodness sake! But I still couldn't help it as I buried myself into Spencer's body, his warmth too inviting. His arms went around me without a second thought. I felt like a complete idiot, seeking comfort from someone who couldn't even beat me in an arm wrestling match. But, in spite of myself, I'd fallen in love with him over time; someone even weaker than I was.

Slowly, Spencer had led me away from Derek and into a private library right off the stairs so that no one in the den would see me like this. Derek's misery made me hurt also. The strongest guy I had ever known, and he facing losing, not only his wife and Luna, but his son. I'd been told many times throughout the years that there was no pain greater than losing a child, though my father could prove them all wrong. And five or six months ago, I think Derek could have too. But he'd not considered the baby real. Now that he'd felt Galen move, and respond, and seen him on Silas's monitors, the baby became real.

I made myself straighten up and remove my face from Spencer's shirt. "I'm sorry," I started, embarrassed by my actions. "Don't do that," he said, pulling me back, "don't belittle your feelings. I'm going to lose her too. I'm not ashamed of your feelings. Hell, I'm not ashamed of mine. She's like a sister, and the baby…" His eyes grew misty too, but he shook his head. "The point is, I'm not upset that you're upset. Don't be so hard on yourself." "I've never…" I stopped, not wanting to share any of my past with him. It would kill me, if on top of this, I somehow admitted my feelings and he shot me down. "Never what?" "Nothing."

"Don't do that to me, Farren. Don't almost let me in, and then shut me out. We're friends, good ones I would like to assume." But I selfishly want more than that.

I cleared my throat. "I couldn't show emotion around my father if he wasn't the cause of it. That's all I have to say about the matter. My life has been better since I got away from him." "I can understand that." He said, leaning back and, nonchalantly, he rested his hand on top of mine.

I strongly resisted the urge to pull away. I resented the fact that I loved soaking up his warmth. But, we were at least friends, and I couldn't take how I was feeling out on him. "You're not the only one hurting inside, y'know." He said, laying his head closer to mine on the back of the seating, "We all have faults, and we all have backstories. They make us the people we are. You're no different. You're special too, Farren."

His words made my heart clench. I'd never been loved by anyone before. If I thought about it hard enough, I'm sure Derek cared for me in a sisterly way, hell, we'd been friends long enough, but there was something different here. With Aaden, it was like the sister I'd never had. With Spencer…

With Spencer, it was like sunshine and fresh air and clarity.

Lost in my thoughts, I hadn't felt him lean closer. His hand gently reached out and pressed against the cold skin of my jaw, which he leaned in to press a warm, gentle kiss to. My attention faltered, wrapped up simply in the way he smelled. Denim and paper pages. Both so clean and new, and just purely Spencer. His breath caressed my face, and I felt my lashes flutter under his intense, but gentle, stare.

His eyes asked for a permission that I should never have given under any circumstance, but for once, I wanted something for me, something for us, that couldn't be taken away by the cruelty of my father.

I felt my head tilt, and his lips were tinted with a smile. He leaned in more, his hand never moving from my jaw, and ever so feather softly, pressed his lips to mine. I'd never imagined something as pure and innocent as a first kiss. I felt my hands go to his hair, tangling my fingers in the downy softness. He shifted then, deepening the kiss. Growing up, I'd imagined this as revolting, but it was anything but.

When his lips left mine, I felt warmness spread throughout me. I loved him. I couldn't admit it right now, but I did. And maybe, just maybe, he felt the same way. I wished he could kiss away the pain in my heart from the possibility of losing Aaden. Could she already be dead?

~Derek POV~

Aaden's panting had me panicking. I kept a tight hold on her hand, watching the blackness leak into my veins as I attempted to ease some of her pain. "One more centimeter, Derek, and then it's really game time." Silas's eyes met mine, true sorrow and apology there. I nodded, leaning down to press a kiss to Aaden's wet temple. She grunted in her pain again, hardly receiving any breaks between her now constant contractions. She panted again, trying to slow her breathing like Silas had showed her. She was being so brave, and it killed me to see her like this.

Aaden clenched her teeth to cut back another scream. I wasn't sure if it was the contraction or Galen kicking her, but whatever it was, it was agonizing. Her hand squeezed mine again, her face scrunching up in her attempt to remain quiet. "It's okay honey," I murmured into her hair, closing my eyes and trying to believe my own words.

