Lean on Me

Part One - Chapter Thirty-Five: It's Time

Cassidy winced feeling a sharp pain work its way through her body as she rested her hand on her bump; she was thirty-eight weeks pregnant but she knew that it was time.

“Okay,” Cassidy said taking a deep breath, even with the classes that she had taken she hadn't expected to go into labour while Chelsea were playing against Barcelona in a home match; Cassidy took a deep breath glancing at the clock as the minutes of the game started to wind down.

“You okay?” Christine asked peeking at Cassidy, she knew that something was going on; the presenter had promised Fernando that she would keep an eye on Cassidy while he was playing and she knew that this had to be serious.

“My water just broke,” Cassidy breathed making several of the women around her look at her concerned; Cassidy had kept it quiet that she had been in the early stages of labour and none of them expected the brunette to tell them that the baby was coming.

“Okay… Christine go downstairs and tell them that Fernando has to leave, we’ll get Cassidy down to the car,” Toni Terry said moving to help Cassidy, she smiled reassuringly at Cassidy who was taking a deep breathes as she tried to keep herself calm.

Cassidy winced as another contraction hit while Diakité Lalla timed her contractions for her; it would be important when she got to the hospital.

Christine nodded her head before she hurried out of the room, she knew that this was happening two weeks premature and it made her wonder if the baby was going to be okay; it was a big baby but she didn't think it was ready to come into the world.

Fernando bounced his knee as he sat on the bench bored, he probably wasn’t going to play but that didn't meant that he wasn’t bored since Roberto Di Matteo had taken over the team management, Fernando wasn’t sure what was going on anymore.

Fernando glared at his team-mate as he was elbowed in the ribs before he noticed that he was being signalled off the bench by Roberto; he glanced around knowing that he wasn’t being asked to warm up.

Stepping away from the bench, Fernando looked confused as he spotted Christine waiting in the tunnel as Roberto led him off the pitch; he furrowed his brow as he approached Frank’s girlfriend.

“What’s going on?” Fernando asked looking between his coach and the presenter, whatever it was that it had to be serious if he was being pulled away from the bench without going on.

“Nando… it’s Cass, she’s gone into labour,” Christine said stepping closer to Fernando, whose brown eyes widened as he realised that she was going to give birth; he felt sick as he thought about his baby being a little premature.

***

“Why did you do this to me?” Cassidy hissed in pain as her contractions got closer together, she glared at Fernando as he smiled and pressed a kiss to her head; it was just in pain and that it would be okay.

“Okay Cassidy… you are doing so well,” the midwife said finishing checking Cassidy over, she smiled reassuringly as she looked over her chart as she made sure that everything was okay with both mother and baby.

“Please tell me this is nearly over,” Cassidy begged she didn't think that she had it in her to have a long labour; the brunette wanted to have her baby as quick as possible.

“It’s nearly over in fact it’s time to start pushing, you’re ten centre metres dilated,” the midwife said making Cassidy look at her relieved while Fernando shifted nervously, she had been in labour four hours and he was surprised that it was time for his baby to come into the world.

“Okay Cassidy it’s time to start pushing,” the midwife said slowly coaching Cassidy, Fernando took her hand as he nibbled on his lip worried; he wasn’t sure what to expect since the baby was two weeks premature but he knew their baby stood a strong chance of being okay.

Fernando gritted his teeth as Cassidy squeezed on his hand as she pushed their child into the world; the footballer whispered encouraging words in her ear as the minutes ticked by as she gave birth to their baby.

“Congratulations… it’s a girl,” the midwife said lifting the unborn up so that her parents could see her, Fernando stared speechless as he tried to think of the words to describe how he felt about the baby girl that was his new daughter.

The midwife smiled passing the newborn to a nurse, before she glanced at the monitor concerned; something wasn’t right and that she needed to do something quick.

The sudden sound of the monitor attached to Cassidy screeching made Fernando’s heart stop, he stared terrified as his girlfriend went limp before he was dragged out of the hospital room as more medical staff rushed into the room.

“Por favor… what’s going on?” Fernando begged looking at one of the nurses that had forced him from the room, he suddenly felt sick as he realised that something was going very wrong; the footballer didn't know what to do and it worried him.

“I’m sorry but you’ll have to wait to speak with a doctor,” the nurse said apologetically before she walked away allowing Fernando to drop into a chair realising that something had definitely gone horribly wrong.

***

Fernando wasn’t sure how long he sat in the waiting room for before a doctor approached him, his eyes snapped up at the clock before he realised that he had only been waiting for thirty minutes; it hadn't even past midnight yet.

“Mr Torres?” the doctor asked making Fernando nod his head as he got to his feet, he felt drained and just wanted to know what was going on; he didn't know how he would cope with their newborn daughter if something had happened to Cassidy.

“Is Cassidy okay?” Fernando asked, he hated that he had waited so long for news and he needed to know what to tell people; everyone wanted news about what had happened but he had only been able to tell them that Cassidy had given birth to a beautiful healthy baby girl.

“Miss Smith is perfectly fine, her blood pressure just dropped rapidly plus she lost a lot of blood but she is  now resting… there is someone who would like to meet their daddy,” the doctor said as he rested a hand on Fernando’s shoulder and led him towards the nursery where his daughter was.

Fernando sighed relieved looking through the window as the nurse wheeled his baby towards him; however Fernando blinked when he noticed something strange.

“There must be a mistake,” Fernando said shaking his head before he looked at the doctor who chuckled and shook his head, there was no mistake; he knew why Fernando was confused.

“Congratulations Mr Torres… you have a healthy set of twins,” the doctor said as Fernando stared at him speechless, he couldn't believe what he was hearing; he knew that his girlfriend had been big but they had never thought that they were having twins, it hadn't shown up in any scans in the past nine months.