Epilogue

EPILOGUE

Four years later...

" H e's going to kill her," Joe felt obligated to point out as they watched in fascination as Nathan's eyes darted from his butter knife to the really annoying woman that Alice was trying to set him up with.

"But it will entertain us, and really, that's all that matters," Eric said as Emily, their two-year-old daughter who loved to drive them crazy, climbed onto his lap.

Eric adjusted her on his lap so that she could steal his dessert. He kept one hand pressed against his little girl's tummy as he laid his arm across the back of his incredibly beautiful wife's chair.

"Are you okay?" Eric asked for probably the hundredth time since he got off work and picked them up.

"I'm fine," Joe said, giving him a tight smile as she shifted uncomfortably in her chair.

He moved his arm from the back of her chair so that he could place his hand on her belly. "Is he giving you problems?" Eric asked, rubbing his hand soothingly over her belly, chuckling when their little boy decided to follow the moves with little kicks that his mother probably didn't appreciate.

"He's just really active today," Joe said, pushing her plate of triple fudge cake towards Emily only to have it snatched up.

Eric watched in amusement as his brother dug into the cake. "I need it more than she does," Nathan grumbled and Eric couldn't agree more as he had to wonder where their mother kept finding these women.

"What is it that you said you did again?" the woman that he didn't bother learning her name demanded suddenly.

It wasn't until he looked away from his brother that he realized that she was speaking to him. When they were introduced two hours ago, she'd barely acknowledged them before she focused on annoying the hell out of his brother.

"Drug lord," Eric answered, chuckling when Joe poked him in the ribs. Nathan smiled for the first time since this dinner from hell started and their mother even cracked a smile, but not the ice princess. She simply glared at him.

"He's a paramedic for the city and a field supervisor," his mother said proudly, making him roll his eyes. The woman did love to brag.

"But I'm still his boss," his beautiful wife pointed out with a teasing smile.

The ice princess looked at Joe and blinked as though she'd just realized that his wife was there. How she could have missed Joe with that huge belly, he'd never know, but she looked genuinely surprised to see her there.

"She's a supervising dispatcher for the city," his mother said proudly as she sent Joe a warm smile.

"Oh," the ice princess muttered with a dismissive look. Not that he was a snob or anything, but he really didn't think a woman who worked part-time at the lost and found counter at the mall was in a position to look down her nose at anyone.

"Grandma?" Emily said, drawing his mother's attention.

"Yes, pumpkin?" she asked, giving Emily the smile reserved solely for her.

Emily pointed a damning finger at Nathan as she said, "He took my cake."

"Nathan Parish!" their mother said in shocked outrage as she reached over and took back the half-eaten slice of cake and placed it in front of Emily, who happily attacked the frosting.

"Tattletale," Nathan grumbled even as he sent his niece a wink that made her giggle.

"Alice? I'm not trying to be rude or anything," the ice princess started, and he seriously doubted that since she'd been rude throughout the entire meal, "but I think you have a leak or something."

"What?" Alice asked, looking confused as she peered down at the floor.

"Not a leak," Joe said, gasping. "My water just broke."

"Shit!" Nathan gasped as Eric stood up and passed his daughter over to him.

"Let's get you to the couch, Joe," Eric said calmly as he reached down and scooped her up into his arms.

"I don't think you should be doing that," the ice princess pointed out. "You could hurt the baby!"

He sent his mother a glare for inviting the woman as he walked into the living room. A talk was long overdue about the woman's unwanted dating services. Judging by her reluctant nod, she knew what was coming.

"More cake?" Emily asked.

"That's a good idea," he heard Nathan say as he walked into the living room.

A minute later, Nathan was on the phone as he walked into the room and handed Eric a pile of white towels and blankets.

"Is that 911?" Eric asked.

When Nathan nodded, Eric held out his hand and took the phone. Nathan quickly sat down by Joe's side and put his arm around her as he offered her his hand to squeeze. That actually surprised Eric since the last time Joe ended up breaking three of his fingers.

"What's the address?"

"Hey, Roger, it's Eric."

Roger chuckled . "Let me guess, Joe's the one ready to burst?"

"Oh, yeah," Eric said, watching as his wife squeezed Nathan's hand while she struggled to bite back a scream. Nathan didn't fare so well. He dropped to his knees on the floor with a muttered, "Jesus Christ!" but he never pulled his hand away.

"Only give her two fingers so that she doesn't break your damn hand," Eric said as his brother struggled to survive another contraction.

With a sigh of relief, his brother pulled his hand away and offered her two fingers. Joe quickly grabbed hold of his fingers as she bit back another scream. He didn't need to look to know that his little boy was going to be making his appearance soon. This was her second child and that usually meant a quicker delivery, and judging by the timing between her screams, it was going to be real fucking soon.

"What's the address?" Roger asked.

"458 Cranberry Road," Eric answered as he slowly exhaled.

"Okay, I'm sending them now. Good luck, Eric."

"Thanks," he said before hanging up.

He placed the phone on the coffee table and knelt down in front of Joe. "Baby, I think we should get you set up on the floor. What do you think?" he suggested, brushing her long, beautiful hair out of her face.

"I think," Joe said, taking a deep breath, "that if you or that damn battering ram you have the nerve to call a dick ever comes near me again, I will- Aaaaaaggggghhhhh !" she broke off her beautiful words of love with a scream.

