Moments In Time: A Collection of Short Fiction Page 6

  Before I could ask what any of this shit meant, she was out of the room, leaving me there with an agitated wife who now looked like she was ready to bite my head off and spit down my neck.

  “I don’t understand this shit,” I said. “You’re obviously in pain, why aren’t they getting you set up to have this baby?” Sweat began to coat my hands, making them damn near useless in wiping the sweat already covering my brow. “How much pain are you in, Cassie? You need that shot to take the pain away? Because if you do, I’ll go and get that damn doctor myself.”

  “Alex! Slow down.” Cassie’s face finally softened, putting me slightly at ease. “I’m in pain, yes, but I’m okay. I was trying to tell you at the house that it’s not time, but you wouldn’t listen to me.”

  “How can you say that? Look at you. You’re fucking gripping my hand like you’re ready to rip it off. Your face scrunches and your stomach tightens. You’re delusional if you think it isn’t time, and I’m not even the one feeling this shit.”

  “Did you hear Petty Officer Benson? I’m only dilated two centimeters.”

  “And? That means your body is opening. That means a baby is ready to come out of there. That means these fuckers need to start taking this seriously, and damn it, so do you.”

  Once again, I had lost all control of myself. Cassie was too fucking calm for me, and the passive nature of this hospital staff was enough to make me start taking matters in my own hands. Before I could act on my thoughts, Petty Officer Benson came back with a young male, much to my dismay.

  “Hello, Lance Corporal Cruz. I’m Lieutenant Commander Paxton, ob-gyn on call tonight. How are you feeling?”

  “She’s goddamn miserable,” I said with a barely disguised snarl. “Please move this along so we can finally get her comfortable.”

  “You must be the husband, Staff Sergeant Cruz?”

  “Yes. Back to Cassie. Is she ready to have this baby?”

  “I’ll need to check her and we’ll go from there.”

  I was beginning to lose it. Cassie had already been checked, and it seemed we were just circling the wagons now. The doctor sat at the edge of the bed, worming his creepy fucking hand up to check Cassie. I stood with my arms crossed, watching intently, hoping he would tell me that they would get the ball rolling with my wife.

  No such luck.

  The doc stood up and pulled off his gloves with a snap before tossing them into the trash. “It looks like you’ll be going home tonight, Lance Corporal Cruz.”

  Now I fucking lost it.

  “What? She’s in labor. Why the hell would you send her home? None of us are equipped to deal with this. She’s going to—”

  “Staff Sergeant,” he said patiently, “I understand your concern, but I assure you, your wife is fine. She’s in labor, but it’s early labor, and we don’t like to keep patients here during this stage. She can go home, get comfortable, eat, and then when it’s time, we will see her back.”

  “She can’t get comfortable, sir,” I growled, trying to keep my anger at bay. I didn’t understand this shit and the more the doctor spoke, the more inclined I was to completely lash out.

  “Lance Corporal Cruz, how are you sleeping?”

  “I don’t sleep much, sir,” Cassie said. “Tossing and turning all night.”

  “I figured that. I’m going to prescribe you a sleeping pill, an Ambien.”

  I shook my head. “What? We’re not drugging her through this.”

  “Staff Sergeant, the sleeping pill is only going to help her. She isn’t sleeping much and from what I can tell, she’ll be back sooner rather than later, so she needs to get some rest. Labor is hard work.” The doctor moved to the computer and quickly typed in something, then turned back to us. “Lance Corporal Cruz, I do believe you’ll be in full-blown labor within twenty-four hours, so I need you to eat, take the sleeping pill, and get lots of rest.”

  Cassie nodded her head, then grimaced as her body folded in half. She was having another damn contraction, and for the life of me, I just didn’t understand why they just wouldn’t keep her.

  “What if that pill makes her sleep through this? What happens then?”

  Lieutenant Commander Paxton laughed, shaking his head and patting me on the back. “When the real deal hits, she won’t sleep through it, I assure you. When the contractions are consistently coming three to five minutes apart, it’s time to come back.”

