Authors Note: New oneshot. kinda sad, kind of a darker side of meh. it switches between present and past, flashbacks aren't related to eachother, it's just Jude remembering their relationship up until then. flashbacks is in italics and Jude singing is in bold. eh, reviews please?
One More Day: Chapter One.
Jude's eyes slowly opened to the sound of a rythmic beeping of the heart monitor on the other side of the bed that her head was resting on. She gritted her teeth and sat up straight, looking over at her once-lively husband. She sighed, thinking of how much time she had left with him which wasn't much. Brushing her hair out of her face, she took his hand in hers.
"Jude Harrison, i love you!!" he exclaimed, picking her up and swinging her around. "I could tell the whole world!" he set her down and ran to the railing of the porch, ready to belt out his feelings to the world.
"Oh, Tommy...when did things get so bad?" she asked, putting her hand on his pale cheek knowing she wouldn't get an answer from him. "I wish things could go back to the way they were..." she said, holding his hand against her cheek.
"Tommy...you think we'll grow old together?" she said, looking up at him from his lap. He tangled his fingers with hers and smiled, leaning back against the tree. "Yes, i do...I'm gonna be lying in bed with a breathing machine.." he laughs, and kisses her knuckes. "And you...you will still be making beautiful music..." tom smiles down at her, and she sits up looking him in the eyes. "I love you." she kisses him softly and he leans back on the bark, his eyes twinkling as a smile spread across his face. "I love you too...sing to me?" he asked, tilting his head to the side. She glanced around, and laughed some. "There's no music.." he shrugged. "I don't care...i love just hearing your voice.." he said running his fingers through her hair.
"You seen me through it all, you were there for me...in so many more ways then one..." she said, hot tears stinging her eyes. "You gave me a beautiful son and daughter, who are so much like you...you were everything i wanted and maybe more..." she said, the tears finally falling she tried brushing them away but, more just fell. "I love you...Tom Quincy...always.." she whispered, hearing the heart monitor slow down a bit.
"Hypertrophic Cardio...my...opathy?" she asked, holding onto Tommy's hand a little tighter. The doctor folded his hands on the desk and nodded. "It's also known as heart muscle disease..." Tom looked up and knit his eyebrows together. "My grand-père was..diagnosed with that when i was a younger..." he said, connecting eyes with the doctor, remembering the deadly outcome of him. The doctor licked his lips. "Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is often asymmetrical, meaning one part of the heart is thicker than the other parts, it is also heretitary and because hypertrophic cardiomyopathy causes the size of one of the heart chambers to shrink, the heart must work harder to pump blood. The thickening of the heart muscle may completely block the normal flow of blood out of the heart." he leaned back in his chair, taking off his glasses and setting them on front of him. "Young people, like yourself Mr. Quincy, " he said gesturing towards Tom. "are likely to have a more severe form of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Some persons with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy may not have symptoms..." Jude held up her hand, her lips pursed. "I don't care about that! I want to know what's going to happen to my husband..I want to know..." she said, tears evident in her voice. "...If I'm ever going to wake up in the morning and not see him there beside me.."
She let go of his hand and pulled out a napkin from the hospital cafeteria with writing on it out from her jacket pocket. She laughed slightly, and smoothed it out on her knee. "I..." she swallowed. "...I wrote you a song..." she bit her lip, failing to hold the tears that were blurring her vision. She wished he'd wake up, open one eye and say this was all a big hoax, a lie...hell, she wouldn't even be mad. But, of course that wouldn't happen. She looked at him, his eyes tightly shut, the oxygen tube stuck in his nose, the black and blue bruises on his arm from the IV's they kept in him. She closed her eyes, trying to picture him the way he was before...blue sparkling eyes, his always styled hair, the warm smile. She didn't know what else to say so she began singing. "Last night I had a crazy dream a wish was granted just for me.." she sang softly, looking down at the napkin with her writing on it. "It could be for anything...I didnt ask for money...Or a mansion in malibu.." she looked up at him, the tears sliding down her cheeks leaving an evident salty trail. "I simply wished, for one more day with you..."
