Chapter 12
Mandy sat up straight in bed. Sweat was pouring down her face, and she was shaking.
Danny was next to her in bed, breathing steadily. He had no clue of anything going on in the bed.
She carefully got up and waddled to the bathroom. Once there, she gave herself a look in the mirror. She splashed water onto her face, in hopes of cooling herself down. And then, she looked in the mirror again.
Her face wasn't as flushed as before, and her shaking had stopped. Her breathing had returned to normal, and her body didn't feel like it was one fire.
Mandy shook her head as she went back to bed. She had heard that you had erotic dreams when you were pregnant, but this was ridiculous.
As she climbed into bed, Danny stirred a little. She smiled to herself. At least the dream wasn't at all plausible. She could see it happening.
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"Now, I do what?" Mandy said, looking at the "nursery".
When they had found out she was pregnant, she and Danny had looked into turning a room in his apartment into a nursery, or had to decide if they needed a new apartment. Luckily, in the same building, a two bedroom apartment opened up. And, the landlord gladly let them switch apartments. Sure, there was a lot of paperwork, and Mandy was sure she must have signed away a few years of her future kid's lives, but the new nursery was worth it.
She and Mira had put in what effort they could into it. Flack, Danny, Chad, Mac and Hawkes did a lot of the painting. Stella, Aiden and Mira helped when the painting when they weren't being drug shopping with Mandy.
And now, the room was almost finished. A nice mint green was on the walls, with pastel yellow and blue trimmings. Danny had refused to paint anything pink, so green, yellow, and blue became the nursery colors.
The furniture was white, and most of it was wicker furniture that Mandy instantly fell in love with. There was an amazing rocker that she couldn't wait to use. There were various cute outfits stuck in the white wicker dresser that Mandy couldn't wait to have Annalee wear.
Thinking of Annalee caused Mandy to run a hand over her belly. Her due date was a few days away, and she could not wait to not be pregnant anymore.
She felt a kick, guessing that it was Annalee's way of saying that she was ready to get out. Danny kept telling Annalee that she could come whenever she was ready. The nursery was done, everyone was ready, and the doctor said the baby was fully developed, she could come whenever.
She ran a hand over her stomach again. She hoped it was soon.
There was a knock at the door, surprising Mandy. All their friends knew where they kid the spare key. If it was one of her friends, they would have just walked in.
So, she carefully made her way to the apartment door.
And there she found her sister, Moira at the door with tears all on her face. "I got your new address from Daddy. He wouldn't ever say it in front of Momma. Are you and her fighting?" Moira asked.
"Yeah. It's a big one this time." Mandy said.
"Then it's probably a good thing I came here then." Moira said.
"What's going on?" Mandy asked.
"I think Christopher and I may be divorcing." She said, starting to cry. Mandy did the only thing she could do, she took her sister in a hug.
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2 AM and she calls me 'cause I'm still awake,
can you help me unravel my latest mistake,
I don't love him, winter just wasn't my season
Yeah we walk through the doors, so accusing their eyes
Like they have any right at all to criticize,
hypocrites, you're all here for the very same reason
'Cause you can't jump the track,we're like cars on a cable
and life's like an hourglass, glued to the table
No one can find the rewind button girl,
So cradle your head in your hands
And breathe, just breathe,
Woah breathe, just breathe
May he turn 21 on the base at Fort Bliss
Just a day, he sat down to the flask in his fist,
Ain't been sober, since maybe October of last year.
Here in town you can tell he's been down for a while,
But my God it's so beautiful when the boy smiles,
Wanna hold him, maybe I'll just sing about it.
Cause you can't jump the track, we're like cars on a cable,
And life's like an hourglass, glued to the table.
No one can find the rewind button boys,
So cradle your head in your hands,
And breathe, just breathe,
Woah breathe, just breathe
There's a light at each end of this tunnel, you shout
'Cause you're just as far in as you'll ever be out
These mistakes you've made, you'll just make them again
If you only try turning around.
