by Misty Evans
“It’s not going to be enough, is it?” Cooper asked, eyeing their paltry pile.
Leo grimaced. “We can make it work, but if you could find a few more floor lamps we would be sitting a lot better.”
“Let’s knock on the other rooms and see if we can round up a few more. Surely we aren’t the only ones still on this floor,” Polly suggested.
“I doubt anyone’s left, but I don’t think the hotel will get their panties in a bunch over a few broken door hinges.” He flashed Celina a boyish grin as he took his gun from its holster and checked the rounds. She laughed, shaking her head. Of course he would be willing to bust down a door or two. When he wasn’t being ‘Dad of the Year’, he lived and breathed danger.
“Be careful,” she called after them. Not that she was truly worried. Cooper would see that they got everything they needed. Nelson was a close friend, there was no way he was about to let anything happen to Sophie and the babies.
“What I wouldn’t give for some good drugs right about now,” Sophie groaned. “Any chance you have an epidural in that first aid kit?”
Leo smiled apologetically. “Sorry, no such luck, though I was happy to find this little guy.” He held up a small eye dropper. “Not that I expect any trouble, but this should help suction the babies airways in case they need help breathing.”
Sophie’s face paled, even as she forced a brave smile. “I know you’ll do what you can, doc. Thank you.”
Leo laid a comforting hand on her arm, giving a gentle squeeze. “Don’t worry, I’ve got you. Obstetrics isn’t my area of expertise, but it is my father’s, so I know quite a lot about it. Plus, I delivered several babies during my residency days.”
The overwhelming comfort he gave Sophie brought tears to Celina’s eyes, and she blinked them away, refusing to break down. Later. Later, when the dust had settled and she was lying in the comfort of Cooper’s arms, she would allow the events of the day to sink in. Right now, Sophie needed her to be strong to make it through this.
“Lookie what we found.” Polly strode boldly into the bedroom, wrestling a floor lamp in her hand. Cooper followed in her wake, two floor lamps gripped in either hand.
“That’s perfect, put them over here.” Leo stepped back and did a sweep of the room, and Celina realized he was probably searching for electrical outlets. “Let’s get this desk out and move that couch over here.”
“I didn’t hear any gunshots,” Celina teased Cooper. “I take it you didn’t have to bust doors down for the lamps?”
“There was a couple in one of the rooms at the end of the hall, completely oblivious to what’s going on.” Cooper seemed almost disappointed he didn’t get to play with his gun. “They generously donated the lamps to our cause.”
“They practically handed us their electronics and jewelry too,” Polly said, “when they saw Cooper and his weapon. I think it was the scowl, though, that really scared them.”
Celina chuckled, and even Sophie smiled briefly.
Cooper rolled his eyes.
With Polly’s supervision, Leo and Cooper moved the desk out of the way, sliding the recliner chair and two side tables into the space. Leo reclined the chair back as far as it would go and used the extra pillows and blankets found in the closet to line the surface. Polly helped Cooper move a table on either side of the chair, putting the table lamps on top, and Leo lined the back half and sides with the floor lamps, angling the shades so they would hover over the chair. By some small miracle, they were able to find enough electrical outlets to get everything plugged in and turned on.
Hands on hips, Polly stood back to survey the set up. “Well, it’s pretty redneck, but I think it’ll work.”
“That’s good,” Sophie breathed, gasping as a contraction hit, “because I read somewhere that when it’s time to push, you gotta push!”
And she obviously needed to push. Gripping Celina’s hand and the bed sheets, she gave a howl as her upper body came off the couch cushions.
Leo quickly put his gloves back on and lifted the sheet, swearing softly. “One of the babies is crowning. Sophie, whatever you do, don’t push until I tell you,” he said tightly, eyebrows furrowed. “Celina, help her breathe. Polly and Cooper, go scrub your hands until they’re pink.”
“But I have to push!” Sophie cried.
“Look at me, Soph,” Celina demanded. For the next minute, she kept her gaze glued to the pregnant woman’s, mimicking the Lamaze breathing tricks she’d learned in her birthing class. Sophie did her best to keep in rhythm with her.
