21. Late Arrival - Part One

*Okaaaay so I've been neglecting HIA but I'm updating now so it's all good ^_^ BUT I have no idea what's going on with me atm, I have the worst case of writer's block :/ Anyways I tried, so I hope this is ok for you all*

Hovering over the 'Unlock' button Nicki stood and thought. What if it was something serious that was bothering Safaree? Or maybe he did have another woman like she initially thought. Letting her mind run ridiculously wild she shook off all the thoughts and proceeded to search through his messages. Frowning to herself she opened the first one from an unknown number, all that was in the message was a date. Maybe it was a meeting date? She frowned even harder realising that the date was one that had passed months ago. Moving on to the next one she saw just how many there were, all with the same date.

"The fuck?" She elongated the profanity quietly to herself before remembering that Carson was still upstairs. Putting the phone back down she grabbed his water and picked Alia back up again. As she made her way upstairs she couldn't hear any movement. Reaching the top she looked around and noticed Jayson's door open, she couldn't believe the nerve of this guy. Pushing the door open silently she stood still and cleared her throat making him jump.

"Excuse me, I said there were none in the bedrooms or bathrooms. So why the hell you lookin' through my child's stuff?"

"Sorry, I just noticed-"

"Can you please get out?" She moved back out of the room and held the door open as he placed the picture of Jay and Safaree back on the dresser.

"Of course, listen I didn't mean to act out of turn. It's just I have a son a similar age, they look a little alike." He did as she asked and moved out of the room. She honestly didn't know what to make of this guy, there was something not quite right about him.

"Well that gave you no right to wander on in there and start touching his things." She bounced a fussy Alia as she spoke. "And I'm assumin' you fixed the wire right?" She asked whilst cocking her head with attitude. His blushing face showed his embarrassment.

"Yes, all sorted I'll be gettin' outta your way now." He rubbed his hands together. "Oh, and that service was free of charge too."

"Too right." She motioned to the stairs as Alia rested her sleepy head on her shoulder. "And thanks, I guess." She mumbled the latter as she showed him out, relieved that he was gone, he was a little strange to say the least. Muttering to Alia she went back upstairs and drew her curtains before placing her in her crib for a nap, now she could finally have her shower in hope that the hot water would soothe her aching back. Honestly it had been hurting the past day or two and as soon as she had her baby girl she would be relieved. Hearing another knock on the door she cursed before throwing her robe on and marching as best she could to the door. Snatching it open she was close to giving this person a gobful thinking it was Carson but it was Drake.

"Hey." He looked over her as he paused. "Bad time?"

"No, come in." She pulled the door open and let him slide past her. "Safaree should be home soon, he only went to drop Jay off at school." She double knotted her robe as she talked.

"Aight, well you want me to come back later?" Using his thumb to point at the door he waited for her to answer.

"Don't be silly, he'll be home soon. You want somethin' to eat?" She figured if she had to wait around a little more a bit of food wouldn't hurt.

"Nah I'm good thanks." He followed her through to the kitchen and sat down, watching her open a box of Ritz crackers. "So, you're still pregnant?"

"Ugh, don't even get on to that." She rolled her eyes and sat down steadily on the chair opposite him. "I'm so freaking fed up of feelin' like a damn balloon."

"When was she due?"

"Like, three days ago! hopefully somethin' happens within the next day otherwise.." She trailed off and shook her head whilst throwing another cracker into her mouth. Hearing Alia's cries she sighed heavily and went to stand up.

"You want me to go?"

"Would you? She's prolly just thrown her pacifier outta the crib, she does it every time." He smiled cheerfully and stood up. "Thanks Drake."

"No problem." As soon as he'd gone she heard Alia stop crying and sighed with relief, she honestly couldn't face climbing the stairs again with all the extra weight but suddenly feeling a strong pain in her back she leant forward quickly and cried out. It was only just easing up as Drake came back in. "Nicki? Are you okay?" He placed a hand on her shoulder and could feel her breathing as she brought her head back up. His face had worry written all over it as she stretched her back out.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Raising his brows at her obvious discomfort she quickly dismissed him. "Really Drake, I'm fine. Thanks for seein' to her." Continuing to eat her crackers he let go of her shoulder and sat down again. "So, no new ladies on the scene then?"

"No, I'm still alone." He laughed at her pouting and shrugged. "But it's all good, who said I didn't wanna be a lonely old man?"

"Oh my God, you are not old!" He laughed more at the fact that she was laughing but she soon turned serious again.

"What's up?" He tilted forward and rested his elbows on the table waiting for her to speak. She took a moment, furrowing her brows as she chomped on her crackers.

"Has Safaree been actin', y'know? A little weird 'round you lately?" 

