"I have to go," Kendall exclaimed. Katie had hung up on him so she could help their mom and promised to call back as soon as they got in the car.
"What's wrong?" James asked.
"Is your mom having the baby?" Logan asked.
"Is Mama Knight going to be okay?" Carlos asked.
"You have to get onstage now!" Gustavo shouted.
"I can't."
"Yes you can and yes you will."
Kendall stood firm and looked his producer in the eyes.
"My mom comes first. You know that. She's being taken to the hospital right now and I have to be with her."
"What can you do? By the time you get there they'll have found it to be false and she'll be home."
"My sister sounded more scared on the phone than I've ever heard her. She doesn't scare easily. I don't think this is some false whatever." He looked at Kelly. "Can you help me get a flight back to LA as soon as possible?"
"You're not flying back. We still have a month left on this tour. You're letting your fans down," Gustavo continued.
"I. Don't. Care. My mom doesn't have anyone else and Katie needs me, too. Our fans will understand."
"We'll go onstage and cover for you," James offered.
"There's a flight leaving in two hours," Kelly said. "If you leave now you'll make it in time for boarding."
"Get on that flight and consider yourself fired from Big Time Rush."
"Go ahead."
As he walked away his phone rang.
"Hey, Katie, I got a flight back to LA and should be there in eight and a half to nine hours."
"That long, huh? You can't get here any sooner?"
"Unfortunately, no. How's Mom?"
"Still in pain. Kendall, I don't like this."
"I don't like it, either, Baby Sis."
...
Sitting in the middle seat of a three seat row, Kendall squirmed. Next to him was a husky, gray haired woman sleeping against the window and a thin, red headed man who was dangerously close to having his head on Kendall's shoulder. He had tried listening to music but that annoyed him. He tried playing with his phone but nothing interested him. He wasn't Logan so he didn't read. He had left so suddenly that he didn't bring any of his hockey magazines that sat in his suitcase still on the bus in New Jersey. He had tried going to sleep but he couldn't get comfortable and all he could think about aside from his mom was that guy's head possibly falling onto him. Being a red-eye flight there wasn't even a meal to occupy Kendall's time, not that he felt like eating anyway.
"Fly faster!" He pounded his fists on his tray table.
He couldn't stand it. They'd only been in the air for an hour and had five and half more to go. He wanted to scream. He wished this flight had wi-fi so he could talk to his sister or something, just something to pass the time until he landed which felt like was going to be an eternity. He didn't even have the window seat to look out at the passing landscape.
Kendall picked up his phone and began scanning through pictures for lack of anything better to do: Carlos eating on airplane during unexpected turbulence, surprised Logan half dressed in dressing room, James talking on laptop to Lucy on tour bus, Carlos pranking James on tour bus, Him pranking Logan on tour bus, Minnesota Wild and Team USA defender Ryan Suter backstage at the Minnesota concert with a young niece or cousin or some other young female relative (not his daughter who is too young), Gustavo as usual mad about something, Fans at the Seattle concert, James asleep on the tour bus, Katie hugging his mom, Jo with her legs in the pool, Jo and Camille before they left for the red carpet, Jo wearing a stunning red carpet dress, James having a bad hair day, Carlos wearing his helmet and eating a corn dog, Carlos putting the helmet on his corn dog, Carlos not wearing his helmet eating a corn dog, a different angle of Carlos wearing his helmet eating a corn dog (why where there so many pictures of Carlos eating a corn dog?), he and Katie asleep on the orange couch with heads touching (he had no idea who took that one), a selfie of him and Jo lying on the blanket enjoying the stars, another selfie of him and Jo on the blanket this time with her kissing his cheek …
Kendall turned off his phone tired of looking at pictures. Wow, only fifteen minutes passed.
...
"Ladies and gentlemen, we've begun our initial descent into the Los Angeles area. We're currently 50 miles from LAX and should be touching down in 30 minutes. The weather in Los Angeles is reported as 52° with fair skies and winds out of the northeast at 7 miles per hour. At this time we're going to turn on the seatbelt sign and ask that you return to your seats and…."
"Woo-hoo!" Kendall shouted earning the disdain of the passengers around him.
