Chapter 10
"Ouch." Cooper groans from under the crib.
"Why do you need to be under there to put it together?" Charlotte asks, confused.
"I'm tightening screws. I don't want the thing to fall apart when we put our child in it."
"Well, it's gettin' late and you still have another one to put together tomorrow." Charlotte is nine weeks pregnant, and the nausea has shown little mercy and few signs of slowing down.
"You go to bed. I'll be there soon."
"Dad?" Mason yells from his room. It's his night with Cooper.
"Yeah," Cooper replies, pulling himself from under the crib.
"Are you coming to my recital tomorrow?" Mason asks. He has a band recital tomorrow. He's been learning to play the trumpet.
"Charlotte and I will be there." Cooper yells in reply.
"Good. Goodnight." Mason yells.
"Goodnight." Charlotte and Cooper reply in unison.
"We should be goin' to bed, too, Coop." Charlotte tells Cooper.
"Okay." Cooper says, pulling himself from the floor. "I was finished with this one, anyway."
"Good." Charlotte says, grabbing his arm and walking out of the room with him.
The next day, after lunch, Cooper and Charlotte are on their way to Mason's recital.
"We should start thinking about names. For the babies."
"Now?" Cooper asks.
"Just thinking. We won't pick one for a while. We should each pick two boy's names and two girls'."
"Sounds good." Cooper smiles. "Here we are." Cooper says as he pulls the car into the school parking lot. When they get into the school auditorium, they immediately go to the front row, but there are no empty seats so they settle for the second row. Erica comes to sit with them.
"Hey." She says.
"Hey." Cooper replies.
After about ten minutes of waiting, the curtain goes up. The whole band is sitting on-stage. The conductor asks everyone to stand for the national anthem. When the anthem is over, the band does two more songs as a whole, then groups of instruments perform a song. Clarinets, trombones, saxophones, then trumpets. Each player in the trumpet section gets their own piece, because they are such a loud instrument. Erica, Cooper, and Charlotte clap and cheer the loudest of anyone in the crowd. After the show is over, Mason comes to find them.
"That was great!" Erica yells when he finds them. She pulls him into a big hug.
"Mom, my friends are somewhere around here!" Mason mumbles under his breath.
"You were really great up there, Mason!" Charlotte says. Her pager goes off. "Oh, darn. I got to go. I'm sorry, Mase. I'll see you tonight, okay?" Charlotte says, looking at her pager. "Are you comin' with me now or can you get a ride?" Charlotte says, looking at Cooper.
"I'll give him a ride." Erica tells Charlotte.
"Thanks." Charlotte says. "I'll see you later." She turns to leave.
When Charlotte arrives at the hospital, it's really bustling, more than usual. Amelia is standing at the nurses station in the ER.
"Why does everything seem so hectic?" Charlotte asks.
"There's a bunch of traumas coming in. And Sam was in a car accident last night, so Addison was freaking out, now she's here. On the OB floor. She was having contractions this morning. Last I checked she was four centimeters, that was like, an hour ago. Speaking of which, I should go check on her…" Amelia trails off.
"How's Sam?"
"He's upset because I won't let him leave his room. He wants to be with Addison. I told him Mark was with her and he could go up when it was time to push." Amelia says.
"Well, I'm goin' to go see how Addison's doin'. I'll see you later." Charlotte says, turning towards the elevator. When she gets up to Addison's room, she is laying in bed, appearing to be very exhausted.
"Hey. How's to goin'?" Charlotte asks.
"Better since we got the epidural." Mark says.
"Alright, I guess." Addison sighs.
"Good. Have you talked to Sam at all?" Charlotte asks.
"I saw him before we came up here. He seemed to be doing fine." Addison says, sighing again.
"Well, I'm goin' to see him right away." Charlotte looks at Addison.
"Could you give him an update? Amelia was supposed to be updating him, but I heard something big was coming in so she might have gotten held up."
"Yeah, I can let him know. How far dilated are you?"
"Six centimeters. Contractions are about six minutes apart. Thanks, Charlotte."
"Six and six. Got it." Charlotte smiles as she leaves the room. When she gets back to Sam's room, he is laying in bed, twiddling his thumbs.
"You don't look too happy." Charlotte notes.
"I'm not. Have you seen Addison yet?" Sam asks.
"Yes, she's six centimeters dilated and contractions are six minutes apart. How are you?"
"Fine, I guess. I was hoping you'd be able to pull some strings?" Sam hints, smiling.
"Maybe a few, but not too many, you are still recovering from brain surgery, Sam. You know that." Sam nods, then his face goes blank. "Sam?" Charlotte tries to get his attention. Before she knows it, Sam is having a full-on seizure.