Author's Note/Un-reasonableness. Okay, so I am SICK of all the really bad "real life" Niley story out there where Miley and Nick get pregnant, and then the people who write it don't bother to research a single thing about birth and get it ALL wrong. This is a one-shot of what I think would happen during/after labor and birth if they ever got in that situation, which is pretty close to impossible considering that both of them wear purity rings and they're pretty busy and one's on tour and the other's in California. And they're fifteen. But apart from that, sure, there's like a .01 chance of that happening. (Yes I know I'm being a hypocrite, considering this is the theme of almost all my stories. Guess what? I don't care. I'm P.M.S.-ing and I'm ALLOWED to be emotional. Deal. With. It. That's a great song B.T.W.) Oh, and I'm writing this very VERY loosely based off chapter 10-12 of "Funny Thing" by leon.jackson.obsessed. Again, deal. Leon, if you have a problem with this please pm me personally, I'd be happy to take it off, although it is VERY loosely based, okay?
Disclaimer. Don't own it.
The "Real" Fake Niley Birth Story
Miley's P.O.V.
"I love ya, babe." Nick whispered sweetly in my ear. I giggled at the tingle of his lips against the delicate skin on my ear.
"Love you too, babe." I whispered. He leaned in to kiss me, but I stopped him by placing a stern finger on his soft lips. "But I'd love you even more if you made me a smoothie."
"Miley." He sighed playfully.
"Aw come on, Nicky! It's a craving! I'm a slave to my cravings!"
"I know, but wouldn't you rather have something healthy?" he proposed, holding up an apple from the bowl in front of me.
"But your baby wants a smoothie." I pouted, rubbing a hand across my ever-expanding stomach. He rolled his eyes but headed for the kitchen anyways. "Thank you Nicky!" I called.
"Hey Miley!" I looked up to from my seat on the porch to see dad, about ten feet away on horseback. After all the craziness in California, we'd retreated back to Tennessee, just like he'd always promised we could if things got too crazy. We'd been living back at home for months now, with Noah flying out to California for commercials and small guest appearances every now and then. The thing I was most grateful for was that he'd been kind enough to give Nick one of our guest rooms, far away from my own. While Nick had spent most of my pregnancy on tour with his brothers (gotta love his dedication) it had ended now and he'd come to live with us.
"Come ride with us!" Noah screamed from her horse behind daddy.
"I can't!" I called back. God, I love Noie, but sometimes it's so hard. She just doesn't get how much this retrained me. I think she thinks I've just attached a pillow to myself for the fun of it. Ha. Fun. Right. Although it was pretty cute in the earlier months, when she really didn't get the concept at all. Then she had decided to tell the world. Well, that was a fiasco. Cameras everywhere.
I watched as mom, who wasn't on horseback, told Noah something and came over to me.
"How ya feeling Miley?" she asked, sitting in the seat beside me.
"Fat." She laughed, and I gave her a playful slap for laughing at my pain. "And my back hurts."
"It'll be over soon baby. And then you'll have a baby to take care of! Gosh, it's so hard to believe. Look at you! You're my baby, getting ready to have your own baby! And of course, we can't forget that you have this wonderful young man that loves you." She gestured to Nick, who was balancing three tall glasses of smoothies.
"Here ya go, Miley." He said, handing me a colorful glass. "And I thought you'd like one as well, Mrs. Cyrus." Mom took her offered glass as Nick sat on the other side of me. His arm stretched behind my shoulders as he relaxed with his cool drink.
"Nick, I've told you a thousand times, call me mom or Tish."
"I'm sorry, it's just hard to adjust to." He answered truthfully.
"Well, legally or not, you're family now and this 'Mrs. Cyrus' thing has really got to go."
"I'll work on it." He promised.
"Speaking of names." Mom began. "I don't want to hear any of this 'grandma' junk. I am way too young for that."
"But you will be a grandma!" I exclaimed.
"I don't care. This little baby ain't callin' me mamaw, or granny, or grandma. I have a seven year old! I am not normal grandparent age."
"So what are they going to call you?" I challenged.
"We'll cross that hurdle when we come to it." She answered, and I could tell she was covering up for a lack of answers. I rolled my eyes and laughed. Soon she joined in. As I was trying to stop my laughter, I felt a tightening in my lower stomach. I continued to lean forward and grasp my sides, but all laughter ended.
