They had been sitting in the waiting room for 2 hours; Seth had finally gone to sleep.  Ellie was looking towards the door when Liberty and Manny walked in.

“Hey what’s going on,” Ellie said walking over to the two girls.

“Ellie what are you doing here?”  Liberty asked with grimace.

Ellie had come over to them so they wouldn’t notice Ava and Seth.  But she didn’t think about what she would say if asked this.

“AHH,” Liberty yelled grabbing both Manny and Ellie by the arm.

“Oh my god!”  Liberty is having the baby?”  Ellie asked.

“What else would we be doing here?”  Manny said rolling her eyes.

“But I thought she had a couple weeks to go.”

“Well this baby isn’t going to wait 2 weeks,” Liberty said after the contraction had passed.

“Her water broke at the Dot.  Spinner wasn’t very happy about having to clean that up,”  Manny said smiling.

“Do you have to remind me Manny?  That was mortifying.”

A nurse came and took Liberty and Manny up to the Mother and Baby unit.  Ellie told Liberty she would call Emma and Toby and come up in a bit to check on her.  After they had gone Ellie ran over to Ava and told her about Liberty being in labor.

“I know I saw them,” sshe whispered trying not to wake Seth.

“They want me to call Emma and eventually they are going to remember that I didn’t tell them what I was doing here.”

“Ellie I don’t care anymore.  Tell them why you’re here.  I’m tired of keeping this secret,” she said looking down at her sleeping baby.

“Okay Ava.  I’m going to call Emma Nelson.  That is one phone call I never though I would be making,” Ellie said wrinkling her nose.

“Why?  Who is Emma Nelson?”  Mrs. Nash asked.

She had been filled in on the way over by Ava; Ellie didn’t tell her anything, that she wasn’t the only one who didn’t know abut Ava’s son, so she understood why they would be worried about being seen.

“Emma is Sean’s ex.  Well other ex I guess I should say,” Ellie answered her mother.

“Your Sean?”

“He’s not my Sean mother.  In case you haven’t noticed he left me,” Ellie snapped.

“I’m sorry Ellie I didn’t mean anything by it.” 

“Whatever, I’m going outside to make the call.”

******

While Ellie was outside Seth was called back to see the doctor.  After 20 minutes Ava and Seth were back out front.

“What is it?”  Ellie asked.  She had talked to Emma who was on her way.

“He has an ear infection.  She gave him an antibiotic and some numbing drops for his ear.  She said he should be fine by tomorrow evening,” Ava answered with a smile.  She looked so relived. 

“Oh I’m so glad.  Are you girls ready to go?”  Mrs. Nash asked.

“Yeah,” Ava answered.

“I think I’ll wait here and go up and see Liberty,” Ellie said.

“Okay I’ll see you at home later.”

“Bye mom.  I’ll call you later Ava.”

“Alright.  Talk to you then,” Ava said and turned to face Emma, Toby, Marco and even JT.

“Hey guys,” Ellie said stepping around Ava.

“It’s okay Ellie,” Ava said.

“Who is this cutie?”  Marco asked rubbing Seth’s head.

“This is my son,” Ava answered bravely.

“Yeah sure it is.”  Marco said smiling.

“No Marco.  I’m serious.  This is Seth, I haven told anyone but Ellie about him.  I just didn’t want anyone to know at first but I’m just tired of hiding him,” Ava said afraid of the reaction from everyone.

“Well I’m glad he’s too sweet to hide,” Emma said smiling.

“I hate to ruin this Kodak moment but where the hell is Liberty?”  JT asked. He looked very nervous.

“You guys go on I’m going to take Seth home and get his medicine.  When my Aunt comes home I may come back.”

“Okay,” everyone agreed.

******

“Well this is something,”  Mrs. Nash said on the drive home.

“What do you mean?” Ava asked.

“Soon our community will have 2 new people.  And Seth will have plenty of friends.”

“Are you excited about your new grandbaby?”  Ava asked.  She could tell Mrs. Nash was a little nervous around Ellie.

“I’ll admit at first, I was not too happy.  But now I realize what’s done is done.  That baby can’t help how it came to be.  I’ve accepted I’m going to be a grandmother and I’m excited now to meet my first grandchild.”   If Ellie will even let me see it, she thought, regretting all she had done to make her daughter hate her.