“A Most Unwelcome Visitor”

by Jo and Stacey

Colin's nerves were a wound tightly in the pit of his stomach. How could Sid have let anything so terrible happen to Kate while she was pregnant with HIS child? If anything happened to her or the baby Colin would never forgive that bastard. He held his breath, his jaw and his fists clenched tightly as the elevator doors swooshed open and he quickly made his way down the brightly-lit hallway to Kate's room.

The door was closed, but a light was on inside, voices coming from within. Colin hesitated a moment, swallowed hard, then slowly swung the door open and peered inside the room.

Sid was bending over the bed, the backs of his fingers on her cheek. He looked up when the door opened, expecting one of the nurses or the doctor. Colin!  "What do you want?" His voice was sharp, deliberately rude.

Colin took a step inside the room, his fists instinctively clenched when he saw Sid sitting there. "Checking to make sure you haven't allowed anything to happen to my kid," he snapped back, then realized what he'd said. He shifted on his feet, his eyes darting over to Kate, who seemed to be sleeping. 

Sid rubbed the palms of his hands together, slowly, somehow very menacingly. "This is not your child." 

"Yeah?" Colin snorted, "Well, do the math, Sid. Kate may claim otherwise, but that is definitely my child she's carrying and once it's born I plan to prove it." He looked at Kate again, a concerned look on his face, "you just better be damned sure you take care of my child until he's born."

Sid stood, a completely deadly expression on his face. "I do not intend to continue this pointless conversation with you. I shall say this to you now, but this is the only time I will say it.  Katherine was in my bed, mine, the night our son was conceived. Run around, little man, try to prove what you will, but this is my son and will always be my son.  Now get the fuck out of my wife's room before I twist your disgusting head off your disgusting neck."  Then he smiled.

Colin narrowed his eyes, glaring angrily at Sid. He opened his mouth to say something, but was cut short when Kate suddenly woke up.

"Sid?" she said, softly, "Wh...where did you go?" She opened her eyes wider, saw Colin standing at the foot of her bed. "Why are you here? Sid? Why is Colin here?" she asked, looking from one man to the other. She could feel the tension in the air, knew this must not be a friendly visit.

"I...I heard you'd been attacked by a wild dog, wanted to make sure you...and the baby... were alright," Colin replied, ignoring Sid's last warning to him.

"She's fine. Not that it's any of your business. You can leave now."

Kate frowned. She knew what Colin was thinking, knew he more than suspected the baby was his. Had Colin said anything to Sid about his suspicions? She bit her lip, trying to detect any indication of what might have transpired between the two men while she was sleeping. Clearly she'd interrupted something. Her heart began to race, worried about what Colin might try and do once the baby was born. She reached out and grabbed her husband's hand, "Sid is right, I'm fine. You should leave. You don't belong here... I don't want you in my life anymore." She felt a sudden, sharp pain in her stomach and back and squeezed Sid's hand harder.

"Kate, wait...," Colin began, but stopped when Kate began to clutch her stomach and cry out in pain.

Sid pressed Katherine's buzzer then whirled on Colin. "NOW look what you've done! Get the hell out of my wife's room!"

Colin's eyes got wide, worried that he'd caused Kate into early labor. "I'm... sorry... I...um... Kate, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you... I was just...worried," he stammered, nervously, then turned to Sid, "I'm leaving... you just...just don't let anything happen to...her or the baby."

Kate screamed out in pain again, "Sid! It's too early... it's much too early," she cried, holding her stomach.

Colin paused a moment, then quickly turned on his heel and headed out of the room, nearly colliding with a nurse who was on her way in to check on Kate.

"Mrs. Harbor, what's going on in here?" The middle-aged, plump nurse bustled in, immediately checking Kate's readings on several machines.

"She's going into labor!" Sid said, his voice loud, urgent.

"Not on my watch!" the nurse said and called for the doctor, who hurried in and injected something into Kate's IV that in a few minutes calmed her contractions.

"She's going to be all right?" Sid asked. "Her and the baby both?"

"She is, yes," the doctor nodded.  "Did something just stress your wife recently?"

Sid looked toward the door.  Damn Colin to hell.  "Yes, she had a most unwelcome visitor who upset her terribly."

"Well, I'll see to it that a 'no visitors' sign is posted on her door. No one but you, of course."

"Good."  Sid was still glowering at the door. So Colin intended to make trouble about the baby, did he? Well, he had ways of dealing with that.  He hadn't been sure he'd need to but it was obvious to him now that it was necessary.