Tommy and a very pregnant Jude sat in the waiting room at the obstetrician's office. "I'm so not supposed to be this big at five months! who are you kidding Quincy?" she exclaimed while he stroked her protruding belly. He laid a gentle kiss on her bare skin and pulled down her shirt. "You? But, calm down babe that's why we're here remember?" he said, leaning back in the chair. "Calm down? I look like an over..." she placed her hand on her stomach, ready to start ranting until someone interrupted her. "...Quincy?" a feminine voice asked. Jude's head snapped in the direction of the voice and Tom stood up, holding out his hand to help her up from the seat. They followed the nurse into an empty examining room. "Here, pull up your shirt and lay this over your bottom half. The doctor should be in soon.." she said, handing her a paper sheet and gesturing towards the examining table before leaving the room. Ten minutes later, a petite brunette with green eyes wearing a white coat came in. "Mrs. Quincy. Mr. Quincy...nice to see you two again.." she said smiling as she spread the cold gel over Jude's belly and swept the doppler probe over her stretched porcelain skin. The doctor looked at them with an even bigger smile on her face. "Congratulations you two, you're expecting...twins!"She fiddled with the gold heart-link bracelet on her wrist that he gave her on their four year anniversary. "One more day, One more time...One more sunset, maybe I'd be satisfied..." she felt her heart breaking with every word that spilled from her two rosy lips. She couldn't believe they were coming to an end, she always thought they'd be together forever...she then realized they were a fifteen year old's fanatsies. Not a twenty-seven year old supserstar mother's. "But then again...I know what it would do...Leave me wishing still, for one more day with you"her voice slightly cracking at the last note. She took a deep breath and kept singing, her voice going on strong. "First thing I'd do, is pray for time to crawl...Then Id unplug the telephone and keep the tv off.." she stopped singing, sobs choking her. The heart monitor's beeping slowed its tempo down and she took note of it, biting her lip as tears streamed down her cheeks. After her crying subsided she continued singing. "I'd hold you every second...Say a million I love yous.." she closed her eyes as she sang, clearly "Thats what Id do, with one more day with you..." she opened her eyes, looking at him.
"Come on Jude, Baby. push!!!" tom said, trying to coach her on as she gave birth to the first of the twins. Jude screamed as she pushed with all her might, with her toes curling under and eyes squeezed shut. "You're doing SO good baby! push, c'mon..." he pleaded as she squeezed the living hell out of his hand. "Shut the hell up!!" she screamed and He glanced down between his legs and almost fell out as he seen the baby's head pushing through. "I can see the head! C'mon Jude, one more push!!" he encouraged her, as her face turned beet red. She breathed out a breath of relief as a sudden cry was heard and the doctor stood up, holding a blood and mucus covered baby with a bush of dark brown hair sitting atop her head. "aww, she's beautiful.." tom said as the doctor handed her over to one of the nurses who wisked the baby girl off to get cleaned and wrapped up. The doctor perched himself between Jude's thighs again. "Now, Jude...this is going to be a lot harder since this is your second one...i need you to push and get the baby out quickly...letting him inside of your euterus for too long could cause breathing complications for her or him." Jude nodded looking from Tommy down to the doctor. "Okay, on the count of three Mrs. Quincy i want you to push, HARD...okay? One...Two...Three..." On three, just as she was told Jude pushed with all her might, nearly cutting off the circulation in Tom's hand. After two pushes another cry was heard from between Jude's legs. The doctor stood up holding a baby, looking exactly like the first except for one thing..."It's a boy!"
The heart monitor decreased largely and she climbed onto the bed, knowing she didn't have much longer with him. She began crying harder than she ever remembered as she stroked his limp brown hair. "God, no...please don't take him..." she cried, staring at the ceiling. She pulled his arm around her and entangled her fingers with his, singing quietly. "One more day One more time" she felt the spot on his chest where her head was get wet from her tears. She coughed as she cried harder. "One more sunset, maybe I'd be satisfied but, then again I know what it would do leave me wishing still, for one more day with you.." her voice quieted down as she stopped and listened to the slow rythmatic beeping...the countdown 'til the end of her world
"Mrs. Quincy..? we'd like to have a word with you.." the doctor said, from the doorway. Jude stood up and followed him out into the hall, she folded her arms looking at him. "As much as we'd love to tell you he is getting better and he'll be out soon...I..." he sighed, not liking to be the bearer of bad news to one of the most famous people in Canada. Jude looked down at her heels, knowing what was coming. "I can't...Mrs. Quincy, he's going to die.." the tears began falling as soon as he said the first two words. She slid down the wall until her butt met the linolium floor, her sobs echoing through the silent hallways. "How...long...do..i have?" she hicupped out, looking up at him standing there in front of her. He glanced in the room at a sleeping Tommy. "A month...one month, and he won't really be around for the last few days...he'll most likely be in coma then.."
