"John!"

I knew something was wrong the moment I heard the fear and the pain in her voice. I dropped the shelf standard next to my toolbox and almost tripped on the laundry basket next to the door of the pink nursery. Stumbling down the stairs two at a time, I found Carly in the hall, tears streaming down her pale face, hands clutching her swollen belly.

"John I think the baby's comin'," she said hysterically.

Panic flooded through me, turning my blood to ice. No, it was way too soon! She was only twenty-five weeks along.

"It's too soon, she's not ready yet... she doesn't even have a name!" Carly cried, voicing my thoughts.

"Okay," I breathed, trying to separate the father from the paramedic. I could do this. "How far apart are the contractions?" I asked her, jumping the last two steps and making my way to her. I led her into the living room and sat her down on the couch.

"I... I don't know... Twenty minutes I think, maybe," she replied as I whipped out my phone and dialed Sally Nesbitt's office to let her know what was going on. She told us to head to the hospital immediately. "John," she pleaded, and the look on her face absolutely destroyed me.

They took us immediately when we arrived into the ER and after a quick examination the doctor sent us straight up to OB/GYN.

Carly was already 3 centimeters dilated.

I won't ever forget the feeling of dread I felt when we were told this. She was dilated, that meant the baby was coming and she was coming fast. From that point on, we were thrown headfirst into a frenzy of tests, needles and scans.

I grabbed onto Carly's hand and held on tight.

It was the longest twelve hours of my life; it was chaos and dead silence, all mixed together, rattling me to the core. The doctors and nurses were in and out throughout the evening and well into the night. They got an IV in Carly's arm and pumped her with steroids to help develop the baby's lungs, as well as Tocolytics to temporarily stop the contractions.

Then we waited.

It was the early hours of March 15 and we were both lying together in her hospital bed, my arms wrapped around her. I didn't know if I was allowed to be lying here with her, but the nurses coming in and out didn't say anything and I didn't ask. Sleep wouldn't come though, not to me and not to her, despite the pain medication in her system.

"Arianna," I whispered in the gloom, the only light source coming from the hallway outside the hospital room.

"It'll remind me too much of Ariana Grande," Carly whispered back.

"I don't know who that is," I admitted.

"She's a pop singer... I don't like her," Carly told me.

She started singing the lyrics to a familiar song I'd heard on the radio a couple times, although I still couldn't place a face to the name. I didn't exactly listen to mainstream music though, so that was my excuse.

"Mm, alright then, we're not havin' a little Ari," I replied.

"What about Madison, or Addison?" Carly asked.

"Addison," I spoke the name, letting it roll off my tongue.

"We could call her Addie," Carly murmured.

"Little Addie," I smiled. I liked it.

We were silent for a while. I couldn't even begin to imagine what was going through her head right now, but then again I could barely make sense of my own thoughts. I was so goddamn tired... and terrified out of my mind.

"Did we just decide on our daughter's name?" Carly asked, tipping her chin up to look at me. I adjusted my arm around her shoulders, trying to fight against the numbness settling in.

"I think we did," I chuckled.

Careful not to pull on Carly's IV, I let my free hand rest on her belly, waiting for the moment the baby – Addie – would give us her kick of approval.

It took a little while, but there it was, the kick we were looking for.

"She'll be okay, right?" Carly asked.

"She'll be fine, she's got good genes and all the love in the world," I said without hesitation.

I needed to believe it, or else I'd lose my damn mind. The pregnancy was unexpected and for a while I wasn't sure I could pull off the whole dad thing, but now there was no question about it, I loved this little girl more than anything. This tiny little human that Carly and I had created together already had me wrapped around her little finger and I hadn't even met her yet.

Darryl and Maisy came to visit a few hours after dawn, both looking like they hadn't had that much sleep either. When they came into the hospital room the nurse had just given Carly a stronger sedative to help her sleep, so we weren't expecting her to wake up for a little while. I didn't want to leave her side, but Maisy and Darryl convinced me to go down to the cafeteria to at least grab some coffee.

"You need it, you look like shit," Darryl commented.

Maisy gave him a stern look, but I didn't mind the joking around. The sense of normalcy was exactly what I needed right now.

While Maisy went and grabbed us some coffee, Darryl and I grabbed a table near the big double doors of the cafeteria. It was relatively quiet for it being peak breakfast time.

"How you holdin' up, man?" Darryl asked.

"I'm not," I admitted with a humorless laugh, running my fingers through my hair. "I'm tryin' to keep it together for her but..." I trailed off, letting the rest of my sentence go unspoken.

"I feel you brother," Darryl nodded as Maisy waddled her way towards our table, setting down a tray with steaming hot coffee in the middle of the table, as well as a bag with an assortment of muffins. "Listen, if you need us to go and grab somethin' from the ranch, or call people..." he trailed off.

"Yeah, just let us know, we're more than happy to help," Maisy nodded, flopping down next to Darryl and biting into a blueberry muffin rather greedily.

"Yeah... thanks... We didn't have a hospital bag ready so uh... we don't have anythin' on us right now. Um... Carly's probably gonna want some pajamas or somethin', she hates the hospital gown..." I said, not quite sure where my brain was at right now. I could hardly think straight. "Maybe her iPad so she'll have somethin' to pass the time..." I sighed.

Maisy and Darryl got to talk to Carly for a bit before they left a little before Noon.

I spent the afternoon pacing. I walked to the TV and wiped the dust off the top with my index finger. I rearranged the flowers in the vase on the table. I sat down and then stood right back up again.

"You're drivin' me crazy, stop it," Carly murmured, half-asleep.

"Hey," I whispered, rushing to be by her side.

"Hey," she smiled weakly.

"Do you need anythin'? Do you want me to fetch the doctor?" I asked her.

"I just need you," she said.

"I'm here," I told her, reaching for her hand.

"I know," she replied a little shakily.

"Are you hurtin'?" I asked.

She seemed to consider my question for a moment, readjusting herself in the hospital bed. "No... I feel okay..." she said finally.

"No contractions?" I asked.

"No contractions," she replied.

Another day went by without too much change. The drugs were working, but it wouldn't be much longer now. Then, at 6:41pm on March 16, at twenty-five weeks and six days, Carly went into labor again.

I was out at the ranch checking on things and making sure Travis was holding down the fort when I got the call. I was real damn glad I didn't see any police cruisers on my way back to the hospital, since I was going well over the speed limit and would've surely been pulled over.

"Hey, hold it!" I called out as I ran towards the elevator. A short nurse with platinum blonde hair and pink scrubs held the elevator door for me and I thanked her a little breathlessly. The name tag on her scrubs read: Callaway.

"Which floor?" she asked.

"Maternity," I told her.

"New daddy?" she smiled warmly.

"Soon," I said, absolute terror on my face at the prospect.

"Ah, well congratulations," she grinned.

"Thanks," I replied as the elevator dinged and the doors slid open.

I started running again, turning into Carly's hospital room just in time. She was 10 centimeters dilated and they were rushing her into the delivery room.

She started crying when she saw me.

"I'm here baby," I said as I kissed the side of her head, reaching for her hand. "It'll be fine. We can do this. Let's go meet our little Addie," I told her.

"Okay," she giggled through her tears.