Cute little AH/AU one-shot I've had kicking around in my WIP file for ages.

I thought being married to a surgeon and being a doctor myself would give me extra perks in labour. But I was mistaken. I did, however, get processed faster than others might have. Dimitri had been worried about going into the surgery he had scheduled for today, but I told him not to. A kid needed a heart transplant, I wasn't going to tell him to push it off or give it to someone else. He was one of the best.

When I walked in here three hours ago, bypassing the ER and going right up to labour and delivering, the nurse there was utterly confused.

"Please page Dr. Diaz and then page Dr. Belikov and let him know that I am checking in," I said, dropping my bag on the floor.

"Ma'am, we need to assess you before admitting you," the nurse said, one I didn't recognize. The charge nurse, Ginny, came around the corner and spotted me.

"Oh, don't 'ma'am' her, she will hurt you," Ginny said. She was a short and plump red-headed lady who looked like a warden and was sweet as honey. Unless you pissed her off.

"I don't really care, we have protocols to follow-"

"I'm sure Dr. Belikov-Hathaway is more than capable of determining if she is in labour," Ginny said as she came around the desk, hugging me gently.

"How long ago?"

"This morning," I said and she gave me a look.

"Dimitri is in surgery."

"Yeah, I'm very well aware of that. My contractions started shortly after he left for work," I said and then grunted, "He has an hour or so left."

Ginny tsked at me and got me settled into a room. Once she admitted me she promised she would let Dimitri know that I was admitted and my progress. I was fine with that, and a few of my co-workers made their rounds, all stopping in to check on me and keep me company.

It wasn't long before another girl was wheeled into the room, and I knew from the minute her boyfriend opened his mouth, I was going to snap. Ginny poked her head in after an hour and said that Dimitri's surgery was taking longer than expected and that if necessary, he would have another switch out with him. I waved her off but told her that my contractions were getting worse.

She took my vitals before hooking me up to the monitor and then putting a fetal monitor over my stomach. I had been having issues with high heart rate and blood pressure throughout my pregnancy, and one of the only reasons I was allowed to stay on as long as I did was because I was checked over once a week for the last month.

I sighed heavily as I gripped the bedrails. My contractions were starting to get worse, and I was having difficulty breathing through them. Dimitri would be here soon, so I just needed to hold on until he was here.

"God, my back hurts. These chairs are so uncomfortable," the man on the other side of the curtain complained. It was the fifth time I'd heard him complain in the last half hour. I'm starving, the Wi-Fi sucks, my back hurts, I'm exhausted. He wasn't even my husband, and I was ready to throat-punch him.

I thought I had scored out by getting a semi-private room, but this guy was driving me crazy.

"You'd think they'd have more comfortable chairs in here. What are they trying to do, cripple us?"

I huffed and ripped the curtain back that was separating us. I jabbed my finger at him with a glare.

"If you don't shut that hole in your face, I'm going to get out of this bed and I will give you something to complain about! I don't think you'll enjoy my foot shoved far enough up your ass that you'll taste your own shit, but I will do it! She is in labour, she is in pain. Shut the fuck up and get her some damn ice chips that she's asked for three times!" I snarled at him, the sweat rolling down my neck.

I could hear my heart monitor rising and the alarm going off, but I was beyond my wit's end.

"Listen, you dumb bitch," he started but Dimitri came into the room, gripping the back of his shirt. He hadn't even changed out of his scrubs yet.

"Do you want to finish that statement?" Dimitri asked, lifting him onto the tips of his toes.

"Rose, you need to take a breath," Ginny demanded as she scurried into the room, unhooking the oxygen mask from the wall and placing it over my face.

"If he whines like a little bitch one more time, I'm going to give him something to whine about," I growled as she slid my mask in place and shushed me quietly, lowering the bed so I laid down.

"Rose, we talked about this. Your heart is under enough stress right now, you need to keep calm," Ginny scolded.