She laid there, tracing a politically incorrect heart over his politically correct one, not noticing the twins at the door. She buried her face in his chest, sobbing. "No...god, take me..please..."
One of the final weeks before Tommy's life expired, Jommy sat in the hospital bed talking. "What am i supposed to do without you Tommy? I haven't been on my own since i was 19. Since then it's always been you and me...then you, me, Delilah and Michael..." she looked up at him, her blue eyes questioning. He brushed a now brown strand of hair out of her face, and kissed her nose. "You'll do fine without me...But, remember...I'm already there..." she cocked her head to the side, confused and he placed his hand over her heart. "..in here baby.." he said, pulling her to his chest and hugging her close. "I love you Tommy.." she murmurred into his chest. "I know girl, i love you too.."
"Mommy?" jude sat up hearing her daughter's voice, quickly wiping away her tears and smiled sadly. "Yeah, Dee...what is it sweetie?" she asked, noticing michael walk from behind her. Delilah walked from the doorway to where Jude was sitting on the bed, her dark brown curls bouncing with every step. "Is...Daddy going to come back?" she asked her blue eyes wandering from Jude's face to Tommy's. Jude held back a whimper and held out her arms to Dee. She climbed up into her mother's arms, holding her middle section tightly. "Uh, Dee sweetie...when Mommy said Daddy was going away...that..." Jude licked her lips and rubbed them together, taking a deep breath. "...that means he's going away forever.." she choked on the last words, biting her bottom lip to keep from crying. She looked to t he doorway where michael was standing and crying. "C'mere Micheal..." she patted the other side of the bed, shifting Delilah on her leg. Michael closed the door, and slowly walked to the opposite side of the bed as Jude and climbed up onto the bed. He sat on the edge, soaking in the image of his father. After a few moments, he climed over Tom's legs and into Jude's lap, resting his head on her shoulder. She ran her fingers through his hair, and sniffled. "Daddy will always be with us...in spirit.." she said, not sure as to who she was convincing..herself or them. Delilah buried her afce as the monitor dipped down to a slower rythmn. She sniffled, tears falling as her world did. "C'mon Dee...Michael...say good..." she swallowed not able to say it. "...say...good-bye.." Delilah climbed out of Jude's lap first, siting ontop of her father's legs, the tears never stopping. "Go...Go-od...Bye...Da-" she cried hard, leaning forward and hugged his seemingly sleeping form. "Good Bye...I love you...and...and I'll miss you..." she climbed down from the bed and stared at the floor, crying silently. Michael knew it was his turn and he climbed onto his fathers lap just as Delilah had. His bottom lip quivered, and he wiped his nose with the back of his hand. "Bye...Dad...you were the best...I'll miss you a lot..." he hugged him and whispered. "I love you..." he pulled away and climbed down. Jude looked at the twins and felt her heart breaking with every lazy beep of the heart monitor. "Go out...and sit with Aunt Sadie...and Uncle Kwest..." she looked back at tommy, leaning on her hand. "I'll be out soon..." she said softly, as the twins nodded and walked out of them room letting the door close with a quiet click. Jude let out a loud sob and covered her mouth with her palm, trying to compose herself. She breathed deeply a few times and brushed stray hairs from his pale face. "You were my everything...my rock...my soulmate.." she whispered, closing her eyes against the last words. Tears clouded her vision as she opened them, gazing down to her engagement ring and wedding band as the heart monitor produced a single on going beep. "I'll never love again.." she said, closing her eyes and kissing his still warm lips. She hopped of the bed and walked sadly to the door and pulled it open. Stopping to look back at him one last time as the doctors walked in and called his time of death. "Time of death...6:45p.m." she turned around and hung her head, letting the door shut as the nurses pulled the sheet up and over his head.
Authors Note: if i had written this a few months ago, i would've been balling my eyes out right now finishing it. But, i've only shed a few tears so far. so what do you think? i'm not sure if i want to turn this into a story but, for right now...its a one-shot. : now click that cute review button. its screaming click mee. xox principessa.
