3:09

CHAPTER 20 - THE GESTURE

"Cara, is that your name? Listen to me very carefully. I want you to focus on your breathing. Can you do that for me?" the nurse cautiously requested from the back of the ambulance. "I see that you're holding your husband's hand. That's really good Cara. You are doing so, so well!"

The nurse winked at Aaron while routinely cleaning the sweat off of Cara's forehead with a damp rag.

"Phew. You picked a scorching hot day to have a baby didn't ya..." the nurse remarked, relieving some tension in the overcrowded ambulance.

"Hey... honey..." Cara tightly squeezed Aaron's palm, "How far are we?"

"Five more minutes" he said, pointing out all five fingers and reaching both hands towards her intensifying grip.

His eyes wandered around the ambulance for a brief moment, assessing the situation and every single device in his peripherals. "Excuse me, is everything going okay? Anything we should be worried about?" he asked the nurse as his voice cracked.

"Buddy, I've been doing this for twenty-two years. You've got nothin' to worry about, except maybe your stomach. I always say... when you become a mother, your stomach goes down, when you become a father, it's the opposite."

Aaron awkwardly sounded with laughter as the nurse jokingly slapped him on the arm.

"Okay, Cara we've made it to the hospital. I'm gonna leave you with Nurse Phoebe. Don't worry, she'll take good care of you."

The ambulance stopped, allowing the staff to carry her out as Cara couldn't contain her nail-bitting screams for a second longer.

"Excuse me sir, we can take it from here" indicated one of the hospital staff members as they attempted to guide Aaron elsewhere.

Aaron narrowed his eyebrows and shook his head at the worker. "I'm going in there with her, whether you like it or not. I am not going to leave her side."

Upon hearing his command, Cara gave a slight and barely noticeable smirk in an otherwise particularly painful moment. The conviction in Aaron's voice allowed the message to be understood by the staff as clear as it could be. Aaron held onto Cara's gripping, tender hand throughout their entire journey through the hospital doors and into her room in the maternity ward.

"You gotta focus on your breathing, baby. Look at me... ready..."

"BREATHE IN... ONE... TWO... THREE AND BREATHE OUT... ONE... TWO... THREE..."

"Very good Cara," Aaron reassured, "you're doing fantastic."

The temperature of the room increased almost as soon as they entered. The windows remained open, yet the boiling air flowing through seemed to cause more harm than good.

"She's flaring up! Somebody get her some water!" a young nurse ordered.

Among all of the commotion, a doctor in a faded, white outfit made his way into the room. His sharp, white hair matched the colour of the ceiling as well as the pillow Cara was resting on.

The doctor raised his head up from his notepad, "Vitals are fine, for the time being... has she taken anything?"

Nurse Phoebe answered him, "Not at this time. She came in here quite late and I wanted to wait in case she showed vertiginous symptoms."

"Sorry, can you explain to me what's going on?" Aaron asked passive aggressively.

"Oh, I didn't notice you were in here buddy. To put it simply... your wife, I'm guessing it's your wife, won't be able to take any painkillers until the baby arrives. I'm sure you have both talked about how you would like to go about this, but at this point in time it's really important to not have anything in her system which could invoke a reaction. We are too late in the labour process unfortunately" the doctor explained.

Aaron placed his hand on the doctor's shoulder, "Doc, whatever it takes to get that baby out safely."

Their first exchange elevated Aaron's spirits and noticeably changed his uneasiness into an expression of pure excitement. "It's good that you're in the room with us. You can help your wife relax. By the way, call me Eddie."

Aaron nodded and ventured by her side once again. His hand crept its way into her fretting grasp as the pair repeated their breathing techniques. Cara's voice began to dwindle as her anguish became unpreventable. All he could do was hold her tight and pray for it all to be over.

"Honey, I... I can't do... I'm gonna..." Cara whispered.

"Woah, hey... hey wake up. Stay with me. H-hello?" Aaron shouted while gently tapping her on the side of her face. "Eddie! What's going on?" he roared.

Before her eyes could close she forced her hand into Aaron's pocket, creating a scrunching sound. Aaron failed to notice as he called for the attention of another nurse.

"Get a mask on her now! We don't have much time" Eddie demanded. "Assess her... Oh my God why did nobody tell me about this..."

Aaron realised the severity of the situation upon viewing Eddie's distraught expression. During all of the intensity, Cara's swollen thighs had been covered by a blanket in which the hospital staff had failed to notice.

"Get that blanket off her now! I want an assessment on her arteries and airways" he hastily insisted.

Aaron froze. His gaze couldn't be removed from the silence of Cara's expression. Her legs, a dark red and purple mess of colours, sent a shiver down his spine, sinking his heart into sadness.

"Recommending intubation" Aaron overheard the nurse.

Eddie answered, "What's the difficulty?"

"Moderate to major."

Eddie took a moment to respond. Every second that went by brought Aaron's memory back to the darkest of places.

Eddie removed his hand from his covered mouth. "Do it. The baby is nearly here and it's a risk we have to take." He then took a deep breath, as though he was removing himself from the room. He observed Aaron, checked his watch and walked up to him with a dire appearance. "Buddy, you need to trust me on this, you must wait outside."

Aaron struggled to answer, "I won't." Tears formed in his eyes as he left Eddie's gaze to look at Cara once again.

"Please" Eddie thought. "Okay, how about this. Come back in twenty minutes. Can you do that? Come back at 3:10... you can stay here for as long as you want after that."

Eddie placed his hand on Aaron's sweaty shoulder, mimicking the same gesture from when they first met a few moments ago.

Aaron shook his head in stubbornness, then prevailed "Just... do what you gotta do..."

He left the room. Aaron couldn't shake the image from his head of nearly half a dozen workers narrowly crowded around Cara's unconscious body. He carelessly sat on the closest chair he could find in the hallway, keeping an eye on his watch as time flew by.

"Hmm, 3:10, 3:10, 3:10. Screw it" he thought to himself. "I'll go back in at 3:09."