"It's really dark out there..." Aiden sighs as he looks out the window
The family has just finished dinner and the now seven year-old has retreated to the living room to watch a storm roll in as his parents clean up in the kitchen. It's not just any storm, however, it's a hurricane. After close to four years of living in South Carolina at this point, Beck and Jade have lived through their fair share of hurricane seasons. They know when they need to be alarmed and when they don't. The storm had only been upped from a tropical storm to a hurricane that afternoon, and just barely. It's a Category 1, so they're expecting heavy rain and strong winds, some damage...but not much. As long as they stay inside until everything has passed, they'll be perfectly safe.
"That's what happens at nighttime, Aiden." Jade reminds her son as she puts dishes away "We can't blame that on the storm alone."
"Well yeah, but still..." Aiden hesitates "It's scary..."
Normally the daylight extends long past dinner time in July, but now at just 6:30 pm the sky is close to pitch black. Aiden isn't as scared of thunderstorms as he used to be, sometimes he'll sit out on the porch with Beck and watch the lightning during the more mild ones, but tropical storms and hurricanes make him especially nervous.
"Everything is going to be fine." Jade assures him, walking over to join her son at the window "S'just a really big thunderstorm is all."
At seven years old, Aiden has started to become a bit more independent. However in a moment like this, where he's uneasy and maybe even a little bit afraid, he isn't ashamed to turn to his mother for comfort. He inches closer to her and hugs her from the side. With her now five and a half months pregnant, it's getting a little bit harder for him to do so from the front.
"You'll be okay." She assures him, running a hand through his hair gently "We'll probably sleep through the worst of it."
"Wow." Beck appears behind them, a dish rag slung over his shoulder "Look at those clouds."
"Babe..." Jade singsongs "We're trying to make him feel better right now."
"They're not scary or anything, they're just cool." Beck admits "Wanna go out and look at them for a little bit before the rain starts?"
"Is it safe?" Aiden asks
"I would never put you in a situation where you weren't safe." Beck promises him as he extends his hand "Come on, let's go."
The family exits the house through the back door, and Jade stays on the deck while Beck and Aiden walk down the short path to the beach. She too likes to watch thunderstorms, but if they happen to get caught in the rain she knows she won't be able to run back to the house as quickly as her boyfriend and her son. She watches Beck and Aiden as they step onto the beach, careful to stay a safe distance away from the much larger-than-normal waves the storm is causing.
As she watches her two boys wander along the beach to look up at the storm clouds, she can't help but softly caress her protruding abdomen. They very well could have found out the baby's gender at her last doctor's appointment, but both she and Beck had agreed they didn't want to. Jade hadn't known Aiden's gender when she was pregnant, and that's how she wants to do it again this time. Not to mention that the element of surprise would make the baby's birthday that much more exciting. Not knowing irritated Aiden to no end though. He is so anxious to find out if he's getting a baby brother or sister, and hates that he'll have to wait another four months or so.
Jade thought her intuition had told her Aiden was going to be a boy, but now as she experiences this pregnancy she thinks that maybe she had just been hoping for him to be a boy and had gotten lucky. She truly has no idea if the baby she's carrying is a boy or a girl, and she doesn't know which she would prefer at this point either. Part of her agrees with Beck, that it would be great to have one of each. But the thought of bringing a daughter into this world after everything she had been through terrifies her. She knows that she and Beck are already capable of raising a boy, and that Aiden would love a little brother. That would be an awful lot of testosterone under one roof though, and it would be nice to have a girl to do girl things with. Really at the end of the day all she cares about is that the baby is healthy and safe, but there are times when she can't help but wonder.
Almost as if it can tell she's thinking about it, Jade feels the baby's foot brush up against her hand. A gasp escapes her lips as it does so, as this is technically the baby's first real kick. She's been able to feel movement inside of her for weeks now at this point, but it's the first time that someone else on the outside would be able to feel it too.
"BECK!" She calls out to her boyfriend "BABE COME QUICK! I NEED YOU!"
Beck turns with a sense of urgency and runs back to the house as quickly as he can, ushering Aiden along with him.
"What is it?" He asks as he leaps up the steps to the deck "Is something wrong?"
