Hello again! Here I am, with another one-shot! This is a little more dramatic than my usual one-shot, but I really liked the idea. And I have none other than my best friend Kelsee to thank! She's the one who gave me the idea for this one-shot, so yay! THANK YOU KELSEE! LOVE YOU!
Please enjoy the story and leave a review!
It was an ordinary day for Cory. It was summer, and he was headed to work. Then his summer class was that night. He walked the streets of New York happily, enjoying the beautiful weather. He watched all the people walking around, wondering why they weren't all enjoying the sun like he was.
He got to his work- at the library, as an office assistant- and said hello to all the people there. He ran into his coworker, John on his way to his desk.
"Hey, John," he greeted him.
"Hey, Cory. How's it going?"
"Great," Cory said with a grin. "We got another picture. Do you want to see?" he asked.
"Sure," John said, smiling at Cory's excitement. He had a few kids of his own and remembered these days.
Cory pulled his wallet out and got the ultrasound picture out. He handed it to John.
"That's pretty cool, Cory," John said. "I'm really happy for you guys."
"We found out it's a girl," Cory added, still grinning.
"Wow," John said, handing the picture back to Cory. "You're gonna have a daughter."
"Yeah," Cory said, thinking about it. "Crazy, huh?"
John nodded. "Before you know it, she'll be growing up right before your eyes. My oldest is turning ten this weekend," he said, shaking his head.
"Yeah. Topanga and I have already been married a year and a half. Time sure flies."
"In the blink of an eye," John said.
xxxXXXxxx
Around noon, Cory was putting some books back on the shelf when he saw a familiar-looking person standing about twenty feet away in an aisle across from him. She was facing the other way and looking down at a book in her hand. He smiled and quietly walked over to her.
She didn't notice, so he slid his arms around her waist and said, "Can I help you find something, Miss?"
Topanga nearly jumped at his touch and then saw her husband standing behind her.
"Cory! You scared me!" she complained, hitting his arm.
"I'm sorry, honey. How're you and the baby doing this fine afternoon?"
"We're good. Are you ready for lunch?" she asked.
"Yeah, just let me put the rest of these books away."
"Okay," she said.
He kissed her quickly and returned to his small stack of books. He finished putting them away and then went to his desk to grab his wallet and lunch cooler and turn his computer off.
"I'm going to lunch," he said as he walked past John's desk.
John waved goodbye. "See you later."
Cory returned to his wife and she put the book back.
"Ready?" Topanga asked.
"Yep," Cory said.
She took his hand and they walked out of the library, heading toward the park down the block.
"How's work today?" Topanga asked.
"It's good. I showed John the ultrasound picture."
"Cory, you have to stop showing people. I get that you're excited, and I'm excited too, but at some point you have to stop."
"Okay, I know showing the lady at the grocery store was probably bad, but John's my coworker. That one was acceptable," Cory said with a sheepish grin.
Topanga rolled her eyes.
They reached the park bench and sat down.
Cory got their sandwiches out of the cooler and handed one to Topanga.
"Thank you, sir," she said, giving him a look.
"You're welcome, Miss," Cory replied with a grin.
"You almost made me scream in a library," Topanga said. "I'll get you back. You won't see it coming," she threatened playfully, pointing her finger at Cory.
"You can't get me," Cory laughed, taking a bite of his sandwich.
"I have two sets of eyes now," Topanga said. "The baby's eyes are almost done forming. You won't see it coming. I'll be watching you, Cory Matthews. Just you wait."
"Okay," Cory scoffed. He looked in the cooler. "Do you want your juice?"
"Yes, please," Topanga said.
Cory pulled the juice bottle out of the cooler and handed it to Topanga.
"Thanks," she said.
"So what are you going to do after this?" he asked.
"I'm not sure," Topanga said, eating her sandwich. "I might go shopping."
"Topanga, you don't need any more shoes," Cory said monotonously.
"Not for me, for the baby!"
"Oh," he said. "Well, maybe you should wait until after the baby shower. That way you'll know what we need to get."
"What baby shower?"
"I don't know…don't women get baby showers?" he asked.
"Did you plan one?"
"No," Cory said. "The last time I did that, it didn't end so well. And the time before that it didn't end very well either."
Topanga sighed. "Well I can't plan it! It has to be planned by someone else. Otherwise it just looks like we're trying to get stuff off our friends."
"Aren't we?"
"Yes, but we can't make it look like that! Cory, if nobody else plans it then you're going to have to," Topanga said knowingly.
"No!" Cory refused. "I don't have a great track record with baby showers! If you have me plan it, who knows what'll happen!"
"Well, then you're going to have to find someone who'll plan one for us."
Cory sighed. "Maybe we don't need a baby shower."
"Cory," she said, exasperated.
"I'll think about it," he said, taking a bite of his sandwich.
"Thank you," she said.
They were quiet for a few minutes, just eating their lunches. When Cory finished his lunch, he leaned back against the bench and put his arm around Topanga.
"I think I'm going to go to the baby store and start a registry," Topanga said after a while.
