Demi's Point of View.
Joe and I fell asleep soon after we got home from the hospital. It's been a really… really exhausting day. For me, especially.
I don't know if I feel bad about cussing my parents out like that. I don't think I do, but I'm not entirely sure. I mean, I think they deserved it. But I just hope that I haven't done anything to make them resent me forever. I don't really want to be on bad terms with them forever, I just hope that I got through to them.
Anyway, I sleep really well tonight. Joe has me entangled so tightly in his arms that I can hardly move, and that's the way I like it. My head is resting on his chest and my hands are laid flat on his abs. He has his arm wrapped around my waist and his other arm is secured on my butt. His head is collapsed on top of my head and I'm really comfortable. I always sleep the best whenever I'm held by him.
I don't know what it is though, but something in my conscience tells me to wake up. I don't have to pee. I don't have to do anything. Something just told me to wake up.
I lift myself up and Joe clenches his arms around me hard. "What's the matter Demi?" His sleepy voice is really sexy.
"…Nothing." I say. Nothing's wrong. I just had to wake up.
"Are you sure?" He yawns real big and his hands are rubbing all over my body.
"Mhm…" I nod.
He brings one of his free hands up and combs through my hair with his fingers. "You don't seem too sure. Nothing's bothering you?"
I shake my head. "No…"
"It's too dark in here for me to see you, otherwise I'd kiss you."
I smile a little. "You can always just try." It really is too dark to see where our lips are supposed to meet.
He lifts his head up and ends up kissing my nose. I laugh. "Wrong way." I whisper to him.
He lifts the covers up over both our heads. "Help me out then."
"What if I don't help you?"
"I'll have to beat you up…" He puts his hands on my waist and slides them up my shirt.
"At two o clock in the morning? You're gonna beat me up?" I just lie there and let him do whatever he wants to do to me.
"I don't care how early in the morning it is. I'll still beat you up." He leans down and kisses my neck.
I really love the relationship that Joe and I have. He's really my best friend. And I remember back whenever we were filming our first movie, our play fights would always turn into something more than play fights, but they never led to sex. Just touching, kissing, fingering or handjobs. Nothing more than that. But he's the only man I've ever "fought" with.
"Oh, really? I don't think you will… because it'd be awfully rude to wake up your mom because I hurt you too bad." I stroke his head as he kisses my neck.
His hands fumble around with the rims of my underwear. "You should just let me beat you up."
"…I'm beginning to think me and you have different definitions of 'beat up'." I smile and keep rubbing his head.
"Maybe we do… I've got my mind set on beating something in particular up… if you know what I mean." He lifts his head from my neck and kisses my lips. I kiss him back hard and bite his bottom lip.
"Why don't you tell me what that something is?"
"I think you already know." He maneuvers himself between my legs and I open them for him. "Do you need me to be easy with you?"
I look down at the way our pelvises are touching and I smirk. "Maybe a little… I'm kind of sore."
"I'll be careful." He promises. He slides his hand down my underwear first off and just rubs. I don't think he needs to do the whole foreplay thing, because I'm already wet. But I follow his lead and put my hand down his boxers too.
On the dresser beside the bed, I hear something buzzing. I think this is what told me to wake up in the first place. I just… had this feeling. And I have the feeling again. The feeling that this is it.
"Hold on, baby." I whisper to Joe. I take my hand from his boxers and reach over to check the caller ID. If it's not anyone important, I won't answer.
"Come on Demi… just let it ring." Joe's begging. His hand is still moving between my legs. Oh god, it feels good.
"Just hold on… real quick." I grab my phone and look. It's not a number that I recognize. I really don't know whose number it is.
"Who is it?" He whines. He actually pushes a finger inside of me.
I can't hold back a little moan. "Mmmm… I don't know. But let me answer it…"
I slide my finger across the screen and put the phone to my ear. Joe still hasn't stopped; he's still fingering me.
"Hello?" I struggle to keep my tone steady.
"Hello, may I speak to Demetria?"
I close my eyes and curl my toes under to bear with what's Joe's doing to me. I feel him breathing on my sex now. I really hope he doesn't decide to give me oral while I'm on the phone. I'll have to hang up. "Speaking…" My voice is shaky.
"Hi, Demi. This is Dr. Grace… do you have a free minute?"
Who's doctor Grace? Joe puts his mouth atop of my crotch and he swirls his tongue around. My breath catches in my throat. "Dr. Grace?" I ask.
"Yes… from the NICU? Do you have a minute?" She explains to me who she is.
OH. That doctor Grace. …Why is she calling me? I put my hand down on Joe's head and stop him. He slams his hands down on the sides of the bed angrily, but I don't care. He's gonna have to wait. "I have a minute… is everything okay?"
"I'm really sorry to be calling so early in the morning, but we have a little… problem here. With Joella."
"Joella? Is she alright?" When I say Joella's name, Joe snaps out of it too. He comes up from the covers and I sit up too, no underwear on and everything.
