Rehab Center October 27, 2018
"I must be allergic to the fourth step." Luke took a deep breath as he stared at the notebook, "Every time I do one, I break out in track marks."
"Good." Joey scoffed from her place beside the open window, "If you liked it you'd be doing it wrong."
"A fearless moral inventory." He recited tapping the notebook with his pen.
"We're only as sick as our secrets." She murmured through the cigarette in her mouth as she lit it.
"Okay, well Let's see." He tossed is book on the table, "I've burned my sister and girlfriend for thousands of dollars." He took a hit off the cigarette, "Lied to Tara like it was my job, stolen from both her and Steve on countless occasions."
Luke chewed on the pen cap as he continued, "I broke Tara's heart, missed Nellie's wedding. I've even robbed my asshole of a father." He smirked up at Joey, "Though that one doesn't exactly keep me up at night."
Joey frowned at the mention of his girlfriend but didn't comment on it, "Try stealing morphine from your mother on her deathbed."
"Probably would've," He shrugged, "but she didn't really give me a chance."
"At least you have other family, you know?" She hit the cigarette, "Someone you can make amends to."
"Yeah." He agreed taking the cigarette from her, "But I've done some shitty things, Joey."
"Who hasn't?" she asked rhetorically, "I've been on the streets since I was 13. There aren't enough pages in that notebook for all my shit." She nodded over to the book sitting on the desk.
"I never know how far back to go. Like, do I cover high school?" He asked taking another hit, "Like stealing cash out of my aunt's wallet for beer, or do I just start with "I briefly lived in a haunted house"." He gave a sarcastic laugh looking over at his friend.
"Hey." He said noticing her pensive look, "You okay?"
"Yeah."
"Something's bothering you tonight?" He asked again.
"What could possibly be bothering me in a place like this?" She replied cynically taking a drag
"You're nine months clean, Joey. Nine months." Luke enunciated proudly, "Your sobriety, its full term. It's a fully-formed little baby anywhere." He brought the cigarette up to his lips, "Nine months clean is a palace."
Joey laughed lightly, "Speaking of little baby, how's yours doing?"
"She's doing great," Luke grinned at the mention of his little girl and pulled a picture out of his pocket showing it to Joey,
"I haven't gotten a chance to see her since she was born, but Tara promised to bring her by, and that on my next day pass we'd spend the whole day together as a family."
Rehab Center September 23, 2018
"Seven a.m. Breakfast in ten minutes." A woman over the PA announced.
Luke jumped off the top bunk and began making his bed before getting dressed for the day and meeting Joy in the cafeteria for breakfast.
The two of them had just sat down with their trays and started to eat when Paige walked in with Luke's brother, Steve, walking behind her.
"Luke!" Steve called out trying to catch his attention.
The younger man lifted his head and looked at Steve curiously, "Steve what are you doing here?"
Steve rushed over to his brother; "It's Tara," At that Luke grew worried. What was wrong with Tara? Was she hurt?
"What's going on?" He demanded urgently.
"She's in labor."
"What?" He asked dumbly
Steve sighed, "Tara's having the baby. She's been in labor since 2 this morning, but we had to wait for the center to open before I could come get you. We've got to go."
Luke nodded in understanding and followed his brother out with Paige walking right behind them.
Luke stopped suddenly and looked over at the woman pleadingly, "Paige..."
"It's okay," She cut him off, "Go be with your family. Stay at the hospital as long as your girlfriend is there, but as soon as she's discharged you get back here."
Luke nodded in understanding and he and Steve left.
They arrived at the hospital and Steve led him to Tara's room.
Luke burst into the room that Tara was in with Nellie sitting beside her, with Steve right behind him, "I'm here! I'm here!"
The two women smiled at him, "Glad you made it." Nell teased him as he walked further into the room and sat down.
Luke smiled back at his twin before turning to Tara, "How are you feeling?" He asked, holding her hand.
She gave him a tired smile, "I'm alright, and the doctor was just in. He said I'm only 5 centimeters dilated, so we could be here a while."Luke nodded along in understanding.
"Luke you got to talk to your girlfriend. She's lost her mind." Nell cut in with a horrified look on her face, and Tara chuckled at her.
He looked at the two I confusion, "What are you talking about?"
"She's refused to have an epidural!" Nellie cried in dismay.
"What?" Steve asked, shocked.
Luke looked over at the woman carrying his child, "Are you sure you want to do this without one?"
Tara nodded her head, "Yeah, I've thought about this. I want it to be as natural as possible. Besides," she added, "I've heard that epidurals mess up your back."
He shrugged, "Well it's your decision." His answer caused Nell to throw her hands up in exasperation making everyone laugh.
"Heh Ohh Hehh Ahhhhhh!" Tara cried as she held tight to Luke's hand while battling another contraction
"You're doing great baby. It's almost over." He encouraged her.
"Oh shut up!" She exclaimed as the contraction finally passed. Once she calmed down, Tara looked over at him, exhausted, and asked, "We've been at this for hours. Why doesn't she want to come out?"
Luke smiled at his sweaty girlfriend, "I think you made such a nice home for her the last nine months that she just doesn't want to leave."
Tara stared up at him for a moment before smiling slightly, "Oh, look at you making up crap for me." She reached up and lightly patted his cheek as her doctor entered the room.
