Expecting it All (Punishment Pit #7) - Livia Grant Page 0,16

Da—Derek." Rachel glanced sideways at the nearby nurse taking inventory of the items in the supply cabinet along the far wall.

She looked pale.

"How are you feeling, baby? What can I get for you?" he asked.

"I'm thirsty."

He grinned. "Thirsty. That's something I can fix."

He was returning with a small cup of ice water when the monitor next to the bed lit up, the faint but fast heartbeats of his young son sounding in the room. Rachel was grabbing her baby-bump, and it took Derek a few seconds to realize she was having a contraction.

He held her hand until the contraction ended about one minute later. She smiled weakly when it was over. "That wasn't so bad."

Derek began to relax. Maybe things would be okay, after all.

Six hours and seventy-three contractions later, Derek was frazzled. He didn't know how his baby girl was staying so calm. The only good thing about the slow progress was that he'd had time to settle into the routine.

He'd called their parents, who were on their way to camp out in the waiting room, despite how slowly things were moving. He'd tried to convince them to stay home until they got closer to the birth, but they wouldn't hear of it.

He'd even had time to grab some soup and crackers for Rach and himself. Since she was a low risk birth, they allowed her to eat to keep up her strength. Being able to feed her, help her to the potty, and even give her a quick sponge bath, helped keep him calm.

But by the time they hit midnight, Rachel was a mess. Dr. Taylor had been in to check on her hours before and had gone home, promising to come back when he was needed. He had offered to order up an epidural for her so she could get some rest, but Rachel had refused, stating that she wanted to do things as drug free as possible. While Derek admired her, it took all of his self-control to stop from overriding her decision and forcing her to get the pain-relieving option.

By three in the morning, the contractions were still three minutes apart. She was progressing slowly and finally dilating faster, but at this rate, they were still many hours away. There were no words to describe how much Derek hated seeing Rachel in pain and not being able to do more than hold her hand, count with her, help her pace their small room when her back pain got too bad, and feed her fucking ice chips.

After a particularly long and painful contraction, an exhausted Rachel finally broke down and started crying, begging him to make it stop.

"Please, Daddy... I can't do this anymore. I just want to be your little girl. What was I thinking?" Her vulnerable tears cut him. His baby had been in labor for over twelve hours, and the end wasn't in sight yet.

Derek looked down at the love of his life, curled up on her side, in pain, drained and feeling defeated. For the first time since her water broke, he finally felt as though he knew what to do. His baby needed him to take charge.

"Nurse, get the anesthesiologist back. It's time for that epidural."

Rachel looked up at him through her watery eyes. "No, Daddy. I wanted to do it without drugs. My sisters all did it without an epidural."

He swished her sweaty hair back from her face, stroking her gently. "Well, good for them, but that's not what's best for you, baby girl. I checked with James and he says it's safe. Mary had one with the twins. You're worn out and need to get some rest. This will let you have a nap for a few hours, so you can wake up ready to push when the time comes."

"But Daddy—"

"Daddy knows best." He leaned down to kiss her forehead and, when he pulled back, relief shone in her eyes. She had needed him to make the hard call.

"Yes, Daddy. I love you," she murmured.

"Not as much as I love you, baby."

He didn't miss the curious looks from the OB nurse who was in the room with them at the time of the exchange, but Derek didn't really give a shit whether she approved of their lifestyle or not. All that mattered to him was that his baby was in pain and needed help.

It took thirty minutes to bring Rachel the relief she needed, but within minutes of the epidural being administered, the worry lines were gone from around