Prerna was in her mother's room for days. She didn't want to leave the bed because she was so upset. When she had come home that night, her brother had known what had happened. He tried to comfort her, telling her she knew how it was going to end, but that just made her cry harder. How was she going to live without Kukki? If not for the frequent calls with her ex step daughter, Prerna wouldn't have eaten. Kukki video called her in the mornings so they could eat breakfast together, then at dinner and bed time. Even so far away from her, Prerna sang Kukki her lullaby every night.

One night, Prerna had finally gotten off the bed. Apparently her baby was getting tired of it. She paced the room, trying to find some peace, but nothing was helping.

"Neend nahi aa rahi?" Veena asked as she came into the room for the night.

Prerna sighed. "Pata nahi. Kuch awazaari si ho rahi hai," she put a hand on her back and stood leaning on one foot.

Veena giggled as she did some idle work. "Jabh tum hone waali thi na, mera bhi yahi hashar tha. Pata kiyun? Jabh tak tumhare papa ghar nahi aajate aur tum se baat na kar lete, eik minute ka sakoon nahi aata tha tujhe. Papa ka to pata nahi, lekin baccha bilkul tum pe gaya hai."

Prerna watched her, shocked as she listened to the story. No one had mentioned her pregnancy until now. "A-aap ko kaise pata?"

Veena patted the bed as she sat down. Prerna got into her side of the bed.

"Maa hoon na teri. Maa ki nazroon se kuch nahi chupta."

Prerna smiled and put her head in her mother's lap. Veena grabbed the tv remote as she stroked Prerna's hair.

"Chalo tv laga lete hain. Shayad uss mein hi kuch kaam ka mil jaye," Veena smiled as she turned it on.

They flipped through multiple channels and programs until a news channel was showing Mr. Bajaj. The journalists were hounding him and asking him about his daughter's kidnapping. After a while of listening Rishabh talk, Prerna finally felt comfort at long last. In her belly, that is. However, after listening to what happened the day he had finally decided to let her go, Prerna felt bad about not being with them. But, after finally having found peace in her body, she quickly fell asleep.

In the morning, Prerna finally left the room to join her family for prayer. She even sang aarti with them. After prayer, she tried to help with breakfast, but her mother didn't let her do much hard work. She resigned herself to easy work that she could do while sitting.

In the afternoon, Rishabh brought Kukki home from school. Kukki ran straight to the bathroom and Rishabh let himself to the kitchen. He grabbed a water bottle and was walking back out when he almost choked.

"Maasi? Aap kabh aayi?" Rishabh asked, not expecting anyone home.

"Der se aayi!" Sharda scolded him as he joined her in the living room. "Mujhe koi kuch batane ki fursat hi nahi karta. Yeh kya sunn rahi hoon main? Main chali kya gayi, tumne piche se shadi kya, divorce bhi kar li?"

Rishabh was at a loss for words. "Aapko kisne bataya?

"Kya farq parta hai iss se?"

"Mehra," Rishabh scowled as he figured it out.

"Khabar daar usko kuch kaha to. Woh tumhara nahi, mera banda hai. Uska kaam hai tumhara khayaal rakhne ka."

Rishabh sighed. "Aap, abhi aayi hai. Get settled, we'll talk later."

"Dadi!"

Sharda gasped and turned around to face Kukki. "K-Kukki?! Aap boli?"

Kukki ran to her grandmother and hugged her. "Meri voice is back!"

Sharda hugged and kissed her. "Sunn rahi hoon main! Aap dono daddy daughter ne dadi ko itne surprise diye hain!"

"Aap mere liye gift layi?" Kukki asked as she sat beside her dadi.

"Of course! Pura suitcase aapke liye hai! Aur sirf aap ke liye nahi, aap ki new mumma ke liye bhi. Kahaan hai woh?"

Kukki frowned. "Pari maa ghar chali gayi. Her dadi was sick. Aur main nahi jaa sakti hoon."

Sharda put Kukki on her lap. "Koi baat nahi. Abh dadi aa gayi hai na? Main sabh thik kar doon gi. Abh gifts dekhein?" She diverted the topic.

Kukki and Dadi opened the suitcase of gifts together. "Yeh dekho main aap ke liye kya layi hoon!" She pulled out some stuff. "Aur iss mein se kuch aap ki maasi aur cousins ki taraf se bhi hain. Aapko pata hai woh sabh aapko itna miss karte hain? Abh aap bol bhi sakti ho, toh phir abh aap unhe call bhi kar sakti ho, hain na?"

Rishabh was sitting across from them watching them open presents. He felt guilty keeping Kukki away from her maternal family, but this year has been so busy for both of them. "Sorry. Iss year bohot busy tha. Hum Christmas pe jaa sakte hain milne."

