Seven Days Ch. 10

She grabbed ahold of the sink before she felt a gush of liquid pour out from underneath her dress. Holy shit!

She stared down frantically at the water running down her legs. "Oh, God...no, no, no, no, please," she whispered, as she slowly opened the bathroom door. But no matter how much she prayed, she knew her water had broken.

"Marianna," Victoria weakly shouted. "I need to go to the hospital."

Marianna came around the corner, "Hey, what did you—oh my God!" She rushed over to her and called for Isabelle. Antonio had been asleep on the couch as the women rushed Victoria to the door. He immediately jumped up and grabbed his keys. The three of them helped her into the back seat. Marianna got in the back with Victoria and Antonio and Isabelle sat up front.

They reached the hospital within a few minutes and Victoria was escorted to a room. The nurses came in to examine and prep her.

Victoria was freaking out. Her life was about to be changed forever, and Nic was nowhere around. She kept pleading to Marianna that the baby couldn't come right now. This wasn't even her physician she had been seeing over the past nine months. This was all so wrong.

"Whether you want him to or not, Victoria...he's coming. You have to focus on that."

Victoria tried her hardest to listen to the nurses and the doctor, but she started crying. It wasn't supposed to be like this. But then the crying was no longer about Nic...it quickly became about the intense contractions she was having. They started coming faster and harder.

She vaguely remembered her doctor talking about her being almost fully dilated. She felt Marianna grab her hand. She looked up into the warm blue eyes. Blue eyes similar to Nic's, and in a way, that calmed her down.

After a few more moments, she was told to start pushing. She did, but every push started burning. "Aaah!!" Victoria screamed, as she leaned back against the bed. She felt like she was being ripped in two. Nic would have made this all better. He always knew what to do to make everything okay. Her heart felt like it was breaking...among other things. The pain brought her mind back to the task at hand.

"Victoria, we need you to breathe and push, okay?" the doctor said.

"I can't, I can't," she yelled back. "It hurts too much, fuck!"

"Squeeze my hand," Marianna suggested.

"Yes, you can. The more you push, the sooner the pain will be over," the doctor calmly responded.

Victoria closed her eyes and raised up, pushing harder, despite the intense pain she was feeling. She felt as though the veins in her forehead were popping.

On the final push, she heard the doctor say, "That's it, we have him," and Victoria fell back. She opened her eyes and saw to the side, two nurses standing over the baby. Their baby. Sebastian. She could see his little pale arms flailing as he cried. And in that moment, everything seemed to stop for Victoria.

It's as if everyone in the room had frozen, except for her son. Any pain that she was feeling subsided as four swinging appendages held her attention. At that moment, nothing else mattered.

Once the nurses were done, they brought him over to her. Victoria held her breath in anticipation as he was gently placed in her arms. Oh. My. God.

Her son had beautiful, shiny black curls that were sparse, but enough to lightly cover his head in perfect little waves. And the cutest, tiniest round nose and pink lips she had ever seen. He opened his eyes for a second to look at her, then closed them back and went to sleep.

Victoria was stunned. She couldn't take her eyes off him. He was absolutely perfect. In every way, shape and form. Perfect. There were no other words to describe him or this moment.

"Oh, I love you," she whispered to him, kissing him for the first time.

Victoria looked up at Marianna. She had tears in her eyes, and she also seemed to be stupefied by the presence of this tiny little being. A product of her and Nic. Nic...

****************

Nic sat in his cell, staring at the wall. He wanted to know how Victoria was doing. He had thought about her during his bail hearing earlier that morning. He wasn't paying close attention, because Reuben had already said he would be denied...which he was.

He hated that his wife was having to go through this. She was pregnant and already dealing with her father's funeral, now this. He wanted so badly to talk to her.

Nic was deep in thought when Marsh walked up to his cell. He decided he would ignore the fucker.

"Well, well, I should bring you a cigar. Congratulations. One of my officers who was watching your wife, confirmed that she just gave birth to a healthy baby boy."

Nic's head snapped toward Marsh as he narrowed his eyes at him. Was he fucking kidding?

"Don't believe me? Here are some pics he took of them going in the hospital," Marsh said, sliding photographs underneath the bars. "Too bad you weren't there to witness it," Marsh smiled in a smug voice, as he turned to walk away.

