Ezra stood in the corner of Hanna's hospital room, watching the nurses shuffle about. Hanna's pain medication had made her drowsy and she finally fell in to a silent, light slumber. Caleb was still busy and hadn't been up to see her yet. Ezra tried to sneak out the door several times, but his conscience kept drawing him back in. He couldn't leave Hanna. Not like this, not when she might still need him eventually. Monitors beeped, lights flashed and Ezra held vigil at the door frame watching it all happen in slow motion.
Reese had been whisked away as soon as her umbilical cord was cut. Neither Caleb nor Ezra cut the cord, there wasn't any time. The doctor quickly picked up the surgical scissors and snipped it without saying a word while the nurse wrapped her up in a thick cotton hospital blanket and whisked her out of the room. Hanna struggled to see what was going on amidst all of the people who had suddenly flocked in and were quickly adjusting monitors and hitting keys on machines. The color quickly ran out of Ezra's face as he heard rumblings between the staff.
"Get us a bed in the OR stat. Place her on oxygen and ..." the doctor trailed off as he left the room with the nurse he was speaking to. Ezra's hands slid in to his pockets and his shoulders slumped down as he moved back and forth attempting to step out of someone's way, only to step right in to someone else's way instead. The doctors injected a sedative in to Hanna's IV to help her relax and rest until Caleb and the rest of her family could make it to the hospital.
Ezra was jolted out of his daydream by his cell phone chirping.
"Hello?" He answered, almost too quickly.
Aria was startled, "Hi." There was a brief pause on the line.
"It's not good Aria," He swallowed hard and walked out of the room to try and find a quieter place to continue their conversation.
Aria wasn't sure what to say, so she waited for Ezra. He quickly found an empty chair in the back row of a dark waiting room and finally relaxed his body within it.
"She was born... and then she was just taken away out of the room and now Hanna is knocked out from medication and I'm still here. Why am I still here? Why is Caleb not here? I, uh...I ... I think she's okay but I'm just not sure," he forcefully closed his eyes tightly shut and rubbed at the back of his neck. Why was this conversation so awkward?
"What do you mean she got taken away? What's wrong?" Aria attempted to jump out of bed to begin putting her shoes on, but her burgeoning bump made it nearly impossible to do anything at a rapid speed.
"The doctors have been tossing around a medical term that I can't quite catch, but from what I saw she has some sort of a growth around her belly button," Ezra explained flatly to Aria.
"A growth...like a tumor? Is it big? Can we see her?"
"Aria. I don't know. I'm not a doctor. I'm not Hanna's husband. I'm not Reese's father. I have absolutely no rights to know anything about this situation, nor do I want to. I will be home within the hour. I'm leaving right now." He pushed himself up out of his chair to leave.
"What! Ezra...you can't go. Hanna needs you." Suddenly Aria had forgotten, at least for a moment, all of the turbulence that had been in their life for the past year. She was struggling to balance her weight while sliding a sock on her right foot.
"No, Aria. Hanna needs Caleb. Why is Caleb not here? What kind of dead beat doesn't leave work and show up when their baby is being born?" Ezra felt a tap on his shoulder.
"Dead beat Dad, at your service. I finally made it...what room is Hanna in?" Caleb gave a wide grin. He was riding too much of an excited high from the news of Hanna giving birth to let Ezra's cheap shot bring him down. At least, for now. He would save that comment and revisit it later. Ezra hung up on Aria with no explanation.
"Uh...listen, Caleb. There's something that you should know before you walk in..." Caleb's face went ghost white. His grin dropped off of his face and he turned and began sprinting through the hallway. He reached the nurses station and smacked his hands on the counter.
"Where is my girlfriend? Hanna Marin. She just had a baby," the nurses were stunned and stared at him in disbelief with wide eyes.
"I SAID, WHERE IS HANNA MARIN'S ROOM?" Caleb yelled.
"Room 312." A nurse managed to choke out before turning back to her computer.
Aria sat on the edge of her bed staring at what she could see of her feet past her belly. One foot had a sock and an Ugg boot on it, the other just a sock. She was already out of breath, and she was barely half way through her pregnancy. She took a deep breath and leaned forward as far as she could to get her second Ugg boot on her right foot.
"Ahh...got it," Aria let out a deep sigh and pushed herself off of the edge of the bed to look for a sweatshirt. None of her tops fit her any more so she pushed through Ezra's side of the closet. Mostly it consisted of button up oxfords and sweaters, but at the very back there were a few basic cotton pull overs from the days that Ezra thought he wanted to get back in shape. Aria took another deep breath and attempted to pull the sweatshirt down over her head and adjusted it over her baby bump. It barely covered the bottom half of her stomach, but today it would just have to do. She was in a hurry, even though she wasn't sure what she was in a hurry for. To go sit in the hospital waiting room all day long? To hear bad news about someone else's baby? To feel guilt that her babies were more than likely completely healthy and Hanna's baby had something so wrong with it that she hasn't even gotten to lay eyes on her properly yet?
"Don't overthink this situation Aria. You are just going to be emotional support for Ezra..." She spoke to herself in the mirror as she twisted her long messy hair in to a heavy knot on top of her head. She swiped a coat of mascara on her eye lashes and rubbed some chap stick on her lips before grabbing her purse and darting out the door and slamming her Civic in to reverse on to the road.
Ezra and Caleb were seated next to each other in the waiting room when Aria arrived at the hospital.
"Hi, I got here as fast as I could waddle," Aria tried to joke to break the tension in the room.
Caleb didn't look at her, he kept his eyes focused on the door to the maternity ward. Someone should be coming through that door any second to fill him in on what was happening with Hanna and Reese.
"It's called Gastroschisis. Reese has...Gastroschisis." Ezra began explaining.
"She was born with part of her small intestine protruding from a hole beside her belly button. It's not very rare, but it's pretty serious." He rubbed his hands up and down the top of his thighs, staring at the tile floor before looking up to greet Aria's gaze.
"She's back in surgery right now. She's been in for about an hour...or so," Ezra quickly glanced at Caleb before looking back to Aria.
"They said they would come get us when we heard anything..."
Ezra shot Aria a flat smile and patted the seat beside him. She slowly sat down and let her heavy purse fall to the floor with a loud thud that broke Caleb out of his trance. He cleared his throat and sat up straighter in his chair.
"Thanks for coming Aria."
"Oh...Caleb," Aria stood up and leaned towards Caleb to embrace him in a hug.
"I'm so sorry."
"It will be fine, you know. They uh...they keep telling me it will all be fine. Just a little uh..." Caleb's voice began cracking and the corners of his mouth began twitching.
"Oh Caleb...Oh no, no don't cry. It will be okay. If they say it will be okay then it will. The surgeons are so skilled and well trained, I'm sure that this will be an easy surgery and she will come out and be just fine." Aria's voice began breaking as well as she pulled Caleb in tighter to her shoulders. She heard him take a deep breath, and then he finally let the sobs escape from within his body.
Ezra sat awkwardly staring at Aria's back as she helped Caleb mentally process what was currently happening in his life. He couldn't help but wonder if Aria should be comforting him instead of Caleb. After all, they still weren't 100% positive that Caleb was Reese's Dad, at least biologically. Of course, he had already volunteered to be her Dad no matter whose DNA she shared. But if Reese was actually his, he wasn't sure how he would feel about Caleb being so devastated over her surgery.
Suddenly the door to the maternity ward opened.
"She's asking for you," the nurse walked over and tapped Caleb on the shoulder.
"Hanna, she's asking where you are."
He quickly dropped his embrace from Aria and followed the nurse back to Hanna's room.