"She needs more help than I do. She's been complaining of pain and has been asking for ice chips for an hour," I whined pointing to the woman beside me. Ginny looked over at her and gestured for Dimitri to come stay by me.

Dimitri shook his head. "Roza, you promised that you would try to keep a cool head," Dimitri said as he kissed my head.

"Yeah, yeah," I said as he made sure my oxygen mask was secure and checked my heart rate with his stethoscope.

Dimitri swore under his breath. "Roza," he chastised, and I rolled my eyes at him. Dimitri frowned and looked at my chart.

"When did they last check you?" he asked.

"When I got here," I moaned. Dimitri nodded and pulled the curtain between me and my roommate.

"I'm going to check your dilation," Dimitri said as he lifted the blankets.

"Not like you haven't seen it before. You're the one who put a baby in there," I mumbled, resting my arms behind my head. Dimitri laughed as he checked and then adjusted the blanket.

"You're only at six," he said and I moaned.

"I've been at six forever!" I exclaimed and he rubbed my leg.

"I know. I'm going to talk to Diaz and see if we can give you something for the pain. Hopefully, it will help improve your blood pressure and your heart rate. I need to check on my patient too," Dimitri said, looking torn.

"I'm at six, go check on your patient," I whispered, reaching for his hand, "But bring me ice chips or something when you come back."

Dimitri nodded lifted the mask enough to kiss me and then left. I moaned as I tried to get more comfortable when I heard the guy leave. Once he left I pulled the curtain back and looked at the woman beside me. She was younger than me, maybe just eighteen.

"I'm sorry I yelled, it probably didn't make you feel any better," I apologized.

She smiled at me tiredly. "It's fine. It was refreshing to see someone put him in his place," she said tiredly.

"He seems like a dick."

"He is," she said with a frown.

"Then why are you still with him? Nobody is worth that, especially with a baby on the way," I said.

She frowned. "I can't afford the medical bills. His parents were going to pay for it, but I know that they're going to try and fight for full custody because I'm seventeen," she explained.

"Don't put his name on the certificate."

She scoffed and shook her head. "But he's here."

"And all you have to do is tell that nurse that you do not want him in the room and when the birth certificate comes, don't put his name down. Unless he can prove paternity, he has no legal rights. And I'll talk to Diaz," I said before a contraction took over, making me put the mask back into place.

"What do you mean?"

"My husband is a member of the board and a friend of Dr. Diaz," I moaned, gripping the bedrails as the contraction rippled through.

As soon as I said it, Dr. Diaz walked into the room, smiling at me and then losing it once he realized I was in the middle of a contraction.

"Deep breath, Rose, deep breath," Dr. Diaz said as he lifted the blankets and then my hospital gown.

"I'm going to give you a shot to help with the pain," he explained as he wiped an alcohol swab over my thigh and then gave me the injection. I barely felt it and groaned, gripping the bedrails as the contraction continued.

"I need your help," I said and he nodded, thinking I was talking about me.

"No, for her. She's trying to get away from her ex but will be saddled with the medical costs without him," I wheezed. Dr. Diaz looked at me and then at the girl next to me.

"I'll see what I can do," he said quietly and noted the injection on my chart.

I managed to pull myself out of bed and helped Trish, the girl beside me. I got her up and walking, promising that it would help. It gave me a bit of relief, and I could see it was helping her a bit.

"How did you meet your husband?" Trish asked, trying to find a distraction.

"Here," I said with a snort, "I'm a radiologist."

"A what?"

"I read X-rays, ultrasounds, CT Scans. I'm the one who looks at all the pictures," I said, "I gave myself my first ultrasound between patients."

Trish laughed and gripped my hand, whimpering. Her contractions were almost minutes apart now, and she was stopping frequently to breathe through it all.

I got her back into the room and her bed. I adjusted the blanket over her legs when Dimitri walked in, a few of his students in his wake.

"Are you up for a teaching moment? Or are you going to throw ice chips at me?"