"The baby is moving." She tells him
"What?" He gasps
"C'mere." She grins, reaching out for his hands
With Jade's guidance, Beck places his hand on the lower left side of her stomach. They both wait patiently for some kind of movement as Aiden watches anxiously.
"I don't feel anything." Beck admits with a disappointed look on his face
"You will, just wait." She promises him "It'll be the most amazing thing, Beck. I-"
And then they both feel it. It's not very strong, because the baby is still tiny, but it's there. Either a hand or a foot has brushed up against Beck's hand and both parents share a loving look of adoration. Jade thinks back to the first time she felt Aiden move, how scary it had been to finally have a constant reminder that there was life inside of her. This is less scary, she has someone to share it with, someone who is just as excited as she is.
"C'mere, Aiden." Jade nods to her son "Come feel."
"Uh, okay..." Aiden hesitates
Beck shows him where to put his hand and just like before, they wait patiently for another kick. When the baby brushes up against Aiden's hand he pulls it away, startled by the movement.
"Woah!" He looks up at his mother "That feels weird!"
"I know it does." She admits
"Did I move around like that too when I was in your tummy?"
"You did." Jade chuckles as a raindrop lands on her forehead "The rain is here, we should get inside."
The three of them return to the living room, as the rain starts to fall. Trying their best not to worry about the storm outside, the family picks a movie to watch together to occupy the rest of their evening. Jade sits in the middle with Beck and Aiden on either side so that both of them can take turns feeling the baby move around. Before long, there's a concerning sound from outside.
"What is that?" Aiden shrieks, covering his ears and hiding his face in Jade's side
"It's the warning siren." Jade says, sharing a nervous look with Beck "It means they think we should take shelter somewhere."
She's only heard the siren once before, when she was in high school and visited her grandparents for the summer. If it's going off, that means whoever is in charge thinks the storm might cause enough damage to put people in danger.
"Alright." Beck nods calmly, not wanting to make the situation any worse "We'll go to the basement then."
"Wait!" Aiden runs from the room and disappears upstairs
"Aiden Joshua!" Jade calls after him as she and Beck go around turning off the lights on the main floor "This isn't the time to be messing around, let's go!"
"I had to get Humphrey!" Aiden announces as he comes back into sight, the stuffed elephant Cat had given him all those years ago tucked under his arm "I don't want him to get lost!"
"Fair enough." Jade sighs with a slight smile, opening the door to the basement, flipping on the light switch, and ushering him down "Come on, let's go."
Beck grabs enough bottled water for the three of them and a few snacks, just in case. He follows Jade and Aiden into the basement and closes the door tightly behind him before he descends the staircase.
There's plenty in the basement to keep Aiden entertained, as that's where they keep most of his toys. There's also a TV that Beck uses for video games on occasion, and he turns it on and switches the station over to the Weather Channel so they can stay updated. Now out of sight and earshot of it, Aiden seems significantly less concerned with the storm. Beck and Jade figure this probably has something to do with him still not yet being quite old enough to understand what the sirens mean, but they're relieved that he's preoccupied with his toys for the moment at least.
"Are you okay?" Beck asks as he and Jade sit down on one of the couches
"I'm okay." Jade nods
Being in the basement doesn't bother her much. As long as the lights are on and there's people with her, it barely even feels like a basement.
"Is the baby okay?"
"Baby is okay too." She assures him "We're both-"
Before she can finish her sentence, the television and all of the lights around them go dark. Aiden, frightened by the sudden change, runs over to be next to them both.
"Jade?"
This bothers her, being in the dark. Although her basement is so much different from the one Ron held her in, there's carpeting and real walls instead of cement everything, without being able to see around her and without there being any natural light, she suddenly feels trapped. She's pregnant and alone again, being held hostage by a monster. A life inside of her twisting and turning, begging her to keep it safe when she's not even sure if she's safe herself. She cradles her head in her hands, trying to separate her imagination from reality. Ron's voice is echoing in her ears, demanding that she shuts up and does what he tells her to.
"Jade?" Beck says again
"No..." Jade whimpers quietly "No, no, no...not again..."
Out of the corner of her eye, she sees a bit of light. She moves her right arm to look where it's coming from, and sees that Beck has turned on the flashlight on his phone.
