Love is a Miracle Ch. 05

When Gavin arrive home that night, he found Serenity at her desk in the bedroom in tears. "What's wrong Sere?" he asked gently, despite his exhaustion.

"I don't know if I can do this," she whispered.

"Do what?" Gavin asked.

"Classes and a baby at the same time," Serenity said, hiccuping. Gavin pulled her in for a hug.

"You'll do fine," Gavin soothed.

"The kids in my classes are calling me easy," Serenity sniffled.

Gavin growled. "You are far from easy," he reminded her.

"I know," Serenity said. Gavin hugged Serenity again and just held her, his hands resting on her rounded abdomen. They both jumped when a tiny foot pushed against his hand. "Oh my God," Serenity said softly.

Gavin grinned. "I love you," he whispered.

"I love you too," Serenity murmured, sighing in contentment.

"Are you sure you want to come with me?" Serenity asked.

"Does your professor ban visitors?" Gavin asked.

"No, but it'll be boring," Serenity answered.

"I'll wait in the hall; I have a book to read anyway," Gavin promised, squeezing her hand. He escorted Serenity into the class room causing the professor to look up.

"And who is this?" the professor asked.

"This is my husband Gavin Cline," Serenity said. Her professor raised an eye brow but didn't say anything.

"I won't disturb your lecture," Gavin promised as other students started pouring in.

"What's this?" John asked, finding his name on a desk far away from Serenity.

"I wanted to change things a bit," the professor answered as Gavin slipped out of the room.

Gavin smiled to himself as one of the girls in the class read her letter to Bobby Flay aloud to the class. When Serenity joined him at the end of class, he took her hand and let her lead him to the elevator. "So who wrote the letter to Bobby Flay?" Gavin wanted to know.

"That's Robin. She loves watching the food network, but her mother never lets her cook. She wants her to concentrate on a degree," Serenity answered. She could see the wheels in his head turning. "What are you planning?" Serenity asked. Gavin grinned.

"For the moment, taking you to bed," Gavin growled in Serenity's ear making her blush. When they got to the lower floor, Serenity ran smack into John and his friend Tyler.

"Excuse us," Serenity said, trying to move away from John, but he moved where she moved, always staying in front of her.

"So you brought your pimp to class today," John sneered. Serenity's eyes widened and she moved back against Gavin who gave her shoulders a gentle squeeze.

"I'm her husband, not a pimp," Gavin growled.

John shrugged. "Either way, you can go. I've been watching this beautiful thing all semester and I have to have her," John said, giving Serenity a grin that nearly made her heart stop from fear.

"Go to hell," Gavin snarled, placing his body in front of Serenity's. Before John could do or say anything more, Chris tapped John on the shoulder. On top of being in one of the university's most popular fraternity, Chris was the quarterback on the football team.

"Leave my friends alone," Chris told John, pulling Serenity out of the fray. Gavin gave John and his friends one last dirty look before following Chris and Serenity out of the building.

"Thanks," Gavin said after checking to make sure Serenity was okay.

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"Hey!" Josie exclaimed, as Serenity opened the door for her. Serenity gave her friend a big smile.

"How are you and Chris?" Serenity wanted to know.

"We're doing great, he should be here any minute now," Josie answered. Serenity grinned as Chris walked into the apartment, helping Gavin with the trays of food. Ashira and Melinda came out of the kitchen with pitchers of lemonade and punch.

"Just set them on that table in the corner," Ashira told them. It was nearing the end of May and Serenity's friends and family were gathering for her baby shower.

Tiffany and a few of her friends from high school walked in the large meeting room that had been rented for the shower and Serenity gave each of them a big hug. "How's Bryce?" Serenity asked as Tiffany and Carrie set the gifts down on the table.

"Bryce is good. He's charming all of the girls at MIT," Tiffany said with a grin. Serenity laughed.

"Look at you!" Serenity turned to see her mother's friend Sunshine coming towards her.

"Aunt Sunny!" Serenity exclaimed, drawing her mother's attention. Ashira and Melinda stopped fussing with the food and hurried to greet their friend.

"How's Trevor and the kids?" Ashira wanted to know. Sunshine laughed.

"Trevor misses the beach and the kids are driving me crazy, but they're great," Sunshine answered. "Damn! I can't believe you're old enough to have a baby. I remember changing your diapers," Sunshine mused.

"I know, tell me about it," Ashira agreed. When everyone finally arrived, Gavin and Chris waved to the girls and ducked out.

"Chicken!" Serenity shouted after Gavin who grinned.

"You'd better believe it," he called back, Chris laughed loud and hard and made Serenity giggle.

Before Ashira could start with the games, the door opened to reveal Stephanie March, Bobby Flay's beautiful wife. "Thank you for coming," Serenity said shyly, almost nervously. Stephanie smiled.