Polly and Cooper ran back in the room. “Ready,” Polly announced.
Leo nodded. “Polly, I need you here by me to hand me whatever I call for. When the babies arrive, you wrap them in a towel and hand them to Cooper to place under the lamps. Everyone got it?”
Eyes large in her pale face, Polly took her place next to Leo while Cooper positioned himself at the makeshift incubator. Sophie’s breaths were choppy as she breathed through the end of the contraction, and Celina kept eye contact, helping her through the pain.
Once the contraction passed, Sophie fell back against the cushions and Leo looked at her over her bent knees. “You did great. Next contraction, go ahead and bear down.”
“Almost there,” Celina promised, using a towel to mop Sophie’s face.
It seemed like only seconds before Sophie’s face tightened and she groaned, a fresh contraction setting in. Her grip on Celina’s hand became crushing once more.
“Okay Sophie, bear down with everything you’ve got,” Leo urged.
Here we go, Celina thought, anxiety knotting her stomach as they prepared for the inevitable.
“Wait!” Sophie shrieked, and everyone in the room froze. “Nelson. We need to put Nelson on speaker phone, he doesn’t even know I’m in labor.”
“Jesus, Soph, you just took a few years off my life.” Cooper whipped his cell phone out, dialing Nelson’s number and pressing speaker.
“Did you get to her?” Nelson immediately answered, and Sophie bit back a sob at the sound of his voice. “Is Sophie okay?”
“She’s in labor, man.” Cooper quickly filled him in on their current situation, which was met by a lot of yelling, followed by an impressive stream of curses.
“It’s too soon, she shouldn’t be in labor yet!”
“Tell that to your impatient children,” Sophie yelled, biting her bottom lip.
“I’m so sorry I’m not there, baby. As soon as my leg gets wrapped up, I’m coming to you.”
Sophie frowned, glancing at Celina, then back at Cooper and the phone. Her cheeks puffed in and out as the contraction continued to build. “Wait…”—huff, huff—"what happened…to your leg?”
“Not important now,” Nelson quickly answered. “Just focus on you and keeping our babies safe.”
“Don’t coddle me, Cruz!” Her heavy breathing escalated and she screwed up her face. “You can damn well tell me what’s going on with your leg—Ohhhhh,” Sophie gasped and let go a stream of expletives that rivaled her husband’s.
“You guys can talk about it later,” Leo cut in. “I need Sophie to push. Now.”
“Deep breath, Soph,” Celina said, making eye contact as they drew in a sharp breath in unison. “Now, push!”
Sophie bore down, yelling at the same time.
“Push, push, push—almost there, you’re doing good—”
They continued the encouragement, Nelson joining in via phone.
More yelling, some screaming, and at last, Leo shouted, “Yes, baby one is out!”
Sophie made another yelling noise and flopped back against the cushions, breathing heavily.
Leo patted its back, massaged its body. “It’s a…”
“What?” Nelson shouted at the sudden silence. “It’s a what, doc?”
Sophie raised her head. “Don’t keep us…in suspense.”
Leo grinned at her. “It’s a boy!”
Tears of joy sprung from Sophie’s eyes as he held up the tiny
baby for a moment. Covered in goo, the baby gave a small cry and Leo gently handed him to Polly. She helped clean him off and check him over. Then, Polly brought him to Sophie for a quick kiss, motherly fingers gently stroking the tiny face.
“How does he look? Is he okay?” Nelson shouted, and they all jumped, having nearly forgotten he was still on the phone.
“Oh Nelson, he’s so beautiful,” Sophie quietly cried, watching as Polly swaddled the baby before handing him to Cooper, who gently placed him beneath the warm lamps. The baby made little “wah, wah, wah” sounds, then settled down as Cooper placed a hand on him and gently patted his belly.
Tears of joy slipped down Celina’s face unchecked, and she smiled, unable to contain her happiness at being able to share this moment with her friend.
Their peace lasted only a few tearful moments, however, when Sophie sucked in a sharp breath, “I think baby two is ready.”
“Yep,” Leo said, holding out a hand to Polly. “Towels.”
Polly gave him several and then took the soiled ones to bathroom.
