It was late the next morning before Logan woke up. He had fallen asleep at a bad angle and was a bit achy from all the cramps. He groaned in slight pain as he rolled over to get himself up to stretch. As he did, a paper fell to the floor; he didn't see or hear it at first but when he looked down, it peaked his interest. He didn't recall writing anything the night before so he wondered what it was. He bent down and grabbed it and looked it over before getting up and calling Kendall in a panic.
Kendall was asleep on the other couch and Logan shook him awake. Kendall awoke in a tizzy as he yelled in confusion.
"Huh! What!" he yelled as he was startled awake.
"Kendall, get up its an emergency."
"What's going on?" he said slightly slurred but yet alert.
"It's Katie-" he began. Kendall didn't let him finish.
"Is she ok? What's going on? Is she in labor? Get the car! I'll grab her bags!" He said in a panic as he toppled off the couch in a tizzy trying to gain his footing.
"Kendall wait a minute!" Logan called after him "It isn't that" Kendall stopped in his tracks and looked back.
"It isn't?"
"No. Well, yes and no. just read this." Logan said holding out the note he had found. Kendall walked over and took it from him as he read it over in silence.
Guys,
Sorry that I have been such a burden to you, I tried my best to do things on my own but I guess that just frustrated you. I'm not used to the kindness that you have shown me. I was in the hall last night when I heard you guys talking and I feel terrible that you felt obligated to care for me. I'm used to being left in the dark so whether you guys were there or not didn't matter although I am eternally grateful for all that you had done thus far.
The point of this little note is to tell you that I really wasn't feeling good and the pain came back; more so. I saw that you were both asleep and remembered what you had been talking about and took it upon myself to call the ambulance for me. I gave them the address of a house a block down so the sirens would not wake you. I'll be fine and will be back at the condo in a few days. I'll see you when I see you.
Katie.
"Dammit!" Kendall yelled out in frustration. "I let her down again…"
"I think we all did." Logan said.
"There's no making this up to her now. Let's face it Logan, our careers are finished; BTR is dead. The network can replace James but its not going to be the same even if we all did get along and could harmonize together just like the original cast. The network is all about ratings and the minute they drop, we are fired." Kendall explained.
"We can try. We may not be able to be as big but maybe we will have enough die hard fans to just make it by. And if we don't then at least it was fun while it lasted. We will still have each other too."
"No we wont."
"Of course we will-" Logan began to reassure before Kendall interrupted.
"Do you honestly think things are going to be the same between us after BTR is canceled? We like each other sure, but we'll never work together again. We're all going to go our separate ways, do our separate things and move on with our lives. We'll be free to do just about anything, but at what price?" Kendall said. He paused as he leaned against the door frame, looking out onto the beach. "We'll never see Katie again, she'll end up back in Connecticut, alone and scared with a child. There is no way her parents will let her home, they'll disown her and she'll be on the streets. What kind of life is that?"
Logan stood in silence, looking to the floor, as Kendall's words rang true. A knock on the door startled both of them; they took a second before both went to the door, Logan answering it. Carlos was on the other side and he greeted the duo with a smile before it turned to a frown as he looked at their downhearted faces.
"What's wrong?" Carlos said seriously. He came in and Logan and Kendall filled him in on everything.
"Whether you guys meant it differently or not can be discussed later, right now I need to go see my best friend. I'll text you the details once I know them." he said roughly before walking out. Logan and Kendall sat in silence for a while as they did some deep thinking. They didn't know what to do and were filled with so many emotions they didn't know where to begin.
"Kendall?" Logan said quietly. He was looking at the floor but could see out of the corner of his eye that Kendall turned to him in silence waiting for him to continue. "What if I meant what I said? I mean about last night. I am tired of catering to this kid and I know we promised to help her with the child but I don't think I can do it anymore. I'm so tired of it that I'm beginning to take it out on Katie like it was her fault. She didn't ask for any of this; that's not fair to her. I'm just so confused, I mean I still like her and all but at the same time….I…" Logan trailed off unable to finish his sentence. He was sickened by his thoughts; he felt like he was acting like James and backing out of the problem and he didn't want to go down that route.
"At least you made it this far; that's farther than James did. Whether or not you stick around you're already a better father than him and you arent even a father. You're helping care for a kid that's not even yours. Don't worry about it that much, I'm tired too and I'm pretty sure this will all fade once the kid is born." Kendall said. Logan perked up a bit
"You're probably right."
"Let's grab a bite before Carlos calls; I'm starving"
"You're always hungry." Logan chuckled. They helped themselves to whatever food they could find in the cupboards. Food had been scarce in the past 2 weeks, since the lease to the condo was just about up. There was no word on whether or not the network was going to renew it or not which became another worry. Katie wouldn't be able to travel right away so she was going to need a place to stay, Carlos had an extra room but with his large dog roaming around he said it was only a last resort. Katie stayed at Kendall's place before but that was when his brother was away, now that it was late August and his bro was home there wasn't the space. Logan lived in a very tiny apartment that was often rowdy and just wasn't suitable for young children.
