The closer Denise's contractions got, the more nervous she and Chris became. She was in a lot of pain so she tried to focus on that pain to distract herself from the fact that she was about to have a baby. She channeled her writer's mind, convincing herself that this was an experience she could use to better her writing. Denise did things like that all the time, she found she coped better if she saw what she feared doing as an experience to help with her writing. The last time she went to the dentist, she told herself she was a spy who'd been caught and was being tortured for information. Chris thought she was insane, but said if it worked to relieve her of her anxiety that came every time she had to go to the dentist that she should "do you, boo." So now that she was having blindingly painful contractions- which had become five minutes apart- she convinced herself that she was a victim of a stabbing so she could later utilize the pain to write something in the crime/thriller genre.

Chris, on the other hand, had his sole focus on Denise. He wished he had the capability to distract himself with her methods, instead he had to live through her agony and listen to every whimper she emitted whenever she had a contraction. It'd been three and a half hours of five minute apart contractions, yet there was still no progress. Denise naively believed it would've been easier, that after her water broke she'd start pushing and a baby would pop out of her. Unfortunately, it was not; she was going to suffer for quite a while before her son arrived. Chris was glad his in-laws were around to keep them company, but he really wished his mom was there too. He glanced at his watch, it wouldn't be long now. It was 11:56AM now and Lisa's flight was arriving at 12:15PM. Richard left for the airport half an hour ago to pick Lisa up to save Chris from leaving Denise's side. Everyone in that room knew she needed him with her every step of the way, that there was no way she was going to do anything without him.

"What do you need, sweetheart?" Chris asked, gently brushing away the tears that had rolled down Denise's cheeks. She couldn't take the pain anymore, her distraction was losing its effect because no story was worth what she was going through. "Do you want me to get you something from the vending machine? A packet of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups?" He quizzed and she nodded quickly, hoping chocolate would help subside, or at least distract her from the pain.

"No, I'm sorry," Tina stopped Chris, "no. I don't recommend eating while in labor, sweetheart. It'll be dangerous if they have to end up putting you under, you could vomit and choke." She explained her disapproval and Denise frowned with a pout. "If you really need to eat something, you've got it keep it light. You should only eat things that won't make you feel worst than you already do, and we all know chocolate is not one of those things."

"That's true, baby," Chris agreed with Tina, and Denise silently did too. She loved chocolate, but that didn't mean chocolate always reciprocated that love. It wasn't that she was allergic or intolerant, it was more of a psychological reaction because she preferred to clean eat and chocolate wasn't exactly part of clean eating. Either way, she usually felt awful after chocolate. It was a kind of awful she didn't need while already going through something awful. "You can have Reese's after you have Jack, as a celebratory snack."

"So what can I have?" Denise asked, then screwed her eyes shut as another contraction hit her. It wasn't even just the contractions that caused her pain, it was everything; everything hurt at that point in time. "Other than ice chips because I'm sick of chewing ice chips," she told them, taking another few deep breaths.

"I'm going to go see if I can get you some Jell-O," Tina offered, patting the back of her daughter's hand. "Watch her and call Dr. McCullough if anything changes." Chris nodded. "And don't get her that chocolate bar," she warned and he nodded again, lips pursed. "And don't you try and convince him to get you that chocolate bar, young lady." She said to Denise before she took her leave because she knew her daughter like the back of her hand.

Chris chuckled when he saw Denise rolled her eyes. "I doubt I'd need much convincing," he pulled her hand to his lips. "You're having my son, I would do anything for you right now." Denise opened her mouth to ask for chocolate, only to get shot down before she could. "Anything that doesn't make you feel worst than you already do." He told her and she huffed. "How are you feeling?" He asked, lowering her hand back onto the bed.

"Conflicted." She answered, pulling her hand away from his touch so she could wipe the tears from her eyes. "Like I want this to be over, but I don't think I'm ready to have our baby." She told him and he gave her a sympathetic smile. "Chris," another fresh set of tears filled her eyes. "I don't know if I can do this. I know I said I wouldn't be like Pam, but-" she started to cry, "I don't think I can do this. It hurts so bad already, I don't know if I can take anymore."

