Chapter 17- Miracles Happen (Part Three)

It was a sweltering summer's day. Laura sat in front of the fan, nine months pregnant, rubbing herself down with numerous ice cubes. "Ohhh Luke, why did the A/C have to go out right now? I feel like a huge whale trapped in warm, salty seawater," Laura complained.

Luke looked at her, noticing that her white maternity top was soaked with water from the melted ice. He couldn't take his eyes off her breasts which were greatly enlarged from her advanced pregnancy. "I know you're miserable, angel," he said as he too was sweating bullets. "But very soon, the baby will be here, the A/C will be back on, and..."

"I can't take it another moment!" Laura exclaimed. "Please, Luke, there's gotta be something we can do."

"Maybe we could go over to visit your parents. They have air conditioning."

"No," Laura said firmly. "My mother will do what all mothers do best - worry about me... and she'll say I am not getting enough rest. But Luke, how can I rest? It's so freakin hot in our apartment!"

"I know, babe... and I am sorry. I talked to the landlord. He says he's gonna fix it, but it's a weekend and he's out of town."

Tears of frustration filled up Laura's eyes. "When is this baby ever gonna come out? It's already three days overdue. I look hideous!" she exclaimed. "Our child is going to be the size of a huge Butterball turkey!"

Luke almost laughed, but he did not dare. Laura was really upset and tears were falling from her eyes. Her skin was flushed and she looked absolutely miserable. He knew he had to do something to make her more comfortable.

"How about a cool bath? Or a nice shower?" he suggested.

"No,' she said flatly. "Let's go for a drive. Our car has airconditioning. Please Luke."

Luke couldn't say 'no," as Laura was pleading. He too was feeling hot and overly sweaty and a nice drive in the A/C was bound to do them both some good. "Come on," he said as he took Laura's hand and helped her up from the chair. It was no easy feat as Laura's stomach was immense. The baby seemed to have grown in leaps and bounds since he had moved in to share Laura's apartment.

"Are there two in there?" he teased as he lightly caressed her rounded belly.

"There better not be, Luke. We only have one crib," Laura stated. "And besides, I only have one name picked out... one for a girl and one for a boy. If there were two girls or two boys..."

"There's only one, angel. One little bundle of joy," Luke tried to reassure her.

"One HUGE bundle of joy," Laura said, wincing as she ached in her pelvic region. She had been getting Braxton Hicks contractions for the past four weeks. Her uterus had been practicing up for the big event.

"What is it? Are you hurting?" Luke asked with concern. He was helping her put her shoes on her feet. Her belly was too big and her ankles and toes were much too swollen; she couldn't even put her own shoes on what had all the sudden become her great-big clown feet.

"A little," she said. "It's just those practice contractions. Dr. Hodgekiss called them Braxton Hicks."

"I think I need to have a stern talk with this kid," Luke said as he lowered himself to his knees, his face pressed close to Laura's bulging belly. "Listen to me, kid, this is your dad. You're making your mother miserable... and me, too. So you need to come out of there ASAP. As of today, you've been evicted..."

"Ohhh Luke," she sighed when she heard him scolding the baby. "I don't think that's gonna help. I don't think the baby's gonna listen."

Luke placed a tender kiss on her distended stomach, thinking she looked adorable pregnant... even nine months along. He couldn't wait to meet his offspring. The suspense was killing him. "You never know, Laura. It's worth a try," Luke said as he rose to his feet.

He grabbed the container of ice as he took Laura's hand and they headed out of the apartment. A car ride in the A/C sounded heavenly. He couldn't stand the extreme heat of their little apartment for one minute longer.

~*~o~*~

After they were on the road, driving along the countryside near Beecher's Corners, Laura was feeling far more comfortable. She hadn't been sleeping well for the past few nights, so she promptly fell asleep as Luke drove. Every now and then, she'd let out a little groan in her sleep, but Luke didn't think much about it. Being overdue, she had to be feeling a great deal of discomfort and pelvic pressure. He didn't realize he had driven so far away from Port Charles and that now he was getting closer to Beecher's Corners.

He'd been driving close to an hour when Laura's eyes suddenly popped open. "Ohhh my God!" she gasped, clutching her swollen middle.

"What?" Luke asked, not liking the sound of her cries. They were frantic and pain-filled.

"The baby! Luke, something's happening!"

"What?! What is it?" he asked, having a hard time keeping his eyes on the road as Laura was clearly freaking out.

"It hurts!" she told him. "Far worse than before... it's like, deep, painful stabs..."

"Are you in labor?" Luke asked with concern, knowing that there was no doctor or hospital anywhere in sight.

He wanted to scream out, "I don't know nothin' bout birth and little babies!" but he knew that would only put Laura into far more distress. He bit his tongue, trying to remain calm.

She didn't answer; just scrunched up her face in pain as another contraction hit, this one far worse than the ones she'd felt before. As the muscles of her uterus contracted, something amazing happened. "Ohhh Luke!" she cried out. "My water just broke!"

Luke let out a string of expletives as he pulled the car over along the side of the road, near a pasture full of plump, mooing cows. As Laura stared over at one extremely large heifer, she felt that she had something in common with huge dark-brown animal.

"I look like one of those cows!" she told Luke with a sob.