With less than a week left on the lease, they wondered what would happen. All of their calls to the network had been ignored and they needed answers. During the lease, the guys and Katie were the only ones who used the house, there was room for other network guests but no one showed up, let alone knew the details of what was going on in the house.
They sat at the table as they devoured a box of cereal between them, Kendall's phone was sitting on the table and it buzzed indicating a text message. He picked it up to check and saw it was Carlos. Logan's phone went off as well before Kendall said anything and he dug it out of his pocket to read an identical message.
"Katie's doing fine. Resting comfortably. Drs. Not sure what's going on but not life threatening to either."
They breathed a sigh of relief at his words but were still a bit concerned. They finished up breakfast and cleaned up before receiving another text:
"Very strong Braxton hicks, normal. Keeping her overnight for observation for some reason. Drs. Assured she is fine, just routine based on med. History. Heading home to grab some stuff before my shift."
Carlos came by the condo after a few hours with a couple bags. He was going to stay a few nights at the condo since it was his turn. Logan and Kendall were going to stay overnight and get things ready for her return as well as continue working on packing stuff away, ready to move in case the lease wasn't renewed. Nate finally returned their calls and told them that as of now it was still up in the air, the condo land owner was preventing them from renewing. He didn't give a reason but had kept putting it off.
Katie returned the next afternoon to the condo to see boxes piled up at the door. The network rented a storage container to put all the stuff in and it would be kept on the lot until a new lease was signed. Katie would be staying at the studio until then since there was no other place to go at the moment. Although the studio was closed down during the hiatus, it was opened up for them to stay in for a few days.
It was now early September and both Katie and her baby were doing fine; it was just a waiting game as the due date drew closer. She was put on strict bed rest and someone was always with her to help out. Katie had gotten bored with being on bed rest and could no longer entertain herself with video games, movies, drawing, reading and the like. She wanted to get up and get out; she was getting agitated and felt bad for keeping the others cooped up with her. It wouldn't have been so bad if the room had some windows or something but since they were still in the studio it was a dark and dreary place since only portions were being used.
Eventually though news came about that the lease had been renewed. The landlord had wanted to do an inspection and do some light remodeling on the condo. Going through his records he realized that it hadn't been inspected in quite some time and was not up to code on some things. To everyone's relief they moved back in later in the afternoon and enjoyed the space to move about freely. Katie was thrilled that she had the space to move about and some windows to let in light and some fresh air. However, it also hurt when they saw they studio padlocked again; it reminded them of the reality that was setting in, that BTR was very close to being no more.
Kendall, Carlos and Logan all stayed the first night in the condo with Katie. They were tired from moving a lot of stuff back in and crashed pretty early, around 11pm. The peace of the house was broken when Katie let out a cry of pain at around 5 in the morning. She was in debilitating pain and could hardly move but managed to get out of bed and hobble, hunched over down the hall for help. Despite all the noise she had made everyone was still asleep. She went over to Kendall and shook him a few times before hitting him on the shoulder. He woke up enough to see her standing there and asked what was wrong.
"I need you to get up. I think we need to go to the hospital." she said. He sat up and was alert.
"Are you sure?" Kendall asked slightly alarmed
"I'm in agony, Kendall. It hurts so much." she replied
"Ok." he said. He got up and put her in the chair and proceeded to wake up Logan and Carlos.
"Logan! Get up." Kendall called tapping him incessantly. Logan eventually got woke up although he wasn't in the greatest of moods and Kendall told him the emergency. Not fully awake just yet and not being able to process what Kendall had just said, Logan got up in no hurry and dragged himself to the bathroom. Kendall watched as Logan was no help and woke Carlos up. Carlos was spooked awake but it didn't take him long to put everything together. In his hurry to get up he couldn't get out of the sheets and up fast enough, but once he did he ran to get her bags. Kendall grabbed his keys and helped Katie to the car. Logan came out of the bathroom and was alert enough to finally understand the urgency of his surroundings. The usually calm and collected Logan screamed and began to panic before Carlos calmed him down. Logan went back to his calm self and jumped in the car. Carlos tossed the bags in the trunk and got in with Logan and Kendall drove them all to the hospital.
They arrived at the hospital after an hour, traffic was horrible. They rushed into the hospital in a panic and stormed the desk in a fury.
"Our friend is in labor!"
"Ok. Sit tight and we'll get her settled and taken care of." the orderly said with a kind smile. She paged some nurses to come out and in less than a minute they arrived.
"Where is she?" one of the nurses said.
"She's right- Logan where is she?" Kendall asked
"I thought Carlos had her?" Logan replied
"I don't." Carlos said.
"Fuck! The car!" Kendall said and he followed them out to the car. The nurses weren't far behind. Katie was in the front seat in the middle of another contraction when Kendall threw open his door and tried to get her out. The nurses told Kendall to back away and that they would handle it. They coached her through the contraction and then placed her in a wheel chair. The guys were all over her in apology as she tried to catch her breath. She smiled at them and waved them off in acceptance as she was wheeled into the maternity ward. Until she was settled they guys had to wait in the waiting room. They followed the nurses to the door and watched through the window until she was out of sight.
