Jack stepped away from Mark in shock. While Mark's mom blurted out with a deep concern. "No... It's too early... Are you sure?" Jack put his shaking hands to his stomach, replying seriously. "I'm sure..." Mark reached out for his arm, pulling him closer as he said. "Are you in pain?" Jack shook his head, then bent over with a sharp inhale as he mumbled out. "Fuck, it's starting..." Mark quickly hefted Jack into his arms, starting to yell out. "Wake up, Trey!" Mark's mom ran down the hall as Mark carried him out toward the door. Trey groggily woke from his sleep as Mark's mom shook him awake. Noticing the commotion, Trey stumbled off the couch and untangled himself from the blankets as fast as he could. On the other couch, Jason jerked upright and sleepily asked through a yawn. "What's going on?" Mark's mom shouted a simple. "The baby is coming!" Trey rushed to Jack's side in Mark's arms, questioning him swiftly. "How far are your contractions?" Jack tensed up in Mark's arms, growling through his teeth. "Something is wrong... They are coming fast and hard!"

Despite being in his pajamas, Trey opened the door to the snowy outdoors and snatched his keys. Racing out barefoot across the snow, Trey opened his trailer and let Mark carry Jack inside. Gesturing to the birthing chair, Trey told him quickly. "Put him there and help him undress. Here is a blanket." Mark set Jack in the chair and began to help strip him down to his underwear. When Trey handed Mark the bright thin blue blanket, Mark draped it over him. Trey rushed around to flip on switches and pushed a small cart with ready tools closer. Jack held Mark' hand, squeezing it as the contractions started to make Jack groan loudly. His abs had never tightened so much in his life. He could barely breathe. It felt like a snake had wrapped around his chest and was slowly squeezing to cut off his air. Mark leaned over him, whispering to him lovingly. "I'm right here. It's going to be ok." Jack turned his head against Mark's as he shook in fear. This was happening too fast. Something was wrong.

Trey pulled out the ultrasound to look at the baby. After only looking for a second or two, he blurted out without hesitation. "Oh, shit... We've got to get it out." Jack jerked his head toward Trey, his voice cracking as he yelped out. "What?! What's wrong?!" Trey removed a shot off the tray, telling them in a rush. "The baby is having a seizure. If I don't act fast, you will lose it. Mark, get out!" Mark shook his head, snapping out. "NO! I'm staying! He needs-!" Trey injected the needle into Jack's thigh, snapping out. "I don't have time to argue! Get out and send your mother in! I have to work fast!" Mark shook his head, but Jack could tell why he needed him to go. There wasn't room for him to be in here if he needed a nurse's help. Pulling on Mark's hand, he told Mark through the pain. "Mark, you've got to go. Or we'll lose it..." Mark shook his head, but Jack coaxed Mark into a quick kiss before ordering him in a loving voice. "Mark, I love you. Go." Mark hesitated, even as his mother tried to pull him from the room.

Jack watched him go, their fingers being pulled apart by distance. Mark's mom coaxed him outside the trailer, then rushed in to ask what she could do. Trey started spouting off orders, but Jack was having trouble following them. His mind and heart were racing... Yet, his body was starting to feel strangely weak and numb. Mark's mom put a cool gel sleep mask over his eyes to keep him from seeing anything. When he tried to remove it a bit groggily, she told him quickly. "Don't! Leave it on. Relax. We don't have time to put up a curtain. Jack could barely feel his body anymore. He felt paralyzed and that scared him a little. Trey asked him if he could feel him doing something and he shook his head. He overheard Trey then tell Mark's mom as he worked. "I was expecting the labor to be early but not this early. Most people that have had caesareans before end up having early labors... I was hoping I'd have more time." Mark's mom chuckled a little to lighten the mood, saying sweetly. "Nothing ever goes as planned." For a bit, Jack just rested and listened a bit anxiously as Trey asked for things.

Jack's breathing was still strained like his body was still going through contractions. However, without feeling the contractions, his body just felt like it was forgetting how to breathe. He tried to keep his breathing steady, until he heard the heartrate machine speed up. He could feel his body shaking as Trey yelled out. "Put that on him and calm him down. The drug is wearing off." Jack felt twinges of pain from his abdomen as a plastic mask was put over his nose and mouth. Fresh air was being pumped into it to help him not breathe in as hard to get air. Mark's mom ran her fingers through his hair, telling him soothingly. "Just a bit longer. Hang in there. Try not to move." Jack grabbed her arm, squeezing it as he strained out. "I'm starting to feel it... Please hurry." She didn't get a chance to say anything before Trey called out. "Got it! Here. Take it and hook it up immediately!" Jack listened to hear the baby cry, but it didn't. Panic flooded Jack as he panted out. "What is it? Why isn't it crying?!" No one answered him.

