It had been a while since Angel worked the bar. He'd been so preoccupied the last couple of weeks with baby stuff he'd messed up on the schedule and three bartenders were off today so he was helping out. Raul had walked in minutes ago and was in the back getting suited up. He could have him work the bar today and when Sarah got there he'd have her take orders though she wouldn't be carrying any of them out.

It was actually good every now and again to get away from the back room. Lately he'd been glued to computer looking through catalogs of all the stuff he wanted to shower his baby with. The backyard play set Alex got for the twins was awesome and Sarah had laughed when she caught him on the website that had them custom made. She said what he should be looking into was starting up a college fund for the baby. School was expensive and the sooner they got started the better. That was true but those websites were boring.

Raul came out from the back but stopped when David, one of the other waiters stopped him to tell him something and they both laughed loudly. "Hey when you're done messing around I'm gonna need you in the bar today."

Raul walked away from David with a smile. "Sure thing boss. Did someone call in?"

"Nah it was my fault actually. I messed up. I scheduled too many people off at once. I gotta double check next week's, make sure I didn't do the same thing. So I'll need you to bartend today but not until Sarah gets here. I'll have her take over your section."

"Isn't she here already?" Raul asked.

"No," Angel wiped down the bar. "She was having breakfast with her mom this morning."

"She was out in the parking lot when I drove in. I thought she'd be in here by now. Unless," Raul smirked. "that guy whose arms she flew into stole her away."

Angel turned and peered at Raul not sure if he was serious. He had the stupidest sense of humor sometimes. But apparently he was serious. "What are you talking about?"

"Some guy who got out of a cab and hugged your wife, man. He picked her up off the ground he hugged her so hard." Raul pulled out the paper pad out of his apron's front pocket and stuck a pen behind his ear. "I don't know maybe he's family. Does she have a brother?"

"No, she doesn't."

Raul shrugged. "She's probably still out there." He walked away to his first table of the day.

That was strange. Who would be visiting Sarah in a cab? Then it hit him. Something began to warm his insides just as he saw her walk in. He fully expected to see Sydney walk in behind her but she was alone. He met her by the hallway leading to the back room. As soon as their eyes met he knew something was wrong. "You okay?"

She nodded but looked away quickly and kept walking to the back.

"You sure?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. I'm just a little tired," she said, sitting down with her hand over her belly.

"You should go home then, babe. I don't want you working if you're not up to it." Then he remembered. "Who was out there with you?"

She seemed dazed and it unnerved him. "Huh?"

"Raul, he said he saw you out there. A guy in a cab hugged you." He raised his eyebrow. "Picked you up?"

It was the strangest thing, she was looking at him and listening but it was as if she were a million miles away. She told him about Sydney swinging by between flights and how he couldn't stay. If it hadn't been for his concern over the way she was acting he might've been a little more ticked about the fact that Sydney had been so moved to see her he actually picked her up. Raul hadn't been exaggerating since Sarah didn't deny it. Instead he stared at her trying to figure out what this strange demeanor was about.

Angel got down on his knee in front of her and rubbed her belly. "Are you sure you're okay, baby? You're scaring me."

Finally she looked at him and not through him like when she first arrived and smiled rubbing his hand on her belly. "I'm fine. But I think I will go home. I didn't get very much sleep last night."

"All right." He stood up and held his hand out. "I'll walk you out."

Even after he knew she was home and safe in bed he couldn't shake that feeling that something was wrong. Then he got the call.

Sarah was crying. "Please don't be mad at me?"

His heart began to race. "About what?"

She sputtered out the rest so fast and he got most of it even in between the whimpering. She'd fallen just outside the restaurant but didn't want to alarm him for nothing. His heart had immediately spiked the moment he heard her say she fell, but the last part nearly made him stop breathing. "I'm not feeling any kind of discomfort or anything but I had some pinkish discharge and my mom says I should go to the hospital just to play it safe."

She hadn't even finished saying it and he was already rushing through the restaurant with his keys in his hands. He called Sal who told him not to worry he'd take care of the restaurant for him. Memories of when Sarah had miscarried the first time slammed into him and he choked back the lum aack the lp that was already forming in his throat.

It was pink not red. Sarah kept telling herself. Not like when she lost the first baby. And she wasn't cramping or feeling any kind of discomfort. After checking everything, all of her and the baby's vitals were fine but the fact that they wanted to keep her overnight for observation still made her very nervous. Were they not telling her something?

Sarah smiled trying to be brave and squeezed Angel's hand. Everybody else that had come by, her mother, his parents, even Alex and Valerie had left hours earlier. Angel wanted to stay as late as possible but it was almost midnight and he looked so tired. "You should go home, honey. Get some rest." His eyes were as anxious as she felt. "And try not to worry; the doctors said they're just being cautious."

He leaned in and kissed her. "No way, baby. I'm not leaving. I won't get any sleep anyway. Not without you there by my side."

She smiled. "But you have to. You'll need to be rested so you can take me home tomorrow."

