Pursuit of Happiness
Disclaimer: I do not own The Outsiders or any of the characters you recognize.
-Please note this was something that popped into my head and my first oneshot. I will accept all constructive criticism just no flames, if I wrote it bad tell me in a polite manner, thank you & enjoy. (Hopefully.)
P.S.- I also wrote this last night, but read it over again and changed some things, it's still pretty much the same story, I just fixed up the grammar and etc.
"Dear God, Keith Roy Mathews, we are never doing this again!" Maggie screamed as sweat pours down her face. Her normally curly blonde hair is plastered to her forehead in clumps and her dark blue eyes are bloodshot from freshly shed tears. Her breathing soon becomes harsh and ragged again and you know another contraction was coming.
You brace yourself for her vice like grip that strangles your big hand in her smaller one. For a small lady this woman sure had a damn good grip, you think to yourself.
"I'm sorry, baby, I know it hurts, but you're doing so good, and just think it'll be here soon and we can finally name the little rascal," you say to try and reassure her but she just screams again in agony and your heart feels stabs of pain. It's absolutely awful just sitting here while she lays there in obvious pain and you can't do anything but hold her hand and tell her it's going to be alright.
You still couldn't believe it; Two-Bit Mathews was going to be a father. A little person is actually going to rely on you to take care of it. You pray it's a boy. The Lord knows grown-up girls cause enough drama and you can't imagine a little one being any better. Boys were what you could handle. Boys were easy.
Maggie had thought it was going to be a girl and you thought it was a boy. You prayed every night for a boy because if you two had a girl you'd be so lost. You wouldn't know what to do with her, but you suppose you could learn along the way.
An ear piercing screech breaks you from your thoughts and the doctor walks in. "Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Mathews how are we doing today?" Doctor Travers asks while checking his clipboard.
How do you think we're doing? My wife is screaming bloody murder and crying her eyes out, and meanwhile here I am almost in tears myself and scared shitless!
"We're in a lot of pain, you ass, now get this child out of me for the love of God!" Maggie demands smacking the side of the bed and more tears stream down her face. You chuckle softly at her yelling and she pinches your palm. You apologize by pushing some more hair out of her face and rubbing her hand some more. You loved Maggie; feisty, hilarious and loud, you loved every part of her and you would never love anyone as much as you loved her. Or so you thought.
"I'm so sorry, Maggie, glory, I didn't know it would hurt you this much, I'm really sorry. Here, you can punch my arm if you want to. I bet you'll like that, 'cause then I'll feel just as shitty as you do!" You tell her and rub her shoulder. She just smiles that sweet smile you've been waiting to see for about thirteen hours now.
"Don't worry, hon, I'm perfectly content just holding your-," she's cut off by another contraction and she sucks in a deep breath and moans, she squeezes your hand tighter and this time you softly squeeze back.
"Nurse, how dilated is she?" Doctor Travers asks as he makes another note on his clipboard. "It's time," the nurse replies, "Ten centimeters exactly." Oh God, you inwardly groan. If she was in pain now, she was going to be in hell trying to push out this little human basketball. Maggie's face goes blank and she lets go of your hand to tuck her hair behind her ears.
"Keith, don't leave me, please, Two-Bit, don't leave me, I'm so scared. I don't want to be alone," she begs. She fucking begs you to stay with her as if you'd leave. You know she's petrified of what's coming because she called you, Two-Bit. She stopped calling you that when you were twenty.
"Babe, not even the devil himself could pull me out of here, I promise you, I ain't goin' anywhere," you promise and she softly squeezes your hand and nods as the doctor goes to the edge of the bed where Maggie has spread her legs.
"Alright, Maggie, I'm gonna need you to push really hard, okay? It'll be over soon, I promise," Doctor Travers says as he puts his rubber gloves on. She nods and you feel her grip loosen as she pushes and screams at the top of her lungs. You yelp in surprise; you didn't know such a sound could come from the love of your life. It didn't even sound like her, it sounded like an animal being strangled and beaten to death by a club.
"You're doing great, Maggie, we can see the top of its head!" Doctor Travers reassures her.
"See, darlin'? You're doing great! He's gonna be here before ya know it!" You say trying to get her excited, but she just glares and corrects you.
"She," she replies. "Or she's gonna be here." And then the huffing and puffing begins again and her cry is so loud it rattles the walls.
"Very good, Maggie, you've done the hard part, its head is halfway out, just a couple more. Have you picked out any names yet?" Doctor Travers asks trying to make conversation.
Maggie just looks at you in disbelief and shock that he would ask this question now while she's giving birth.
"I'll let you know when I push this little munchkin outta' me, how's that?" She snapped at him pushing harder and groaning with pain.
"Fair, enough, Mrs. Mathews, fair enough," he chuckled quietly. "Alrighty, just one more and its out. Just one more, Maggie!" He says coaching her. I stick my head around the sheet covering Maggie's lower parts and I can see its head! Its beautiful, glorious head and I whoop with excitement.
"What is it, Keith? What? What's it look like?" She asks in excitement.
"We made a pretty baby, woman, lemme tell ya!" you laugh rubbing her hand.
She laughs and halfway through her laugh she pushes and it's over. The baby is out. She collapses back on the bed and sighs. She is crying her eyes out from pain, relief and joy. You give her a hug and she kisses you on the cheek.
"Congratulations, Keith and Meghan on your new daughter," Doctor Travers announces and Maggie smirks at you. You're not angry. You're not sad. You're a little scared but that's okay. You didn't have to do this by yourself. You know you have Mags, and hopefully, it'd be alright. The nurse wrapped her up in a fluffy yellow blanket and handed her to Maggie and you two just stare in awe at the little screaming nugget in front of you both.
"She's gorgeous, Keith. We do make pretty babies," she says smiling her million dollar smile and giggling.
"Damn straight," you answer putting an arm around her. "Don't ever doubt my instincts on beauty, my dear." She cracks a smile and continues to look at our baby. Our child. Our own little nugget mixture of Keith Roy Matthews and Meghan Anna Davis. She has the name options written down on a sheet of paper in her suitcase so you jump up to grab it.
It's decided her name will be Olivia Grace Matthews. She was eight pounds six ounces with deep gray eyes with light blonde, wispy hair. She's perfect; your own little angel. Never in a million years could have dreamed of anything more beautiful.
Thirteen years ago you remember those feelings of pain and uncertainty of having a daughter. Now that you have three of them it's kind of funny. And when Olivia came home one night in tears from a boy she liked embarrassing her, you knew exactly what to do: you sat her on your lap and explained to her that guys don't know how to express themselves very well to girls yet and the only way they knew how was to act like dicks. And when she came home with her first C in Science in sixth grade and she was absolutely strung out over it, you knew what to do: you sat her down at the table and told her that everyone had their strengths and weaknesses and that C just meant she wasn't going to become a scientist. And when she was nine and fell off the jungle gym at the playground and fractured her wrist, you knew what to do: you scooped her up and scolded the jungle gym about being mean and she just giggled through her tears.
It's funny how at one second in your life you can be so confused about something and in the next second know exactly what to do like it's your second instinct. It's amazing how you can have unconditional love for three people and they just love you right on back. Anyone can be a father; it takes someone special to be a daddy.