A/N: HOLA CHICAS! Te gusta Hard to Say Important Things? I hope so! Anyway, thanks for reviewing and for everything. Hmm….guess what? ONLY THREE MORE CHAPTERS LEFT! I'm gonna try to get this story completed by Wednesday! Think I can do it? I think I can!
Disclaimer: Nothing….is mine except for the plot and Abbie and Emma.
Chapter 19: Rejoice….but Grieve
"Fuck, fuck, fuck," Abbie swore under her breath, trying her hardest not to cry, "He's gonna die, isn't he Gordie?"
Gordie looked down into Abbie's eyes, backing away from their intense hug to gaze at her. Honestly, he had no idea what to say. He knew Chris wasn't going to die….but in a way, to both Chris and himself, he had already died a long time ago. His father had done too much for him not to be. Chris might not be dying, but maybe he feels he is, or maybe he has been feeling this way since the day he was born. Or since the day when Old Lady Simons let him down….but, Gordie thought, didn't everyone let him down? There was no one for him, except for Abbie and himself. No wonder Chris might feel like dying. Maybe he would be able to take the blows, the punches, the insults, the hisses he got every time he turned a corner in the hallways of school if there was someone there. Gordie felt as if he let Chris down. He let Chris take all of this crap….but he wouldn't let him take anymore. Chris was practically Gordie's savior, and now it was Gordie's turn to step in and help the person who affected his life more than anybody else.
"He's not gonna die," Gordie replied firmly, "If he dies, I die. And that's not going to happen."
Abbie stared at him curiously. "If you both die, I'll commit suicide."
Gordie folded his arms, but his eyes widened. "Don't," Gordie cooed, "Don't say stuff like that—that's—not right. Now, we have a lot of stress on us, but Chris has more than all of us. Chris just….damnit Chris!"
Gordie turned abruptly away from Abbie and walked slowly over to the nearest wall. He punched it as hard as his measly little hands could, and he banged his head against it a few times in perfect rhythm. He felt so ashamed. This was so out of personality, he would never do anything like this. But why he felt more anger than anything was the clearest thing.
Suddenly, Teddy stomped into the waiting room from the doors of the emergency room, his face holding a sharp scowl, and his body tense, his fists clenching. His caramel brown eyes were absolutely livid, and Gordie wondered, Oh great, what'd he do this time?
"They won't let me see her," Teddy muttered to Abbie once he reached her, "They won't let me see Emma. My fiancé. The love of my fucking messed up life." All of his energy seemed to be draining from the rest of his body and blazing out of his eyes, as if they were the most powerful part of him. Suddenly, Teddy turned right back around and started back inside the emergency room, "THEY WON'T LET ME SEE HER! GODDAMNIT I WANT TO SEE HER!"
Soon, a middle-aged nurse and a younger looking doctor came to block Teddy's path. Apparently, they were nowhere near strong enough, because Teddy was fighting them with all his might, and he was clearly winning. They grabbed at his t-shirt and tried to hold him back.
"SHE'S AWAKE, SHE'LL LET ME IN!" He tried to plead with the doctors, "SHE'S GOING TO HAVE THE BABY WITHOUT ME BEING THERE! I WANNA SEE MY BABY BEING BORN—IT'S MY BABY, YOU FUCKING RETARDED WETENDS!"
"Where in the world is the girl's parents?" the nurse asked the doctor as they both struggled with Teddy.
"We called them, they said they are getting here as fast as they can-"
"THEY GET TO SEE HER! AND I DON'T! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE? I WANT TO SEE THE WOMAN I FUCKING LOVE!"
"The real question is," the doctor continued, "Where are this kid's parents?"
"I LOVE HER!" Teddy screamed, and then, he started to sob, "LET ME SEE HER, I LOVE HER, AND I'LL LOVE MY CHILD!"
"Doctor, can't we just let him see her?"
"Rules are rules….maybe when the baby is ready to be born."
"NOW GODDAMNIT, NOW!"
"Hey, can someone get this kid under control?" the doctor shouted to no one in particular in the waiting room.
"Here," Abbie volunteered, stepping forward, and she grabbed a hold of Teddy by his shirt, while he continued to bawl, except screaming incoherent words now.
"Now, we are going to give him something to calm him down-"
"I don't think that's necessary," Abbie protested, skeptical.
"Trust me—it'll do him good," the doctor insisted, pulling out a syringe and sticking it into Teddy's arm. He then threw a band-aid over the place where he stuck him, and then gently put him in Abbie's arms, Gordie coming over to help. Teddy immediately seemed to calm down a little, but he was still crying. The doctor and the nurse retreated without another word to them, and Abbie and Gordie dragged Teddy over to some chairs leaning against a wall of the waiting room. They laid Teddy down across the chairs, but he kept grabbing their shirts, fighting meekly to sit up.
"Please," Teddy croaked, "Please…"
"I'm sorry," Abbie replied, and gave him an extra insistent push to lay down, which he did so.
Abbie sat down on the side by Teddy's head, and Gordie the feet. Abbie stroked through Teddy's hair fondly, while he whimpered pathetically. She couldn't even begin to fathom what Teddy must feel. And she felt rather bad, because she had never been there for Teddy before, and he had been there for her dozens upon dozens of times. And now she felt like such a cheat, like she betrayed him by letting the doctor do this to him. She knew he had a lot of pain too, but she just never recognized it, and now it was like it suddenly came and slapped her across the face. And the thing with Teddy was that he wouldn't even be able to get out like Chris would. Chris was one of the lucky ones. Abbie almost smacked herself for saying that. Chris, a lucky one? The only thing he was lucky for was for turning out so much unlike anybody she had ever met before….so rare, so pure. He had been hit and beaten and hissed at, but he was still unspoiled and untainted at the same time, despite all of the things he had seen.
