AS YOU HELD ONTO ME / hs

Fifteen

- Tuesday, September 28, 2020 -

Ava kissed Harry goodbye early that morning and headed to work for her only twelve hour shift of the week.

She was due any day and decided it would be best if she knocked her hours down to one shift a week. The last trimester had been good, uneventful in surprises from week to week. It was exhausting though and her body ached daily. But she couldn't just sit home until she delivered, so one shift a week would have to be enough.

As soon as she opened her eyes that morning, a faint pain throbbed in her lower back. It seemed like a new sore spot popped up every day. But she powered through, knowing any pain endured would be worth it in the end.

Ava was nearly an hour into her shift, having just finished her rounds and heading to the nurses station to update charts.

"You okay?" Ava's coworker Jess asked with a chuckle.

Ava practically fell into her chair, breathing heavily while her back ached, feeling like it was on fire. She felt like she couldn't catch her breath, laying a hand over her chest to feel the frantic beat of her heart.

"Ava?"

The pain in Ava's back traveled to her stomach; sharp and pungent, provoking a small whine to fall from her lips.

"Something's wrong," Ava gasped as another sharp pain shot through the lowest part of her belly.

"Okay, deep breaths," Jess eased as she kneeled next to Ava, blindly reaching up on the desk to grab Ava's phone. "Are you having a contraction?"

"No, no," Ava repeated as she tried to settle her breath and ignore the tears burning her eyes.

Her vision went spotty as she keeled over in pain, her hands gripping her belly. Ava could hear Jess calling for Dr. Sobel, her calm voice repeating that everything was gonna be okay.

"Call Harry," Ava breathed.

And then everything went black.

***