Fic: Finding Home
Title: Finding Home
Author: queenof1000days
Rating: PG/K+
Characters: Eva Rossi, Miles McCabe, Stephen Connor, Frank Powell, Natalie Durant, and a slew of 'blink-and-you-miss-them' OCs.
Pairing: Eva/Miles, Stephen/Natalie (only if you squint, peer around the corner on a bright Wednesday morning and have an active imagination).
Spoiler Warnings: I don't think there's any but let's play it safe and say the whole series.
Word Count: 6,118; according to OpenOffice.org Writer.
Summary: Neither one of them is certain how it started - nor, more importantly, why it started.
Disclaimer: Disclaimer
Author’s Note: It's a Meva!baby fic. I almost feel as if I should be blaming Neal for this. If I hadn't watched Tin Man and immediately started 'shipping Cain/DG, I wouldn't have met the very lovely and adorable erinm_4600, and she wouldn't have introduced me to Medical Investigation. Therefore my 'shipper heart wouldn't have latched onto Miles/Eva and this epic fic of epic sleeplessness wouldn't have taken place.
As always, a huge thank you to alamo_girl80, caroly_214, effie214 and queen_kiwi for their beta jobs. If there are any errors that remain, they are solely my fault.
***
Neither one of them is certain how it started - nor, more importantly, why it started. All they know is that it started during a case in Wisconsin, one in which involves only kids (and those are always hard) and they had just lost their third patient. Eva comes across Miles in an empty hospital conference room. He's staring out a window, his lab coat and stethoscope lying carelessly on the table. She goes up to him - looking back, she thinks it was to lay a hand on his shoulder - and before either one of them realizes it, she’s on the conference table, yanking down his pants and Miles is pulling up the hem of her dress. Their mouths and tongues are doing furious battle with each other and his hands are pulling - yanking - off her underwear and she’s tugging him free. Her legs lock around his waist and his hand slips between them to play with her. During the rest of the time they spend at the Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin, they can’t look at each other without an acute, awkward embarrassment.
When they arrive back at the NIH, Director Ewing temporarily pulls the whole team off all cases, claiming that they’re behind on their paperwork. But what they realize is that her orders are coming from higher up and it’s these orders that will let them recover from their latest case. But the purple elephant in the room for Miles and Eva continues to grow even with Eva trying - and mostly succeeding - to not see Miles. Apparently he has the same thought, for the only times they see each other is accidental run-ins in the break room and meetings in Connor’s office.
Two weeks pass by like this and they’re both surprised no one’s called them out on it. But Connor’s got a congressional hearing taking center stage, Natalie’s lost in her own little world as usual, and Frank has family matters of his own to deal with.
Eva’s contemplating calling up a friend and doing what she hasn’t done in a long time - getting good and drunk - at the end of the two weeks. She’s so busy trying to figure out which friend to call, as she makes her way to her apartment door, that she doesn’t see the person standing in front of it. She stops and sees that Miles has an uncomfortable but determined look on his face.
“Look, Eva-” it’s clear he means to say more but she launches herself at him and they’re barely inside the door before clothes start flying and furniture is bumped into because they’re much too concerned on making those noises come out of each other to be worried about where furniture is. Then they’re in her bedroom and Miles is pushing her down on the bed and Eva’s knuckles turn white as she grips the sheets as he climbs above her. The impressions and feelings from the conference room come roaring back to life and she just wants him now, but Miles has different ideas. Because now there’s a bed and the only chance they have of being interrupted is by a phone.
Eva wiggles her hips up against his and is entranced when she hears a low growl emit from Miles. But he has well-planned revenge on her as he leaves hot, little kisses along her neck and collarbone while his fingers walk across her stomach and wander lower. Then finally, he looms above her and she hooks her legs about him and Miles has to let out a chuckle as she pulls him down. Finally, he enters her and it’s better than either of them remembers. Later they'll go slower, learning each other, laughing and moaning and taking it easy. But the first time this night is rough and needy, knowing exactly what they want-on instinct-and perfect.
The morning comes and Miles awakens to see Eva draped across him, their legs intertwined with each other. He draws a finger down the center of her spine and hears her sleepy “Morning”. Miles moves his finger back up her spine and Eva says they need to talk; he nods in agreement. When she sits up, the sheet and the blanket puddle around her and before she can cover herself again, Miles pulls her on top of his lap and kisses her hard. This latest round of sex and Eva’s declaration that she needs a shower delays their talk; would he go start the coffee?
He’s a doctor at the NIH, Miles thinks ten minutes later, he graduated in the top one percent of his class, and one would think that he could figure out a coffeemaker. But the fact that he can’t is being caused by the fact that he’s in Eva’s apartment after several rounds of sex is distracting him. Then Eva walks into the kitchen, dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, grabs the coffee from him and starts up her complicated coffee machine in seconds, he thinks it just isn’t fair. He mentions this to her, she laughs and states that it’s not complicated, he just doesn’t know which buttons to push. Suddenly the purple elephant is back in the room as they both remember what buttons his fingers pushed last night.
The conversation that follows is difficult, filled with awkward pauses, sentences, and silences, but now it’s completed and they have a plan. For now, they decide to keep it a secret, because the NIH has strict policies against employees dating each other. Eva proposes breakfast and Miles thinks that she means going out, until she interrupts his thought process by stating that she’ll cook it and asks whether he eats eggs or tofu because she’s got both in her fridge. He blurts out, surprised, that he eats tofu. Eva nods decisively and makes a tofu scrambler.
Just as he’s about to leave, Miles surprises Eva by asking her if she wants to go out to dinner with him that night. Shocked but pleased, she answers with a yes.
Three years come and go and while there have been more than their fair share of close calls; they’ve managed to keep their relationship a secret. They hadn’t planned on having it remain a secret that long. If Eva’s truthful with herself, she hadn’t expected them to last. Even before Wisconsin, she knew she was irrevocably, undeniably, head-over-heels in love with Miles. But she never expected him to return her feelings.
It’s a quiet Saturday (for once) when Eva is over at his apartment, and a wave of nausea hits her. Miles is on the phone with a former college classmate, so he doesn’t hear the bathroom door opening, her knees hitting the tiled floor, and proceeding to empty the contents of her stomach into the toilet. A few minutes later, Miles finds her lying down on the bathroom floor, face pale and hands resting on her stomach. She asks if he can just run her home and if they can reschedule tonight. Guiltily thinking of reservations at her favorite restaurant and a circle of platinum hiding in his sock drawer, he nods. Eva really does look miserable.
It isn’t until mid-afternoon on Monday that he gets a chance to actually see and talk to her. He had called her on Sunday to make sure she was all right and had received a grumpy reply. But today, she remarks, she’s feeling much better and it must have been a twenty-four hour flu bug.
Eva watches him disappear and a slight frown appears on her face. What she doesn’t tell Miles is that this isn’t the first time she’s felt like this in the past five weeks and more importantly, she’s late. By three weeks.
