Beginnings -- chapter 8

Nine Months and Two Weeks Pregnant

One hand twisted around the rail of the hospital bed, while the other rested on her stomach and she bent her knees as far as her belly would allow.

“Where the hell is he?” Eames asked.

“Do you want me to text him again?” Carrie, her sister, asked.

“No,” Eames groaned and twisted her body.

“Another contraction?”

Eames nodded and her sister began to time it.

“Okay,” she breathed out as it passed.

“Do you want some ice chips?” Carrie asked.

“No, I don’t want any damn ice chips.”

“Look, big sis, I didn’t get you into this predicament this time, so you can’t abuse me this time,” she teased.

Eames tried to laugh. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay…I still love you.”

“You better,” Eames snorted.

Carrie laughed and then looked up at the footsteps coming through the door.

“Hey Bobby,” Carrie said.

“What the hell took you so long?”

Goren nodded hello to Carrie as he approached the bed and loosened his tie.

“We were at a crime scene,” he said.

“I’m two weeks overdue and he’s sniffing dead bodies.”

“I told you I would have taken the time off.”

“I’m gonna go make phone calls,” Carrie said just before slipping out the door.

“And you told me not to,” Goren finished.

Eames sighed. “I know…so tell me about it.”

“What?”

“The case!” she huffed and then recoiled. “I’m sorry.”

She reached out for his hand.

“You’re not going to break it are you?”

She faintly smiled. “I’ll try not too.”

He knew a short tempered Eames was usually hiding a worried or scared Eames.

“Fair enough,” he said as he tightened his fingers around hers and then kissed the back of her hand. “How do you feel?”

She responded with her you’re not serious look, though she knew he was.

“Well…I have a bowling ball nipping at my crotch, I’m already tired…all the nurses are young, pretty, and disgustingly cheery. I can’t believe I forgot how much this hurts…and I’m starting to realize I have no idea what I’ve gotten myself into…sure I’ve taken care of my nieces and nephews, but I’ve always given them back—“

“Hey,” he said, teasingly stern. “I thought I had the patent on freaking out in this relationship.”

Eames laughed despite the pain and fear bubbling through her.

“You’ve been spending too much time with me…you’re starting to sound like me.”

He smiled and leaned to kiss her temple. He lingered there, allowing her to feel his breath and he began to massage her scalp with his fingertips.

“You’ve always known everything’s going to be okay,” the vibration of his voice was soft against her skin. “You even managed to get me to believe it…there’s no reason to think differently now.”

She squeezed his hand and they continued to wait.

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Eames was curled on her side with heavy eyelids and muscles still aching. She lifted her lids and a lazy smile crossed her lips at the sight across from her.

Goren sat in a chair near her hospital bed and traced the tiny, soft features of the little girl resting in the crook of his arm.

“Hey,” she said with a hoarse voice.

“Hey,” he smiled up at her.

“Well, what do you think?”

He opened his mouth but no words would come out

“Will wonders never cease,” Eames smirked. “You’re speechless.”

He turned back to study the girl’s face and lightly drew his finger along her brow and into the hair that was so obviously his, then down her cheek to the nose that was so obviously Eames’.

“It’s strange,” he finally said. “How…how natural this feels…how attached…”

“I know,” Eames said as she shifted and raised the bed to a sitting position. “Come here.”

Goren slipped the little girl into Eames’ lap and sat beside her. He wrapped an arm around her hips and let her lean into his shoulder, so that his chin grazed her temple.

“She’s absolutely beautiful, Eames,” he said softly.

“Hey, Madison,” Eames said as a tiny fist captured her index finger.

Eames thought back to the first time she did this and how the experience changed her completely, but that he wasn’t hers, then drowned in the fact that she was.

She pressed her palm against her teary eyes.

“Hey,” Goren tilted his head to see her face.

“Sorry…I’m just a little overwhelmed, I guess.”

“Yeah, me too…I just…I’ve never seen you cry.”

Eames smiled. “Don’t tell.”

“Promise,” he smiled and held up is free hand in surrender.

“Did Carrie leave?”

“Yeah…when your parents got here. She’s going to try to come back later with Nathan. Lucas is apparently going to come by with Cass after his shift, but Danny is stuck at the firehouse. Lily may come without him depending on how she’s feeling.”

“I take it mom gave you the run down?”

“Yeah.”

“They’ve seen her, right?”

Goren nodded. “Your…your dad…hugged me.”

Eames laughed. “You’ll learn that granddaughters make great bargaining tools with my old man.”

“And Deakins came by…”

“Really?”

Goren nodded. “Yeah…officially he says he’s very disappointed in our un-professionalism and for lying to him—“

“We didn’t lie…we just omitted.”

“I tried that, but…he said unofficially…she’s…a very lucky girl.”

For a moment her resolve was softened by the sentiment.

“He didn’t try to hug you too, did he?”

Goren laughed. “Thankfully no.”

“Have you told your mom yet?”

“I called her…she’s called me three times since then. She wants to talk to you…wants to tell you to make sure I bring the two of you with me to see her.”

“I can call her…”

“You don’t have to.”

“Will it help?”

He nodded reluctantly. “Probably.”

“Then I’ll call.”

“Thanks,” he said. “Uh…they wanted me to finalize the birth certificate, but we never really finished discussing last names.”

“Hyphen or no hyphen.”

“We haven’t even thought about middle names, so…what if Eames is her middle name.”

“That’s a lot of last names,” she smiled. “But I think it suits her. And you already signed off on it didn’t you?”

“Well they were very pushy about it.”

She laughed and leaned her head back to look up at him. It was the first time she can remember not seeing any hint of worry or trepidation in the corners of his eyes.

He lightly touched his lips to hers and they both smiled.