Page 50 of Together

“Yup. You’ll learn. I can’t believe you’re having this guy’s baby.” Josie grins but before I can respond she winces, curling into herself. She starts a series of breathing with Dean by her side, holding her hand and breathing along with her. She looks straight into his eyes and he whispers and murmurs encouraging words. It’s intimate and I feel like we’re intruding on something special between the two.

Before long, she lies back against the mattress, blowing out a deep breath and giving him a faint smile. “That was a big one.”

“Yeah,” he agrees. “Do you need anything?”

“Only… ooh, holy shit! It’s coming again. What the…” She lets out a deep groan, sitting up and repeating the same process from earlier. Dean counts as she works through the contraction. I look at Nik whose eyes are as wide as my own. He mouths,what the fuckto me and I can only nod before looking back at Josie and Dean. He takes a wash cloth and wipes her forehead.

“You okay? Should we get the doctor?”

She shoots him a glare. “And what’s the doctor supposed to do for me? I can have this baby on my own.”

Nik barks out a laugh. “Good grief. Josie, now’s not the time to hold to your stubborn ways. The doctor has to basically pull the child from your body, you know that, right?”

She harrumphs and crosses her arms over her belly. Her very, very large belly. That’s not normal either, is it? No way is my stomach going to grow to that size. Also, there’s no way I’ll say that out loud because I like having my face arranged the way it is and Josie looks like she could murder someone in their sleep right now and walk away as if nothing happened. “No, he doesn’t. He’s notpullinganyone out of anywhere, you dumby. Besides, he hasn’t done much for me so far. He never walks in here to check on me! He hasn’t even been sending in his nurses! I had to make Dean check me to see how far along I’m dilated, which, by the way, he has absolutely no clue what he’s doing so for all we know, I somehow regressed and now I’m only at a two.”

“What are you talking about? He hasn’t been good to you?” Nik asks, his hackles rising.

Dean’s already shaking his head, grinning big. “You’re so full of it.” He dares to say to Josie. “You told him he didn’t know how to help anyone with childbirth because he’s never squeezed a baby out of his body.”

“I did not.”

“Oh, baby, you did. You also told him he wasn’t allowed back in here until he could prove he went to medical school. You said that I knew how to handle it all because no one knew your body better than me so I might as well do their jobs.”

“You’re such a liar!”

“I am not.”

“I didn’t… oh no.” She looks panicked as she tugs on his arm. “I think I did! Dean! Why didn’t you put a muzzle on me?”

“Right,” he snorts. “Like that would have worked out well for me.”

“Well, get him back! He’s the one who can give me the happy medicine!”

“Baby, it’s way too late for that. Besides, you had a plan and told the doctor that he wasn’t allowed to change it up under any circumstance.”

She’s shaking her head rapidly. “I was out of my mind when I said that.”

“I’m not denying that, but it’s almost time. You can’t change your mind now.”

Dean and Josie are completely adorable together.

“I want to maybe go back a little bit in time. Nik, you thought you could invent a time machine when you were a kid. Did you ever make that happen? Go get it and we’ll go back in time a few months.”

“Time machine?” I ask him and he rolls his eyes.

“I was eight,” he explains to me. “And no. You’d probably have known if I made a scientific discovery worth billions of dollars. Suck it up, buttercup. You wanted this. You were sure you could handle it, now you’re about to prove it to yourself.”

Josie looks to me, pleading. “Trade places?”

“Nope. Sorry, I’m happy over here for a little bit.”

“Some friend you are,” she harrumphs.

I want to remind her that we met ten minutes ago and we’re hardly friends, but maybe someday we will be? Hopefully.

Another contraction hits and she buckles over, her face twisting in pain. “Oh hell. It hurts so bad!” Her mouth is pulled tight and she grunts, long and low. Her eyes are closed tightly and her teeth are bared. I believe her when she said that it hurts. It looks extreme. This can’t be right. No one in their right mind would have more than one child if this is the pain they have to endure every time.

“Doctor,” she says breathlessly and Nik jumps into action, racing to the door.

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