Chapter dedication: keps-keps

Song recommendation for the chapter: Ariana Grande Ft. Justin Bieber - Stuck with you. 🎶 🎶

Wiping his wet hands on a clean rag, he tossed the soiled cloth aside and motioned Lee closer.

"Your purse was on the coffee table in the living room last I saw." He pulled Lee into the opening between his legs, leaning forward to place a little kiss on the belly that housed his child. "Why do you need it?"

He was in the kitchen making lunch for Lee, since she seemed to be eating a lot now in her third trimester. Even though she was swollen everywhere, Lee ate like nobody's business and Chris obliged her. After they moved into the new house after their wedding, Chris worked from the house because of Lee. They'd opened another bakery in SoHo where Lee employed people to manage it while Rachel managed the one in Harlem.

All in all, life was good.

Lee smiled. "We need to go and pick up some stuff at the grocery store. Milk, cheese, bread. . ." She paused, her smile turning impish. "Chocolate."

Chris laughed. "Did you run out already?"

Just last week he'd bought almost three pounds of dark chocolate, much to their baby's delight. Like most pregnant women, Lee had developed an extreme fondness for the bittersweet treat.

"The chocolate was just sooooooooo good! I can't help myself. . ." Lee bit her bottom lip, eyes filling with tears. "I'm sorry."

Chris silently groaned. Damn those pregnancy hormones.

He smiled and pulled this wife close, trying to keep his wet hands off her pretty dress.

"Baby, I don't mind if you like chocolate. If you wanted nine hundred pounds of the stuff, I'd buy out every store in town for you just to make you happy. You can have as much chocolate as you want," Chris promised.

Lee gave him a little, watery smile. "Really?" she asked.

Chris nodded. "Really really."

She instantly brightened, tears fading.

Chris got the sense he had just been played.

"Good! Because I want lots more. And maybe some chocolate-covered pretzels..." she sighed suddenly, smile fading into bliss.

Chris found himself slightly disturbed when he noticed that the face she made looked like the same face Lee made when they made love together.

"Yeah, chocolate and salt together? Yum!" She licked her lips and rubbed her hands over her extended stomach.

Chris couldn't help but chuckle at the funny picture the woman made. "We need to get some fruits too. You can't always eat only chocolate," he said.

Lee rolled her eyes and grumbled to herself, turning to pull open the fridge and rummage through its cool interior.

"I think as long as we keep a good amount of fresh fruits and vegetables in the house, we'll be just fine."

"Yes, the only thing we have to be worried about is the amount of gas all that healthy eating is going to create." She pressed her hand against her stomach. "I think I'm experiencing some right now."

"Do you want some medicine?"

"No, I'm sure it'll pass. I think I'll just lie down for a little while. Oh, ouch." Lee grimaced and grabbed her stomach again.

"Lee, do you think we need to go to the hospital?"

"Again? No way. If I show up there one more time with gas, I think they're going to start airing me out from the doctor's window."

"Alright, but if it keeps up, I think we should go in."

"I'll be fine, Chris." Lee hobbled her way, toward the bedroom. "I just need to empty my bladder and lay down."

"I'm going to check on you in about an hour. If you feel better by then, we will go and get the chocolate."

"Okay, that sounds fine."

Chris bit his lip as he watched his wife waddle— not that he'd say that to her face after what happened two months ago, when she cried that he was calling her fat— "Did you repack the bag yet?"

"It's just gas, Chris!" She sighed and collapsed on the bed. "I just want you out already." She murmured as she snuggled close to the pregnancy pillow Chris got for her when she started showing as a very large gas bubble threatened to explode.

Although there was no explosion, Lee did feel a very strange little pop. While she thought about what it might have been, she realized something mortifying.

She was wetting the bed. Apparently the gas was bad enough that she didn't even notice she had to pee.

"Ledia? Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine, Chris. Don't come in here!" Lee stumbled off the bed and dripped all the way to the bathroom. When she reached the bathroom there was another gush. She looked down at the puddle on the floor and screamed. "Christopher!"

"What?"

"Chris!"

"You said don't come in!"

"Oh my God, Christopher Ross, get in here right now!"

Chris ran through the door toward the bathroom. Lee didn't think to warn him about the drips along the way. Just as he reached her his feet flew through the moisture and up into the air. He landed hard on his back.

"Ouch!"

"Are you okay?"

"I'm not sure." He groaned. "Why is the floor wet?"

"Uhm, well. . ." She looked down at her soaked pants.

"Oh, baby, did you have an accident?" He scrambled to his feet and groaned again. He clutched his back.

"I don't think so. Chris, I think maybe it's time."

"Time?" He leaned against the wall and looked at her. "Time for what?"

"The baby."

"Oh, wow! Did your water break?" He stared at her, then the still-growing puddle.