"Abbie Tessio?"
Abbie's head shot up so fast at the unfamiliar voice that she heard her neck crack. There was a nurse standing outside the emergency room doors, a clipboard in her hand.
"Miss Tessio, if you are here to see Christopher Chambers, he's awake, you may see him."
Abbie would have jumped out of her seat and through the roof if Teddy hadn't involuntarily moved his head into her lap. She lifted his head gently and then laid it back on the chairs, not disturbing his peaceful slumber. Gordie gave her a small smile as she turned back to wave at him. The nurse led her through the doors, down the bland looking hall, and into an also bland looking room. The only thing that wasn't bland in the room was the person sitting up in the bed.
"CHRIS!"
Abbie rushed over to him, jumped on the bed, and took a hold of his face, one hand on each cheek.
"Oh my god, I thought something awful might have happened to you-"
"Me? No way," Chris responded nonchalantly, "I'm a brick wall."
"I know you are," Abbie agreed, tears starting to roll down her cheeks.
"Don't cry," Chris cooed, stroking her face, "Here I am, and here I'll stay." He took his hand and put it to her heart. "That's where you'll find me. Hope that doesn't sound too corny."
"It's the most beautiful thing I've ever heard," Abbie whispered, a smile on her face.
"You're the most beautiful thing I've seen," Chris replied, and reached for her.
She fell into him without a moment's hesitation, and they began to kiss.
When Abbie strolled out of Chris' room, she saw Teddy racing wildly towards her. She could see that he had a huge grin on his face, his eyes were sparkling with happiness. The last time she saw him, he had been unconscious from the shot. How long had she been with Chris?
"Abbie, Abbie, Abbie!" he called, just like a little kid would to a friend to show them something exciting, "She had her baby, come on!"
Abbie's stomach dropped. Emma had the baby. Just now? She missed it. She fucking missed it. It was like she blinked and she suddenly appeared inside Emma's hospital room, when in yet Teddy had dragged her. She looked over towards the bed and saw Emma, looking rather flustered and pink in the face, but smiling all the same. Her eyes were even more sparkly than Teddy's. In her hands was a tiny little pink baby. It was weird, she had never seen a new-born before. It looked like a new-born hamster. Was that what all babies looked like when they were born? She prayed to God that it was.
"Emma," Abbie whispered in awe, "Congrats."
"Abbie, I wish you could have been there! It was great!"
"Great?" Teddy snorted softly, "You should have seen her, she was about to bite my fucking head off! Oh hey, guess what? The baby just heard its first profanity!"
"Nice," Abbie acknowledged sarcastically and made her way to Emma, "Is it a boy or a girl?"
"A girl," Emma responded, her smile growing wider.
Teddy shuffled uncomfortably, his arms folded. "Did you let the doctor check again?"
Emma rolled her eyes at him and scowled, "Are you too stupid to check yourself? Do you not know the difference?"
"No," Teddy answered grumpily, "Well yeah I do, what I mean is: no. I don't want it. We ordered a boy, we ordered a boy! Take IT back, we want a boy! Don't you?"
"Honestly, I couldn't give a shit about the sex of our child," Emma huffed, "But if you do, you can call our engagement o-f-f: OFF."
Teddy stared at Emma, his eyes going wide. He stayed absolutely frozen for what seemed forever, until:
"Oh my little girl! Oh how I love ya, how I love ya!" Teddy exclaimed, prying the girl out of Emma's arms, "How are you, my little cutie girl? My little…Laura. How are you, my darling little Laura? Goo-goo-goo!"
"Laura?" Emma asked, but then titled her head in consideration, "Hmm….Laura Duchamp. That doesn't sound bad at all."
"LAURA ROSE DUCHAMP!" Teddy screamed in the baby's face, and there was his first mistake as a parent. The baby started to cry. And cry. And cry. And cry. Emma snatched her out of Teddy's arms and started to cradle her gently.
"UGH WILL THAT THING SHUT UP? IT'S LIKE MY ART TEACHER: YADDA, YADDA, YADDA, BLAH!"
"Idiot," Emma murmured under her breath.
Abbie looked around. "Hey guys, where's Gordie?"
"Oh, he stepped out for a little bit. I think he went to go get some stuff at those tacky little gift shop things in gas stations," Emma answered, but then her eyes lit up, "Oh, and you and Gordie are the godparents. Teddy and I decided."
"You mean you decided," Teddy growled, falling into a chair.
Gordie began to whistle as he took the shortcut through the alleyway to the hospital, carrying a bag of goodies for his friends. He was so proud of them all. Suddenly, it hit him: one day, he was going to write about his friends and all the good times they had together. His friends were so important to him. More than anything he could possibly fathom.
He suddenly tripped over something, but regained his balance. He turned around to see what it was he tripped over, and his mouth fell open in dead shock. There on the ground was an all too familiar girl, her hair brown, her teeth a perfect white, and her eyes blue. Catie was her name. She was bloody from head to toe, and blood was even still seeping out of her skinny body. Her face was cut up and scraped, and she had bruises all over her arms and legs. Her clothes were practically torn off, scraps lying around the ground near her. There was an all too familiar pocket knife lodged into her neck.
It was the second time Gordon Lachance had seen a dead human being.
