Chapter 31

Hope, Hearts and Hospital Part 4

Paige glanced up towards her door, her breath catching in her throat at the sight of Glen standing there.

A moments silence past before she found her voice, "hey," she greeted softly, offering a slight awkward wave of her hand.

Glen in return smiled tightly and stuffed his hands into his pockets while shifting uncomfortably.

"I'm sorry," she said sincerely after a beat. He locked eyes with her but said nothing, "for everything." She continued weakly.

"Paige can you just say it?" He requested softly.

"Say what?" She asked tentatively.

"The thing you've been hiding from me for months," he struggled to keep his tone even and not come out bitter.

She bit her lip, "why you already know now."

"I just need to hear you say it." He explained calmly.

Paige nodded understandingly, "I'm pregnant," she spoke in almost a whisper. Glen nodded slowly and she could plainly tell he was still struggling to process it. "Well actually I was pregnant. I had the baby over an hour ago." She went on to explain her voice stronger this time.

"You had the baby already! Why didn't you call me? I should have been there for you." He burst out startled by the news.

"I had someone with me," she informed him softly.

"Let me guess- Kyle," he spat sudden bitterness showing.

"Yes Kyle! And its not my fault you weren't here, if you hadn't gone home…"

"I went home because I was so shocked and confused. Most guys have months to prepare for the birth of a baby. I got hours!" He exclaimed. "So I think I had the right to feeling the way I did. You what to know what I'm feeling now though… Angry!"

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

He caught his breath and calmed down a little before sighing. "Why didn't you tell me?" he inquired.

She shook her head, "you don't want to know," she told him guilt flashing across her eyes.

"Try me."

She sighed heavily and avoided his eye ashamed, "I didn't tell you because I was going to give the baby away so I figured there was no need to hurt you." She explained only then realising how weak it sounded.

He listened and then sighed, "well guess what Paige- I am hurt." After a moment of silence in which he looked visibly shocked at how she could have even thought of that, he spoke again, "you were going to give it away, our baby without a word to me and than just go back to normal…how could you?"

"I couldn't! I can't! That's why I'm not going through with it!" She was quick to defend.

Glen didn't reply for a moment, he seemed to be thinking. Paige wasn't sure if that was good or bad. Finally he spoke again, "I bet Kyle knew all about this." Paige winced. Definitely bad. "I can't believe you told him all this before you told me!" He sounded hurt and angry at the same time.

"I didn't tell Kyle. He found out when I was…" She quickly stopped herself speaking by covering her mouth with her hand.

Intrigued Glen looked at her, "when you were what?" He asked.

Paige shook her head, tears welling up in her eyes, "it doesn't matter," she mumbled quietly.

"Oh great, another secret! That's just…"

"Drunk okay? He found out when I was drunk!" She shouted interrupting his rant at her.

Glen laughed despite the situation, shaking his head in disbelief at her, "oh this just keeps getting better and better doesn't it? I mean what were you trying to do Paige- kill the baby?" He immediately stopped laughing when he saw the guilty look on her face.

"I'm sorry." She mumbled weakly.

"Yeah so you keep saying," disgust etched his face and he found himself having to look away from her, "I just can't look at you right now Paige." He stated solemnly and before waiting for a reply he walked out the room leaving Paige's tears to really fall.

Kyle stopped his pacing outside Paige's room when he heard the door open and close. He saw Glen exit and immediately went up to him, "how'd it go?" He asked.

In response Glen just shot him a look which Kyle could quite clearly read. "Not well then huh?" Glen shook his head at Kyle's words and started to walk away. "Wait Glen where are you going?" Kyle called after him.

"Away from here. I tried to handle this but I just can't…"

Kyle grabbed his arm making Glen turn to face him, "So what because of how you're feeling you're going to let the baby suffer? She needs her dad."

"Well you've done a pretty good job with that so far," Glen retorted bitterly pulling his arm from Kyle's grasp.

Kyle was starting to lose his patience, "Glen will you just listen okay? I know this is a lot to deal with right now but picking fights and living in denial about it is not going to help anyone!" Kyle reasoned.

Glen sighed and slight regret took over him, "If I stay just now I'll end up saying more things to Paige that I know I'll regret and even with all of this happening I still care about her and I don't want to hurt her."

"Don't see Paige then. Go and see your daughter." Kyle encouraged softly nudging Glen slightly.

Glen smiled slightly at him and nodded his head, "Thanks Kyle." He paused awkwardly for a second, "um in some way you know I'm kinda glad you were there for Paige. I guess you're a good guy." He finished by clearing his throat and scratching the back of his head a little uncomfortably.

Kyle smiled and extended his hand, "friends?"

Glen hesitated and glanced back at Paige's room and then decided, "friends." He confirmed while shaking Kyle's hand.

