Chapter Seventeen: All That You Want
The brothers raced down to the street and flagged down a cab, immediately directing it toward the hospital that Brooke had said she was going to. Though they had tension between them, all was forgotten for the time being and they became partners against evil.
Or, at least the danger Brooke was in.
It became evident fairly early that Brooke truly was in danger.
"I'm looking for Brooke Scott. She's in labour, and I'm the father," said Luke urgently to the woman at the front desk.
"Scott…. Scott… Oh, maternity ward. Fourth floor. But you can't go in," she said, reading from the screen in front of her.
"What? It's my baby!" he all but yelled.
"That may be so, but no one can go in. She's scheduled for a cesarean in twenty minutes," she recited.
"What? Why? Why can't she just have it… naturally?" asked Nathan awkwardly, cutting in.
"She was having problems. She's not strong enough, or something. And anyway, isn't he the father?" asked the nurse tiredly, nodding toward Lucas.
"Yeah, but I'm her husband. Can we wait, so we can get updates?" asked Nathan. The nurse raised her eyebrows, but indicated toward a grouping of chairs.
"How can this be happening? She was fine at the last checkup," said Lucas.
"I know. Don't worry, she'll be fine. She's not too old," said Nathan.
"Of course not. I mean, thirty-five isn't too old, right? And what about my kid? All sorts of things can happen. Sometimes when babies come early their respiratory systems aren't fully developed and they have to be hooked up to all these machines and it's hard for them to make it. I need him to make it," said Luke.
"Him?"
"Yeah. We're going to call him Damian. He's going to be a star basketball player and good with the ladies, and with my hair and her dimples and my height," explained Lucas.
"Wow. Dude, she's seriously going to be fine," pressed Nathan.
"We don't know that, Nathan. There's no way of knowing that. There's nothing we can do. We just have to wait for the doctors to do their thing and hope that they do it right," said Lucas.
"They know what they're doing," reassured Nathan.
"It's pretty crazy that about an hour ago you were ready to punch my lights out and know you're assuring me that she's going to be fine and we're going to live happily ever after," said Lucas, laughing dryly.
"Yeah. Remember that time a few months back when we all had dinner with Mom and Dad? Damn, that was awkward," said Nathan, in desperate attempt to get his brother's mind of the inevitable.
"Yeah. When you guys went off to the bathroom-did you..?" asked Lucas cautiously.
"No. I was trying to be a good husband. And she wasn't going for it," admitted Nathan.
"I miss her," said Lucas.
Nathan stared ahead for a moment, picturing Haley. Her long blonde hair, her beautiful, trusting brown eyes, the way she lovingly held their child on her hip.
"I do too," he said stonily, refusing to say anything more.
They sat in silence for an hour before a nurse approached them. Lucas leapt up from his seat and Nathan quickly followed them.
"A boy," she announced. Lucas sighed in relief. "Healthy."
"Thank God. Can I see him?" he asked anxiously. She nodded briefly and beckoned for Lucas to follow. Nathan smiled after them, almost as relieved as his brother for a moment before he realized that the nurse had said nothing at all about the child's mother.
Author's note: I know these chapters have been short. That will change soon, and they will revert back to the normal length. Next chapter is someone elses POV.