Cory sighed.
"Hey, just on the off chance that we have a baby shower, you can tell people that we have a registry there. Then they'll know what we need."
"You go do that. Don't pick out anything too connected with a theme yet though. We still have to pick a theme for her room."
"Okay," Topanga said. "I was thinking we could make it light purple with clouds. And it could look like the purple you sometimes see in the sunset."
"That's not too bad," Cory said. "At least it's not pink everything."
"Yeah," Topanga said. "I don't want everything to be pink anyways."
"Good," Cory said. He looked down at his wrist.
"I'm going to have to be going," Cory said. "Are you good?" he asked.
"Yeah," she said. "I'm just going to take a taxi to the store I think. It's too far to walk with this extra weight on me."
"Okay," Cory said. He packed the lunch cooler back up and then stood. He held his hand out and helped Topanga stand up.
"That's gotten significantly harder since a few weeks ago," Topanga said, shaking her head.
Cory chuckled. "Honey, you're not even half-way through."
Topanga sighed. "I know."
"Alright, I'm heading back. Love you," he said, kissing her.
"Love you. See you at home," she replied. He began walking back toward the library. After a few steps, he turned around and saw her watching. She smiled and waved at him. He smiled and waved back.
xxxXXXxxx
Cory got back to the library and then set his lunch cooler down by his desk. He turned his computer back on and then found a list of things for him to do that afternoon on an email.
He sighed and began the first task- the most mundane task- going through the aisles to make sure the books were still in the right places. He started in the first aisle and ran his eyes down the first bookshelf. Everything looked fine. He looked at the second bookshelf. There was a book out of place. He picked it up and took it back to its home, at the other end of the library.
Cory continued this task for seemingly an eternity.
About an hour into it, the secretary, Lynn, came into the aisle with wide eyes.
"What's wrong, Lynn?" Cory asked, walking toward her.
"Cory, you have a phone call," she said anxiously.
"Who is it?" he asked.
"It's the…hospital."
"The hospital?!" Cory repeated. He quickly ran past her to the nearest phone at the front desk. He picked it up.
"Hello, this is Cory Matthews."
"Hello, Mr. Matthews. This is Heidi at the Downtown hospital. I'm afraid your wife's been in an accident."
"Topanga?!" he shrieked, beginning to panic. "That's impossible! I just saw her! I just had lunch with her. Is she okay? Is the baby okay?"
"She's in urgent care right now. They just brought her in. We usually don't call anyone until we know what's going on, but she insisted that we call you. She wouldn't cooperate until we promised we'd call. She seems fine, but I'm not sure. She and the baby haven't been examined yet."
"I'm on my way. Thank you," Cory said.
He put the phone down and ran to his desk. He picked up his wallet and ran back out into the lobby.
"Is everything alright?" Lynn asked.
"No. Topanga's been in an accident and she's in the hospital. I have to go right now," he said, running past her.
"I hope everything's okay," Lynn shouted as he ran out the door.
He began running down the street toward the hospital. He saw a taxi driving by and he flagged it down immediately.
The taxi stopped and Cory jumped in.
"The Downtown hospital. Hurry!"
The driver took off.
"Are you alright?" the driver asked.
"No! My wife's in the hospital. She was in an accident. I need you to get me there as quickly as possible," Cory said, breathing heavily. His heart raced and he could feel the blood pumping in his temples.
They got to a stoplight and Cory put his hand to his forehead.
"No!" Cory yelled at the red light. He began to panic even more as he worried about what was happening.
What if she has an internal injury? Why didn't she just cooperate so they could fix her?! What if the baby's injured? Is she going to be okay? What if the baby got hurt?
These thoughts plagued Cory's mind and he began to feel tears coming to his eyes.
He bowed his head and whispered, "Please, God. Please keep them safe. Please. I love her so much. Both of them."
Finally the light turned green and the taxi driver sped ahead of the other cars.
"Please hurry," Cory rushed him, still breathing heavily.
"I'm going as fast as I can," the driver said.
"No, sir, you don't understand. My wife was in an accident. And she's pregnant, and I don't know what's going on…and…the baby…and I just need to get there. Please," Cory said in desperation. Tears began to fall down his cheeks.
"I know, man," the driver said. "I'll get you there. Don't worry. I'm sure everything's going to be fine."
Cory shook his head. "Just please hurry."
After a few more minutes, which seemed like a million years, the driver pulled up at the hospital. Cory threw a twenty dollar bill at the driver.
"That's all I've got. Keep the change," Cory yelled as he bolted out the door.
He ran into the hospital and there was a line of people waiting at the front desk.
"No," Cory said, frustrated. He ran past the line of people, looked at the lady at the front desk, and said, "Please, where's Topanga Matthews? She's my wife and she was in an accident, and I need to see her. Please."
The secretary looked up at Cory and said, "Sir, you need to wait in line."
"No, please. I can't wait in that line. Please tell me where she is. I can't do this. I have to find out what's going on. And she's pregnant, and I need to find out if my baby's okay. Please, just help me," Cory pleaded.
