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reviews!!!!!! Thank you so so MUCH! You all rock!!!!! And since you all
wanted to know let's get to SAM SAM SAM and JOSIE JOSIE JOSIE shall we?
Please Continue to Read and Review, Total Vaughn Lover
Chapter 2
"May I help you sir?" the nurse inquired to the sexy man who had rushed up to her desk.
"H~hi," Sam panted, slamming his hand down onto the desk, barely stopping to catch his breath. "My name is Sam Coulson, I received a call that my wife was brought here."
"Okay Mr. Coulson, can I have your wife's name please?" she asked sweetly and flirtatiously.
"Josie," he stated, closing his eyes to suppress his tears. "Josie Geller Coulson."
"Just a moment," she crooned and began typing on her computer, completely flustered. Sam couldn't believe how calmly and slowly the receptionist was going about things. Didn't she realize he was worry-stricken and that he wanted be by his wife's side as soon as possible. After all, this was their first anniversary. It wasn't right to spend it alone, let alone in a hospital.
"Hmm~~~I don't' see a Josie Geller on here," the nurse mumbled.
"It's Josie Geller COULSON!" he repeated, his fear of his wife's condition making his voice sound impatient.
"Sir, you're emotionally distressed so I am not going to call you on it but your rudeness is not going to help me get this done any faster for you," she scolded him, no longer flirting with him. There was no point, he was married and it was evident from his concern the only woman he had eyes for was his wife.
Sam stared at her in disbelief, but backed off and went to sit down in the nearest seat. He clasped his hands together and propped his chin onto them.
"Please let me be all right," he prayed, closing his eyes. Tears streamed down his cheeks and mixed with the cold sweat that was forming on his body. "Please God, just let her be okay," he repeated feverishly as though repetition was all that mattered.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"It's that man right there," the nurse whispered to the doctor that had arrived in the reception area.
"What was he doing to you?" the doctor demanded, shooting a glare at the intruding man who, from his point of view," seemed to just be rattled from concern.
"I was trying to help him find out if his wife was here but he wouldn't be patient, and you know I'm just learning how to use the computer, and the way he was acting made me almost have a panic attack!"
"Hey calm down," he told his usually very obnoxious assistant who seemed to be having a panic attack.
"I'm trying~~~" she whimpered, "but I can't with him in the room!" she started hyperventilating.
"He's a patient, what do you want me to do about it?" he thought as he gently rubbed her back. He glanced at the clock. "When's the last time you had a break?"
"Uh~~~not for five hours! Cindy was supposed to come in but she never did! And she knows I can't~~~"
"Why don't you take five," Dr.Andrews told her, extending a paper bag that she promptly put to her mouth and began breathing into it. "I'll take care of him, call for a replacement, and man the desk till she gets here."
"O~Okay," she gasped between gasps. "T~Thank you."
"Yup, take it easy. I don't' want to go out to the Emergency Bay and find you've gone hypoctic," he warned her. She nodded and went on her way, wheezing as she did.
The doctor kept an eye on her for another second, then stepped up to the young man who was now crying, covering his face with his hands.
"Hey," he greeted, adopting a friendly tone. "Can I help you?"
Sam raised his head and gazed at the doctor with his blood-shot eyes. "I don't' know. I went up to the nurse and she was too busy being ditzy to take me seriously."
"Um Mr.~~~"
"Sam~~~Sam Coulson," he answered, wiping his hand on the side of his pants.
"Mr. Coulson, I understand your frustration but I must ask you to refrain from belittling my team," the doctor put in seriously. "This is a hospital and we get cases like this all the time. And we ask that the families of our patients cooperate with everyone on our staff. I think you realized your harassing our nurses didn't get you very far," Dr. Andrews reasoned taking a seat next to him.
"I~I didn't mean to do that," he apologized as he leaned forward on his elbows. "It's just that I got pulled out my class for an emergency cal. Finding out Josie was take to the hospital was bad enough. I thought I'd been called to the wrong hospital when the nurse said she couldn't find her. It turned out she didn't put in the correct last name. And my patience was running low."
Dr. Andrews nodded his head with understanding.
"I didn't mean to bark at her," Sam continued and his voice cracked horribly. "I just wanted to see her, you know. It's my first anniversary with Josie and I'm not ready to lose her just yet."
"It's understandable, Mr. Coulson," he repeated and squeezed him on the shoulder. "And you know what, I can help you out, bud."
Sam looked at him, his eyes filled with innocence and hope. "You can?"
"Yeah, your wife is a blond right? Curly blond hair, skin like porcelain? Big green eyes?" he inquired, the husband who nodded.
"That's her. Do you know where she is?" Sam demanded, seeing a ray of light for the first time since he entered the hospital.
"Yeah, as a matter of fact I do," he told him with a smile then held out is hand, "I'm Dr. Christopher Andrews. I'm the one who saw your wife when she came in."
"She's good. She fainted from what they thought was dehydration at work. We assumed that too and so we're giving her fluids right now," the doctor reported cheerily. "So no worries."
Sam let out a sigh of relief.
"But there is something I want to discuss with you first," the doctor added, still looking very happy. "You want to come with me for a second?"
Sam followed the doctor to the door behind the administration desk then followed him in on his beckoning and sat down on seat before he collapsed onto the floor, overwhelmed with relief.
'I know what you're thinking. We don't usually allow patients back here due to patient confidentiality but somebody needs to watch this desk until my replacement comes in," Dr. Andrews replied, responding to his unasked question. "And I do have to talk to you. I'm going to keep it real brief though since I know you want to see your wife."
But Sam had already forgotten that. Sure, he wanted to see her, he wanted to see her open her eyes like she were waking up from a dream and scoop her up into his arms. But he wanted to hear what the doctor had to say first. He could barely keep himself from strangling the doctor as he innocently made a phonecall to page a nurse to take over reception.
"So what's wrong with her?" he burst out before the doctor had put the phone back on its' receiver.
"Mr. Coulson, don't look so alarmed, I never said the news was bad," Dr. Andrews chided him as he wrote on his clipboard. "I just said we needed to discuss something."
There was an awkward silence that followed as Sam waited for the doctor to finish whatever he was concentrating on.
"Right, the first question I have for you is if you'll be able to take time off of work to go to monthly check ups with your wife to the obstrecian."
Sam was silent. Obstrecian? Wasn't that a baby doctor?
"And the second question is when you'll want to take your pre-birth classes," he added as he tapped his pen on the table. "They can be early on in the pregnancy but we prefer that you take them around 28 to 32 weeks."
When the doctor didn't get a reply, he look up to gauge the expecting father's reaction.
Sam was staring at the table and a second later, when he lifted his head, there was a confused but hopeful expression on his face. "Dr. Andrews, forgive me for saying this but~~~my wife isn't pregnant."
"You sure about that?" he inquired, looking a bit disappointed. "Because we ran a blood test on her, then we ran a pregnancy test and~~~well, the tests are conclusive."
"B~but I thought that she was supposed to have morning sickness~~~"Sam stated, then he cut himself off as the wheels started to turn in his head. "Wait a minute, she was nauseated this morning."
"You two are married, correct? I mean~ you have~~~consumated your relationship?"
Sam bit his lip, looking quite uncomfortable to be asked that question so directly by a medical professional.
