Before The Beginning

Chapter 35: April

Begin!

~Bertrand's POV

Asked Lemony and Moxie to be godparents: check.

Got a perfect house to raise our child in: check.

Our enemies were none the wiser: check.

We had a double wedding planned so we could get married at the same time as our best friends: check!

Everything was all coming together. We had spent the last few months happily settling into our new home. We even got a call from Mr. Poe at the bank thanking us for recommending Jacqueline. (In his own words, she's the "best thing that ever happened to his office!") I wasn't surprised to hear that. Jacqueline was a very dedicated worker. And it was nice that she was so willing to help us. Though she did comment about him being difficult to work with. Other than that things had been fine. We had recently helped Q and Karrie move into their own mansion out of town. It was regrettable that they couldn't live closer but it was for an allegedly good reason.

Currently, I was in my work studio. It was after dinner on a nice April evening that seemed perfectly normal-

"BERTRAND!"

And then it wasn't. I quickly dropped my tools and ran upstairs looking for Bea through her frantic screaming. I found her in her office and she looked quite distressed.

"Bea what's wrong?"

"The baby's coming!" She replied before doubling over in pain from another contraction. "Oh god, sweetheart, you've sure got timing..."

"Oh the baby's coming... WAIT THE BABY'S COMING?!"

I had thought about this day since the moment I was told I would be a father, but I felt all the color drain from my face as I realized just how important this was. I'll have to call everyone once we get to the hospital. I don't want to waste another second while Bea's in pain! I told her I'd grab her purse and her jacket and get her to the hospital as soon as possible.

We're having a baby. I'm having a baby. In a few hours I'd be a dad...

~...

Once we got to the hospital, I immediately set about calling everyone we had promised could be here for this moment while Bea was taken into a prep room by a nurse. I was close to hyperventilating myself. The baby was coming. There were a million thoughts and scenarios running through my head. Was I going to be a good father? Could I protect it well enough? It's gonna be so small and helpless... Was I ready? What if I wasn't good enough and Bea decided to leave me because of it?!

"Bertrand?"

I was snapped out of my thoughts by Lemony and Moxie arriving.

"You alright," Moxie asked.

"I'm about to have a baby; how do you think I feel," I replied bluntly. "Bea's in prep right now and I'm told that you'll have to wait out here until it's over."

I noticed that Lemony was looking a bit pale as well; perhaps he was nervous about being a godfather at last. I went to find the room that Bea was in and she was set up in a bed with a hospital gown on.

"Hi honey," She said, giving me a little smile. "Anybody here yet?"

"Lemony and Moxie are, I'm sure they'll give Q and Karrie the heads up when they get here. Is everything ok?" I pulled a chair over to sit next to her.

"They said the contractions are pretty close, but I'm not quite ready for it to start."

I nodded. "I hope we're both ready for this. I mean this is such a huge milestone in our lives..."