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“DRAKE, IT’S FINE.”

Why the hell was Karen trying to reassure him, for fuck’s sake?  He kept what he hoped was a loving smile, plastered on his face as he brushed back her hair and kissed her forehead.

“Of course it’s fine, Honey,” he whispered.

“You’ll feel just a little pressure, Karen,” the doctor said from behind the draped area.  Karen tried to hide her wince, but Drake spotted it. 

“She’s in pain,” he roared.

“Drake,” Karen gasped.  “I’m okay.”

“We’re almost there,” the doctor said.

A piercing wail startled Drake, yanking his gaze away from Karen.  What the hell?

He pushed up from the wheeled stool and peered over the curtain where they had performed the Caesarean section on Karen.  In Dr. Freeman’s hands was a squalling red baby boy.

“Here’s your healthy son, Mr. Avery.”  The doctor smiled up at him.

My God, had he ever seen anything more amazing in his life?

“Karen!  Can you see him, Honey?  Look up in the mirror.”  Drake grinned like a madman. 

The wiggling, squalling scrap of life had him captivated.  His son.  He had a son.  They had a son, my God, Karen was a miracle worker.  “Listen to him, Karen, he’s got a pair of lungs on him.”  He smiled broadly.

“Would you like to cut the cord?” Dr. Freeman asked.

In the excitement of the moment, he’d forgotten that part.  He watched intently as they clamped off a section of the umbilical cord.  A smiling nurse handed Drake a pair of scissors.  Solemnly, he took them, and he looked at his son, who really was a bit of a mess, but he had that trademark Avery black hair, and God love him, he sure could yell.

Love swelled as he went to cut the cord, but then he hesitated. 

“Will it hurt them?”

“No.  Neither one of them will feel a thing.”  The doctor reassured him.

Like he was on a mission, he swiftly cut the cord.  The crying stopped.  He calmed.  Almost as if he knew he was now part of a new world.

“Welcome home, Andrew,” Drake whispered.  A monitor started a shrill beeping behind him.  It sounded worse than a fire drill on a ship.

What the fuck?

Drake’s head whipped around.  Karen was white as a sheet.  Almost gray.  Her eyes were closed.

He turned to ask the doctor what the hell was going on and saw the nurse beside Dr. Freeman whisk his son out of her arms.  The doctor stood up and yanked back the drape that was separating Karen’s head from her belly. 

“What’s her pressure?” the doctor demanded.

The nurse called it out.

“She’s crashing, get Drake and the baby out of here,” Dr. Freeman demanded.

“I’m not leaving,” Drake said as he grabbed Karen’s limp hand.

“Drake, I need you out of here,” Dr. Freeman said firmly.  “I need to take care of Karen.  You’re going to be in the way.” Dr. Freeman leaned over Karen’s stomach. 

“Tell me what’s going on.  Now!”  Drake was going out of his mind.  Nothing could be wrong with Karen, he wasn’t going to allow it.  Not ever.

“Get him out of this room, now!” Dr. Freeman’s entire demeanor changed, now she sounded like an admiral.  Her tone brooked no argument.

“Karen’s going to be fine, but you need to let Dr. Freeman do her job.”  A little nurse grabbed his arm and tugged him toward the door. 

“I’m not leaving.”

“You have to,” she said firmly. 

The door swung open and a man in scrubs rushed in.  He barely spared Drake a glance except to say, “Leave.  We need to attend to your wife.”

All of Drake’s focus was on Karen, the woman who by all rights was his wife, even though it still wasn’t official.

“Please, Mr. Avery,” the nurse pleaded.  “Come with me.  You’re in the way.  You’re making things worse.  You have to let them do their job.”

He looked around the room.  It was controlled chaos.  The small woman tugged at him again.  He walked out the door without any more trouble. 

As soon as he was on the other side of the door, his fist hit the wall, going through plaster.

The nurse took three steps backward.  Fuck. 

