This is a double shift day. There will be one more upload today: A Little Confidence.
"Steps 44-53, Breathe & Push"
4. Step Forty-Seven, Check In
By the time Will's car had reached the hospital, if there was any speck of doubt that this wasn't the real deal, it was banished. The contractions still had a lot to gain on her, but it wasn't long before she was made to understand this was real, and she hadn't let go of Kurt's hand since. She breathed along, and after a while he could hear her, like she was holding back. A squeak would escape and then she'd give his hand a squeeze as she stared off into who knew what.
"What are you doing?" Kurt asked.
"What does it look like I'm doing?" her voice snapped, and he was startled. He'd never heard this tone from her. "Sorry…" she told him, her voice unchanged.
"Hey, no, it's fine," he told her, promising himself not to interrupt her again.
"Did… did they call them? All of them?"
"Yes, they'll be there, all of them," he swore, and now he found out what the squeak had been, when she cried out without restraint. "Are we there yet?" Kurt called out to Will.
They were just arriving, and Kurt's promises were proven true as they saw Brittany's mother and Kurt's father already outside the hospital, waiting with a chair and a nurse. They came up when Burt pointed to the car, helping Brittany out and into the chair.
"Where's Dad?" she turned to her mother, reaching out for her hand, which she received.
"He went to get your sister," Helen Pierce promised her daughter.
"Hey, you'll be alright now," Burt Hummel came up to her, touching his son's arm on the way, and the girl managed a smile. "Look, here they come," he told her as they were wheeling her through the doors.
"Who? Who's there? San…" she tried to see.
"It's us," she caught Quinn's voice, and she breathed. "I texted her, she's coming," Quinn promised.
"Come, now, let's get you settled in and you…" the nurse told her, bu then she got to be agitated, trying to dig her feet and stop the chair.
"No, wait!" she begged.
"What's wrong?" Kurt asked, crouching to be at eye level with her once he'd gotten the nurse to stop. Brittany met his eye.
"Not… without her," she insisted, and she didn't have to explain herself further.
"We have to wait for Santana to get here," he 'translated.' They looked ready to argue, but as far as he was concerned, with what she was about to go through, if she wanted something, then he was at her service. "We wait!" he told them, and he felt her hand squeeze his; he squeezed right back.
Mr. Pierce and his younger daughter had arrived a minute later, and at hearing of the hold-up, he tried to reason with his elder daughter, but she wouldn't have it. So they waited, the large group getting some looks. But then Puck had signalled Kurt and he looked up.
"Britt, here she comes," he told her and she turned just in time to see her sprint up.
"Where have you been?" she half-pleaded, half-shouted. Santana came up and took her hand.
"It's okay, I'm here now," she promised, and she knew Brittany couldn't understand just how many meanings were carried in those words, not yet… "Not leaving."
"Good," Brittany nodded. "I need you…"
"You've got me," Santana promised, pulling herself together, just barely.
"Can we go now?" the nurse asked.
"Yes," Kurt spoke for the girl, as he and Santana stood, one on each side and holding to each of Brittany's hands. They weren't leaving.
Brittany was taken to a room, where her parents had helped her settle in. She'd told the others to wait to wait outside; she needed a moment with her family, her first one at least.
As she'd been made to lie in bed, her hands had gone right to her belly, like he would need reassuring for the journey he was about to undertake. She looked up, observing the three of them standing there. Her little sister Melinda stood at the end of the bed, staring from over the board. She didn't know what was about to happen to her big sister, not all of it. Brittany had been specifically told it was probably best to keep it that way for now.
Her mother was folding her clothes, now that she'd changed into her gown, and her father had fixed her pillow about five times already. No one was talking. She had to tell them.
"When I go in, when they get the baby out… It's going to be just the three of us, me, and Kurt, and Santana… Well, four, with him," she indicated her belly.
"Sweetheart, wouldn't you rather have us around with you?" her mother asked softly.
"Yeah, of course I do," she told her, then, "But I think this is how it should be. I have to be… responsible, we need to be the parents now, so we can't have you there," she reasoned. "Please understand…" she looked to both of her parents in turn. Her father, who was already at her side, leaned in to kiss her forehead.
"If that's what you want…"
"Robert…" his wife spoke up.
"Mom, please," she begged her. Helen hesitated some more, but then she sighed.
"I… alright, but we'll be nearby if you change your mind…"
"Thank you," she looked to them, smiling. "I mean it, thank you… for everything. I know… it's not easy for you," she bowed her head.
"You've given us plenty of reasons to be proud of you these past months," her father told her. "This wasn't what we would have wanted for you, not now, but the way you've handled yourself…" he smiled, though she could see he was crying. "You keep saying you want him to be proud of you… I don't see how he wouldn't be," he went on, and now she was the one crying. "I guess this is our cue to go," he told her, and she held out her arms. He hugged her close, and when they let go, her mother was there to do the same. Young Melinda came up last, hugging her big sister close.
"I'll think about you," she told her.
"Please do," Brittany smiled, breathing out. She didn't want Melinda to see her in pain, knowing how freaked out she'd been by accidents and false alarms over the months, but it would get harder the longer she stayed. But then they were leaving, and she knew soon Kurt and Santana would be back with her and there'd be no turning back… Her son would be here soon.
TO BE CONTINUED (WEDNESDAY)