Original Ficlet: Hastes Makes Speed, Baby!

[dawnofme]

Title:  Haste Makes Speed, Baby!
Author:  dawnofme
Rating: PG
Warnings:  None
Summary:  Gina and David are in a hurry to get to the hospital.
a/n:  Originally posted over at tamingthemuse for prompt #88 - Haste Makes Speed.  It took me a long time to come up with something for this one.



 Haste Makes Speed, Baby!

Gina stretched out on the back seat of their SUV, panting, as she held her tight and rounded stomach.  She grabbed the black leather seat with her other hand for support, and tried desperately to stay in place. 

David had looked back when she’d first climbed in and had reminded her to put a seatbelt on.  She’d just glared at him.  There was no way she could possibly get the strap around her swollen middle and be comfortable.  Now she wished she had tried. 

In his nervous condition, he drove erratically, turning corners without braking and trying to outrun every yellow light.

“Slow down, David!” she yelled as he turned another corner.  “I want to actually make it alive to the delivery room.”

She regretted her backseat driving almost immediately when he glanced back, causing the car to swerve all over the road.

“I’m doing the best I can, but there’s no way you’re having our baby in the backseat of a car.”

He straightened the SUV out and lightened his touch on the gas pedal.  Gina barely had time to breathe a sigh of relief before the situation got a little more urgent. 

Her water broke.  Warm fluid slowly gushed out onto the seat in time with her current contraction. 

“David!” she said.  “I think you better step on it!”

“Make up your mind, woman,” he said with a nervous chuckle.  “Do I slow down or speed up?”

“My water just broke.”

The engine roared as his pressed the gas pedal to the floor and they lurched forward.  “Two minutes, hun.  We’ll be there in two minutes.  Hang on until then.  Please.”

“Believe me,” she was able to say with an anxious laugh, now that her contraction had passed.  “I’m hanging on back here for dear life.  Make sure you don’t run over anyone in the parking lot when we get there.”

“I won’t.  Can you cross your legs?”

“David!  That’s not going to stop the baby from coming.  Just shut up and drive!”  She wiped the sweat from her forehead and adjusted her position. 

Now she was in pain, uncomfortably sticky, and very embarrassed.  This was her first baby.  It wasn’t supposed to be like this.  All the books said that most women had long labors their first time.  She’d woken up with pains, and they’d barely started timing them when they realized that they were coming just one minute apart. 

She was so glad, now, that David had insisted on putting her bags for the hospital in the car.  Their friends had teased him for days when they’d found out that he’d had the bags in the trunk for three months.

David gunned it again, and she looked on in horror as they ran a red light. 

“David!  You’re going to get us killed!”

“It just turned red,” he dismissed her claim.  “Besides that light takes forever, and we don’t have forever.”

As their eyes met through the rear view mirror, she glared at him.  Her abdomen tightened painfully and she groaned.

“Haste makes speed, baby,” he told her.  “Haste makes speed.  Hold on, we’re here.”

She grunted in pain as he flew over a speed bump and then slammed on the brakes when they pulled up to the curb by the doors to the maternity ward. 

She giggled with relief, even as the contraction continued to get stronger.  They’d made it.  She would have her baby in the hospital with doctors there to help.  Gina was a little surprised that David had the presence of mind to pull up the parking brake before throwing the door open and rushing into the lobby to get help.

The driver’s side door was open and the engine was still running, but if their luck would hold up, they wouldn’t get carjacked before she could get herself out of the vehicle.

She was able to get her door open on her own before a posse of nurses in scrubs came rushing out with a wheel chair, with David following close behind.

Gina smiled at her husband as their eyes met.  “Let’s go have a baby.”