This is a celebratory chapter since this story reached no. 8 in ChickLit! And it's prequel NO. 4! It wouldn't have been possible without all you my wonderful readers :) Thank you so much for making it happen!

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"This one is embarrassing." I exclaim as my eyes land on a picture of me with barely any teeth, smiling goofily.

"No, it's not." Mom says. "Trust me you'll find all of your children's photos cute."

I sigh and rub my tummy at the reminder. My water broke last night at three. Mom rushed me to the hospital and William joined us there. But after checking me, Aunt Maria said that I'll have to wait till my contractions got closer.

So, here I am now. Waiting. The only distraction mom could think of was going through old photo albums.

I flip a page only as pain shoots through my abdomen making me wince slightly. I take a deep breath and finish flipping the page. But I wish I hadn't.

It's a picture that the four of us took on our last Christmas together. Even without looking at her I know that mom has tears in her eyes. I hastily slam the album shut and ask.

"Are there any vegetables in the house?"

"Of course." She says, getting up.

I close my eyes and lean back against the couch trying to calm myself down. But before that can happen my phone starts to ring. Without checking the caller ID I hold it to my ear.

"Who is this?" I ask.

"Your husband." William replies.

"Oh! Hey!" I say, opening my eyes and rubbing them.

"Hi! So, how's it going?" He asks.

"Alright so far. Though, I wish you were here." I sigh.

"I'm trying to get work done as fast as possible. I promise that I'll be back in no time." William told me last night after we got back from the hospital that he had to fly to Sydney for a meeting with... I don't know someone who's name I forgot.

"Is the meeting over?" I ask him.

"Nearly. He had to take a call, so I decided to make one if my own." He replies, making me smile.

I wince as pain shoots through me again.

"Are you okay?" He asks, concerned.

"Yeah. They were ten minutes apart and now six to seven minutes." I reply.

"I want to be there for you right now." He sighs.

"Just hearing your voice makes me feel better." I say.

"I'll call you again as soon as I'm ready to leave." He tells me. "Take care of yourself. I love you."

"Love you too. Bye."

"Bye." He says hanging up.

I look up to find mom standing beside me with a plate in her hand.

"William?" She asks, handing it to me and sitting down.

"Yeah." I reply popping a piece of cucumber into my mouth and chewing.

"He should be here with you instead of me." She says, twiddling her thumbs.

"Mom, he wants to be but you can't expect him to choose me over an entire country." I protest.

"He did once. Why not again?" She says, getting up.

"What do you mean?" I ask, but I already know the answer.

"Finish eating then go take a hot shower it'll help." She says, leaving me alone.

I finish my cucumbers and then move onto the carrots. I eat and wince at my contractions till I think I've eaten enough and set the plate down.

I go to my room and strip off my clothes before stepping into the shower.

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I lay in bed trying to relax my body. Mom's been in and out, checking on me. I feel something vibrate beneath my pillow. I reach under it and pull out my phone.

It's a voicemail from William.

"I'm leaving for Canberra. Will get there probably in three hours. First thing I'm coming to see you."

Smiling I set the phone on the bed next to me when I feel a contraction coming. I brace myself for it but it lasts longer than the ones before. A tiny moan escapes my mouth as it resides.

The next one hits me around two to three minutes later, making me moan again. This time a sudden urge to push came along.

"Mom!" I call out sitting up and wincing.

The door opens and her head pops in. "Cassy?"

"Take me to the hospital." I whisper.

"Are you sure?" She asks.

A contraction hits again this time fiercer. "Yes." I breath, bending forward in pain. For some reason this reminds me of period cramps. Only a whole lot worse.

"Do you want to call William before we leave?" She asks, rubbing my back.

Before I can reply, I feel a wave of nausea wash over me, making me put a hand over my mouth and rush to the bathroom. I throw up into the toilet just as mom pulls my hair out of the way.

I groan when I finish emptying my stomach.

"William's on his way back. He's airborne." I tell her, moving to rinse my mouth.

Just as I turn on the water another contraction hits me making me clutch the sides of the water basin.

