To the End

"Your contractions are getting closer together—"
Gabe began, holding my hand in a death grip and staring at the monitor, grinning excitedly.

"I KNOW!" I yelled, trying in vain to rip my hand from his grip.

"Dude, get out of the way." Travie, muttered, appearing suddenly at my bedside and shoving Gabe into the stack of bedpans. He took my shaking hand in one of his large tattooed ones and smiled at me calmly, leaning his elbow on the arm of my hospital bed.

"Okay, just breathe baby..." Travie said soothingly, and I relaxed a little as Shaant appeared at my other side, tucking a sweaty lock of hair behind my ear.

I heeded Travie and took a deep breath, closing my eyes (half to block out the intense pain in my belly and half to block out Gabe, who was bouncing around the room, grinning like an idiot and bugging the nurses).

"It's almost over... Just relax... Let it just wash over you..."
I cracked an eyelid to look up at my shining angel of Lamaze, bewildered. Was this the same Travie of "possibly reconvene and play some naked peek-a-boo"?

"You're good at this Travie."
I looked up as Sandy voiced my thoughts, grinning. Her eyebrows were raised (and I'm pretty sure it wasn't from Gee's hand, which was sneaking up her shirt stealthily), and she was eyeing Travie's and my intertwined fingers amusedly.

"I know." Travie said cockily, pausing to wink up at her. Gerard huffed in a very offended way and stalked away (he obviously didn't know that Travie flirted with everything that breathes, male or female, and it was usually William Beckett), and Sandy was forced to follow into the hall to retrieve him.

"I don’t even want to think about all of the illegitimate children you've fathered to be this good at this shit, Travie." Pete Wentz's sarcastic drawl bit through the silence and I busted up into giggles, surprising even myself.

"Why do you have a sense of humor? You're in labor!" Bob exclaimed from a chair in the corner, where I spotted Frank and Zee giving each other very dough-eyed looks when the other wasn't looking.

"Okay!" The nurse finally yelled, shutting everyone up. "The father and Grandma can pick four people to be in here. That's it!"
Shaant looked around quickly at my mom before counting them off on his fingers.

"Sandy, Nate, William, and Gabe."
I watched everyone else clear out and sighed as Gabe beamed like he had just one the lottery. My mom looked significantly less stressed as she watched everyone leave, and it seemed the nurse was feeling the same way. She pushed her hair out of her eyes with a sigh and smiled kindly at Nate, who was watching her nervously, like she was about to explode or something.
Shaant, whose hand hadn't left mine for the past hour, leaned down and placed a soft kiss on my temple as another contraction seized me, making my wince.
I looked up at him and smiled warmly as a tear slid down his cheek.

"I love you so much." He whispered.

"I love you more." I whispered back, wrinkling my nose at him.

I felt Sandy's small fingers grip my other hand and I looked over at her. She had tears on her face too.
Gabe ran his fingers through my hair, having finally gotten a grip on himself, and I smiled tearfully up at him.
Nate had just brushed the drop from my cheek when the nurse spoke softly.

"Well, Maggie, I think it's time to start pushing."