2 AM and I'm still awake, writing a song
If I get it all down on paper, its no longer
inside of me, threatening the life it belongs to
And I feel like I'm naked in front of the crowd
Cause these words are my diary, screaming out loud
And I know that you'll use them, however you want to
Cause you can't jump the track, we're like cars on a cable,
And life's like an hourglass, glued to the table
No one can find the rewind button now
Sing it if you understand.
and breathe, just breathe
woah breathe, just breathe,
oh breathe, just breathe.
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"He was older, so it was possible that the age difference had something to do with it." Mandy said, sitting on the couch with her sister.
"I just, all of a sudden, it just didn't feel the same." Moira said. "I don't wanna go talk to Momma, she'll get all into it."
"Yeah." Mandy said, lying down. Moira propped Mandy's feet up in her lap.
"I remember when Monica was pregnant with Shelby; her feet were always killing her. When she fought with Grayson and staid with me, I always massaged her feet cause they killed her." Moira said.
"Danny massages them when he can. With me out, they're going hard at work, or at least it seems." Mandy said.
"You know, I always looked up to you." Moira said, as she started massaging Mandy's feet.
"Why? I never did anything big." Mandy said.
"You and Danny? Match made in heaven. You're at a job, and it's a job you love. You're fine with choices you've made. Any bad ones, and you understand that there's a reason it happened." Moira said, as the door to the apartment door flew open.
"I am going to kill him!" A voice said. Mandy wanted to groan, but knew her friend needed her. This wouldn't be too stressful. Flack must have said something and Mira just needed calming down.
"What did he say this time?" Mandy asked.
"I'm not fully allowed to tell you because it's an ongoing case." Mira said, storming into the living room.
"Should I leave?" Moira asked.
"Since I'm on leave, I'm not fully allowed to know about cases going on." Mandy said, looking at her sister.
"Anyways, Flack was talking to Danny about a lady. Made a crack about ages. Didn't remember it later." Mira said, crossing her arms across her chest.
"Mira, Flack makes cracks all the time." Mandy said.
"He cracked on how I was younger. I was few months behind you in the Academy. When I got here, I wasn't at the same level as Danny. When I asked him about it later, he didn't remember making a comment like that. I told him what he said, and he said he didn't mean anything by it." Mira said.
"God my back is killing me. I need a nice hot shower, or a massage." Danny's voice started tapering off as he walked into the living room. "We have company?" He asked, sounding very surprised.
"Yeah. Is this a special day for lover spats or something?" Mandy asked.
"Is Mandy still mad about what Flack said?" Danny asked.
"Oh, you're on Flack's side?" Mira asked, getting a tone to her voice. Mandy wanted to laugh at Mira. She could not believe that Danny could agree with Flack.
"I never said I was on Flack's side." Danny said.
"Just cause we had a horrible supervisor who had hoops the size of a head on a needle for us to jump through. I should be way ahead of where I am now." Mira said, as Mandy did chuckle. She knew how horrible that supervisor had been. It had taken a few years of filing complaints to get someone to come in and take a five minute look at her. It took a few more years after that to get anything done.
"Mira, it's okay, calm down. Everything got fixed once you got here." Mandy said, as the phone rang. Danny quickly answered it and handed the phone to Moira. She got up and started pacing the living room.
"I know it all got fixed. But still, it can't be a good relationship if he's going to joke around about stupid shit like this." Mira said.
"It won't be a good relationship if you get mad at every crack the guy makes." Danny said, watching Mira glare at him. "I'm not on his side!"
"Sure seems like it." Mira replied.
Mandy leaned back, running a hand over her tummy. Her face fell a little, and she tried to get comfortable. "You okay?" Danny asked.
"Yeah." Mandy said, a small smile coming across her face.
"You sure?" Mira asked.
"Yeah, it's just probably something I ate that Annie doesn't like." Mandy said.
