19th April 2015

Swerving the bike past the traffic and rain, Rajesh twists the accelerator to its limit so that he reaches home on time. 'Once the water breaks, we will have our grandchild in no time' are the words that keep ringing in his mind as he makes his way home. But life is never fair. Like the calm before the storm, the withered traffic on his way back was too good to be true. 'Clang' comes a loud noise from his bike, as Rajesh finds no acceleration on the bike, even though he has twisted the accelerator to its limit. Twisting it back and forth, he only finds the engine revving, but his bike constantly losing speed. Tensing more, he decide's to coast the remaining distance with the speed available. Good for him, he makes home. But the priority now is not bike, but Pallavi. Putting the stand on his bike, he races up to his apartment. Sweaty palms make it bit difficult to open the door, but nevertheless he open them after a few fumbled attempts. Opening the door, he finds Pallavi seated on the bean bag chair, taking deep breaths.

"Pallavi, I rushed back home as soon as possible. How are you feeling?" Rajesh rushes closer too her, clutching her palm into his. In the process he clumsily falls down, which brings a small chuckle in Pallavi.

"I am ok. Contractions have not started yet. But they mig..." Pallavi is cut off as her face goes into a terrible cringe, as her first contraction hits with no warning

"Aaarrrggghhhh" she screams, literally crushing Rajesh's hand.

"Easy Pallavi. Deep breaths honey. I am calling the ambulance right now." he assures her, as he picks up his phone and starts to dial the hospital they are consulting with. The receptionist picks up after 3 rings. Not losing a minute, Rajesh blurts out his plight to the receptionist, who assures him to keep Pallavi calm as she gets the ambulance at his place. As if the situation was not worse enough, untimely shower hits the city. Popular for potholes, water stagnation, flooding roads, this might cause the ambulance to reach late.

"Pallavi, let me take you downstairs. That way we wont have to wait as the ambulance personnel come." Rajesh suggests her, nudging her to get up.

"Arrgh..Rajesh..I can't get.. up..uumph and walk" Pallavi mutters between her breaths.

'I could carry her downstairs but I can't take any risk' Rajesh contemplates in between holding her hand and pacifying. Suddenly an Idea flashes in his mind. Their downstairs neighbor Mr. Naresh sometimes uses a wheelchair. He would definitely lend them his wheelchair.

"Wait Pallavi. I will ask Mr. Naresh for his wheelchair" Rajesh yells, as runs for the door, jumping two stairs at a time. he reaches Mr. Naresh's door and rings the bells. Mr. Naresh opens the door and finds a sweaty and anxious Rajesh outside the door.

"what happened son? Take a breath. Calm down." Mr. Naresh instructs as he opens the door.

"Uncle, sorry to bother you at this moment, but can I borrow your wheel chair? Pallavi has gone into labor. I have called for the ambulance and thought better take her down. But her water broke and she is unable to walk?"

"Worry not son. Here. You go up with my missus. I will bring the wheelchair" he answers with a confident voice, as he calls for his wife and sends her up with Rajesh.

"Don't worry Rajesh. Everything will go good." Mrs. Naresh explains Rajesh, who surprisingly at 60 is able to jump two steps at a time, keeping in pace with Rajesh. They both reach their home. Mrs. Naresh provides Pallavi with all her emotional support she needs, and assists Rajesh in getting her to the lift, where Mr. Naresh is standing ready with his wheelchair. One step at a time, Pallavi inches closer to the lift. Mrs. Naresh helps her into the chair. As they go down, Pallavi chuckles on her plight.

"Why are you laughing?" Rajesh asks, thinking his wife has gone mad with her pain.

"All we need in a hospital gown and glucose bottle and I would be ready to deliver our child in this damn lift" she jokes, clearly not in the best moment.

"Worst joke ever honey. But keep it. Maybe on our third child, you might be able to make Naresh uncle laugh" replies Rajesh which gets Naresh uncle roll a chuckle. hearing him laugh, Pallavi gives a scorn, to which Rajesh winks. The small attempt to lighten up the moment goes successful, as the couple forgets the stress for a second. As they reach the ground floor, Rajesh pushes Pallavi out of the lift, just as she gets another contraction.Looking at her wince, Mrs. Naresh races to her and holds her in a tight hug, rubbing her back and easing her tension. Looking at her pain, his state of helplessness, Rajesh is on the edge of falling into a panic attack. Mr. Naresh puts his hand on Rajesh's shoulder and instructs him to take a deep breath. To their luck, the ambulance arrives at the moment.

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(the skip in this section, connects the story back into the first chapter)

Pacing in the hospital lobby restless, Rajesh finds himself alone and unaware of the situation of his wife, except for her screams at times. Last he spoke to the doctor was twenty minutes ago as, made her way out of the operation theater. He had called up Tarun and Neeraj and informed them of the situation. Tarun said that he is coming there with Jenny and his mother. Sitting restless on the chairs, he finds one of the nurse making her way to the operation theater.

"Sister please advise me of the situation. I need to know about my wife's condition" Rajesh literally pleads to her.

"Sir, please. Don't disturb us. We will inform you at the correct time. Please just wait here" the nurse replies, as she makes her way inside the operation theater. With the nurse not giving fitting reply, Rajesh's concern increases. Adding to the misery, his parents are out of contact, praying for their grandchild in Rishikesh. Though they left 3 days ago and are due back home tomorrow, with no moral support, Rajesh feels helpless. As if his present condition is not enough, the head doctor comes out, with a nurse running ahead of her.

"Mr. Rajesh. Pallavi is at 9 cm's, but the baby is breech. If the baby doesn't get in the right position by the she is fully dilated, it will lead to complications." Like a rock on his head, Rajesh slumps down on the chair, feeling like the life just got sucked out of him.

"Don't worry Mr. Rajesh. We have informed our most senior surgeon of the condition and he has reached the hospital. We have the situation in control. On your part, put your faith in god." the doctor reassures him, as she heads back inside the theater. Not long, an elderly man makes his way into the theater. Though Rajesh could only catch a small glimpse of the senior doctor's face, the glow and confidence with which he carried himself, gave Rajesh some reassurance. Tarun and his family make their way to the waiting room just then.

"Look, there" Neeraj shakes Tarun's shoulder, as they both race towards Rajesh, as Jenny and Tarun's mom follow suit.

"Hey buddy. Everything is Ok right? How you holding up?" Neeraj asks kneeling down, as Tarun just hold Rajesh's shoulder.

"The doctor said, she has expanded to 9 cm's, but the baby is breech. So if they don't resolve it quickly, it will lead to complications. So they have called a senior doctor, who just went inside. On top of it, my parents are out of contact from the evening."

"Don't worry man. Everything will play out just fine" Tarun assures him.

Without speaking a word, Tarun mom sits beside Rajesh and takes his hand into her and holds it tight, giving him the needed emotional support. Rajesh realizes that with his friends beside him, he has nothing to worry upon. Jenny kneels down near the chairs and starts offering prayers, to give Pallavi the strength to go through the miracle of birth. With the operation theater now sealed shut, none of Pallavi's screams and doctors instructions are heard outside. After 10 minutes, which seem like a lifetime for them, the doctor comes out with a gleam on her face

"Congratulations Mr. Rajesh. Your baby girl has taken her first breath in this world."

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A huge thanks to all my readers. Without your support I would have never made it this far. This chapter is the final one. In the following epilogue, I will provide glimpses of spin offs. The spin off will involve Jenny's side of story and a surprise ;) ;)  

A huge thanks to my sister @siyasarasaga for without her constant support, motivation, I would have never been able to reach this far. I would urge all my readers to check out her works.