“Hit the siren. Let’s go,” I bark at Zach and he pulls the fire engine out of the parking lot.

I’m facing Kelly and trying to stay calm and help her through this. She’s got a tight grip on my hand as she’s hunched over and screaming in pain with her latest contraction. They’re coming so quickly now, I’m worried we won’t make it in time.

The siren slices through the air and Zach sails down the street as the other vehicles pull over and get out of the way. We’ll probably get shit for getting Kelly to the hospital this way, but so be it.

“Desi, the baby,” Kelly pants. Her eyes are squeezed into tiny slits as her face contorts. “There’s no time. It’s coming. It’s coming now,” she manages to puff out her sentence.

“We’re almost there, babe. You can do this. We’ll get to the hospital and they’ll rush you right in. Just be strong and hang on for me, okay? You’ll be meeting our child so soon now.” I try to keep her present and focused.

“We’re not going to make it to the hospital.” She grimaces. Kelly reaches down the front of her pants, between her legs. “Desi, I can feel the head. The baby, it’s crowning now. I can’t stop it.” Her voice is a high-pitched squeal of panic.

“What? No. No, the baby can’t be crowning already.”

She grabs my hand and shoves it down her pants, guiding my fingertips to her mound. Sure enough, I can feel the lips have spread open and the top of the head is pushing through.

“Fuck!” My heart practically thumps out of my chest, but I’ve gotta keep my cool. There’s no way I can expect to keep Kelly calm if I’m spinning out of control. “Zach, you need to pull over right now, man. This baby is coming out!”

“We’re there, just hang on,” he yells back and I see he’s pulling into the hospital parking lot.

As soon as he throws the truck into park, Kelly slides down and I pull off her pants. What I was feeling is right. The baby’s head is almost out already. I need to act fast.

“Zach, go get help inside. I’ll stay with Kelly,” I bellow.

He jumps out of the truck and I try to lay Kelly’s pants under her so if the baby does come out it’s not going to end up on the dirty floor.

“Hold on, Kelly. Just breathe, sweetheart. You can do this. The nurses are on their way right now.”

Her face twists up and turns beet red. “I can’t. It’s coming now,” she yelps as her agony comes out as a long, painful yowl. Kelly is squatting and propping herself up by her elbows on one of the side facing seats. I see the baby’s head slide out and I cradle it. I’ve never held any baby before, let alone given birth to one. However, I’ve had plenty of first aid training and luckily this is one of the things we prepare for. Kelly pushes again and the shoulder slips free, then the other one. Before I know it, I’m holding a pale, bluish little girl in my hands and Kelly is sobbing uncontrollably.

“Where is she?” I can hear the commotion outside as Zach leads the medical staff to us. It takes a lot of maneuvering, but they manage to extract her from the truck with the baby still attached by the umbilical cord. They get her laid out on the stretcher with our girl, our newborn daughter on her breast and wheel her inside.

Zach and I rush inside with them, following them down the halls to the emergency room, but they stop us.

“You have to wait, guys. We’ll take it from here.” A nurse with dark circles under her eyes and age spots across her forehead points to the waiting room. “We’ll come get you when we’re done.”

I don’t want to listen to her. I want to bust into the room and be there as they check over Kelly and our child. However, I know what it’s like when people let their emotions get the better of them and they don’t listen. Suddenly you have brothers running into burning buildings to look for their siblings. Suddenly a bad situation becomes deadly.

“Let’s go.” I lead Zach down the hall.

“But she needs us. We can’t just sit in the fucking waiting room,” Zach complains.

“Then stand. I said let’s go.” I grab his arm and walk him down there.

We decide to call the guys at the station and have someone pick up the truck. It turns out the chief isn’t angry with us. He’s just worried.

We all are.

“Mr. Peterson? And Mr. Connors?”

We both hastily turn toward the voice calling us.

It’s the stern nurse who sent us down here.

“Yes?” Zach answers.

“She can see you now.” She nods at us.

I want to break out into a sprint and lunge down the hallway, but instead I follow the nurse to the room. Zach and I practically get stuck in the doorframe as we both try to step inside at the exact same time. We manage to get our wits about us and walk inside in an orderly manner.

The nurse pulls back the curtain surrounding the bed and relief floods my heart. Kelly smiles up at us, tears streaming down her face as our newborn baby feeds from her breast.

“It’s a girl,” she sobs happily.

“I know.” I run my hand over her hair.

“Well, you could’ve told me.” Zach huffs. With one look at our daughter, he deflates and lets it go. “She’s beautiful,” he whispers.

“Just like her mama.” I smile at Kelly.

“Have you decided on a name?” The nurse hovers around the edges of the bed, checking the vitals for Kelly and our new girl.

Kelly looks at me and then Zach and then over at the nurse. “Yes. Her name is Emma. After my mother.” She looks down and kisses Emma’s little head.

“Perfect.” Tears slide down my cheeks. I can’t help being so emotional. It’s not every day the woman of your dreams gives birth in the back of a firetruck to your little girl. As I look down at Kelly and Emma I know it doesn’t matter what happens in this world. Because Zach and I, we’re already the luckiest men alive.