"Goodness Chris, won't you let me help this argument? Or do you love it when things are one sided?" Moira yelled into the phone.
"See that? If you keep fighting over stuff with Flack, you'll end up like that." Danny said.
"You're saying I'm actually gonna forgive Flack for this?" Mira said.
"Aren't you?" Danny asked.
"Why should I? He just see me as some young, immature CSI that he bedded." Mira said, pointing at Danny.
"No Chris, I'm not going to talk rationally about this!" Moira said.
Mandy leaned back a bit again, trying to get comfortable. And that was when a wave of pain hit her. "OH MY GOD!" She yelled, as something hit her.
"What?" Everyone yelled back at her. They all watched Mandy as she grimaced in pain. Moira slowly hung up the phone, while Danny and Mira stopped fighting.
"I'm in labor!" Mandy forced out.
"Are you sure it's not Braxton-Hicks? Monica got those badly before she had Fiona." Moira said.
"God no, this is ten times worse." Mandy said, as Danny helped her up.
"Moira, on the phone, press 10 on speed dial and tell him that it's time. Mira, call Stella and Aiden. And Moira, tell the same thing to number 3 on speed dial." Danny said, as they slowly made their way to grab Mandy's overnight bag. Once Moira had called everyone, they raced as fast as they could to their cars.
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Mac came racing into the hospital, with Stella, Aiden, Flack and Hawkes on his heels. He looked around, then went racing off in another direction.
"Mac?" Stella called.
"Yeah?" He asked, coming back to the group.
"That's not the way to the maternity wing." She said, as Mac shook his head.
"In my confusion, I forgot." Mac said, as they all started off in the opposite direction.
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Upon arrival in the ward, they found Mira sitting with a lady. The lady noticed them and nudged Mira, who turned around.
They all looked at her with quizzical looks. "She's in labor. Danny's in with her, and so far, it seems like everything is going smoothly." Mira said.
"Let's hope it stays that way." Mac said, as they all sat down.
Flack stayed off to the side, watching Mira sit back down, but then stand up and pace.
He watched her walk over to the nursery, and peer in through the glass at the small babies.
He walked over to her, standing behind her. "Do you want kids?" He asked.
"I'm not sure." Mira softly replied.
"If you were to decide to want kids, would you want them with me?" Flack asked.
Mira bit her bottom lip. "I don't know." She replied.
"Mirry, I know this has been quite the up and down relationship. But, just trust me, I never meant to hurt you with my comment." Flack said, as Mira turned to face him.
"I know. But still, we all have parts of our lives we don't want to be joked about, even by the ones we love." Mira said.
"I understand." Flack said.
"I just, it hurt. I never got over that stupid supervisor. I really let her get under my skin, but never let her out. And, I thought I had gotten over it. But, when you made that comment, I realized I hadn't." Mira said.
"You wanna give it another try?" Flack said.
"Maybe this time we'll get it right." Mira said, a small smile on her face.
"Sooner or later we will." Flack said, as Mira smiled bigger.
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After 12 hours, the group stopped making major plans. They did start making shifts, to where someone would be there when Mandy had the baby. Mac was planning on being there all night until she had the baby, while Stella had agreed to stay. Moira and Hawkes had the first shift, while Flack and Mira were going to take the next shift.
But, as Mira and Flack stood up to leave, Danny came walking out. "So?" Mac asked.
"Annalee Grace Messer was born at 10:59 pm." Danny said, smiling.
Everyone jumped up and down and hugged him. "How long till we can go see her?" Stella asked.
"They have to make sure Annie's a healthy baby, and they're moving Mandy into a new room." Danny said.
"How does it feel, Daddy?" Flack asked, as the group smiled.
"Guess I'm officially the old man of the group now?" Danny said.
"Not officially yet, but yeah." Mira said.
"Thanks guys." Danny said. "Thanks a lot." He laughed.
He couldn't wait to show them his new daughter.