Timeless

Chapter 48

Josie beamed at her. "Then I'm getting it!" She exclaimed, snatching it off the rack and dragging Kathryn along with her. "Have you seen anything that you think Gale would like?"

A damn baby.

Kathryn just shook her head, forcing a stiff smile onto her face. "Not really."

Josie's expression grew pointed as she let out a huff and stared at her sister-in-law. "Now, Kath, I really think you oughta give Christmas a chance. It always brings families together."

"Not in my experience."

Something seemed to soften in Josie's gaze. "Kathryn, Bucky really misses you."

Kathryn wasn't amused by the shift in conversation. "Josie, I really don't think—" But then Josie was gripping Kathryn's arm in pain and letting out a groan of pain—and then something wet was splashing all over their feet. And Kathryn's gaze went wide at the sight of the liquid on the ground. "Holy shit, did your water just break?!" Kathryn exclaimed in horror.

"Yes?!" Josie breathed out. "But the baby's not due—"

"I don't think the baby is on your timeline," Kathryn breathed out—and then she was centering herself and entering her clinical state of mind. She was a doctor—not that kind of doctor —but she could help Josie for now. "We need to get you to the hospital."

"But Bucky—"

"We'll call him once we get you there!" Kathryn insisted.

And then Kathryn was guiding Josie to the car, keeping a cool head and calmly having Josie practice breaths as she drove them to the hospital. Kathryn was honestly surprised—she should have been panicking because pregnancy terrified the hell out of her. But at the sight of Josie's panic and stress, Kathryn could not do that to her. She loved her brother and Josie too much for that.

It took them 20 minutes in the snow to get to the hospital. Luckily, they were already in the city. But the snow was starting to come down much harder than Kathryn had thought. So when she reached a phone to call her brother, it felt like an eternity waiting for him to pick up.

"Egan Residence—"

"Josie's in labor, you better get your ass over here now!" Kathryn exclaimed.

"Holy shit—" The phone wasn't even disconnected and she heard Bucky frantically running around in the background. She hung up and then Josie was getting wheeled down the hall and calling her name.

Kathryn hurried to her sister-in-law's side, immediately finding her hand grasped by Josie. "Did he—"

"He's on his way," Kathryn reassured her, a warm smile crossing her features.

Before Josie could even respond to that, she was letting out a sound of pain and a nurse's eyes went wide. "We need to get her into a room. Her contractions aren't that far apart!"

"I—" Kathryn started.

"Stay with me?" Josie begged, eyes flickering between Kathryn and the lonely hospital room that awaited her. And everything in Kathryn wanted her to turn tail and run away from this—because God , it hurt to think about a baby in any capacity.

But Kathryn steeled her shoulders and nodded, following them into the hospital room. It seemed like an eternity later and Josie was just starting to push when her brother appeared in the doorway, snow coating his head and shoulders and looking like he had just run a mile.

"I told you he wouldn't miss this," Kathryn let out a breath of relief at the sight of him. Gale had appeared in the doorway behind Bucky, also coated in snow.