Chapter 22
A/N: Sorry the update took a while. I was busy with school, and the holidays are always a stressful time. Anyway, enjoy :)
Five hours later had arrived in what felt like to Beck and Jade five minutes. Jade still wasn't ready, but she knew she and the baby didn't really have time to waste.
"Dad, why don't you put these on? Mom, we're gonna go get you prepped in the OR." The nurse said, as she fixed the hospital bed for transport and handed the proper dressings to Beck.
"I love you, Beck." Jade professed, as she pressed a kiss to Beck's lips.
"I love you, too. Everything will be ok." Beck reciprocated.
The nurse wheeled Jade out of the room, leaving Beck alone to get dressed. Giselle had been handed off to Cat and Andre a few hours ago. Robbie, Beck's dad and brother, Fallon and Liam, and Allison had all arrived at the hospital at various times, as well.
Beck quickly got dressed and was led to the OR by another nurse.
"Are you ready to have another baby?" The nurse asked Beck, as they walked to the OR.
"I wasn't exactly expecting for Jade to have the baby this soon, but I guess I'm as ready as I'll ever be." Beck answered.
"Is this your first baby?"
"Um, no. We had a son about four years ago, and a daughter two years ago."
"Wow, three kids."
"Well, we gave our son up for adoption, so just two kids."
"Oh, I see."
"We were really young, and Jade's pregnancy with him was unknown to everyone until she was about an hour away from giving birth. We gave him to my cousins who were having fertility issues."
"I adopted my daughter from parents with a similar story. They were only 15 and 16 years old. They had no money, no real support system, and they didn't find out about the pregnancy until she was five months along. That was 10 years ago. They're now married with two kids of their own. They still talk to my daughter once a month, and I made sure she always knew who they were."
"Jade and I opted for a closed adoption. I would've preferred an open adoption, but I didn't want to upset her. It's a good thing my cousins live in Maine and we never see them."
"Yeah. Well, here we are." The nurse said, as they arrived at the door to the OR. "Good luck."
Beck walked into the OR and was guided on where to sit. Jade was already laying down on the table, and the staff was prepping the equipment. A plastic shield with a cover was put up just under Jade's chest, so they couldn't see what was taking place.
"Are you ready to meet our baby?" Beck whispered into Jade's ear, and then pressed a kiss to her temple.
"As ready as I'll ever be." Jade answered.
"You'll feel some pressure when we retract the skin, break your water, and take the baby out. It shouldn't be painful, but if it is, tell me. Don't be alarmed if the baby doesn't cry. Their lungs aren't developed enough." The doctor explained.
"Just do it. I want to see my baby." Jade responded.
As the doctor started, Jade did, in fact, feel pressure. She squeezed Beck's hand, and felt very comforted as Beck whispered reassuring things in her ear.
"Baby's out. 17:37." The doctor quickly lifted the baby up over the shield, so Beck and Jade could see, and then handed the baby off to the NICU team.
"It's a boy, baby. We've got a boy." Beck announced, the tears present in his voice.
"Is he ok?" Jade asked, hoping someone would respond.
No one said anything for what felt like far too long, but all of Jade's stress melted off when she heard a few screeching cries come from the baby.
"Beck, go with him."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, I'm sure. I'll be ok."
"I love you. You did so good." Beck pressed a short, but passionate kiss to Jade's lips.
"I love you, too."
Beck stared at Jade for a few more moments, until he walked over to where the baby was. Within a few minutes, the NICU team was whisking the baby off to the NICU, and Beck was right behind them.
"Do you have a name picked out yet?" The doctor asked, as she stitched Jade back up.
"No. We hadn't even started talking about names. We thought we still had a few months." Jade answered.
"I completely understand. My daughter was born at 30 weeks. My wife and I were not prepared. We didn't give her a name until she was two weeks old."
"Is your daughter ok now?"
"She has asthma, but other than that, she's very healthy."
"How old is she?"