"I'm only asked pertaining to the medical reasons, it's either that or your wife has been doing something she shouldn't be," he hinted and the doctor chuckled when he realized Sam was taking him seriously. "I'm kidding, Mr. Coulson."
"Oh," he sighed and his face visibly relaxed as he let out a breath. "Does she know?" he asked then, not knowing why his voice had dropped to a whisper.
"N~No," he replied. "She was out when I was taking blood from her. I'm guessing she's either bad with needles or can't stand the sight of blood.
"Maybe~~~I know I'm not too good with that stuff," Sam rebuked, shuddering at the thought of getting a veni-puncture, or any type of puncture period.
"Well, I think this is perfect. It's your wedding anniversary and you can tell her she's pregnant. I strongly felt she might not like to hear about it from a doctor who just made her miserable. And besides it's a special moment between you two, go enjoy it."
"Oh I will," he beamed, already a proud papa. "How long has she been pregnant?"
"Three weeks. We got her to the hospital just before she would require her first check up," Dr. Andrews told him as he collected a variety of pamphlets from the drawers. "We give these during the first check up, but obviously you're not going to require that," he explained as he put about ten booklets in his hands.
Sam briefly skimmed the title. He was overwhelmed, seemed there was a lot more to becoming a parent than he'd realized. He'd been teaching kids for a few years now but right now he suddenly felt nineteen again, not a care in the world, wondering where the time had gone when he'd amused himself with G.I Joe's. He suddenly wasn't sure if they were ready to have a baby.
"Hey Chris, you needed a replacement?"
Dr. Andrews looked up and smiled at the pretty young woman standing in the doorway. "Yeah, I've got to take this expecting father to is baby's mother before he loses his mind. I'll be back in five minutes, will you watch this desk, page me if you need me."
The replacement nodded as she took her seat. Dr. Andrews then turned to Sam, who he couldn't believe was looking more nervous, if that was even possible. He literally looked like he was ready to wet his pants. "You ready to deliver the good news, Mr. Coulson?"
"Uh~~~yeah."
"Great," the doctor grinned. "Follow me."
`~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Meanwhile Josie was nestled in her bed in a recovery room. But she was everything but restful.
She was in a state that she knew had to be a dream but couldn't believe it because of how tangible everything was.
She was standing in what looked like a college classroom. The rows and rows of ascending desks was a dead give away.
"What am I doing here?" she wondered as she looked around the room. The only thing she could conclude was that this was Sam's room and he was going to walk through the classroom doors any minute.
She looked over at the good-sized wooden desk that was sitting on the right side of the room, and went over to it and sat down in the comfortable looking desk chair, suddenly overwhelmed by fatigue. She laid back and twiddled with a pen, waiting for something to happen.
Nothing did.
"She tapped her fingers on the chestnut finish then after a few moments began sorting through the drawers not sure of what she was looking for.
Then she spied a large pile of papers that looked suspiciously familiar. And in the next instant, she knew what it was. It was Sam's novel.
She reached for the bulky object, held neatly together with three huge binder clips and set it before her.
She then stared at it, feeling as though she were treading on forbidden ground, therefore her fingers hesitated before she opened it to the first page.
Sam would never forgive her, even if he loved her. there was just some things even wives couldn't do.
But then again~~~this was a dream. There was no way he could find out. And really, what were the chances the novel would even be accurate?
She flipped the blank page over and revealed on the next page was a title page.
Actually it was a page of several titles some of them had asterisks next to them and others had been crossed out so viciously, it was obvious that the writer wanted to make sure they could never be read again.
She fawned over the ones he felt were good and then drove herself crazy trying to figure out what lied beyond the scribbled mess.
Finally after she pulled herself away from the titles (i.e "Dear Josie," "Meant to be?"). She flipped through another title pate, a lengthy author's note and acknowledgements. She debated whether she should read through the dedication then decided she'd seen enough. Some things she wanted to keep a surprise for later, plus she was sure Sam would be able to see through it if she tried to act like she was seeing it for the first time.
She heard the unmistakable creak of the door.
Josie raised her head in shock. There he was, Sam Coulson, swinging his briefcase as he bounded down the steps, his heels echoing off the walls sounded more deafening in the empty room.
"Crap!" she yiped as she hurridely shoved the book into its' former position in the drawer. Then she scrambled off his desk and decided to stand next to it, just as Sam reached the ground level.
Josie felt herself falling in love again as she watched him seat himself in his chair. He was just as handsome at that moment as he'd been the first moment she'd laid eyes on him. In face he was wearing the same outfit of a white shirt under a nice blue collared shirt, coordinated with a pair of darker blue pants and polished leather shoes.
He leaned back, stretched into the air, then popped open his briefcase and pulled out what curiously looked like a picture frame, which he set on the desk.
Josie peered carefully over his shoulder. It was one of the pictures South Glenn High's paparazzi had taken of her and Sam when they'd spent an afternoon painting a backdrop for their prom scene.
She blushed and stumbled backwards, completely mortified. She made a mental note to herself not to find the picture frame if it even existed.
That was until she heard Sam chuckle as he pulled out a stack of ungraded term papers and then let out a contented sigh.
"I can never get enough of you, Josie, especially in this picture," she heard him mutter and felt it safe too back over at him. He was staring dreamily at the picture and she could barely stiffle her giggle.
"Especially with that yellow on your forehead," he continued, laughing.
For a second Josie wondered if he could actually see her and wished she could vanish on the spot. And hey, it was a dream. Maybe it could happen.
"Hmm~~~better buckle down and get to work it if have any hope of talking to Josie tonight before she goes to sleep," she heard him mumble to himself. Then he shook his body out as though that was all he needed to do to reenergize himself for the tedious task of appreciating term papers written by students who had little appreciation for the English language then set to work.
Josie expected Sam to read the first line, maybe skim the body of the paper, write some comments and then put a letter grade at the top of the paper. But in actuality, he sat there for about five minutes absorbed in the words, not picking up his red pen once, while she, who was reading over his shoulder would have picked up the pen every two lines. Sam however didn't seem to notice it seemed impossible but Mr. Coulson was actually reading it purely for context.
She watched as he laughed at the amusing quirks and his brow furrowed when he he could feel the writer's frustration, and his forehead produced two distinct wrinkles at moment of sorrow.
It was obvious he liked what he did from the way he acted. He was leaned back, with his legs crossed, pure delight in his face as though he were enjoying a good book. Josie was suddenly angered that his ex- girlfriend had once upon a time tried to steal this from Sam, asked him to throw away what he loved most and become a part of her firm in New York.
She couldn't bring herself to believe that Alice had ever loved him. She knew she loved Sam but she could never him to give up what he enjoyed most, just like she wouldn't expect him to ask her to give up her love for words. Quite frankly, she was sure that both of them would go insane without words as a big aspect of their lives.
She continued to watch him for a few minutes mores, not a moment of it was boredom. He just looked very attractive when he was serious. She had to admit his gentle but firm way of pulling a class under control was very appealing.
The door creaked open again, Sam didn't stray his eyes from what he was doing and hers would have immediately redirected themselves toward the noise if Sam wasn't acting peculiar.
"Hey Sam."
