“I’m on it!!” Steve leaped out of bed and dialed Rudy’s number. He received the answering service.

“Yes this is Steve Austin I need to speak to Rudy Wells.” He barked into the phone irritated that he received the service rather then Rudy.

“Dr Wells is out of town.” The voice informed him. “He left this morning.”

Steve slammed the phone down. “That’s right, Rudy left today for a two day break!”

He turned to Cassie. “I guess I’ll just have to take you to the hospital.”

“Well you better get me somewhere because Junior isn’t going to wait much longer.” She told him.

“Ok just relax.” Steve reassured her. “It will be just fine. You stay right here. I’ll go get the car.” Steve ran out to the garage and brought the car around to the front door. He went back into the house and carefully escorted his wife to the car.

“Take it easy on the ice, I don’t want you to fall.” Steve cautioned.

He opened the car door and helped her inside. Then he jumped into the driver's seat and headed for the hospital.

They arrived at the hospital in record time. Steve raced to the reception desk “I’m Steve Austin, my wife is about to have a baby!”

“Ok just calm down.” The nurse spoke softly. “Is this your first?”

“Yes it is.” Steve informed her.

The nurse called for an orderly “Please get Mrs. Austin a wheel chair.” She then turned to Cassie. “Who is your OBGYN?” She asked.

“I’ve been going to my husband’s doctor. Rudy Wells. He’s on vacation.”

“Very well. We’ll get the OB on call Dr. Masters he’s no Dr. Wells, but he’s close.

“That sounds just fine.” Cassie said. She held Steve’s hand all the way down to the delivery room.

“This is where you part company Colonel." the nurse said. "Daddies can wait in there. We will let you know the minute we know something."

Steve followed instructions. He stepped into the lounge where several other men sat in various stages of clothes. Steve looked down at his own apparel. He noticed he was still wearing his pyjama bottoms and bedroom slippers.

Before sitting down he walked over to the pay phone and dialed Oscar. It rang several times before a sleepy Oscar answered.

“Hello.” Oscar spoke into the phone.

“Oscar it's Steve, Cassie and I are at the hospital I’m about to become a father. The problem is I am still in, well in my pyjamas. Could you stop by the house and bring me a pair of pants and my shoes.”

“That’s great pal I’ll get over to the OSI right away.”

“I’m not at the OSI Rudy isn’t here either, he’s on vacation remember?”

“That’s right. What hospital are you at?”

“Washington Memorial” Steve told him.

“I’ll be there as soon as I drop by your place.”

“Thanks pal.” Steve said. He stepped out of the lounge and spoke again to the nurse “A friend of mine is bringing me some clothes. Will you send him in when he gets here?”

“Yes Colonel, no problem.” The nurse said.

Oscar arrived just in time. “Here Steve. I brought your razor too.” Oscar handed him a small duffel bag.

“Thanks. I don’t want to scare my son the first time he sees me.” Steve pointed out.

“You’re certain it’s a boy huh?” Oscar laughed.

“That’s what Rudy said it was going to be.” Steve changed his clothes and shaved his night's growth of beard. When the nurse came into the lounge area. Several men jumped to their feet. “Colonel Austin? You have a son. If you’ll just follow me, I’ll introduce you.”

Steve followed her. “How’s my wife?” he asked.

“She’s doing just fine. You can see her in just a few minutes." The nurse escorted them into the hall.

Oscar followed Steve. They both peered into the crib the nurse pulled in front of them. “You can see your wife now. I’ll bring the baby down in a few moments."

Steve walked into the room “Hi ‘mom’.” He said.

“Hi yourself ‘dad’.” Cassie responded. “I’m really tired.”

“I’ll bet you are. I just saw the future president.”

“Isn’t he adorable? He looks just like you, blue eyes and everything.”

“Yea I noticed that.” Steve smiled. “Well I’m going to go and let you get some rest They say you can come home in a couple of days.”

“I can’t wait.” Cassie stated.

Two days later Steve and Cassie pulled up in front of their house. Steven who had slept the entire time rode on his mother’s lap.

“You just sit tight.” Steve told her. He jumped out of the car and was at her door in seconds. He opened her door. “Here you let me take that little fellow. That way you can get out of the car.

Cassie handed the small bundle to Steve. Then climbed out of the car. They were on their way up the sidewalk when they were stopped by a car horn. They both turned to see Oscar and Rudy pull up behind their car in Oscar’s car.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t here for you.” Rudy apologized.

“I understand Rudy, you needed time off. “ Steve wasn’t offended.

“Come on it’s awful chilly. I really don’t think the baby should be out in the cold.” Cassie observed.

They all walked into the house. While Steve, Rudy and Oscar headed for the den, Cassie carried the baby back to the nursery.

Cassie slowly peeled the blanket off her infant son. She removed the snowsuit he was wearing then the onsie she had dressed him in. “Oh dear, we better cut this off” she was referring the ankle bracelet and wrist bracelets that Steven still wore.

As Cassie grabbed a small pair of scissors the baby opened his eyes. Cassie stared in astonishment at the deep brown eyes that looked up at her.

"That's strange." She said mainly to herself, as she clipped the bands off. “I will put these straight into the baby book. Then she saw the band she had removed from the ankle. The name read Stevens Austin. While the wrist band read Austin Steven.

“Steve!!” Cassie called him into the nursery. “Steve! Come here!!”

Startled by the alarm in his wife’s voice Steve headed down the hall for the nursery followed by Oscar and Rudy.

“What is it? What’s wrong?” Steve asked.

“Look at this Steve.” She showed him the two bands “I don’t understand, why do they have different names on them and the names are so similar. Also you remember, that first night, I told you he had blue eyes like you?”

Steve nodded as he looked at the two bands. “I don’t know.” He said. He handed them to Rudy. “What do you make of it Doc?”