"Yay!" Kukki cheered. "Holiday!"

Kukki and Dadi spent the whole evening catching up and playing with her new things. She told her all about her year, and everything about her new mom, especially the best birthday she had.

In the evening, Prerna got an email from Kukki's party planner. She had finally sent over the video of the day. It had been a great day. Everyone was so happy. The video had sections so every part of the event was organized. In the beginning of the video was the arrivals, which showed all the guests coming in. Prerna especially paid attention when her own family walked in, and then something unexpected caught her eye. Kukki was greeting everyone, and then she greeted Anurag. She signed, "hi friend".

Usually anytime Kukki was talking about specific friends, she used their names. Because she knew their names. Kukki didn't know Anurag's name, so she just called him friend. When Prerna had asked why Kukki was hiding so long in their game that day, she had said that Friend told her to not go.

In the evening, Kukki was watching cartoons so Sharda left her alone and went to finally get some answers out of Rishabh. She let herself into his office and dawdled about.

"Toh, yeh miracle Prerna ka hai?" Sharda asked about Kukki's voice coming back.

"Haan. Maine contract kiya tha Prerna ke saath. Jabh Kukki thik ho gayi, tabh hamara contract khatam ho gaya tha."

"Rishabh," Sharda gently scolded him as she sat in his guest chair. "Shaadi viyah koi temporary business deal to nahi hoti na? Lifetime commitment hoti hai. Aur uss ladki ka socha bhi hai tumne?"

"Socha hai, maasi," bohot socha hai, he thought to himself. Uske ilawa kuch aur socha hi nahi hai.

"Nahi socha. Tum jaante ho hamari society kitni mushkil hai aam admi ke liye. Tum jaante bhi ho divorce ladkiyon ke saath hota bhi kya hai?"

He knew, and he knew Prerna wasn't going to be staying alone forever. As soon as Anurag would find out Prerna was single, he would take her back.

Rishabh didn't want to talk about her anymore. He had too much stuff to do; like attending a building demolition of a faulty warehouse of his. He didn't want to do this, but there would be only one way to keep his aunt from talking about Prerna too much.

"Woh Moloy Basu ki bahu hai," he revealed.

Sharda was shocked. Their family didn't have a good history with Basu.

"Aur... tum yeh baat jaante thhe?"

"Ji. Maine yeh jaan kar shaadi ki thi ke woh Anurag Basu se pyaar karti hai aur uss se shaadi karna chahti hai."

Sharda removed herself from her seat and slowly stood up.

"Maasi," Rishabh stood up and reached for her, but she whacked his hand away.

"Maine tumse kui aur baat nahi karni," she warned and exited his office.

Rishabh was going to follow her, but he got the call. Probably best to put some distance, he thought, and left the house.

Prerna had figured it all out and didn't want to stay home a second longer. She had made her decision, and it wasn't Anurag anymore. She was desperate to go back home. Prerna ran out the house, forcing Veena to go after to make sure she was okay. They took a cab to Bajaj Manor.

The cab arrived outside the mansion and the gatekeeper quickly opened the gates seeing who it was.

"Ma'am? Aap yahaan itni raat ko?" The house manager arrived once she ran inside.

"Mr. Bajaj kahaan hai, Kartik? Maine unse abhi milna hai!" Prerna tried hard to keep herself from crying.

"Sir ghar pe nahi hai, ma'am," he ominously told her, hoping she would not ask further.

"Kahan gaye hai? Mujhe batao!"

"Ma'am, please!"

"Main shor macha doongi! Please mujhe bataein Rishabh kahan gaye hain?"

The manager sighed. "Sir warehouse gaye hain," he told her where Rishabh had gone.

"Maa, aap Kukki ke saath rehlo," Prerna turned to her mother, figuring the girl was home alone. "Main Rishabh ke paas ja rahi hoon."

Prerna left her mother and ran back to the car, not noticing the old lady watching her from the balcony. The manager tried to call Rishabh.

Rishabh was busy talking with the demolition workers. It was too noisy on the site to hear his phone. Suddenly, Mehra came running to him.

"Sir! Bohot badi problem ho gayi hai!" Mehra told him what had happened.

"What?!" Rishabh yelled. "Stop the demolition! Koi abhi kuch nahi kare ga!" He ordered Mehra to stay and make sure no one pressed the buttons while he ran to look for Prerna, hoping she was alright. He couldn't stop the timed TNT from going off.

"Mr. Bajaj!" Prerna was calling through the empty warehouse. An explosion somewhere had her scared and she ran up and reached the management offices in the third floor. She was getting tired and wasn't paying attention to the exertion she was putting on her body.