"She'll be a year old in two weeks."
"What did you and your wife name her?"
"Milagro. My wife's from El Salvador. Milagro means miracle in Spanish. We call her Mila for short."
"That's cute."
"Thanks. What's your daughter's name?"
"Giselle. We call her Ellie."
"That's pretty. How old is she?"
"Two. She's a handful, but she's our whole world. She, and now her brother, are the best things that have ever happened to us."
"I know exactly what you mean. I never knew I could love this little being as much as I love Mila."
The room fell into a somewhat comfortable silence as the doctor continued to work on Jade.
"The nurses are going to take you up to the recovery ward. Visitors are ok, but you need rest, too. I'll come back by sometime later tonight before my shift ends. You can ask the nurses for anything, including something to eat." And with that, the doctor left the OR, and the nurses wheeled Jade up to recovery.
Once Jade was in the room, she noticed all of her stuff had been moved. She quickly texted everyone, and waited for them.
"Hey, how're you feeling, Jadey?" Cat asked, as she, Andre, Fallon, and Allison walked in.
"I'm ok, right now. I'm still numb from the chest down. The baby's a boy. Beck's with him."
"A boy? That's great." Fallon said, trying to be enthusiastic.
"I'm still scared. He cried a few times, but I know he's probably going to have a lot of problems. He's so little."
"I'm sure he's a little fighter." Allison said.
"I hope so. I can't lose him. I don't even know what I would do, or how I would explain it to Ellie. He needs to be ok."
"You've just gotta stay positive. He will pull through." Andre encouraged, trying to say something Beck would.
"Where is Giselle?"
"She's with Beck's dad and brother. She was sleeping. I think she missed her nap." Cat answered.
"Yeah, she did. Can one of you bring her in here?"
"I'll go get her." Andre volunteered, leaving the women alone.
"How long did the doctor say the baby would be in the NICU?" Allison asked.
"As little as 8 weeks to 12 weeks. It could be longer, depending on how well he does. I definitely didn't think this would ever happen. I've heard horror stories of babies spending months in the NICU, but I never thought it would happen to us. I'm young, relatively healthy, and my pregnancy was perfectly normal. I thought I'd deliver the baby at 38 weeks, have a natural birth, go home from the hospital in a few days with a newborn. Now, I'll be going home in a few days, and he'll be stuck here for months."
"I wish we could say we understand what you're going through, but none of us can." Fallon said. "I'm sure there are plenty of people who do know what you're going through. Maybe you can make friends with some of the other parents in the NICU."
"Right now, I don't care about doing anything but seeing my baby, Giselle, and Beck."
"Have you heard anything from Beck yet?"
"No. I'm pretty sure he has his phone, so he'll let me know any updates."
The room was silent for a few minutes, until Andre came back with Giselle.
"Mama!" Giselle exclaimed, as she squirmed around in Andre's arms.
"Hi, baby. How're you?" Jade opened her arms to have Andre set Giselle on her, but when Andre gave her an apprehensive look, she quickly remembered she'd just had surgery.
"What's wrong, mama?"
"I'm ok, baby. The doctor gave me some medicine and helped me feel better."
"Where daddy?"
"Daddy's with the baby."
"Baby?"
"Yeah, the baby was born. You have a little brother. Daddy's with little brother."
"I see baby?"
"Soon, Ellie. We can see the baby soon. Do you wanna come lay with mama?"
"Yeah."
Andre carefully placed Giselle next to Jade on the bed, and went back over to Cat.
"I hungy, mama."
"Ok, baby. What do you wanna eat?"
"McDonald's."
"Chicken nuggets and fries?"
"Nuggies." Giselle repeated, enthusiastically.
"Can one of you go get us food? I would ask Beck, but he's with the baby, and I don't want him to be all alone." Jade hated asking for help, but she didn't really have another choice.
"We'll go. Giselle wants chicken nuggets and fries. What do you want?" Andre volunteered.