He gestured to the recliner behind him. "I'll rest right here. I'm not leaving you."

As expected she had a hard time falling asleep. After a few hours Angel had knocked out on the recliner. The nurse came in to check her vitals. "So there really is no other reason why they're keeping me, right?"

The nurse smiled reassuringly. "The fact that you spotted on the day you fell could very well be coincidental, but since it did happen on a same day, the doctor just didn't want to take any chances." The nurse touched her arm lightly and winked. "You're fine."

After the nurse walked out Sarah grabbed her phone and texted Syd. When she'd first fallen the absurd thought that it was God's way of punishing her for loving Sydney. Maybe it was wrong. Maybe she shouldn't feel for him what she did. But now she realized that was silly. She loved him like she's always loved him-like the very best friend anyone could ever ask for.

She explained to him what happened and assured him that she was fine then ended the text with a goodnight and again she told him she loved him. Then she finally fell asleep.

She woke up about five in the morning feeling strange. Angel wasn't on the recliner but his keys and jacket were there; he must've stepped out. Something was wrong. They'd dimmed the lights in her room but even with the darkened room she could see something when she pulled up the blankets. She reached for the lights and thought she might faint when she realized she was bleeding. Swallowing hard and trying to hold it together she rang for the nurse. Within seconds the nurse was there.

"I'm bleeding!"

The nurse quickly assessed Sarah's condition then called the nurses' station and Sarah heard the most frightening words she'd ever heard. "Get the doctor here ASAP, looks like Moreno is going to deliver."

"Deliver? I'm only thirty three weeks!"

"I don't know honey. Something's happened and this baby is coming now."

Sarah was already in tears. "Where's my husband? I need him here."

"You just relax, we'll get him for you."

The doctor was there within minutes. After examining her he confirmed what the nurse had said that she would have to deliver. He explained that the most common damage a fall or any kind of trauma that occurs during pregnancy is tearing of the placenta. It's what had concerned him and why he'd kept her. Apparently he made the right call.

Angel rushed in just as the doctor explained what would happen next. At this stage of her pregnancy he strongly recommended no pain medicines for the delivery. "It'll make the baby sluggish. Any chance of survival, we'll need this baby as alert as can be. You'll have to do this on your own."

"Then don't give me anything!" Sarah cried.

Angel held her hand tight, his face as terrified as she felt even though she could see he attempted to keep it together.

"Okay." The doctor nodded. "Lets get started."

CHAPTER 5.

Eight days Four hours later, after agonizingly having to endure seeing Sarah in so much pain, she delivered a tiny baby boy. She'd cried when they whisked him away so fast she never even got a chance to see him. Angel's heart ached for her and as much as he wanted to go investigate-find out just how his baby was doing-he couldn't tear himself from her side. She was so incredibly sad and he wanted nothing more than to comfort her. He knew she had to be replaying the same words in her head t same what he had ever since he heard them. Any chance of survival.

He'd hardly slept the entire night; he'd been tossing and turning, worried that something like this would happen. After hours of crying Sarah had finally fallen asleep. As tired as he was Angel refused to leave the hospital until Sarah left with him. The nurse said she would be setting something up for him to sleep in. In the mean time he was finally able to go into the NICU and got the first glimpse of his son.

After walking by several other tiny babies hooked up to all kinds of tubes looking dreadfully sick he almost smiled when he saw the incubator with the Moreno label. He didn't look much smaller than what his nieces looked like when they were born but he did have a million tubes hooked to him.

The labels said he was three pounds thirteen ounces. That wasn't that bad. He'd read some of the others who were only one or two pounds. Here his son was almost four. Something beeped and a nurse came over and opened the incubator. Immediately alarmed he asked the nurse. "What's wrong with him?"

"Bradycardias," she said, massaging the baby's chest with her fingers.

She could have been speaking German and he wouldn't have understood less. "What is that?"

"Heart is too slow," she clarified.

Angels eyes widened.

"Normal for a preemie," she added quickly. "I stimulated his heart. See." She pointed at the monitor as if Angel knew what any of the numbers meant. "Already better."

Angel stared at the baby and could hardly believe he was his. It felt surreal. He and Sarah had made this little guy. He wished she could be there with him but in a way he was glad she wasn't. The baby's appearance would probably make her sad. He did look positively fragile.

It wasn't until he walked into the waiting room and was immediately surrounded by his family that he let out everything he'd felt that night the knot in his throat, finally gave and he wept in his mother's arms as she stroked his head and his back. "Cry, mijo. Let it out. It's okay. It's okay."

His brothers assured him they had everything under control at the restaurant-told him not to worry about anything. After letting them know Sarah probably wouldn't be up to any visitors until maybe that evening they left. Angel visited his son again. Then went back to the room. Sarah was awake.

"I wanna see him," were the first words out of her mouth when she saw Angel.

"You can't, babe."