"Either that or my bladder has decided to stage a hostile takeover of my body."

"Oh no, we're not ready. Wait, make it stop. I need to think." He paced around, his fingers tapping a staccato on his temple.

"I can't make it stop, Chris, and we're going to have to be ready!"

"But the bag isn't packed!"

"I don't care about the bag, get me to the fucking hospital!"

"Alright, alright. Yes, okay, let's just get you to the hospital." He grabbed her hand and started to pull her out of the bathroom.

"Wait, don't you think I should change?"

"No, I don't think you should change."

"But what if it's pee?"

"Lee!"

"Alright, I hear you!"

They hurried out to the car with her mind spinning the entire time. Despite her water breaking, Lee didn't feel any relief from what she thought was gas pain.

"Chris, please hurry or park now and get this baby out of me yourself!"

"I'm going as fast as I can, Ledia, we don't want to get into an accident."

"You're right." She took a deep breath. "Just pay attention to the road. We'll get there."

When they reached the hospital, Chris pulled right up to the emergency room. He tripped out of the car in an attempt to run for a wheelchair. As he fell on the curb a nurse rushed up to him.

"What's wrong, sir? Are you having chest pain?"

"No, just back pain. I fell in some bodily fluid."

"What?" She stared at him.

Lee groaned from inside the car as another wave of what she was pretty sure wasn't gas pain washed over her.

"Oh! Ma'am, are you okay?" She opened the car door for Lee and helped her out and into a wheelchair.

"I think the baby is coming."

"Okay, just focus on your breathing. We'll get you right up to the maternity ward."

As Lee looked over her shoulder, Chris hobbled after them, one hand on his back and one on the hip he'd hit the curb with.

She almost felt sorry for him. Almost.

Once they were inside, a flurry of motion overtook her. Lee was whisked out of her clothes, into a gown, into the bed, with wires hooked up all over to monitor her heartbeat and the baby's. Two nurses and a doctor examined her.

"Mrs. Ross, your baby seems to be in a hurry to be brought into the world."

"Of course." Chris smiled. "It is Little Ledia."

"We're not naming her Ledia!"

They decided to wait until she gave birth to their daughter before choosing a name for her only because they weren't able to agree on the list of names their family members provided them with.

"Well, then what?"

"I don't know yet, but not that."

"Okay." He brushed her hair back from her eyes.

"Okay." She grimaced through another mild contraction. "Is it going to get much more painful?"

"Every woman is different. Some have very painful contractions, some don't seem too uncomfortable. The important thing is that you communicate how you're feeling so we can take whatever steps we need to get you comfortable, okay?"

"Okay." Lee squeezed Chris's hand and looked over at him. "What if I can't do this?"

"You can, sweetheart. I'm right here with you." Chris squeezed her hand. "No regrets, right?"

"Yes." she sighed and closed her eyes. "No, regrets."

About an hour later, however, Lee was screaming something very different.

"I regret this!"

Chris almost laughed. Lee saw the corners of his mouth twitch, but then he thought better at the last second. He'd better not laugh. She'd been in labor for almost two hours and nothing about this was funny. "It'll be over soon."

Lee fought the urge to punch him. "Something is very wrong, don't you get it?!"

"What is it?" He pressed the call button for the nurse.

A nurse rushed in and checked the machines, then smiled at Lee. "Looks like we're getting close. I'll have the doctor take a look."

By the time the doctor came in, Lee was really uncomfortable.

"I think I need another shot of whatever you gave me earlier."

"Sorry, I'm afraid it's too late for that. It's good for you to feel a little bit, but the pain shouldn't be too bad. Just focus on your breathing, because pretty soon we're going to start pushing."

"This is it!" Chris grinned as he looked into her eyes.

"What are you smiling about? I'm about to push a baby out of my body!"

"I know. It's just amazing."

"For you maybe." She groaned. "You don't have to be in pain. I'll never let you near me again with that dick of yours."

"No, I don't have to be in pain, but I did hurt myself in the bodily fluid!"

"Oh, yeah." Lee laughed. "That was great!" Her words melted into a moan.

"I'm not sure if I would describe it as great."

"Be glad you're a man."

"My father told me that he fainted when I was born." Chris blurted out.

Lee narrowed her eyes at him. "He what?"

Chris nodded. "My mom confirmed it."

"Well, you better not faint."

"Alright, time to push!" The doctor stuck her head between Lee's knees.

Lee didn't care. She didn't care if there were five hundred doctors checking out what was happening down there. She didn't care if the wall collapsed and the rest of the world saw her with her legs spread wide open.

All she cared about was one thing.

"Get her out!"

"It's okay, Lee." Chris took a deep breath and released it in a pattern. "Just remember, it's all going to be over soon."