I rolled my eyes at him and let him help me back into bed.

"It depends on what it is."

"Another dilation exam," Dimitri said. I made a face.

"Is it a moment where you can talk and teach?" I asked and pinched my face. "I don't want strangers looking at my vagina right now, and I feel like I need to push."

Dimitri moved to the small sink in the corner and washed his hands before putting on clean gloves. I had been through this before, but Dimitri explained each step of the exam. I let my knees fall to the side and gritted my teeth, my contractions skyrocketing.

Dimitri started the exam and was speaking before he stopped.

"Roza, don't push."

"Why?" I asked.

"I can feel a foot," he said. I wasn't a doctor to the rest of their standards, but I knew that wasn't good.

"A foot?" I asked, my voice breaking. Dimitri pulled his hand out and squeezed my ankle with the other.

"Go get Diaz," he said to one of his interns and they scrambled out the door. I blew out a breath between my lips and folded my arms above my head.

"We can try to turn the baby," Dimitri said and I nodded, knowing that was an option but I wasn't thrilled with the idea. It wasn't comfortable. A few minutes the intern came back with Diaz in tow. He pulled the ultrasound machine up to the bed, wanting to see the exact position of the baby. As he did it, I stopped him.

"Stop. What is that?" I asked, pointing at the screen. It was an odd angle for me, but I saw it.

"What?" he asked. I took the wand from him and gestured for him to turn the screen toward me. I reached for the computer and clicked a few buttons. I swallowed thickly and looked at Dimitri.

"Do you see it?"

Dimitri and Diaz both leaned towards the screen, brows furrowed before realization settled. Diaz muttered and looked at the intern that found him.

"Go book the OR for an emergent c-section," he said.

"What is it?"

"The cord is wrapped around the baby," I said, pointing to various spots on the screen, "If we try to move the baby in utero, we could make it worse. It's dangerous to deliver vaginally like this."

The intern nodded and left while I moved the wand to see the heartbeat. Whether Diaz let me do it as a self-reassurance, I don't know, but I wanted to see everything that was going on. Dimitri stood beside my bed, looking at the screen too.

"Is your baby okay?" Trish asked with a grunt.

"He will be," I said as I turned the ultrasound off and wiped my stomach, "How are you hanging in there?"

"It's starting to burn."

I looked at Dimitri and he called for a nurse, asking for permission to examine her.

"Your baby is on its way," Dimitri said with a smile, and I watched excitement and fear cross her face. A few nurses came in and Trish's doctor followed, preparing her for delivery. I knew that I wasn't going to be here to see it happen, but I flagged one of the interns who was still lingering in the room.

"You stay with her, got it?" I said as Dimitri started preparing me to move.

He looked nervous but nodded his head as Dimitri wheeled me out.

"I'll see you in a bit Trish!" I called out to her as I left the room.

I licked my lips and closed my eyes. I never felt comfortable inside the operating rooms. I always felt that they were sterile to the point it sucked the energy out of the room. Dimitri always found the OR calming, the perfect thing for his nerves, but for me, it set my hair on edge.

"You're doing great," Dimitri said gently, leaning down and kissing my head despite wearing a mask.

I nodded at him and smiled tiredly. "We're almost done, right?"

Dimitri lifted his head and looked towards where Diaz was working. He assessed everything before looking at me again.

"We're almost there," he said and stroked my arm. I nodded and licked my lips again.

"I didn't want a c-section," I grumbled and lifted my head, "Not that you aren't capable, Antoni, but surgery freaks me out. I don't know how you guys do it."

Diaz chuckled at me. "We're different breeds. You enjoy your little room; I enjoy the sterile one."

I snorted a laugh and could feel a strange sensation of movement before Diaz spoke.

"Dad, want to do the honours?" he asked. I lifted my head a bit, smiling at the bloody baby wiggling in his hands. Dimitri stood up and moved closer, cutting the umbilical cord. He took our son over the table beside us, suctioning out the fluid and gunk for his nose and mouth before stimulating the baby to take his first breath.