“Same thing, Sophie. On the next contraction, I need you to push,” Leo instructed.
As the next contraction hit, Sophie sucked in a deep breath and pushed while Celina held her hand and lent additional bracing against her back, encouraging her friend to push through the pain and exhaustion wracking her body.
When the contraction ended, Sophie fell back against the cushions, eyes closed. Celina met Leo’s gaze, a chill settling over her skin when she saw him glance at Cooper and give a shake of his head.
“This one is stubborn like his father, it must be another boy,” Sophie joked, eyes opening to meet Leo’s. Her smile faded when she saw the pensive look on his face. “What’s wrong?”
Leo moved to gently press a hand around on her stomach. After a moment, he gave a deep sigh. “I think the baby is breach.”
Sophie’s lower lip quivered. “I don’t understand.”
“Breach means the baby is turned feet down. If so, I’m going to have to go in and manually turn it into the correct birthing position.”
“I know what breach means,” Sophie snarled. “I mean, I don’t understand how that happened. My last ultrasound showed both babies were head down.”
“Not to worry,” Leo assured her easily, though his smile didn’t reach his eyes.
He was worried, Celina could tell. Please God, she prayed, please don’t let us lose this baby.
“What’s happening?” Nelson demanded.
“The baby’s head isn’t down, so it can’t come through the birth canal like a normal birth,” Leo explained loud enough for Nelson to hear. He grimaced when a sob rose from Sophie. “I’m going to turn the baby to a head-down position.”
If they were going to have any chance at all of delivering the baby safely, this was their only option. The words hung heavy in the air, not needing to be said.
“Soph,” Nelson’s voice cracked over the line, and Celina swallowed, a fresh wave of tears filling her eyes at the fear in his voice. Cooper met her stare, his own worry evident all over his face.
“We’ll be fine, Nelson,” Sophie assured her husband. Needing to be strong for him, she seemed to have mustered some renewed energy. “We’ve got the best doctor in town delivering our babies, don’t we, Dr. Garand? I have faith.”
Celina pressed her lips together and hoped that faith was enough.
6
Sweat trickled down his spine as Cooper watched the scene unfolding in front of him.
Nelson should be the one here watching the miracle of his children being born. Sophie should be safe, in a hospital, where a problem like a breach baby could be easily taken care of.
This was wrong on so many levels, and Cooper was pissed that it was even happening. His hands itched to put a fist through the person responsible for the bombing.
“Once I get the baby turned, I need you to be standing by with the suction tube,” Leo told him quietly, face grave. They had stepped to the improvised incubator to check on the baby boy lying there asleep. “Sophie’s been in hard labor for a little while now, and there’s a chance with the baby turned, it has fluid in its lungs that I’ll need to clear right away.”
Lowering his voice to a near whisper, Cooper asked, “How certain are you that you can do this?” Not only was the baby’s life on the line, but Sophie’s as well. If anything happened to either of them, Nelson would never recover. Fuck.
“Honestly,” Leo murmured, “it depends on how far down the baby is. I really won’t know until I get in there.”
Cooper lifted his gaze to Sophie, then to Celina, who was doing her best to comfort the mom-to-be. Polly, their cheerleader, was also trying to buoy her spirits, but Polly’s face was as fearful as the rest. Even Nelson was silent, waiting to hear something, anything, that would give him an indication things were going to be okay. The tension in the room was thick.
This was a nightmare, and Cooper was helpless to do anything more than stand back and assist Leo however he could. Flashbacks to Via’s birth and feeling helpless to relieve Celina’s pain crawled over him.
“Okay, Sophie, you ready?” Leo clapped his hands, fresh gloves in place, and went back to his spot at the foot of the bed.
Sophie took a couple of deep breaths and nodded. She called “I love you, Nels,” to the phone.
“No matter what happens,” Nelson called back, “we will get through this, Soph. You and me. We’ve been through hell and back before, and we will get through this too, you hear me? You are an amazing woman and you have a fantastic team there with you. You can do this.”