"Just take me!" I manage to say through gritted teeth.

"Okay." She says, grabbing my arm with one hand and placing the other on my back for support.

She helps me into the waiting palace car and then gets in next to me before instructing the driver to take us to the hospital.

Everything that happens after that is a complete blur. All I'm able register is getting out of the car in the parking lot and mom rushing me in.

After ten minutes I'm in the delivery room with mom by my side. There is a nurse bustling around the room. After a few minutes she leaves and it's just mom and me.

She stays silent for a few minutes and then says. "You're finally experiencing what I did when you were born."

I tilt my head so that I can look at her and smile to reassure her that I'm alright. For some reason despite the pain there's a part of me that's nervous, nervous to finally enter motherhood.

William and I've talked about this quite a few times this month. He's pretty much as nervous as I am.

"Where's aunt Maria?" I ask like a child about to get an injection.

"She was off duty. There was another doctor but I know that you'll be more comfortable with her, so you'll have to wait." She replies, rubbing my forehead.

After what seems like forever the door opens and the same nurse followed by aunt Maria walk in.

"You're back earlier than I expected you to." She smiles at me. "I'm going to check a few vitals before we begin, alright?"

For some reason she's handling me like a fragile piece of crockery. But I'm grateful that she is because I don't think I can deal with harshness right now.

Once she's done with the checkup, she asks when William will be getting here. I just shrug in reply not wanting to speak.

The nurse gets busy as she hooks me up to a machine and then helps me put on a hospital gown. She settles me into bed before aunt Maria walks to my side.

"Okay. Now I just want you to remember that you can take a break whenever you want. This isn't punishment. It's just childbirth. Alright?" She raises an eyebrow at me, a smile on her face.

I nod my head.

"Just take three to four deep breaths and the push as hard as you can."

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After an hour I have tears streaming down my face as I push for what seems like the millionth time. I tuned out every sight and sound a long time ago. After what seems like the first time since we started I open my eyes to see aunt Maria moving till she disappears from my line of vision.

I move my fingers to realise that the reassuring pressure of mom's hand is also missing. I take in a sharp breath just as I hear the door open and the only person I need right now walks up to me.

"Hey." William says pressing his lips to my forehead.

I take in a shaky breath just as a few more tears slip out. This time it's not because of pain but because of relief.

"You're here." I whisper not closing my eyes as if he'll disappear if I did.

I feel one of his hands gently moving in my hair. "I'm here. I'm so sorry you had to go through this alone but I promise that I'm not going to go anywhere till you ask me to."

I nod my head trying to contain the tears and then ask. "Where did she go?"

"I'm right here." I hear aunt Maria walk back in. "Do you want to continue?"

I nod my head and take three deep breaths which she ticks off on her fingers and then push as hard as I can. Now that I know he's here beside me, I manage to ignore some of the pain which is a great relief.

As the contraction ends, I shift my head slightly so that it's resting on William's arm which is stretched over the top of my head.

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After two and a half hour, I hear aunt Maria call out. "I can feel one of the heads. Just a few more hard pushes and we'll have one out."

This is such good news that I feel adrenaline rush through my body. I don't even wait the one minute gap between the contractions. I just keep pushing and pushing till I feel like something popped out.

I hear the first cry of one of our baby's. "It's a girl." I hear her say as she hands my daughter to the nurse to clean up.

"Can I...?" But my request is lost as I feel a sudden urge to push again.

"Come on, Cassy." I feel Will press my hand and kiss my forehead.

After what seems like another hour, I give birth to my second child. But before aunt Maria can tell me anything I start to feel exhausted and darkness takes over me.

Alright, so this is the chapter :)

Anyways, my laptop's search history is full of birth related stuff. All the facts in this chapter have been taken from one website or another, so please do not mind if there is something unreal written.

Is there a song about birth? Because it would definitely fit into the playlist ;)

Read, Vote & Comment to let me know if you're happy for Cassiam! :)

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P.S. This chapter hasn't been re-read after being typed since for some reason I couldn't bring myself to.

And the next update will on 1 January 2016!