Nic's heart started beating rapidly. That asshole had to be lying. He slowly got up and walked over to pick up the photos. He flipped through them. His hands started to shake when he saw a picture of her being put in the backseat of Antonio's car and pictures of them arriving at the hospital and his mom escorting Victoria inside. Nic suddenly couldn't breathe. He dropped the photos to the ground as if they electrocuted him.

Nic staggered backwards until his calves touched his cot, and then he slowly sat down. He had missed his son being born. He hadn't been away from him more than a few hours since he was conceived...and on the most important day, because of his past lifestyle and FUCKING MARSH, he had missed it.

Nic considered himself a sane and rational man. And under any other circumstances, he would have found a cool place in his mind...some place he could go to make the rational next step. It was that process that usually allowed him to win. It was one of the reasons he was so successful. But at this moment...no such place existed. All he felt was an intense firestorm coursing through his skin, his blood...his entire body.

He fucking lost it.

"GODDAMN IT!!! Motherfucker!!!" Nic yelled, as he slammed his cot into anything that could break over and over again. Everything was a blur, but he refused to stop until the flames inside him quelled.

He never heard anyone behind him and he never heard his cell opening up. All he heard was Marsh's words running over and over in his head, torturing him since there wasn't a fucking thing he could do inside here.

"I'm gonna fucking KILL you!! You're a fucking dead man!" he shouted, as several guards tackled him to the ground. He struggled, pushing two of them off of him but they eventually pinned him down. By the time they had the cuffs on him, he was completely spent. Physically, mentally, but most of all emotionally--wondering when this hell would end.

*************

Later that night, Victoria woke up in the hospital bed. She glanced over to the side, and saw Isabelle reading a magazine. She glanced up at Victoria when she heard her stir.

"Hey there," Isabelle said.

"Hey," Victoria croaked out. She glanced around the room. "Where's Sebastian?" She sat up quickly...a little too quickly, and she felt a slight pain.

"He's in the nursery. Don't worry, your mom and Marianna haven't let him out of their sight."

Victoria sighed. "I wish Nic were here," she admitted. "He doesn't even know."

Isabelle placed the magazine on the table and went to sit down on the hospital bed. "Actually, Vicky, he does."

"What? Did Jimmy tell him?"

Isabelle exhaled. "Unfortunately, no. That detective guy told him. It wasn't pretty from what Jimmy told me."

"What?!"

"Well, Jimmy was on his way to the jail to tell Nic, but when he got there, they said that he couldn't have any visitors, and they had him in another holding cell. Jimmy waited for hours until Reuben got there, met with Nic and came back out to explain what happened. Reuben said that Nic was, well...he was devastated."

Victoria leaned back in the bed. She barely had a second to cover her face before a wave of tears gushed out. She hated feeling so helpless. When her husband needed her the most, there wasn't a damn thing she could do about it. When Mr. Parker had harassed her and threatened to kick her family out, Nic had come to save the day. When she was abducted and held for ransom, Nic had risked his life to save her. And now when he was the helpless one...all she could do was fucking cry. How pathetic.

"Oh, honey, I didn't say that to make you cry. I just thought you'd want to know what happened today," Isabelle said, hugging a distraught Victoria. "It will be okay."

Victoria wished like hell she could believe that. But there was a very real chance that her husband could be going to prison for a long time.

Isabelle pulled away and handed her a box of tissue. Victoria wiped her tears and her nose, while she gasped for air.

"Hey, I know what will make you feel better," Isabelle smiled, as she walked out of the door.

Victoria stared up at the ceiling. This was officially the happiest and saddest day of her life. But before she could ponder on that any longer, her door opened back up and in walked her mother, carrying Sebastian, with Marianna and Isabelle following closely behind. They were all smiling at her.

"Guess who is hungry? Mio nipote," Marianna said, with a huge grin across her face.

Victoria had completely forgotten about this part of motherhood. She felt a little uncomfortable with so many eyes staring at her, but she tried to grin and bear it. Her mother handed her the baby. He was awake and staring, as his cute little soft arms moved in unsteady patterns. His little feet were kicking underneath the thin blanket. She slid the left side of her shirt down, and held her son to her breast. She looked up at the three women watching over her.

