7 months later.
Jax's POV
"Let's go." I say picking Alannah up and putting her on my shoulders.
"Lara let's go." I say knocking the bathroom door. Lara opens the bathroom doot and looks up at Alannah and smiles.
"Gosh, you grew up fast." She says and Alannah giggles. "You ready?" I ask and she nods.
We head downstairs and Marco was stood in the foyer.
"Please keep me posted." Lara says and he nods. "I will. I will. Take your maternity leave and when you come back, I promise everything will be okay." He says and she smiles. "I have no doubt about that." She smiles and kisses his cheek.
"Thank you. It means a lot." She smiles and he nods. We say goodbye to Marco and then get in thr car and head for the airport.
****
Alannah was watching her ipad whilst Lara was napping beside me. I rub her stomach and when I notice her face twist.
"What's wrong?" I ask and she scrunches her face and shakes her head. "Lara?" I ask worried and she grips the arm of the sofa, harshly.
"Somethings wrong." She winces and tries to sit up. "Its okay. Its okay. Tell me what's going on." I say helping her sit up.
"The baby. I don't know but it hurts so bad." She says and puts her hand over her mouth to try and keep her noises to a minimum.
She throws her head back and grabs my hand and squeezes the shit out of it. Its only then that I notice a tear stream down her face.
I call a air hostess over and get her to stay with Lara. I pick Alannah up and take her into a bedroom.
"What's going on dad?" She asks as I search it for some head phones. I plug them into her ipad and hold them.
"I need you to promise me you won't come out of here." I say and she nods slowly. "Not until I tell you, okay?" I ask and she nods. "And you've got to keep these on. Promise me." I say and she takes them from me. "I promise." She says and I lean down and kiss her forehead.
I shut the door as I leave the room and head over to Lara who isn't doing okay. "What is it?" I ask and the air hostess looks up at me.
"She's having contractions." She says and I look from Lara to her. "That's impossible, her water hasn't broke." I say and look down at Lara.
"It hasn't has it?" I ask and she shakes her head no. "It has to be braxton hicks." I say and Lara yanks my suit jacket.
"I need to get of this plane." She says and I look up at the air hostess. "How long till we land?" I ask and she looks at the screen. "At least two hours." She says and I shake my head and look down at Lara.
"We're flying over sea. There's no way we're landing till we get to New York." She says and I groan whilst watching Lara.
"It hurts." She cries and I nod and move her hair off of her head. "I know. I know. You'll both be okay. As soon as we land we're going to the hospital okay?" I say and she nods and just cries.
Seconds later she grahs my arms and lets out a yell in pain.
"This isn't braxton hicks." The air hostess says as I try to comfort Lara. "She's in labour." She says and I look down at Lara. "When did your water break?" I ask and she shrugs.
"I can't give birth on this plane, Jax we need to land." She grunts and I nod. "I know but we aren't any where near to somewhere we can land." I say and she cries.
"Go and tell the pilots that she's going into the labour." I say and she nods and rushes off.
I pull my phone out of my pocket and call Gio straight away.
"You landed already?" He asks and I keep my eyes on Lara. "I wish. Lara's in labour." I say and he gasps. "How far out are you?" He asks and I turn back to the screen. "About 2 hours." I say and he curses under his breath.
"How is she?" He asks and I sigh. "Gio. No one knows what we're doing." I say wiping Lara's tears. "Shit Jax. She's not even due for what? Another month?" He asks and I nod. "November 12th." I add. "Fuck man." He says and I sigh.
"Look, when I land. I need you and Amara here to take Alannah. I also need an ambulance, some doctor, something here to come on and help her. To get them to a hospital. Can you sort that for me?' I ask. "I can. I'll see you when you land." He says and I end the call.
"You're gonna be okay." I say and she nods and holds my hand.
"Jax." She whimpers and holds my hand tightly. "It's gonna be okay. Let it go." I say and the second the words leave my mouth she lets out a scream in pain.
The air hostess comes back in and I look at her. "They're going as fast as they can but we should move her to the bedroom." She says and Lara shakes her head no.
"You don't have any say." I say standing up and picking her up. I carry her into the room and place her down on the bed as carefully and gently as possible.
"You, uh, time how far her contractions are. Then when they're 3 minutes apart, you tell me." I say and she nods.
I prop Lara up with pillows and take her leggings off, along with her underwear.
"Jax. I'm scared." She whimpers and I nod. Me fucking too. "I've got you." I say and she nods.
****
"They're three minutes apart." The air hostess tells me and I check my watch. "We've still got 40 minutes." I say and Lara grunts.
"Has anyone checked on Alannah?" She asks drinking some water. "I'm not leaving your side." I say and turn to the air hostess.
"Check on Alannah." I say and she nods. "Then I need you to grab the first aid kit and some towels, blankets, anything that may be useful." I say and she nods.
