I sat in the hallway of the hospital, my head in my hands and my knees brought up to my chest. The entire place smelled like bleach and sickness and the entire hospital was making me sick to my stomach. I had been there for three hours while the doctors rushed around X-Ray, trying to save him from any permanent brain damage and 'complications.' That's how they phrased it at least.
I hadn't moved the entire time and my back was aching but honestly, I could care less. I almost killed my best friend. I deserve the pain.
There were chairs in the waiting room but they were filled up by D-Tent and there was no way in hell that I was going to face them after what I did. There were few times in my life where I felt actual remorse and this was one of them.
"Mr. Squid?" I looked up to see a nurse with a kind smile on her face. "Rex Washburn would like to see you."
"Okay." I rasped as I stood up and slowly followed the nurse to room 132. I took a deep breath outside the door before pushing it open to be greeted by X-Ray. He was all bandaged up and attached to IV's. I felt my heart sink as I stared at him.
"You sure let loose." X-Ray laughed bitterly and I took that as my cue to sit down in the chair by his bed. "Seriously though, I got a concussion, man."
"I'm really sorry, X." I said sincerely. "Trust me when I say that because I'm not the type of guy who apologizes. I- I don't know what happened. One second we were arguing and the next, all I saw was red."
"It's okay." he sighed. "I'm not going to press charges or anything like that. I was just... we're all worried about you, Squid. You're our brother and suddenly you're hanging out with these strange people and keeping secrets. We said we were going to stay straight when we got out of CGL and we couldn't help but think that you were getting back into crime. So just please, and I don't mean to beg, but please tell us what is going on with you."
There was silence as I opened my mouth to respond but nothing came out. X-Ray waited for me to say something but I closed my mouth. He looked away, "Not surprised." He muttered. He reached over and hit the 'call nurse' button and asked her to bring in the rest of the guys. "You can leave." He told me gruffly.
I could tell in his voice that when he said that, it meant I could leave his life. Permanently. He wouldn't harass me for answers anymore or try to get me to spill my secrets. He wouldn't pick me up from Hinder Park or call me his brother or ask me if he was right, even if he wasn't. He was done. But I wasn't.
"Wait." I sighed and ran a hand through my shaggy hair just as the guys started to file into the room. When they saw me, they all looked ready to kill me. "I'm going to tell you. I'll tell you everything."
"We don't want to-" Zigzag was cut off by X-Ray silencing him with his hand.
"Go on. From the beginning."
And that's where I started. The very beginning. From the second I stepped off the bus and found home on a bench, to the moment I realized I was falling for El and the day I told her. I told them about every kiss and fight and conversation between me and El. I told them about the plans and the lies and when I finally finished, I was completely out of breath and two hours had already passed.
"...and here I am. That's everything, I swear. No more secrets." I finished, leaning back in my chair and looking around the room at my friends. They all had different expressions on their faces; Caveman looked caring, Armpit looked like he just lived through the fucking Notebook, X-Ray looked understanding and Zigzag looked... amused?
Zigzag was the first to break the silence with a booming laughter. When he finally quieted down and wiped his eyes from the tears, he said, "We thought you were in deep shit, man!" he howled. "We thought you knocked up like every girl in the school and lived with drug dealers and were on someone's bitch list! Why didn't you tell us that it was just a fake pregnancy?"
I gaped at him. "Just a fake pregnancy? Were you not listening at all? It was not just the pregnancy thing! How could I explain to you guys that I was homeless and poor and falling in love?" I wrinkled my nose at the last bit because a year ago, I would have laughed if someone told me that I met the girl of my dreams and we were having an imaginary baby together.
"You just did." Magnet responded bluntly in which all the guys cracked up.
"How do you guys find this funny?" I asked, trying to keep the smile off my lips. I honestly can't tell you how much of a relief it was to finally get this off my chest.
"Because we were expecting you to be a hit man or something!" Armpit joked and playfully punched me on the arm. "So does this mean we can go back to being friends who beat up football teams and close detention facility's together?"
"Ahem." Caveman and Zero both coughed and looked at Armpit with fake anger.
"Yeah, it does." I chuckled and all the guys started cheering. Twitch even jumped to his feet and pounded on his chest with his fists and shouted like Tarzan or something. He's a weird little dude... "So, do you guys want to meet El for real this time? No accusations and no hitting on her." I eyed Magnet on the last part, not forgetting about his little comments at the diner that one time. "Or hitting her." That time I looked directly at X.
