Free It's Complicated by Julia Kent

shift nurse with piggish eyes joked, “There goes Mario Andretti.” The guys had laughed and Laura faked a polite smile, but Josie’s heart sank. That was the last thing that any woman in this condition needed, the joke failing miserably for the one person who needed it to succeed.
    Time and space had condensed into this hallway, and the next hallway, as they made a left turn, the one after that, past the bank of born babies that they could “ooh” and “ahh” at and that could hearten Laura, to give her more spirit. Any rift in that and Laura’s support network wouldn’t be enough. Ultimately, they all knew, this rested on Laura’s ability to dig deep and find a core of love and strength within herself that would allow her to ride this out, to bring a new life into this world. No chant, no prayer, from anyone else could accomplish that. And when all of this was over and Laura held her brand-new daughter in her arms, Laura alone would be the bridge this little soul had traversed into being.
    The rest of them? They were there to remove obstacles from Laura and the baby’s path. But not to complete the journey.
    Mike seemed to sense that the nurse’s tossed-off joke had had a deeper layer to it, and pulled Josie aside. “Should we avoid the nurses’ station?” he asked, intense eyes steady and stable. Josie could look into them for hours and find peace. Note to self,  she thought, when—uh, if—I do have a baby, ask Mike to be there.
    “Yeah,” she said, grimacing. “I don’t think that was helpful.”
    He nodded. Laura was wearing earbuds, her attention focused on the music as she shuffled along. She burst out into braying laughter suddenly, punching Dylan playfully in the shoulder.
    “What?” he said, his face lighting up as if a heavy burden were suddenly lifted and he were joyful.
    “ You made the playlist.”
    “I did,” he said, grinning ear to ear, the charming smile that made women want to take their pants off and burn them now teasing Laura as she was about to give birth to their  child. Josie kept reminding herself. Their. Their, their, their . Not his—theirs.
    “Really? ‘I’m Too Sexy’ by Right Said Fred? ”
    “I thought it was a good one.” He started to sing the song and they all laughed.
    “He also thought ‘Fat Bottomed Girls’ by Queen was a good one, but I talked him out of it,” Mike whispered in Josie’s ear.
    “Dead. He’d be a dead man if he did that,” she whispered back.
    “Twice dead. Laura would kill him and find a way to kill him again,” he said, chuckling low. “His karma would be ruined for multiple lifetimes.”
    “He really thought that was a good song for an overdue pregnant woman in labor?” Could the guy be any more juvenile? Saving Laura from a fire in her apartment a few months ago and being a loving partner were his only saving graces. Okay, she had to admit to herself, those were pretty big character aspects, but still…
    “He said he loves fat-bottomed girls and never considered it an insult.” Mike shrugged. Dylan started shooting them the hairy eyeball and Josie ignored him.
    “That’s because he has the social graces of a nine-year-old boy with a box of fireworks and three espressos in him.”
    Mike choked on his attempt to stifle laughter as Dylan glared back. Laura was saying something, pulling earbuds out and turning to the group. Her eyes were filled with tears and Josie felt guilty for making jokes, even if they were about Dylan, which justified it.
    “All this dance music on the playlist is fabulous, and the beats help me to get out of my head. Thank you, honey,” she said, reaching out to touch Dylan’s arm. “But I’m not doing that kind of dance.” Her face crumpled, voice shaking. “I’m barely holding it together, because when I do dance, it’s going to be the dance of being split in two so that a new life can emerge,” Laura said seriously. Mike and Dylan wrapped her in a cocoon of their arms, and Josie felt