Tears fell from Sophie’s eyes, but she clamped her jaw, not wanting her husband to know how scared she was. “Everything is fine,” she ground out, convincing herself along with the rest of them, it seemed. She took another deep breath and nodded. “Let’s do this.”
Leo’s hand disappeared under the sheet, the other massaged her belly, as he spoke in low soothing tones to her. She cried out a couple of times and Leo stopped, everyone holding their breath, before he resumed his quest.
Sophie’s face pinched in pain but told Leo to keep going, no matter what. Cooper inched closer, the suction tube gripped tightly in his hand like it was a lifeline. In a way, it was, especially if Leo was correct and the baby had swallowed any fluid.
Leo nodded. “Okay, okay. That’s it. Just a little bit more…”
This was it, the moment of truth.
“The baby isn’t turned too far out of place, which is great. I almost have it,” Leo promised, a bead of sweat slipping down the side of his face.
Sophie cried out, but this time it appeared because of a contraction. “Doctor!”
Leo looked at Sophie, withdrew his hand, and nodded vigorously, “Push, Sophie, now!”
Nelson echoed the demand from the phone, and Celina and Polly joined in. “Push, push, push!”
Teeth gritted, Sophie bore down for long moments, sweat rolling down her face faster than Celina could wipe it off, and seconds later, a tiny baby slid out of her body and into Leo’s waiting hands.
“Yes!” both Celina and Polly cheered.
Cooper’s joy at the baby’s arrival was short-lived when he noted it was motionless.
A lump formed in the back of his throat. No, no, no. Please don’t let this happen. Without speaking, Leo quickly transferred the baby to Polly’s towel, using the edges to vigorously rub the goo from the baby’s skin and pat it on the back.
“Suction,” Leo snapped and Cooper shoved the eye dropper into Leo’s outstretched hand. Not missing a beat, Leo forced the infant’s mouth open and began to suction.
“Is the baby okay?” Sophie asked fearfully, trying to sit up to get a look at her and Nelson’s second child.
“Coop?” Nelson yelled when no one answered Sophie’s question. Eyes still glued to the motionless baby, Cooper couldn’t speak. Please, he prayed with every fiber of his being. Please let the baby live. Please—
A weak c
ry rent the air. The blood rushed to Cooper’s head as relief swamped him. Another cheer went up from Celina and Polly.
“Sophie, Nelson, you have a beautiful baby girl.” Leo held up the baby, swaddled in the towel, for Sophie to see, grinning from ear to ear before he handed her off to Polly.
Another tiny cry, this one sounding full-on pissed, filled the room, and they all laughed with relief. Polly showed the baby to Sophie, letting her weep and kiss the baby’s face, before placing her under the lamps next to her brother.
Sophie smiled weakly, and Nelson’s excitement was palpable through the “Yes, yes, yes!” cheers from the other end of the phone.
Celina grabbed the phone, taking Nelson off speaker so he and Sophie could have a private moment, and held it to Sophie’s ear. Sophie took the phone, lying back, and laughed, cried, and repeated to Nelson how much she loved him.
Polly helped Leo as he kept working, the two of them murmuring to each other before disappearing into the bathroom together. With the imminent danger over, Cooper drew Celina into his arms, pressing a kiss to the side of her head. Her body shook as he held her, and when he drew back to look into her eyes, he was swallowed up in a combination of relief and joy.
“I was so scared,” she admitted, rising on tiptoe to press a kiss firmly to his lips. “Thank God Leo was here.”
Cooper nodded. “We wouldn’t have been able to do this without him.”
7
By the time they got Sophie and the babies settled, it was late afternoon. Both babies were stable; Sophie, although exhausted, was happy when Leo allowed her to tuck each one next to her in bed.
Cooper was told it would still be a while before anyone could get to them, and to sit tight. All ambulances were in use for the seriously injured, and many of the EMTs and first responders were on that list, so they were short-handed. Since the mother and babies were not in distress, they were not considered high priority. Pissed him off, and he went on a verbal tirade to the 911 operator until Celina took the phone from him and smoothed things over. She explained the seriousness of the situation and asked for help as soon as available. One of Cooper’s friends on the ambulance service called him a few minutes later and told him they’d get to Sophie and the babies within the hour.