"How soon can you and your partner get here, Demi? Her health has taken a turn… for the worst. Nancy is prepping her for surgery right now."
"I can be there in… twenty minutes. Is she going to be okay?" I feel myself getting all worked up. My stomach gets tight in a knot and tears sting my eyes real bad. I get up from the bed and yank on my underwear with the phone still pressed to my ear.
"I'm pretty sure she'll be fine eventually, but she's not doing well right now. I will explain everything as soon as you get here."
"Okay." I hang up the phone and yank on some sweatpants too.
"What's the matter Demi? What happened to Joella?"
"Hurry up and get dressed Joe. They're taking her to surgery…"
"…Why?"
"I DON'T KNOW, JOE JUST GET UP!" I wipe tears away with the back of my hand and sniff.
Joe springs up from the bed and heads to his bathroom. He's in there for a little while.
I feel weird about this, but I have to do it anyway, because Joe's taking too long in the bathroom and I'm ready to GO.
I walk out of Joe's room and go down the hall to his parents' room. I knock on their door hard.
I hear rustling coming from their bed and the latch on their door flings open. Paul opens the door.
"What's going on?"
"Joe and I have to go to the hospital. One of the baby's doctors just called and said that she has to be rushed into surgery tonight…" My jaw is trembling.
"Oh… Okay. Call us when you get there. Keep us updated on her. I mean it, Demi."
"I will… I will." I don't even wait for him to say anything else. I go back to Joe's room, slide on flip flops and run downstairs. Joe's not far behind me.
"Come on, Joe. Why are you moving so slow?" I wipe my face again but it's no use.
Joe hurries up and gets in the car with me. We speed off to the hospital.
Joe's Point of View.
I can't calm Demi down. I can't even calm myself down right now, quite honestly. But Demi is a basket case. At least I can hide my distress. She's snapping out at everybody, crying really hard and rushing me. I can only drive but so fast, you know?
We get to the hospital in ten minutes and Demi flies out of the car and into the building. I have to run to keep up with her.
We go up to the seventh floor, check in, wash our hands, scan our bracelets and Demi runs back to Joella's incubator.
Joella's not in her incubator. Her incubator is empty and still taken apart. Dr. Grace is sitting there, obviously waiting for us.
"Where is she?" Demi asks immediately.
"She's in pre-surgery right now. They need to put her under anesthesia so they're going to do that soon. It looks like she's suffering from appendicitis. And she was struggling real hard to breathe while she was in so much pain, so around one o clock, Nancy gave her a breathing treatment. And that helped, but soon after that, her appendix was on the bubble of bursting.. So we've gotten a surgeon to help her out. The surgery is just going to be very routine. He's going to go in there and stabilize her lungs with a scope so that she doesn't struggle to breathe anymore, and then we're gonna remove her appendix real easy. Then for a few hours after surgery, she'll be put on oxygen therapy. She's not breathing on her own right now, but she is going to be okay after we get the appendix out of her."
"Can we go see her? Before she goes back for surgery?" Demi asks again.
"Let me go see how far along Nancy is. I'll come back and let you know her status." Dr. Grace nods at us and disappears behind a set of double doors.
Demi's a mess. She's wiping her face every two seconds and just crying so hard. I kind of want to cry too, but that wouldn't help her.
So instead, I pull her into my chest and hold her tight. "Shhh… you heard the doctor. She's gonna be okay babe… she's gonna be okay."
"She's just a baby, Joe…" She cries into my chest.
"I know… and she's a strong baby. She'll be okay. She's gonna be okay." I rub her back.
"I just can't help but think this is all my fault." She sniffs and wipes her face.
"Demetria, look at me. She's OKAY. She's a strong baby. She's gonna be okay."
Dr. Grace comes back to us. "You two can come on back. She hasn't gone into surgery just yet. She's still being prepped for anesthetics."
We follow doctor Grace back through the double doors, down a hallway and into a small room. Inside the room, there's a tiny hospital bed with bars on the sides. It looks like crib. Joella's lying in the crib-bed with a tube up her nose and wires attached onto her belly.
"Hi gorgeous…" Demi leans over the side of the crib and kisses her cheek. "I'm here… you see me? Mommy's here…" She holds her hand.
Joella is shivering and whimpering. She sounds miserable. Damn it, I can't hold it back anymore. I let a tear slip through my right eye.
"What's a matter, gorgeous? What's a matter?" I say in a baby voice. I lean down and kiss her cheek too.
Joella opens up her eyes and looks at me and then at Demi. "Hehhh…"
"I missed you, pumpkin. Mommy and Daddy's gonna be right here when you wake up…" Demi's stroking her hair.
"We're gonna go ahead and start an IV on her so that we can get the anesthesia mask on. Okay?" Nancy speaks softly.
"Do I have to stop touching her?" Demi asks with tears still streaming from her face.
"No. You guys can still rub on her and love on her while I'm doing the IV and doing the anesthesia." Nancy opens up a new needle.
Joella's attention is on the needle pack that Nancy just opened because it made a noise.