When she mentions to him that night that she's scheduled a doctor's appointment, Miles is concerned. In the three years that he’s dated her and in the five that he’s known her, Eva has gone to the doctor’s office a handful of times. Because even though she works at the NIH, Eva's been relatively healthy and hadn't needed to visit. The first time was when she had a bacterial form of pneumonia. The other visit was when she had been stuck with a needle by a delusional, schizophrenic patient who was HIV positive and Miles, Connor, and Natalie weren’t certain if said patient had contaminated the needle. The patient in question had escaped from her hospital room with a used needle of hers in hand. Eva had been unfortunate enough to be rounding the same corner when the patient was running. The needle stick had happened accidentally - the patient had been holding it in front of her, bevel first, and not watching where she was going. That instance had been one of their near misses: Miles had been a little bit too concerned about Eva, enough that Connor had to have a ‘chat’ with him. Eva is certain though that she managed to come up with a reasonable excuse, enough to deflect Connor and reassure Miles.
On Wednesday, Dr. Harper confirms her suspicions. After the appointment, Eva sits in her car; one hand on her abdomen and the other gripping the steering wheel. Their relationship is going to have to come out, because there is no way she is going to get rid of this baby. In any way. She had enough of a fucked up childhood that she wants to make sure that any child(ren) of hers won’t. Eva makes the decision to tell Miles on Friday, because then they’ll have three days to plan - or if he doesn’t do what she expects him to do, she’ll have those three days to figure out what to do without him.
But fate has Connor declaring on Thursday that they’re going out on a case to Colorado - immediately. During the next two weeks fate throws multiple curve balls at her. She’s worried about her baby and what would happen if this strain of bacteria infects her. Everyone recognizes that her mind’s not there. Then she snaps at Miles, which makes Connor sit her down for a 'chat'. She wants to shout at him that she’s pregnant, the father who, coincidentally, is a member of the team who doesn’t know yet, and she doesn’t want to get sick, because suddenly this baby means everything to her.
Then they’re back in Bethesda and Eva is pondering when to tell Miles, when another curve ball is thrown at her. She’s talking to Natalie about something innocuous, shoes she thinks, when she faints. The next thing she realizes, she’s up against a wall with Natalie, Miles, and Doctor Caroline Mahler, a fellow employee, looking at her with worried expressions. She isn’t certain how she manages it but convinces them that she’s okay and a blood test one of them suggests running is definitely not needed.
When she gets home for the night, Miles is sitting on her couch, awaiting her arrival. During the argument that follows, she doesn’t blurt out that she’s pregnant and he doesn’t ask her to marry him - no matter how much they’ve both been wanting to for the past two weeks. She stiffly informs him, before her bedroom door is slammed shut, that she will make an appointment with her doctor.
Thursday comes and Eva’s in her obstetrician’s office and mentions the fainting. Dr. Harper draws blood and promises to get the results to her as soon as possible. Nine o’clock Friday morning, she gets an e-mail message from Dr. Harper stating that she has iron deficiency anemia. That afternoon Eva finds herself in her obstetrician’s exam room, promising her doctor that she’ll let her boss know that she’s pregnant. Eva doesn’t mention that the father doesn’t know yet and he’ll be getting the news first. She cancels their date for that night with a promise to make it up on Saturday. She spends Friday night making lists and coming up with ideas on how to tell everyone.
Saturday dawns bright and clear and finds Eva kneeling in front of the toilet bowl, finding inventive ways on how to curse morning sickness, while Miles is contemplating a circle of platinum with three princess cut white stones residing in a black box. They’re both nervous when they arrive at the restaurant, albeit for entirely different reasons. They’re at her favorite restaurant but the moment’s not right through the appetizer or main course, and Miles’ eyes narrow at Eva’s expressions as she’s eating the raspberry chocolate cheesecake.
As much as he wants to get her home, get this proposal out of the way and ravish her, he agrees to her suggestion of a walk. The two of them are quiet, she’s cuddling against him, the stars are out, the moon is full and the moment is finally right.
“Marry me, Eva,” he finds himself saying. Then she’s pulling herself away and he can’t read her.
“What?” she asks him breathlessly. So, he does it properly. He pulls out the black box, pops it open, drops down on one knee, and takes her left hand in his.
“Marry me, Eva Rossi,” he asks and she’s laughing and crying, saying yes over and over. He slides the ring on her finger and she has the biggest smile on her face; he feels like nothing can top this moment. When he stands up, she throws her arms around his neck and kisses him with all she’s worth.
By mutual, unspoken assent, they head back to his car and drive back to his townhouse. Like the end of the two weeks after Wisconsin, the door is barely closed and locked before clothes start flying off. But unlike that previous instance, they don’t make it to a bed. They end up on the floor with Eva on top of him, her grin still in place. Then she’s slowly moving down onto him, her hands are resting on top of his, which are holding onto her hips. His thumbs gently stroke the skin above her pelvic bone then slip lower. As he’s stroking her, she tightens around him and lets out a cry. Shortly after this, Eva collapses on top of his chest, her head fitting nicely in that space between his collarbone and neck.
“We’re engaged,” she says softly, her lips brushing against his neck. Miles nods and runs a hand through her hair. He agrees and he can feel more than hear her giggle.
They’re in bed the next day, simply lying there, when Eva feels the nausea rearing its ugly head. She slips out of his grasp and barely makes it to the bathroom before her morning sickness makes an appearance. Miles only slips into a pair of boxers before he joins her on the tiled floor, holding out a washcloth when she’s done. He’s worried, she realizes, she admits that she has something to tell him but she can’t do it naked with the aftertaste of vomit in her mouth, and both of them on the bathroom floor.
They’re halfway to the restaurant - which really isn’t a restaurant as so much a hole in the wall with outdoor seating in the summer and no seating in the winter-, but it has beignets, which Eva loves to eat for breakfast - when he realizes she still hasn’t told him why she’s been throwing up. After all this time, he’s still not certain how she manages to do it - but he blames her ability to mislead the press - and he finds himself agreeing to wait until after breakfast to get her news.
So, now he’s worried; there might be something wrong with her. He’s a doctor and he’ll do anything to help make her better. He doesn’t realize he’s said the last part out loud until she’s facing him and cupping his face in both of her hands. She promises him that there’s nothing wrong with her and she’ll tell him everything after breakfast. He’s preoccupied to the point that he doesn’t notice the wink Coralie gives him when they reach their designation or the fact that she doesn’t order a coffee.
The atmosphere in his kitchen is tense and hushed - almost like it’s awaiting something. Eva attacks her beignet with gusto, getting powdered sugar everywhere. Miles eats his half-heartedly, running through every detail he’s observed about her in the last month. Later on that day, he realizes that he was too worried and over diagnosing - he wasn't drawing the obvious conclusion.
“Eva?” he calls out when he realizes that she’s missing.
“I’m running out to my car. I’ll be right back.” Eva responds and slams the front door shut. He makes four consecutive turns of his front room when she comes back in, a piece of paper in her hand and a grin on her face. She silently hands him the paper and he looks at it, not comprehending what it says.
“Miles?” Eva asks nervously. Oh God. He did ask her to marry him and marriage usually mean kids. Yeah, they did things out of order from what the world expected but so what? What is concerning her is the lack of…well anything from Miles.
