Mari arrived at the emergency room to find Bryan and Cole waiting in the general waiting area.

"What's happening?" she asked frantically.

Bryan looked up from his phone. "Have you heard from Mike?"

She shook her head. It seemed pointless to contact him before she had information.

"Alison's with her. They're checking her ankle, but I think they plan to send her upstairs."

"Is she in labor?" Mari asked concerned.

"We still don't know, but he's coming."

She felt embarrassed that Bryan automatically looked to her. Has Mike told him anything about her? She didn't understand what was going on between them so how could Bryan?

"Anna needs him."

Bryan's phone rang. He listened and turned to her and Cole who had been sitting silently. He was looking at his phone but bouncing his leg up and down rapidly.

"The ankle's just bruised. They're taking her upstairs for OB to check her out."

"Can we go up there?" Cole asked.

Bryan sighed. "I think there's a place to wait."

Anna kept saying she was fine. She wanted to see Cole and go home and forget.

Alison reminded her that Tim and Amy were trusting her to take care of their baby. They rolled her in a bed like she was going into surgery or was dead. Except she wasn't dead because she could feel the ice on her ankle and it was cold.

Alison was with her but she was freaking her out. Every time she looked at her, she had a weird smile on her face. Like it was too friendly - too fake.

When they pushed her into a room, they wanted her to change into a hospital gown. She was wearing her bikini and didn't even have underwear. So she was lying in a bed practically naked. There was a sheet covering up her to the bump and the nurse lifted her gown so she could poke and prod it. Then she put a strap around her and explained it was to monitor the baby.

The nurse showed her the screen, but all she heard was contraction. She couldn't be having contractions because she wasn't in pain and it was way too early. She counted - four weeks in August and another four in September. Eight weeks equaled too early.

A doctor came in who wasn't Anna's doctor. She looked serious and Anna felt scared. A wire attached to her must have told the doctor she was nervous.

"Anna relax. It will help your baby."

Alison said, "I'd like my husband to come in. He has medical training and will ask the right questions."

Anna said, "Cole too."

The doctor asked, "The father?"

Both Anna and Alison said, "No!"

A nurse must have gone for them because soon Bryan, Cole and Mari were in her room. They looked as scared as she felt. Mari took one hand and Cole took another.

A nurse said, "What a nice support system. Who is her mother?"

Anna said, "No one here."

Bryan said, "Her father will be here in the morning."

Anna exhaled as if she had been holding her breath. "He will?" Mari nodded and Anna felt tears fighting to leak out.

Mari listen to the doctor explain that she was having real contractions.

"They may be from the fall or they could be because teen mothers commonly have preterm labor. We want to give her a steroid shot to mature the lungs, but we need to hold things off for at least a few days. We need the time for the steroid to work. Every day matters, because she will not be thirty-two weeks for three more days. The neonatologist will tell you that thirty-two weeks is a big milestone."

Everyone listened, and no one interrupted the doctor.

"So we'd like to get started right away. There are some side effects to the terbutaline, but we'll monitor her carefully."

Bryan asked, "So you're hoping she can hold on for a few days. Could she hold on longer?"

"Possibly. In some cases, labor can stop."

Mari looked at Bryan. "I can update Mike. He'll want to let Amy and Tim know."

Bryan nodded just as Anna exclaimed, "They'll hate me! Uncle Tim and Aunt Amy will hate me!"

Mari tried to calm her. "No, they won't. You haven't done anything wrong."

The doctor said, "Remember Anna calm for your baby."

Cole said softly, "Remember you're the best cousin ever. No one could ever hate you."

Mari breathed because thanks to Cole, Anna relaxed.

Mari was about to step outside to call Mike when another doctor appeared.

"I'm Tom Miller, the head of the NICU, the unit that cares for premature babies."

Everyone listened as he explained that the baby would need medical care but should be fine. "Most babies need help breathing for a while and stay with us until close to their due date."

Mari was about to slip out to call Mike when Alison said, "I should go call Sam and Rory."

Dr. Miller said, "Sam and Rory? Not Rory Harris?"

Bryan said, "Yes, Sam's my son. Anna's father is my best friend, so they're like cousins."

The doctor smiled. "Emma is my goddaughter."

Cole said, "You were Emma's doctor when she was born!"

He nodded. "Anna, I'll take care of your baby with as much care as I did Emma."

Mari liked the doctor and would tell Mike to reassure him. She slipped out and went back to the waiting area, they sat in before.

He answered on the second ring.

Mike was cruising making good time. Still, he had miles and miles of road ahead of him with nothing but worries to occupy his mind. Trying to avoid thinking about Anna, he dwelt on the mess he was in with his job. It seemed obvious that Schlosser had gotten to Fielding already. That guy would not stop until he had Mike's job. It pissed Mike off because he was playing dirty and he wasn't even the most qualified. He worried about leaving the folks of Turner in his hands. He laughed out loud, like he owed those people anything.

His anger carried him through a few exits and then he circled back to Anna or more accurately Mari. She had texted him before he hit the road that she and Bryan were waiting for information. Was she literally waiting with Bryan? Had she overcome her fears to go sit under fluorescent lights in a hospital waiting room. He hoped his baby girl was all right. He hoped his niece would be fine. As soon as he started thinking of the baby as Tim's, he began to fall in love with her.

Glancing at the screen, the GPS estimated he'd arrive at four am but that was without stopping. He gave himself an hour before he would need to give back his last cup of coffee and get a new one. He'd get water too so he could stay hydrated.

His phone rang, and he pressed the bluetooth he had worn so he could safely take calls. His truck wasn't equipped with bells and whistles like the ones that connected phones. He had seen the destruction from phones in cars but he couldn't be out of reach for over twelve hours. He didn't know who was calling as he answered.

"Mike."

"Mari, how is she? What's happening?"

"She's okay, but the doctor says she's in labor. They're giving her something to stop it but it may only be for a day or two."

"It's still so early." He thought of his brother.

"The NICU doctor promised it should be fine. They gave her a shot for the lungs."

Mike had heard about the steroid shots. Between his work and people's experiences he knew just enough to be dangerous.

"Tim and Amy will want to come. You should call them."

He looked at the clock and assessed his bladder. "Okay, I will."

"Are you driving to the airport? When's your flight?"

"I'm not flying. I'm driving straight through."

"When will you get here?"

"By seven am." He purposely told her later than he expected so she wouldn't worry. "Can you leave the key under the mat for me?"

"There is one under the planter already."

"Is she going to be okay?"

"She's got plenty of support but she needs you. What about her mother?"

"I'll wait until I see Anna before I tell her. Mar, thanks for being there for her. I know it couldn't have been easy."

"Truthfully, I hardly thought twice. I was so concerned. I was there. I saw her fall."

"How did she fall? Bryan didn't know."

"It happened so fast."

Mari didn't want to lie but didn't want to give him more to worry about.

"I'll see what I can find out."

"Thanks. I'm gonna stop so I can dial my brother. So all the docs are optimistic."

"Yes, but the baby won't be going home for a long time. They need to know that.

"Okay. Thanks."

"Mike."

"Yeah."

"Drive carefully."

"You know it."