"Miley, are you okay?" Nick asked, pushing my hair behind my ear so he could see my face. Unlike Nick, mom was quicker to figure out what was going on as she'd already had five kids.
"It's okay Miley." She whispered, rubbing my back soothingly. I nodded as she led me in a breathing exercise. "How long have you been getting contractions?" she asked when I finally straightened up. Concerned, Nick handed me my smoothie. I was grateful as the cool liquid slipped down my throat.
"They started sometime before lunch." I answered, "But my back's been bugging me all day."
"Let's get you to the hospital." She suggested. "Brandy!" she called into the house. A minute later my half-sister emerged holding her guitar.
"Yeah, mom?"
"Can you help Miley into the car while I talk to your father?" she asked, standing.
"Sure." Brandy didn't question, but placed her guitar against the inside wall and walked over to me, offering her steady shoulder.
"Nick, will you get her bag?" mom asked. Nick nodded and ran upstairs as mom headed out to the disappearing blobs of dad and Noah.
And with that, we were off. Brandy helped me into the middle row of seats while she took passenger and mom drove. Nick sat with me, and he was freaking out a whole lot more than I was. I guess when you see your baby sister born; it doesn't freak you out as much. All of us "Cyrus's" were pretty calm. We knew we had a ways to go, and in all honesty I wasn't all that thrilled to go any farther into labor because that ment pain. Nick knew these things too, but only in theory.
Finally, the van parked in front of the hospital. Brandy helped me clamber clumsily out while Nick rushed ahead and mom parked the car.
"He's just a little crazy." Brandy laughed, watching Nick scream at some poor nurse.
"But he's a good kind of crazy." I agreed, leading us over to him. "Nicky, baby, calm down." I ordered, placing a hand on his shoulder. I talked over him to the nurse. "I'm sorry, he's just kinda nervous."
"It's okay." She assured me. "If you guys will just take a seat over there, I can get a room set up in a minute."
"Okay." I agreed.
"And if you wouldn't mind filling out the paperwork?" she asked, handing me a translucent pink clipboard.
"Thank you." I took the board and walked over to the seats she'd indicated. A minute later the nurse appeared again, this time pushing a wheelchair in front of her. I sat down in the plastic contraption while Nick held my hand. We left Brandy to finish the paperwork and wait for mom.
"Your doctor will be here in a couple minutes." She told us as she darted out, "In the mean time just try to get as comfortable as possible."
"Ok." I said; standing and moving over to the bed. "Thank you."
"How can you be so calm?" Nick wondered, sitting on the edge of the bed.
"How can you be so freaked out?"
"You're in labor Miley! We're about to become parents!" He exclaimed.
"About to being a relative term. Nick, we have hours to go before anything interesting happens. I may not even be far enough along for them to let me stay here! And even if I am, first labors can last, like, fifteen hours or something crazy like that."
"That's a long time." He whispered, running his fingers carefully through my hair.
"Exactly. Nick, this baby is still a while away. But I would call your brothers and parents. They have a right to know, and it'll give them a fighting chance of coming down in time, if they want to.
"I don't know, Miley, my parents were pretty mad." He whined like a small child.
"Nick at least call your brothers."
"Do I have to?"
"Or I'll do it for you."
"Fine." He grumbled, pulling out his cell. Once he'd dialed the number I grabbed it and pressed speakerphone.
"Hello?"
"Hi Joe." Nick greeted, giving me a playful slap for stealing his phone.
"Nick? Is that you?"
"Yeah."
"Hey fro bro." Nick groaned, not exactly his favorite nickname.
"Hi Joey!" I squeeled.
"Hey Miles." He greated. "How're you doing?"
"I'm bored." I answered truthfully. "So I thought we'd call and tell you that I'm in labor."
"You are?"
"Uh-huh."
"Wow." He did sound truly amazed. "That makes all of this seem so real all of a sudden."
"Well to those of us it turned into a huge blimp, it's been 'real' for a while now."
"Aw, you're not a blimp." He assured me, "It just looks like you stuffed a pillow up your shirt."
"So much better." I sighed, rubbing the offending mountainous bump. "It is a pretty big bump."
"That just means it's healthy." Nick assured me.
"I just hope I can give birth to it. I mean how does something that big get through something so small?"