Finally, what felt like an eternity later, Kendall was off the plane and sitting in a yellow taxi heading toward the hospital. His body was extremely tired being that it felt like 4:30 in the morning, but his mind wouldn't let him sleep until he saw his mom.
"How's Mom?" Kendall asked as soon as he got his sister on the phone.
"Better. I'll tell you when you get here. Where are you?"
"Currently on the 405 heading toward the hospital."
"Drive faster!"
...
Kendall stood outside the large brown wooden door. On the other side were his mom and Katie and hopefully his little sibling, unborn, of course. He didn't know what to expect. Katie had said his mom was better but since she wanted to wait to give him details it could be anything really. Taking a deep breath he reached for the door handle.
"Kendall!" Katie exclaimed softly when he walked through the door. She was currently occupying a green leather fold out arm chair thing. He looked at his mom sleeping in the hospital bed, a light blanket wrapped around her ever expanding belly and wires attached to her. A soft light like a nightlight glowed over the bed allowing Kendall to see his way into the room.
"I made it," he yawned. "How is she?"
Katie patted the spot next to her in the chair. Before Kendall joined her he went over and kissed his mom gently on her forehead. She stirred slightly but didn't wake.
"So, how is Mom?" He asked again once he'd fit himself in between the chair and his skinny baby sister.
"She's still having contractions, but the doctor gave her something to lessen the pain and make her sleep. They are working on trying to get them to stop. They've slowed down so hopefully they're on to something. According to the doctor her water hasn't broken. If that happens we're in major trouble. Because she's forty, this is a high risk pregnancy, so we really have to watch it day by day. The doctor said the best thing is to get Mom to 25 weeks. That's when the chances for the baby's survival will increase dramatically. Kendall, if the baby's born now it'll die."
"I know, Baby Sis," he kissed her forehead, "but that's not going to happen."
...
Kendall cracked open an eye when he heard a knock on the door. He didn't know what time it was but it was still dark outside and he felt like he'd been run over by a truck. Another knock came. It couldn't be a nurse, could it? They wouldn't just knock without coming in. He hoped the knocking wouldn't wake up his mom even though he would like to let her know he's here. He rubbed his sister's back when he heard a third knock. Katie lay with her head on his chest and the thin hospital blanket, while it was around the two of them, was mostly around her.
Kendall's head perked up when he heard loud voices coming from the other side of the door. He couldn't make out what was being said but he knew exactly who the voices belonged to. He couldn't believe they were here. He wanted to answer the door but he didn't want to disturb Katie. Fortunately, he didn't have to as the door opened a crack and James peeked in.
"Is it okay to come in?" He whispered loudly.
"Yeah," Kendall whispered back. "Just be quiet."
Carlos and Logan followed James into the room. James sat down in the only unoccupied chair. Logan hopped up onto the counter opposite the bed. Not having anywhere else to sit Carlos opted for the floor.
"What are you doing here?" Kendall asked trying to find a good position so he could look at the guys and not disturb his sister.
"How's Mama Knight?" Logan asked at the same time.
"As soon as the concert finished we got tickets for the next flight out. It wouldn't have been right for us to stay on tour," James said.
"Our fans will understand," Carlos added.
"Gustavo threatened to fire us, too," Logan brought up.
"He can't fire us, but we can fire him," James said.
"Is that what you want to do? Fire Gustavo? We tried that before, remember?" Kendall said.
"No, so that's why we're here and not fired," Carlos answered. "How is Mama Knight?"
"She's been asleep the entire time since I got here, which I guess is a good thing." Kendall went on explain everything Katie told him.
...
The next time Kendall woke up he heard someone cry out in pain when a wheeled cart rolled into him.
"What was that?" Katie asked perking her head up.
"James?" Kendall asked surprised.
"Ow."
"Excuse me, sir, I need to get to the patient."
"Kendall?"
"Mom?"
"Sir?" The nurse asked again.
"Sorry." James moved the chair he had been sleeping in and kicked Carlos, asleep on the floor, to get him to move.
"Thanks," the nurse replied disgruntled. She pulled the blood pressure machine toward the bed and began examining Mrs. Knight.
"Kendall, when did you get here?"