I watched with bated breath before I heard a noise, not quite a cry, but I whimper. After a second there was a piercing cry, almost as if he was getting the last of the fluid from inside his body. I smiled and let my head rest on the table, a wet laugh erupting from my lips. Dimitri turned around again and came over, resting our son on my chest.

"Welcome to the world, little man," I cried, kissing his head and rubbing my cheek against him. I knew that he needed to be weighed and cleaned up, so I pressed another quick kiss to his head and then pulled Dimitri's mask down enough to kiss him.

"Alright, Dr. Belikov has Baby Belikov, let's get Dr. Belikov-Hathaway fixed up," Diaz said, telling me that the hard part was done, and we'd be done soon. I closed my eyes and let my body relax, the stress of labour starting to ebb away.

I heard the chair squeak that Dimitri had been sitting on and I opened my eyes, smiling at him as he held our son.

"We still haven't decided a name," I said, reaching up and stroking his fingers.

"I still like Everett," I said with a grin. Dimitri chuckled and looked down at the baby, a type of serenity falling over him.

I was settled back in my room with the baby. We didn't choose Everett, but we landed on the name Micha instead. He was a surprisingly quiet baby. I was worried that he hadn't cried, but Diaz assured me that he was doing just fine.

Trish had also had her baby, a beautiful girl with a thick head of black hair. Strange, considering that neither she nor the father had black hair.

"Is it bad that I'm happy it's not his?" Trish whispered.

"Oh?" I asked, indulging her.

"I was with someone; we were on a break."

I nodded. "And this other guy, does he know?"

She smiled and nodded. "Yeah. If I wasn't so terrified of Adam's family, I would have asked him to be here," she explained.

"Where is Adam?" I asked. She shrugged, but didn't seem all too concerned, instead she just looked at her baby. Dimitri came into the room and finally changed into comfortable clothing. He had a bag in his hands and I smiled at him.

"Oh, you are such a good man," I praised as he set the bag on the table beside my bed. He took out the boxes from the bag, spotting the logo on the boxes.

"You really splurged."

Dimitri smiled. "All of this is good for you to eat postpartum. Good for milk production and for helping your body heal," he said handing me one of the boxes and then looked at Trish.

"I brought you one as well. I checked with the nurses and they said that you didn't have any dietary restrictions," Dimitri said as he extended it to her. I opened mine and smiled at the antipasto board inside. Meat, cheese, crackers, cut vegetables and some bread with artichoke dip.

Dimitri took Micha from me so I could eat, sitting between Trish and me so that he could keep an eye on her daughter too while she ate.

"What is her name?"

"Lily," Trish said with a smile, "Adam wanted Phoebe, but I hate the name."

"Lily is beautiful," I commented, glancing up when Ginny slipped into the room.

"Mr. Andrews has returned. Would you like me to let him up, or do you want him to leave?"

Trish looked anxious and then looked at us.

"It's up to you. Nobody can make him come in here," I whispered. She looked at Ginny and shook her head.

"I don't want him here. I've been trying to get away from him for months, but his family has been taking care of me. And looking at this baby, she's not his."

Ginny nodded in understanding and left the room. I smiled at her softly and set my now empty box on the table.

"He may fight, but like you said, there was another man. If you can prove paternity, that ends it."

"Yes. But then there's the issue of the costs," Trish said but Dimitri shook his head.

"Don't worry about that," he said quietly. She looked like she wanted to push the issue further, but didn't.

I wasn't sure what woke me, but I sniffed as I lifted my head. A man was standing in the doorway, a vase in his hand with flowers. He was young, maybe seventeen years old too.

"Hello?" I asked.

I startled him and he shifted on his feet.

"I brought these for Tish," he said, silently walking into the room and setting it on the table between us. I smiled at him. This must have been the other guy.

"What's your name?" I whispered.