"10 piece chicken nuggets, fries, and a milkshake. Get Giselle the four piece Happy Meal. She'll want apple slices and chocolate milk."
"Should we get Beck something?"
"Yeah. He hasn't really eaten anything today. He'll probably want a Big Mac, fries, and a Coke."
"Ok, Cat and I will be back soon. Call if you want anything else." With that, Andre and Cat left.
"Do you want us to go?" Allison asked, referring to her and Fallon.
"Um, can you go, Allison? And can you stay, Fallon?"
"Sure, congratulations, and I'm sure he'll be ok." Allison left, leaving Fallon, Jade, and Giselle alone.
"Do you need something?" Fallon asked.
"Company. And I don't want to be alone with Ellie when over half of my body is still completely numb. And I can't lift her, help her go to the bathroom." Jade explained.
"Ok. I'll stay."
"Needless to say, I think you'll have to find someone to replace me. I get out of the hospital in a few days, but I don't really plan on going back to work for a while. My days are going to be spent here at the hospital, and taking care of Ellie while Beck's at work."
"It's ok. I'll find a temporary replacement, and you can have your job back when you're ready to come back."
"You don't have to do that, Fallon. I'll find another job."
"Obviously I don't have to, but I'm going to. You're a great employee, and I like having you around. You will have a job waiting for you when you decide to come back."
"Thanks, Fallon."
"I don't have a lot of friends, as you probably know. A majority of the 'friends' I do have is really my family, like my brother, brother-in-law, cousin, and my brother's half sister. Allison was really my only other friend, until you came along. You really do remind me of myself. You've been an amazing friend to me, and letting you keep your job is the least I can do."
"How does someone like Fallon Carrington not have a lot of friends?"
"First of all, I'm not a Carrington by name anymore. I'm Fallon Ridley. Second of all, I have plenty of people that owe me favors, acquaintances, and colleagues, but my friends are few and far between. I have many more enemies than friends. Building an empire comes with its perks, but it comes with more downsides."
"Did you make friends with any of the parents who were in the adoption class with you?"
"No. That's another problem. Making friends with people who have far less money than I do isn't easy. You seem to be an exception. When I complain about my problems to people who aren't rich, they tend to invalidate them, brushing them off as rich people problems."
"What problems do you have that people would think are rich people problems?"
"It's not even that my problems are rich people problems, it's that most people assume all problems a rich person has are rich people problems."
"So what problems would you say aren't rich people problems?"
"The fertility issues Liam and I had. The miscarriage I had 6 weeks before getting pregnant with Briar. The placenta previa. The adoption issues we've been having. The fact that I'm pregnant again, and having this baby could kill me."
"What? You're pregnant again?"
"Yeah, I just found out last week. Liam doesn't know yet. I don't know how to tell him."
"What are you gonna do when you do tell him?"
"The only thing I can do is have an abortion. If I have this baby, it could kill me. Briar would grow up without her mother. I can't do that to her. I want nothing more to have this baby, but I can't."
"Have you been to your doctor? Maybe there's something you can do."
"There's not."
"I'm sorry, Fallon."
"It's ok. I didn't want to bring it up anyway. You have way bigger problems than I do, right now. You should be worrying about your baby, not my problems."
"Until I hear anything, me worrying does nothing. And I have to be there for you, right now. You're here for me."
"I don't even know how to tell him. I know I have to tell him soon, because if I wait too long, it'll be too late."
"Just tell him. He's your husband. He loves you. He understands what needs to be done. And it's not like you're some scared 16 year old, getting an abortion behind her parents' backs. You're married, with a daughter. You're not doing this because you don't have money to take care of a baby, you're doing this because, if you don't, you could die, leaving your daughter without a mother and your husband a widower."
"Then why do I feel so guilty?"
"Because you're human. And you're a good person. I don't know how to tell you how to not feel guilty. I know I felt guilty when we gave Weston up for adoption, but this is different."