“You’re pregnant?” Miles asks, interrupting her thought process.
“Yes?” Eva’s reply comes more out on a squeak and a question than she would have liked. Then Miles looks at he with a grin so big it threatens to split his face in two and she finds herself responding in return. He grabs her up and her arms wrap around his neck. He deposits a big, sloppy kiss on her.
“We’re pregnant,” Eva says. “I think we need to celebrate,” she says and goes to work at pulling up his t-shirt. His hands encircle her waist and he pulls her flush to him.
“I think you’re right.” Those are the only coherent words spoken for the next half hour.
Miles looks down on a sleeping Eva and pushes a lock of hair away from her face. He was wrong - the moment from last night could be topped.
“We need to talk about we’re going to do now,” Eva says later that day after Law and Order: Criminal Intent ends. Miles replies with a resigned yes.
“One of us is going to have to quit,” she continues. “I think it should be me.”
“Why you?” Miles is curious as to why she thinks she should quit and he shouldn’t. Three hours later, he’s still not convinced, but he doesn’t want to argue and she’s dangerously close to tears or punching him, or both. Monday comes and by eleven, she’s sent him her letter of resignation with a comment of “Look it over and let me know if there’s anything I should add.” He replies with a few suggestions and by three o’clock, she relays that she has a meeting with Director Ewing on Thursday, barring any new cases.
The remaining days are spent with a hushed expectancy. When Natalie asks if everything is fine, Eva desperately wants to tell this woman she considers a friend the truth, but doesn’t. Instead she lies and says she’s feeling blue but doesn’t know why. Natalie offers drinks at the end of the week and Eva hesitates before agreeing.
Curled on her couch, a carton of Ben and Jerry’s in hand and wrapped up in a blanket and ‘The Princess Bride’ playing on her TV, she wonders how she’s going to make it until Thursday. She knows Natalie has figured something is going on and she thinks Frank and Connor have suspicions, too. In some ways, she knows she should be talking to Stephen and offering him her letter of resignation. But Director Ewing was the one who hired her - she should be the one who gets the resignation speech first.
Thursday comes and it’s all she can do to not resort back to a bad childhood habit and chew on her nails. Her engagement ring, which normally resides on her dresser during the week and through cases, and on her finger at all other times, is hanging on a necklace, which is hidden by her dark navy blue top. She knocks on the door and gets a cool “Enter” from the Director. Forty-five minutes later finds Eva in her office with the blinds closed and her playing with her ring. She sets it out in front of her and is watching it slide on the chain in between the places where her fingers are holding it. A few moments earlier, she'd just deposited the letter on Stephen’s desk and is now waiting. A ping from her computer makes her glance over at it. It’s a message from Connor with three words: “My office. Now.” She slides the ring back under her shirt and steels herself. Whatever happens, it’s not going to be pretty. Besides, by now Kate should have contacted him with what she was told and Connor isn’t an idiot.
She knocks on the doorframe and gets waved in. He has, what she is certain, her resignation letter in hand.
“Why?” is the unexpected question. She closes the door and sits down in the chair in front of the desk. She explains that because of her pregnancy, her obstetrician advised that she find a different job due to the toxins, diseases, and drugs she’s exposed to on a daily basis. She waits for his response.
Later on that night, she tells Miles that Connor took it better than she expected. He didn’t yell or try to talk her into staying with the team. He simply said congratulations and wished her the best of luck in the future.
“We still have to tell them about us,” Miles reminds her.
“Can’t we tell them when the wedding invitations are sent out?” She grumbles. Miles shakes his head.
“Doesn’t quite work like that babe,” he tells her. She’s already informed him that she’s not walking down the aisle in a maternity wedding dress so they’ll just have to wait until the kid’s born. She'd been having what Miles termed one of her bad days that day, so he went along with her declaration without any disagreement.
For the past few weeks, she’d been sleeping in one of his t-shirts and by now the baby bump is visible. He sits down on the edge of the bed and marvels at it all. There were times he didn’t think they were going to last in the past three years; now he’s going to get married to her and she’s carrying his child. He doesn’t believe in any sort of deity but if he did, right now he would be thanking them.
At the end of the next week from when she handed in her letter, they’re called out. Eva had meant to work for only the next two weeks but Kate managed to convince her to stay until they found a replacement for the press liaison position on the team. It’s five people who are suffering from hives, a dry cough, and seizures. It’s day three and Eva is in need of a foot rub and a nap. She’s not certain which one she wants more as she hunts down Miles. While the team does know about the pregnancy (Natalie is throwing her a baby shower), they don’t know about her and Miles yet. She’s been wearing the ring for the past two weeks but they don’t know who gave it to her. Miles and Eva had planned on keeping it that way but Eva’s need for a foot rub and nap that day ultimately ruin it.
“Where are you?” she asks after Miles answers his phone.
“In a waiting room,” he replies.
“I need a foot rub and a nap,” she warns him before hanging up. A few minutes later, she finds him reading through a stack of folders. He looks up and grins for she looks adorably grumpy. He pats the cushion next to him and she wordlessly joins him, swinging her now shoeless feet onto his lap. She snuggles into the couch and moans when he starts to massage her feet. It’s not too long before she’s sleeping and Miles doesn’t have the heart to move her feet off his lap - plus the couch isn’t that big and his lap is pretty much the only place where she can have her feet. So he leaves them up there, maneuvers out of his coat and gently lays it across her. He’s engrossed in Tate Fraser’s chat when the door opens and Natalie, standing outside the door, opens her mouth and then snaps it shut. She looks at Miles and then at Eva and motions between the two of them with her pen, a questioning look on her face. Miles nods, understanding her question. Natalie is definitely shocked; Miles flashes her a grin and readjusts Eva’s feet. Natalie shakes her head and grins back before closing the door. A minute later his phone beeps. Checking it out, he sees it’s a text from Natalie. Fifteen minutes later, he nudges Eva awake.
“Wake up sleepyhead. It’s feeding time.”
“Very funny,” she yawns.
“Natalie was in here earlier.” This has the effect of waking her up.
“And?” she asks.
“She figured us out,” he replies. Eva lets out an ‘oh’ as she slips her shoes back on.
“Frank found a restaurant that he’ll think you’ll eat at.”
“Blame your child,” Eva retorts as her elbow connects with his side. It certainly isn’t her fault that most anything she eats has her hanging over a toilet a half hour later. Even though her morning sickness had passed for the most part, there were times (especially when eating) when it flared up.
“Do you think she’s told anyone?” Eva asks as they ride the elevator. Miles shrugs in response. He gives Eva a quick squeeze of the hand before the elevator doors open and Frank’s standing in front of them, waiting for them.
They’re on the flight home and Eva’s playing Solitaire on Miles’ laptop when Connor sits down across from her.
“How long?”
She knows what Connor is referring to but plays dumb for a moment.
“How long what?”
“You and Miles. How long were you two dating?”
“Three years.” This answer apparently shocks him, as he doesn’t reply for a few beats.
“How did you manage to hide it?” he asks in a curious tone.
Eva’s not really certain as to how, so she tells him that. She also says that they had some close misses mainly brought on by him. He leans back in his chair and crosses his arms. It’s obvious he wants an explanation of how he had brought on those close misses.
