Chapter Two-- Vital Conversations

Jude had never felt so many emotions run through her in her entire life. Shock, anger, happiness... she didn't know what to do when she saw Tommy come through that hospital door after being gone for so long.

It was getting late. The sun had gone down over the Toronto skyline hours before. Jude had arranged for a cot to have been put in the corner of the room for Tommy to sleep on.

"Why did you leave?" Jude asked, looking up.

Tommy sighed.

"You know I was only at G-Major as a favor to Georgia. And she left a long time ago..." Tommy began.

"You're missing the point. If not for Georgia, wouldn't you have stayed for me?" Jude tried to hold back the tears that were threatening to fall.

"Jude--"

"You left for eight months. A lot can change in eight months, Tommy. I thought you would have figured that out the last time you left... with Darius's daughter. How I thought that that little girl was yours? That wasn't that bad. This... this changes everything. How am I supposed to tell our child that you were gone for months on end before he or she was born. What if you leave again? What am I supposed to tell him or her then?" Jude was getting extremely frustrated. She couldn't reach out and force Tommy to tell her why he had left her... and he wasn't seeming to understand the magnitude of what he had done to her.

"Jude, I was trying to find American artists to bring into G-Major. I didn't know how long it was going to take me to do that! And I didn't expect for Darius to just leave me in the dirt down there! About three months after I had left Canada, all connection to Darius and G-Major was pretty much obsolete. Everytime I would call, Sadie would say that he was in a meeting or something and that she would take a message. I left millions of messeges, yet you didn't receive any of them!"

"Yeah, well... I was horomonal. I didn't want to see you, talk to you, hear your name... but then when I had gotten over that, you were gone. Darius couldn't find you anywhere."

"Did he even try?"

"What do you think? Of course he tried!"

"No, Jude. If he would have tried, he would have found me. If he wanted me to be a part of this baby's life, then I would have been. But he didn't try very hard at all. It's all still over this stupid grudge he has with me marrying Portia ten years ago..."

"Darius would have gotten over that by now, would he?" Jude asked sympathetically.

"I doubt it. You should have seen him... he was furious. We thought he was going to crash the wedding... he didn't, but still..."

Jude couldn't help but smile. She looked over at the clock. It was 2:30. She was exhausted.

A dark-haired nurse walked into the room pushing a cart in front of her, loaded with all sorts of medical equipment.

"Still awake, are we?" she said, amused.

"Yes, Katharine. I'm not a child. This is Tom Quincy... the father of my baby."

"That much I figured," Katharine said, glancing at Tommy. "No one else would keep you awake this late at night. You'd usually be out like a light bulb. I need to get your vitals."

Tommy made to exit the room, but the nurse nodded to him and then to the chair while holding a blood-pressure cuff. "You can stay," she said.

Tommy sat down on the cot and watched.

"Blood pressure's normal," she said, putting the cuff back on the cart.

"Why is she in here?" Tommy asked.

"Jude has an undisclosed problem with carrying children to term. The doctors don't know what's causing it, but they've had to stop her from going into labor multiple times. They've decided to keep her for about a week for observation. If she gave birth right now, the baby's lungs wouldn't be fully developed. They'd like her to carry for about two weeks longer, ideally. She's 36 weeks right now."

"How many times?" Tommy asked, his voice sounding constricted.

The thermometer beeped. Jude pulled it out of her mouth and handed it to Katharine.

"Four," she said, pulling the blanket away from her stomach, so Katharine could check the baby's heartbeat.

"FOUR?"

"Tommy!" Jude tried to get him to be quiet. "The first was at around five months, the second at five and a half. The third was at seven, and this last one was about three days ago. I've been in the hospital three times."

"Baby's heartbeat sounds better, Jude. We could do an ultrasound, but I don't think that's necessary. The doctor should let you know by tomorrow."

Jude nodded.

"Thanks, Katharine," she said.

Katharine smiled and walked out the door.

"I don't see why no one could have told me this the million or so times I called G-Major!" Tommy said irritably. "You're carrying my child and have been in the hospital three times and no one sees it fit to find me and let me know!"

"Tommy..." Jude was at a loss for words. "Talk to Sadie about it. She's been the receptionist all this time. She was given instructions about when you called, but I'm not sure what they were."

Tommy took off his shoes and tried to relax in the cot.

"I'll talk to Sadie about it. Geez... This this is torture."

"Come here," Jude said. She scooted over and offered Tommy a spot in her bed. Tommy looked at it warily.

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"Positive. No one else has even offered to stay all night with me. Congratulations. Here's your prize," she said, laughing.

Tommy sat on the bed next to her, putting one hand on her belly, feeling the baby kick.

"I can't believe I've missed all of this," he said. "I've missed everything... from the baby's first heartbeat, to the ultrasound, to all of the health problems you've had... I'm sorry, Jude," he said, looking her in the eyes.

"Hey, you're here now," Jude replied, smiling at him. "And that's all that matters."

Tommy shook his head.

"It's not good enough," he said.

"It's fine. I wouldn't expect anything else from you," Jude said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Tommy asked indignantly.

"Not like that... It's just I shouldn't expect you to be here 24/7 when you've got a million other things you have to do. Like Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes. He wasn't there for every minute, but he did everything he could to be there when it counted the most."

Tommy glared at Jude.

"I'm not Tom Cruise," he said.

"I didn't say you were. I was using that as an example."

Jude laid down in the bed and turned to one side.

"You look exhausted," Tommy commented.

"You have no idea. I've been pricked, prodded, pinched... everything you could possibly imagine."

Tommy smiled and laid down next to her. Within minutes, both of them were fast asleep.

A couple of hours later, Jude opened her eyes blearily to find Tommy standing beside her. The bed was soaked.

"Jude, honey..." his voice sounded scared and apprehensive.

"Huh?" Jude asked, fighting the urge to go back to sleep.

"Your water just broke..." Tommy said. "The nurses are on their way. They're moving you to labor and delivery. It's time."

Left you on a bit of a cliffhanger there... but anyways, thanks for the reviews... all 10 of them! Hope this lives up to your expectations! And don't forget to review!!!

--Leanne