Special Delivery

Less than two weeks later, the call Clay had been dreading every time he was at the office lately arrived. Callie rushed into his office when he dropped the receiver at Haley's urgent words with a clatter. "Was that about what I think it was?" she asked as if to pull him from the stupor of horror. Clay nodded mutely, and Callie marched up to the desk and dragged him to his feet. "Everything's going to be okay," she said firmly. "I know work is your comfort zone when things get hard, but don't make me push you out that door right now!"

"It's too soon," Clay choked, only her stern glare reminding him to take a deep breath. "You're a little scary sometimes, Johnson, you know that?"

"If that's what it takes," his assistant shrugged, but the tension on his face didn't ease up. "I'll clear your calendar for the day; just go!"

"Remind me to give you another raise soon," said Clay fervently. "You're a rockstar."

"If anybody is going to be both scary and a rockstar in the next couple of hours, it's Quinn," Callie smiled indulgently. "Good luck." Correctly interpreting his frantic gaze, she grabbed the Stingray's keys and his phone off his desk and shoved them into his trembling hands. "Get out of here!"

Clay had no idea how he made it to the hospital in one piece. The worst-case scenarios raced mercilessly across his mind, and only the shock of physically colliding with Julian in the waiting room of the delivery ward shook him out of it. "What are you doing here?"

"Between the cop car ride the day Dan died and speeding here today, I should sign up to be an ambulance driver or something," the filmmaker joked, but Clay didn't smile. "Brooke was shopping with Quinn and Haley when the contractions started. Haley went in with Quinn, so you know she's in good hands. And so is Logan," he continued before Clay could speak. "Brooke went to pick him and Jamie up from school, so don't worry about that either."

"You guys really thought of everything," Clay marveled when the terror subsided enough for him to respond. "Did Haley come out at all before I got here? It's the not knowing that's killing me. It's too soon…" The words he had spoken to Callie rose to the surface once more.

"Dude, I know people say this all the time, but I actually do know what you're feeling right now. Jude and Davis were premature because my wife thought she was a match for a stepladder, remember? If your girls are anything like them, they'll turn out just fine, trust me."

"Not to be a downer, but did the boys have known issues before the birth?" Clay asked skeptically. "You should have seen the size of one of our girls' heads. It was freaky!"

"It's all freaky," Julian pointed out simply. "This isn't your first rodeo with parenthood. Imagine how Quinn feels right now. Just be glad the girls are arriving safely today. It beats the last time, doesn't it?"

"Yeah," Clay agreed softly. "Sorry if I'm a little touchy. I didn't mean to compare hardships. Your boys are survivors. I'm just praying for the same."

"Comparing hardships doesn't have to be a bad thing," said Julian thoughtfully. "Do you remember the storm five years ago when Brooke and Jamie almost drowned?" At Clay's confused nod, he continued: "You told me that day that I was lucky she survived and we'd get through it together. I've never forgotten that. I didn't know back then where you were coming from with that, but it meant so much."

"If you throw those words back at me right now, you'll sound exactly like my mother," Clay groaned. "God, I hope Sara was listening when we begged her for a guardian angel. Our girls need all the help they can get. They deserve to live!"

Julian grimaced sympathetically, but before he could suggest sitting down for a while to cease the agitated pacing, Haley came charging through the sliding doors to the delivery room. "Thank goodness you're here!" she said fervently. "I'm doing my best in there, but I'm not the one Quinn really needs right now."

"Is she okay?" Clay asked urgently, clutching Haley's arm frantically. "My girls probably earned me a speeding ticket getting here, but I don't even care."

"It'll make a good story for when they're older, at least." Haley led him through the ominous sliding door as she spoke. "Keep moving! We need to find you some scrubs and get back in there before it's over."

In what felt like record time, Clay suited up in a sterile gown to enter the operating theatre, Haley on his heels. Quinn's surgeons were working swiftly, their hands steady and practiced. The nurse at Quinn's head moved aside when they approached, and Haley reached for her sister's fingers. "Look who I found outside," she said soothingly. "Didn't I tell you everything's going to be fine?"

"You did," said Quinn faintly. "Thank you." Her eyes filled with tears, and Haley squeezed her hand firmly.

"Stop that, right now!" she insisted, meeting the midwife's gaze. "I think it's getting a little crowded over here from the way your specialist is glaring at me right now. Is it okay if I leave you in even better hands? I'll be down by your feet if you need me."

"I don't know about better, definitely shakier and sweatier," Clay interrupted, carefully approaching Quinn's head. "How are all my girls doing?"

"I'm so sorry," she whimpered. "It's still too soon! I tried everything to keep them safe inside me for longer, clearly the universe had other twisted plans."

"Shh," Clay soothed, stroking her hair gently. "You did everything right, baby. Julian met me outside and told me how Brooke's delivery was pre-term because she climbed up on a stepladder. You've been so careful; these things happen. The girls are going to be alright; I promise."

"But one of them still has such a giant head," Quinn moaned. "There's nothing I could have done to fix her…when I think about that, I can't breathe. I'm scared." Her lips quivered pitifully, and fat teardrops spilled from her eyes, landing against his fingertips.