"I just, what if this is the wrong thing? What if I get through the pregnancy perfectly fine, and I deliver a happy, healthy baby?"
"And what if you bleed out and die during the delivery, leaving two kids motherless and Liam a widower? You could play what ifs all day, but it won't do you any good. If you don't get an abortion, then you are risking your life, your daughter's, and your husband's. If you do get an abortion, then you can make sure that your baby is gone, but never forgotten."
"I probably shouldn't even be having this conversation with you. I should be having this conversation with Liam."
"Then you've gotta tell him, Fallon. You have to."
"I know. I will."
"Good. And I really am sorry. I hope the adoption process starts to go a little smoother soon."
"I actually don't even know if I want to go through with the process. In the past five years, we've had fertility problems, had a miscarriage, had a daughter whose pregnancy caused complications, and now an abortion. I think we need a break for a while. One kid isn't so bad. Briar seems to be happy. She has a cousin on the way, aunts and uncles that love her, and a best friend who now has a baby brother. Maybe we'll revisit adoption in a few years."
"I hope everything works out for you, Fallon. You've been through way too much, and you haven't deserved any of it."
"Yeah, well, life sucks sometimes. A lifetime of things I probably haven't deserved taught me that."
"I haven't had the best life either, so I learned just how much life sucks from a young age."
"You've never really told me about your childhood."
"My parents got divorced when I was 10. My little brother was only a year old. I hadn't seen them happy together since I was, like, 3. My dad cheated on my mom, and they tried therapy, but when my mom cheated on my dad and got pregnant, that was the last straw. The divorce took a year. My dad filed the day after my mom got home from the hospital. I lived with my mom until I was 13, but right before high school, my mom moved to New Mexico, leaving me with my father and his prissy fiancé. They got married on the same night as my first performance in high school. They didn't even notice I wasn't there. I didn't have anyone except Cat, Andre, Robbie, and Beck. When my mom and her new family moved, she basically forgot about me. She called for a while, but then those stopped. After high school, I left. I moved in officially with Beck. Beck and I were happy for a while. We were going to college, more in love than ever, but then I had Weston. You know everything from then."
"God, we really are more alike than I originally thought."
"I just keep wondering when the bad will stop. When will life be easy?"
"I don't think it will. It'll be good for a while, maybe a few months, years, and then something else will happen. That's just how it works."
"I wish it didn't. I wish we had been dealt better cards."
"Me too, but we both have amazing husbands, beautiful daughters, you have a handsome son. We'll be ok."
There was a lull in the conversation that was interrupted by the ringing of Jade's phone.
"Hi, beautiful. How're you feeling?" Beck asked through the phone.
"I'm still numb. Andre and Cat are bringing us food, and I have Ellie laying next to me. How's our baby?"
"He's strong, Jade. The doctors said his lungs are much longer than they should be for his age. He is on a breathing tube, but he's been breathing over it, which is a really good sign. I don't want to get my hopes up, or yours, but I'm really happy and proud of him."
"That's really great news. Did they say when I would be able to see him?"
"Baby, you just got out of surgery an hour ago. Give it some time. We'll be here."
"I'm just eager to meet him. He's my baby."
"I know, but you've gotta let yourself heal, too. You'll have plenty of time to spend with him once you've given your body time to heal."
"I know. Have you been able to hold him?"
"Not yet. I've gotten to touch him, but I haven't held him yet. They haven't given me the chance, but I also wanted you to be the first one to hold him."
"If they give you the opportunity, just take it. Don't wait for me."
"I doubt I'll be able to hold him today, but will see."
Jade was about to say something else when Andre and Cat walked in with food.
"I've gotta go. Andre and Cat just walked in with the food. I'll have Andre bring you your food."
"Yeah, I haven't eaten anything today. I love you, baby. You did so great. Our son is beautiful."
"I love you, too. Send me a picture of him." And with that, Jade hung up and put her focus back on what was going on in the room.