"Jax I'm not giving birth on this plane." She groans and I nod. "It's just in case you do." I say and she sighs.
About 10 minutes later, I knew she had to start pushing.
"Have you ever delivered a baby before?" I ask her and she shakes her head. "You?" She asks and I also shake my head.
"How do you want to do this?" I ask Lara and she shakes her head. "I don't." She grumbles. "Now isn't the time to be stubborn." I say and she scoffs.
"I'll show you stubborn. Let me just pull a baby out of you." She bites and I hold her hand. "No one's pulling." I say and groans. "No but im gonna be pushing." She says and I sigh.
"Lara. I need to get this baby out of you, okay? I love you but if you don't start pushing you're not only gonna hurt yourself, but the baby too." I say and she cries.
"Its okay. Everything is gonna be okay." I say and turn to the air hostess, give me a ruler or something." I say and she nods.
"Is Alannah okay?" She asks and I nod. "Alannah's watching moana. She's singing along as well. The second we land, Gio and Amara are gonna take her. Me and you, we're going to the hospital." I say and she nods.
"I love you." I say and kiss her. "I love you too." She says sucking in a breath.
The air hostess comes in and brings a ruler. Great. 10cm I've got to measure for. "I need you to hand me some hand sanitizer." I say and she does exactly that.
"Now. Stand outside. I need you to make sure no one comes in unless its EMT. If I need you, I'll call you but she's gonna wanna do this alone." I say and the air hostess nods.
"Alannah." Lara breathes out. "She can be persuasive but do not let her in here." Lara says and I agree with her.
Once she leaves I kneel infront of Lara. "I don't want to die." She admits. "You won't die, I promise. Nothing is gonna happen to either of you." I say whilst reading over some articles about what I need to do.
I'd skimmed 4 articles before I grabbed the ruler. I found 10cm and propped Lara's knees up.
"You need to start pushing." I say grabbing some hand sanitizer. I put some more on and then Lara leans forward and grabs my hand.
"I love you." She says and I nod. "I know you do and I love you." I say and she relaxes back into the pillow.
"Start." I say and she does. I give her my hand to hold and she does exactly that.
****
"Again." I say and she cries and throws her head back. "It hurts, so much." She says and I nod. "I know, you're almost there." I say and she nods and starts screaming as she pushes.
"I'm letting go of your hand. I can see his head." I say and she nods. I straighten out the towel and put my hands out.
"One more push, baby, one more." I say and she goes again. She keeps going until the baby was in my hands. "You can stop." I say to her whilst grabbing a blanket.
I wrap him in the blanket and take a breath of relief. "He should be crying. Why isn't he crying?" She asks and then I start panicking.
"Come on!" I repeat and then he starts crying. I look down at Lara. Who hasn't stopped crying and was so pale.
I place him down on her chest and cover them both in another blanket. I sit beside them both and she rests her head on me.
"Don't go to sleep. Can you feel that? We're descending. You need to stay awake." I say and she nods slowly.
"I'm gonna sort everything out. Just stay awake." I say as she attempts to comfort our son.
"Jax." She groans and I sit up worried. "What is it?" I ask and she lets out a hiss.
I look between her legs just to see a ridiculous amount of blood. "Jesus." I say and she whimpers.
"Hold on." I say holding her hand. "As soon as we land, EMT will be here." I say and she twists her face.
****
By the time we land, I had a wife slipping in and out of consciousness and a son who hadn't stopped crying.
The EMT had rushed on and taken both of them from me, I was rushing behind them in a state of panic. I grew up in a mafia, I'm used to blood. But watching my wife bleed and not be able to stay conscious, scared the shit out of me.
"Jax!" Gio shouted and I didn't take my eyes of Lara. "Shit is that Lara's?" Gio asks focusing on my hands. "Yes. Um... Alannah is on the plane. Get her and... she won't be able to sleep. Take her out for ice cream or something and I'll get back to you." I say and rush over to the ambulance.
"They're going to be okay right?" I ask and the paramedics look between each other. "We can't make promises. Not in situations like this." She says and I sink back whilst watching them pump Lara with stuff.
****
At the hospital, I sat in the room I requested for her, for so long.
I spoke to Alannah who was worried and all I told her was that Lara had gone into labour. She was immediately excited but I felt so sick.
The nurse hands me back my son with a bottle.
"Well done on delivering him, you did really well." She encourages and I look up from my son.
"My wife?" I ask and she nods. "She should be okay and shouldn't be too much longer. Ring that bell if you need us." She says pointing to a button.
I stood rocking my son whilst looking out the window. I felt sick. This is my son and I need to focus on him, whether Lara comes out or not.
Some nurses roll Lara's bed in and I took the biggest breath of relief. I put our son down in a cot and held her hand.
"How you feeling?" I ask and she nods. "Sore." She says and I close my eyes to brace myself. I don't think I've ever felt this emotional.