"Sure." X-Ray smirked. "But if we get in another fight, tell her to just let us hash it out instead of jumping in the way. I thought I gave her an imaginary abortion."
"Will do." I chuckled and pulled out my phone, dialling El's cell. It rang a few times before El answered. "Hey El, can you come by the hospital? Me and X don't want to kill each other anymore and I want you to meet the idiots I lived with for months."
"Uh, yeah, no can do. I'm already at the hospital." El responded in a worried voice and I immediately paled.
"What? Why?"
"Emily went into labour." I didn't even wait for her to finish before ending her call and making a mad dash for the door. Or at least I tried, but Zigzag and Armpit both lunged at me, knocking me to the floor.
"What the hell are you doing? I have to go-" I stopped mid-sentence when I saw their faces. "Oh, right. No more secrets. Emily went into labour."
Zig and Pit both looked back at X-Ray, as if in permission to let me go. Our leader tapped his chin thoughtfully before nodding. "Seems like a legit reason to me."
With that, I bolted off in search of El and Emily.
It took longer to find El and Emily than I originally thought. At first, I just kind of ran around the entire place until I came to my senses and asked the front desk. They were in the delivery wing of the hospital (go figure) and Emily had already been in labour for twelve hours now. I didn't even know it took that long to, you know... push it out.
When I finally reached the room, I was breathless and El opened the door, looking amused. "I called you like an hour ago."
"I suck at directions." I huffed. "I fixed things with the guys and told them everything." Surprisingly, El didn't say anything about it and just nodded.
"I understand." she nodded. "So-"
"NOT THE FUCKING TIME!" I jumped about five feet in the air at the shriek and for the first time, notice Emily laying in the bed, panting and sweating as tears streamed down her face. There were also multiple doctors and nurses rushing around the room. "THIS IS HORRIBLE!"
"Uh sorry?" I tried. "Can I do anything?" What else was I supposed to say? She nodded and pointed to the area beside her bed, signalling for me to get my ass over there. She grabbed my arm and dug her nails into them with every contraction. Unfortunately, she had gel nails and those things hurt like a bitch.
"It's coming." One of the doctors said calmly as he moved into position. "Emily, when I tell you, you have to push. Understand?"
"YES, I UNDERSTAND! I'M NOT RETARDED, YOU ASSHOLE!" Emily screeched and dug her nails even deeper into my arm. I winced and looked pleadingly at El, who was simply laughing at me. She stopped when Emily made her stand on the other side of the bed to squeeze the life out of her too.
"Okay, Emily, it's time to push."
Fingernails, fingernails, fingernails!
Loud screaming filled the room as the doctor kept on telling Emily to push. Blood was literally streaming down my arm by now as a nurse yelled, "I see the head!"
"Hey, Em, you're giving a baby head!" I joked but my laughter died the second her fingernails reached bone.
Emily let out one long, piercing scream as the baby finally came out. A new kind of crying filled the room as Emily's grip on my arm loosened. "It's done... it's done..." Emily whispered over and over as sobs wracked her body. El rubbed comforting circles on the new mothers back as she repeated the mantra. Moments later, the doctor appeared again, with a small baby, wrapped in pink blankets.
And when I saw her, I swear everything inside of me melted.
"How... how do you feel?" El whispered and I looked up to see her face contorted in pain. She felt it too. Months of waiting for this moment to come, telling everyone that she was pregnant, coming up with names, and faking symptoms to come to this moment where the baby we had been expecting was ripped away from us.
"I don't know." Emily shrugged. "I just-"
A knocking at the door cut Emily off and one of the doctors answered in, revealing the entire D-tent, including X-Ray who was being pushed in a wheelchair. "Hey, we came to see your fake baby." Caveman grinned and they all walked in without a word from us. When Caveman saw our - I mean Emily's - baby, his face broke out into the goofy smile. "Aw, she's so cute."
"You're going to have to do a lot to win your masculinity back for that one." Zero joked and we all laughed, save for Emily.
"How's it feel to be a mother?" Zigzag asked in a weird voice. For most people, it would be a polite question but the way Zig phrased it, it sounded like he was genuinely interested in becoming a mother.
"I don't know!" Emily snapped and everyone shut up. "I- I don't feel any different. She's just... she's just a baby to me..."
At that moment, the baby started sobbing again and Emily squeezed her eyes shut. "Please, make it stop." she whispered. "Make it shut up!"
Emily thrust the baby into my arms and I immediately started bouncing her in my arms, trying to quiet her. She soon stopped crying and just looked up at me with those big, doe eyes. I stopped bouncing her and just stared back, rocking her back and forth. In that single moment, everything was perfect.
