Hazel's POV
"It is too early," I gasped, gripping Julian's arm as another contraction tore through me, panic and pain tangling together into something almost unbearable.
Julian's face had gone pale, but his hands were steady as he helped me into the car, Grace still asleep against Vivian's shoulder as she promised to stay through the night without being asked twice.
"You are going to be fine," Julian said, though his voice trembled slightly with the same fear clawing through my own chest. "Both of you. I promise."
The hospital swallowed us whole for the second time in weeks, nurses moving with practiced urgency while the doctor examined me carefully beneath harsh, fluorescent light.
"She is early, but strong," the doctor finally said. "Given everything, I would rather deliver now than