They took a sigh of relief now that she was in safe hands but the adrenaline was still flowing at the thought that this was it, they just couldn't relax. It was several minutes before a doctor came out and called her name.
"Hello, I'm Dr. Geng. Is one of you the father?" he asked
"No. the father is a deadbeat." Kendall scoffed.
"I see. So what is your relationship to Katie?"
"Co-workers/best friends." Carlos said.
"Ok. Glad to see she has some friends who care about her. Not too many women in this situation are as lucky. In any case, Katie is doing fine, no complications thus far and it appears that she will have a normal delivery. She isn't dilated very much so she may have a longer labor so she could be in the ward for quite a while. We like to keep the birth as natural as possible, it's safer for mother and baby without the use of all kinds of drugs to move things along or reduce pain."
"How long can labor go on for?"
"Anywhere from an hour to more than a day. It depends on the frequency and strength of the contractions, as well as dilation. If no progress is being made after several hours then we would go for a Cesarean section other wise if progress is being made but at a slower pace it can take several hours. Each woman is different and it's too early to say what the process will be but we will keep you posted."
"Thank you doctor." Carlos said.
"No problem, we'll let you know when she goes into the delivery room. I assume no one will be with her?" he asked. They were quiet as they thought about it and looked at each other. They hadn't thought about that and weren't exactly sure if Katie would even want any of them with her, they were close but that was a dangerous line to cross. "You can think about it some more, its totally up to you if you think she wouldn't mind. I have other patients to see in the mean time so I must be going." he said as he went back inside.
Inside was where Katie was relaxing in her own room. Due to her well known fame, she was treated just like the other patients but she got more privacy. She had her own medical staff to tend to her but of course shared the doctor since there were others who needed him. Thanks to James' incoming checks and the generosity of the network to pitch in to pay her medical expenses, she received the best of everything.
She was resting comfortably between contractions that had only gotten frequent and more intense but she made little progress other wise. She was sweaty, sore all over and tired; labor had taken a lot out of her and it was only the beginning. Because she wasn't making much progress the use of local anesthetics couldn't be used so she had to endure the pain for now.
It had been several hours since arriving at the hospital and her contractions were deemed the real thing but they had stopped. Dr. Geng decided that she needed a little help and gave her an injection to induce labor again and hope that it would be enough to make it continue to delivery. He went out to the waiting room to relay the information he had and found the guys resting in the corner of the room. He decided they were probably just as exhausted as Katie was and let them rest, it had been a long day so far. After another hour she was checked again and the drug appeared to be working she was moved to the delivery ward after another 2 hours once she was prepared for delivery..
Logan woke up to the gentle pages of doctors and looked around before coming too and realizing where he was. He smacked both Kendall and Carlos who were on either side, sound asleep.
"Does anyone know anything knew?" he asked. But both had fallen asleep and new nothing so they went up to the desk to ask. A different nurse was behind the desk and had to ask for all of their information.
"Here she is, it appears that she just went into the delivery room. It could be another hour before we find out if it's a boy or girl."
"Can we go in?" Logan asked. The other two looked at him but backed him up and agreed.
"Sure, go on in and the orderlies will get you scrubbed up and sterilized." she said as she pressed the buzzer for the door. They walked in and were caught by staff and pulled to the scrub room where they had their hands and arms scrubbed vigorously and then had gloves, masks, hats, aprons and even covers on their shoes placed on them. They were then lead to the hallway just outside Katie's room where she heard her screaming. They screamed in response and got closer to each other, they were kind of hurt that she was in so much pain; they didn't want to see her like that.
"Logan, look in the window and see what's going on."
"I'm not looking in. Carlos, you do it."
"I cant get a good as look as Kendall could."
"Fine." Kendall said defeated. He looked in slowly and saw that the way the room was positioned, he couldn't see much, just doctors. He breathed a sigh of relief, he didn't want to see Katie exposed if he could help it. He's seen the birth process in health class when he was in high school and it was not a pretty sight. He never wanted to see that again. "It's clear, you can't see anything." he told them. They looked in and were focused on what the staff were doing and listening to what little dialogue they could hear that they didn't hear another doctor walk up behind them.
"Hey." he said in a non threatening way. The guys jumped, not expecting him to be behind them and in their confusion, tripped over their own feet and each other before landing on the floor and against the door with a thud. "Oh my, are you boys alright?" he asked bending to help them up and check them out. "I didn't mean to startle you." The commotion was loud enough to cause staff inside the room come out to see what was going on.
"Oh, it's you. I see you are all scrubbed up, come on in, you are just in time."
"That's ok. Can we just watch from here?"
"We're close but not that close."
"More like a Brother and sister kind of relationship"
"Just let her know we're here is all."
"Sure" he said with a smile before returning inside. They watched from the door as Katie screamed in agony and staff coached her through it. They wanted to be with her and knew that she would love to have some support but at the same time they respected her privacy. After all she would have made staff come get them if she felt comfortable enough.
Katie wished she had someone's hand to hold, someone to tell her that everything was alright but she was alone and in pain surrounded by strangers. She knew the guys were right outside and knew that they were fighting every urge to come barging through that door to her rescue. She wished she could tell them it would be alright for a change.