Coup De Grâce (Code 11-KPD SWAT 7)

Surprisingly, people moved out of our way fairly quickly.

“You can take my truck back to your house,” he muttered. “I’ll get someone to drop me off at my place.”

I blinked.

“You’re not coming back over?”

Was that a whine I detected in my voice?

Yuck, I hated whining.

“No, there’s no telling when I’ll be back,” he told me as he pulled into the station.

Then, without another word, he disappeared, leaving the truck running and me surprised and a little bit hurt.

He’d always come to my house after his calls before. Why was this time any different?

Had what I said been out of line?

Surely not. But hell, what did I know?Chapter 14Show me your kitties.

-T-shirt

Nikki

“Where are you?” Michael asked.

I looked at the doctor’s office where I was currently waiting for my appointment, and lied through my teeth.

“I’m at the store. Do you need anything?” I asked sweetly.

He grunted. “No. I was just hoping you were home so you could bring me my spare pistol. Something is wrong with mine and I guess I need to take it in to get it fixed.”

“No, I’m not there. I’m sorry,” I told him honestly.

“Damn. I can’t get away. I’m about to go into a meeting, and I have a SWAT seminar in Longview at twelve,” he sighed.

“I can bring it to Longview for you, as long as that’s okay. I have to go to the mall anyway,” I offered.

He made a sound of contentment. “That sounds good. What do you need at the mall?”

Pants because mine don’t fit anymore, was what I was thinking, but what I said was, “New pants. Mine have something defective with the button.”

Not totally a lie.

The defectiveness with the button came up because I couldn’t get the button to meet the hole that was designed for it.

I’d had to use a hair tie to hook the two together, and eventually Michael was going to notice that I could no longer button my pants.

I was going to buy myself some time, though, by buying some bigger jeans.

It’d been three weeks since I’d gone with Michael to pull his sister out of the mud.

Three weeks since I’d met his parents.

And three weeks since I’d finished school.

But I’d been busy.

I’d ‘graduated’ just two days ago, although it was just a formality.

I’d taken my certification test that was required in the State of Texas, and I was now a licensed certified midwife.

“Ms. Pena?” A young woman’s voice called, making me look up from the contemplation of my fingernails, which were sorely in need of a manicure.

Sadly, I knew that wasn’t going to happen any time soon.

I didn’t have time.

And when I did have time, I’d rather nap.

This pregnancy that I wasn’t announcing was really draining the hell out of me.

I stood and walked over to the woman.

“Are you ready?” She asked with a smile.

I nodded. “Yep.”

I was.

There was no denying it anymore.

None.

If all my calculations were correct, I was well past the ‘I just missed my period’ stage.

Which was normally when women felt it safe to announce their pregnancy to the world.

Something that I hadn’t, nor wouldn’t, find the courage to do anytime soon.

“Alright, we’ll get your weight and blood pressure, then you’ll take that cup right there,” she indicated the cup on the counter. “And fill the cup up to the…”

“First line, yes I know. I’m a midwife,” I told her, smiling happily.

It never got old, saying that.

“Oh! I want to do that!” The woman crowed. “I’ve been thinking about it. Is it hard?”

I smiled. “It’s tough, yes. I think the ‘hardest’ part though, is waking up in the middle of the night when the women start giving birth. But I’m not going to go that route with the home births. I’ve already got a position lined up with Good Shepherd. I’ll be assisting the doctors there. I’ll be on twelve hour shifts, ready to play catcher if the doctor’s cannot make it in time,” I told her.

Her eyes lit.

“I didn’t know they had that option,” she said, gesturing to the scale. “I’ll seriously have to look into it. I took this job because of the baby aspect. I just love meeting the little ones.”

I could relate.

Delivering babies never got old.

I’d helped deliver a baby in the parking lot of the ER.

The woman had pulled to a rocking stop in a big, jacked up Chevy truck with her frantic husband at the wheel.

The husband had been white as a sheet, and I could see why the minute I opened the door to the truck and saw a baby practically on the verge of being born, staring at me from the woman’s vagina.

The baby was literally staring, too.

His head was in the sunny side up position, which meant the baby was coming into the world facing the sky rather than the ground like he was supposed to.

It also meant that it hurt a lot more.

Which the woman that’d been birthing the boy was letting us know with her eloquent play on words.

I’d lifted my arms just in time to catch the boy as the woman had given one valiant push.

The baby slid from the mother’s birth canal into my outstretched hands, and there’d been no looking back since.

“Okay, you can step down,” the woman said. “Sit here, please.”

After checking my blood pressure, and filling the dreaded plastic cup, she showed me to a room.

“I’m sure you know by now what this little gem is!” She said, holding up a Doppler.

I nodded, sat down, and lifted my shirt. “Sure do. Have at it.”

“You said you were twelve weeks, so that should be more than enough time for her to develop and allow us to hear the heartbeat.”

I closed my eyes and listened to the sounds of the Doppler at work, amazed at how different it was from this end.

“Ahh,” the woman said. “There it is.”

I smiled, and tears filled my eyes, as I listened to mine and Michael’s baby for the very first time.

And I fell in love.

Hopelessly devoted to this little life inside of me.

“One forty two. Perfect perfect!” She said. “Alright, my dear. My name’s Dalia if you need anything. The doctor should be in with you in about ten to fifteen minutes,” Dalia explained as she headed to the room’s door, and then closed it quietly behind her.