CHAPTER TWELVE
March 1st
26 weeks
"April!" Cat whined. "Come on, I just got Darby to sleep, don't wake him up."
April poked the baby's cheek lightly. "He needs a diaper change."
"Well, do it while he's asleep. He moves when he's awake."
"It's just gonna wake him up."
"Not if you do it quickly."
"You do it then."
"Jesus - move," Cat said, lightly pushing April out of her way as she grabbed a diaper. "Is he just wet?" she asked, unfastening the baby's onesie.
"I dunno, I didn't check."
Cat sighed, carefully looking into the side of Darby's diaper before feeling the front and throwing the new diaper on the coffee table. "He's not even that wet. It can wait until he wakes up."
"What if he gets a rash?"
"Then I'll put some Desitin on him. I have common sense, April," she said, standing up. "Max, Chloe! Dinner's ready, come eat!"
"Aw man," Max said as he and his sister walked out of Cat's bedroom. "You're not making fudge piles are you?"
"Yeah, if we eat those we'll be chewing until we die," Chloe said.
Cat rolled her eyes, walking into the kitchen. "No fudge piles. Just macaroni and cheese and cheese and cheese and cheese."
"Yes!" Max and Chloe said.
"Hush. Darby's sleeping."
"Is it the same kind Nonna makes?" Chloe asked. "Hers is the best."
"The very same recipe," Cat said as she dished the macaroni into two bowls and setting them on the counter. "Get up here, you're not eating in the living room."
"Nonna always let us," Max said.
"Am I Nonna? I am not, I'm Cat. We'll leave the TV on, but you have to eat at the counter."
"Is Nonna ever coming back?" Chloe asked.
"She still comes over. She just lives somewhere else now. Next time you guys come over I'll take you to Elderly Acres to see her, alright? There's not enough time today, your mom's gonna be here soon, so hurry up and eat. What do you want to drink?"
"Orange juice."
"Max?"
"Milk," Max said.
As she walked to the fridge, she paused for a few seconds and looked over to April. "April. Come help me."
"You don't know how to pour drinks now?" April asked as she made her way over to her.
"I need you to call Melinda and tell her to get here as fast as possible and pick these kids up," she whispered.
"They're driving you nuts too? Thank god."
"I just got a contraction. I need Melinda to pick them up so we can call an ambulance and get to the hospital."
"What? Again? This is the second time you've had false labor, Cat."
"I know that. Call Melinda," she said as she opened the fridge and got the milk and orange juice out. "Alright, April's gonna call your mom to come get you a little early today, so you finish eating and then get your backpacks together," she said.
"Why are we leaving early?" Chloe asked.
"Because I'm having a little problem with the baby and I need to go to the doctor to make sure everything is alright, and I need April to come with me so there's not gonna be anybody to watch you."
"She's on her way," April said. "How are you feeling?"
"Tight."
"Go sit down, I'll handle the brats."
"Hey!" Chloe and Max said.
"Shush."
Cat walked to the couch and sat next the Darby, running her hand over her stomach as she took her phone out of her bra. "I'm calling an ambulance," she said.
"Fuck!" Cat exclaimed, squeezing her eyes shut. "Please make it stop, I can't have this baby yet, please make it stop," she sobbed.
"Calm down," Grace said. "Listen to me, we're gonna start you on an IV to stop the contractions okay? You're not dilated at all, you're not in labor. It's just false contractions, just like last time, honey. It's gonna be alright."
"But what if it turns into labor? I can't have her yet, it's too early."
"We're not going to let anything happen to your baby, I promise."
Cat watched as nurses hurried around her, poking and prodding her with IVs for blood tests, hooking her up to a fetal monitor, and checking her temperature and other vitals.
After an hour of annoyance, Cat was finally in a room with April at her bedside and Grace checking her chart.
"Are you feeling any better?" Grace asked.
Cat nodded. "Mhm..."
"What's wrong?" April asked.
"Well... what if this is a sign that I'm not meant to have this baby?"
"Don't say that."
"It's true. What if... this is my body rejecting her?"
"That's not what this is," Grace said. "This is your body preparing you for real labor. I promise you're fine, the baby's fine. Her vitals are normal. You're just getting false contractions."
"The feel real to me."
"I know. They suck. But I promise you're fine."
"But what if I have her too early? Mom, I've tried so hard to keep her safe and healthy. I'm know I'm a kid, but... I don't wanna lose her."
"Honey, you're not gonna lose her. She's fine, you're fine. It's just scary."
"I wish my mom was here..."
Grace kissed her head, pulling her into a hug. "I'll give her a call, okay? I'll see if she'll come to LA."
"She won't," April said. "With arrangements to get Chris's body prepped for transport, she'll be in Idaho for a while."
"Well, I'll still call her and let her know what's going on, okay? I'll have her call you girls."
March 3rd
26 weeks
"Mom! I'm okay, I promise," Cat said into her phone as she sat at the lunch table with the rest of the group.
"Are you sure, honey? I can come back if I need to," Tara said.
"I would love that, but you need to deal with whatever you have to for Chris so we can have his funeral. Grace released me yesterday morning. She wouldn't have if she didn't think I was okay."
"I'm just worried about you. How's the baby doing now?"
"She's fine. She's kicking."
"How's April?"
"In lunch detention."
"Of course. How's Jade?"
"Jade's grumpy."
"Shut up," Jade said.
"She told me to shut up."
Jade took the phone from Cat. "Mom - she's been fuckin' with me all damn day, you're about to have one less child."
"Okay honey, but wait until after she has the baby," Tara said.
"And then I can kill her?"
"Have fun."
Jade handed the phone back to Cat. "She gave me permission to kill you after that kid drops."
"Mom!" Cat said.
"She's grumpy, leave her alone," Tara said. "Listen, I gotta go to a meeting. Call me after school okay?"
"I'll call you after work."
"Okay. I love you. Tell April to stop getting detention."
"I will. Love you," she said before hanging up.
"So, how's my niece?" Tori asked.
"Fantastic. I'll be twenty-seven weeks in a few days. It's going by so slow, though. I just want her out, yanno? I wanna hold her."
"Me, too."
"I get first dibs," Jade said.
"No, I do," Cat said. "And then you two can fight over her."
"What about me? I'm her dad," Robbie said.
"Okay, after me and after Robbie, you guys can fight over her."
"Have you picked a godmother yet?" Andre asked.
"Easy," Jade said. "Me."
"Or me," Tori said.
"Bullshit. I've known her since infancy."
"She's just as close to me as you."
"Who's her godmother?"
"April," Cat said.
"What?"
"My sister. If something happens to me, she's the next best thing to a mother my baby's going to have. She's stuck with me through everything and I know she'll do the same thing with the baby."
"You're not supposed to pick your sister," Tori said.
"Who says?"
"The laws of godmotherhood."
"That's not even a thing. Look, I'm sorry - I know you guys were looking forward to having the title, but that's exactly why I wouldn't have picked either one of you to begin with. One or the other would have been heartbroken, so I wasn't going to choose either of you."
"Well, ouch," Jade said.