  “Thank you, sir,” Cassie calmly responded.

  Who the hell was lying in that bed? She was switching her anger on and off, depending on who she was speaking to, and unfortunately for me, the anger was always aimed in my direction.

  Lieutenant Commander Paxton left the room, leaving me alone with Cassie, who was now removing the hospital gown and changing back in her regular clothes.

  “What the hell is wrong with you?” she asked, never meeting my eye.

  “I’m worried shitless about you, babe. You’re acting like you hate me right now.”

  “You’re acting crazy, Alex. You’ve been this way for the past few days, and it’s making me nervous and scared. I wasn’t feeling any of that until you lost yourself. Get it together, I’m going to need you when the time comes.”

  There it was, her reasoning for her light-switch fucking demeanor.

  “I’m nervous as fuck, Blondie. Cut me some slack.”

  Cassie sighed and finally met my eyes. “I’m nervous, too. But I can’t be high-strung like that or this is going to be a miserable experience for me. You’re acting like a wild bull, ordering the staff around. They do this job day in and day out, Alex. No offense, but I trust them a little more than I do you.”

  When she was dressed, she reached out her hand for me. I took a couple of deep breaths, allowing her words to sink in as I finally realized that she was feeding off of me, and I was doing a piss-poor job of getting her in the right frame of mind to undertake the biggest challenge that either of us had ever taken. Like it or not, we were about to become parents, and the last thing I wanted was for this to be some sort of traumatizing memory for us.

  I took her hand and pulled her close, brushing loose strands of hair away from her face as I placed soft kisses on her lips. “You are about to do something no one has ever been able to do for me, and for that I will be forever grateful. I want everything to be perfect, because you deserve it. So forgive me if I expect these assholes around here to give you top-notch care.”

  Cassie smiled, finally allowing warmth to flow back into my body.

  “I know how you feel, Alex. I’m ready to do this as well, but we can’t rush it, and we have to allow the staff to do their job.”

  “You’re right. I’m going to work on it. Shit, I think I might need a sleeping pill.”

  “Um, no, mister. I want you present for our baby’s birth.”

  Petty Officer Benson returned to the room, carrying a brown paper bag in her hand.

  “Okay, Lance Corporal Cruz. Lieutenant Commander Paxton prescribed one Ambien for you to take tonight after you’ve had dinner. Remember the time frame for your contractions, and hopefully we’ll be seeing you soon.”

  “Thank you,” Cassie replied, taking the bag from the corpsman.

  We walked out of the room and into the waiting room where Nat lay on Riley’s lap, running her hands through his hair. He looked like he’d finally calmed down, but panic hit his face again as we strode into the room.

  “Why is she up?”

  Cassie gave him a wan smile. “I’m going home, Riley. It’s not time yet.”

  Riley’s eyes grew wide. “What the hell? She’s been in some serious pain, man. Are you sure—”

  “We’re sure,” I told him. “We’ll be back. Let’s just go. I want to get Cassie some food and let her rest. And you need another drink, because your nerves are fucking shot. This is my wife and my baby, remember?”

  “Yes. But Cassie is my friend, and this is some crazy shit. I’ve never been around this before.”

  “Yeah, well,
neither have I. So lay off, there’s only room for one of us to lose our shit.”

  They stood, Nat taking Riley’s hand and leading him through the door. “I’m going to go home and fuck your mind onto me and off of Cassie. You got it, Chris?”

  Riley looked down at his tatted-up girlfriend, then smiled his characteristic, goofy smile. “I’ve got it. I’ve definitely got it.”

  • • •

  “What? What? What?” I asked, jumping out of bed a few hours later as Cassie let out a blood-curdling scream. I couldn’t recall ever moving so quickly, but the sound of her voice and the force of her painful squeeze on my shoulder had me on the move.

  She lay in bed panting, blowing out short, quick breaths while attempting to sit up. Nat came running into the room, her eyes bloodshot but bulging.

  “It’s time, Alex. Get some clothes on.”

