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Max had never thought a day could go from average to complete chaos so quickly, but today, it had.
Capable wasn’t due for another month, but that morning her water had broken in Furiosa’s kitchen. He and Nux heard her shout of surprise all the way from the garage, and since their tiny hospital didn’t have an ambulance, they piled into Furiosa’s van and took off for the hospital.
Thus far Capable had been fairly calm, but Nux was a complete mess, lamenting the bumpy roads and the distance to the hospital, not to mention the absent baby bag. Max knew it was just because he was panicking, clearly terrified that Capable would give birth in the backseat of a moving vehicle, but he saw the muscle leaping in Furiosa’s jaw that meant she was on edge.
“How much longer?” Nux asked, for what seemed like the thousandth time. He kept leaning over Furiosa’s shoulder, staring at the speedometer, as if somehow that would get them to the hospital faster.
Capable groaned, “I’m alright Nux, I don’t want Furiosa to speed-aaaaah!”
Max glanced behind him just in time to see Capable arch her back and scream. After the contraction passed, she opened her eyes and continued, “-we’ll be there in twenty minutes, same as when you asked thirty seconds ago.”
Nux glanced between his wife and the stopwatch in his hand, concerned. “But your contractions are less than five minutes apart, and the book says that means the baby is coming soon, what if we don’t make it in time?”
“That book does not make you a doctor!” The combination of labor and nine months of Nux citing an old copy of What To Expect When You’re Expecting that he’d found in Furiosa’s attic had laid waste to Capable’s usual good temper.
Furiosa remarked dryly, “Then we’ll have to deliver the baby ourselves. Max, you’ve got a knife to cut the cord, right?”
“Think so.” They both chuckled, from nerves more than anything. It was all well and good to joke and tease Nux, but neither of them was up to an impromptu backseat delivery.
Another grunt from the backseat, and Capable mumbled, “Thanks a lot, you guys.”
“He’s quiet now, isn’t he?” Furiosa said as she eased the vehicle around a turn.
She hissed in response, “That’s because he’s unconscious!”
Alarmed, Max whipped around. Sure enough, Nux was now slumped over in his seat, his beloved stopwatch still in his limp hand, apparently overcome by the frantic drive and Capable’s labor.
Capable said bleakly. “I think the knife talk was too much for him.”
They drove in silence for the next few minutes, Furiosa’s grip on the wheel tightening every time Capable cried out. After one particularly agonizing contraction, she asked pleadingly, “My sisters will be there? You called them?”
Max could see Furiosa struggling to stay calm, for Capable’s sake. “Of course, they’ll all be with you.”
“What if they don’t make it in time? I can’t do this alone, promise you’ll stay with me, I’m scared-”
Furiosa shot a look at Max. Even though her face seemed neutral, he could see fear there. This was her worst nightmare; one of the girls she loved more than anything, frightened and in pain.
He needed to help. He couldn’t get them to the hospital any faster or take away Capable’s pain, but he could try to calm her down.
Unbuckling his seatbelt, Max slid ungracefully into the back seat, crouching on the floor. He wedged himself between Capable and Nux’s legs, then awkwardly patted her knee.
“Your sisters’ll be there, all of them. She will too, and him-” he tilted his head towards Nux “-once he wakes up.”
She took hold of his hand with both of her shaky ones, “And you?”
He was surprised by her request, but oddly touched. “If you want me there.”
Capable gave him a weak smile, “You promise?”
He nodded, “Mmm. Of course.” It was hard to see himself as a part of the close-knit group of Furiosa, Capable and her sisters, and Nux, but he supposed they were the closest to a family that he had.
She started to reply, but another contraction hit her, and she squeezed his hand tight.
As they pulled into the parking lot, Max realized that he had never been more grateful to see the ugly grey hospital. The van skidded to a halt in front of the emergency room sign. Furiosa threw it into park, and quick as a flash, leapt from her seat and was around to Capable’s side. Thankfully, Furiosa had had the presence of mind to call ahead and let the hospital staff know they were coming, so an orderly was waiting for them with a wheelchair. As she opened the door, Max unfastened Capable’s seatbelt, easing it over her massive belly, and Furiosa scooped her out of the car and carefully placed her in the wheelchair. Without a second glance, they were hurrying into the hospital.