"Time to get you on the floor," Eric said, ignoring Nathan's amused chuckles as he helped Joe lay down on the freshly polished floor.

"Get behind her and let her sit back against you," he said, thankful that Nathan did what he was asked.

"Um, what are you doing?" the woman he'd forgotten about suddenly demanded.

"Dinner appears to be over. You might want to leave before this gets messy," Eric said, not bothering to take his eyes off his wife as he pushed up the soft, flowery cotton maternity dress that Joe hated.

"I don't think you should be doing that," the woman said, ignoring his polite request to get the fuck out.

"It's fine. I really need you to go now," Eric said as he gently pulled Joe's pink panties off. When he saw what was waiting for him, he slowly exhaled.

"Look, you really shouldn't be doing that. I'm going to call an ambulance for her," the stubborn woman said with a dismissive look in his direction.

Eric liked to think he was a patient man, but his wife was in pain and from the looks of it, his son was ready to make an appearance. "Look, sweetheart , this is a family moment and you're not family, so you can either haul your ass out of here or I can throw you out. It's your choice," Eric snapped, moving to do just that.

"Fine, you didn't have to be so rude about it!" she snapped as she stormed out of the house. "Don't bother calling me," she bit out, probably to Nathan, as he placed a towel on the floor between Joe's legs.

"Where the hell does she keep finding women like that?" Joe bit out tightly between panting.

"I don't know, but I really wish she'd stop looking," Nathan said with a heartfelt sigh.

"You know what you have to do if you want that to happen," Eric said conversationally as he placed his hands between his wife's legs.

"Not until I find the one," Nathan bit out, and Eric just barely stopped himself from bitch-slapping his brother upside the head.

His brother wanted the perfect woman and he didn't realize that Eric already had her. He was too damn picky and stubborn to realize that any of the dozen or so women that he'd dated in the last five years would have made him a very happy man. It was a mistake that Eric was afraid was going to cost him.

"Anyone home?" a familiar voice called from the front door.

"For the love of God, get in here!" Nathan yelled.

"Oh, god," Joe muttered, and he knew she was going to be embarrassed to have the guys from work witness this, but they really didn't have a choice. Their little guy was coming whether she was ready or not.

He heard the guys piling into the living room, more than he should have, and risked a glance back and had to laugh. It seemed that all the guys decided to come help, even Teddy. That didn't surprise him as much as it would have a few years ago.

After the accident with Greg, Teddy changed overnight. He became more somber and started taking the job seriously. For a while, everyone was placing bets on how long it would take before the old Teddy to come back. So far, no one had won that bet.

It was one of the only good things that came from what happened. Almost overnight, every ambulance service in the county changed their ride along time. The company that Greg worked for changed their time from two days to two weeks. Not that it mattered since the company went out of business. It probably didn't help that the third rider sued, pushing the company into bankruptcy.

"Hey, Joe," Teddy said as he knelt down next to Eric.

"Hey, Teddy," Joe managed to get out on a pained groan.

"Getting ready to have another beautiful baby, I see," Teddy said as he opened an O.B. kit.

Joe nodded weakly as Nathan gently wiped the tears off her face. She looked so damn beautiful. All Eric wanted to do was take her into his arms and tell her how much he loved her, but he knew that she'd kick his ass if he let anyone else do this.

"I need you to push now, Joe," Eric said, accepting the sanitized towel Teddy handed him.

"And I need to kick your ass for doing this to me!" Joe snapped even as she pushed.

Nathan grunted in pain as she squeezed his fingers. Teddy reached over and took Joe's other hand and manfully took the abuse that she dished out when she began to push.

"Suction," Eric said when the head popped out, barely managing to get the words out when Teddy handed him the rubber bulb. He quickly cleared his son's airway before handing the bulb back.

"Push," Eric said, gently holding his son's head as he slowly came out.

"You push, you bastard!" Joe yelled, earning several nervous chuckles from the guys.

"Oh, you're all here!" he heard his mother say. "Why don't some of you boys come help me make coffee and cut the cake," his mother thankfully suggested. He knew the guys were anxious for Joe, but he really didn't need witnesses when she went for his balls.

"Yes, ma'am," he heard Jeff say.

"Here we go," Eric said as the baby's shoulders cleared. Seconds later, he caught hold of his wiggling son as Teddy swooped in and wrapped the screaming infant up in a small blanket.

He smiled down at his son as Teddy quickly moved to tie off the cord and cut it. Jonathan, a firefighter and part-time EMT, moved in to help wipe the baby down. Not once did his baby stop screaming and Eric couldn't have been prouder. He didn't think it was possible to be happier than he was at that moment. Of course, Joe just had to go and ruin it for him.

"You are so buying me a steak dinner after this!" she bit out.

His gaze shot to his brother, who simply shook his head as he shot him a pitying look. "Little gold digger," they both grumbled, earning a killing glare from the woman he absolutely adored.

Life really couldn't get any better, Eric decided as he placed his screaming child in Joe's arms and leaned over to kiss the woman that he loved more than anything.

Thank you for reading A Sudden Response I hope that you enjoyed reading Eric and Joe's story as much as I enjoyed writing it.