"Am I doing it right?" Victoria asked.

"Si," Marianna said, as the other two women nodded in agreement.

Here goes, little one, Victoria thought, as she pressed him further to her bosom. And just like that...he latched on. That was easy. At least something on this day had been easy.

Although Victoria had researched a million things from the moment she found out she was pregnant, she learned more in the few hours after her first feeding from her mom, Marianna and Isabelle than her entire nine months worth of research combined. Go figure.

And poor Antonio. All of the women had pretty much forgotten that he had been waiting in the maternity waiting room since they had first arrived at the hospital. When he finally came into the room, they passed the baby to him, and it was the funniest thing. He looked so uncomfortable and unnatural, that it gave Victoria a good laugh. The first laugh she'd had in what seemed like a long time.

**************

Antonio had met Jimmy at the police station, while he waited on new information regarding Nic's case. But Antonio had to get out of there. Cops made him paranoid. He wasn't sure if it's because he smoked pot, or not, but they made him nervous.

He quickly stepped out and walked around to the back of the station. He pulled out his pack of cigarettes and lit one. He closed his eyes and inhaled the sweet smoke which seemed to calm his nerves. He was about to take another drag, when he heard a woman's voice. He glanced to the side and saw a tall blonde stalking out. But this wasn't just any tall blonde. This was Nic's tall blonde. Nic's ex-wife, Amber. And she was talking to that snake, Marsh. What the fuck?!

Antonio almost choked, as he coughed and sputtered. The two turned their attention toward him, but not before he made it back around the corner just in time. Oh, this was all so fucked up! So she was the snitch?!

Antonio ran back inside. "Jimmy, I need to speak with you now," he said.

Jimmy glanced at him. Antonio looked as though he had seen a ghost. "What?"

"In your car," Antonio said, as he turned and walked out of the station.

Jimmy glared at him, as if to say this better be important, and followed him out.

Once they were both inside the car, Antonio turned to Jimmy. "I know who they have as a witness."

"Who?"

"Amber."

Jimmy sat there staring at Antonio. "How do you know?"

"I saw her a few minutes ago, leaving through the back way and talking to that detective," Antonio excitedly reported.

Jimmy nodded. That was all he needed. "Thanks, kid," he said, as he got out and walked back into the police station.

*************

"Well Nic, looks like you really fucked up yesterday. Threatening to kill a detective just doing his duty? Why, what did I ever do to deserve that," Marsh taunted, leaning against his cell. And as always, Reuben was there with Nic.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Nic answered.

"Sure. Several guards heard you yell that you wanted to kill me."

"No they didn't."

Marsh stared at Nic skeptically. "I never took you for a lying man. Cold-hearted killer, but not a liar. They heard you, asshole."

"Yeah, they heard me threaten to kill someone, and it was my attorney. He's been falling down on the job, haven't you noticed," Nic dead-panned.

"Yep, and Nic already apologized to me for that and...I'm not pressing charges, just so you know. So, no harm done," Reuben smiled.

Marsh quickly glanced back and forth between the two men. Damn it, they were good! Fuck, he was hoping that threat would be the final nail in the coffin. Marsh exhaled and walked away from Nic's cell.

Later that night, Amber was leaving one of her favorite little hot spots. She was drunk off her ass, but refused to catch a cab home. So, she drove, crossing a few lines here and there, but she managed to make it back to her apartment just fine, stumbling out of the car.

When she entered her swanky apartment, she didn't bother turning on the lights, as she started removing her boots and walking very unsteadily toward her bedroom. Fuck, it was already three in the morning, and that annoying twit, Detective Marsh wanted her to come back down to the station again in the morning. Although this was the perfect revenge, it was taking a lot out of her. She was depending on Marsh to keep her identity hidden, until the day she had to testify. Then she would turn on the tears and recite her script to the jury and judge. "Your honor, when we were married, I was scared all of the time that he would turn back into a monster. He hurt people. Good innocent people, and all I could do was stand back and watch, too afraid that if I told, he would hurt me too. But I'm tired of living a lie!"