She can see him, sitting on the couch right next to her with Aiden on his lap.
"The storm knocked the power out, that's all." Beck tells her "You're in your own home with Aiden and me and the baby...think of the baby."
"Right...t-t-the baby."
"You're safe, we're all safe. I'm going to touch you, is that okay?"
"Y-yeah..." Jade nods
Beck sets Aiden next to him, opposite of the side Jade is on, and wraps an arm around his girlfriend. Jade leans into him, feeling better just knowing that she's not alone.
"We're safe, Mom." Aiden reiterates "The storm can't hurt us."
Jade smiles a bit at her son's innocence. He doesn't remember much about the first three years of his life, thankfully, just that wherever he was, he was with Jade and Ashley. The basement doesn't have any negative connotations to him, this isn't scary...it's just strange. He's right though, they are safe. Ron is dead, he has been for years, and they can leave this basement at their own free will whenever they choose.
"You're absolutely right, baby..." She reaches across Beck and grabs Aiden's small hand "We're safe."
"Is the baby scared?" Aiden asks as Beck wraps his other arm around him
"No." Jade shakes her head, although it's too dark for anyone to see her do so "No, the baby isn't scared. Not when they know that their mommy, daddy, and big brother Aiden are here to protect them."
Beck rubs Jade's arm gently, then moves his hand lower to trace circles on her belly. This is his way of letting her know that she'll be okay without speaking, and she doesn't even remember falling asleep.
It's still raining the next morning when they emerge from the basement, but the worst of it all seems to be over. A quick assessment of the house reveals that no real damage was done, but one of their trees in the front yard had lost a rather large branch that would need to be removed.
Jade once again lets out a breath she hadn't even realized she had been holding as she realizes they had survived yet another storm.
"Come on, Jade!" Her doctor encourages her "I can see the head, just a few more big pushes and you'll have a baby!"
"You're doing so good, babe." Beck tells his girlfriend as he clutches her hand tightly "You're doing so good! You're so amazing!"
He's astonished at how calm she's stayed throughout the entirety of her labor. She's constantly wincing in discomfort and every once and a while she'll shriek at a sudden jolt of pain, but she hasn't cried or screamed. She's like a super hero almost.
In reality, this labor is so much less scary for Jade than Aiden's had been. Rather than being alone in a basement with no idea what she's supposed to do, she's in a hospital surrounded by professionals. The man she loves, the father of her child, is at her side and being nothing but supportive, and the fact that she has access to pain medication this time around is definitely helping too.
"Beck?"
"I'm right here." He assures her, brushing a lose strand of hair off her sweaty forehead
"I'm glad you are." She tells him "I love you."
"I love you too." He smiles, kissing her cheek quickly "Keep pushing, okay? Let's meet this baby."
Jade grunts as she exerts all of her energy to give another push, eager as ever to meet her son or daughter. She pushes for another twenty minutes before she feels the pressure she had been feeling in her pelvis disappear and the sounds of a baby's cries fill the room.
"It's a girl!" One of the nurses announces as the doctor cleans all of the gunk away from the baby's mouth and nose "Congratulations."
"A girl!" Beck grins as the screaming baby is placed on Jade's chest "Jade, we have a girl."
"Hi baby girl." Jade gasps, looking down at her daughter "Oh, wow...you're so beautiful."
She's pink and bloody and screaming, but Jade's first thought is how much she looks like Aiden. Although she seems to be just a little bit bigger than he was, her eyebrows are furrowed the same way his had been when she first held him. Her second thought, is how scared she is to raise a daughter in this world. How much she dreads the same thing happening to this perfect little girl that had happened to her. That's something she'll have to deal with, and something she for sure cannot allow to have a negative impact on her daughter's life whatsoever.
Beck is scared too. He didn't come into Aiden's life until he was three years old, he's not really quite sure what to do with a baby, at least not one this tiny. Tori and Andre have a son now, Lincoln, who is about to turn two. Beck and Jade hadn't been able to meet him until he was a few months old, and by that point his neck muscles were more defined and he had grown quite a bit. The baby laying on Jade's chest is so small, and Beck is afraid he might break her if he holds her.