"Good morning, Mom."
"Good morning, Honey. Answer my question. You're—ow—supposed to be on tour."
"Mom, you can't honestly have expected him to stay away while you're in the hospital," Katie spoke up.
"Tour?" the nurse asked. "Are you in a band?"
"Yes, Ma'am," Kendall replied. "I got in last night while you were asleep," he said to his mom. "I figured you needed the rest so I didn't wake you. How do you feel now?"
"Cramps."
"You need me to get your doctor?" The nurse asked. "Let me go do that." She scribbled some numbers on a chart. "Your blood pressure seems to be a bit high."
"Did you three really stay here last night?" Kendall asked his friends. Carlos had moved from the floor to the empty space near the TV where James had also moved the chair. Logan still lay with his head on the counter where it looked like he uncomfortably slept.
"You slept on the floor, Carlos?" Katie asked astonished. "Ew."
"I didn't plan on it." He shrugged. "Just kinda fell asleep."
...
"All right, Jennifer." A female nurse finished putting on her gloves and pulled the ultrasound machine closer to the bed. "It says here you were scheduled for your 20 week ultrasound at the end of the week and you do not want to know the sex of the baby?"
After a quick examination upon the nurse calling her Dr. Carter had sent Jennifer in for an ultrasound to see where they were with the positioning of the baby and such. They needed answers to see how to treat this.
"I wanted to wait til my son was able to be here, but he's here now. Both my kids are." She squeezed their hands.
"If we're lucky we might be able to tell. The baby just has to be in the right position." After the whole procedure of rubbing the gel on the belly and the wand and whatnot an image appeared on the screen. "There's your baby or rather, there's your baby's butt."
"Hi, baby," Jennifer greeted feeling a little teary-eyed.
"He, she, it is heads down so it appears the baby is moving into birthing position, but it doesn't seem to be at zero station, yet."
"What does that mean?" Katie asked.
"The baby is not engaged, which is a good thing. We would rather it not become engaged." Before Katie could ask another question the nurse continued. "Engaged means the head is in the pelvis and making its way down the birth canal. As we can see, there are the baby's arms and legs and head," she pointed to various body parts "And that…no, that's the umbilical cord. Wouldn't want that coming out of its side anyway. Let me talk to your doctor for a minute and then we'll see if we can't get the baby to turn over."
"It's definitely a Knight," Katie said. "It's mooning us." She gave her brother a look.
"You know what? It's not a Knight. Knight was our father," Kendall pointed between him and Katie. "Its father is Mitch."
"That's right," Jennifer joined in. "This baby's an Olsen."
"It's not one of us?" Katie asked.
"No, it is. It is definitely a Knight," Kendall backtracked. "Mom, you can come up with the first name if you want, but I got the perfect middle name." Kendall tapped the screen where the baby was proudly showing off its tooshie. "Meet Baby Knight Olsen, baby being a placeholder for whatever you decide."
"Time to find out the gender," the nurse interrupted, returning from her meeting. "We just need to get Baby Knight to turn around for us. Sorry if this tickles." She tapped Jennifer's belly. The baby slowly turned sideways and stopped a bit. "Looks like we have a shy baby."
"Shy?" Jennifer laughed. "It's a Knight. Knights aren't shy. It mooned us in greeting."
Kendall and Katie began rubbing their mom's abdomen to get the baby to turn over.
"Keep going," the nurse suggested.
"I think the baby likes it," Jennifer added.
"Oh, look, I think we got something." The nurse kept her eyes on the screen. "Yep, yep, if I'm not mistaken, that's its little hot dog." She pointed to a white flurry strip on the screen between the baby's legs. "Looks like you're having a boy. Congratulations!"
"Oh, great! Just what we need around here, another boy!" Katie groaned.
I know nothing about babies and ultrasounds so I have no idea if the procedure they used to get the baby to turn around and show us his hot dog would actually work but for the sake of the story let's say it does. As for the hot dog thing, I remember back in high school Biology, my teacher told us that when they were looking at ultrasound pictures of his son the nurse told them they were looking for a hot dog for a boy and a hamburger for a girl. I went with this because it's a cleaner version.
Would you like to know why the baby is a boy?