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True to his word, in five minutes, the door opened. Ryker stood in the doorway with a soda in one hand and two bags of cheese puffs in the other. With a sheepish grin, he held up the bags.
“I thought you might be hungry too. I didn’t know what you liked, but I figured everybody loves cheese puffs. How could you not? They’re puffed air and powdered cheese.”
“Thanks, but they told me I couldn’t eat until after the birth.”
He’d already opened a bag and shoved a handful in his mouth before raising an eyebrow in surprise. “Really? What if it doesn’t come for another day? That’s going to really suck for you.”
With a grimace, I began inhaling and exhaling air as fast as I could. “I don’t think…it’s going to be…a problem.”
Ryker dropped the soda and snacks on the chair and grabbed my hand, the orange dust from his fingers trailing down my arm. As the last one finally came to an end, I threw my head against the pillow and collapsed in exhaustion.
“Ry, I can’t do this anymore. Make it stop.”
“C’mon, you’re a Bale now. We’re known for our thick skin and determination.”
“I don’t want to be determined,” I whined. “I want thin skin and drugs…lots of drugs!”
He glanced nervously at the door. “I don’t think that…”
As another contraction hit, I grabbed his ear and jerked it toward my mouth. “Ryker, get me some fucking drugs and get them now! I want an epidural, I want Demerol, I want to be comatose. I don’t care, but I swear to god, if you don’t get your skinny ass out there right now and find me something to shoot in this IV, I will kill you. I’ll fucking kill you right now.”
“Okay, Pheebs, you’re cutting off my circulation.” Ryker yelled from the doorway for a doctor. I closed my eyes as the tightness subsided. With one last breath, I opened my eyes to see Ryker, the doctor, and a nurse standing in front of me.
Once again, pulling off the rubber gloves, the doctor turned to the nurse and mumbled something to her that sent her scurrying off to the closet. She returned with a green gown and surgical mask, and he put them on as she returned to the closet, retrieving two more sets. Handing one to Ryker, she assembled her own.
I shifted a look to Ryker. “What’s going on?”
After affixing his surgical mask, the doctor patted my knee as the nurse removed the lower half of the bed and handed a pair of scrubs to Ryker. “We’re having a baby, Miss Ryan.”