"Stretching."
"Awkward." And then I remembered Joe was on the phone.
"Sorry Joe." I apologized, blushing.
"It's okay, I wasn't really listening."
"Then what were you doing?" Nick demanded.
"Getting plane tickets." Joe answered casually.
"For what?" Yes, my Nick is very smart. Sometimes I want to sing the song "Dumb Dog" from Annie to him, but that might be too mean.
"So I can come see my new nephew straight from the oven."
"How are you so sure I'm having a boy?" I growled.
"JoBro streak." He answered. "Think about it, we only have brothers. Female cousins and blood-relation aunts are few and far between. There aren't many girls born with the last name Jonas."
"Well I think that we'll be your one exception."
"Your funeral if you place money on that." He answered. "Okay, I have to go pack. Me and Kevin will be down there in about 5 hours, okay?"
"Okay, we're at Sacred Heart Hospital in Nashville, but call us when you land."
"Okay. Bye."
"Bye." We chorused in unison. Just as Nick flipped his phone shut my doctor entered. She was a kind woman who'd describe herself as a "Young 50". She'd been the doctor for all of my mom's kid's births; Brandy, Trace, me, Braison, and Noah.
"Well hello there Miss Miley." She greeted as she strolled cheerfully into our room. "What do you say we see how far you are?"
"Okay." I answered, propping my feet up like she told me too. As she set a blanket across my legs a contraction hit. "oooww." I groaned, reaching for Nick's hand. "ugh, that hurt!" Dr. Teller gave a sad smile.
"I'm afraid they're only gonna start hurting more, hunny."
"I know!" I groaned
"Okay Miley." She said two minutes later. "You're really not far along. Maybe a centimeter, nearly two, though. Now, under normal circumstances we'd send you home immediately. Because you're so young, though, we can let you stay here if you choose to." Mom walked in just then, Brandy behind her.
"Hey, what's going on?" she asked, walking calmly to my side.
"Your daughter's in the very early stages of labor." She explained again. "Because it's so early in the process, it'd be safe and probably more comfortable for her to go through this at home for a while."
"What if I'm in too much pain?" I asked. That's my main concern right now. Pain.
"Then you'll come back and we'll check to see if you're dilated enough to qualify for meds."
"So I can't just have an epidural any old time?" I asked. How long would I be able to handle that?
"No, I'm sorry, Miley. But epidurals slow down labor, so I want you to be at least 4 centimeters along before we administer any medication, okay?"
"Okay." I sighed, not liking the sound of that.
"So have you decided what you want to do, or do you need to discuss it?" I thought for a moment. Basically, I would be in the same amount of discomfort anywhere. If I stayed in the hospital, I might get meds sooner, but if I was at home I could relax for a while longer, and be somewhere familiar.
"If its okay with my mom, I'd like to go back home." I answered.
"I think that's a good idea." She agreed, giving my hand a small squeeze.
"But what if things start going too fast?" Nick asked.
"Then you come back in."
"I mean, what if she doesn't realize how close she is and we leave too late?"
"Nick." Mom gave a small laugh, "trust me, we'll be here in plenty of time."
"But what…"
"Nick. It'll be fine, okay? If worst comes to worst, we call 911. If we have to deliver the baby ourselves, her dad and I have both been through enough births to improvise it, okay? But trust me, first labors are long. The chance that we won't get to the hospital in time is like point-oh-one percent. Okay?"
"Okay." He didn't sound or seem convinced as he crossed his arms.
"Nick, its fine." I told him while mom went to talk to Dr. Teller about how to know when we should come in. "Mom's done this five times and look, none of us are messed up."
"I just don't want to risk anything. I love you, and I love our baby. If something happens that I could have prevented, I'll kill myself."
"No! Nicky don't!"
"It's a figure of speech." This time it was his turn to laugh as I ruffled his hair.
"Ooooooowwwwwwwwwwwww!" I whisper-screamed, clutching my stomach in agony. It was eleven at night, nearly eight hours since we'd left the hospital, and more than ten after "true" contractions had started.