"Michael," he said and smiled at Trish and then looked at the baby. He moved silently around the bed towards the cradle and smiled at it. I could see the similarity already. I knew that seeing similarities was hard in the beginning.

"That patch on your neck, it's a birthmark," I said.

Michael looked up. "Yeah. Why?"

I shook my head and shrugged. "Lily has one similar," I said as Dr. Diaz came in for his rounds. He nodded at Michael and started with me. I made a face at him, mostly to make him laugh because he looked utterly exhausted.

"How are you feeling?" he asked as he moved my gown to inspect my incisions.

"I slept great. I could lie on my back, and I even rolled onto my stomach at one point. Didn't feel great, but my back did. The soreness isn't too bad, but my stomach is itchy," I explained. Diaz nodded and then listened to the movement in my abdomen.

"How's that sweet babe?" he asked. I tucked my arms behind my head.

"Perfect."

"And the husband?"

"I think he is signing off his charts right now before coming to collect me," I grinned, "Cause I get to go home, right? I can move my legs, I can walk, my catheter was removed an hour ago and I can pee on my own."

"Bowel movement?"

"She ripped the loudest fart ever in her sleep," Trish said tiredly, rolling over to look at me.

"Sorry," I apologized with a laugh, "It felt great."

Diaz shook his head at me with a smile. "And your humour is still functioning. Usually, I wouldn't let you leave so early, but I'm confident that Dimitri is more than capable of taking care of you."

I grinned. "Fantastic!"

Diaz rolled his eyes at me and then checked on Trish, asking Michael to step out of the room. Once he finished Michael came back into the room. Trish looked nervous as she glanced between me and Michael. I pulled the curtain shut and reached for Everett, smiling at him softly as the two of them talked. I didn't want to say that I was listening, but when I heard her ask if he would sign the birth certificate, I smiled and kissed Everett's head.

After a few minutes, there was a loud knock on the door before Dimitri announced himself. I pulled the curtain back and smiled at him.

"Did you hear that Diaz is going to let me go home?" I asked.

"I did. I just finished signing off on my cases and giving the other attendings a run down on my files," he said as he stopped at my bed, brushing his fingers over the hat on the baby's head. I grinned at him, mostly because I was ready to get home and put on clean clothes.

I glanced over at Trish and gave her an encouraging smile.

Seven Months Later

"Hi, I'm Rose, I'll be doing your ultrasound," I said as I came into the room, cocking my head slightly as I looked at the woman sitting on the bed.

"I'm sorry, do I know you?" I asked as I put on my gloves.

"We shared a hospital room. Our kids were born an hour apart," she said and I nodded as I sat on the stool, using my feet to pull me towards the bed.

"Right. I guess I never caught your last name when we shared a room," I chuckled as she lay down on the bed.

"No, I think we had other issues to worry about," she chuckled.

"You've been experiencing abdominal pain?"

Trish nodded. I read over the notes that were attached to her requisition and explained the procedure to her before getting started.

"You'll feel a little bit of pressure" I explained as I inserted the ultrasound, clicking the keys on the keyboard. The first angle didn't show much, but as I shifted the ultrasound, I saw what was causing the discomfort.

"I thought that you just read the pictures," Trish said with a grunt.

"We're short-staffed today. Everyone is out with the flu. We're so backlogged that I said I would help perform the scans," I said as I took some pictures of the scan, taking measurements as moved the ultrasound.

"Oh," she whispered and I licked my lips.

"When was your last period?" I asked as I pulled the ultrasound out.

"Um, a month or so?"

"Really light? Mild cramping?"

"Yeah, it was like spotting."

I nodded to myself. And turned the screen towards Trish as she adjusted her hospital gown and sat up.

"I know what's causing your abdominal pain," I said.

"I didn't think you could tell me?"

"A sonographer can't, I can. You are pregnant. I would say from the size, you're about two months along," I said pointing to the screen. Trish looked at the screen and blinked, shaking her head in disbelief.