"No, you don't," Luke said gently, taking her hand. "You look like an angel, a beautiful angel... a beautiful angel who's about to give birth to my child."

He kissed her tenderly on the lips, trying to calm her. "Laura, how close are the contractions now? Do we have time to make it back to Port Charles? I need to get you to the hospital."

Laura didn't answer as another intense pain ripped through her middle. They were getting stronger and closer together. She just shook her head. They weren't going to make it to the hospital. The baby was coming now. There was no possible way they could make it back in time for the delivery.

As soon as the contraction ended, she gave Luke the news he didn't want to hear. "You're going to have to help me deliver this baby, Luke. It's coming. It's coming now."

"No way," he said, shaking his head.

"Yes," she said urgently. "I can feel it."

"How am I gonna...?"

"It's your fault, you know," she told him. "It was that talk you had with the baby, right before we left..."

"Of course, it's my fault," he said, giving her hand a little squeeze as yet another contraction tore through her. She was in a great deal of pain. He knew he had to help her, but he wasn't sure what to do. He had no medical training what-so-ever. He'd never delivered a baby before.

"Luke, you have to help me... into the back seat," she said. "I need to lie down... and I think- think I need to push."

He had no other choice but to follow Laura's orders. He carefully got out of the car, watching for traffic, then went around to the passenger seat to help Laura out of the vehicle. She was making panting noises as she tried to control her breathing. "It's going to be okay, baby," Luke said gently. "We'll get through this."

He helped her lie down in the backseat of the car. "Luke!" she cried out as he was helping her get settled. The pain was far worse than anything she had ever imagined. She knew the birth was imminent. She could feel the intense pressure of the infant's head pressing down unbearably in her lower regions.

"This kid sure is a lot of trouble already," Luke said as he pushed Laura's cotton skirt up to expose her legs. He removed her cotton undergarment as she let out a little hiss. She was already pushing.

"Whoa! Whoa!" Luke said as he could see a bit of the baby's hair. He wasn't ready for this. Their baby was supposed to be born in a hospital ... with medical professionals there to assist in the child's delivery!

"It's coming!" Laura exclaimed as she was suddenly pushing with all her strength. Her body had taken over as Luke knelt between her legs, watching as more and more of the infant's head began to emerge. He had no idea what to do, but it was certainly a miracle, watching their child being borne into the world; that tiny, little scrap of humanity in which he held in his own two hands.

Luke watched in amazement as the child emerged, crying loudly and covered in pinkish fluid. "It... it... She's beautiful," Luke said when he realized they had a daughter. She was tiny... much tinier than she had appeared from the outside while all scrunched up in Laura's stomach.

Luke lay the child gently on the seat and removed his shirt. Wrapping the baby up carefully, he handed the newborn girl to her mother.

Laura cried when she saw her baby, her precious little girl. "She's perfect," she said.

Luke and Laura were thrilled with their new baby girl who had soft blondw hair and gorgeous light-blue eyes. "She looks like you," Luke said tenderly to Laura.

"I love her so much, Luke," Laura said as she kissed the baby's head.

"I have to get you both to the hospital," Luke said.

Laura cradled the crying baby, trying to soothe her. She was incredibly sore, but she wasn't in such awful pain anymore. She forgot all about that when she looked into the sweet sapphire eyes of her daughter. "Ohhh Luke, she's so precious," Laura said.

"Baby, I'm going to drive you both to the hospital now. You need to be seen by a doctor," Luke said. He'd seen a lot of blood during the delivery and he didn't want anything to happen to Laura or their newborn child.

Laura was drowsy as she held the baby and Luke rushed back toward Port Charles, anxious to get her to General Hospital. It was obvious that both Laura and the baby needed medical attention. He was speeding down the highway while Laura cuddled the infant in the backseat.

It was later, after Laura was resting comfortably in her hospital bed and she and the little one had been examined by the doctor when Laura said quietly to Luke, "She'll never know what we went through."

Laura was gazing at her baby girl with tear-filled eyes. Luke knew she was thinking of that terrible night at the disco - that fateful night when their child had been conceived.

"I forgive you, Luke," she said as she gazed into his eyes which were also shiny with tears. "We have this precious girl. We have each other. We have everything."

"Our little miracle," Luke said softly.

Before Laura had a chance to reply, Lesley and Rick walked in. They were looking at their newborn granddaughter in wonder. "She's an amazing bundle of joy," said Lesley. "What will you name her?"

Luke looked at Laura, waiting to see what name she had chosen for their baby angel. "Staci Lena Spencer," Laura said proudly.

"No," Luke said, as he kissed the top of the baby's blonde head. "Staci Leigh Spencer."

"Staci Leigh it is," Laura agreed.

After Rick and Lesley had gone, Luke and Laura had more time to bond with their newborn daughter. "What's next for us?" Laura asked as she cuddled baby Staci.

"Maybe a son?" Luke asked hopefully. "But... we are giving him an "L" name next time."

Laura laughed as she agreed "Okay, I wouldn't mind having another baby," she replied. "But no more wild adventures or life-threatening days on the run... not for a long, longggg time."

"How about never again?" Luke said with a heavy sigh.

Little did they know that some of their greatest adventures were yet to come...

THE END

Author's Note: Stay tuned for the Sequel in the near future - Think of Laura.