The secretary looked at him and sighed. She clicked her computer a few times and then said, "She's in room 158, at the other end."
"Thank you so much," Cory said as he ran down the hallway. He came to a split hallway and looked down each. The first had an arrow that said 111-134. The next had an arrow that said 135-158.
Cory ran down the hallway on the right and watched the room numbers. At the other end of the hallway he could see the number 158. He ran faster and reached the door. He tried to open it but it was locked.
He pounded on the door with his fist and yelled, "Topanga?! Topanga, are you in there? Please let me in! I'm her husband!"
Finally the door opened and a nurse said, "Are you Cory?"
"Cory!" he heard.
He looked past her and saw Topanga laying in a hospital bed.
"Topanga!" he cried out as he ran to her. She had a few scrapes on her forehead and arms, but other than that she looked unharmed.
"Cory! I'm so glad you're here," she said, tears beginning to run down her face. She grabbed his hand and pulled him toward her to hug him.
Cory wrapped his arms around her and kissed her head. He saw all the nurses around him, hooking Topanga up to different machines.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"I don't know," Topanga said, hugging him tighter.
"What does that mean?" Cory asked, releasing her from his hug.
"I mean I'm fine but I don't know if she is," she said, beginning to cry.
"It's going to be okay," Cory said, pulling her to a tight hug again. He stroked her head and felt tears escape his eyes once again. "She's going to be okay."
Topanga cried on Cory's shoulder and he rubbed her back. "Sh," he comforted her. "You're okay. She's going to be alright."
When Topanga began to calm down, she let go of Cory and quietly said, "Some part of the car hit my stomach. And it hurt. I don't know if it hit her or not. I just…I don't know if there was something I could've done to protect her, and I just hope she's okay."
"Topanga, it's okay. You did what you could because here you are and you're okay. And she needs you. It's okay. She's going to be okay," he said, wiping a tear from her cheek with his thumb.
Topanga put her hand up to her face and grabbed his hand.
"Cory, I'm so sorry. I should have listened to you and not gone to the baby store-"
"No, Topanga, that's ridiculous. It's not your fault. You cannot blame yourself for this, okay? This is not your fault."
She nodded at him.
"I already prayed," Topanga said.
"Me too," Cory replied.
Then a doctor came in.
"Topanga?"
She nodded at him.
"Is this your husband?" the doctor asked.
Topanga and Cory both nodded.
"We're going to have to examine you to see how the baby is, okay? As far as our early tests can tell, you're going to be just fine. We just need to examine the baby."
Topanga nodded. "Do you think she's okay?"
"These things are very hard to predict, Mrs. Matthews. I can't say for sure. But it's a good sign that all your vitals are okay. That's working in favor for her."
Topanga nodded.
"We're going to start looking at the baby now," the doctor said.
"Can he stay?" Topanga asked.
"Of course," the doctor said.
"Thank you," Topanga said, looking over at Cory. She took his hand.
Cory said, "Don't worry, Topanga. I wouldn't have left anyways. I'm not going to leave you."
Topanga nodded.
xxxXXXxxx
After the examinations were complete, the doctor scribbled on his clipboard and looked up at the Matthews.
"It looks like your baby's going to be fine," he said.
Topanga's eyes closed and she let out a big breath.
Cory began to smile.
"Thank you so much," Cory said.
"She's going to be okay," Topanga whispered, a smile growing on her face.
"She's going to be okay!" Cory echoed. He pulled Topanga in for another hug and she began to cry again- but this time it was tears of joy.
"Thank you, God," Cory whispered as he closed his eyes.
"Yes," Topanga said, nodding. "Thank you."
Cory kissed her cheek and pulled her tighter.
They were both grinning and crying, and the doctor smiled at the sight and walked out of the room.
Finally they broke their hug and Cory kissed her, joyful at the outcome of this horrible event.
xxxXXXxxx
That night, Cory and Topanga were sitting on the couch together. Her head rested on his chest, and he had his arms wrapped around her. Neither of them spoke, as they were both thinking about the long, terrible day they'd had.
Finally, Cory broke the silence. "Topanga, I love you," he said quietly.
"I love you, too," she replied, looking up at him.
"I can't imagine if anything happened today."
"I know," she said.
"Somehow we got lucky," he said.
"Yeah. I'm so happy she's okay."
"Me too. This all happened so fast. It was like one second I was waving goodbye and headed back to work and then the next I was getting a call from the hospital. And then it seemed to take forever to figure out what was going on or to get to you. And now we're here, and it's all over, and you and the baby are fine. It's like nothing happened at all."
Topanga nodded. "It's weird how things happen like that."
"Yeah. It all just started and ended so fast."
She nodded again. "In the blink of an eye."
Okay, that's it! What do you think? I really enjoyed writing this one! Thank you again to my amazingly wonderful best friend, Kelsee. Literally the best friend anyone could ever ask for.
Please leave a review and tell me what you think! Enjoy your day! Stay awesome :)