"What, you mean like distracted?"

"Yeah! So, you've noticed too? It's not just me over-reactin'?"

"No I've noticed." He looked down and cleared his throat a little. "He okay?" Her long sigh said it all.

"I don't know, he won't talk 'bout anythin' that's not related to the kids, or the baby." She subconsciously rested her hands on her bump. "So he hasn't said anythin' to you?"

"No, sorry. But if he does I'll see if he'll talk to me 'bout it or whatever."

"Thanks." She smiled and offered him a cracker before moving through to the lounge-room.

It had been almost five hours and Safaree still wasn't back, she was trying to hide it but she was getting worried. Not just for that reason though. She knew all along that the pain she'd had in her back and the other two that followed were contractions. Reaching for her phone she shook her head realising he'd left his here so there was no way of getting hold of him.

"Look, Ion wanna take away any more of your time. I'll just call in later when he's home."

"No, no it's fine he'll be back. He prolly just ran some errands or somethin' whilst he was out and saw no point comin' back since he's gotta pick Jay up at three." Holding eye contact he just nodded and sat down again. He hated that he liked her and wanted to spend time with her as a friend but was terrified that he'd grow even more attracted. Being Safaree's friend and constantly being around him would mean often being in her company too and he didn't think he'd be able to handle that. As his thoughts polluted his own mind Nicki was sat on the opposite couch running through her own. So Drake had been with her for almost five hours now and she'd had three contractions, they were irregular and all lasted for a different amount of time so she obviously wasn't about to pop a baby out any time soon. She relaxed a little knowing that and the fact that they had planned a home birth so if anything did happen all they had to do was call Faye. Her back was fairly aching though, and she just hoped Safaree came home when he was supposed to. None of the contractions she'd had were intense but they weren't comfortable obviously. Feeling it tighten some more as she had another one she wrinkled her brow causing Drake to look over at her.

"Okay, there's somethin' wrong I can just tell. What is it?" He moved to the edge of his seat looking over her pained face for an answer.

"Nothing, it'll pass in a few seconds." Her breathless answer didn't help him feel any less uneasy about all of this.

"No, it must be somethin' if you said it's gon' pass." Standing himself up he sat on the same couch as her and tried to look at her face.

"Okay, but don't panic or anythin'." She pulled her leg from underneath herself and sat up to try and stop her lower back from aching. "I just had another contraction."

"Another?! You mean you had more than one? Nicki, why the hell didn't you say anythin'?" He stood up not knowing what to do.

"Will you please keep it down? Alia's asleep."

"Keep it down? Nicki you just casually told me that you're in labour, how am I s'posed to stay calm and-"

"Drake?" He stopped rambling and looked down at her relaxed face. "This is my third time doin' this, I'll know when it's really happening." She laughed a little at his embarrassed face. "Stop worryin' so much, Safaree'll be home soon anyway."

*** An Hour Later ***

Sitting silently in the school car park he decided he'd given Nicki enough time to calm down, he looked at Jay in the backseat before setting off home. He didn't know what to do about the texts or whether or not to even tell her about them. He thought through his ideas all the way home, if he kept it quiet and things got worse then surely Nicki would be pissed but if he told her he had no clue what would happen. He was in a trance the entire ride back, truthfully he had been like this for a few weeks now. He felt disconnected and distant and that same feeling he'd just got past after the accident was forcing its way back into his life. But it wasn't just his life, it was affecting his wife and children too. Pulling into the driveway he braced himself for the rant he might be receiving when he entered. It was quiet as he opened the door and dropped the keys on the side-table, taking Jay's coat and shoes off her handed his bag to him and told him to take it to his room. Moving into the lounge room he saw Nicki and Drake talking.

"Hey." She looked up at his sheepish face immediately, noticing how quiet he sounded.

"Hey, I didn't even hear you get back." Pausing she looked at Drake as if to ask for some privacy. He understood and took himself to the bathroom, making sure to say hello to Safaree on the way past. As soon as he'd disappeared up the stairs SB moved over and sat next to her on the couch.

"You cooled down a little?" She pulled a strand of hair behind her ear as she nodded.

"Yeah, I'm sorry for yellin' this mornin' but you gotta understand where I'm comin' from right?"

"I know, I'm sorry. I been actin' like a dick lately and I just-"

"Well, don't act like one! Just talk to me, y'know? Communicate Safaree." She grabbed his hand gently as he sighed. She knew that going about this her usual way would end up in a massive argument and neither of them speaking for a day or two and honestly she didn't want to push him away. Especially not after how far he'd come since the accident. That's when it clicked, the date in all those messages was the date that Safaree was in the car crash.

