“Alright, you know the drill,” Hannah picked up a gown and tossed it at Michael. “Help her in that, and we’ll step outside the curtains. Let us know when you’re done…and what the fuck happened to your face?”

I coughed to cover up my laugh.

She’d just now noticed that after being in the room with him for ten minutes?

Michael ignored her and swung the curtains closed himself before walking over to me.

“You ready for this?” He asked softly, his eyes taking in my every feature.

I nodded and started to strip my shirt over my head, followed by my sports bra.

Michael’s eyes flared as he caught sight of my swollen belly and big breasts, but managed to stand still as I stood and pushed my maternity yoga pants over my hips, followed closely by my panties.

I offered him my hands, and he slipped the gown on over my chest, covering my nakedness without one lewd touch or comment.

He must really be scared, I thought.

Which stood to reason.

I was scared to.

Really scared.

But the thing about Michael and me was that we’d both gone through hell together, and had come out the other side.

We had our scars.

We had our doubts.

But we also had each other, and as long as I had him at my side, we could get through just about anything.

“I love you, Mikey Mike,” I whispered, knowing it’d draw a smile from him.

And he didn’t disappoint.

He smiled, eyes sparkling.

“I love you more, Nik.”

“Impossible,” I whispered fiercely.

“Nothing’s impossible when it comes to you. You showed me that,” he said just before pressing his soft lips against mine. “You ready for this?”

I nodded and touched the side of the bandage covering up the right side of his forehead.

“Have you had this taken care of?” I asked, feeling another pain coming.

He nodded. “Ten stitches.”

I winced.

Not only because that was a lot of stitches, but because it felt like this child of ours was trying to claw its way out of my vagina like a tiny Hulk.

“Epidural,” I insisted.

He smiled and helped me sit back down before yanking the curtains open.

Lennox and Hannah turned from their discussion, hurrying up to my bedside.

“Alright, lay back and let me feel you up.”

I covered my face with my hand as Hannah snapped gloves into place over her hands.

“Sit back, I’ll try to make this good.”

I huffed out a laugh as I moved until I was flat on my back, moving my enormous beached whale body until I was in position, then slowly open my legs.

Hannah didn’t waste any time doing her thing, and I was grateful.

“You know,” Lennox said from her positon by my head. “I’ve never seen a pregnant woman so calm before.”

I didn’t say anything to that.

I was freaking the fuck out.

Michael, though, didn’t need that from me.

I was sure he was already nervous enough, and I didn’t want him to regret having a kid.

He didn’t need yet another insecurity, and I wouldn’t be the one to give it to him.

“Do you remember what I do for a living?” I panted.

“You’re at six centimeters and fifty percent effaced. Doing good. You can still have an epidural, but I’d recommend making that decision quickly,” Hannah said, taking my gown and covering my knees.

Lennox sat the head of the bed up, and I looked to Michael to see him staring at the wall.

“What is it?” I asked him.

“I can’t tell you how disturbing it is to see my sister’s fingers up your…you know,” Michael informed me.

I smiled at him.

“You’re better at it, if it makes you feel any better.”

He made a gagging sound. “Disgusting.”

I snickered as Hannah tossed her used gloves in the trash and washed her hands. “I’ll go get the on call anesthesiologist. We’ll get your shit knocked right out.”

“Should she be talking like that?” I asked, eyes closed as I tried to breathe through my next contraction. “Motherfucker, this hurts like a bitch!”

The room stayed silent for long moments while my question and subsequent comment hung therein the air around us.

“What?” I asked, opening my eyes to squint at Michael.

He just shook his head. “Nothing.”

Lennox busied herself hooking up the monitor, starting an IV, and drawing blood while Michael and I watched the screen to monitor my progress.

“That was a big one,” Michael said a few minutes later.

I grunted.

I knew it was a ‘big one.’

Simply because I’d felt the motherfucker.

But I tried to be nice about it.

“Uh-huh,” I agreed tiredly.

Then Michael and Lennox started talking about medical jargon that was too advanced for my exhausted brain to process, so I ignored them and tried to sleep during my contractions.

Something I realized wasn’t working very well.

Especially since two of my favorite people in the world, under normal circumstances, wouldn’t shut the fuck up.

“Go away,” I muttered.

The talking stopped, and I ordered my husband to do my bidding.

“Go call your family and mine. Let them know what’s going on. And stop talking over my body. It’s annoying,” I ordered them.

Michael chuckled as he bent down and kissed my forehead. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Okay, Nikki. This is Amy Jones, the nurse anesthetist. She’s going to do your epidural for you. This is Eddie Gonzales, he’s the anesthesiologist that she works under. They’re here to answer any questions you might have. Okay?”

Michael froze on his way out the door, but then I started having another contraction.

“Get out so she can do her job,” I ordered my ornery husband.

Amy’s eyes followed Michael’s progress, brows raising to see what he’d do.

Michael chose correctly, though.

He offered his hand to the two of them, said, “I’m going to call my family,” and left the room.

“Eddie and Amy,” Hannah said. “Is there anything you need from me? I have another patient that’s in the final stages of pushing.”

Amy shook her head when Eddie looked at her. “No, that’s all, thank you.”

I knew Eddie, and the moment Hannah left the room he walked to my bedside.

“You ready for this rodeo to get started?” He asked teasingly.

Eddie loved to tease me.

We worked well together, trading barbs back and forth like two children in a play yard battle.

He loved the Yankees, and I was a Texas Rangers fan all the way. Which tended to make us butt heads from time to time.

“Well, I was all ready to have you teasing me while giving me the epidural,” I grunted, toes curling when the next pain hit me. “But I guess since you’re too good for me I’ll settle for Ms. Amy.”

Amy didn’t smile, but Eddie did.

“I have a C-section with triplets in about fifteen minutes. I’m sorry, but she’s cooler than you are,” he admitted openly.

I laughed. “Yeah, that’s what they all say.”

He winked. “I’ll check back in with you later.”

I nodded and watched him leave the room.

As my face turned to Amy, I was immediately struck with just how different she looked now that Eddie was out of the room.

Like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde different.

“You okay?” I asked her worriedly.

She walked to the door and closed it slowly.

“Don’t you need a nurse?” I asked. “And your stuff?”

She didn’t answer as she drew the curtain and turned back to me, walking towards me with a new purpose that set my instincts on edge.

“Your man fucked up,” the woman whispered to me. “You’d think with how cautious he was being with the doctors that he’d pay a little more attention to who was about to inject all sorts of fun drugs into your spinal column.”

I looked at her nametag and realized with a sinking feeling that she had the same last name as Dr. Jones.

Her name was Amy Jones.

Wife or daughter?

I couldn’t tell.

And why had I never seen her before?