"Hey," Phoebe smiled softly as she approached Lee outside. He turned around and returned her smile. "You know you didn't have to stay this whole time," she said then quickly added gratefully, "thanks though."

"Its no problem," he replied genuinely, "I'm just glad everything's okay now."

"Me too," Phoebe agreed. Lee reached out and tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear, and then he looked up and smiled at her.

She sighed and looked down at her feet. This was going to be hard. "Lee, you know I care about you and appreciate everything you've done for me but…"

He cut her off by pressing his finger to her lips, "its okay Phoebe. I think I know where this is going." He sighed slightly but he still had a soft smile on his face. "You don't need to say some fancy speech to break up with me." He smiled at her confused face. "I really care about you too and I want you to be happy even if it's not with me. Cole's a good guy and I know you love him."

"Lee…" she began softly. "You're right I do think we should break up… but it's not because of Cole. Well it's partly because of him but mostly it's because of me. I've never really been just me before I've always gone from a guy to the next guy and I really think I need to give myself time… to get over Cole. He was my first love and I'll always love him but he lives in New York and I need to move on but I need to do it alone." She explained gently.

He nodded understandingly and smiled with slight force though.

"We can still be friends right?" Phoebe asked when he didn't reply.

He nodded, "of course." And he brought her into a hug. He had to admit though, he was damn jealous of Cole. He wished Phoebe could love him instead.

"What do you think?"

"I think its very pink…" Andy commented bluntly.

"Duh! It's a girl so it's got to be pink." Prue replied rolling her eyes as she untangled the pink 'It's a Girl!' balloon from the rest all tied together in the gift shop of the hospital.

"Okay then but is there really any need to get a pink card, a pink balloon, a pink teddy and a pink all in one suit?" He asked arching an eyebrow with amusement.

She slapped him playfully on the arm, "Yes there is!"

"Okay, okay," he held his hands up in surrender and grinned at her.

"Now come on I want to go and look at those cute hats over there," she pointed to the far end of the shop and made her way over.

"I wonder what colour you should get…" Andy mocked then laughed when she turned back and glared playfully at him. He grabbed her by the arm and pulled her towards him, giving her a soft kiss on the lips. "So did Abbie get this much pink stuff when she was born?" He wondered.

"Yes!"

"Can you believe like ten months ago it was you in here having just give birth?" He shook his head in disbelief how quickly time went past.

"How could I forget. I won't be doing that again for a while!" She told him pointedly.

"I'd like a boy next time," he informed her with a smile.

"Oh you would, would you?" She smiled at him.

"Yeah. Then we could buy blue baby things 'cause I'm so sick of the colour pink." He grinned.

She laughed, "well tough 'cause we got more gifts to buy yet."

He groaned as he let her drag him to the hat display.

"Hi mum how are you doing?" A plump nurse asked with a smile as she walked into Paige's room cradling the baby girl in her arms.

Paige smiled at the sight of her daughter, "good," she replied instantly feeling that way.

The nurse smiled, "that's great! This little one is hungry. You want to try feeding her?"

Paige hesitated, "I thought she was being kept under observation just now?"

"Oh she's a strong little thing. She's been given the all clear. Perfectly healthy." The nurse beamed as she informed her the good news.

Paige sighed with relief and smiled even wider. She held out her arms and gently took the baby from the nurse. "Here you go," the nurse handed her a ready-made bottle. "Comfy?"

Paige nodded and smiled happily when the baby accepted the bottle. She caught the nurse's eye, "you're a natural," she commented with a broad smile. "I'm going to leave you three alone for a bit. Just call if you need me."

Paige nodded without looking up, completely engrossed by the baby. It was only after a few seconds she realised what the nurse had said, "wait three?"

"I think she was counting me too."

Paige looked up surprised at the sound of another voice, "how did she…"

"I've been standing outside the door for a while," he explained sheepishly stuffing his hands in his pockets.

Paige nodded.

"She's gorgeous. Just like her mum." He said softly.

Paige felt her eyes well up again, "thank you," she replied in a weak voice.

"Paige are you crying?" He asked in shock. He had seen her cry only once since he'd known her.

"No," she answered, although tears were beginning to roll down her cheeks, she sniffed, "damn hormones," she cursed.

Glen cracked a smile and moved closer to the two of them, "well you did just have a baby…"

"I'm sorry," she suddenly said locking eyes with him.

He could see the sincerity in her eyes and nodded, "I still don't understand why you couldn't tell and I wish you had but you can't change the past, only look to the future. And I want to be a part of your and… our daughter's." He shook his head at his last two words and laughed bemused, "our daughter," he repeated. "So surreal."

"Thank you for forgiving me," she smiled at him and he smiled in return, "I've really missed you."