"Lala… Lala…. Over here. Look at mommy… don't look at that." Demi's speaking real softly. Joella turns her head to Demi. "Yeah… look at mommy and daddy. Don't look over there."
I watch Nancy stick the IV needle in Joella's chubby little ankle. I wince a little. I don't like to see anyone inflict pain on her.
Joella whines a little bit before it turns into a full blown cry. Her cry is LOUD and really ear piercing. It's the kind of cry where you can tell that she was just hurt.
"It's over, pumpkin. It's over… it's all done." I try to comfort her too. I take her hand in my hand and rub it. She calms down just a little.
Nancy softly puts a mask over Joella's face. Joella SCREAMS bloody murder. It's breaking my heart so bad to hear it.
Demi's crying so hard that she has to leave the room.
I sit with our baby while one doctor holds her hands down and the other doctor puts her to sleep.
It's one of the hardest things I've ever had to watch.
Demi's Point of View.
I really need to calm down. I really need to chill out. I can't stop crying, and just when I think that I'm about to stop crying, the sound of my baby screaming like that haunts me again.
I don't know, maybe I'm overreacting, but that was so hard to hear my baby cry like that. She's just a baby…
I grab my phone out of my pocket and walk back to Joella's incubator. I check the time. It's 3:24 in the morning. I feel bad for calling at this hour, but I really need someone to talk to. I need to talk to someone, and only one person comes to mind right now.
I grab Joella's blanket from her incubator and hold it. It smells like her, so it makes me feel like I have her in my arms.
I dial the number on my phone and wait for an answer.
I won't be surprised if I don't get an answer, it's really early in the morning, but I really need someone to talk to.
To my immense surprise, I do get an answer.
"…Do you have any idea how early it is, Demi? I could kill you…"
"Dallas… I just… I don't know what to do right now…" I cry to her.
She yawns into the phone. "What happened now?"
"It's Joella…"
"Is she okay?"
"No… No… she's in surgery right now and I just…. I can't do this anymore, Dal. It's way too hard… to see her like that…"
"What's she in surgery for?"
"Appendix… trouble breathing… I don't know what to do, Dallas…"
"You want me to come to the hospital? I mean… it's a little early… I'd probably have to sneak… but if you need me, I'll come."
"I know it's early and I'm sorry for calling this early… but I just really need you, Dal. You're the only person… I don't know. I just…"
She sighs hard into the phone. "I'm coming… what floor is the NICU on?"
"The seventh."
"Mmkay. I'll be right there."
"Thanks Dal."
"What are sisters for?"
I hang up the phone and just wait. I can't do this anymore, I seriously can't. I've had it up to here with everything. With EVERYTHING.
Dr. Grace walks back in the room to put Joella's incubator back together. "Believe me, Demi. You're taking this harder than Joella's taking it. She's a little trouper."
I sniff. "But it's hard to see her like that…"
"I know how you feel… my youngest son, Jaden, spent a few months in the NICU too. He's healthy as a horse today, but it was hard to see him like that." She puts Joella's blankets back into the incubator.
"…Is this gonna affect when I get to bring her home? Like… am I not gonna get to bring her home for longer? Nancy said yesterday that she'd be able to come home in 2-3 weeks."
"Demi, what do you think an appendicitis is? It's not affecting her in any way possible, besides causing her some pain. Joella is still doing very, very well here. She's still really healthy. You'll still get to bring her home. It's not that serious."
I sniff. "Okay, good. I just can't wait to get her out of here…"
"Trust me. It'll all be worth it the day you walk out of here with a healthy little baby."
I smile and nod. "You're right…" I wipe my face again. "Where's Joe?"
"He's sitting in the recovery room waiting for Joella to come out. Her surgery's only about 20 minutes long."
"When you go back, can you tell him that I'll be back there in a little while? Tell him that I'm waiting on Dallas…"
"Yes ma'am, I will." She snaps the incubator closed and goes back through the double doors.
I sit there a little longer just waiting.
Dallas rounds the corner to Joella's cubicle. "..I was wondering which way this was…" She says, all confused.
I laugh a little. "Hey, Dalls."
She sits down in the chair across from me. "You okay?"
"I'm feeling better… I still feel pretty crappy though…"
"She'll be okay."
"I know she will."
She reaches down into her purse. "I bought Lala something…"
"Really?"
"Mhm… thought she might like to have this…" She picks a small, stuffed penguin from her purse. It's mine.
"…Zazu…" I smile and laugh.
My mom gave me Zazu when I was three. I was obsessed with the Lion King when I was a baby, and I wanted a Dodo bird for my third birthday. Well, instead of a Dodo bird, my mom gave me this penguin. I named it Zazu.
"Thanks, Dal… I… I really wanted to give this to her." I smile big.
"I knew you'd want to give it to her." She smiles too.
Through the set of double doors, Nancy walks out.
"Joella's out of surgery, you can come back to recovery to see her."
Me and Dallas both stand up to go see my baby.
I have Zazu in my hand, ready to introduce him to his new owner.