Never Live It Down
By Purple Lacey
He’d never live it down. For the rest of his days it would follow him around like an albatross tied around his neck, he just knew it. Hell, he didn’t even have the option of moving away and starting over fresh because, of course, he’d have to take Raine with him and she wasn’t likely to forget what happened either. Sometimes life just didn’t play fair.
It couldn’t have happened in the middle of the night like normal folks. If only he and Raine had been alone when it all started, but nnnnnoooo. They had to be in the middle of a weekend gathering at Chris’ ranch to celebrate the birth of JD’s and Casey’s new son. They had to be surrounded by members of the extended family that had developed since the forming of Team Seven. Right smack dab in the middle of them, damn it! So naturally when Raine began having pains they all just had to come along to the hospital. How could he possibly have stopped them? He knew how they were. He stood a better chance of driving to the moon in his car than he did dissuading them from following. At the time he didn’t even WANT to, but how was he to know? It had never happened to him before.
Just thinking back on all the things he’d seen in his time as a paramedic, you would have thought if he were the type of person who was susceptible it would have already happened. Lord knows, those yahoos on his team keep him busy with all the trouble they managed to get into, some of it pretty serious. There had been no warning signs. Nothing to make him wary, and yet here he sat, clutching the ice pack the ER doctor had handed him to his head and trying to ignore the snickers that could be heard coming from his teammates.
“Are you sure you’re alright, sweetheart?”
Raine’s voice broke through her husband’s silent ranting, and he raised his bowed head to look into her face that, although clearly worried, also showed the amusement she couldn’t hide.
“Fine,” he answered gruffly. “I’m fine.”
Raine bit her lips to stop the smile that wanted to shine as she looked on the embarrassed countenance of her husband, and reached to pat him comfortingly on the shoulder.
“I’m sorry I scared everyone. I really thought it was true labor this time.”
The big man sighed heavily and grasped her hand, giving it a squeeze before letting go.
“It’s okay, baby. It’s better to be safe than sorry. We’ll just consider it a practice run,” he assured her with a forced smile.
“If you’re ready, the doctor said it was okay to go home,” she answered.
Nathan nodded in answer and gathered his self respect around himself like a cape as he slowly stood up to face what he knew was coming now.
“Feelin’ better, Nate?” Buck’s voice made the first volley.
“Fine,” Nathan answered flatly with as much dignity as could.
“Nice bump you got there, pard,” Vin threw in with a smirking grin that Nathan did his best to ignore.
“Perhaps it would behoove you to spend the night and let the staff of this fine establishment observe you to ascertain if you perhaps have some hidden malady that would account for your rather ignominious descent to the tiles earlier,” Ezra said, obviously enjoying the role reversal immensely.
Nathan didn’t bother to reply.
“Now, boys,” Josiah’s deep voice broke in, “There’s nothing wrong with a man passing out when he finds out his wife is not in labor after all. The sudden release of stress could cause anybody to black out for a few minutes.”
Nathan started to look at his friend in gratitude but wound up throwing him a scathing look instead as the other man began to laugh loudly.
Nathan pulled his shoulders back and stood up straighter. He wrapped an arm around his wife’s waist, turned with her to the door and started walking away refusing to acknowledge his team’s teasing. His strategic retreat was halted by his team leader’s words.
“I’ll drive you and Raine back to the ranch so you can pick up your car.” Nathan nodded and started off again when Chris finished with, “Try not to put anymore knots on your head, okay?”
Damn! He’d never live it down.
The End
02/21/04