"Hey, it's okay." He got off his chair and sat down next to her on the bed, wrapping an arm around her. "Everything's going to be okay, I promise. Look-" he huffed. "I can't promise you it won't hurt because we both know it will, but I promise I'm going to be right here with you. Okay?" He waited for her to nod then kissed the top of her head. "I love you, Denise." He whispered into her hair as she leaned into him.

"I love you too."

Tina returned with strawberry Jell-O about ten minutes later, and Denise ate that while she wasn't suffering from contractions. Around 1:24PM, her contractions became even closer at four minutes apart, and Richard arrived with Lisa. The rest of Chris' family, and Denise's weren't due until the 15th of March, a Sunday, the day after Jack's original birth date. They knew Denise would already be panicky enough pushing a baby out of her without the room full of people, so they decided to hold off until the baby arrived.

The next few hours leading up to 4:14PM- when Denise's cervix was finally dilated enough- her contractions progressed at a steady pace, to the stage Dr. McCullough needed her to be at. Chris joked, "Jack must have known I needed Mom here." Denise managed a light laugh, then went back to freaking out because she knew she was about to start pushing. The nurses checked her pulse, blood pressure and temperature, then strapped a monitor to her abdomen to check the baby's heart rate. Chris and Denise couldn't stop smiling when they heard Jack's little heartbeat. As scared and nervous as they were, they were excited to bring their little boy into the world.

Denise's delivery took about ninety minutes, and all ninety minutes was engulfed in immense pain. She cried, she screamed, she swore, and she squeezed the life out of Chris' hand- but she did it, all without defecating on the table or having an episiotomy. Her afterbirth was fairly easy on her too, it took no less than five minutes. She'd read birth stories online about women having trouble with their placenta and thanked God she wasn't one of them. But that was it, she was done. She was no longer pregnant, she no longer had to suffer contractions or push because Jack had arrived and she was a mom.

"Here's your son, you two."

Chris felt his heart skip a beat when Dr. McCullough held up Jack for him and Denise to see. Denise was a little too distracted by the pain to zero her blurry vision in on her baby, but Chris saw him. Chris saw Jack. He saw him covered in blood and gunk, but still thought he was absolutely beautiful. Denise cried out of joy when Chris said, "you did it, he's beautiful, baby" and kissed her forehead. The nurse quickly wiped their son's tiny face then bundled him up so he could meet his parents for the first time.

Denise was hesitant to take Jack at first because she'd never held a newborn before. He seemed so small and fragile and she was afraid she'd hurt him. But Chris, and everyone else in the room, assured her "babies are a lot stronger than they seem." He sat beside her as the nurse carefully placed Jack in her arms. The moment she held him she immediately understood why people wanted children, and why she would have a second in a heartbeat in spite of everything she'd just endured. All that she'd been so afraid of faded and everything just fell into place. She was a mom, the baby in her arms was hers. She started to sob which worried Chris until he realized she was smiling. He wrapped an arm around her and kissed the top of her head, his other hand gently interacted with one of Jack's.

Now every parent believed their baby was the most beautiful baby they'd ever laid eyes on, but Chris and Denise knew for a fact that theirs was. Jack was perfection personified and they couldn't believe he was finally in front of them after nine months of waiting. Neither Chris nor Denise could stop smiling, or crying at the sight of him. He was real, it wasn't just a vivid dream. She'd just had a baby boy, they were officially parents.

"Hi," Denise smiled at Jack, who she swore smiled back. Chris smiled too, he smiled widely as he watched his wife interact with their son. "We're your mom and dad, we made you." She started crying harder when she said that because it seemed impossible that human could make smaller humans. "And we will love you unconditionally and endlessly." She whispered then tenderly kissed his tiny forehead.

"Just like I love you," Chris told her and she turned to him, smiling when he dipped his head and pecked her lips. "I am so proud of you, Denise. I don't think I have loved you more than in this moment, thank you for him." She pressed a kiss to his jawline then turned back to Jack when Chris' gaze fell on him. "Welcome to the world, Jackson Christopher Evans."