"She's perfect." I whispered quietly as my eyes filled with tears. I can't explain what I was feeling, even f I tried. I reluctantly handed her back to Emily as the nurse entered the room.
"Hello Emily. I can come back later, but I'm here to make the birth certificate." The nurse said. "Do you have a name picked out yet?"
Emily looked up at El and then me. "What do you guys think?"
"She... she looks like a Joy." El answered nervously.
"Then her name is Joy." Emily answered the nurse and she typed the three letters into her computer.
"And I need the names of the parents." The nurse continued and Emily was silent. "Emily?"
Emily's voice was thick and her voice was muffled, but I could still hear the words loud and clear. "Eleanor Jameson and Alan Smith."
"Wait what?" I gasped and everyone was immediately on their feet, including X-Ray, speaking a mile a minute until Emily held her hand up to silence them.
"Joy; she's yours." Emily whispered. "These last nine months have been nothing but hell for me. I was shoved around and ridiculed for being a teen mom. All I wanted to do was get this baby over with and now that she's here... I can't help but hate her. I see the way you two look at her. You love her like I'll never be able to. I'm not ready for this but you- you two are."
"Em, you can't just give us a baby." I said quietly and Emily looked straight into my eyes.
"Why not? According to the birth certificate, she's yours. You want her. You will care for her. You love her." Emily answered and I looked up to meet El's gaze. Her brown eyes were full of shock, fear and happiness. El needed Joy.
There was silence that lasted an Era until Twitch finally spoke up.
"I think you should do it." He spoke for the first time since I met him, without twitching once.
"What? Why?" El asked, turning to the younger boy.
"You aren't going to be alone in this." Twitch answered confidently. "You'll have us, and your friends, and each other. We'll help raise her and everyone can see how much you love that crying thing."
"She's not a thing!" I snapped.
"Exactly." X-Ray smirked. "Just take the damn baby."
More silence as El and I stared at each other. Slowly, she nodded. "We'll do it."
"Alan Smith and Eleanor Jameson are the parents of Joy Smith." Emily told the nurse as the boys started cheering and hollering.
"Great, I'll come back later to get more information but for now, I'll leave you guys alone with her." The nurse smiled and I stared confused at her.
"Wait, isn't there some rule against this? Giving a baby away like that can't be allowed." I said and she merely winked at me.
"What are you talking about? The birth certificate says you're the father." And then she left. I guess sometimes she just had to break the rules to do what was best for the kid. And what's best for Joy, was us.
When the nurse was gone and the door was closed, Zigzag piped up. "Man, I can't wait to name her!"
El looked at the crazy-haired boy in confusion. "What? She already has a name! Her name is Joy."
Zigzag rolled his eyes and glanced at me. "Educate your woman, Squid." He looked back at El and slowly explained the rules of nicknaming at Camp Green Lake. Of course Ziggy would be the one to want to give a baby a criminal nickname.
"Here, Squid." Emily held Joy out to me again, "Hold your daughter."
I gently took Joy in my arms for the second time and started laughing, not because something was funny, but because I was just so overjoyed. I tried to hide the tears streaming down my face, but not before Armpit saw.
"Dude, are you... crying?" Armpit asked and the boys immediately burst in laughter. I looked up, tears rushing down my face like a river.
"Shut up, man." I cried but it only made them laugh harder. "It's just allergies."
"Sure it is." Caveman winked.
We stayed there for hours, talking about the baby and how surprising it was that out of everyone, I was the guy to start a family first. We stayed until everyone had fallen asleep, either at the end of Emily's bed, the floor, or in one of the few chairs around the room. When everyone was finally asleep, except El and I, I had my first real conversation with her about Joy.
"What are you feeling?" I asked and El glanced up from the little, sleeping girl in her arms.
"I feel good. Better than I've felt in a while. I know this is crazy and it's going to be really hard, but I think it'll be okay. It just feels like everything is falling in place, you know?" I nodded in agreement.
"At least we don't have to lie to your boss anymore or say we lost the baby." I added and El giggled softly. "I'm happy too. And excited. And nervous. And every other possible feeling in the world. I just can't believe that in one year, I met the girl of my dreams and got a beautiful daughter."
"Daughter." El hummed as she rocked little Joy in her arms. "I like that."
"Me too."
It's not over but this story IS coming to a close. I know it's not exactly realistic but I've wanted it to end like this since I started. I think there will be about one more chapter left and maybe an epilogue.