Jack began to cry as he waited. He didn't like that they weren't telling him anything. He wanted to rip off the stuff and see his baby. As the pain came, Jack grabbed the eye mask to yank it off and look for his baby. He only managed to lift one side. Catching a glimpse of a deep cut along his stomach that Trey was stapling shut. The sight of it made him sick, but he quickly averted his eyes to look around the room for the baby. He didn't see his baby anywhere in this part of the trailer before Trey's bloody gloved hand blocked his view and told him sternly. "Keep your eyes covered!" Jack put the mask back down, asking in a shaky worried voice. "Where is my baby?!" Trey told him to relax and before Jack could do anything else, he suddenly felt like he was drifting off to sleep. Had Trey given him something? Or had his body finally had enough? His dream was a nightmare. A nightmare filled with being cut open and feeling helpless. He suffered through it, unable to wake himself up. Until a surgeon in his dream took a baby away in his arms. It was then Jack feared they'd kill his baby and he jerked awake.

Mark's mom put her hands on him to settle him down in the reclined chair, telling him calmly. "Easy! You'll rip out your staples." Jack took in the room with wide eyes. He was covered in the thin blue blanket with the air mask on. Trey was gone and the place was clean. His heartrate monitor was beeping wildly, and he felt awful... but it appeared to be over. Lifting the blanket, he saw that his abdomen was wrapped in bandages. Mark's mom rubbed his arm, telling him calmly. "It's over. You are alright." Jack yanked the mask away from his mouth, asking more firmly now. "My baby?!" Mark's mom gave him a nervous shrug, telling him. "It's touch and go. He's being monitored very closely." Jack's eyes teared up a bit as he said. "It's a boy? Where is he? I wanna see him." She gave him a small smile, trying to keep him laying down. From outside the room, Trey peeked in to say very softly. "You can look. But you can't touch him yet. He's... very fragile." Jack huffed sarcastically, feeling like all babies were fragile.

Then Trey wheeled in a cart very slowly and carefully. On the cart was a solid plastic case that had two holes for someone's arms to reach in, but the holes were closed. As the cart was pushed up alongside the chair, Jack's heart melted. Laying on his back on a plush cushion was the tiniest baby that Jack had ever seen. The baby was just a little bigger than his hand. Placing a hand on the case, Jack cried as he saw all the tubes and wires hooked up to his baby. The baby was breathing but it wasn't awake. Trey told him truthfully. "I think we got him out in time... but he hasn't woken up. He's been having trouble breathing on his own. I thought we lost him a few times, but he is hanging in there." Jack tapped the case with his fingers very lightly to see if he could get the baby to open his eyes. The small baby moved his tiny fingers but didn't open his eyes. Staring only at the baby, Jack asked Trey hopefully. "Will he be ok?" Trey moved closer to unlock the one of the holes, telling him honestly. "I don't know. With premature babies it is always a risk... I've seen some that are healthy one second and gone the next. All I can do is monitor him for now. I'm waiting to hear him cry... That's usually how you tell that they'll be ok and everything is working."

Trey gestured for Jack to put his hand in but added cautiously. "Be very careful. Maybe he'll wake if he hears you." Jack slipped his hand inside to touch his finger to the baby's tiny palm. The tip of his finger was about as big as the baby's palm. The tiny fingers curled around his fingertip in a weak grip that made Jack smile. Mark's mom got up, shooing Trey out of the room to give them privacy. It was agony to see the tubes in his baby's nose and see all the wires attached to his chest to monitor his tiny heartbeat. He wanted to hold him in his arms and keep him safe. Rubbing the back of his soft tiny hand with his thumb, he told him lovingly. "You're going to be ok. I don't care what they say. And your dad is going to love you." The baby wiggled a little like he was uncomfortable, and Jack moved his hand to lay it by the Baby's head. The baby turned its head just enough to lay it against his hand, like it was seeking warmth. Jack wondered if the case was letting out warm air, giving his baby a chill. So, he carefully adjusted his hand to lay over his baby's body like a blanket. He had some body heat, but he was sure Mark would be warmer.