Josie's heart gave a nasty squeeze as she recognized it was a female voice addressing her husband. And how heartbroken she sounded too.
It was obvious Sam was thinking for his head snapped up the next second and his expression was that of concern.
"Ms. Leosis," he gasped. "what happened to you?"
That was the same thought running through Josie's mind as she turned her head, only to witness her former classmate Kirsten Leosis speed past her and barrel into Sam, pushing him down against the table, and then to Josie's horror, began kissing him with her extremely pouty lips.
Josie felt her heart shatter into a million different pieces especially when she saw Sam's hand come around her head and responded to her kiss. She was swept by an overwhelming bout of jealousy, which she'd always had towards Kirsten who was only the most popular girl of South Glenn High's class of 1999, with her long legs, perfect face, beautiful figure and tanned skin while Josie always felt too pale, too blond and too curvy.
The only one who'd been able to pull her out of that run had been her husband Sam, who she'd always feared she would lose to somebody, that she would never be good enough for.
And now it seemed her worst nightmare was coming true.
She could barely keep from breakign down completely as she looked over at them again. Only this time Kristen was in an utter state of shock, totally speechless as she walked away mumbling to herself until Sam grabbed one wrist and jerked her back.
"Sam! What do you think you're doing!" she shrieked, tears rolling down her cheeks, staining her perfect complexion.
"What do you mean what am I doing?" he stammered, looking completely innocent. "You're the one that came up to~~~"
SMACK!
Josie watched as Sam stumbled backwards, reacting to the slap Kirsten had given him. It had to be pretty hard to leave the red handprint that now displayed on his face.
"I can't believe you, Mr. Coulson! You're married, what are you doing making advances toward me!" Kirsten screamed and Josie found herself looking with disbelief at her husband. The current situation was altering her judgement. "I mean Josie is pregnant! IF you wanted me, you shouldn't have made that mistake!"
"Kirsten, I'm not going to scream at you because something is obviously going on with you. Now why don't you tell me what that is," Sam suggested in an eerily calm tone, as he folded his arms.
"No! The reason you're not going to say anything is because you're the one who tried to rape me!" she shrieked tears rolling down her cheeks, and her body trembled as though there was an invisible draft in the room.
"I should wash your mouth out with soap!" Sam thundered as he knelt down to father his papers. "Lying to a teacher is almost as bad as cursing, Ms. Leosis. I would have expected more respect from you."
"Oh no, don't' put this on me! You're the one who's been looking at me. I saw checking me out at our reunion," she put in accusingly, her eyes flashed with her anger. "And then you hugged me."
Josie was sure she's fallen into the depths of hell. Sweet, honest Sam Coulson~~~where had he gone?"
"Only because it was so nice to see you again. And I also hugged Ms. Kristen Ray, and Ms. Gibby Zarefsky, and I think I even kissed Aldys on the hand," Sam admitted, then his anger slipped and he let out a chuckle. "You know Kirsten, I know you were checking me out all senior year but I didn't embarrass you and because you had those feelings, I didn't think that you would react this way."
"Are you trying to justify your behavior towards me?" Kirsten gasped, looking as Sam as though he'd committed the ultimate betrayal. "Damn, wouldn't Josie love this?"
"Leave my wife out of this, young lady," he commanded her. "And just so you know, you've got two seconds to apologize to me before I got to the Dean and give you restraining order from this institution.
"Hey, you're a teacher so you may not really give a damn about reunions but I do, and if you lift a finger to ruin so much as second of my week here, I'll go to Josie myself and tell her what happened," she sneered haughtily. "Then I'll go to the Dean myself and file for harassment and I think you know what would happen there I don't' know about you but I don't' think you'll be able to support your child everywhere without a job and what a father you'll make being a sex offender."
"Listen to me, Kirsten," Sam said as calmly and monotone as he could. "Nothing happened here~~~"
"Then why are you shaking?"
Sam didn't have a response to that. Then he watched as Kirsten ascended the stairs, contemplating exactly what happened here.
She found him literally sweating as he sat down at his desk. And he had good reason to be as far as Josie was concerned. She watched him as he pulled out another paper but she noticed immediately that his eyes wouldn't stare long at the paper before his hands got so shaky that that slammed his paper down.
"Three more days," she heard him whine. "She'll be gone in three more days, Sam, just hold it together."
Oh no, did this mean Sam had been fighting his urges or did he just really miss her?
And where was she in this dream?
She got her answer the next second.
Sam was writing flimsy comments on his paper when his cell phone decided to ring. He picked it up with a shaky hand and peered at the name on the screen.
Josie.
She watched him pick up the phone then smiled at her. "Josie? Hey, how are you sweetie?"
"You didn't call I was getting worried," she heard Sam croon like a love sick puppy. "I was just getting ready to call you."
"Me? OH, I'm still at school, trying to get through all my paper work, you know, final papers so I can send these eager college students to summer. Hopefully I won't have to keep any of them for summer school, heaven knows I need a vacation."
"Well, I might pull a few strings. I'm going to do the most that I possibly can. I~I'm going to need time with the baby to become an adequate father."
"Well are you taking care of yourself? What! What do you mean my voice is shrill? No~nothing's wrong. I~I'm just tired. Yeah, I'm also tired of going to sleep in an empty bed. So don't you dare tell me you have another extension, you need to get home and get some rest."
"I know, I know," he huffed, trying not to come off as irritated. 'You're just doing your job, I~I'm just worried about you, I don't' want you getting all stressed out since you're so late into pregnancy."
"And I guess I should let you get some sleep," he said with a touch of finality to his voice. "Okay~~~I love you too, bye bye."
Josie was now positive this was a dream. It had to be, Sam had blatantly lied on the phone to her. She knew he wouldn't do that to her in real life.
Would he?
"I didn't do anything," he said to himself feverishly as though he was having a hard time trying to convince himself of that fact. She assumed he was probably think why he was freaking out if he hadn't and nothing had happened. She wanted to suddenly materialize there and give him the shock of his life, but unfortunately that didn't seem to be one of the elements she had control over in the dream world.
"Just get me outta here," she pleaded, as tears tumbled down her cheeks. She crouched on the floor and began to cry.
"Josie, Josie," she heard a male voice call out to her.
"No~~~not today mister. Give me a few hours to swallow what just happened," she barked feeling very mean but also feeling perfectly fine with it.
"Josie~~~"Sam sounded almost whiny. When had he gotten so pathetic?
"JOSIE!" she heard say briskly then felt someone grip her wrist very strongly.
Her eyes flashed open and she found herself staring directly at her husband's face which was about one foot away from hers. His brows were furrowed, his forehead creased, and his sparkling green eyes had been dulled with worry.
"S~Sam?"
"Y~you're awake!" he beamed, his face lighting up instantly with a smile. "Man Josie, you gave me a good scare. You were talking in your sleep, I thought you were getting delirious but you weren't running a fever~~~I was just about to get Dr. Andrews," he continued rambling on as though he'd just run home from school and had to tell his mom everything in one minute that he didn't realize Josie was crying,
"Honey? Are you okay?"
She didn't say a word. She instead pulled hesrelf up in her bed then held her arms out signaling that she needed a hug.
Sam obliged and pulled her into his built arms and rubbed her back, making soothing noises.