When she gets home that night, there’s an e-mail message on her personal account. It’s from Carmen Jolie, the head of Human Resources at the local NBC affiliate. In the e-mail, Carmen explains that she found out that Eva is going to be looking for a new job after her baby is born. One of their broadcasters is retiring at the end of the year and Carmen would love to have a look at Eva’s résumé to see if she would fit in with the NBC 4 family. She should fax Carmen her résumé if she was interested.
Well, that was unexpected. Eva sets her water bottle down and leans back as much as her six-month pregnant belly would let her. Who gave Carmen the information and why would they do such a thing? Try as she might, Eva never finds out even though her investigation skills are good.
The first signs come one afternoon as Eva’s cleaning the townhouse for the eighteenth time in three days. Numerous sites say that this obsession with cleaning is natural - it’s a sign of nesting and making sure everything is ready for the impending baby and motherhood. Frankly, it’s driving her and Miles crazy. He woke up at two-thirty one morning to find her rearranging canned goods in the cupboards. He had a hard time convincing her to come back to bed. If she’s honest with herself, the cleaning is not only nesting but also a sign of boredom. From the age of sixteen, she’s had a job of some sort and the inactivity during the day is bothering her more than she’s letting on.
It’s during one of her cleaning sprees when her back starts to ache. The Braxton-Hicks contractions she'd experienced over the past week and a half are particularly vigorous and she thinks that’s all these are. But later on, after she’s done making supper for herself (Miles is out on a case when neither of them wants him to be), a sharp pain flashes through her and she realizes that it was a true contraction. She makes it through supper and her hour of Law and Order with only two more contractions. One of the women at her Lamaze class said to get plenty of sleep - or at least to try to - because for the rest of her life, she’s never going to get a decent night’s sleep. So she changes into her pajamas and lies down on her bed and amazingly falls asleep until midnight.
Her bladder wakes her up. She has to stop on the way to the bathroom and grip the dresser as a rather long contraction hits her. She hisses through the pain and lets out a muffled curse as the contraction ends. Somehow she realizes that this is the Real McCoy and she better get ready. The bags have been sitting by the door for the past few days so she tosses them a cursory glance as she passes them on her way to the kitchen. Eva calls up Megan Parks and tells her downstairs neighbor that she’s had six contractions in the last thirty minutes and therefore it’s time for a ride to the hospital.
Twenty minutes later, they’re at Holy Cross Hospital and Eva is being pushed into labor and delivery. She’s left a voice mail for Miles that tonight’s the night, that she’s seven centimeters dilated, more details will come. Megan is her back up Lamaze coach (seeing how Megan has two kids of her own, it was an easy decision) and Megan’s currently offering her a cup of ice cubes to suck on. It’s Miles’ luck to walk into the room as a rather painful contraction hits and Eva grabs the cup from Megan and throws it at Miles’ head, saying it was his fault she couldn’t have the good drugs and had to go through this naturally. She doesn’t remember much after that, just the doctor telling her to push. And push some more. Then having her push when she couldn’t push anymore. She really wants to curse the doctor out but when Miles states he can see the head, she reconsiders.
Then the doctor is passing her a crying, squalling, squirming baby boy and she can’t help but smile. Her arms wrap around him as she looks up at Miles and he has the most incredible look on his face and she doesn’t think she’s loved him more. So she tells him that. He replies back that she’s the most amazing person he knows and wonders how he got so lucky? A nurse is asking for her baby and her instincts are telling her don’t give up her son but she lets the evil nurse take her precious son away because she knows it’s necessary.
She’s resting in a hospital bed with Miles perched alongside her, when he mentions they still don’t have a name picked out for their son.
“I’ve been thinking about that,” she states. “I think I have it.”
Miles just gives her this look. He recognizes the tone of voice in his fiancée’s voice. He gestures to her to continue. Eva tells him the name and awaits his response.
“It’s not as if we would have met if it wasn’t for him.” Eva says, leaning her head against Miles’ shoulder. She’s clearly exhausted and Miles can’t deny her anything right now. Besides she does have a point and it’s a good name.
“Okay,” he relents and looks over at her, only to discover she’s sleeping. A soft smile crosses his face as he moves her head to the pillow and watches her sleep. He was extremely lucky to have gotten here at all - a miracle if one wanted to call it that. Just an hour before he got the message from Eva, they had finally discovered the right combination of medications to administer. He's keeping an eye on the patients when Frank comes up to him and hands Miles his cell phone, saying that if he needs to charge his cell phone, don’t do it when he’s trying to sleep. The message from Eva wasn’t halfway through when he races off to find Connor. He finds the older doctor contemplating his choices from a vending machine.
“Eva’s in labor,” is all he is able to get out.
“Go,” Connor states and Miles is off, almost plowing down their newest press liaison in his hurry.
“Where’s the fire?” Liz jokes.
“Eva’s in labor. I’m leaving.” He grabs his jacket and misses Liz’s shout of congratulations.
He arrives in the delivery room only to get a cup of ice thrown at his head and a few anatomically impossible sentences said by Eva. But then, his son (his son) is being placed in front of him and this surge of love just flows through him and how in the world did he get this damn lucky? He tells Eva this but before she can answer a nurse is taking their son away. Eva’s flopped her head against his shoulder; she’s exhausted, sweaty, hasn’t slept since who knows when, has no make up on and to him she’s never been more beautiful. She laughs when he tells her this and eagerly reaches for their son when another nurse brings him back. She’s situated in her room when he brings up the lack of a name. They can’t keep calling him Goober. When he first hears her suggestion, Miles is somewhere between shocked and surprised, but he understands her reasoning. It's a shame he can't tell her right now.
It's a few hours later when he’s able to wrangle Stephen, Natalie, and Frank into the room. Eva’s somewhat rested and looks - in her words - decent enough to see people who haven’t seen her without make up. Ever. Eva is making faces at the baby when the knock comes and the three walk into the room.
“Everyone,” she says and gestures to the now sleeping infant in her arms. “Miles and I would like you to meet Daniel Stephen McCabe.”
A few hours as an aide places her supper tray on her bedside table, Eva is still laughing, remembering the expression on Connor’s face as she made their announcement. He looked absolutely dumbfounded and Eva had to suppress an urge to tell him that the expression on his face is a good look for him. Once the aide leaves, she pushes her bedside table away because hospital cafeteria food tastes horrible no matter where she might be. She’s happy she managed to convince Miles to get her fried rice and vegetables from the Chinese place down the street.
She lays her hands across her abdomen. It’s odd that there isn’t a human being in there anymore. It’s almost as odd as finally realizing that she’s gotten her Happily Ever After, her own H.E.A. She’s got her son, a wonderful man that she’s marrying in eight months, and the life she’s always secretly wanted. Once she used to do everything herself. But her secret love of the Disney princesses and her desire to have her own H.E.A. stayed with her from foster home to foster home, through trial adoptions that never became permanent. She’s gotten her own family now. Now that she does, she wants to make sure that everyone else in her life that she knows has their own Disney-esque ending. The first person that she's going to start with is her future maid of honor.