"We don't have a name for a girl." Jade looks up at him with a nervous smile "What do we do?"
They had only just settled on a boy's name a few days ago. If this baby had been a boy, her name would have been Nolan. They hadn't yet been able to agree on a girl's name, and still had too many to choose from. Beck had insisted on Ashley as either a first or middle name, but Jade hadn't agreed. While Ashley Whitt meant a lot to her and in the end made the ultimate sacrifice for her and Aiden both, Jade didn't want her daughter to have to carry the weight of that. Not to mention Ashley probably would have made fun of her for doing so. She can hear the woman's voice in her head still saying something along the lines of 'What? You couldn't come up with anything better so you just used mine?'. Her jokes would be friendly and not meant to offend, but she would most likely still want Jade to pick a different name.
"We'll think of something." Beck assures her with a kiss "I'm just so happy she's finally here."
"Me too."
A nurse shows Beck how to cut the baby's umbilical cord, and then she's whisked away to have a bath and get some tests done while another nurse helps Jade clean up. They move to a new room in the maternity ward rather than labor and delivery, and then the baby is brought back to them with a clean bill of health. Jade lets Beck hold her first, since she already had the opportunity when she was first born. He's uneasy at first, but is almost a natural after only a few minutes. Jade can't help but fall deeper in love with him as he cradles their daughter gently against his chest, rocking her back and forth gently.
"Aiden is going to love her." Beck grins proudly
"He sure will." Jade agrees "He'll be such a good big brother."
The baby grows fussy after a while, and Beck gives her to Jade so she can feed her for the first time. Breast-feeding fascinates him, mostly because he can't imagine how it doesn't hurt Jade, because she assures him that it doesn't. Before long the baby is fast asleep, and Jade lets her rest against her chest. She uses one hand to gently rub her daughter's back, and the other to start scrolling through a website of baby names on her phone. Part of her wants to call Aiden and tell him the good news, but it's the middle of the night and he's for sure fast asleep by now. They had already texted pictures to her mother and step-father, who were in town and staying at the house with Aiden, and they would be able to show him first thing in the morning.
"Hey..." Jade says quietly to Beck as she continues to gently rub the baby's back
"Hm?" Beck hums, looking over at her from the spot where he had made himself comfortable on the couch
"What do you think of Rowan?"
"Rowan..." Beck smiles, sitting up "I like it."
"Really?" Jade grins as he moves to sit next to her on the bed
"Yeah." Beck agrees "She looks like a Rowan."
"She does, doesn't she?"
"I wish you would have a thought of that a few weeks ago." Beck chuckles "It probably would have saved us a lot of arguing."
"Well, we have it now." Jade laughs "That's what's important."
"Definitely." Beck agrees, leaning down to kiss the top of the baby's head "Hey, Rowan...how are ya?"
"Sleepy." Jade smirks, stroking the baby's cheek with her thumb "I think we all are."
"I think you're right." Beck laughs "We should get some sleep while we still can..."
Kaitlyn and Chris bring Aiden up right away in the morning so he can meet his little sister. He's excited not only about meeting the baby, but about the fact he gets to miss the first half of the school day as well to do so.
"She's so little..." Aiden remarks as Beck places Rowan in his arms "Hi baby sister..."
Jade makes no attempt to keep her emotions in check, and allows a few tears to slide down her cheek as she watches her children meet each other for the first time. For a long time, she thought Aiden was going to be an only child. The fact that he now has a baby sister, and that he seems to adore her so much, makes her feel an entirely new kind of love she's never felt before.
"Dad?"
"Yeah, bud?"
"What's her name?" Aiden asks
"Do you want to tell him, Mom?" Beck turns to look at Jade, and only then notices that she's crying "Oh..."
"It's alright." Jade sniffs, quickly wiping her tears away "Rowan...her name is Rowan. Rowan Elise Oliver."
"Hi Rowan Elise Oliver." Aiden smiles, gently planting a kiss in the middle of his sister's forehead "My name is Aiden Joshua West, I'm your big brother and I love you so much."
"She loves you too, Aiden." Jade tells him, her voice still quivering "She's so lucky to have you as her big brother."