A/N: Hey everybody! Are you impressed with the swiftness of this update? Okay, well, I'm not sure the tissue warning will be necessary here, but it definately will be next chapter. Things are fixing to come to a head here, and now is where this story really starts to fit the nice summary I wrote for it. So please review, and to all you Americans out there, Happy Fourth of July!
Chapter 7: The Real Thing
Daisy and Bo helped Michelle back to the General Lee. After noticing their pie caterers were leaving, one of the assistant coaches, Mike Baylor, helped them by getting the jackets and other random items they almost left behind and loading them into the General's truck. After thanking Mike for his help, they sped away from the game.
Michelle's obstetrician, Dr. Jensen, wasn't too surprised to see her there in labor so soon after declaring her free of bedrest. In fact, he was expecting her. He led her and Bo into a delivery room, while Daisy made the necessary phone calls. Within the hour, Jesse and Luke had joined them.
The three in the waiting room waited in anticipation for the arrival of the baby. Their chatter was minimal; they mostly kept their thoughts to themselves. Though occaisonally they struck up a small conversation.
"I'm gonna be a great uncle fer the first time," Jesse commented.
"An' me an' Luke are gonna be second cousins," Daisy added.
"Daisy, we may as well jus' call ourselves aunt 'n' uncle," Luke told her. "That's pretty much how we're gonna be. I think we's gonna make a fine aunt 'n' uncle, and Uncle Jesse, yer gonna be more like a grandpa than anythin' else."
"Tha's the truth," Jesse proclaimed. "An' Bo 'n' Michelle are gonna make great parents."
"Well they'll have us ta help, too," said Daisy. Luke and Jesse both nodded in agreement.
"Is anybody hungry?" Luke wondered. "I'm starving. I think I'm gonna get a sandwich at the cafeteria or somethin'."
"I'll go with you," Daisy said. "Ya comin', Uncle Jesse?"
Jesse shook his head. "Someone should stay here in case Bo comes a-lookin' fer us. Bring me back somethin', though." Luke and Daisy nodded, before heading down to the hospital cafeteria.
After a few hours in the delivery room, Bo had to come out for a break. He spotted Jesse, Luke, and Daisy sitting silently in the waiting room and went over to them.
"Hey ya'll," he greeted. "Had ta come out fer a break. It's real noisy an' stressful in there."
Luke chuckled. "Hey, Bo, you look real funny in that goofy hat thing and yer doc smocks." Bo was wearing the customary outfit for almost dads.
He laughed, too. "Ya like my surgical mask?" he asked, holding up the mask that rested around his neck. "Maybe I should wear this fer the next Halloween party at the Boar's Nest. This'll make a good costume, don't ya'll think? Don't I look like a real doctor?"
Luke sniggered. "Naw, you just look like you in a doctor's suit. Just like a man whose wife's about to give birth. 'Sides, if you were my doctor--no, wait, ya wouldn't be. I'd never have you as my doc."
"Cute," said Bo.
"Well, Bo, yer the first one of us ta be in one a them there rooms," Jesse pointed out. "What's it like in there?"
"Like I said, it's loud. Shelly's been screamin' so loud from the pain I'm surprised I ain't deaf yet. Plus, she's been a-squeezin' my hand so hard durin' them contractions I think she done broke it, an' she's been yellin' at me every time I make a little teensy suggestion, sayin' 'Oh, Bo, you don't know anything about this, you've never given birth before, have you?' Yeah, that about covers it."
"In other words, it's terrible," said Jesse.
Bo nodded. "Can't wait till it's over an' I'm actually a daddy. Then when we have another child, I won't be alone in there." The other Dukes laughed. That's when Nora, a nurse came out and ushered Bo back into the delivery room, saying that Michelle wanted to see him.
When he went back in, Dr. Jensen reminded them about how the delivery would go, even filling them in on some gruesome details he had left out before. He told them it wouldn't be long now, another hour or so and they'd be parents. Michelle and Bo sighed and smiled at each other.
The next forty-five minutes passed rather slowly, and Michelle had more painful contractions than ever. Finally, at 3:20 that afternoon, Dr. Jensen announced it was time to deliver the baby.
Bo couldn't recollect much of the next few minutes as he looked back on them later; he mostly just knew there was a lot of screaming and pain, not just for Michelle, but for Bo, too as his hand was squashed harder than ever. He remembered the God-awful yet completely beautiful sight of the baby's head emerging from Michelle's cervix, and how slimy it looked. Blood, he also remembered blood. As Dr. Jensen aided the baby along as Michelle pushed it out, it was silent, but seconds after it was out, it let out a cry.
Michelle sat breathing heavily for a few moments, and Dr. Jensen looked over the baby nearby. "Looks like you guys have a healthy baby girl," he announced proudly.
"Yeeeeeee-haaaaaaaaaw!" Bo exclaimed loudly, grinning widely. "Ya hear that, Shelly? We got ourselves a daughter! An' she ain't datin' till she's 25."
That's when the machine monitoring Michelle's heart flatlined!
Dr. Jensen and a few nurses rushed over to the new mother to try and decipher the problem. Nora the nurse pulled Bo back and tried to pull him out of the room.
"Now listen Bo," Nora began. "We're gonna do everythin' we can for Michelle. But you have ta wait outside."
Bo shook his head in disbelief. "No, I cain't leave 'er! I have ta stay with 'er!"
"Bo, we'll tell you what happens," Nora said as she practically shoved Bo out the door. After the door was shut in his face, Bo backed against the wall and slid down, tears streaming down his face. He had just earned a daughter, but he may have lost his wife in the process.
Okay, ya'll there you have it. Please review, and don't count on me updating so fast next time.