Once we'd gotten home everyone had gone about their normal business. I finished up a book, and while I was reading Nick worked on a couple lullabies he's been writing for the baby. Eventually I got up and helped him, the promise of music too powerful to ignore. After dinner we all settled into the living room to watch a movie. During the second movie, Kevin and Joe had appeared. We were now on our third movie, and most people had fallen asleep. In a rocking-arm chair was dad, asleep with Noah in his arms. Braison had fallen asleep with his back against Brandy's knees, homework in hand and Joe by his side. Nick had curled his knees up against one arm of the couch, and I'd rested my upper back against him. My knees lay over Brandy's lap as both of them slept. Kevin sat next to Brandy, his arm around her shoulders. The only other person awake was mom, who was folding laundry on the floor. She reached out her hand to me, and I tried to squeeze my pain into it.
"Just breathe, baby girl, just breathe." She whispered.
"it huuuuuuurttsss." I moaned, trying as much as possible to stay quiet.
"I know, I know." She whispered. "After this one we'll wake everyone up and go to the hospital, okay? So just breathe it out."
"I'm trying." I whimpered. "oowwwww."
"shhhhhhh." She whispered, more to soothe me than to quiet me. I closed my eyes and a few seconds later the pain was receding.
"Gosh, that hurt." I moaned.
"I know baby, but you're doing great."
"Mom?"
"Yeah?"
"Why does it feel like I'm peeing on myself?"
"Miley, come into the kitchen right now," she beckoned me over to the kitchen as my underwear soaked. "Stand on this." She ordered. I stood on top of the old beach towel that we normally used to clean the dogs off before they come in when it rains. Just as I stepped onto it the gush overflowed from my panties and started to creep down my legs. As if on cue, Roadie trotted over with her tags jangling. "No, Roadie!" mom hissed, shooing her away. "Everything's fine, Miley." She assured me, "you're water's just breaking." I nodded.
"Momma?" I asked.
"What?"
"Can I lean on you? My foot's asleep."
"Sure." She answered with a laugh as she held her arms out. I grabbed her shoulders and leaned onto her. "Billy Ray." She called across the room. "Billy Ray." Dad's always been a light sleeper. As I watched, he shook himself awake and looked over to us.
" 's 'er water breakin'?" he asked while maneuvering so that Noah, also a light sleeper, wouldn't wake.
"Yeah." Mom answered. "Can you wake up Nick?"
"Sure." He answered, walking over to my sleeping boyfriend. "Nicholas." He said sternly. "Nick?"
"hmmkarmmm."
"Nick."
"Huh? What?" he looked over at mom and I. "What's going on?"
"My water's taking a long time to break." I answered calmly.
"You just got a lota water in ya." Mom told me. I stared at the puddle forming between my feet. Yeah, that was a lot of amniotic fluid.
"Is it okay for there to be that much?" I asked, pointing to growing liquid-mass.
"It's okay, it just means your baby was well protected."
"Good to know." I sighed. It was completely disgusting to just stand there and let it gush out of me.
It took a while to get cleaned up and have everything figured out. Finally it landed on dad to stay home with Trace (who was asleep because he had band practice tomorrow), Braison, and Noah. Brandy had already said that she wanted to be there for me, so she was coming along with mom, Nick, his brothers, and of course, me.
This time we got into the room quickly, and Dr. Teller was right behind us. This time around I was just at five centimeters, and with a little persuasion I was able to convince her that I needed the meds now.
"Alright Miley, lean forward." She ordered. I did as I was told, leaning forward and grabbing onto Nick. Both my mom and sister had left the room, Cyrus women being very sensitive about needles. I myself was dreading the moment it would pierce me. I'd nearly fainted when I'd gotten my ears pierced! Both Kevin and Joe had gone in search of the cafeteria, apparently airplane food isn't appetizing.
"Cold!" I squealed as she sanitized my back.
"Lean forward!" she warned.
"Ow!" I squealed as the needle pierced my back. "oow, I hate needles. They hurt!"
"I hate 'em too." Nick agreed, rubbing my hands between his. The motion of his arms made it so that I could see the pricks of a needle in his skin.
"Oh, I'm sorry Nick!" I cried, realizing how much of a baby I was being. "I'm being so pathetic; you have to go through this so much more than me."
"It's okay." He assured me, "you're not used to it like I am, it's okay."
"I'm sorry."
"Its fine, Miley."
"You can sit back now." She told me. I did so, feeling terrible for how much of a baby mom, Brandy, and I had all been about one stupid needle.