  Shit! I slept nude and I here I was, standing in nothing at all, my cock on full display for Nat and anyone else who decided to come into the room. I ran over to my dresser and pulled out some workout pants, completely forgetting about underwear and not caring once I realized that I didn’t have any on.

  Nat looked up at me as she stroked Cassie’s back and helped her out of bed. “Alex, where is Cassie’s bag?”

  “Her bag?”

  “Yes! Her hospital bag.”

  “Ahhh!” Another shrill scream left Cassie’s body as she bowed over, holding her stomach with one hand while balancing herself on the dresser with the other.

  Looking at her hurt was killing me softly. Why the fuck did she have to go through all this in order to have my baby? I began to feel queasy as sweat broke out on my skin. She was in so much pain, and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it.

  I ran over to her, lifted her in my arms, carrying her out of the room and into the living room, where an exhausted Riley stood, rubbing his head and trying to get his eyes to focus.

  “Move, dickhead. Cassie’s in labor.”

  It took a second for the words to sink in but when they did, Riley had that same deer-in-the-headlights look that Nat had minutes earlier. Instead of doing anything, though, he stood like a statue, afraid of what was coming next.

  I didn’t have time for him at the moment. I grabbed my keys and headed for the truck, placing Cassie safely in the backseat and strapping her in before running around to the driver’s side and hopping in.

  “Alex! Alex!” Nat came barreling out of the house. “You forgot a shirt, dude.”

  In my haste, I had forgotten to put a shirt on. I tried to smile, silently thanking Nat before throwing the shirt over my head. Nat jumped in on the passenger side and then we were off. I knew that speeding was really the last thing that Cassie needed at the moment, that safely arriving to the hospital was much more important, but I couldn’t help it. It seemed like every couple of minutes she was letting out that harrowing scream that put ice in my veins. She was all but dying in the backseat, and there was really nothing that I could do about it.

  “She’s going to be fine, Alex,” Nat assured me, placing her hand on top of mine.

  I looked down pointedly at her hand on mine, prompting her to quickly remove it, then said, “I know. I just want the pain to end. The faster we get her there, the sooner this shit stops.”

  We barreled down the road, our headlights the only illumination on the dark, deserted roads. We rolled on through the base’s front gate, quickly arriving at the hospital emergency lane. Nat went and snagged a wheelchair, and I grabbed Cassie from the backseat, placing her in the chair and wheeling her in while Nat took my truck and parked it.

  As I pushed Cassie through the door, I called out, “My wife is in labor. She’s yelling and screaming every couple of minutes.”

  Thankfully, the night receptionist, an older civilian woman with salt and pepper hair and piercing green eyes, appeared slightly less bored than the guy had earlier. “Okay . . . okay. Calm down. Can I have her name?” she said soothingly.

  “Cassie Cruz. Lance Corporal Cruz.”

  I tossed our IDs on the counter, assuming they would be needed. The receptionist took them and checked us into the system, then called for someone to meet us and take us up to the third floor.

  She pointed down the hallway to the elevators, and said warmly, “You’re headed up to labor and delivery. The next time you leave this hospital, you’ll more than likely have a little baby with you. Congratulations.”

  As much as I appreciated her sentiments, Cassie was bowing over in pain again, and I couldn’t care less about what she was saying. A corpsman met us on the entry level floor and wheeled Cassie over to the elevators, pressing the button for the third floor. I followed behind him, trying hard to listen to what he saying but unable to focus on anything other than Cassie, her pain-laden screams, and the death grip she had on my hand.

  Instead of being taken into the room we had been taken to the day before, we were taken to an actual labor room. Front and center was a large bed that had stirrups on the end. Monitors blinked and beeped everywhere, and there was a baby station for when our little one finally made her way into the world.

  “Go ahead and get her undressed and into the gown,” the nurse told me. “I’ll come back to take her vitals, check her, and get the IV started.”

  The sight of Cassie’s cheeks wet from her tears made my throat close up as my chest tightened. “Don’t cry, Blondie. You’re about to do something truly fucking amazing.”