Author: queenof1000days
Rating: PG/K+
Characters: Eva Rossi, Miles McCabe, Stephen Connor, Frank Powell, Natalie Durant, and a slew of 'blink-and-you-miss-them' OCs.
Pairing: Eva/Miles, Stephen/Natalie (only if you squint, peer around the corner on a bright Wednesday morning and have an active imagination).
Spoiler Warnings: I don't think there's any but let's play it safe and say the whole series.
Word Count: 6,118; according to OpenOffice.org Writer.
Summary: Neither one of them is certain how it started - nor, more importantly, why it started.
Disclaimer: Disclaimer
Author’s Note: It's a Meva!baby fic. I almost feel as if I should be blaming Neal for this. If I hadn't watched Tin Man and immediately started 'shipping Cain/DG, I wouldn't have met the very lovely and adorable erinm_4600, and she wouldn't have introduced me to Medical Investigation. Therefore my 'shipper heart wouldn't have latched onto Miles/Eva and this epic fic of epic sleeplessness wouldn't have taken place.
As always, a huge thank you to alamo_girl80, caroly_214, effie214 and queen_kiwi for their beta jobs. If there are any errors that remain, they are solely my fault.
***
Neither one of them is certain how it started - nor, more importantly, why it started. All they know is that it started during a case in Wisconsin, one in which involves only kids (and those are always hard) and they had just lost their third patient. Eva comes across Miles in an empty hospital conference room. He's staring out a window, his lab coat and stethoscope lying carelessly on the table. She goes up to him - looking back, she thinks it was to lay a hand on his shoulder - and before either one of them realizes it, she’s on the conference table, yanking down his pants and Miles is pulling up the hem of her dress. Their mouths and tongues are doing furious battle with each other and his hands are pulling - yanking - off her underwear and she’s tugging him free. Her legs lock around his waist and his hand slips between them to play with her. During the rest of the time they spend at the Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin, they can’t look at each other without an acute, awkward embarrassment.
When they arrive back at the NIH, Director Ewing temporarily pulls the whole team off all cases, claiming that they’re behind on their paperwork. But what they realize is that her orders are coming from higher up and it’s these orders that will let them recover from their latest case. But the purple elephant in the room for Miles and Eva continues to grow even with Eva trying - and mostly succeeding - to not see Miles. Apparently he has the same thought, for the only times they see each other is accidental run-ins in the break room and meetings in Connor’s office.
Two weeks pass by like this and they’re both surprised no one’s called them out on it. But Connor’s got a congressional hearing taking center stage, Natalie’s lost in her own little world as usual, and Frank has family matters of his own to deal with.
Eva’s contemplating calling up a friend and doing what she hasn’t done in a long time - getting good and drunk - at the end of the two weeks. She’s so busy trying to figure out which friend to call, as she makes her way to her apartment door, that she doesn’t see the person standing in front of it. She stops and sees that Miles has an uncomfortable but determined look on his face.
“Look, Eva-” it’s clear he means to say more but she launches herself at him and they’re barely inside the door before clothes start flying and furniture is bumped into because they’re much too concerned on making those noises come out of each other to be worried about where furniture is. Then they’re in her bedroom and Miles is pushing her down on the bed and Eva’s knuckles turn white as she grips the sheets as he climbs above her. The impressions and feelings from the conference room come roaring back to life and she just wants him now, but Miles has different ideas. Because now there’s a bed and the only chance they have of being interrupted is by a phone.
Eva wiggles her hips up against his and is entranced when she hears a low growl emit from Miles. But he has well-planned revenge on her as he leaves hot, little kisses along her neck and collarbone while his fingers walk across her stomach and wander lower. Then finally, he looms above her and she hooks her legs about him and Miles has to let out a chuckle as she pulls him down. Finally, he enters her and it’s better than either of them remembers. Later they'll go slower, learning each other, laughing and moaning and taking it easy. But the first time this night is rough and needy, knowing exactly what they want-on instinct-and perfect.
The morning comes and Miles awakens to see Eva draped across him, their legs intertwined with each other. He draws a finger down the center of her spine and hears her sleepy “Morning”. Miles moves his finger back up her spine and Eva says they need to talk; he nods in agreement. When she sits up, the sheet and the blanket puddle around her and before she can cover herself again, Miles pulls her on top of his lap and kisses her hard. This latest round of sex and Eva’s declaration that she needs a shower delays their talk; would he go start the coffee?
He’s a doctor at the NIH, Miles thinks ten minutes later, he graduated in the top one percent of his class, and one would think that he could figure out a coffeemaker. But the fact that he can’t is being caused by the fact that he’s in Eva’s apartment after several rounds of sex is distracting him. Then Eva walks into the kitchen, dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, grabs the coffee from him and starts up her complicated coffee machine in seconds, he thinks it just isn’t fair. He mentions this to her, she laughs and states that it’s not complicated, he just doesn’t know which buttons to push. Suddenly the purple elephant is back in the room as they both remember what buttons his fingers pushed last night.
The conversation that follows is difficult, filled with awkward pauses, sentences, and silences, but now it’s completed and they have a plan. For now, they decide to keep it a secret, because the NIH has strict policies against employees dating each other. Eva proposes breakfast and Miles thinks that she means going out, until she interrupts his thought process by stating that she’ll cook it and asks whether he eats eggs or tofu because she’s got both in her fridge. He blurts out, surprised, that he eats tofu. Eva nods decisively and makes a tofu scrambler.
Just as he’s about to leave, Miles surprises Eva by asking her if she wants to go out to dinner with him that night. Shocked but pleased, she answers with a yes.
Three years come and go and while there have been more than their fair share of close calls; they’ve managed to keep their relationship a secret. They hadn’t planned on having it remain a secret that long. If Eva’s truthful with herself, she hadn’t expected them to last. Even before Wisconsin, she knew she was irrevocably, undeniably, head-over-heels in love with Miles. But she never expected him to return her feelings.
It’s a quiet Saturday (for once) when Eva is over at his apartment, and a wave of nausea hits her. Miles is on the phone with a former college classmate, so he doesn’t hear the bathroom door opening, her knees hitting the tiled floor, and proceeding to empty the contents of her stomach into the toilet. A few minutes later, Miles finds her lying down on the bathroom floor, face pale and hands resting on her stomach. She asks if he can just run her home and if they can reschedule tonight. Guiltily thinking of reservations at her favorite restaurant and a circle of platinum hiding in his sock drawer, he nods. Eva really does look miserable.
It isn’t until mid-afternoon on Monday that he gets a chance to actually see and talk to her. He had called her on Sunday to make sure she was all right and had received a grumpy reply. But today, she remarks, she’s feeling much better and it must have been a twenty-four hour flu bug.
Eva watches him disappear and a slight frown appears on her face. What she doesn’t tell Miles is that this isn’t the first time she’s felt like this in the past five weeks and more importantly, she’s late. By three weeks.