"Miley, don't kill yourself over it, its fine. I promise. In the next couple hours you'll be in more pain than all my shots added together, doing something that will bring us both happiness in the long run. You're allowed to complain."
"Thank you Nick." I sighed, relaxing.
Soon the meds kicked in, and that was so, so much better. Especially because of how much longer we had to go. By seven I was eight centimeters, and dad brought everyone in for a visit before he made them go off to school or band practice, he would pick them each up after school to visit again. After that things seemed to slow down a lot. We were all just sitting there, waiting for it to be time. I wasn't until noon, 24-hours after labor had begun, that I started to push. But still, the head only crowned an hour later.
"OOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!" I moaned feeling the pain. "it feels like fiiiiiiire!" I exclaimed, drilling my nails into Nick's and Dad's hands. One of them stood on either side of me, allowing me to crush their hands in order to dim my own pain. Mom stood just behind dad, trying to offer comforting words and memories from my own birth, but nothing helped. Standing two feet behind Nick was my older sister. I could tell that it hurt her to see me in such pain. She's such a kind person, she never likes to see others hurt. But if I told her to leave, I knew she'd feel as if she'd done something wrong and blame herself, so I decided not to worry about her. Later, I knew, she would tell me how amazing I'd done; just like she'd done after every concert stop on the Best of Both World tour. Standing against the wall and looking completely out of place were Kevin and Joe.
"You're doing great, Miles." Dad assured me, placing the oxygen mask back on my mouth as I tried to relax. I gasped in the pure oxygen, it felt so good.
"Come on Miley," the doctor urged, "right back at it." I groaned, pulling off the mask and going back.
"NICKKKKKKKKK!"
"It's okay." He whispered, kneeling close to my ear, "its okay, just push."
"I can't!" I groaned, letting myself fall backwards. "I can't do it! It hurts too much! Can't I have that operation thingie?"
"It's too late, Miley." Dr. Teller told me. "Look here." She pointed to a small mirror behind her. "The baby's head is crowning. Why don't you take a quick break while get everything ready? You've been working hard." I nodded and put on my mask again. On my side, mom pushed dad out of the way so she could talk to me. Sitting on the edge of my bad, she towered over and made me feel so small.
"You're doing great Miley."
"I don't wanna do it anymore!" I cried, tears bubbling over.
"I know its hard baby, but you gotta get through it."
"It's hard."
"You've done a lot of hard things before Miley, I know you can do this." She whispered, grazing her fingers over my belly.
"How do you know?" I challenged as tears poured down my face.
"Because I know you," she answered, smearing away my tears. "I saw you get up extremely early, day after day. I saw you struggle through three hours of school-work more than a grade ahead of you. I saw you put on amazing concerts with lightning-quick costume changes everyday. You beat back so many bad rumors. You've proven so, so many people wrong. And you've done all this with a smile on your face. If you can do that, then you can finish having this baby."
"Thanks." I squeaked.
"Anytime, darling." She smiled, giving me a quick but heartfelt hug.
"I love you mommy."
"Let's get this show on the road." The doctor announced, sitting back into place. I pulled off my mask once again and got a good grip on daddy and Nick's hands.
"Ready to become parents?" I asked Nick.
"Ready."
I screamed, moaned, and groaned until, seven minutes later, someone else's cries lit the room.
"Nice healthy screams." Dr. Teller chuckled, placing the squirming baby on my stomach.
"The lungs of a singer." Dad whispered, and I could tell from the crack in his voice that he was crying. I was close to tears myself as I watched the baby squirm and cry helplessly.
"I love you." Nick whispered, kissing me on the lips. The doctor said something, but I didn't here a word. As we pulled apart I watched daddy cut the baby's cord. Suddenly, a thought struck me.
"Girl or boy?" I demanded.
"A little girl." Dad answered, still crying.
"We have a baby girl." Nick gasped. I laughed at his astonishment.
"It was either gonna be a boy or a girl, Nick."
"I know. It's just amazing. I'm sick of hanging around boys all the time, and now I have two girls that I love very, very much." I laughed as a nurse took our baby away to be weighed and measured as the doctor began to clean things up.
"Nearly ten pounds!" the nursed called out.
"Is that bad?" Nick asked, seeming concerned.