"Well this baby has brown eyes. I didn't notice it till now when he woke up and looked at me. I think we have the wrong baby."

Rudy took the two bands. “They obviously belong to two different babies. The hospital always uses the last name first. The wrist band comes off and on with ease, but the ankle band needs to be cut off. It doesn’t come off at all.”

Steve’s face turned white as well as Cassie’s. Steve spoke. “Rudy are you trying to tell me Cassie is right this is not the baby she gave birth to?” Steve was shocked.

Rudy slowly nodded his head. “That’s exactly what I’m trying to tell you. Obviously there was a mix up. The Stevens more than likely have your son.”

“Well I want my own baby. What do we do?” Cassie began to cry. Steve held her close.

“Don’t worry we’ll get it all worked out.” Steve assured her. He turned to Rudy and Oscar. “It was a mad house there this morning. What do you do?”

“I’ll take care of it Steve.” Rudy observed. “Oh I wish I had been here the other night, this never would have happened.”

“It’s not your fault Rudy” Steve assured “Come on let’s go take care of this.”

The phone was ringing when they entered the living room. It was the hospital. “Colonel Austin this is the hospital administrator. We need you to bring…

“Just a moment” Oscar said, and handed the phone to Steve.

Steve took the phone by now Cassie carrying the baby joined them in the living room. Steve put his arm around he as he spoke “This is Steve Austin. I was just about to call you.”

“We are terribly sorry about the mix up. We have your son here if you would please bring the baby you took home here we can get this entire mess straightened out.”

“We are on our way.” He hung up the phone. “Cassie, get that baby dressed. We have to go back to the hospital. They have our son there. Obviously before Mrs. Stevens left, they caught the mistake.”

Cassie ran with the baby into to the nursery. She quickly dressed him and took him back down to the car.

“Steve! I’m going with you.” Rudy called. “This never should happen.”

“Ok Rudy. Oscar you stay here. We’ll be right back.” Steve called.

“I’ll be here pal, I’ll start some coffee.”

“That would be great.” Steve jumped in the car and they sped to the hospital. The administrator was there to greet them.

“Again we are terribly sorry about the mix up. If you’ll just follow me to my office we can have this cleared up in a matter of minutes."

Steve Cassie and Rudy followed. “I don’t understand how a mistake like this could happen.” Rudy said as they stepped onto the elevator.

“Well this is the first time in the history of this hospital something like this has happened.” He told Rudy. “We are usually very careful when we release babies. The wrist and ankle bands must match the mother's. The nurse that signed them out forgot to check. She’s being fired by the way.”

“How did you catch it?” Rudy asked.

“We were just releasing Mrs. Stevens and the nurse checked the bands and discovered the mistake.”

“It was good she checked.” Steve pointed out. Otherwise we would have gone through life with the wrong baby.”

"I doubt that Steve " Rudy reminded. "Cassie noticed the difference in the bands and the eye color was different."

"I’m sure he's right, you would have discovered it a some point. Again we are sorry for the inconvenience."

“Inconvenience? That’s an understatement.” Cassie spoke for the first time as everyone was getting off the elevator. “It is down right… “ She searched for the word “annoying” was all she could come up with.

“Yea well I’m afraid that you people just may hear from my attorneys on this one.” Steve said as the entered the administrator’s office.

“I don’t think it needs to be that drastic, “ The administrator said. “We are willing to settle.”

“I’ll have to speak to my attorney on that one.” Steve said.

“Same here.“ Mr. Stevens said. He looked at Steve. “Can you believe this? They act like it’s our fault.”

“Yea I know.” Steve said.

“Allow me to introduce you. Colonel and Mrs. Austin, this is David and Gina Stevens." The administrator said

Steve shook hands with David. “What a mess, huh?”

“I’ll say.” David replied.

Cassie walked over to Gina sitting in a chair. They quickly exchanged babies. Steven opened his blue eyes and looked up at Cassie. “There you are." Cassie mumbled. “Mommy missed you.” She held her son tight.

Just to be sure Rudy walked over and looked at the babies' ankle band. It had the right name on it.

“Oh “ Cassie said refering to the bands “Before I forget.” She handed the other mother the ankle band that had been on her baby. “I thought you might want this.”

“Oh, yes. Thank you. It’s funny you know…”

“What’s funny?” Cassie asked.

“Well when this first happened of course I was worried about my son, but my next thought was ‘I do hope she remembers the band’. I know that sounds silly…”

“No not at all.” Cassie reassured her, still holding her baby close to her.

“If you will all just have a seat?” The administrator said.

“No.” David said. “I agree with Colonel Austin. I think we should consult with our attorney first. I mean this mistake could have cost everyone. You see, we don’t live in Washington. We are just visiting.”

“Oh? Where are you from?” Steve asked.

“We’re from Canada. So you see if this would have been discovered later I don’t know what would have happened.”

“I hate to think what could have happened.” Steve said.

“From Canada? Oh my!” Cassie exclaimed. "That could have been big trouble. Oh Steve, what if?"

"But it didn't. Let's just not think about what could have happened." Steve stated.

“Well it's all over with now.” The administrator pointed out. "And if you prefer to consult you lawyers I can’t say I blame you.” He reached in a drawer and withdrew two business cards. “This is our attorney, you can have your lawyers call him.”

"I think we should. You took what was supposed to be a blessed even in all of our lives and turned it into a nightmare." Steve barked.

"I am sorry. I wish it didn’t happen." The administrator said.

"Well" Steve said as he turned to leave, "You will hear from my attorney."

Six weeks later the lawyers, Cassie, Steve and the Stevens all got together. And both babies were awarded 3.5 million dollars.

Steve and Cassie were very happy with the outcome but they were happier with their newborn son.