"I~I just h~had the worst nightmare," she blubbered, her words dissolved into ununderstandable sobs.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Josie. But I'm here and I love you. Everything is going to be okay," he repeated, kissing her on the cheek then on the forehead. "Would you feel better if you talked about it?" he asked then, as he loosened his hold so she could move back, she only went far enough so that their foreheads were still touching.
She saw how concerned and eager to help her husband was and suddenly felt silly, a whirling six year old inside of a grown woman's body.
"It's~~~it's probably going to sound really stupid," she warned him, cracking an embarrassed smile.
"Nothing you say is stupid," he promised her.
"Okay~~~I just dreamed that you cheated on me," she began very bluntly. "I was away and I saw you were grading papers and then~~~Kirsten came through the door, then slammed you against the desk and~~~' she came to an abrupt pause, tears clogged her throat, rendering her unable to speak then she let out a sob that sounded as though it'd been suppressed and finally exploded from her diaphragm.
"Kirsten?" Sam inquired, completely clueless. "Who?"
"Leosis, you know the beauty queen."
Sam's eyes widened as recognition hit him. "Leosis, you mean from South Glen High?"
"One of the three that prowled the school like they owned the place."
"Well, you just push away whatever you saw because it's not true. Kirsten got into a cheer school along with Kristen and Ms. Zarefsky," he reminded her. "They're nowhere near Chicago."
"Yeah, b~but~~~I don't know I'm afraid it's going to happen, not that I don't' trust you but it was eerie, it felt so real. None of my dreams have ever been that tangible."
"Sweetie, I believe you okay?" he cajoled her realizing his tone didn't sound too comforting. "Is there anything in this dream that seems like something I can tell you will or will not happen in the near future."
"W~well, there was me, I was gone, you talked to me through a cell phone. And then there was your book sitting in your desk."
"Did you read it?" he panicked. "Because I hope you know Sam's desk in a dream requires the same respect as Sam's desk in real life."
"N~No," she lied. "And the Kirsten things, she was in town because of a South Glen reunion that's supposed to happen spring quarter of next year. "And~~I was pregnant, that was the worst part, you cheated on me while I was pregnant!"
Josie began sobbing again and handsome Sam's heart broke. He couldn't bear to watch her cry.
"Josie, I'm going to be honest with you, one of them that you mentioned is true."
Josie's face scrunched up as though she was going to start blubbering once again.
"Now before you start crying, my book is not in my desk at work. It won't remain private if it was there. And I have the calendar for special events as the special events coordinator and I know there is no South Glen High reunion," Sam coaxed her, rubbing her tears away with the corner of his thumb, not to smudge her eyeliner. "And don't you think the high school I taught at would tell me there's a reunion coming up months in advance?"
Josie considered this and to her great relief, what he said made sense. "But what about Kirsten?"
"What about her?" he shot back, nonchalantly.
"Did she like you? I mean, I know you're modest so I'm going to be quite frank, you're the hottest high school teacher I've ever laid eyes on."
"Hmm~~~thanks," he said with a modest smile. "Y~yeah, those three always tried to get me to dance with them at Homecoming but our relationship is purely, student-teacher, if that."
"So what part is the truth then?" she inquired, biting her lip, she wasn't sure she wanted to hear this.
"Couldn't you guess?"
Josie shook her head, clearly not getting it. That was also why she couldn't understand why he looked so giddy, so absolutely pleased.
"J~Josie~~~baby~~~I don't know how to break this to you other than just to come out and say it, you're pregnant."
She just stared at him.
"Honey, did you hear me/" he whispered. "We're going to have a baby!"
"N~Now?" she gasped.
"Yeah, well, I mean you conceived. It's going to be eight months before we'll be able to hold him or her in our arms, but yeah~~~we're going to be parents."
"Oh my gawd! Sam!' she shrieked, tears starting to form, overwhelmed by happiness.
"I know. I couldn't believe it when Dr. Andrews told me," Sam cried. "I almost fainted when they told me you were in the hospital. But now it all makes sense. You being nauseated this morning, your passing out at work, it's because your body's going through changes, big changes if you know what I mean, wife of mine," he said with a grin, squeezing her shoulders.
She closed her eyes and tried to swallow everything.
"That means I've got to come to the hospital each month, and I'll get all those weird food urges," she suddenly whined.
"Most likely."
"B~but, I hate the hospital. I've never so much as broken my arm," she whimpered. "Didn't you hear me? I fainted while they were drawing blood. I don't think I'm ready to have my stomach cut open."
Sam found her bout of anxiety cute. "We'll worry about delivery a little bit later down the line. And as soon as I get back to school I'm going to tell the good news so they can start dealing with my missing work one day of the month as early as possible."
"Okay."
"Josie," he said, suddenly a lot more serious. "I know I'm young and I have no experience but I promise you, I'm ready to grow up. I will be there for every doctor's appointment and I will assist you in every way I can to make these nine months more bearable and let you know that they are so going to be worth it."
He was referring to the "I don't want to grow up," speech he'd given her while they'd been on the ferris wheel.
"Aww, thanks Sam, that's so sweet," she murmured as she mussed up his hair. "You've already been a perfect husband for a full year, I don't doubt you're going to make an excellent father."
Sam melted with those words like chocolate on a marshmallow simmering on a stick over an open fire. "I love you so much, Josie."
She pulled his face to hers and kissed him in response. He prolonged what was supposed to be a five second kiss and then after breaking away from her mouth, he lowered his head to kiss her on the stomach. "And I love you too."
Josie giggled when he looked up, blushing furiously.
"What?"
"Nothing."
His gaze lingered on her face for one more second as though he didn't believe her. "Okay, well, I got the discharge papers, if you want to get out of here. And maybe we should postpone our anniversary plans, just to be safe. I should probably get you to bed. You must be exhausted."
"Honey, that's life," she laughed, rolling her beautiful eyes that glittered like sapphire. "And don't you have to get back to work?"
"You're right," he agreed pulling his cell phone from his pocket. "I should check in telling them that I'm not going to be coming back in, I should also call up my teammates and cancel hockey practice."
"No, you go back to work and go to hockey practice," she cut in. "And our plans for tonight are going as planned."
"B~but you just passed out. Are you sure you're up for this tonight?" he stammered, completely ready to drop his plans.
"Honey, I'll have Anita pick me up and take me back to work, you go do your thing and I'll meet you at the ice rink, like we planned."
"D~do you really think that's a good idea?"
"Sam, I'm not sick or anything. I'm pregnant. That's got to be a sign that I'm healthy."
"Yeah~~~just, I don't want you passing out at work again."
"I won't," she argued with him. "I'll see you at the ice rink at six."
"Fine," he exhaled, giving in, "don't' be late."
She nodded, gave him another embrace and Sam finally went on his way.
Josie's room was now empty and she took advantage of it, by laying down against the cream-colored pillows, inside her heart was screaming, "I'm Sam's baby! I'm having Sam's baby!"
The nightmare long forgotten, no longer preying on the edges of her
mind, she closed her eyes, intending onto to get a few moments of peaceful sleep.
Please REVIEW! Thanks! Hope you all like what's going on! Don't worry, I love Sam and Josie together, just you know, you need a little tension, at least in my writing!!!
Things are about to get whacked, but I'll give you one more chapter of just bliss!!!