"No," Mom answered calmingly. "It's a little bigger than average, but still well within normal. Cyrus women are known for having big babies. Miley here was nearly eleven pounds." He nodded. A minute later the little bundle was dropped into my arms.
"She has your eyes." Nick whispered as she blinked up at us, tears forgotten.
"And your hair." I pointed out, feeling her smooth, dark curls.
"I hope she has your smile." Nick whispered.
"I hope she has yours!" I disagreed as he leaned over me.
"Do we have a name for this little beauty?" the doctor asked.
"I don't know." Miley wondered, searching her head for the names she'd spent hours pouring over. "Do you have any ideas, daddy?"
"Destiny Hope Jonas." He answered plainly.
"No!" I disagreed. "I just escaped that name myself!"
"I always liked the name Caitlynn." Joe offered.
"Oh, that's cute!" I agreed. "What do you think, Nick?"
"I like Rosalynn Kate Jonas." He told me truthfully.
"I love that." I told him. "Rosie." I cooed, feeling her soft cheek. As I held her, Nick slipped a thin chain around my neck. I felt a tiny thump as some charm handing on it fell against my chest. Looking down, I saw Nick's purity ring hanging. I gave him a sweet smile. "Thanks." I whispered, before turning back to our daughter. "Nick, can you imagine her growin' up? And falling in love?"
"No. She's never falling in love."
"Nicky, she's gonna fall in love some day."
"I don't want any guy commin' near my little girl." He said stubbornly.
"Okay Mr. Dad." I laughed, "Besides, we have years an years before we really have to worry about that."
"Miley, I don't want Rose to grow up."
"Neither do I." I agreed, gazing into her bright eyes. "Neither do I." I let out a huge yawn as a wave of tiredness washed over me.
"You must be dead tired." Mom stated.
"Well giving birth and staying up for thirty hours straight can do that to ya." I answered."
"Why don't you let me hold her while you guys get some rest?" she offered, holding out her arms for Rosie. I handed her over while stifling another yawn.
A nurse wheeled in a new, larger bed for us to use while the old sheets were being cleaned. Everyone retreated to a ring of chairs by the window, murmuring quietly. To drown out their noise, Nick played my iPod via his iDog. The first song was his own version of "Godspeed" by the Dixie Chicks, written in girl version. He lay down on one side of the bed, and I curled up, my head on his chest, his arms around me. Over us he spread a warm blanket from my bag.
The blanket was my own Sisterhood of the Traveling Blanket. Emily, Vanessa, Ashley, and I had all created it while working on our own projects, and we shared it equally. One side was a warm pink fabric. The other side was a patchwork of various costumes that each of us were famous for. Emily's donations included a square of the black-and-pink guitar shirt from the episode with Kelly Clarkson's birthday, and a shirt she'd worn in Spy Kids 2. Vanessa had given a swatch of the fabric used to make her red dress from "We're All in This Together", and another swatch from the pink polka-dotted dress from a picnic scene in HSM2. Sharpay's "Bop to the Top" dress and one of Maddie's Tipton uniforms had made it in. As for me, I gave the black top used in the "Who Said" music video, some fabric from the "Nobody's Perfect" outfit, and a couple swatches from the tour's costumes.
"No, I want to hold her!" Noah whined.
I was jerked awake from my sweet, needed slumber.
"ssssshhhhhhh." I heard someone whisper. "be quiet, Noah."
"But I wanna hold the baby!"
"Noah, you're not going to hold the baby until you learn to whisper!" Daddy threatened. "Your sister is extremely tired and we need to let her sleep."
"How long do I have to be quiet for?"
"Until she's awake." Mom finished, "If you want to be loud you can go out in the hallway, but Rosie's not going out there, okay?"
"'kay."
"Alright, so sit in this chair. Do you remember how you held baby Lucy?"
"Yeah?"
"Just like that. Remember to support her head!"
I opened my eyes, wanting to see Noah holding Rose for the first time. But my view was blocked, so I placed a hand on Nick's torso and lifted my head a bit, hoping they wouldn't notice.
"She's awaaaa-aake." Braison chimed, grinning. I sent him a death glare and a stuck out tongue. "I thought a mother would be more mature than that." I rolled my eyes and leaned back against Nick, who seemed to be a very heavy sleeper. "I've only been one for a couple hours."
"You should get some sleep, sweetie." Mom ordered.