"You did so well today." She says squeezing my hand. I look back down at her and her eyes widen and soften at tbe same time.
"It's okay. We're okay." She says and I sigh. "Don't do that to me again." I say and she nods. "You scared me." I admit and she tries to move but I give her a stern look. "Sorry." She says and I move down to hug her.
"I don't ever wanna go through that again." I say and she sighs. "We'll have this conversation a different time." She says and glances over at the cot.
"Where's Alannah?" She asks. "She is with Gio somewhere. I told him to keep her distracted." I say and she nods.
"Can I see him?" She asks and I furrow my eyebrows. "Gio?" I ask and she laughs. What a beautiful laugh. "No. Our baby." She says and I nod standing up.
I put our baby in her arms and she smiles.
I just watch her as she happily looks down at our baby and then grabs my hand.
She's so happy.
She's so cute.
"We should probably name him." She says glancing up at me. "What are you thinking?" I ask and she shrugs.
"He's yours. Do you want an Italian name?" She asks and I feel myself get the slightest bit annoyed. "Lara he's ours. We can name him whatever." I say and she nods slowly. "I know." She sighs.
"What about Giovanni?" She asks and I scoff. "I'm not naming my son after Gio." I say and she raises an eyebrow. "Why not? He's done a lot for us." She says and I give in.
"If you want to name him Gio, you can." I say and she groans. "Come on we need to decide on a name." She says and I nod.
"What about Teddy." She says and I raise an eyebrow. "So that's a no." She mutters before looking back down at the baby.
"Theo." I say and she smiles up at me. "Theo Giovanni Ricci." She says and I nod. "Suits him." I smile and she nuzzles against my hand.
****
The second Alannah gets here she goes to dive on the bed but I pick her up instead so she doesn't hurt or wake Lara.
"Hi dad." She says and kisses my cheek. "Hi." I whisper back to her before looking from Alannah to Gio stood by the door.
"Hey." Gio smiles and I smile back. "Hi." I say and he glances over at Lara. "Is she okay?" He asks and I nod. "Sore and tired." I say and he nods.
Why does this feel so awkward?
"Where's Amara?" I ask and he sucks in a breath. "She's in the car." He says and I raise an eyebrow.
"She couldn't come up here and be around all this stuff." He says and I nod. "Just don't bring it up to her, she already feels awful." He says and I look down at Alannah who was watching her mom.
"I won't." I say and he looks behind him. "I should probably go." He says and I sit Alannah down on the chair. "You don't have to." I say trying to give him some reassurance.
This is so awkward.
"Jax don't. Just don't." He says and I raise an eyebrow. "Do you want to meet him?" I ask walking over to the cot.
"Oh my god!" Alannah screams and Lara jolts up. I pinch my nose and reach down to Theo, who was now crying.
"Sorry." Alannah says shyly and slipping back into her seat. "That's alright." I say and start rocking him. "Gio's here." I say and she looks from me to Gio with a smile on her face.
If anyone can reassure Gio, it's Lara.
I sit beside Alannah and start introducing her brother to her, whilst listening to Gio and Lara.
"Where's Amara?" She asks and he sighs. "She's in the car. She wanted to congratulate you guys but it's probably not the best that she comes up here." He says and she nods.
"We aren't angry with you guys." She says and he starts crying. Shit.
"Ah Gio." She says sitting up slowly. "Come here." She says opening her arms but he turns her back to her. "Gio." She says sternly and he sighs.
He walks back to her and she hugs him. "It's okay." She says hugging him. "We know you're both trying your best. Don't pressure yourself. We aren't angry with you. You could get pregnant tomorrow, or in 10 years and we wouldn't mind." She says rubbing his back.
"I don't understand why it's so difficult." He cries and she nods. "I know. I know. But you'll get there. I can picture you guys with like 4 kids and happy. It will happen Gio." She reassures and he sighs before pulling back.
"Thank you." He says and discreetly wipes some tears away. Lara turns to me. She puts her arms out signalling she wants the baby.
I put the baby in her arms and then pick Alannah up as I stand beside Gio.
"This is Theo." Lara says to Gio. "Theo Giovanni Ricci." She says and Gio turns his head again. "For god sake Lara! You really know how to play with a man's emotions." He says and I laugh.
"Theo, this is uncle Gio." Lara says as Theo watches her with his big brown doughy eyes.
"Do you want to hold him?" Lara asks whilst smiling at Theo. "I probably shouldn't." He says and she corrects his arms before putting Theo in his arms.
"You'll be okay." She encourages and turns from Gio to Alannah. "Hey bub." She smiles and opens her arms. Alannah jumps out of my arms and into Lara's.
"Do you still love me?" Alannah asks sinking into Lara's side. "Always." Lara whispers and kisses Alannah's cheek.