I don't' write without feedback so keep it comin!!!
Love ya'll, Total V. Lover
Please Continue to Read and Review, Total Vaughn Lover
Chapter 2
"May I help you sir?" the nurse inquired to the sexy man who had rushed up to her desk.
"H~hi," Sam panted, slamming his hand down onto the desk, barely stopping to catch his breath. "My name is Sam Coulson, I received a call that my wife was brought here."
"Okay Mr. Coulson, can I have your wife's name please?" she asked sweetly and flirtatiously.
"Josie," he stated, closing his eyes to suppress his tears. "Josie Geller Coulson."
"Just a moment," she crooned and began typing on her computer, completely flustered. Sam couldn't believe how calmly and slowly the receptionist was going about things. Didn't she realize he was worry-stricken and that he wanted be by his wife's side as soon as possible. After all, this was their first anniversary. It wasn't right to spend it alone, let alone in a hospital.
"Hmm~~~I don't' see a Josie Geller on here," the nurse mumbled.
"It's Josie Geller COULSON!" he repeated, his fear of his wife's condition making his voice sound impatient.
"Sir, you're emotionally distressed so I am not going to call you on it but your rudeness is not going to help me get this done any faster for you," she scolded him, no longer flirting with him. There was no point, he was married and it was evident from his concern the only woman he had eyes for was his wife.
Sam stared at her in disbelief, but backed off and went to sit down in the nearest seat. He clasped his hands together and propped his chin onto them.
"Please let me be all right," he prayed, closing his eyes. Tears streamed down his cheeks and mixed with the cold sweat that was forming on his body. "Please God, just let her be okay," he repeated feverishly as though repetition was all that mattered.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"It's that man right there," the nurse whispered to the doctor that had arrived in the reception area.
"What was he doing to you?" the doctor demanded, shooting a glare at the intruding man who, from his point of view," seemed to just be rattled from concern.
"I was trying to help him find out if his wife was here but he wouldn't be patient, and you know I'm just learning how to use the computer, and the way he was acting made me almost have a panic attack!"
"Hey calm down," he told his usually very obnoxious assistant who seemed to be having a panic attack.
"I'm trying~~~" she whimpered, "but I can't with him in the room!" she started hyperventilating.
"He's a patient, what do you want me to do about it?" he thought as he gently rubbed her back. He glanced at the clock. "When's the last time you had a break?"
"Uh~~~not for five hours! Cindy was supposed to come in but she never did! And she knows I can't~~~"
"Why don't you take five," Dr.Andrews told her, extending a paper bag that she promptly put to her mouth and began breathing into it. "I'll take care of him, call for a replacement, and man the desk till she gets here."
"O~Okay," she gasped between gasps. "T~Thank you."
"Yup, take it easy. I don't' want to go out to the Emergency Bay and find you've gone hypoctic," he warned her. She nodded and went on her way, wheezing as she did.
The doctor kept an eye on her for another second, then stepped up to the young man who was now crying, covering his face with his hands.
"Hey," he greeted, adopting a friendly tone. "Can I help you?"
Sam raised his head and gazed at the doctor with his blood-shot eyes. "I don't' know. I went up to the nurse and she was too busy being ditzy to take me seriously."
"Um Mr.~~~"
"Sam~~~Sam Coulson," he answered, wiping his hand on the side of his pants.
"Mr. Coulson, I understand your frustration but I must ask you to refrain from belittling my team," the doctor put in seriously. "This is a hospital and we get cases like this all the time. And we ask that the families of our patients cooperate with everyone on our staff. I think you realized your harassing our nurses didn't get you very far," Dr. Andrews reasoned taking a seat next to him.
"I~I didn't mean to do that," he apologized as he leaned forward on his elbows. "It's just that I got pulled out my class for an emergency cal. Finding out Josie was take to the hospital was bad enough. I thought I'd been called to the wrong hospital when the nurse said she couldn't find her. It turned out she didn't put in the correct last name. And my patience was running low."
Dr. Andrews nodded his head with understanding.
"I didn't mean to bark at her," Sam continued and his voice cracked horribly. "I just wanted to see her, you know. It's my first anniversary with Josie and I'm not ready to lose her just yet."
"It's understandable, Mr. Coulson," he repeated and squeezed him on the shoulder. "And you know what, I can help you out, bud."
Sam looked at him, his eyes filled with innocence and hope. "You can?"
"Yeah, your wife is a blond right? Curly blond hair, skin like porcelain? Big green eyes?" he inquired, the husband who nodded.
"That's her. Do you know where she is?" Sam demanded, seeing a ray of light for the first time since he entered the hospital.
"Yeah, as a matter of fact I do," he told him with a smile then held out is hand, "I'm Dr. Christopher Andrews. I'm the one who saw your wife when she came in."
"She's good. She fainted from what they thought was dehydration at work. We assumed that too and so we're giving her fluids right now," the doctor reported cheerily. "So no worries."
Sam let out a sigh of relief.
"But there is something I want to discuss with you first," the doctor added, still looking very happy. "You want to come with me for a second?"
Sam followed the doctor to the door behind the administration desk then followed him in on his beckoning and sat down on seat before he collapsed onto the floor, overwhelmed with relief.
'I know what you're thinking. We don't usually allow patients back here due to patient confidentiality but somebody needs to watch this desk until my replacement comes in," Dr. Andrews replied, responding to his unasked question. "And I do have to talk to you. I'm going to keep it real brief though since I know you want to see your wife."
But Sam had already forgotten that. Sure, he wanted to see her, he wanted to see her open her eyes like she were waking up from a dream and scoop her up into his arms. But he wanted to hear what the doctor had to say first. He could barely keep himself from strangling the doctor as he innocently made a phonecall to page a nurse to take over reception.
"So what's wrong with her?" he burst out before the doctor had put the phone back on its' receiver.
"Mr. Coulson, don't look so alarmed, I never said the news was bad," Dr. Andrews chided him as he wrote on his clipboard. "I just said we needed to discuss something."
There was an awkward silence that followed as Sam waited for the doctor to finish whatever he was concentrating on.
"Right, the first question I have for you is if you'll be able to take time off of work to go to monthly check ups with your wife to the obstrecian."
Sam was silent. Obstrecian? Wasn't that a baby doctor?
"And the second question is when you'll want to take your pre-birth classes," he added as he tapped his pen on the table. "They can be early on in the pregnancy but we prefer that you take them around 28 to 32 weeks."
When the doctor didn't get a reply, he look up to gauge the expecting father's reaction.
Sam was staring at the table and a second later, when he lifted his head, there was a confused but hopeful expression on his face. "Dr. Andrews, forgive me for saying this but~~~my wife isn't pregnant."
"You sure about that?" he inquired, looking a bit disappointed. "Because we ran a blood test on her, then we ran a pregnancy test and~~~well, the tests are conclusive."
"B~but I thought that she was supposed to have morning sickness~~~"Sam stated, then he cut himself off as the wheels started to turn in his head. "Wait a minute, she was nauseated this morning."
"You two are married, correct? I mean~ you have~~~consumated your relationship?"
Sam bit his lip, looking quite uncomfortable to be asked that question so directly by a medical professional.