Her mind drifted to Nic. She would never admit it out loud, but she missed him. And not in a romantic way, although the sex...she really did miss, but she missed walking into a room knowing he was usually the most dangerous man in there. That had really turned her on the first night she met him. She had been dancing her ass off at his club. She had heard of him and his reputation, but she had never had the chance to meet him. And that night her friend pointed him out as he talked to the DJ. He had two guys beside him, who looked more like bodyguards. It took her off guard how handsome he was.

So, she and her friend devised a plan. They snuck up to the VIP section, and she bribed the guard into letting her in. Once she was up there, she saw him sitting in a dark corner, talking to a few people. She knew her short dress and long legs would catch his attention. She hiked up her skirt even more and walked right past him, pretending to ignore the group. But out of the corner of her eye, she saw them all looking...including him. And from that night, her plan fell into place. She had to cut several women down to size, who were his regular...well, 'other women', but Amber put them in their place. She knew he still messed around on her, but as long as they all knew she was the top, and they were just for his quick amusement, then she didn't mind. The houses, cars, clothes, jewelry and vacations were more than enough to squelch any feelings of jealousy.

Even after they had separated, she still knew that she was the main woman in his life. His wife! Until that girl. She didn't know how, or why she was in Nic's life. At first, she thought she was like the others who would do anything for him, just to have him acknowledge them. But this girl seemed different. She actually seemed like she didn't like him, and that is the part that Amber didn't understand.

But Amber had trashed her bedroom when she had found out he had gotten married and had moved out of town. With a baby on the way?! Nic Andretti?? Married with a kid? What the hell did that girl do to him? It just wasn't right. What did she have that Amber didn't? It would never work. Nic wasn't the domestic type.

Amber knew of the detective who had been giving Nic a hard time for years. She had also thought he was annoying, but when he called to tell her that Nic's new wife...oh, those words burned in her mind. New wife... Anyway, his new wife's father died, so Nic would more than likely be coming into town, and if she snitched on Nic, and agreed to testify in an open court, then Marsh could for sure put Nic away for a long time. Revenge is definitely sweet. And his wife would be without a husband and have to raise the baby by herself. Stupid whore, Amber thought, right as she tripped over something, and fell to the floor. She laughed at herself, until she noticed what she had tripped over was a black leather shoe. A man's shoe...that was still connected to a man's leg...and body. She followed the path up until she saw the stranger sitting on her couch in the dark. Only, it wasn't a stranger.

"Hiya, Amber," his familiar voice said, right before a black bag went over her head.

***************

"No fucking way!!" Marsh screamed. This was not fucking happening. How could the bad triumph over good? Was there no justice in the world?! Was he the only sane person alive that knew Nic Andretti was nothing but bad news?!

"Yep. Apparently Mrs. Andretti...I mean, well, the ex-wife...she will no longer testify and she says she was mistaken. She said her ex-husband isn't involved in any type of underground crime. She was just a jealous ex-wife," the Police Chief told him.

"But sir, can't you see someone got to her? Jesus, we're just going to let him walk? Just like that?!"

"Yeah we are, because the DA said there's no case and he's dropped the charges. Nic doesn't even live here anymore and from what you've told me, he's legit, so quit wasting valuable man hours on a dead-end case. You copy that?"

"But--"

"Jesus fucking Christ, Inspector Javert! Give it a rest unless you plan on drowning yourself too."

Marsh ignored the reference to Les Miserables. He could hardly think straight and wanted to throw up. He stared down at the ground. How had that bastard managed to pull this? How did he know it was Amber? How...? That was all Marsh could repeat over and over in his head.

Then he perked up for his last attempt at fucking Nic Andretti over. "Could I still hold him on charges of resisting arrest and assaulting a police officer?"

The Police Chief turned to look at him. "Are you kidding? Get the fuck out of my office and start working on people who are actually STILL in the underground crime circuit...you know, the bad guys." And with that, the Chief glanced back down at his desk, and shuffled through some papers.

Marsh shook his head and walked out of his superior's office. He slowly walked over to his desk and stared down at years and years of files, paperwork and pictures of Nicolas Andretti IV. That prick had finally won. Marsh slung everything on top of his desk to the floor in a fit of rage. Damn that son of a bitch!!

*************

Nic slid on his watch, and grabbed his wallet before he walked out of the jail. A place he never wanted to see the inside of again. Although he knew Reuben was the best at what he did, his freedom was because of Jimmy.