Mistaken Consequences

Chapter 26: Hamish

3 pm -

Hamish tried to stay out of the way while Vera got settled back into her room. Well, luxury suite might have been a better word for the room where Vera would be laboring and eventually delivering their daughter.

It was spacious and bright, with a more homey feel than he'd expected from a hospital room. It had an actual queen-sized bed instead of the typical, narrow hospital bed, along with a leather couch, a rocking chair and several arm chairs. A large TV sat on a dark, wooden dresser, angled where it could be viewed from anywhere in the room. All in all, it was exactly what he'd come to expect from The Order and any place they had a hand in.

He wasn't going to begrudge Vera her bit of comfort, though. If anything, it made him feel relieved. He would rather have pictured her here, instead of in a cold, sterile white room, laboring without him.

Vera had a small team of nurse midwives to assist her, all of them acting as if they had been the ones to make the decision to send her home earlier. Hamish looked away as they helped her change into a dark grey gown that she pulled from her own bag, rather than one of the standard issue gowns the hospital provided. The whole thing was so completely Vera, unwilling to go along with the standard just because, that it pulled a small smile from him.

Hamish had to immediately look away again, when Vera was eased up onto the bed so she could be examined. He could feel her eyes on him though.

Once the midwife had given a number, he turned around. Vera wasn't looking at him anymore, and she looked upset.

"What's wrong?" he asked, taking a step towards them.

The midwife chuckled. "Mother and baby are both doing fine." She patted Vera's knee comfortingly. "It's not uncommon to feel a bit disappointed to find you're not progressing as quickly as you'd hoped."

"What does that mean?" Hamish asked, coming all the way to the side of the bed. "Why isn't she progressing?"

"It means we're going to be here awhile," Vera muttered, closing her eyes. "And I am. Just slowly." She sighed, then turned to look at him. "Why don't you go update your friends? Tell them they don't need to stick around, if they don't want to. You can always call them once things start picking up."

Hamish agreed, but he knew the Knights weren't going anywhere. Mostly he just needed a minute to himself. He needed to get his head on straight. It felt too surreal to be standing here. He was with Vera, at the hospital, waiting for their daughter to be born.

It was exactly what he'd been hoping for earlier in the day, but now he just felt like the rug was going to be pulled out from under him at any moment.

It couldn't be this simple, right? Vera had changed her mind so quickly. Just this morning she hadn't wanted him there. Now, she was allowing him to be beside her while she gave birth. She knew how much he wanted this now, how much it had hurt him to have it taken away. He was terrified that she would change her mind again.

The crowd in the waiting room had already grown. Jack and Alyssa were sitting together on a small loveseat, talking quietly with Lilith, while Gabrielle had pulled Randall into a corner and they were talking animatedly at each other.

All conversation immediately died when he stepped into the room.

"How is she?" Alyssa asked, looking up at him with a small smile. "And congratulations?"

"Thanks," he said, reaching up to rub at the base of his neck. "The, uh, the midwives are getting her settled in, but it's still going to be a while. You don't need to stay here. I can call-"