His | COMPLETED ✔︎ | UNEDITED |

Chapter 27

Elijah's POV

"Fly faster!" I bark at the pilot who seems to be taking his sweet time. Nicola's water broke and I am terrified.

What if I loose her?

What if I loose them both?

What if I can't take care of the baby?

What if I loose everything?

Questions spiral in my head, making me short tempered. My hands are on Nicola's stomach, soothing her as much as I can.

The contractions have started but they're far apart. And we're almost back home.

I made sure to call the witch to be there to help Nicola birth the baby.

"Elijah, please relax, your making me antsy." She groans as another contraction hits her.

"I'm sorry, Nico. I'll stop." It's amazing how she can make me bow to her. I love this woman so much, my heart aches that I'll most likely loose her tonight.

"Do you want to know the names I was thinking of?" She asks. I nod. "Well, I was thinking Azura or Maia."

"Those are great options."

"What do you think?" She looks up to me. I would miss those green eyes.

"I love it. I love you." I look at her belly, "I love you."

We begin to descend so I grip Nicola in my embrace to keep her still.

Quickly we rush out of the plane and head into the car waiting for us to drive back home.

By the time we're there, the witch was inside and had set up equipment all throughout my room.

I place Nicola on my bed. She has beads of sweat lined on her forehead and she tries breathing in through her nose and out through her mouth as her contractions begin to be 5 minutes apart.

"Your at 9 cm. It's almost time, Nicola." Gloria says and heads back out to grab warm water.

I grab Nicola's hand that has needles in her to keep her hydrated. I hope she survives this. I pray that she does.

"Oh fuck!" She curses as another contraction hits her. Her eyes are squeezed shut and her grip tightens around my hand. I caress her face attempting to sooth her.

" I love you so much, Nicola."

"I love you to the moon and back." She replies, a small smile gracing her features. I press my lips hard against hers, to savor her. My eyes were blurry and there was huge lump in my throat.

"10 cm. It's time!" Gloria commands and Katherine and Elena scurry in. They hug Nicola, wishing her well.

But I can tell she's already weak. Too weak.

She cries as Gloria says to start pushing. I hold her hand going through the pain of her grip just to make her as comfortable as possible.

"I can't. I can't." She shakes her head as Gloria says to push again.

"Yes you can, Nicola. You so strong. You went through these months like it was nothing. You can do this, give birth to our baby girl." I wipe the sweat from her forehead and swipe her hair back.

She grunts as she pushes a few more times. I can't believe she can do this even with how weak she is. Her skin is a doughy and pale. Her eyes droop with exhaust. Her lips are dry and she seems like she's always tired. I knew she was in pain these months because the magic couldn't keep all of it from her, but I tried to keep her mind off it as much as I could.

"Almost there, Nico. Your doing so good."

"One big push!" Gloria exclaimed.

"Ah!" Nicola sobs. A cry silenced the room and there she is. Gloria hands her to me and I rock her. She looks breathtaking. She has the same jade green eyes as Nicola. I put her in Nicola's arms and she looks down in awe at our creation.

"You did a great job, Nico. I love you both with every ounce of my being."

"She's beautiful." Nicola sobs. I noticed Nico was feeling tired so I tell her we should get her cleaned and she hands her back to me. I give the baby back to Gloria to get her clean and turn around to see Nicola staring off into space.

"You did it. You're amazing." I tell her. Nicola doesn't respond. My heart plummets.

"Nicola?" I shake her a little. She doesn't respond. Panic rises. "Nicola!" Please wake up. Please."

A sob rips through me. My eyes blur but Nico still doesn't move. She doesn't respond.

Gloria hurries to my side, placing her two fingers on Nicola's pulse. She visibly deflates. "She's gone." Those words send me into darkness.

"No, no, no. She can't be. She's fine. She has to be." I try CPR on her but she's just lifeless now.

She's no longer the sunshine of smiles. She's not the woman I want spend with the rest of my life with. She's not there now. Her eyes are dull. It's just the shell now. I cry into Nicola's shoulder. Silently begging for her to wake up. I can't do this without her. I can't keep living without her.

My heart broke into fragments I'll never be able to repair.

She was gone.

2 weeks later

A cry wakes me up. I look at the time. 3:08 am. The crying came from Azura. I groan and lift myself off the bed to calm her for the 11th time tonight. I haven't even gotten an hour of sleep for the past two weeks.

I decided to name her Azura Nicolette Horne-Lockhart. Nicolette and Lockhart to honor her mom. I chose Azura because it seemed like Nicola was obsessed with that name. Maia too but it just didn't look like it fit Azura.

  I searched up what her name meant and smiled when I saw the definition.

Queen of dusk and dawn
Mother of the rose
Queen of the night sky
Anticipation of Sotha Sil

  I went to her crib and picked her up and patted her back while bouncing lightly to calm her.

  "You hungry? What is it, Azura? Can't you let me sleep?"

  I head to the kitchen with a wailing Azura on my chest and grab a warm bottle I kept in the microwave in case this happened.

  I brought the nipple to her lips and she turned her head, crying harder. I groan internally.

  "You miss mommy too? I know Azura. I know." I go back upstairs and place Azura in my bed, on the side her mother would sleep, I piled pillows on the side to keep Azura from rolling off the bed. Instantly, the still lingering smell of her mother on the pillows brought her calmness. She quiet down and cooed, falling asleep in my arms.

  I miss you, so fucking much, Nicola.