"I'm only asked pertaining to the medical reasons, it's either that or your wife has been doing something she shouldn't be," he hinted and the doctor chuckled when he realized Sam was taking him seriously. "I'm kidding, Mr. Coulson."
"Oh," he sighed and his face visibly relaxed as he let out a breath. "Does she know?" he asked then, not knowing why his voice had dropped to a whisper.
"N~No," he replied. "She was out when I was taking blood from her. I'm guessing she's either bad with needles or can't stand the sight of blood.
"Maybe~~~I know I'm not too good with that stuff," Sam rebuked, shuddering at the thought of getting a veni-puncture, or any type of puncture period.
"Well, I think this is perfect. It's your wedding anniversary and you can tell her she's pregnant. I strongly felt she might not like to hear about it from a doctor who just made her miserable. And besides it's a special moment between you two, go enjoy it."
"Oh I will," he beamed, already a proud papa. "How long has she been pregnant?"
"Three weeks. We got her to the hospital just before she would require her first check up," Dr. Andrews told him as he collected a variety of pamphlets from the drawers. "We give these during the first check up, but obviously you're not going to require that," he explained as he put about ten booklets in his hands.
Sam briefly skimmed the title. He was overwhelmed, seemed there was a lot more to becoming a parent than he'd realized. He'd been teaching kids for a few years now but right now he suddenly felt nineteen again, not a care in the world, wondering where the time had gone when he'd amused himself with G.I Joe's. He suddenly wasn't sure if they were ready to have a baby.
"Hey Chris, you needed a replacement?"
Dr. Andrews looked up and smiled at the pretty young woman standing in the doorway. "Yeah, I've got to take this expecting father to is baby's mother before he loses his mind. I'll be back in five minutes, will you watch this desk, page me if you need me."
The replacement nodded as she took her seat. Dr. Andrews then turned to Sam, who he couldn't believe was looking more nervous, if that was even possible. He literally looked like he was ready to wet his pants. "You ready to deliver the good news, Mr. Coulson?"
"Uh~~~yeah."
"Great," the doctor grinned. "Follow me."
`~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Meanwhile Josie was nestled in her bed in a recovery room. But she was everything but restful.
She was in a state that she knew had to be a dream but couldn't believe it because of how tangible everything was.
She was standing in what looked like a college classroom. The rows and rows of ascending desks was a dead give away.
"What am I doing here?" she wondered as she looked around the room. The only thing she could conclude was that this was Sam's room and he was going to walk through the classroom doors any minute.
She looked over at the good-sized wooden desk that was sitting on the right side of the room, and went over to it and sat down in the comfortable looking desk chair, suddenly overwhelmed by fatigue. She laid back and twiddled with a pen, waiting for something to happen.
Nothing did.
"She tapped her fingers on the chestnut finish then after a few moments began sorting through the drawers not sure of what she was looking for.
Then she spied a large pile of papers that looked suspiciously familiar. And in the next instant, she knew what it was. It was Sam's novel.
She reached for the bulky object, held neatly together with three huge binder clips and set it before her.
She then stared at it, feeling as though she were treading on forbidden ground, therefore her fingers hesitated before she opened it to the first page.
Sam would never forgive her, even if he loved her. there was just some things even wives couldn't do.
But then again~~~this was a dream. There was no way he could find out. And really, what were the chances the novel would even be accurate?
She flipped the blank page over and revealed on the next page was a title page.
Actually it was a page of several titles some of them had asterisks next to them and others had been crossed out so viciously, it was obvious that the writer wanted to make sure they could never be read again.
She fawned over the ones he felt were good and then drove herself crazy trying to figure out what lied beyond the scribbled mess.
Finally after she pulled herself away from the titles (i.e "Dear Josie," "Meant to be?"). She flipped through another title pate, a lengthy author's note and acknowledgements. She debated whether she should read through the dedication then decided she'd seen enough. Some things she wanted to keep a surprise for later, plus she was sure Sam would be able to see through it if she tried to act like she was seeing it for the first time.
She heard the unmistakable creak of the door.
Josie raised her head in shock. There he was, Sam Coulson, swinging his briefcase as he bounded down the steps, his heels echoing off the walls sounded more deafening in the empty room.
"Crap!" she yiped as she hurridely shoved the book into its' former position in the drawer. Then she scrambled off his desk and decided to stand next to it, just as Sam reached the ground level.
Josie felt herself falling in love again as she watched him seat himself in his chair. He was just as handsome at that moment as he'd been the first moment she'd laid eyes on him. In face he was wearing the same outfit of a white shirt under a nice blue collared shirt, coordinated with a pair of darker blue pants and polished leather shoes.
He leaned back, stretched into the air, then popped open his briefcase and pulled out what curiously looked like a picture frame, which he set on the desk.
Josie peered carefully over his shoulder. It was one of the pictures South Glenn High's paparazzi had taken of her and Sam when they'd spent an afternoon painting a backdrop for their prom scene.
She blushed and stumbled backwards, completely mortified. She made a mental note to herself not to find the picture frame if it even existed.
That was until she heard Sam chuckle as he pulled out a stack of ungraded term papers and then let out a contented sigh.
"I can never get enough of you, Josie, especially in this picture," she heard him mutter and felt it safe too back over at him. He was staring dreamily at the picture and she could barely stiffle her giggle.
"Especially with that yellow on your forehead," he continued, laughing.
For a second Josie wondered if he could actually see her and wished she could vanish on the spot. And hey, it was a dream. Maybe it could happen.
"Hmm~~~better buckle down and get to work it if have any hope of talking to Josie tonight before she goes to sleep," she heard him mumble to himself. Then he shook his body out as though that was all he needed to do to reenergize himself for the tedious task of appreciating term papers written by students who had little appreciation for the English language then set to work.
Josie expected Sam to read the first line, maybe skim the body of the paper, write some comments and then put a letter grade at the top of the paper. But in actuality, he sat there for about five minutes absorbed in the words, not picking up his red pen once, while she, who was reading over his shoulder would have picked up the pen every two lines. Sam however didn't seem to notice it seemed impossible but Mr. Coulson was actually reading it purely for context.
She watched as he laughed at the amusing quirks and his brow furrowed when he he could feel the writer's frustration, and his forehead produced two distinct wrinkles at moment of sorrow.
It was obvious he liked what he did from the way he acted. He was leaned back, with his legs crossed, pure delight in his face as though he were enjoying a good book. Josie was suddenly angered that his ex- girlfriend had once upon a time tried to steal this from Sam, asked him to throw away what he loved most and become a part of her firm in New York.
She couldn't bring herself to believe that Alice had ever loved him. She knew she loved Sam but she could never him to give up what he enjoyed most, just like she wouldn't expect him to ask her to give up her love for words. Quite frankly, she was sure that both of them would go insane without words as a big aspect of their lives.
She continued to watch him for a few minutes mores, not a moment of it was boredom. He just looked very attractive when he was serious. She had to admit his gentle but firm way of pulling a class under control was very appealing.
The door creaked open again, Sam didn't stray his eyes from what he was doing and hers would have immediately redirected themselves toward the noise if Sam wasn't acting peculiar.
"Hey Sam."
Josie's heart gave a nasty squeeze as she recognized it was a female voice addressing her husband. And how heartbroken she sounded too.