"Ms. Sharma!" Rishabh skidded to a stop outside the door. He was breathless, tears in his eyes. "Are you out of your mind?! Aap yahaan..."

"Chup!" Prerna yelled. "Bas, chup! Bohot ho gaye aap ke orders aur aap ke decisions aur aap aap aap!"

Rishabh was speechless, but she had really picked the worst situation ever.

"Kon hote hain aap? Meri life se khelne wale? Aap ki marzi hui to shaadi karli, aap ki marzi hui to khayaal rakh liya, aur aap ki marzi hui toh chhord diya!" She stepped closer to him, tears finally falling down her face.

"Kabhi yeh nahi puccha ke meri marzi kya ho sakti hai."

"Aap ki marzi kon nahi jaanta?" Rishabh whispered.

"Nahi jaanta! Koi nahi jaanta!" She didn't realize her water broke. "Aap meri marzi nahi jaante! Eik baar. Bas, eik baar puuch liya hota ke main kya chahti hoon. Kisko... chahti hoon."

Rishabh looked at her in shock as he realized what she was coming to.

"Haan, main Anurag se pyaar karti thi. Kiyunki zindagi main kuchh arsa uske ilawa kuch aur thha hi nahi. Main samajhti thi ke Anurag se accha koi aur ho hi nahi sakta, kiyunki tabh tak kisi ne mujhe aur kuch dikhaya hi nahi.

"Aur phir aap meri zindagi mein aye. Aur maine jaana, ke pyaar sirf better standards nahi hote. Aap ne mujhe sikhaya ke asal pyaar mein kya hota hai. Asal pyaar mein shayad I love you kehne ki gunjaesh bhi nahi hoti, lekin aaj main aap se kehna chahti hoon..." Prerna finally teetered over, and he caught her.

"I love you, Rishabh. Main aapse bohot pyaar karti hoon. Aur main aapke baghair nahi jeena chahti."

Rishabh caressed her face, wiping tears and hair off her face. "I love you too."

Prerna held his arm tightly as a cramp overcame her. Rishabh finally noticed what was going on.

"Fuck!" He swore and ripped off his jacket. "You're going into labor."

Prerna groaned and grabbed her sides as her body was starting to pain. Rishabh held her hand and despite her refusal, helped her lay on the floor.

"Mere se nahi hoga! Aur yahaan, akele? I can't do it!" Prerna cried.

Rishabh grabbed her hand and squeezed it tightly. "You can do it. And you're not alone. Main hoon na aapke saath. Just, focus on breathing."

He instructed her and took out his phone. "Send in the EMTs," Rishabh ordered Mehra. "Prerna's going into labor," he told him where they were and returned his attention to Prerna.

The ambulances were already at the site incase anything went wrong, so it didn't take Mehra long to arrive at with the EMTs. By the time they had arrived, it was too late to do anything but make her comfortable.

"It's okay, breathe. In, in, out, out. Follow your body," Rishabh was guiding her from experience.

Prerna breathed and pushed long as her body called for it.

"Mr. Bajaj," she said.

"You're doing great. We're almost there," he commended her.

"Mr. Bajaj, agar mujhe kuch ho gaya..."

"Kuch nahi hoga aapko, Prerna. I won't let anything happen to you. Now come on, push!"

She pushed again and continued what she was saying. "Wada karein.... Aap iss bacche ko apna naam dein ge."

She pushed again. "Yeh, yeh hamara baccha hoga. Aur kisi ka nahi."

"Aapko kuch nahi hoga, Prerna," Rishabh said again. "I promise."

The EMTs gave her water and cold compresses while Rishabh was helping her give birth. It took another twenty minutes, and Prerna gave birth to a little boy. Rishabh smiled and cried as he held the kid out.

"Congratulations. It's a boy," he told her as he cradled the messy newborn. An EMT gave him clean scissors and he cut the cord.

"Aapka beta hai," Rishabh said and gave Prerna her son. She held him on her chest and cried, but she wasn't done yet. She had some more pushing to do. But this time, things weren't going so smoothly. After trying to push for minutes, she lost her breath and passed out.

"She's having blood loss! Inhe hospital lejana parde ga!" One of the EMTs told him. They handed him the baby and shoved him aside as they finally put her on the stretcher and ran her to the ambulance.

Prerna's pallu got stuck on Rishabh's watch, and stayed behind as she was walked away. Rishabh picked the long cloth off his watch and wrapped the baby in it before he carefully followed the EMTs out to the car. The ambulance was full so he had to follow after.

On his way, he gave a call to Veena, telling her they were on the way to the hospital. Luckily, she was already at the mansion and he asked her to bring Kukki and Sharda to the hospital with her.