Peter & Mariska - Fourteen [A Short Story]

Nine - August

"I think that night was the best night; just finding out I was pregnant - I didn't know I could ever be that lucky."

Peter smiled and slipped his arm around her some more, holding her tightly as his fingertips brushed up and down her arm. He kissed the top of her head, unable to repress the grin as memories of the night they found out about her being pregnant danced through his mind. He remembered that time so vividly - they hadn't really said they were trying, but instead simply stopped the birth control and left it up to God. Being a father was one of the greatest joys in his life, but having Mariska as the mother of his children - damn, that was pretty awesome.

"You've always deserved to be a mother, and I for one am honored to have you as the mother of my children." He told her. She smiled, pressing a quick kiss to his lips before looking back at her phone. There was another photo of August displayed on the screen; this one being a selfie that he had obviously taken on Mariska's phone some days ago. He was making the silliest face which made both his parents laugh. His green eyes were shining with happiness - the beautiful green orbs matched those of his father - but even still, he resembled his mother a lot. Not as much as he did when he was a baby, but her features were still very much present in his face. He was growing up so fast, and sometimes, they just wanted life to slow down because each day was yet another step in their eldest son's increasing independence.

"I remember when he was born." She sighed, running her thumb over her son's face on the screen.

"I remember too, a whole week overdue." Peter smirked, sending her off laughing as she snuggled into him some more...

******

June 2006.

Beep...beep...beep...be-

"I swear to God if this monitor does not shut the fuck up, I'm throwing it out the window."

Peter chuckled at the sound of voice, looking up from the magazine that he had been flicking through. He had tuned the sound out, but clearly his wife hadn't done so. Then again, she was probably annoyed because her blood pressure wouldn't stabilize properly and she had been in labor for a whole twenty four hours already. All they had seen for the last day was the inside of the spacious maternity room in Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. Mariska had been admitted the day before as she had gone into labor finally, but the labor had stalled and her blood pressure was fluctuating between normal and high, which was annoying her even more.

"And I'm officially a week past my due date," she continued as she caught sight of the calendar on the wall; "I don't know whether to cry or laugh; laughing because I'm laying here praying that our son decides to pop up today, or cry because Dad is literally two floors below, in here because he's sick. I swear to God-"

"Honey," Peter stepped in, stroking his fingers down her cheek as he knew she was getting worked up again and that was the last thing anyone needed; "Mickey is a strong man and he's gonna be fine. You need to relax; everything's gonna be okay and pretty soon, our little guy will be here."

"I just want everything to be okay," she whimpered, looking up into his eyes; "I want Dad to be okay, and I want our son to get here. Dammit Peter, I'm losing my shit."

"And you need to calm down because if you stress, then little man will stress - we don't need that." He leaned over and kissed her forehead; "Do you want me to call Ellen and find out how Mickey is doing?"

"Please." Mariska replied. Peter nodded and kissed her lips quickly, before whipping out his phone and stepping into the hallway. Mariska sighed and looked over at the monitors - one for her, and one for the baby. She looked at her son's monitor; his heart rate was steady and strong, her contractions were strong. She took a deep death once the contraction passed before looking at her belly again.