When she mentions to him that night that she's scheduled a doctor's appointment, Miles is concerned. In the three years that he’s dated her and in the five that he’s known her, Eva has gone to the doctor’s office a handful of times. Because even though she works at the NIH, Eva's been relatively healthy and hadn't needed to visit. The first time was when she had a bacterial form of pneumonia. The other visit was when she had been stuck with a needle by a delusional, schizophrenic patient who was HIV positive and Miles, Connor, and Natalie weren’t certain if said patient had contaminated the needle. The patient in question had escaped from her hospital room with a used needle of hers in hand. Eva had been unfortunate enough to be rounding the same corner when the patient was running. The needle stick had happened accidentally - the patient had been holding it in front of her, bevel first, and not watching where she was going. That instance had been one of their near misses: Miles had been a little bit too concerned about Eva, enough that Connor had to have a ‘chat’ with him. Eva is certain though that she managed to come up with a reasonable excuse, enough to deflect Connor and reassure Miles.
On Wednesday, Dr. Harper confirms her suspicions. After the appointment, Eva sits in her car; one hand on her abdomen and the other gripping the steering wheel. Their relationship is going to have to come out, because there is no way she is going to get rid of this baby. In any way. She had enough of a fucked up childhood that she wants to make sure that any child(ren) of hers won’t. Eva makes the decision to tell Miles on Friday, because then they’ll have three days to plan - or if he doesn’t do what she expects him to do, she’ll have those three days to figure out what to do without him.
But fate has Connor declaring on Thursday that they’re going out on a case to Colorado - immediately. During the next two weeks fate throws multiple curve balls at her. She’s worried about her baby and what would happen if this strain of bacteria infects her. Everyone recognizes that her mind’s not there. Then she snaps at Miles, which makes Connor sit her down for a 'chat'. She wants to shout at him that she’s pregnant, the father who, coincidentally, is a member of the team who doesn’t know yet, and she doesn’t want to get sick, because suddenly this baby means everything to her.
Then they’re back in Bethesda and Eva is pondering when to tell Miles, when another curve ball is thrown at her. She’s talking to Natalie about something innocuous, shoes she thinks, when she faints. The next thing she realizes, she’s up against a wall with Natalie, Miles, and Doctor Caroline Mahler, a fellow employee, looking at her with worried expressions. She isn’t certain how she manages it but convinces them that she’s okay and a blood test one of them suggests running is definitely not needed.
When she gets home for the night, Miles is sitting on her couch, awaiting her arrival. During the argument that follows, she doesn’t blurt out that she’s pregnant and he doesn’t ask her to marry him - no matter how much they’ve both been wanting to for the past two weeks. She stiffly informs him, before her bedroom door is slammed shut, that she will make an appointment with her doctor.
Thursday comes and Eva’s in her obstetrician’s office and mentions the fainting. Dr. Harper draws blood and promises to get the results to her as soon as possible. Nine o’clock Friday morning, she gets an e-mail message from Dr. Harper stating that she has iron deficiency anemia. That afternoon Eva finds herself in her obstetrician’s exam room, promising her doctor that she’ll let her boss know that she’s pregnant. Eva doesn’t mention that the father doesn’t know yet and he’ll be getting the news first. She cancels their date for that night with a promise to make it up on Saturday. She spends Friday night making lists and coming up with ideas on how to tell everyone.
Saturday dawns bright and clear and finds Eva kneeling in front of the toilet bowl, finding inventive ways on how to curse morning sickness, while Miles is contemplating a circle of platinum with three princess cut white stones residing in a black box. They’re both nervous when they arrive at the restaurant, albeit for entirely different reasons. They’re at her favorite restaurant but the moment’s not right through the appetizer or main course, and Miles’ eyes narrow at Eva’s expressions as she’s eating the raspberry chocolate cheesecake.
As much as he wants to get her home, get this proposal out of the way and ravish her, he agrees to her suggestion of a walk. The two of them are quiet, she’s cuddling against him, the stars are out, the moon is full and the moment is finally right.
“Marry me, Eva,” he finds himself saying. Then she’s pulling herself away and he can’t read her.
“What?” she asks him breathlessly. So, he does it properly. He pulls out the black box, pops it open, drops down on one knee, and takes her left hand in his.
“Marry me, Eva Rossi,” he asks and she’s laughing and crying, saying yes over and over. He slides the ring on her finger and she has the biggest smile on her face; he feels like nothing can top this moment. When he stands up, she throws her arms around his neck and kisses him with all she’s worth.
By mutual, unspoken assent, they head back to his car and drive back to his townhouse. Like the end of the two weeks after Wisconsin, the door is barely closed and locked before clothes start flying off. But unlike that previous instance, they don’t make it to a bed. They end up on the floor with Eva on top of him, her grin still in place. Then she’s slowly moving down onto him, her hands are resting on top of his, which are holding onto her hips. His thumbs gently stroke the skin above her pelvic bone then slip lower. As he’s stroking her, she tightens around him and lets out a cry. Shortly after this, Eva collapses on top of his chest, her head fitting nicely in that space between his collarbone and neck.
“We’re engaged,” she says softly, her lips brushing against his neck. Miles nods and runs a hand through her hair. He agrees and he can feel more than hear her giggle.
They’re in bed the next day, simply lying there, when Eva feels the nausea rearing its ugly head. She slips out of his grasp and barely makes it to the bathroom before her morning sickness makes an appearance. Miles only slips into a pair of boxers before he joins her on the tiled floor, holding out a washcloth when she’s done. He’s worried, she realizes, she admits that she has something to tell him but she can’t do it naked with the aftertaste of vomit in her mouth, and both of them on the bathroom floor.
They’re halfway to the restaurant - which really isn’t a restaurant as so much a hole in the wall with outdoor seating in the summer and no seating in the winter-, but it has beignets, which Eva loves to eat for breakfast - when he realizes she still hasn’t told him why she’s been throwing up. After all this time, he’s still not certain how she manages to do it - but he blames her ability to mislead the press - and he finds himself agreeing to wait until after breakfast to get her news.
So, now he’s worried; there might be something wrong with her. He’s a doctor and he’ll do anything to help make her better. He doesn’t realize he’s said the last part out loud until she’s facing him and cupping his face in both of her hands. She promises him that there’s nothing wrong with her and she’ll tell him everything after breakfast. He’s preoccupied to the point that he doesn’t notice the wink Coralie gives him when they reach their designation or the fact that she doesn’t order a coffee.
The atmosphere in his kitchen is tense and hushed - almost like it’s awaiting something. Eva attacks her beignet with gusto, getting powdered sugar everywhere. Miles eats his half-heartedly, running through every detail he’s observed about her in the last month. Later on that day, he realizes that he was too worried and over diagnosing - he wasn't drawing the obvious conclusion.
“Eva?” he calls out when he realizes that she’s missing.
“I’m running out to my car. I’ll be right back.” Eva responds and slams the front door shut. He makes four consecutive turns of his front room when she comes back in, a piece of paper in her hand and a grin on her face. She silently hands him the paper and he looks at it, not comprehending what it says.
“Miles?” Eva asks nervously. Oh God. He did ask her to marry him and marriage usually mean kids. Yeah, they did things out of order from what the world expected but so what? What is concerning her is the lack of…well anything from Miles.
“You’re pregnant?” Miles asks, interrupting her thought process.