“I won’t hurt you,” he said in a rough voice.  It didn’t seem to help.  She turned and bustled down the hall.  Probably to get security.  He needed to...to...

He looked up, and there on the wall he saw a sign.  The sign.

Drake strode down the hall where he had seen the stairs and took them three at a time to get to the second floor.  Once he was in the chapel he hit his knees.

“God, it’s me, Drake.  I know we don’t talk much, but don’t hold that against Karen.  Please don’t, you can’t, I’m begging you.”  He clasped his hands so tight they turned white.

“You made something perfect when you made her.  She’s in trouble.”  He gulped, trying to get his words just right, knowing he couldn’t, then he just poured out his heart.  “Please take me.  I’m begging you, don’t take her.  I never deserved her.  My life is nothing compared to hers.”  Drake didn’t feel the tears on his cheeks as he bowed his head.

“Karen is precious.  She shines.  Our baby needs her.  Please, don’t take her.  Let her live.  I’ll do anything, just let her live.”  He folded his arms against the bench in front of him and rested his head.  “Let her live, take me,” he chanted under his breath.  “I’m begging you, let her live.”

He was lost in his prayers, unaware of where he was, or how much time had passed, when a hand clamped down on his shoulder.  He turned and saw his best friend.  Before he could form a question, Mason provided an answer.

“It’s all good,” Mase said immediately.  Drake slumped with relief.

He shut his eyes and whispered a word of thanks.  Then scrubbed his face and got up. 

“How’d you know where to find me?” Drake asked.

“It’s where I’d be, if it was Sophia,” Mason answered simply.

“Do you know what room she’s in?” he demanded as they bolted toward the stairs.

“Five-fifteen,” Mason answered.  They made record time before crashing through the fifth-floor door.  They received the evil eye of an orderly.  Drake didn’t give a shit.  “Which way to room five-fifteen?” he demanded.

“Huh?”

He ran past the ignorant man and headed to the main nurse’s station.  “Room five-fifteen, where is it?” he demanded once again.

“Are you Drake Avery?  We’ve been searching for you,” a middle-aged woman answered.  “Come with me.  She’s sleeping.  Do you want to see your son?”

“I want to see Karen,” he bit out.  He’d seen his son.  His son was healthy.  He needed to see Karen more than he needed his next breath.

“This way.”

He willed the woman to walk faster.  Finally, she pointed to a room, he stopped himself from shoving her aside and slamming open the door, instead he gently pushed it open.  His eyes zeroed in on Karen.  She didn’t have a breathing tube.  That was a good sign, wasn’t it?  He rushed over to her, his hands hovering over her still form.  He turned back to the nurse.

“What’s wrong with her?”

“Nothing, now.  She’s sleeping off the anesthesia they gave her.  The doctor said she should wake up in another hour.”

“What happened to her?  Is she going to be all right?”

“I’ll get the doctor to come in and talk to you.”

“Is she going to be all right?” Drake carefully enunciated each word in his most menacing tone.

“I’ll be right back with Dr. Freeman.”  The nurse quickly left the room.

He turned to Mason.  “Why wouldn’t she answer me?”

“Steady.  Your woman needs you to keep your shit together.”

Drake took a deep breath.  His friend, his lieutenant, was right.  He sucked in a deep breath.  When the door opened, and the doctor came in he didn’t blast her.  Especially since she was smiling.

“Drake.  Karen’s fine.  She just had a little distress.”

“What do you mean little distress, y’all were in emergency mode.  You said she was crashing.  She lost consciousness, the monitors were beeping.  Don’t tell me it was a little fucking distress.”  So much for keeping his shit together.

“Her blood pressure dropped significantly from the spinal anesthesia.  We had to work fast to get it under control, otherwise there could have been...consequences.”

Drake didn’t want to think about the consequences.  “But she’s fine now?” he persisted.

“We got it under control.  I can assure you, she’s perfectly fine.  This is only going to result in one extra day in the hospital.  Maybe two.”

“She’s staying as long as she needs to!  I don’t want you sending her home before she’s fully recovered from this trauma,” Drake ordered.