"What time is it?" I asked, trying to find a clock.
"It's four-thirty." Dad told me. "Hunny, you've had a hard day, why don't you get a little more shut-eye?"
"How could she have had a hard day?" Noah asked, confused, "she didn't even go to school!"
"I was tortured by the angel in your arms." I answered simply. "Babies hurt."
"But they're worth it." I shook my head at mom.
"I don't think I'm ever going through that again." I sighed. "I'm still sore."
"You're gonna be sore for a while, hunny." Mom told me sadly. "But it'll all pass."
"The sooner the better!" I exclaimed, frustrated.
"That's exactly what I was saying about you giving birth just yesterday." Trace said as he walked into the room, a small bag of donut holes in hand. "I mean it's about time you had her!"
"Trace!" mom scolded.
"What? She looked like she was about to explode!" he excused, grabbing a glazed donut hole from the bag. I wasn't really paying attention to what he was saying; my focus was on the bag. Kevin and Joe can complain about airplane food all the want, hospital stuff is worse. Plus, contractions aren't exactly an appetizing phenomena. I hadn't had real food since dinner the day before!
"That's mean." Brandy told him, but he just shrugged, leaning against the wall.
"She knows I mean no harm." I saw dad watching me from the corner of my eye, and diverted my attention from the greasy bag.
"Trace, share that with your sister." He ordered, "She hasn't had anything to eat in almost a day." I blushed.
"How am I gonna lose baby fat if I eat donuts?" I asked.
"Don't focus on losing the fat right now, hun. We'll worry about that if it's even a problem." I sighed and dug my hand into the bag he held out, slightly unwillingly.
"Thanks, Trace." I mumbled, stuffing it in my mouth. "sooo good."
"How did you give birth on an empty stomach?" he wondered, sitting next to me and placing the bag between us.
"I wasn't hungry." I answered nonchalantly. "Hospital food's really bad, and I was trying to focus on lessening the pain, not nutrition. Besides, I was kinda nauseas and after puking a couple times I really wasn't all that interested in repeating."
"Your crazy." He laughed.
"I want a donut!" Noah demanded as Braison took Rose away from her.
"They're Trace's donuts, Noah." Daddy told her.
"But then why does Miley get to eat them? It's not fair!" Oh I can just see Noah not adjusting to the new baby.
"Sweetie, your sister hasn't eaten a thing in hours, and that's not good for her right now. I asked your brother to share because otherwise she might die of starvation." He joked as I popped another donut hole into my mouth. "If you're hungry than we can go see if you want anything in the vending machine."
"But I want a donut!"
"Well they might have donuts in the machine." He reasoned, picking her up. "Want anything anyone?"
"If they have lays, could you grab me some?" Braison asked.
"Anything, I'm starved." I answered. Dad laughed.
"There's an apple left from your lunch on the tray. Eat that." I sighed and glared at the fruit.
"But it's green. The only green thing I eat is money."
"Bad habit. Break it." He ordered, walking out of the room. I sighed and ignored the fruit in favor of laying my head on Nick's muscled torso.
"So when do you get to leave?" Braison asked.
"Ask mom, I have no clue." I answered, playing with my hospital band.
"She's allowed to leave in a little over an hour."
"So soon?" I asked.
"I was able to convince them that I women who's raised five children could make sure that you don't kill an infant. But if you want to stay longer, we can."
"No, I'm just surprised." I answered. "I thought it would be longer."
"Naw, we're breakin' outa this joint." Trace said. "Hey Brais, can I see Rosie."
"NonononoNO. You are not going near my daughter!" I joked.
"But I gave you donuts." He pouted.
"And they were very yummy and I thank you."
"Hand her over, Braison." I watched as they exchanged the tiny girl. I'd never seen them handle anything so delicately before. It was as if she was a precarious china doll just waiting to break. There wasn't a second that she was more than three inches from either of their bodies as they carefully passed her off. I knelt onto my knees, leaning my left arm on Trace's right shoulder so I could see her properly. "Hey baby." He whispered kindly. "I'm your Uncle Trace. Yeah. And I'm gonna make sure your mommy doesn't turn you into a goodie two-shoes." I rolled my eyes before lying my head on Trace's shoulder. And as I nodded off, I realized that sometimes, things happen for a reason, and that this was all going to work out.