"Nicki? You hear what I just said?"

"Hm? No, sorry, what did you say?"

"I said I'm gonna try that, instead of just bottlin' it up I'm gon' try to..." He stopped and tried to think of the word.

"Express yourself?"

"Yeah." She smiled at his answer before wincing as she had another mild contraction. "Nicki what's wrong?" He immediately went into worry mode seeing her grimace in pain.

"Well if you'd taken your phone with you this mornin' you'd already know that I started havin' contractions after you left." She joked through the pain as his eyes lit up slightly.

"You mean it's time, she's really comin'?"

"Mhmm, so you best be ready 'cause I have a feelin' it's gonna be a long night."

"Wait, how many have you had?"

"That was the fifth in like, seven hours."

"And you sure you still wanna have her here? I mean it's not too late to go to the hospital." He tilted his forehead forward as he waited for her to answer.

"No I wanna have her here, we just gotta call Faye when the contractions get a bit more regular." Suddenly remembering she hadn't even seen Jay since he got home she steadily stood herself up with Safaree's help. "Where's Jay at?"

"He headed upstairs to put his bag away but I guess he's prolly havin' fun with Drake."

"Mmkay, well I'm gonna go see him. Could you please make me somethin' to drink?"

"Sure, you want somethin' to eat too?"

"Mmm, actually yes but I was gon' make dinner-"

"No I'll make it, you should rest whilst you can. Am I doin' a plate for Drake?"

"I don't know, he came over to see you so I'll send him down." She smiled and rubbed her bump as he kissed her forehead.

"You stay down here, I'll go get Jay. Ion want you climbin' up the stairs and shit." He helped her sit back down as he moved up the stairs to go get his son. He was right, Jay must have dragged Drake into his room because he could just hear them talking over Alia's crying. Getting her first he carried her with one strong arm before entering Jay's room. He called them both as they all headed down the stairs again.

"Oh my God." Both Safaree and Drake looked at her worriedly.

"What's wrong?"

"I just remembered I left Alia up there, she must have slept that whole time! There is no way she's gon' sleep tonight." Letting her head fall back she huffed loudly as Jay ran over to her and made her look up again. "Jayman! How was school?" Pulling him closer to her she waited for an answer as Safaree and Drake moved through to the kitchen. "Hey, I'm talkin' to you." Giving him a gentle shake he just looked up at her sadly.

"I don't like school Mommy."

"Why not baby? I thought you loved it." He just shook his head and rested on her arm as her brow stayed furrowed. Now she felt bad about hassling him this morning, obviously something had happened for him to hate school all of a sudden.

Back in the kitchen Safaree sat Alia in her highchair and proceeded to get her something to eat. He had a huge favour to ask Drake but didn't quite know how to ask, or if he'd even feel comfortable doing it. Before he even had chance to ask though, Drake beat him to it.

"Listen, I understand if you say no or feel like I'm intrudin' a little but do you want me to look after these two whilst...Y'know?" He waved his hand in Nicki's direction as he waited for a response.

"Really? I was just abouta ask you the same thing! You'd really do that?"

"Sure. I mean I'll be outta your way but if Alia's gon' be awake all night and you two have your hands full, I'm already here I might as well, right? You don't have anyone else here, and Jay talks to me."

"Thanks, we hadn't really thought that part through." He chuckled genuinely for the first time in ages, he had so much on his mind but he pushed it all to the back knowing that Nicki needed him right now. That and he wanted to experience the same excitement he had when Jayson and Alia were born. Looking at the time it was already 5pm so he decided to start cooking whilst Nicki was still comfortable enough to eat.

By 11pm Jay was in bed, their relatives had been contacted and Nicki's contractions had got more painful and closer together. She and Safaree had gone to lay down for a bit whilst Drake kept an alert and playful Alia occupied downstairs. Sitting on the edge of the bed he watched her sleep, hoping that it would be a quick and easy birth. He hated not being able to do anything for her when she was hurting.

"Why are you watching me?" Blinking her eyes open she looked up at him as he stayed still.

"How'd you know I was watchin' you?" He moved to lay down next to her but stopped himself quickly noticing her look down at her legs as a dark patch appeared, growing larger as it spread under her on the bed sheets.

"Oh, my water just broke."

...

*Ok so I already told you all I have writer's block :( I dunno if it's just 'cause I'm tired or what but Im gonna try and do a chapter for CM tomorrow. But If I feel like it doesn't sound good I won't post it 'cause I was kicking myself after posting that chapter for CAHM, I just felt like it could have been so much better but oh well. What's done is done right? Anyway I hope this was acceptable lol and sorry I just had to leave it there >_< Thanks for all the comments on the last chapter!*