Dr. Freeman gave him a mild smile.  It was clear she was used to overbearing fathers.

“I’m serious,” Drake growled.

“Drake?”

He spun around, all thought of Mason and Dr. Freeman totally forgotten.  “Karen!  You’re awake.”  He was on his knees beside her bed in an instant.  He touched the fingers of her right hand.  It was the best he could do, since her arms and hands were all connected to IVs, blood pressure cuffs, monitors and other things he didn’t recognize. 

“Drake, quit giving Dr. Freeman a hard time,” Karen whispered weakly.

The doctor chuckled.

He touched his mouth to hers, wanting, no, needing that connection.  His eyes remained opened as he assured himself she was alive and safe.  Her fingers fluttered against his, he felt her try to move her hand, even though it should remain immobile.  He pressed it down.

“I’m here, Honey,” he said roughly, his voice choked with emotion.  “Stay still.”

“Where’s our baby?”

“He’s healthy.  He’s good.”  He turned to the doctor, who immediately stepped toward them. 

“Your little boy is in the nursery.  I’ll have him brought in immediately.”  She smiled.

Karen’s eyes drifted closed.  “That’s good.  I want to see him,” she said softly.  Then she fell asleep.

“Is she okay?” Drake demanded.

“She’s more than okay.  She woke up sooner than expected.  Your fiancée is a strong woman.  She’ll recover like a woman who had a normal C-Section, this is only going to add a day or two to her recovery.  But like any woman who has undergone surgery she’s going to need to take it easy when she gets home.  Not just because of the C-Section, but because of all the time she spent on bedrest beforehand for the pre-eclampsia.  It’s going to take her awhile to get back up to speed.”

“Trust me, she’ll be wrapped in cotton wool.”

He heard Mason cough behind him.  He glared at his friend, knowing that was his way of saying he was going to have a hard time keeping Karen resting.  Well, Mason could suck it.  He would take care of his woman, even if he had to tie her to the bed. 

“You don’t need to go that far,” the doctor smiled.  “She’ll recover at her own pace.  Tomorrow, she’ll need to get up and moving.”

“Only if she feels like it,” Drake qualified.

“No, you don’t understand, moving around is necessary for her recovery,” the doctor countered.  “I’ll be back in an hour.”  She left.

“We’re going to go get some dinner.  Text us when we can come back and visit Karen and the baby,” Mason said as he headed toward the door. 

“Mase.”  Drake stopped him.

“Yeah?”

“Before we’re surrounded by people, Karen and I wanted to tell you something.  Since she’s asleep, I guess it’s up to me.” 

Mason gave him a quizzical glance. 

“We decided to name the little guy Andrew Mason Avery.”

Drake saw his words sink in.  Mason’s eyes said everything worth saying.  Drake understood all that Mason couldn’t say.  How could he not?  They were brothers of the heart.

“I’m honored, Drake.”

“You damn well should be.”  Drake grinned, lightning the moment.

Mason barked out a laugh, then immediately stopped, looking at Karen. 

Drake peered over at her as well, she was still out like a light.  “I’ll text you when she and Andrew are ready for visitors.  Thank everybody for hanging around.  Are Jack and Beth still cool with picking up Karen’s mom from the airport?”

“Do you really have to ask?”

“That was a stupid question,” Drake agreed.  His teammates always had his six.  Karen’s water had broken late last night, a week sooner than the planned C-Section, which is why Karen’s mom wasn’t here from Alaska.

***

ANDREW.

Andrew Mason Avery.

His son.

Drake stared down at the small scrap of humanity in his arms.  He looked at his exhausted woman lying in the hospital bed.  Had she ever looked more beautiful? Antsy, he stood up holding his small son.  He knelt beside the bed and placed the baby next to Karen, wrapping his arms around the two most precious people in his world.  He kissed the top of her head, willing her to wake up.

***

KAREN SURFACED IN A whirl of confusion, until finally she zeroed in on one thought. 

