Merry Christmas, Baby

“It’s clean,” Lucille said. “And has good lighting. There’s a private bathroom in there with a working sink for everyone to wash in, and I just sent someone to hunt down towels and blankets. It’s the back office, private and quiet.”

It would have to do. Sawyer bent down and lifted Chloe in his arms. He followed Josh through the community room, down the hallway to the offices, and into one where the desk had been cleared off and covered with blankets and pillows.

He set Chloe down and turned, raising a brow to find Ford, Jax, Tara, and Maddie all crowded into the room behind them.

Tara and Maddie pushed past him to cluster around Chloe.

The guys faced him. “Going to be a daddy,” Ford said, and clasped a hand to his shoulder. “You ready?”

“I don’t think he is,” Jax said. “He’s looking a little pale.” He leaned in close. “Just make sure you don’t faint. They really hate it when the daddies faint.”

Sawyer firmly escorted them out of the room.

“This is pretty appropriate, Chloe,” Tara said. “All your life you’ve been racing through it, and now your baby’s taking after you.”

“You,” Chloe said in a hiss, “I could do without right now.”

Josh and Mallory washed thoroughly, and then Mallory instructed Sawyer to remove his jacket and wash up as well.

The best thing that could be said about Chloe’s labor was that it was brief. Brief but hard. Over the next hour she screamed and cursed at Sawyer, and for good measure, Tara and Maddie as well. She actually decided to ban them, saying, “I want to be alone with the man who put me in this condition.”

Tara and Maddie opened their mouths to argue, and Chloe, in a moment of absolute stubborn clarity, sat up and jabbed a finger to the door.

They left, and Chloe went back to her business of having a baby with a single-mindedness that impressed the hell out of Sawyer. She’d have made one hell of a world leader—if the world could get past the fact that she loved drama but not rules or any form of organization.

The loud festivities continued in the community room, making a strange accompaniment as Chloe’s labor pains came harder and closer together.

Mallory was called out when one of the party revelers got drunk and slipped and fell, hitting his head. “Effing Anderson,” Josh muttered.

Maddie came back in and Chloe seemed happy to see her. Not five minutes later Josh said, “Head’s crowning. Need another set of hands over here.”

Maddie and Sawyer looked at each other, and then Maddie started to move toward Josh.

“No!” Chloe yelled. She gave Sawyer a nudge that was more like a shove. “Go help our baby. She needs you.”

Sawyer hesitated. He didn’t want to move from her side, plus there was the very real fact that she had a vise grip on his hand so hard he was pretty sure she’d embedded her fingers into his skin.

“Sawyer,” Josh said, and something in his tone had Sawyer disentangling his hand from Chloe’s—probably with only a few broken bones. He kissed her forehead before shifting to the end of the makeshift bed.

“Can you do this?” Josh asked quietly.

Sawyer, who had no idea what he was agreeing to, nodded.

“Some dads pass out,” Josh warned.

“Not this one,” Sawyer said, and hoped that was true.

Josh kept his voice low for Sawyer’s ears only. “The cord’s wrapped around the baby’s neck. I need you to put one hand here, under the baby’s head, and the other here so that when the shoulders come out, you’ll get a good grip.”

Jesus. He nodded.

“It’ll be slippery; be careful. I’m going to make sure the cord doesn’t wrap any tighter.” Josh looked at Chloe. “Ready to push?”

She looked panic-stricken. “No! Listen, this has been fun, but I want to go home now, okay? I’ll come back tomorrow, I promise.”

Sawyer knew she was completely consumed by the pain and a little out of it. Leaning over her, he put his face right in hers to get her attention. “Chloe, babe, you’ve got this.”

“But I don’t!”

“You do. Don’t you know? You’re the strongest woman I’ve ever met. You can do anything.”

Her glossy eyes filled. “I can’t. Please, Sawyer, do this for me?”

She never asked for help, never, and she was officially killing him. “Oh, babe,” he said softly, wishing with everything he had that he could do just that. “I’ve got you. I’m right here. Together, okay?”

Another strong contraction hit and she had no choice.

“Chloe, push,” Josh instructed.

She clearly gave it all she had, crying out with it, almost screaming, and Maddie yelled right along with her, no doubt because her fingers were now being crushed instead of Sawyer’s. As the contraction seemed to go on and on, Chloe rode the wave, swearing with impressive skill, threatening both Sawyer and Josh for good measure while she was at it.

“I’m sorry,” she gasped when she could, panting, trying to catch a full breath. Sawyer had been watching her carefully for signs of asthma, but so far so good.

“No worries, and you’re doing great,” Josh told her. “The last woman I helped deliver threatened to cut off my twig and berries. Of course, it was my wife, so…”

Chloe laughed and then cried out again with another contraction, each of which was ripping Sawyer’s heart out, just right fucking out of his chest.