"I don't understand. I didn't think I could get pregnant again so fast," she whispered.

"You can get pregnant within the first two months," I said as I cleaned up the ultrasound probe.

Trish continued to sit there in disbelief and continued to shake her head.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

She stopped shaking her head long enough to nod her head.

"Just a lot to take in," she said. I gave her a sympathetic smile.

"I get it. You have a seven-month-old at home," I said, "But everything looks good from what I could see."

She nodded again and stood up, grabbing her bag.

"How's your son?"

"Beautiful and fantastic. His favourite word right now is yebat'," I said with a slight shake of my head.

"Like rabbit?" she asked.

"Oh no, that's what we tell everyone he's saying. He's actually screaming 'fuck' in Russian," I said as I wrote my notes on the clipboard I brought in with me. Trish laughed and shook her head.

"Oh that's priceless," she mused.

I smiled at her. "Congratulations," I said.

"Thank you. I think Michael will have a better reaction than I will," she said. I grinned at her and slipped out of the room, heading back to my office when I saw that the waiting room was quiet for the moment. I reviewed the other scans that were waiting for me, tucking my foot up onto the chair as I looked over the films and scans.

After what felt like forever, there was a knock on the door and I looked up, smiling at the face waiting for me.

"Hi, baby," I said reaching out for Micha. Dimitri came into the room, setting a bag on my desk and handing me Micha.

"You left your lunch in the fridge," he said as he pecked my lips.

"Thank you," I said and kissed Micha's head.

"How did you sleep?" I asked.

"Fine. I brought Micha into bed shortly after you left and got a few more hours," he said as he sat down beside me, looking at my screen.

"Yikes, that's quite the cyst," he grimaced.

"Yeah. Poor kid is fourteen and has five," I said with a sigh, "One ruptured while I was doing her scan. I think the mom was thrilled when I asked her for permission to give her morphine for the pain."

Dimitri sighed and swayed in his chair, his knee-grazing mine as he moved.

"I did a thing," I said as I pulled the container of fruit out of my bag, spearing the watermelon with my fork.

"What's that?"

"I managed for us to get three weeks off at the same time. I thought maybe it was time that we saw your mother," I said with a smile, "Plus, I worry that Yeva's not going to be able to meet him if we wait any longer."

Dimitri's family still lived in Russia, and Yeva was starting to hit her nineties. Each year, she pretended that she was fine, but we all knew that she was starting to get weaker and would get pneumonia more often.

"You managed to swing that on my schedule too?"

"Your boss loves me," I teased as I cut a piece of my watermelon for Micha. I held it between his lips so he could suck on it, smiling to myself as the fruit dissolved between my fingers.

"I'll be sure to thank him," Dimitri said as he looked at his watch, "I hate to take him away from you so soon. I have to get to my pre-rounds with the interns."

"Do the interns still make fun of you for doing a pelvic exam as a heart surgeon?"

"Dr. Handley still blushes every time I mention you, and the others tease him because he blushes because he saw you naked from the waist down," he said with a smirk and stood up to take Micha.

"No. I'll take him up to daycare. I need a break anyway. I've been in back-to-back scans all morning," I said. Dimitri nodded and gave me another quick kiss.

"I'll see you again at some point in the next twenty-four hours," he chuckled.

I laughed. "Say bye, Daddy. Bye-bye," I said lifting Micha's hand, waving it in Dimitri's direction. Micha laughed as I waved at Dimitri. I looked at Micha again and smiled. I went through another scan before bringing Micha up to daycare, watching through the window for a few minutes before heading back to my office.

As I walked back to my office, I had to go through the maternity wing and skidded to a stop when I walked by a room, hearing a voice complain from the inside. I rolled my eyes to myself and started walking again.

"I see he's back," I drawled at Ginny as I passed her.

"Oh, it's not the first time he's been back," Ginny said with a roll of her eyes. I grimaced and shook my head.

"Crazy," I sang, "I'm going back to my cave now."