It was obvious Sam was thinking for his head snapped up the next second and his expression was that of concern.
"Ms. Leosis," he gasped. "what happened to you?"
That was the same thought running through Josie's mind as she turned her head, only to witness her former classmate Kirsten Leosis speed past her and barrel into Sam, pushing him down against the table, and then to Josie's horror, began kissing him with her extremely pouty lips.
Josie felt her heart shatter into a million different pieces especially when she saw Sam's hand come around her head and responded to her kiss. She was swept by an overwhelming bout of jealousy, which she'd always had towards Kirsten who was only the most popular girl of South Glenn High's class of 1999, with her long legs, perfect face, beautiful figure and tanned skin while Josie always felt too pale, too blond and too curvy.
The only one who'd been able to pull her out of that run had been her husband Sam, who she'd always feared she would lose to somebody, that she would never be good enough for.
And now it seemed her worst nightmare was coming true.
She could barely keep from breakign down completely as she looked over at them again. Only this time Kristen was in an utter state of shock, totally speechless as she walked away mumbling to herself until Sam grabbed one wrist and jerked her back.
"Sam! What do you think you're doing!" she shrieked, tears rolling down her cheeks, staining her perfect complexion.
"What do you mean what am I doing?" he stammered, looking completely innocent. "You're the one that came up to~~~"
SMACK!
Josie watched as Sam stumbled backwards, reacting to the slap Kirsten had given him. It had to be pretty hard to leave the red handprint that now displayed on his face.
"I can't believe you, Mr. Coulson! You're married, what are you doing making advances toward me!" Kirsten screamed and Josie found herself looking with disbelief at her husband. The current situation was altering her judgement. "I mean Josie is pregnant! IF you wanted me, you shouldn't have made that mistake!"
"Kirsten, I'm not going to scream at you because something is obviously going on with you. Now why don't you tell me what that is," Sam suggested in an eerily calm tone, as he folded his arms.
"No! The reason you're not going to say anything is because you're the one who tried to rape me!" she shrieked tears rolling down her cheeks, and her body trembled as though there was an invisible draft in the room.
"I should wash your mouth out with soap!" Sam thundered as he knelt down to father his papers. "Lying to a teacher is almost as bad as cursing, Ms. Leosis. I would have expected more respect from you."
"Oh no, don't' put this on me! You're the one who's been looking at me. I saw checking me out at our reunion," she put in accusingly, her eyes flashed with her anger. "And then you hugged me."
Josie was sure she's fallen into the depths of hell. Sweet, honest Sam Coulson~~~where had he gone?"
"Only because it was so nice to see you again. And I also hugged Ms. Kristen Ray, and Ms. Gibby Zarefsky, and I think I even kissed Aldys on the hand," Sam admitted, then his anger slipped and he let out a chuckle. "You know Kirsten, I know you were checking me out all senior year but I didn't embarrass you and because you had those feelings, I didn't think that you would react this way."
"Are you trying to justify your behavior towards me?" Kirsten gasped, looking as Sam as though he'd committed the ultimate betrayal. "Damn, wouldn't Josie love this?"
"Leave my wife out of this, young lady," he commanded her. "And just so you know, you've got two seconds to apologize to me before I got to the Dean and give you restraining order from this institution.
"Hey, you're a teacher so you may not really give a damn about reunions but I do, and if you lift a finger to ruin so much as second of my week here, I'll go to Josie myself and tell her what happened," she sneered haughtily. "Then I'll go to the Dean myself and file for harassment and I think you know what would happen there I don't' know about you but I don't' think you'll be able to support your child everywhere without a job and what a father you'll make being a sex offender."
"Listen to me, Kirsten," Sam said as calmly and monotone as he could. "Nothing happened here~~~"
"Then why are you shaking?"
Sam didn't have a response to that. Then he watched as Kirsten ascended the stairs, contemplating exactly what happened here.
She found him literally sweating as he sat down at his desk. And he had good reason to be as far as Josie was concerned. She watched him as he pulled out another paper but she noticed immediately that his eyes wouldn't stare long at the paper before his hands got so shaky that that slammed his paper down.
"Three more days," she heard him whine. "She'll be gone in three more days, Sam, just hold it together."
Oh no, did this mean Sam had been fighting his urges or did he just really miss her?
And where was she in this dream?
She got her answer the next second.
Sam was writing flimsy comments on his paper when his cell phone decided to ring. He picked it up with a shaky hand and peered at the name on the screen.
Josie.
She watched him pick up the phone then smiled at her. "Josie? Hey, how are you sweetie?"
"You didn't call I was getting worried," she heard Sam croon like a love sick puppy. "I was just getting ready to call you."
"Me? OH, I'm still at school, trying to get through all my paper work, you know, final papers so I can send these eager college students to summer. Hopefully I won't have to keep any of them for summer school, heaven knows I need a vacation."
"Well, I might pull a few strings. I'm going to do the most that I possibly can. I~I'm going to need time with the baby to become an adequate father."
"Well are you taking care of yourself? What! What do you mean my voice is shrill? No~nothing's wrong. I~I'm just tired. Yeah, I'm also tired of going to sleep in an empty bed. So don't you dare tell me you have another extension, you need to get home and get some rest."
"I know, I know," he huffed, trying not to come off as irritated. 'You're just doing your job, I~I'm just worried about you, I don't' want you getting all stressed out since you're so late into pregnancy."
"And I guess I should let you get some sleep," he said with a touch of finality to his voice. "Okay~~~I love you too, bye bye."
Josie was now positive this was a dream. It had to be, Sam had blatantly lied on the phone to her. She knew he wouldn't do that to her in real life.
Would he?
"I didn't do anything," he said to himself feverishly as though he was having a hard time trying to convince himself of that fact. She assumed he was probably think why he was freaking out if he hadn't and nothing had happened. She wanted to suddenly materialize there and give him the shock of his life, but unfortunately that didn't seem to be one of the elements she had control over in the dream world.
"Just get me outta here," she pleaded, as tears tumbled down her cheeks. She crouched on the floor and began to cry.
"Josie, Josie," she heard a male voice call out to her.
"No~~~not today mister. Give me a few hours to swallow what just happened," she barked feeling very mean but also feeling perfectly fine with it.
"Josie~~~"Sam sounded almost whiny. When had he gotten so pathetic?
"JOSIE!" she heard say briskly then felt someone grip her wrist very strongly.
Her eyes flashed open and she found herself staring directly at her husband's face which was about one foot away from hers. His brows were furrowed, his forehead creased, and his sparkling green eyes had been dulled with worry.
"S~Sam?"
"Y~you're awake!" he beamed, his face lighting up instantly with a smile. "Man Josie, you gave me a good scare. You were talking in your sleep, I thought you were getting delirious but you weren't running a fever~~~I was just about to get Dr. Andrews," he continued rambling on as though he'd just run home from school and had to tell his mom everything in one minute that he didn't realize Josie was crying,
"Honey? Are you okay?"
She didn't say a word. She instead pulled hesrelf up in her bed then held her arms out signaling that she needed a hug.
Sam obliged and pulled her into his built arms and rubbed her back, making soothing noises.
