'Your wife's blood pressure is one-forty over eighty-six, she is experiencing chest pains, and she also has a severely high level of protein in her urine. All are symptoms of a condition called preeclampsia, which could result in a ruptured placenta, or a myocardial infarction for both the baby and your wife. There is the possibility we will have to deliver the baby today and perform a procedure on your wife if her scans come back positive for an aneurysm.'

'But...they'll be okay, right?'

'I can't guarantee anything right now, we need to see the test results and make a plan. In the meantime, you need to keep her as calm as possible so that the condition will not be aggravated.'

'Get...out...' Watkins hissed at Brie, eyes red rimmed and burning. 'You...lying...unfaithful...bitch.'

Alexis watched Brie reel from the insult, then defiantly shook her head. 'No, no my love, I never was unfaithful to you. It was a long time ago, and I never thought it would be a big deal.'

'How...could...you?'

'I- it was selfish and I knew you would judge me but I couldn't not tell you...' Brie shook her head. 'I've screwed up a lot in how I've been treating you.'

'Me...too...boy...'

'Boy?'

'It's...' Watkins rubbed her hand over her belly, tried to smile at Brie. 'It's a boy...and...'

'A boy!' Brie began to weep, kissing Watkins lips lightly. 'A boy, oh Evie...'

'And...we should...name him...f...for...his dad...' Watkins tried for a smile. 'I...wanna...know...him...'

'I know, I know, and it-' Brie cut off when Watkins' eyes rolled back in her head, and a machine started beeping. She began to weep and plead with Watkins to be okay, that she loved her, that she was sorry for everything. Alexis and Lindsay moved over to hold onto Brie while the medical staff worked on her; they moved her out of the room only to see Adam, Shane and a tall red-headed man with kind worried eyes and brick-layer biceps in the hallway. The red-head, whom Alexis accurately assumed was Marcus, immediately moved forward to gather Brie close but Brie shook her head and instead launched herself at Adam.

'Adam, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry,' she all but wailed it against his shoulder. 'I've fucked up and I'm so scared I'll lose her and the last thing she'll think of me is that I'm some sort of slut who-'

'Brie, Brie, it's okay, it's okay honey.' Adam stroked her back, saw his own wife's face soften for the first time since Watkins had shown up on their doorstep the night before. 'What's going on?'

'She has preeclampsia,' Lindsay stated, and gave them the rundown of what was happening so far. 'Where are Zane and Petra?'

'Ryan's got them. Cam was ordered onto a fresh trauma,' Shane replied, moving close to Alexis. 'How is she doing?'

'I don't know, we were ordered out of them room.'

'She has to be okay,' Brie sniffled. 'She has to be, if I lost her...oh God.'

It set off a fresh round of tears for everyone, all waiting for something, anything either way. Alexis thought of when she'd been the mother with the scary medical emergency during her labour with Petra. At least she'd been full term and the baby was the right size to come out. What if Watkins needed to deliver now, and the baby was too small? What if being born too small meant it had health problems, or neural problems? What if...what if...

After what seemed like an eternity, the doctor stepped into the hallway with the infuriatingly placid expression of someone long entrenched in the medical community.

'You're Missus Watkins?'

'Yes.' Brie hastily scrubbed at her cheeks, tried to brace herself for the worst. 'Is- Is she still alive?'

'Yes, she is. Her scans have come back negative for an aneurysm and the preeclampsia has been controlled for now. She is however going to require a hospital stay of at least two weeks to bring her blood pressure into a normal range, possibly longer.'

'Is...' Brie folded one arm across her breasts, had the other hand up near her throat. 'Is the baby okay?'

'Yes. He's a tough little guy and it was touch and go for a moment or two but he's hanging in there. The hospital stay is to monitor him as much as your wife. She's been sedated and we're moving her up to the ICU for monitoring.'

'I need to be with her, I have to be there.' Brie looked at Marcus. 'She'd want you there too. You're our baby's father, you have to be there for our boy.'

'Our boy?' Marcus' narrow face brightened for the first time since walking in. 'We have a son?'

'Uh-huh. We...we missed that appointment with Evie.'

'No more,' he said resolutely. 'From now on, it's no more moms versus dad, it's all of us together. It has to be. I'm not going to be the guy who split up a great marriage.'

'Agreed.' Brie turned to Adam and Lindsay, pulled them each in for hugs. 'Thank you, I- I know I'm not your favourite person right now Lindsay but I want to be better. I've failed Evie and I will do better.'

'Good, because if you don't your ass is grass and I'm a fucking lawnmower,' Lindsay replied in her patent mama-bear style; it was a common trait amongst the women in their group of friends. 'And now we know she's okay, you should prepare yourself.'

'For what?' Brie asked warily.

'The onslaught of people from the Twelfth precinct. You're one of us now,' Adam told her, making Shane and Alexis grin. 'You're not a little island of three anymore. You've still got your people but now you've got us too.'