“Nothing’s wrong, but my waters broke about half an hour ago and my contractions are like twelve minutes apart – so we gotta get going.” I remain calm. He is clearly dumbfounded by my demeanour because his mouth opens and closes a few times as his tired brain tries to catch up.

“Half an hour?! Twelve minutes?! Ellis why didn’t you wake me up?” He eventually splutters out blinking a million times as though he is going to wake up from this weird dream.

“I’m waking you up now aren’t I? Come on, I’m all ready to go.” I stand up hoping it will get him moving but instead he stares at me freakishly still.

“Okay, you’re freaking out, aren’t you?” I put my hands on either side of his jaw hoping to ground him but he just swallows blinking up at me.

“I’m not freaking out,” he whispers.

“Then let’s go.” I laugh, rubbing his stubble under my palms.

“Can’t.” He is paling before my eyes, he has gone a ghostly shade of white.

“Why not?”

“I’m freaking out,” he finally admits. I laugh but that is quickly interrupted by another contraction ripping through me. Each one is worse than the last; the sooner I get to the hospital the better. I clearly made the wrong choice, I should have given him time to panic but between the pain of the contractions and the spike in anxiety I put myself first.

“Look, Liam I get it. This is scary but I’m in pain. I need you to pull it together because a baby is about to come out of me. We can panic together at the hospital,” I say through gritted teeth, digging my nails into my palms.

“You’re right, fuck, I’m sorry. I’m here, you’re going to be okay.” Finally he jumps out of the bed sitting me back down before darting into the closet to get himself dressed.

“You need to call Anders to come look after Jack!” I call after him. With one sock on, he hops out of the closet to grab his phone before disappearing again.

I pad down the hallway to look into Jack’s room. Just as I expected, my little guy is away with the fairies, I think a hurricane could pass through and he wouldn’t wake. Once I know he is okay, I wander back to find Liam picking up my bag at the top of the stairs. Luckily Anders lives in the same community a few minutes’ drive away and a few doors away from Edge’s home, so I know once Liam is ready there won’t be long until we can leave.