“Yes?” Eva’s reply comes more out on a squeak and a question than she would have liked. Then Miles looks at he with a grin so big it threatens to split his face in two and she finds herself responding in return. He grabs her up and her arms wrap around his neck. He deposits a big, sloppy kiss on her.
“We’re pregnant,” Eva says. “I think we need to celebrate,” she says and goes to work at pulling up his t-shirt. His hands encircle her waist and he pulls her flush to him.
“I think you’re right.” Those are the only coherent words spoken for the next half hour.
Miles looks down on a sleeping Eva and pushes a lock of hair away from her face. He was wrong - the moment from last night could be topped.
“We need to talk about we’re going to do now,” Eva says later that day after Law and Order: Criminal Intent ends. Miles replies with a resigned yes.
“One of us is going to have to quit,” she continues. “I think it should be me.”
“Why you?” Miles is curious as to why she thinks she should quit and he shouldn’t. Three hours later, he’s still not convinced, but he doesn’t want to argue and she’s dangerously close to tears or punching him, or both. Monday comes and by eleven, she’s sent him her letter of resignation with a comment of “Look it over and let me know if there’s anything I should add.” He replies with a few suggestions and by three o’clock, she relays that she has a meeting with Director Ewing on Thursday, barring any new cases.
The remaining days are spent with a hushed expectancy. When Natalie asks if everything is fine, Eva desperately wants to tell this woman she considers a friend the truth, but doesn’t. Instead she lies and says she’s feeling blue but doesn’t know why. Natalie offers drinks at the end of the week and Eva hesitates before agreeing.
Curled on her couch, a carton of Ben and Jerry’s in hand and wrapped up in a blanket and ‘The Princess Bride’ playing on her TV, she wonders how she’s going to make it until Thursday. She knows Natalie has figured something is going on and she thinks Frank and Connor have suspicions, too. In some ways, she knows she should be talking to Stephen and offering him her letter of resignation. But Director Ewing was the one who hired her - she should be the one who gets the resignation speech first.
Thursday comes and it’s all she can do to not resort back to a bad childhood habit and chew on her nails. Her engagement ring, which normally resides on her dresser during the week and through cases, and on her finger at all other times, is hanging on a necklace, which is hidden by her dark navy blue top. She knocks on the door and gets a cool “Enter” from the Director. Forty-five minutes later finds Eva in her office with the blinds closed and her playing with her ring. She sets it out in front of her and is watching it slide on the chain in between the places where her fingers are holding it. A few moments earlier, she'd just deposited the letter on Stephen’s desk and is now waiting. A ping from her computer makes her glance over at it. It’s a message from Connor with three words: “My office. Now.” She slides the ring back under her shirt and steels herself. Whatever happens, it’s not going to be pretty. Besides, by now Kate should have contacted him with what she was told and Connor isn’t an idiot.
She knocks on the doorframe and gets waved in. He has, what she is certain, her resignation letter in hand.
“Why?” is the unexpected question. She closes the door and sits down in the chair in front of the desk. She explains that because of her pregnancy, her obstetrician advised that she find a different job due to the toxins, diseases, and drugs she’s exposed to on a daily basis. She waits for his response.
Later on that night, she tells Miles that Connor took it better than she expected. He didn’t yell or try to talk her into staying with the team. He simply said congratulations and wished her the best of luck in the future.
“We still have to tell them about us,” Miles reminds her.
“Can’t we tell them when the wedding invitations are sent out?” She grumbles. Miles shakes his head.
“Doesn’t quite work like that babe,” he tells her. She’s already informed him that she’s not walking down the aisle in a maternity wedding dress so they’ll just have to wait until the kid’s born. She'd been having what Miles termed one of her bad days that day, so he went along with her declaration without any disagreement.
For the past few weeks, she’d been sleeping in one of his t-shirts and by now the baby bump is visible. He sits down on the edge of the bed and marvels at it all. There were times he didn’t think they were going to last in the past three years; now he’s going to get married to her and she’s carrying his child. He doesn’t believe in any sort of deity but if he did, right now he would be thanking them.
At the end of the next week from when she handed in her letter, they’re called out. Eva had meant to work for only the next two weeks but Kate managed to convince her to stay until they found a replacement for the press liaison position on the team. It’s five people who are suffering from hives, a dry cough, and seizures. It’s day three and Eva is in need of a foot rub and a nap. She’s not certain which one she wants more as she hunts down Miles. While the team does know about the pregnancy (Natalie is throwing her a baby shower), they don’t know about her and Miles yet. She’s been wearing the ring for the past two weeks but they don’t know who gave it to her. Miles and Eva had planned on keeping it that way but Eva’s need for a foot rub and nap that day ultimately ruin it.
“Where are you?” she asks after Miles answers his phone.
“In a waiting room,” he replies.
“I need a foot rub and a nap,” she warns him before hanging up. A few minutes later, she finds him reading through a stack of folders. He looks up and grins for she looks adorably grumpy. He pats the cushion next to him and she wordlessly joins him, swinging her now shoeless feet onto his lap. She snuggles into the couch and moans when he starts to massage her feet. It’s not too long before she’s sleeping and Miles doesn’t have the heart to move her feet off his lap - plus the couch isn’t that big and his lap is pretty much the only place where she can have her feet. So he leaves them up there, maneuvers out of his coat and gently lays it across her. He’s engrossed in Tate Fraser’s chat when the door opens and Natalie, standing outside the door, opens her mouth and then snaps it shut. She looks at Miles and then at Eva and motions between the two of them with her pen, a questioning look on her face. Miles nods, understanding her question. Natalie is definitely shocked; Miles flashes her a grin and readjusts Eva’s feet. Natalie shakes her head and grins back before closing the door. A minute later his phone beeps. Checking it out, he sees it’s a text from Natalie. Fifteen minutes later, he nudges Eva awake.
“Wake up sleepyhead. It’s feeding time.”
“Very funny,” she yawns.
“Natalie was in here earlier.” This has the effect of waking her up.
“And?” she asks.
“She figured us out,” he replies. Eva lets out an ‘oh’ as she slips her shoes back on.
“Frank found a restaurant that he’ll think you’ll eat at.”
“Blame your child,” Eva retorts as her elbow connects with his side. It certainly isn’t her fault that most anything she eats has her hanging over a toilet a half hour later. Even though her morning sickness had passed for the most part, there were times (especially when eating) when it flared up.
“Do you think she’s told anyone?” Eva asks as they ride the elevator. Miles shrugs in response. He gives Eva a quick squeeze of the hand before the elevator doors open and Frank’s standing in front of them, waiting for them.
They’re on the flight home and Eva’s playing Solitaire on Miles’ laptop when Connor sits down across from her.
“How long?”
She knows what Connor is referring to but plays dumb for a moment.
“How long what?”
“You and Miles. How long were you two dating?”
“Three years.” This answer apparently shocks him, as he doesn’t reply for a few beats.
“How did you manage to hide it?” he asks in a curious tone.
Eva’s not really certain as to how, so she tells him that. She also says that they had some close misses mainly brought on by him. He leans back in his chair and crosses his arms. It’s obvious he wants an explanation of how he had brought on those close misses.