"I don't normally, but Bobby has said so many good things about Gavin that I thought I'd come for a little while," Stephanie said.

By the time Gavin and Chris came back to pick Serenity up, she was exhausted and Ashira had made her sit down while she, Sunshine and Melinda cleaned up.

"Looks like quite a haul," Gavin commented as Chris whistled.

"Yeah, you guys go lucky. You got a lot of diapers," Ashira said with a grin. Gavin chuckled.

"But no crib," Serenity said sleepily from her chair. Gavin sighed. He knew that would be the hardest thing for them to get right now; every dollar they had was already reserved for rent, utilities or food.

"You did get almost three hundred dollars in gift cards to various stores, maybe you can get a crib with them," Melinda pointed out. Serenity nodded once and watched as Chris and Gavin began moving things to the back of his Focus. By the time they arrived at the apartment, Serenity was nearly asleep and Gavin had to help her inside.

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Serenity sat up with a low moan and looked at the clock. "What in the world made me wake up at four thirty in the morning?" she wondered, looking over at Gavin. Gavin was partially on his stomach, snoring lightly. Serenity gasped as pain rushed through her. "Gavin," Serenity said, pushing lightly on his shoulder.

"Go back to sleep Sere, I just got to sleep," Gavin protested, rolling over.

"Gavin, wake up!" Serenity said more urgently. Gavin sat up, sighing heavily.

"What's wrong?" he asked, rubbing sleep from his eyes. Serenity couldn't answer; the pain of the contraction had her in it's tentacles. Gavin's eyes widened as he realized what was happening. Gavin slid out of bed and pulled on his jeans and tee shirt that he had tossed on the floor by the bed just an hour and a half earlier.

As Gavin helped Serenity out of bed, he noticed her nightgown was soaked.

"Oh God!" Serenity moaned, clutching Gavin's arm.

"Just breathe, you'll be fine," Gavin said, distractedly. He helped Serenity find her flip flops before slipping his feet into his own sandals and helped her out of the apartment and into the elevator.

"I'm scared," Serenity whispered. Gavin hugged her gently as they waited for the elevator to take them to the parking garage.

Gavin waited impatiently for the doctor to allow him into the delivery room and when the doctor finally let him in, he practically ran into the delivery room. "How are you doing?" Gavin asked, slipping his hand into Serenity's.

"Still scared, but better," Serenity murmured. Gavin looked up as the anesthesiologist walked in.

"I hear you want an epidural," he said. Serenity nodded as the anesthesiologist went over the risks and benefits and signed the consent form he handed her. Gavin held Serenity's hands as she leaned over the side of the bed. She winced as she felt the needle being inserted into her back.

"Breathe," Gavin murmured in her ear, rubbing the back of Serenity's hands with his thumbs.

"Okay Serenity, now we need for you to lay still for us and the doctor will be in to check on you soon," the nurse said, helping Gavin get Serenity back into the bed before leaving the room.

"Have you called my mom?" Serenity asked, wincing a little as a contraction hit.

"No, not yet," Gavin admitted, pulling out his cellphone. When he hung up, Gavin turned back to Serenity. "She'll call Mark and they'll be on your way," Gavin said, sitting on the side of the bed.

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Gavin opened the door and grinned when he saw Ashira, Jake, Mark and Melinda waiting impatiently. Gavin let them in and stayed back by the door so that Serenity could have some time with her parents. "Hi mom," Serenity said quietly. Ashira's eyes were filled with tears as she saw her oldest daughter holding her own little baby.

"What'd you have?" Mark asked finally. Melinda smacked Mark in the shoulder.

"A little boy," Serenity answered with a small smile. She searched for Gavin and locked eyes with him when she saw him the back of the room. Serenity tried to hide her yawn but Ashira saw it and smiled gently.

"We'll go check into a hotel and come back later," Ashira told Serenity. Gavin sat on the edge of the bed after the parents had left and reached for Serenity's hand and kissed it gently.

"I love you," Gavin murmured.

"I love you too," Serenity said, sighing as the baby started to fuss. Gavin took him from Serenity and rocked him gently. Serenity smiled as the baby quieted down instantly.

"We need to think of a name for him," Gavin said. Serenity nibbled on her lip thoughtfully. "What was your grandfather's name?" Gavin asked.

"Joshua," Serenity answered.

"My grandfather's name was Charles," Gavin said, placing the now sleeping baby in his bassinet.

"Joshua Charles?" Serenity suggested. Gavin smiled.

"Sounds perfect," Gavin agreed.

"Joshua Charles Cline," he murmured, pressing a kiss to Serenity's forehead. "Get some sleep love," he added, standing up.

"Where are you going?" Serenity asked, sitting up.

"I'm going to call the restaurant and let them know that I'm not coming in today, and then I'll be right back," Gavin promised.