He thought about following them, but decided against it. Clearly Furiosa had it under control, and in the meantime, there were other things to deal with. For one, Nux was still hunched over in his seat. For another, Max was fairly certain that it was illegal to park in front of an emergency room entrance, so he climbed into the driver’s seat. In her haste, Furiosa had left the keys in the ignition. He parked the car and with a sigh, he heaved Nux’s frame over his shoulders and headed inside.
No one had looked at Max too closely when he entered the obstetrics wing, even with an unconscious man slung across him. After following signs directing him to the ‘family waiting lounge’, a small but cozy room with soothing lighting, he had unceremoniously deposited Nux in one of the chairs before settling in himself. From what little he knew of babies, they sometimes took hours to come, so he might as well make himself comfortable until someone came with news.
In the end, he didn’t have to wait long. He was only a few pages into a three-year-old copy of Parenting magazine (the only reading material available) when Furiosa poked her head in.
“Mind if I join you?”
Max gave a grunt of affirmation, and she sat down beside him with a weary sigh.
Her gaze drifted to the plastic cup of orange juice in his hand, the gift of a harried nurse passing by. After the first few sips, Max had belatedly realized that it was probably intended for the unconscious father-to-be, but he felt like he had earned it.
He passed it to Furiosa, who took several deep swallows before giving him a quick grin. Trying to disguise the blush suffusing his cheeks, he looked down at his hands.
“So, uh…she gonna be alright?”
“Yeah, the doctors said she and the baby are fine, and once her sisters got here she calmed down.”
“’m glad.” Glad didn’t even begin to cover his feelings. He had been part of the investigation that had taken down the gang leader Joe Moore, and even though he didn’t know the Sisters nearly as well as Furiosa, he still cared deeply for them.
They sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes before Furiosa spoke again.
“Max, I just wanted to say thank you, for what you did on the way here. You’re someone I can really count on, who cares just as much about the girls as I do, and it…it means a lot to me.”
Max turned to look at her, and the gratitude in her bottomless green eyes overwhelmed him. No one had ever looked at him like that, with such trust, and he hoped she could read the same feelings in his face. He felt safe with her, as he did nowhere else, and more than anything he wished he had the words to express how he felt. But he didn’t, and he settled for mumbling, “Any time.”
But somehow, she understood. With the smooth deliberateness of all her movements, Furiosa leaned in and placed a soft kiss on his mouth. It was sweet and warm, and she pressed a callused hand to his cheek as she drew him in, deepening the kiss. He felt alive, more than he had in years, and whole. The ache of his knee and the dark places in his head faded away here, under her touch.
A whoop of laughter startled them apart. Dag and Cheedo were leaning on the doorframe, giggling, while Toast said, “So she kissed him first, which means I win $25, but since they kissed on a non-holiday, I think Angharad will get the rest of the pot. But does today count as a holiday? I mean, it’s going to be Capable’s baby’s birthday, so isn’t that kind of a holiday?”
Cheedo replied, “I think only national holidays count, birthdays fall under ‘special occasions’, which means that Capable should win. But I had money on them kissing after an emergency, so she and I might have to split it.”
Max stared at them, dumbfounded. Had they really had running bets-and a lot of them, from the sound of it-on when he and Furiosa would kiss? Were his feelings for her that obvious?
Furiosa cleared her throat, giving them a dirty look, and Dag rolled her eyes. “Capable asked us to come get you, it’s not our fault that you’re smooching all over the place!”
She darted forward, waving a vial under Nux’s nose, and he coughed as his eyes fluttered open. Pulling him to his feet, she dragged him towards the door, chastising him for almost missing the birth of his firstborn.
As he and Furiosa followed them down the hallway, she slipped her hand into his, and he smiled.