'What a man gotta do?

To be totally locked up by you'

I am 8 months into my pregnancy and it feels like I become a ton heavier each day.

"Ace," I say weakly from the couch. Being the amazing partner that he is, he hangs up on the phone, that I didn't realize was occupying him, and walks over to me.

"What's wrong?" He says worriedly.

I hate being so weak that he constantly has to worry about me but this pregnancy hasn't been easy at all.

"I don't know," I say, sleep deprived.

"Do you want to go walk around the lake?" He suggests.

"Not by the guards," I whine, wanting to spend more time with him. He's been very busy with work and we haven't been sleeping in the same bed because I feel bad about my toss ups.

"I'll walk with you then," he smiles when he sees my excitement.

After getting on my wheelchair, Ace wheels me to a park that he had rented out for me to get fresh air in. We talk nonstop and it would be the first time in a while that I've felt peace.

"Do you think we could get pizza here?" I ask once we're settled in on a bench.

"I can make it happen," he pulls out his phone and dials a number. "Which type of pizza?"

"Cheese," I think, "or pepperoni or hawaiian," I list out. After a minute of continuous listing, he decides to get every option and feed the leftovers to the guards at close proximity.

"What will his name be?" I ponder and catch Ace staring at me. He tucks a piece of my hair behind my ear before answering.

"Given that you deny all my options, whatever you want," he chuckles to himself.

"Your options so far have been Chicken Little, Robert Downey Jr. Jr. and Batman," I defend.

"How about Alexander?" He suggests, this time un ironically.

"Is that too general though?"

"It's my middle name that I got from my grandpa," he explains his logic.

"Baby Alex," I check the sound of it and get a kick in response. "Your child has awoken," I laugh and guide his hand to my belly.

"Man, he's really strong just like his father," hearing Ace talk in a baby talk has been the most wholesome thing I have seen.

"The sun's going down, should we go wait for the pizza at home?" I suggest.

"Your wish is my command," he stands up, ready to assist me in plopping down on my wheelchair.

"Than-" Before I could stand up, I feel a sharp pain followed by fluids gushing out of me. I immediately look at Ace to see him wide eyed and pale without a show of excitement.

I look down to see red tinted water, which is weird because it's not supposed to be red at all. Then I follow the trial and notice that I am leaking blood.

"I think my water just broke," I say, petrified. I had practiced my reaction for this moment but all of the options didn't involve blood.

"I know, it will be okay," Ace says, fiddling with his phone when another sharp pain struck my body and I muffle my scream with my hands to not cause a more dramatic scene.

"He really wants to get out," I joke around, out of breath and I only get a slight smile from Ace. Within the next few seconds, I was in the front seat of some car with Ace driving behind black SUVs that cleared the way.

"We don't have a name yet," I worry. "I don't even have a hospital bag or a song for when he comes out," I panic further before another contraction cuts me off, to which Ace leads me to breathe through it.

Other than the occasional cursing at traffic and soothing me, he didn't say anything else.

Once we've reached the hospital, they signed us in quickly and we settled in a room, waiting for the doctor.

Neither of us said anything, mostly because I was in pain and Ace was worried, until my doctor arrived. She assessed what the blood could've been caused by and suggests we think of a C section for the birth.

"There is a higher risk of infection now so we want to cover all grounds to keep both the mom and the baby safe," she explains.

"But I've been following all of your orders, how could've this happened?" I squeeze Ace's hand that was in mine.

"It's a very rare occurrence but we think it might've been caused by trauma to your abdomen previous to your pregnancy," she mentions and my body tenses up. It must've been from when I was living with Daniel and he thought I was a punching bag.

The doctor leaves us for some time alone to think about our options.

"I'm sorry," Ace apologizes.

"What for?" I take his face in my hands and stroke his hair out of his face.

"I feel so useless right now," he pushes himself away from the bed and paces around.

I feel another contraction coming and I adjust my grip on the bed and extend my hand for Ace's, to which he immediately gives.

"We're both fighters," I say once it passes. "Nothing bad will happen, there has just been a mild complication," I reassure him, but mostly myself. If I was allowed to freak out, I would be breaking down the walls. But I now have another tiny human to think about.

If I knew today would be the day Ray goes into labor, I would've done so many things differently. I would've spent the entire day by her side, made her whatever she craved, and then drove her to the hospital and been her rock.

Seeing her whimper at the passing contractions has given me more pain than I've ever felt. I think about the possibility of never being able to kiss her again, or hold her, but I immediately push them away. She is probably more scared than I am by a million and I can't chicken out.

We had informed the doctor of our decision to proceed with the operation and they start setting her up with the proper attire.

"Ace," she whispers to me. I squat down to her eye level and lend her my ear. "I'm scared," she trembles in my arms and breaks my heart.

"I'm not leaving your side," I hug her closer, "if anyone can do this, Ray, you can."

Within seconds of saying that, I notice how pale she has become and hear the nurses calling for the doctor.

"Okay, Ray, there has been a lot of blood loss on your end so we just want to make sure you and the baby are healthy. Let's get a move on, clear the room for an emergency C," the doctor orders and I could feel my heart sinking.

"Is something wrong with my baby? I'm not due yet," Ray cries in fear.

"There's nothing wrong yet and we're trying to keep it that way," the doctor responds calmly.

They wheel her in to a dimmer and colder room filled with sharp objects and I feel Ray's arm shaking in fear. I soothe her my whisper sweet words and kissing her forehead a bunch.

They plant a sheet divider so we can't see them opening her stomach up and I take over distracting Ray who's becoming whiter by the minute.

"Barney the Friendly Purple Dinosaur is one we haven't thought of," the most I can do it try to get her mind off of this.

"I don't want him to be bullied by his classmates," she faintly responds. I get worried sick when her eyes cloud up for a few seconds but I keep a smile on my face.

"The seven guards around him won't allow that," and just then, we could hear the sound of a loud cry fill up the room and my heart immediately felt this euphoria without even seeing him.

"Mr. and Mrs. Knight, congratulations on your baby boy," she says the time of birth and gestures for me to cut his cord and be the first to hold him.

He was barely the size of a melon and the weight of a feather, but he was perfect in every single way. His head was filled with sparse hair and he was curled up from head to toe. His eyes remained closed as he continued to holler at me. All of my worries washed away when I saw there was nothing visibly wrong with him and all I wanted to do was sit with him on me. I fight the tears that burn my throat and take him to Ray before the nurses can take him away.

"He's beautiful," she sobs, "just like you," she caresses my cheek while holding him tight.

"I don't know what I did to ever deserve being part of your family, but I'm so glad I did it," I couldn't hold the tear any longer so Ray brushes it with her thumb.

She suddenly flinches in pain and I quickly look over to check if the suture are going okay but she starts gasping for air.

"Her heart rate is slowing down," I hear the doctor say and feel as her hold around our son loosen a bit.

"Ace, take him," she extends her arm as I take the crying baby from her hold and give him to the nurse, more concerned about her.

"What's going on?" I ask as they push different things into the IV but no one was responding. I hear the cries of my baby fade away as they take him someplace else and Ray become limper than ever.

"Alex," Ray whispers, "don't leave our son's side," she says, very disoriented.

Before I could refuse, some nurses guide me outside of the emergency hall into the waiting room with much resistance and run back to the room I left Ray at.