"When I'm gone, he won't have a mother."

"I lost my mother when I was very young. But, I do remember her." Miss Parker hadn't known what suddenly made her mention Catherine.

"You had a life with her. My son will never know me. Never. Even if I get to hold him just once, he won't know me." Rachel pulled the covers to her chin.

"Cold?" Parker gently laid a blanket on her and tucked it under her.

Rachel murmured softly. "Thank you. I haven't even picked out a name for him. Do you have any ideas?" For a minute, she seemed lost in thought.

Miss Parker could not believe that Rachel had the audacity to ask her on what to name hers and Jarod's son and for a split second she hated this woman. Every inch of her wished she could run out of that room, down the corridor and out of the hospital never to return to a life she now was unsure of. She studied the profiler who laid helplessly.

"Why me?" She had begun to feel sorry for herself.

Parker grabbed her hand. "It's okay to cry." She thought it was odd to have said those words. "Daddy" had always told her that crying only got in the way of emotions. Maybe that's why, she grew up wearing that so-called mask of hers, only to take it off in the privacy of her own home.

Rachel smiled when she felt Parker's hand touched hers. "Maybe we could have been friends, if we didn't love the same man and if I wasn't having his baby. If I were you, I wouldn't blame you for hating me."

This was not the "something more" Parker had wanted from Jarod. She wanted a life with him, be an "us" together and not "us" plus "his" child. The woman he had impregnated held her hand tightly in hers. They were both silent. Rachel's breathing was slow and she knew something was wrong, but said nothing.

Miss Parker had noticed she took slightly deep breaths which she knew was not normal. "Rachel? Hang in there. The baby's not here yet. You do want to meet him, don't you?"

Sorrowfully, Rachel only nodded.

Panic filled the inside of Parker. "Rachel? We haven't decided on a baby's name yet. Burke? How about Burke for his name? Would you like that?"

There was no response. "Damned it, Rachel! Don't give up now! As much as I would have wanted to have killed you at one point, don't you dare die on me now!"

"I'm still here." A smile played on her face. "Burke? Just don't call him Burkey. I only hope we can run across each other's path one day again, even if it's only briefly, just enough time for you to tell me how my son is. Promise to tell me what he's grown up to be. Because you'll be there, won't you?"

Feeling like a twisted pretzel, Parker pulled up a chair beside her. "I can't promise you that. I can't. I can't believe you're..."

"Say it, Parker. The word is dying."

Parker's voice cracked. "Dying. I stood in your way of you two being together. I'm sorry."

"I was just someone Jarod had settled for because he couldn't have you."

Rachel's sudden grip of Parker's arm startled her. "I'm leaking. My water bag just broke." Terror crossed her face. "Parker, the baby, I don't have much time. I don't want to die! What did I do so wrong in this life for me to deserve this?" She cried out painfully.

"Nothing. You did nothing wrong." Parker too, had begun to cry.

"Then, why am I dying? You'll be here to take care of my son?" She grabbed both of Parker's hand. "I'll say hello to your mother for you. What's her name? Just so I know who she is."

"Catherine." Parker tearfully replied.

"I'll tell Catherine I had the pleasure of meeting her daughter." Her voice trailed off.

The nurses call light button lit up. Immediately, the three men, Jarod, Sydney and Bailey rushed towards the room, but were stopped by a nurse and the attending physician.

"Rachel," Bailey's voice trembled. He looked up at the other two men and his heart skipped a beat. They remained speechless.

Jarod watched from the doorway. There would be one memory he knew would definitely stand out in his mind, was that of Parker comforting Rachel as she stroked her forehead soothingly.

"Promise me, Parker, promise that you'll let them have me hold my baby." She said almost breathless.

"I-I promise. And tell mama hello for me, okay?"

"Okay. I'll see you again one day." Rachel tightly shut her eyes as if to stop her pain.

"Someday." Parker realized then, that Rachel's destiny had been tied to hers which was out of her hands. And she wept for a woman she thought she hated.

JMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMPJMP

In the end, Rachel dealt with her pain. She closed her eyes and let out her last breath at the same time her son had come into the world.

Everyone stood solemnly outside of the delivery room, when Parker had started to cry. Jarod, too, cried and they both held on to each other.

After several minutes, the doctor had come out of the room.

"Did she get to hold the baby?" Parker questioned the doctor.

He shook his head. "She passed on immediately after."

"Let her hold her baby. She wanted to hold on to him." The "ice queen clenched her teeth as she spoke.

"Father of the child?" The physician looked at the younger man and had made the assumption that Jarod was the father.

"Yes, I am."

"You can see your baby now. He's being brought out."

"What am I invisible? I said she wanted to hold the baby," Parker demanded.

Miss Parker...," Sydney intervened.

She held up her hand. "Everyone else will have a lifetime with him. Not her. So, let me say this one more time. Have her hold on to her baby. I promised her that."

The doctor turned to Jarod. He nodded.

"Very well. Follow me and you can say your final goodbyes."

Jarod held on to his baby and swayed him slowly in his arms. "Would you like to hold him, Parker," he asked with tears in his eyes.

Without having said a word, she took the newborn in her arms. After several seconds, as everyone watched, she laid the infant gently on Rachel's chest and brought her arms around him.

"There you go, Rachel," Parker whispered. "Just like I promised. You got to hold Burke in your arms. And this is from baby." Miss Parker bent down and lightly kissed her cheek.

"A kiss for you, mommy."

TBC - Chapter 5