Without You

thirty-five

'Nena, what's going on?' Wilmer asks as he makes his way into the kitchen where Demi is leaning heavily on the counter.

'I've been having contractions, well I'm pretty certain they're contractions anyway.' She replies glancing over her shoulder at him.

'For how long?' He asks.

'An hour or so.' She replies shrugging her shoulders.

'Why didn't you wake me?' He asks making his way over to her and placing his hand on her lower back.

'It's like 4:30am, didn't want to bother you and I didn't want to jinx it.' She replies.

'You wouldn't be bothering me.' He says gently rubbing small circles on her back.

'What can I do?' He asks as she leans back against his chest.

'Nothing really... They're not that close together so it'll be a while before we head to the hospital.' She replies.

'Is there anything you need?' He asks and she shakes her head.

'I'm good... You can go back to bed if you want, try get some more sleep?' She suggests.

'No. I'm fine down here with you. Why don't we go through to the living room and stick on a movie?' He says.

'Okay... I just need some water.' She replies.

'I'll get you a bottle and bring it through.' He says. Nodding her head she moves away from the counter and begins to slowly make her way through to the living room.

'Hey, baby...' She whispers as Batman jumps at her legs.

'I can't lift you at the moment; up on the sofa.' She says lowering herself onto the sofa and patting the space beside her. She smiles as Batman jumps up and curls into a ball beside her as his head rests on her leg.

_______

'Ugh...' Demi moans as she moves in an attempt to get comfy.

'Getting worse?' Wilmer asks and she nods her head.

'I'm scared, Wilmer.' She admits.

'You've got nothing to be scared of. This is what we've spent the last six months looking forward to, isn't it? Meeting our beautiful baby girl and becoming a proper family?' He says and she nods her head.

'I'm going to be here every step of the way. You're not going to be on your own through this and if I could take away the pain I would but I promise I'll be here to make this as easy as possible for you.' He adds.

'I may tell you I want an epidural at some point during this but I don't. I'm telling you right now I don't want an epidural no matter how much I tell you I've changed my mind, okay?' She says reaching for his hand.

'Okay.' He replies.

'Can you put the bags in the trunk? Just so we're not fussing at the last moment?' She asks.

'Course.' He replies kissing the top of her head. Getting up off the sofa he makes his way over to the front door where the hospital bags are lying and begins to take them out to the car. Demi glances down at her phone and smiles slightly as it vibrates with a reply from Kelsey who she'd texted earlier.