Saving Both Lives

Chapter 7

Lowering his weapon, Danny  held up a hand cautiously. "Ty, listen..."

"Shut up!" Villegas ordered, damp sweaty wisps of his dark hair stuck to his forehead. He pulled the gun away from Baez's skull, pointing it downward right to her pregnant form.

"This. This is my child. My family..." He started to shake, his voice wavering. "They just...they keep leaving me."

Maria looked at her partner, pleading. "Danny, he's..." She choked, Villegas crushing her chest beneath his arm. "You shut your mouth!" he hissed bringing the gun back up to her head.

"Hey!" Danny yelled. "You even think about..."

"I know what she thinks! What they all think, that I'm crazy! They all think I'm crazy!"

Ty stood still, looking the detective straight in the eye. "Well, I'm not. I'm not...you really think cops would let a kid be around a father like me?"

Danny didn't respond.

"Exactly," Villegas smirked. "So I'm doing what I gotta do. Because I deserved a family through all this Goddamn hell! "

Suddenly, Maria gasped. She wrenched one of her arms free, and it went straight to her belly.

Danny's gaze went straight to her and he stepped forward, only to be met by Villegas' gun pointing right at him.

"I said back off!" Villegas looked from him down to Baez. "You stay away from her, she's fine."

"Yeah, well she doesn't look fine."  Danny took a step back, but kept his eye on his partner. Ty kept his grip on her.

"She's been like this already, so just forget it!"

"For how long?"

Villegas scoffed. "Are you trying to play me? It don't matter!"

"Hey, you bet your ass it matters!" Danny asserted, his brow furrowing. "How long?"

The perpetrator blinked, his eyes going back to the expectant mother still fidgeting under his grasp.

"Since I got her here...yesterday."

Danny's jaw clenched, taking in a deep breath.

"Okay. Ty, listen. She's in labor. You can't keep this up anymore, you know she needs to go to the hospital."

"No!" Villegas leapt to his feet and threw Baez to the floor, aiming the piece at him again.

"She doesn't leave!" Ty ordered. "It's MY KID!"

Baez sat up slowly, terror in her eyes as she watched the two men above her.

Then she doubled over with a moan, and felt splattering against her thighs. She froze. "Danny..." she whimpered.

Danny felt his body temperature rising; her water had broken. He knew she didn't have much time left now.

He tried reasoning. "Okay, fine! Fine, if she doesn't get to leave, you have to let me step in then."

Villegas didn't even flinch.

"Look, this baby's not waiting around." Danny nodded to Baez, his eyes going from her back to her captor. "Alright, I've had training for this, and I have my own kids I've seen born."

"You want what's best for yours? Then you let me help my partner."

Ty bit his lip, his eyes going to the distressed woman on the floor. Looking back up at Danny, he nodded.

"If you try anything..." he seethed, his voice trembling as he watched the detective go to her side.

"Yeah, I got it!" Danny nodded, having heard those words by so many others.

He put his arm around Baez, trying to help her sit up. "How you holding up, partner?" he said gently.

"How do you think?!" she grimaced, pressing her hand to her back and looking at Villegas, still glaring at them from behind her partner. "Reagan, I've got to get out; I can't do this here!" she panicked.

"Hey, calm down," he comforted her, then leaned in close. "Listen: I promise, we're gonna get out of here. Just trust me...you still trust me, right Baez?"

Maria's eyes softened, and she nodded. "You know I do."

Then almost in an instant, she moaned again and clutched her middle.

"Woah, easy!" Danny held her up beneath her arms, and she grabbed onto his hands. "Breathe, okay? Breathe."

"Oh my God!" she groaned through her teeth. "Are you sure you can handle this?"

He nodded, slipping his jacket off one arm at a time while still holding her. "It's been a few years, but I remember the basics."

Villegas came up right behind them, his face cold but intent on the mother of his child. Baez tensed up, and Danny looked up at him.

"Hey, back up," he instructed.

"It's my kid!" Ty argued.

"Yeah, well not yet!" Danny retaliated. "Not until he or she enters the world, so you give the mother room to focus, alright?"

A guttural cry erupted from Baez, sending Villegas to the far corner of the room.

"Danny, it's happening!" she gasped, grabbing onto his shoulder.

"It's happening; the baby's coming now!"