"Yeah right," she offered me a sort-of smile as she took another deep breath. "Derek," Silas's voice came from the farthest corner of the room and I stood, walking over to him. His grave look alarmed me.

"Silas," I responded. "I just took a look at her stats. She's stable, but the baby appears to be getting distressed. If she cannot start pushing within the next hour, I don't know how this will pan out. If she starts pushing and he becomes distressed, or tries to get free by any other sort of means, he may get stuck in the birth canal. I don't have the equipment to retrieve him if this happens." I felt my heart slam into my ribcage. I knew what this meant. One wrong move, on his part or hers, and they were both gone.

I put my hand on his shoulder. "Do the best you can Silas, that's all I can ask, no beg, of you. Even if it hurts them for the moment," I turned to look at Aaden's exhausted face, "do whatever you can to save them."

At just before midnight, Aaden's pants turned into pained complaints. "Silas." I said, bringing his attention back from his monitor. "Aaden?" "Derek," she grunted, struggling to sit up. I took her hand. "I need to push, Silas."

Silas stood and quickly made his way over, checking her dilation. "That's ten. Alright Aaden, here comes the worst part." "Goody," she grumbled, and I bit the inside of my jaw. "Put your legs in the stirrups, and push. It'll hurt like hell, but five or six good pushes, and it should all be over." He kept his voice even. I knew then that he wasn't telling us everything. I hoped what he'd seen on the monitor had been mild.

Aaden pushed, trying to hold back her screams. She'd been pushing for twenty minutes when a river of blood came rushing out of her. I couldn't see from where the blood was coming, but Silas's weakened look told me all that I needed to know. "Come on, come on." Silas muttered under his breath, gently reaching into her to try and reposition the baby. Aaden cried out suddenly, her belly tightening.

She gritted her teeth, to the point where I was waiting for them to break. I took her hand, letting her squeeze mine as hard as she could, praying that it would give her any amount of relief. Her pants were close to hyperventilation.

"Aaden, slow down! You'll go into shock, try to take deep breaths!" Silas instructed, still trying to free the baby. But Aaden's breathing didn't slow, and soon, her eyes began to go dull. "Aaden!" I said, trying to bring out the Alpha to resurrect her Luna. "Don't do this! Push!" But her eyes continued to go distant, her head gently and ever so slowly beginning to bob.

Please don't do this baby! Please! I shoved my thoughts at her, my feelings, anything to jumpstart her again. "Dammit!" Silas yelled suddenly, jumping up from his seat and pushing downward on her risen belly. "What the hell's going on?!" I heard myself shout, unable to peel my eyes away from Aaden's slowly weakening body. "The baby is stuck! She's bleeding out, we have to get the kid to move or they'll die for sure!"

I felt my heart die inside me. I was watching the last few seconds of Aaden's life right before my eyes. Aaden's dying eyes began to drift. "No, no, no! Aaden, please!" I could hear the paranoia in my voice. "Shit, Derek, help me, before it's too late!" Silas's voice was distant, but I had to listen. "Derek, the baby is starting to suffocate! If we don't work fast, he'll try to find his own way out. Come on!"

"Hands here!" He yelled, placing my hands on Aaden's swollen belly. "Push downward on my command. Now!" He said, and I pushed. Once. Twice.

In a worrisome rush of blood and discolored fluid, my son appeared in Silas's hands. I wasn't expecting how I'd feel as Galen unleashed his first cry. For a moment, I forgot about everything that had just happened. I stared at the tiny, red, and screaming baby in Silas's blood covered hands. Galen's cries pierced my heart, pinning me to the spot I stood in, and tears pricked my eyes.

"Damn, damn, damn!" Silas yelled, and I didn't recall him calling to anyone, but suddenly, another vampire who I recognized as Justin appeared to his right, taking the crying infant from him and rushing him into the joint bathroom. "Derek! Snap out of it!"

Silas grabbed my arm, pulling me out of my daze. "She's going to die! She's bleeding out too fast, you have to bite her, now! It's the only way to save her! Do it!"

I shook my head violently, feeling my teeth sharpen and my eyes change. Taking one last look at Aaden's white lips and dead eyes, I leaned forward and buried my teeth into her waist.

**Wow! What a chapter this was to write. R&R and have a good day!**