"I know you are, honey. Just breathe with me, okay? That's all our girls need you to do right now." Clay offered her his hand and stoically didn't flinch when she squeezed it with incredible force. "You are a badass, Q. These little girls won the mom lottery, and they don't even know it yet."

"The terror is bad enough. At least the rest of the process isn't as gruesomely painful as TV makes it look. So worth another scar," said Quinn, in a weak attempt at a joking tone. "Cue something about how every scar is beautiful, too, right?"

"Well, they are!" said Clay defensively. "Everything about you is beautiful. Deal with it, babe."

"And everything about you is adorable," she replied. "I love you; you know that?"

"I love you, too. All three of you," he said fervently, staring into her teary blue eyes. Her gaze darted to the screen, blocking their view of the delivery, and he squeezed her fingers tighter. "What are you looking at, you goof?"

"I need you to go down there," she said urgently. "Not that I don't love squeezing the life out of your fingers, but they need you more than I do."

"But Quinn, I—" Before Clay could even find the words for her terrifying request, Haley peeked around the edge of the screen.

"Dude, if you value your life at all, don't argue with the pregnant woman. I'm just saying." She ducked out of sight again, and Clay returned his gaze to Quinn's pleading eyes.

"It's going to be okay," he vowed, kissing her quivering fists firmly before joining Haley. Before he could reach the foot of the operating table, the machine monitoring Quinn's vitals gave an erratic beep. "What the hell was that?" Clay demanded, staring at the surgeon's eyes, visible above the surgical mask. The monitor beeped again, but the doctor showed no sign of panic. Quinn's controlled breathing turned rapid and irregular, and Haley reached Clay's hand just in time to keep him from sinking to the floor. She pulled him to her side of the screen and crouched with him on the floor beside the operating table. The urgent chatter of Quinn's medical team fell on deaf ears, and Clay was barely aware of a mewling cry joining the din in the room.

"She's here." The ringing in Clay's ears drowned out Haley's voice, but her firm grip pulled him back to his feet. The nurse had made quick work of cleaning up the newborn, because the tiny baby girl was already swaddled in a pale pink blanket in Haley's arms. "Congratulations, Dad," Even though Haley's words took him back to the day he got Logan back from Sam and Lil, the lingering terror made it impossible to smile. "Are you okay to hold her?" Haley looked mildly doubtful of the fact, but Clay reached for the impossibly tiny baby girl desperately. "Oh, she's so beautiful."

Clay looked down at the baby, but before he could do more than count her ten perfect fingers as they grasped at the air, the fear re-surfaced with a vengeance at the doctor's voice. "Everyone not absolutely necessary out, now! This little girl's shunt placement can't wait. Prepare for emergency surgery." Still holding the baby, Clay spun around and saw the panic in Quinn's eyes before the anaesthesiologist placed a mask over her mouth and knocked her out.

Haley squeezed his arm hard, and Clay looked up with a shaky breath. The nurse was talking to him again through that haze of terror that made it hard to process anything. "Mr. Evans, there's nothing more we can do to help the doctors with this next part of the procedure. Would you like to come with your little girl to the NICU?" The loss of the comforting weight of the newborn in his arms left Clay trembling, and Haley steered him forcefully after the nurse who was wheeling away the incubator.

"Even with weeks of warning, this doesn't feel real," he said miserably. "They're so small!"

"Small bodies, huge, brave beating hearts," said Haley sagely. "Both of their parents are survivors; there's no chance they won't be out of here before you know it. Both of them!"

Clay looked around in a daze, anywhere but at the incubator parked between them in the room. "Where's Logan?"

"Didn't Julian tell you? Brooke took him and Jamie for the day. We figured a little normalcy would be good for him since this surgery was planned. Even knowing it was coming, he's been pretty nervous about the whole thing."

"Oh, right," said Clay faintly. "He did mention that. God, my head is all over the place right now."

"I'd be more surprised if you could be calm about any of this," said Haley frankly. "You guys have had one hell of a year. And when your second little girl arrives, there might still be complications. It's not an easy thing to come to terms with."

"If she makes it," said Clay dismally.

Haley glanced at the baby dozing peacefully in the incubator and stepped towards Clay, staring meaningfully into his eyes. "Not if," she said firmly. "When she comes home, because she will. They both will, I promise!" She put her arm around his shoulders and watched the sleeping baby in silence for a moment. "Have you decided on names yet?"

"Kind of," said Clay half-heartedly. "Haley, I'm sorry. I know you're trying to be all upbeat and positive, but I can't have this conversation until Quinn is okay. I just can't!"

"I understand," said Haley softly. "Did you know I was hit by a car when I was pregnant with Jamie?"

"Nathan told me that once around the time I finally told him about Sara." Clay looked at her with confusion in his deep blue eyes. "Why would you bring that up?"

"To prove that I see you," said Haley. "After the accident, the ultrasound to see if Jamie was still alive was one of the scariest days of my seventeen years of life until then. You two have been through the worst thing imaginable with your first loss. These girls made it into the world; they'll be unstoppable now. I truly believe that!"