"How are we doing?" Doctor Tonkin asked as he sat down in front of Tara to check her cervix.
Tara looked at the man pleadingly, "Dr. Tonkin I have been at this for twelve hours, now you gotta do something! You gotta give me drugs or just light a fire up in there and just smoke it out. I don't care just get it out of me!"
"Actually, I think you're ready to go to the delivery room." Dr. Tonkin informed the parents as he removed his gloves.
"What?" Luke asked nervously.
"Ten centimeters," He continues, "you're about to become parents."
"God! Holy shit, almighty! Oh, shit, this really hurts!" Tara cried out in pain as Luke stood next to her in the delivery room holding her hand.
Okay Tara we're well on our way. Are you ready to start pushing?" Dr. Tonkin asked as he got into position.
Tara shook her head emphatically, "No, no, I changed my mind; I want the epidural! Okay? Give me the epidural! Please!" She sobbed, holding tight to Luke.
Luke frowned at that; he didn't like the sight of her in pain. He turned to the doctor, "Give it to her. Give her the epidural, okay?"
Dr. Tonkin shook his head at the young couple, "I can't, we're past the point of that. Once the cervix is fully dilated we can't administer epidurals."
Tara shook her head in denial, "No, seriously, I want an epidural! I know there's time! I'll make sure it doesn't come out! I'll stop pushing." She cried out as another contraction hit her full force and she gripped Luke's hand tightly.
Luke gasped in pain as she squeezed his hand, "We have time!" He exclaimed along with his girlfriend. Anything to lessen the pain she was feeling.
She threw her head back against the bed as her contraction lessened, "I'll stop, oh, please, please, please!" she begged the man squatting between her knees.
The doctor gave the couple a look of pity, "I'm sorry. We have no time. We're going to just have to do this the all natural way, okay? The way you wanted to do it. Okay? Ready?"
Tara nodded hesitantly, "Okay." She whimpered.
Dr. Tonkin nodded and got prepared, "Here comes another contraction, okay? I want you to push. Okay, ready?"
"Oh she's...she's perfect." Luke breathed in awe at the sight of the squirming gooey red thing the nurses had handed Tara.
Tara stared at her daughter, "She's so tiny." She said as she begins to cry and the nurses came to take the baby back to clean her up.
Dr. Tonkin came over at a minute with the baby and handed her back to her mother, "Here you go."
The tow young parents stared at their daughter in amazement.
"Oh hey you." Tara whispered, "Thanks for finally coming out of me."
The newborn baby opened her eyes and stared up at her parents with a curious look.
"Do we have a name yet?" Dr. Tonkin questioned the two.
Luke looked over at Tara. They had never discussed names and he didn't know if she had already picked one out or not.
Tara nodded as she tore her eyes away from her daughter for a second, "Yes we do." She looked back down at her baby and smiled, "Lucy, Lucy Olivia Crain."
The doctor walked off to put the information down while the new parents continued to stare at their new addition.
"Thank you." Luke murmured, looking over at his girlfriend.
"For what?" she asked, looking back up at him as well.
"For Lucy, for never giving up on me, for loving me through all the bullshit I put you through."
He leaned down and gave her a gentle kiss before they both turned to stare back at their daughter.
"Hi, Lucy, I'm your mommy." Tara whispered.
Rehab Center October 27, 2018
Joey opened her mouth to respond, but the bed time buzzer started going off.
"Ten o'clock. Lights out." Paige called through the hallways.
Luke gave Joey a long look, "Seriously, what's wrong?"
She just stared at him as she took one more drag of the cigarette and tossed it out the window, handing him back the picture of Lucy.
Paige entered the doorway and looked over at the two, "How's the step?" She asked Luke.
"You know." He cleared his throat and stood up, "Kicking my ass."
Paige chuckled lightly, "Fourth one always does." Luke walked over to his bed and put the notebook on top of it, "I meant to tell you, your brother called earlier."
"Steve called?" He turned around and asked shocked.
"Yeah," She nodded, "wanted to know if you were here."
"That's typical." Luke scoffed as he got his bed ready.
"You should call him back tomorrow." Paige suggested, "Tell him about your chip."
"Yeah, I don't know." He shrugged pulling his blankets down, "He won't believe it. They never do." Luke faced her, "It's kind of their thing."
"I don't know." She shrugged, "That sister of yours, and your girlfriend, the ones that dropped you off, they seemed to believe in you. Tons, actually."
"Yeah, well with my sister it's a twin thing, but Tara," he chuckled with a small, loving smile, "She's the only one that's never given up on me. I called her earlier and told her about my chip, she was real proud. Promised to bring the baby by to see me soon too."
Paige smiled; glad he had someone on his side. She looked over at the window sill "Ten o'clock, Joey."
"Yeah, yeah." She groaned sick of hearing about this Tara bitch, "Back to the ladies' cell block." She looked back once, "Later."
"Goodnight." Luke called back.
Two hours at 12:03 AM Luke jerked up in bed clutching his throat and gasping for air.
He looked up and found Nellie standing at the end of his bed watching him breathing heavily.
"Go." She whispered before disappearing.
(There are three references in this chapter. One is from a TV show, another is from a movie, and the last one is in reference to an actress. See id you can figure out all three.)