"I~I just h~had the worst nightmare," she blubbered, her words dissolved into ununderstandable sobs.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Josie. But I'm here and I love you. Everything is going to be okay," he repeated, kissing her on the cheek then on the forehead. "Would you feel better if you talked about it?" he asked then, as he loosened his hold so she could move back, she only went far enough so that their foreheads were still touching.
She saw how concerned and eager to help her husband was and suddenly felt silly, a whirling six year old inside of a grown woman's body.
"It's~~~it's probably going to sound really stupid," she warned him, cracking an embarrassed smile.
"Nothing you say is stupid," he promised her.
"Okay~~~I just dreamed that you cheated on me," she began very bluntly. "I was away and I saw you were grading papers and then~~~Kirsten came through the door, then slammed you against the desk and~~~' she came to an abrupt pause, tears clogged her throat, rendering her unable to speak then she let out a sob that sounded as though it'd been suppressed and finally exploded from her diaphragm.
"Kirsten?" Sam inquired, completely clueless. "Who?"
"Leosis, you know the beauty queen."
Sam's eyes widened as recognition hit him. "Leosis, you mean from South Glen High?"
"One of the three that prowled the school like they owned the place."
"Well, you just push away whatever you saw because it's not true. Kirsten got into a cheer school along with Kristen and Ms. Zarefsky," he reminded her. "They're nowhere near Chicago."
"Yeah, b~but~~~I don't know I'm afraid it's going to happen, not that I don't' trust you but it was eerie, it felt so real. None of my dreams have ever been that tangible."
"Sweetie, I believe you okay?" he cajoled her realizing his tone didn't sound too comforting. "Is there anything in this dream that seems like something I can tell you will or will not happen in the near future."
"W~well, there was me, I was gone, you talked to me through a cell phone. And then there was your book sitting in your desk."
"Did you read it?" he panicked. "Because I hope you know Sam's desk in a dream requires the same respect as Sam's desk in real life."
"N~No," she lied. "And the Kirsten things, she was in town because of a South Glen reunion that's supposed to happen spring quarter of next year. "And~~I was pregnant, that was the worst part, you cheated on me while I was pregnant!"
Josie began sobbing again and handsome Sam's heart broke. He couldn't bear to watch her cry.
"Josie, I'm going to be honest with you, one of them that you mentioned is true."
Josie's face scrunched up as though she was going to start blubbering once again.
"Now before you start crying, my book is not in my desk at work. It won't remain private if it was there. And I have the calendar for special events as the special events coordinator and I know there is no South Glen High reunion," Sam coaxed her, rubbing her tears away with the corner of his thumb, not to smudge her eyeliner. "And don't you think the high school I taught at would tell me there's a reunion coming up months in advance?"
Josie considered this and to her great relief, what he said made sense. "But what about Kirsten?"
"What about her?" he shot back, nonchalantly.
"Did she like you? I mean, I know you're modest so I'm going to be quite frank, you're the hottest high school teacher I've ever laid eyes on."
"Hmm~~~thanks," he said with a modest smile. "Y~yeah, those three always tried to get me to dance with them at Homecoming but our relationship is purely, student-teacher, if that."
"So what part is the truth then?" she inquired, biting her lip, she wasn't sure she wanted to hear this.
"Couldn't you guess?"
Josie shook her head, clearly not getting it. That was also why she couldn't understand why he looked so giddy, so absolutely pleased.
"J~Josie~~~baby~~~I don't know how to break this to you other than just to come out and say it, you're pregnant."
She just stared at him.
"Honey, did you hear me/" he whispered. "We're going to have a baby!"
"N~Now?" she gasped.
"Yeah, well, I mean you conceived. It's going to be eight months before we'll be able to hold him or her in our arms, but yeah~~~we're going to be parents."
"Oh my gawd! Sam!' she shrieked, tears starting to form, overwhelmed by happiness.
"I know. I couldn't believe it when Dr. Andrews told me," Sam cried. "I almost fainted when they told me you were in the hospital. But now it all makes sense. You being nauseated this morning, your passing out at work, it's because your body's going through changes, big changes if you know what I mean, wife of mine," he said with a grin, squeezing her shoulders.
She closed her eyes and tried to swallow everything.
"That means I've got to come to the hospital each month, and I'll get all those weird food urges," she suddenly whined.
"Most likely."
"B~but, I hate the hospital. I've never so much as broken my arm," she whimpered. "Didn't you hear me? I fainted while they were drawing blood. I don't think I'm ready to have my stomach cut open."
Sam found her bout of anxiety cute. "We'll worry about delivery a little bit later down the line. And as soon as I get back to school I'm going to tell the good news so they can start dealing with my missing work one day of the month as early as possible."
"Okay."
"Josie," he said, suddenly a lot more serious. "I know I'm young and I have no experience but I promise you, I'm ready to grow up. I will be there for every doctor's appointment and I will assist you in every way I can to make these nine months more bearable and let you know that they are so going to be worth it."
He was referring to the "I don't want to grow up," speech he'd given her while they'd been on the ferris wheel.
"Aww, thanks Sam, that's so sweet," she murmured as she mussed up his hair. "You've already been a perfect husband for a full year, I don't doubt you're going to make an excellent father."
Sam melted with those words like chocolate on a marshmallow simmering on a stick over an open fire. "I love you so much, Josie."
She pulled his face to hers and kissed him in response. He prolonged what was supposed to be a five second kiss and then after breaking away from her mouth, he lowered his head to kiss her on the stomach. "And I love you too."
Josie giggled when he looked up, blushing furiously.
"What?"
"Nothing."
His gaze lingered on her face for one more second as though he didn't believe her. "Okay, well, I got the discharge papers, if you want to get out of here. And maybe we should postpone our anniversary plans, just to be safe. I should probably get you to bed. You must be exhausted."
"Honey, that's life," she laughed, rolling her beautiful eyes that glittered like sapphire. "And don't you have to get back to work?"
"You're right," he agreed pulling his cell phone from his pocket. "I should check in telling them that I'm not going to be coming back in, I should also call up my teammates and cancel hockey practice."
"No, you go back to work and go to hockey practice," she cut in. "And our plans for tonight are going as planned."
"B~but you just passed out. Are you sure you're up for this tonight?" he stammered, completely ready to drop his plans.
"Honey, I'll have Anita pick me up and take me back to work, you go do your thing and I'll meet you at the ice rink, like we planned."
"D~do you really think that's a good idea?"
"Sam, I'm not sick or anything. I'm pregnant. That's got to be a sign that I'm healthy."
"Yeah~~~just, I don't want you passing out at work again."
"I won't," she argued with him. "I'll see you at the ice rink at six."
"Fine," he exhaled, giving in, "don't' be late."
She nodded, gave him another embrace and Sam finally went on his way.
Josie's room was now empty and she took advantage of it, by laying down against the cream-colored pillows, inside her heart was screaming, "I'm Sam's baby! I'm having Sam's baby!"
The nightmare long forgotten, no longer preying on the edges of her
mind, she closed her eyes, intending onto to get a few moments of peaceful sleep.
Please REVIEW! Thanks! Hope you all like what's going on! Don't worry, I love Sam and Josie together, just you know, you need a little tension, at least in my writing!!!
Things are about to get whacked, but I'll give you one more chapter of just bliss!!!
I don't' write without feedback so keep it comin!!!
Love ya'll, Total V. Lover