Chapter 3: Staring Blankly Ahead
Part 12: Hanna-January 9/ The Hospital's Cafeteria
Wow, so much has happened since Spence's 'Wedding Rehearsal'. Looks like she won't be marrying anyone very soon, at least not who her parents want for her. None of us will be doing anything that our parents want for us this year. That's the reason we all agreed to this pact. We all four dreaded the thought of being live marionettes that our Mothers and Fathers held the strings to. I guess the one disadvantage in all of it is that we don't know what's gonna happen from here on out. When Dr. Hiltman faxes the release forms for my Emmy to this hospital, we'll have to leave. Then what? Where will Aria, Spence, Emmy, and I go after this? Where will we eat and sleep? More than that, how will we live?
Every single one of these questions is racing through my mind now, as I try to look at the positives. Positives. What are the positives? Well, for starters, we all have each other, and this hospital is our refuge for the time being. My Emily and I are so in love, and I don't even think the dream I had about Ali really matters. It was just a dream after all. Ali's dead. She's never going to just magically come back for Emily, that's crazy. Emily loves me, and I love her, more now, than anything or anyone else in the world. Oh My God, I can't believe I forgot! Emily's pregnant! My beautiful princess and I are going to have a baby together.
I'm officially the happiest girl in the universe! Yay! I should really go see how my girl and our unborn baby are feeling. I miss them both so much already. The doctor here says that Emmy should stay on semi-bed rest from now until the end of her pregnancy. He says we can go home, but she needs to stay relatively inactive for the next eight months. No cooking, cleaning, or even swimming. Little does the doctor know, we don't technically have a 'home', at least not now. Even so, giving up swimming will be the hardest thing for my girl to do, I know for certain. Emily has been swimming since she was five-years-old, and even then, she was the fastest little girl that the YMCA had ever seen. When I first met my Emily, in seventh grade, she had her mind set on making the cut for the middle school swim team. Sure enough, Em's name was on the Roster that spring.
That's my beautiful Champion for ya, Always determined and driven to achieve her dream. That's one of the millions of reasons why I fell in love with her. Well, I'm at her hospital room door now, I think I'll go inside.
Inside of Emily's hospital room.
"Hi, baby, how are you feeling?" I ask her, as I lean down to place a soft kiss on her lips. "I'm fine love, just tired of lying in this bed, I wish I could swim." Emily tells me this with such earnest desire in her voice, that it almost brings me to tears. I hate seeing her this way. I know she's not dying, but sometimes it just pains me that she has to stay on semi-bed-rest. Emmy is the type of person who thrives on being constantly active. I speak to her. "I know, beautiful, just do this for our baby. The doctor says these insemination pregnancies are high risk, and we don't want anything bad to happen, right?" I ask, trying to soothe her as best I can. "You're right, Han. I'm so happy that we're going to be mommies!" She tells me, smiling for the first time today. It's actually the first real smile I've seen from her since the procedure.
"I know, Em, I'm ecstatic too, I can believe that soon we'll have a little human life in our hands!" I reply. She smiles. "I never really thought of it that way before. I haven't even started growing out of my clothes yet." Emily tells me, giggling. "Don't worry my love, you will, and when you do, I'm taking you on a major shopping spree." I tell her, smiling wide and giggling back. "Oh really?" She questions me, quizzically. "Yeah, but absolutely No Hideous Maternity clothes. I know this amazing designer here in Philly. He can design you almost anything you want." I say, very enthusiastically. "Yup, that's definitely the Hanna Marin I know." Emily tells me, as-a-matter-of-factly.
Just then, something occurs to me. "When we, um, tie the knot, how are we gonna do the last names? Hyphenate?" I ask, curiously. Emily smiles. She looks me straight in the eyes. "Hanna, I love you more than I ever dreamed I would, more than life itself. I need to be a Marin with all my heart, and only a Marin. Please?" She says this, her voice flowing with love, her face painted with passion. It all brings a river of tears falling from my eyes. I kiss the girl I love on the lips as hard as I possibly can. She kisses back, giving me all her love. I can only Muster just five words now. "Marry me, Emily Rose Fields." I say this, and I'm the happiest I've ever been in my entire life! She looks at me now, a bit confused. "Oh, my bad, love. Emily Rose Marin." I correct myself. By now, tears of joy are streaming down both of our faces. My Emily shakes her head frantically, and kisses me with all the passion in her body. It's the most beautiful, romantic moment I've experienced so far. I love my little Champion bride-to-be.
For the rest of the night, I'll lay with my fiancé in her hospital bed, kissing and talking to her the whole time. We'll talk about our future. We'll plan how to care for our unborn baby. We'll marvel at how the baby is truly ours, how twenty years ago, science could've never made that possible. We'll dream about our little white house, with a little picket fence. Finally, we'll know that a part of us will worry if we'll be able to find anywhere to live at all. Emmy not only carries our baby, but so many uncertainties as well. I carry them with her, but I know in my heart that everything will be okay for our little family, Even if we do spend some time just Staring Blankly Ahead, and Making Our Way Through the Crowd.