12 Minutes (#2 in Military series)

Epilogue

"Yeah I'm just peachy," Jules gasped when she felt like she could finally talk again.

"How long was that one?"

"I don't know," Jules snapped, "I didn't exactly have counting on my mind."

"Sarcasm isn't going to help," Katherine sighed as she wrapped her arm around her daughter's shoulders and led her back to the living room.

"Oh I don't know," Jules sighed, "It helped me." But she gave her mother a smile when she said it to let her know that she was joking, partly anyway.

"There couldn't have been more than five minutes between those two contractions. I think we should start thinking about getting you to the hospital," Katherine told her.

"I need to get Safia to school," Jules let out a slow breath as she slowly lowered herself back down onto the sofa but she couldn't deny that this wasn't happening anymore, "And I need to ring Marc." She was praying that the baby would wait until it's due date for Marc to come home but he or she seemed to have a mind of their own, something Marc would say they got from her.

"Here," Katherine picked the IPad up from the coffee table and handed it to her, "You call Marc and I'll make some breakfast for Safia."

"Okay," Jules propped herself up with pillows before she took the IPad and turned to her mum, "And mum? Thanks, for everything."

Katherine just smiled but she could tell that she was touched, Jules never thanked her anything, "It's what mothers are for, but thank you for letting me help you, I know you probably wouldn't have asked me to come if it wasn't for Marc."

Jules went silent because she knew she was right. There was still a little rift in their mother and daughter relationship since she found out that her mother had intentionally tried to keep the truth from her but recently they have tried to put it on the back burner, mainly because it was hard to live with someone if you were constantly thinking about what could have happened if she had gotten her way and what she could have ruined, but Jules had to think that everything was turning out for the best now, her and Marc were back together and they had a family now. Jules just couldn't help but think that if she had to do it over again her mother would still lie to her and she didn't know how she felt about that.
Katherine didn't give Julia a chance to respond before she turned and headed into the kitchen. Blinking a few unshed tears from her eyes Jules powered up the IPad and turned onto Skype. Pressing the number for Marc she waited as the line rang and rang, crossing her fingers that he would pick up. She did the mental maths and knew that it was nearly half past ten in the morning in Afghanistan. After a few minutes the call ended and she had to delay ringing him again when another contraction rocked her body; they were coming faster and stronger. This time it felt as if someone had stuck a dagger in her lower back and someone was sat on top of her at the same time. When the pressure released once more she pressed the dial button again and waited, her patience wearing thin as the line went unanswered.

She wanted to throw the IPad across the room before she took a deep breath and heard Katherine and Safia talking up the stairs about breakfast and school. Pressing dial again she closed her eyes and prayed that Marc would answer when the ringing stopped and she heard Marc's voice call out to her.

"Hey beautiful!" Marc called out and Jules let out a small whimper because she did not feel very beautiful right then and she realised how much she needed him, "Your ears must have been burning because I was just chatting to Twitch about- Jules?" He said and she heard the concern in his voice so she opened her eyes and stared at the screen which only made her want to cry more. He was sat in front of the webcam inside a tent but she could still see how sunny it was there and in her head she could smell the sand and feel the heat on her skin. She missed it so much.