When she gets home that night, there’s an e-mail message on her personal account. It’s from Carmen Jolie, the head of Human Resources at the local NBC affiliate. In the e-mail, Carmen explains that she found out that Eva is going to be looking for a new job after her baby is born. One of their broadcasters is retiring at the end of the year and Carmen would love to have a look at Eva’s résumé to see if she would fit in with the NBC 4 family. She should fax Carmen her résumé if she was interested.
Well, that was unexpected. Eva sets her water bottle down and leans back as much as her six-month pregnant belly would let her. Who gave Carmen the information and why would they do such a thing? Try as she might, Eva never finds out even though her investigation skills are good.
The first signs come one afternoon as Eva’s cleaning the townhouse for the eighteenth time in three days. Numerous sites say that this obsession with cleaning is natural - it’s a sign of nesting and making sure everything is ready for the impending baby and motherhood. Frankly, it’s driving her and Miles crazy. He woke up at two-thirty one morning to find her rearranging canned goods in the cupboards. He had a hard time convincing her to come back to bed. If she’s honest with herself, the cleaning is not only nesting but also a sign of boredom. From the age of sixteen, she’s had a job of some sort and the inactivity during the day is bothering her more than she’s letting on.
It’s during one of her cleaning sprees when her back starts to ache. The Braxton-Hicks contractions she'd experienced over the past week and a half are particularly vigorous and she thinks that’s all these are. But later on, after she’s done making supper for herself (Miles is out on a case when neither of them wants him to be), a sharp pain flashes through her and she realizes that it was a true contraction. She makes it through supper and her hour of Law and Order with only two more contractions. One of the women at her Lamaze class said to get plenty of sleep - or at least to try to - because for the rest of her life, she’s never going to get a decent night’s sleep. So she changes into her pajamas and lies down on her bed and amazingly falls asleep until midnight.
Her bladder wakes her up. She has to stop on the way to the bathroom and grip the dresser as a rather long contraction hits her. She hisses through the pain and lets out a muffled curse as the contraction ends. Somehow she realizes that this is the Real McCoy and she better get ready. The bags have been sitting by the door for the past few days so she tosses them a cursory glance as she passes them on her way to the kitchen. Eva calls up Megan Parks and tells her downstairs neighbor that she’s had six contractions in the last thirty minutes and therefore it’s time for a ride to the hospital.
Twenty minutes later, they’re at Holy Cross Hospital and Eva is being pushed into labor and delivery. She’s left a voice mail for Miles that tonight’s the night, that she’s seven centimeters dilated, more details will come. Megan is her back up Lamaze coach (seeing how Megan has two kids of her own, it was an easy decision) and Megan’s currently offering her a cup of ice cubes to suck on. It’s Miles’ luck to walk into the room as a rather painful contraction hits and Eva grabs the cup from Megan and throws it at Miles’ head, saying it was his fault she couldn’t have the good drugs and had to go through this naturally. She doesn’t remember much after that, just the doctor telling her to push. And push some more. Then having her push when she couldn’t push anymore. She really wants to curse the doctor out but when Miles states he can see the head, she reconsiders.
Then the doctor is passing her a crying, squalling, squirming baby boy and she can’t help but smile. Her arms wrap around him as she looks up at Miles and he has the most incredible look on his face and she doesn’t think she’s loved him more. So she tells him that. He replies back that she’s the most amazing person he knows and wonders how he got so lucky? A nurse is asking for her baby and her instincts are telling her don’t give up her son but she lets the evil nurse take her precious son away because she knows it’s necessary.
She’s resting in a hospital bed with Miles perched alongside her, when he mentions they still don’t have a name picked out for their son.
“I’ve been thinking about that,” she states. “I think I have it.”
Miles just gives her this look. He recognizes the tone of voice in his fiancée’s voice. He gestures to her to continue. Eva tells him the name and awaits his response.
“It’s not as if we would have met if it wasn’t for him.” Eva says, leaning her head against Miles’ shoulder. She’s clearly exhausted and Miles can’t deny her anything right now. Besides she does have a point and it’s a good name.
“Okay,” he relents and looks over at her, only to discover she’s sleeping. A soft smile crosses his face as he moves her head to the pillow and watches her sleep. He was extremely lucky to have gotten here at all - a miracle if one wanted to call it that. Just an hour before he got the message from Eva, they had finally discovered the right combination of medications to administer. He's keeping an eye on the patients when Frank comes up to him and hands Miles his cell phone, saying that if he needs to charge his cell phone, don’t do it when he’s trying to sleep. The message from Eva wasn’t halfway through when he races off to find Connor. He finds the older doctor contemplating his choices from a vending machine.
“Eva’s in labor,” is all he is able to get out.
“Go,” Connor states and Miles is off, almost plowing down their newest press liaison in his hurry.
“Where’s the fire?” Liz jokes.
“Eva’s in labor. I’m leaving.” He grabs his jacket and misses Liz’s shout of congratulations.
He arrives in the delivery room only to get a cup of ice thrown at his head and a few anatomically impossible sentences said by Eva. But then, his son (his son) is being placed in front of him and this surge of love just flows through him and how in the world did he get this damn lucky? He tells Eva this but before she can answer a nurse is taking their son away. Eva’s flopped her head against his shoulder; she’s exhausted, sweaty, hasn’t slept since who knows when, has no make up on and to him she’s never been more beautiful. She laughs when he tells her this and eagerly reaches for their son when another nurse brings him back. She’s situated in her room when he brings up the lack of a name. They can’t keep calling him Goober. When he first hears her suggestion, Miles is somewhere between shocked and surprised, but he understands her reasoning. It's a shame he can't tell her right now.
It's a few hours later when he’s able to wrangle Stephen, Natalie, and Frank into the room. Eva’s somewhat rested and looks - in her words - decent enough to see people who haven’t seen her without make up. Ever. Eva is making faces at the baby when the knock comes and the three walk into the room.
“Everyone,” she says and gestures to the now sleeping infant in her arms. “Miles and I would like you to meet Daniel Stephen McCabe.”
A few hours as an aide places her supper tray on her bedside table, Eva is still laughing, remembering the expression on Connor’s face as she made their announcement. He looked absolutely dumbfounded and Eva had to suppress an urge to tell him that the expression on his face is a good look for him. Once the aide leaves, she pushes her bedside table away because hospital cafeteria food tastes horrible no matter where she might be. She’s happy she managed to convince Miles to get her fried rice and vegetables from the Chinese place down the street.
She lays her hands across her abdomen. It’s odd that there isn’t a human being in there anymore. It’s almost as odd as finally realizing that she’s gotten her Happily Ever After, her own H.E.A. She’s got her son, a wonderful man that she’s marrying in eight months, and the life she’s always secretly wanted. Once she used to do everything herself. But her secret love of the Disney princesses and her desire to have her own H.E.A. stayed with her from foster home to foster home, through trial adoptions that never became permanent. She’s gotten her own family now. Now that she does, she wants to make sure that everyone else in her life that she knows has their own Disney-esque ending. The first person that she's going to start with is her future maid of honor.