The baby yawned, its tiny hands laying across his index finger like his hand was a blanket to snuggle under. The image made Jack lay his own head down as he watched over him. He didn't know what he'd do if he didn't survive. To stop thinking about it, he began to hum O Holy Night. It helped distract him from the beeping monitors and ended the morbid silence that hung in the air. Jack saw Mark's mom take a picture or two of them from the corner of his eye, but he couldn't look away from his baby. He wanted so badly to see him open his eyes. To hear him cry. Mark's mom whispered something to Trey and stepped out of the trailer. No sooner had she opened the door, Mark asked her in a rush. "Well? What's happened?! Are they ok?!" Mark's mom tried to stop him from going in, but Mark slipped past her and rushed up the steps into the trailer. Trey stopped him at the open door and Mark stopped to look at Jack and the baby with a worried look. Mark's mom quickly closed the door to keep the cold out, letting Trey tell Mark the details.

When he finished, Trey lowered his hand off Mark's chest to let him walk in. Mark moved around to sit on a stool beside Jack, whispering so softly. "It's so small..." Jack smirked, informing him sweetly. "It's a he." Mark put a hand on Jack's shoulder, leaning closer to look at the baby better. Jack kissed Mark's cheek, whispering to him. "I'm worried, Mark..." Mark kissed his shoulder, whispering back lovingly. "He'll be ok. You're watching over him. He's probably just tired. Someone that small can't have that much energy. Right?" Jack smiled, chuckling for the first time at how rational that sounded. Sniffling, he told Mark. "I think he's cold... and I don't know if I'm warm enough." Mark kissed Jack's cheek, assuring him lovingly. "You are everything he needs." Jack couldn't tell Mark how much he needed to hear that. For a while, they just watched the baby breathe. Every breathe was a relief. After an hour or so, Jack was given more pain killers that were making him drowsy, but Jack fought as hard as he could to stay awake.

That's when Jack felt the baby stop breathing under his hand. It was so sudden that Jack wasn't sure it had happened, until the baby's heart monitor began to beep quickly. Trey rushed into the room and Mark rose from his stool. Trey unlocked the case and Jack pulled his hand out to watch Trey very carefully preform C.P.R. on him. Jack sat up through his pain, his own heart monitor racing now as he watched his baby closely. After a light C.P.R. session, Trey checked the air tube and found that he had to clean it out. Slipping the tube back in, Trey told Jack softly. "It's ok. Premature babies often forget how to breathe. That's why the tube is helping to fill his lungs." Jack nodded, but his worry didn't stop until the baby's heart rate steadied. Trey started to get ready to leave, when the baby began to jerk and grunt. Trey rushed back down to turn the baby as it threw up a thick white mucous. Jack's eyes widened, but Trey told him softly. "That's actually a good sign. It's amniotic fluid from the stomach. If he's throwing it up, it means his body is getting ready to feed on milk soon."

Mark slowly sat down, grinning as he asked. "So? He's improving?" Trey nodded, grinning back as he told them. "Yes. It's taking him longer... but things are looking good so far." Trey then adjusted the baby to lay on his belly in case he threw up again, telling Mark hopefully. "I have some preemie formula in that drawer. Can you take that inside and get some started? Just in case. We'll have to take things slow but having some ready might help his system when he needs it." Mark nodded, quickly fetching the formula and racing off back to the house. Jack reached out again to rub his baby's back, listening to him wheeze a little. Trey patted Jack's shoulder, telling him sweetly. "Would you like to try holding him to keep him warm?" Jack nodded without hesitation. Trey adjusted Jack's chair to help him sit up in a relaxed position. Then removing a fluffy pink blanket, he joked to Jack. "I'm out of baby blue... But the pink is just as warm." Carefully bundling up the baby, while keeping his cords and tubes free, Trey laid the baby in Jack's arms. The baby was so small that it barely took up the space of one arm.

Holding the baby close to his bare chest, he stroked its head and told him that he was going to be ok. The baby put his tiny hand on Jack's bare chest, his wheezing stopping as his breathing steadied back to normal. It would be a long day, but Jack didn't care. He wasn't going to give up on him. To Be Continued...