Andrew.

Andrew Mason Avery.

She had a son.

Her eyes snapped open.  Where was her baby? It hurt to move. She carefully rolled her head on the pillow and saw two dark heads beside her. She desperately wanted to touch the delicate lips of her son. She wanted to make sure he was breathing. If not that, then she wanted to place her palm against his chest and feel the flutter of his heartbeat.  Unfortunately, she found both of her arms were bound to her sides, connected to wires and tubes.  Her eyes filled with tears of frustration.

“Karen, what’s wrong?” Drake asked quietly.  His chocolate brown eyes were filled with love and concern.

“I can’t even lift my arms to touch Andrew,” she whimpered softly.  She hated that she felt tears coming on, but the fact that she couldn’t touch her own baby was breaking her heart.

“Shhhh, Honey, I’ve got your back.”  Drake gently picked up the sleeping baby and moved him down next to her hand.  She lifted her fingers and stroked his downy cheek.

“He’s so soft,” she marveled.  Then she pressed her fingers against his small bow mouth like she’d wanted to, and she felt a tiny puff of air.  She sighed with contentment.  “He’s perfect, Drake.  Look at that head of hair.  He looks like you.”

“He has your eyes,” Drake said softly.

“Are you sure?  Most babies have blue eyes, maybe they just look green.”

Drake raised an eyebrow and gave her an amused glance.

“You wouldn’t have made a mistake.”  She laughed.  Then she winced.

“Dammit, you’re in pain.  I need to call the doctor, or the nurse.”

“It was nothing.  Just a twinge.”

“Bullshit.  You never complain.”

Karen laughed and winced again.  “What are you talking about?  I complained all the way to the hospital.  Labor pains hurt.” 

“I don’t know whose truck you were in, but you weren’t in mine.  My God woman, you would occasionally let out a squeak or moan, but you didn’t bitch once.  I remember begging you to scream.  Anything to let loose.  But you wouldn’t, you just bore the pain like a warrior princess.”

“Some warrior princess.  As soon as we got to the operating room, I was asking for drugs.”

“You’re not remembering things clearly, I was demanding drugs for you.”

Karen smiled.  She did remember Drake’s roars.  It was one of the few times people didn’t jump when he demanded things.  Apparently, the staff was used to distraught fathers. 

"Karen, you scared the hell out of me.”  Drake brushed back her hair and kissed her forehead. Tears formed in her eyes. "You’re my everything, Karen. I don't know what I would do without you."

“I’m here, and I’m okay.”

“You weren’t.  You crashed.  They shoved me out of the room, so they could work on you.  Karen, I almost lost you.”  She saw the wet in his eyes.  Once again, she was frustrated that she couldn’t move her arms. 

“Honey, I’m here.  Everything’s okay.”

“Andrew is going to be an only child.”

She stared at him.  They’d been talking about a big family since the day they decided to get married.  He couldn’t be serious.

As if he read her mind, he said, “I’m serious.  There is no fucking way on this Earth that I’m going to risk your life again.  Don’t even think about changing my mind.”

The tiny bundle in Drake’s arms squirmed. Karen’s focus shifted from her man’s fierce gaze to her son.  She watched in fascination as Andrew’s eyes opened slightly, his little fist punching out.

"I don't think he likes you swearing, Drake,” she tried to joke.

“The nurse said he’d be hungry pretty soon.”

Karen looked down at her arms again and once again her eyes filled with tears. 

“Hey...hey...Let me call the nurse.  You need something for the pain anyway.”  Drake Andrew and headed for the door.

“I’m not in pain,” she called out loudly.  Ouch, that hurt.  She needed to keep her voice down.  No laughing either.  Drake didn’t miss her flinch.

“Drugs.  You’re getting drugs.”

“Drugs are bad for the baby,” she said.

“We’ll see.”

He was out the door before she had a chance to say anything further.

The next thing she knew he was back with a nurse. 