"It hurts! Wow, does it hurt!" Lee moaned. "I'm never doing this again-never!"

"Okay, another push, Mrs. Ross, good hard push."

"That's what you said the last three times!" Lee groaned and Chris helped her to sit up.

"Squeeze my hand, baby, squeeze it as hard as you want to."

"I don't want to squeeze your hand! I want this to stop!" Big tears slid down her cheeks.

"Chris, come down here. Your baby is on her way!" The doctor grinned. Chris joined the doctor at Lee's knees.

And then the doctor still wanted another push.

This was fucking ridiculous.

"Are you sure that's a baby I'm trying to push out?” Lee asked, her own voice sounding hysterical to her ears. "You sure that's not a whole football team?"

"Pretty sure." The doctor dared smile at her.

Lee wanted to kill her. But she also wanted this to be over, so she took as deep of a breath as she could and pushed once more.

"Just one more push, Ledia." The doctor patted her knee.

"Liar!" She groaned and pushed as hard as she could.

"Here she comes, Ledia! You did it! Wow, look at that!" Chris gasped.

"And. . .she's here!" The doctor laughed as she helped Chris guide the baby.

Lee noticed Chris's face got very pale during the process and wondered just what he might be seeing. A moment later he held up a writhing, screeching, goo-covered baby.

"She's here, Ledia, she's really here!"

He set her down on Lee's chest.

Lee didn't even care that she couldn't recognize what was all over her skin. She kissed her baby's forehead, the top of her head, her nose and her cheeks, until she had more goo on her face than the baby did on her.

"Welcome to the world. I'm so glad you're here." Lee kissed her gently on the head. "She's so beautiful."

"Yes, she is." Chris smiled at Lee as he draped his arm around her shoulders and gazed down at the baby in her arms.

The baby gazed back at him, with those gorgeous amber eyes that belonged to her father.

"You did a good job, Mrs. Ross. You both did. You're looking good and so is the baby. Take a little time together and then we can get her cleaned up." The doctor told them with a smile.

Lee nodded as she traced the baby's soft skin with her fingers. All ten toes and fingers were complete. "Isn't she the most amazing baby you've ever seen? What are we naming her? She needs a kickass name."

"I'm not sure." Chris peered at the baby a little more closely. Lee had to smile at the concentrated look on her face. He was treating this question as if he'd never been asked anything more important.

He finally said. "Elodie Jessica Ross?"

Lee tested the name on her lips with a smile. She liked it. "Okay, Elodie it is. She looks like a Elodie."

"Elodie, we're going to take very good care of you. I promise." Chris grinned.

"I know." Lee laughed.

The nurses finally arrived to measure and clean Elodie up while Lee was cleaned up and wheeled out of the delivery room to a private ward where she rested with Chris by the side. He kept pressing kisses to her dry lips and kept praising her for bringing their daughter to the world. Lee basked in the praise with a satisfied grin.

"So, do you still not want another baby?"

Lee grinned at him. "Maybe one or two more."

Whatever Chris wanted to say was cut off when the door opened and Chris's and Lee's family rushed into the room with balloons, gift bag and smiles on their faces. Lee let herself be smothered in hugs and kisses as everyone congratulated them.

Beverly was the last to greet her. The beautiful woman had tears in her eyes, but her smile was bigger than the sun. "Thank you so much, Ledia."

"No, thank you for giving birth to this wonderful man." Lee grinned and basked in the hug she received in return.

Sutton's baby, Alisha, was asleep in Carson's arms. Lee had the time to hug her sister and her friends, where they communicated silently about their father. Lee didn't feel much pain when she thought of him now. She felt assured that he was watching over them with their mother and that he was finally happy.

"I can't wait to see baby Ross." Rainy squealed making everyone laugh.

"She'll look like my brother for sure," Caesar said, his chest all puffed out. His wife slapped his arms with a smile.

"No way." Amanda sniffed. "She better look like Ledia."

Then the banter about who the baby looked like began. Finally, the nurse carried Elodie, swaddled in a white wool blanket, into the room. Lee took the baby with a smile as everyone crowded around her to see the baby.

After kissing her forehead, Lee allowed the baby to be taken by Beverly who cooed at the sleeping baby. Everyone gathered around her with smiles on their faces. There was no dry eyes in the room.

Chris sat beside her on the bed and kissed her forehead. "Thank you so much for loving me and giving me another chance, Ledia. I love you so much."

"And I love you too, Christopher."

Lee let herself be pulled against her husband's warm, broad chest as they watch their family gush over the latest Baby Ross.

They started out rough and unsure and had so many obstacles on the way. They almost didn't make it. But here they were, surrounded by their family and loved ones. Their love brought together so many people from different backgrounds to make a family filled with happiness. This moment was everything.

This was love.

The End.

😥🤧🤧🤧.