The doctors had described Sarah's postpartum bleeding as "on the heavy side." They were monitoring her closely to make sure it didn't crossover to hemorrhaging. That was common when there is damage to the placenta which in Sarah's case they were almost certain that's what had happened. They wanted her to stay in bed for at least a day before attempting to walk.

"Maybe tomorrow."

"Did you see him?"

God he hated to see her so sad. "I did. He's beautiful." He sat on the side of her bed and pulled out his phone showing her the pictures he'd taken of their baby. "Look he's not as small as some of the other babies in there. He's almost four pounds. The nurse said the only thing they're watching him closely for is his heart slowing down." He knew that would scare her and he saw it in her eyes. "But she said that's normal for preemies."

Sarah held his phone staring at the small screen her hand over her mouth and her eyes welled up again.

"She also said unlike some of the other babies in there that will probably be here for months, we might just be looking a few weeks."

She finally pulled her eyes away from the phone to look at him. He didn't think it possible but he saw her spirit fall even further. "Weeks?"

"Baby he's too little. He needs to gain weight and be able to eat, breath and stay warm on his own before we can take him home. But other than that he's healthy." He kissed her softly. "Have you thought of a name?"

"I have to see him first."

Angel smiled. "All right then for now he's just our baby."

She took a deep breathe and leaned against him chest. Angel always thought he'd want a big family, especially since Sarah was an only child but after the ordeal they'd gone through he wasn't sure he could go through something like this again.

Angel had warned her about their baby's appearance. So she braced herself as she was wheeled into the NICU. Her heart nearly broke for all the other tiny babies in there who looked so shriveled and barely human. Some looked like just breathing hurt. When she reached the incubator labeled Moreno she was overwhelmed with emotion. Angel was right. He wasn't nearly as small as some of the other babies and except for being so little and all the tubes on him he looked almost normal. He slept soundly.

The nurse walked by and smiled. "No bradys for almost five hours."

Sarah looked at her having no clue what that meant.

"It's what they call it when his heart slows down," Angel translated.

Sarah glanced at him then back at her baby. He was perfect and she teared up. "My little angel." She turned back to Angel wiping her tears away with a smile. "It's perfect. He's an angel and at the same time he can take his daddy's name."

"Really? Are you sure?"

She nodded, her spirits rising. She always considered naming their first born son after Angel, and now that there was a baby Sal and baby Alex why not keep with tradition? "Baby Angel," she said staring at her son. Her son her so at on her sshe could hardly believe it-she had a son.

Leaving the hospital empty handed was harder than she imagined; the first few nights they'd driven back to the hospital in need of being near him again.

Baby Angel was progressing superbly. He was gaining weight on schedule and had begun to drink from a bottle. The first time they got to hold him had been emotional for everyone. It was the most beautiful feeling to finally hold him in her arms. Then there was a setback. They'd begun the countdown. With his weight nearing five pounds and him eating on his own the doctors said as soon as he went ten days without any bradycardias he could go home. The most he'd gone was an entire twenty-four hours and then he had one and the clock had to be started again. It was heartbreaking but Sarah was still thankful that he was healthy in every other way.

Angel was excited that unlike all his nephews and nieces whose eyes were immediately piercing dark brown, his sons eyes were very gray, almost blue, a sign the doctor said that they may very well end up being green like Sarah's. He said he'd always loved her eyes and that it'd be awesome to see such a huge part of Sarah in his son every time he looked into his eyes.

After going another full ten hours without a brady the machine went off again. Both Sarah and Angel knew how to stimulate his chest now to get the heartbeat to speed up and she did holding back the tears.

She sat there now hours later holding him. It was so unfair. Just a few days ago Sofia had given birth to a perfectly healthy baby girl and was already home with her. Sarah fought the feelings of bitterness and reminded herself it was miracle her baby was doing so well. Some of the other babies were not faring as well and had a ton of issues. One had even passed a few days ago. Sarah couldn't even imagine the anguish those parents must've gone through and instantly felt guilty. She kissed her baby's forehead and was slightly startled with Angel's voice. "Have you talked to Sydney lately?"

She looked up at him and shook her head. She'd never tell Angel but she was convinced now after texting Syd the night before she woke up bleeding in the hospital that God was punishing her. It wasn't right to love two men. Even though she loved them both in such different ways. She knew it would hurt Angel if he ever heard her say she did-knew how much it bothered him years ago. That's why she'd stopped doing it. Why had she started up now? She had no idea. But she wouldn't chance it anymore. She hadn't even told Syd she'd had the baby though she was sure he knew because her mother had probably already told his parents.

"Maybe you should call him."

She looked up at him confused. "Why?"

"I don't know. Might take your mind off things."

She smiled but if he knew what she thought had brought all this on he wouldn't be suggesting such a thing. She lifted a shoulder. "I'll call him when I get a chance."

As bad as she felt about cutting off Syd's calls these last couple of days, and only responding to his texts, there was so much more at stake now. The baby clasped his tiny little hand around her finger making her even more emotional. There was no way she was jinxing this.