  She nodded her head but gripped my arm while biting down on her bottom lip, grimacing from a fresh wave of pain. As much as I knew that all of this shit would ultimately be worth it, I couldn’t stop feeling responsible, as if I deserved some sort of punishment for bringing my wife such incredible pain. I loved Cassie too much to ever have her feeling anything less than stellar, and yet, here we were. I needed this shit to hurry and pass so we could hold our baby in our arms, smiling together, laughing at the bullshit that it took to bring her into the world. My thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door.

  The corpsman walked in and said, “Staff Sergeant, I’m going to check your wife now and see how far she has dilated.”

  I shot him a dark frown. “You’re not going to send her home again, are you? I can’t handle this back and forth anymore.”

  He sat down at the edge of the bed and worked his hands up to Cassie, watching the ceiling as he felt around. A slight smile spread across his lips, pissing me off. I knew he was only doing his job, but a part of me felt like he enjoyed what he was doing. I was the only guy who was supposed to be in my wife’s pussy, and here was this dickhead, feeling her up. I wanted to wipe that smile right off his face.

  “Cassie, you’re four centimeters and definitely in active labor. I’ll have the doctor come in to see you soon. In the meantime, I am going to place this monitor on your belly and get your IV started.”

  The corpsman took care of everything he had to do, but Cassie was still clamming up in excruciating pain. The doctor who was supposed to come and see her still hadn’t made his way into the room, and Cassie’s pain was tearing me apart. There was no reason she should have been lying there so long with no help in sight.

  Finally there was a knock on the door, making me jump to my feet in anticipation of some relief for Cassie.

  “Hey. We’re here,” Nat said, walking through the door with Cassie’s best friend, Dalton.

  It was nice that they were here to support Cassie, but my anger was ready to fucking blow. I charged out of the room and headed straight for the nurses’ station.

  “My wife had been in there in pain forever. When is someone going to come and see her?”

  “What room is your wife in, sir?”

  “Room six.”

  The nurse, a petite brunette, typed something into the computer before looking up smiling at me with a mouthful of braces. “Commander Johnson is the OB on the floor today, and she’s on her way to your wife’s room. Give her a couple more minutes.”

  “My wife
is damn near dying in there,” I said through gritted teeth. “We’ve been waiting long enough.” Trying to rein in my emotions, I turned around and stalked back to Cassie’s room.

  When I returned, Dalton was sitting in the chair closest to the bed, holding Cassie’s hand as she grimaced and screamed her way through another ungodly contraction. With every scream, a piece of me died. I had no idea the level of pain that she was experiencing, but my heart hurt at the thought of it. I wanted to ease her pain, but I couldn’t. I wanted to wipe away her tears but they just kept coming.

  Finally, there was a knock on the door and the doctor stepped into the room. She looked young as hell, not quite what I had in mind.

  “Hello, Lance Corporal Cruz. I’m Commander Johnson. I’ll be delivering your baby today. How are you feeling?”

  I wanted to snatch this chick up by her hair and scream in her fucking face to take one guess as to how Cassie was feeling. Her shrill screams could be heard up and down this labor and delivery floor, so that was a stupid-ass question to ask her, given the circumstances.

  Commander Johnson sat at the edge of the bed and once again, someone had their fucking fingers up in my wife. Cassie took in a sharp breath, panting it out in quick little spurts. Loose hairs stuck to her sweat-coated forehead as she held firmly to my hand on one side and Dalton’s on the other.

  “Lance Corporal—”

  “Just Cassie,” I corrected her. This was no time for formalities. I wanted Cassie to be seen and treated as any other woman who came in to have a baby.

  “Cassie, you’re now five centimeters. Would you like anything for the pain?”

  Yes!” I blurted out, drawing the attention of everyone in the room. “She’s practically dying. What are the options?”

  “Alex! I can speak,” Cassie blurted out, shooting me some vicious eye daggers.

  “I know, babe. But I—”