the very long wait

Henry felt as if he was about to crash. Still, he did his best to remain calm. Asa, the director of the library drove him to the hospital.

Still, it felt odd to see Jules there. He winced, as if it might be a bad dream. They got him through the locked doors of the maternity ward. Days of a nursery window were long gone now. Everything that needed to be done was in the suite. Labor, a place for the baby, filled with backups for emergency.

The place was a bit dim. Josie was already in bed, but she was in one of his shirts.

"Are you all right?" Suddenly, he wished he was in different clothes. Not those from work. His shoes were too  heavy. Why didn't he think to bring of change of clothes?

She told him to talk his family. "Maybe Aidan can bring you some thing. No..no..call Xander, he's got a key to the place. He'll do it."

Henry sighed. Still not sure if he should.

She pointed to the bathroom. "Did you see the shower?" She told him she didn't remember it being that big.

He opened the door. Honestly, he didn't remember it being so massive. But it was better than any bathroom he remembered seeing on vacation. He smiled, then went back to her to hold her hand.

"Are you sure, you..you can do this?" He remembered her talking about a c-section. That would be the easiest thing to do.

She nodded as if it was all going to be OK. They could see the baby on the flat screen computer monitor. There were heart beat echos and squishy sounds of every turn she made.

Finally, a nurse reported in. Introduced herself. A female doctor came in. She would be there for the birthing.

"Things are looking good." She asked Josie if she was up for sitting on an exercise ball.

Josie almost laughed.

It wasn't long until they had her bouncing on it.

Aidan came in with Henry's mother. His dad would be here as soon as he got off work. Henry's eyes lit.

"God, I didn't call her mom." Henry nursed his bottom lip.

"Its all right-" Before, his mom could finish her sentence, Camille arrived.