"Well now we have a daughter together something tells me we're going to be seeing a lot of each other." He joked with a grin, as he looked down at his daughter a mixture of awe and joy in his eyes.

"She's finished," Paige announced holding up the empty bottle proudly.

"That's my girl," Glen grinned holding out his thumb for her to grip.

"Oh I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt…" Kyle started awkwardly backing out the room again.

"No Kyle stay." Paige was surprised to hear Glen speak especially to say that.

Kyle paused and turned around, "no it's fine really I'll come back later."

"Stay please," Paige stated simply, a smile on her face.

Kyle nodded and walked further into the room, smiling at the baby, "so have you thought of any names yet?"

Paige and Glen exchanged a look and shook their heads.

"That's okay my mum and dad took like two weeks to name me, well my mum did, she just couldn't decided." He laughed but there was sadness in his eyes that Paige couldn't help but notice as he spoke about his parents.

"Was you mum a good mum?" She asked softly.

"The best," he beamed.

"What was her name?" She asked curiously.

"Emily," he answered.

"Oh, oh yuk!" Paige suddenly squealed and both boys looked to see what was wrong. They both started laughing as they realised the baby had been sick all down Paige's arm. Paige sighed, "guess I should get used to having baby sick on me huh?" Then she couldn't help but laugh too as the boys carried on.

Everything was going to be okay. Grams was fine, the baby was fine, Glen was speaking to her again. Piper was coming home. She could relax and it seemed the more she relaxed the harder she laughed.

And it felt good.

"So you're really staying huh?" Leo inquired as he sat down beside Piper.

She looked at him sadly and nodded. "I'm really sorry Leo. I love you, I do but my family has to come first."

"So we'll have a long distance relationship then?" Leo asked softly dreading the answer.

"Yeah, it'll be hard but we can make it work. I know we can." She assured him confidently.

He pulled her in for a tight hug but he knew as well as she did.

Long distance relationships rarely worked out.

"So if Piper's not coming back I'll guess I'll be moving back home then," Leo sighed as he told Cole. "Or you could move in with me, whatever."

"Wait a minute," Cole began an excited look in his eye as he thought of something, "why do we have to go back to New York? I mean what's the difference, you don't live with mum and dad there so why don't we both just stay here!"

"You're serious?" Leo asked raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah why not? We can find an apartment and get part time jobs plus you could go back to school here." Cole reasoned.

Leo thought it over for a moment and then broke into a wide smile, "Cole you are a genius!" He exclaimed.

"I have my moments," he smirked.

"Okay but lets not get too carried away we have a lot to figure out first…"

"Yeah, yeah sure but just think if we pull this off you get to be with Piper still and she'd still see her family, how great is that?"

"It's better than great." Leo grinned, "and you could get back with Phoebe…" Leo added casually.

Cole rolled his eyes, "I think you're forgetting her boyfriend."

"Oh him yeah that's a bummer all right." Leo sighed and then grinned, "it's a good job she broke up with him earlier."

"Wait she did? Seriously?"

"Uh huh and I wonder why she did it?" Leo smiled patting him on the back.

"Phoebe can pretty stubborn…"

"So can you."

Cole smiled satisfied. "You're right. You know what Leo, I'm going to win her back."

"Okay here's you magazine you wanted and you bottle of water and Glen here's your bottle of water too," Kyle said brightly setting it down on Paige's bedside table in her hospital room.

"Thanks," The both said in unison.

"No problem," he smiled in return taking a seat. Just as he sat down the door opened and all three sisters, Leo, Cole and Andy walked in.

"Hey," they all chorused as they made their way further into the room.

"I don't think this many people should be in here," Paige commented, "But who care," she grinned.

"So how's baby Halliwell?" Prue asked.

"Actually…" Paige glanced at Glen and he nodded at her, "She's not baby Halliwell anymore, she has a name."

"Ooh lets hear," Phoebe said excitedly.

"Well her name is Emma after Kyle's mum 'cause if it wasn't for him she wouldn't be here." Paige announced smiling warmly at Kyle's shocked but honoured face.

Her and Glen had discussed it and had agreed on the name, however neither felt right with Emily but thought Emma was cute.

"And her middle name is Belle after Glen's last name Belland because we didn't want her to have two last names." Paige continued.

"Aww its lovely. Emma Belle Halliwell. Hey it rhymes!" Phoebe commented.

"Its sweet Paige," everyone else murmured in agreement.

"So I'm guessing we're just abandoning the P name tradition we had going?" Piper asked with a smile.

"Well I have a P name for this moment," Phoebe offered. They all sent her quizzical looks. "Perfect."

They all rolled their eyes good-naturedly and laughed.

Paige grinned, "you know what Pheebs as cheesy as that sounded, it pretty much sums this all up."