“Let’s get you situated, shall we?” the nurse said.  She came over to Karen and unhooked some of the monitors from her right arm, and attached them to her left.  Her IV was already hooked up to her left so that wasn’t a problem.  “There you go, you’re all set.  I’m also going to give you something for the pain.”

“I don’t want anything that will harm Andrew.”

“What a great name,” the nurse smiled.  “I promise, this won’t hurt the little guy while you’re nursing.  You being in pain is something that won’t help either of you.  You need to take it easy and recover.”

“I told you.”  Drake smirked.

“I’m going to stay with you for a few minutes while you get the hang of nursing, all right?”

Karen was both embarrassed and relieved.  The nurse caught on immediately, but Drake didn’t. 

“What’s there to get the hang of?” he asked.  “Isn’t it just suck and go?”

“Actually, it’s not.  A lot of the bigger hospitals have a lactation specialist who will help mothers ‘learn the art’ of nursing,” she said using her fingers as quotation marks.

Karen laughed.  “I swear I’ve read every baby book I could get my hands on, but I sure would appreciate it if you could watch a few minutes to tell me if I’m doing it right. What’s your name?”

“I’m Alice.  And I know you’re Karen, and this little guy’s name is Andrew, but who’s the big fella?”

Drake held out his hand.  “I’m Drake.”  He smiled.  “I’m interested in learning the art of nursing.”

“Most men are.”

Karen laughed.  “I just want to make sure that Andrew gets all the nourishment he needs.  Also, I hear that he might get too much air.  Or that he might not want to nurse, or even that―”

“You’re going to be a natural.” Drake and Alice said almost in unison.

“Seriously Karen, it’s going to be fine.”

And it was.  Soon Andrew was feeding like a Rockstar, and Alice left them alone.

She and Drake looked down at their son feeding from her breast, then back into one another’s eyes.  The intimacy of the moment was breathtaking.    Andrew’s little fist pressed against her.  She sighed contentedly as he suckled.

“He sure knows what he wants.”  Drake smiled.

“He’s his daddy’s boy.”

“He better not tire you out.”

Karen giggled.  That was exactly what babies did, tired their mothers out.  What was Drake thinking?  Andrew batted his hand against her breast in protest at her movement.  She bit her lip to keep from laughing again.

“He doesn’t like it when you mess with his food supply,” Drake murmured.  He touched Andrew’s cheek with his finger.  His finger looked huge against the infant.  Drake’s hand could easily encompass their baby’s whole head.

“He’s tiny,” Drake said what she was thinking. 

“I wonder what he weighs.”

“He’s eight pounds, seven ounces.”

How did he know that?  She wanted to ask how long she’d been unconscious, but she knew bringing that up would just poke the tiger, so she kept her mouth shut.  “Eight and a half pounds is big, Drake.”

“He still looks tiny to me.”

“I hate to be the one to tell you this,” she whispered.  “But you’re kind of on the large side.”

He let out a laugh.  Once again, Andrew showed his displeasure by batting his hand against her breast.  They both looked at their son with wonder.  There wasn’t a chance in hell they were only going to have an only child.  Even if they had to adopt, they were going to have a houseful, Karen vowed to herself.

Finally, Andrew started to lose steam.  Drake picked up their tired son in one hand.

“You look good holding Andrew.  You do it so easily.”

“I should.  I might not remember carrying Trenda around, but I was holding Evie when I was probably four years old.  I was feeding and diapering Maddie when I was seven, and Trenda and I practically raised the twins and Piper.”

Karen winced thinking about Drake being no more than a baby himself taking care of other babies.  Dammit, he needed someone in his corner, fighting the good fight with him.  Karen yawned.

“How can I be this tired?” she asked.

“Are you seriously asking that?”  He gently set their boy down in the bassinette beside her bed.  He came back and touched his lips to hers in a warm, sweet kiss.  With tender care, he pulled up her gown and put it back into place, then covered her with the blanket.  “Sleep, Honey,” he whispered.

“Not tired.  Just need to rest my eyes for a moment,” she said right before she fell asleep.