AN: Alright, this one's short and I know it's taking a while to put each chapter up but school's been mad busy lately. Enjoy!
I slowly open my eyes and all my senses seem to return, the feeling of her hand resting on mine, the uninviting smell of the hospital room, the throbbing pain in my forehead. I look down and realize my other hand is wrapped securely in bandage. I see her on the edge of the bed asleep, but she doesn't look peaceful like she normally does. Her forehead is scrunched and her normally soft features seem to be hardened by the events of the day. I move her hair gently out of her face and she lifts up her head.
"Hey honey," she whispers softly as she sits up. "How you feeling?"
"Hurting a little bit," I reply as I tug at her hand and pull her closer to me. She gets up into my hospital bed and carefully cuddles up next to me. I turn and face her as she moves the hair out of my face and rubs her thumb across my cheek.
"I'm so happy you're okay," she chokes out as tears fill her eyes.
"How's the baby?" I ask as my hand moves instinctively over my stomach. She places her hand over mine and smiles.
"The baby's fine. He must be tough just like momma," she replies as she kisses me. I feel a wave of relief rush over me and tears fill my eyes. She smiles and wipes the stray tears from my cheek with her thumb. She's always the emotional one not me. She doesn't see me cry like this very much so I know it must be weird to her. Stupid hormones. She never falters though. She has an innate need to always be the comforter. She should be the one having this baby not me.
You don't have to be the one carrying the baby for it to be a part of you. You just have to be able to give a piece of your heart. Heather's heart is big enough. I know that she has already fallen in love with this baby. It is in the way her hand strokes across my stomach when we cuddle in bed at night. It's in the way she will whisper sweetly and coo at the bump in the morning when she thinks I am asleep, all the while I'm listening to her every word. It is in the way she guards my every move and holds my hair back during the morning sickness that sometimes lasts all day. All of these things tell me that Heather is going to be a great mother and loves this baby as much as she loves me. She doesn't care that it isn't hers or that it was from some guy that I had been with because we were too afraid to admit our feelings. She just loves. She should be carrying this baby. I don't know the first thing about how to be a mother. I'm selfish. I'm not really that nice. I'm insecure. I have no idea how to be someone else's comfort. I guess that is the wonderful thing about having Heather to help me with this though. Because for everything I'm not, she is.
"You're going to be a great mom, you know," she says softly as she places her hand on my stomach. It's weird how she gets into my head like that. She knows me better than I know myself sometimes.
"I'm glad I'll have you around to show me how it's done," I reply with a smile. I placed my hand over hers and start talking to the bump. "You're going to have a wonderful mommy little one."
I look back at her and see the tears welling up in her eyes as she smiles back at me. She kisses me softly on the lips. As she does the door slowly opens and Lea, and Dianna stand there stunned at the sight before them.
"Well, sorry to interrupt," Dianna says with a smirk.
"Hi guys," I say nervously.
"What's going on ladies?" Lea asks with a similar smirk spreading across her face.
"Look, uh Hemo and I are together now. Keep it quiet though because we don't want very many people to know right now," I explain. Lea walks over and hugs Heather and I.
"It's about damn time!" Dianna squeals.
"I'm happy for you two," Lea says with a smile as she walks over and hugs us.
"Me too guys," Dianna replies as she hugs us both. "How are you feeling?"
"I'm okay right now. In pain a little bit, but I'm happy everything is okay with…." I look over at Heather and smile. "I mean, I'm just happy to be okay."
As we talk for a few minutes the doctor comes in.
"Hi Naya. Glad to see you awake. I'm Dr. Ceccoli," he says with a smile.
"So, just checking up on you and your vitals," he says as he walks over to the machine. I see the second heart monitor for the baby and wonder how long it will take the girls to catch on.
"Your heart rate looks good. Baby's heart rate and bp look much better than when you came in," he says with a smile. I can feel the other three girls glaring at me without even looking at them.
"That's great news," Heather says happily as she kisses me.
"I'll be back to check on you again in an hour or two. Try to rest some more and don't stay too long visitors, we want to try to keep mommy and baby calm and comfortable for the next few hours," he says as he walks out the door.
"Uh….baby?" Lea asks as soon as he leaves the room.
"Why didn't you tell us?" Dianna asks.
"Uh, that's where I was headed today," I reply. Lea and Dianna look shocked and seemed to be at a loss for words.
"Look, I didn't plan for this to happen. Gabe and I broke up and then Heather and I started dating and then I found out I was pregnant in the matter of a few weeks. I just need some support right now," I explain as I feel tears well up in my eyes. Dianna comes over and hugs me and kisses me on the forehead.
"You know you always have us. We aren't judging you, Nay. We are just shocked," Dianna explains sweetly.
"Yes, we love you two and we just want you to be happy. I'm glad you're okay," Lea says. "You two mean a lot to us and we are here to help you in any way you need it."
"Hopefully we won't have a next time for a while," I say as I look over at Heather. She looks a little disappointed at my remark.
"I mean, unless you want there to be, baby," I say with a smile as I kiss her.
Lea and Dianna look at the two of us then both comment at the same time, "Whipped!"
Thankfully I was able to go home a few days after the accident. Heather and I decided to plan a trip to Hawaii for the week since we don't have to be on set. I'm showing a lot now so they haven't decided if they are going to write the pregnancy in the show or try to hide it. At nearly five months, it is becoming extremely noticeable that I haven't just gained a little weight. Loose fitting clothes aren't doing the trick anymore. They've now had to implement strategic camera angles and I'm in the background of nearly every song, which the fans are really not enjoying. Needless to say, after dealing with this pregnancy and the show, this vacation is much needed.
"Do we forget anything?" Heather asks as she drives us towards the airport.
"I don't think so," I reply as I smile at her.
"You sure you have everything you need?" she asks. I know she means not just for me but for the baby. She's been very protective since the car accident and I know she worries constantly about me.
"Yes, mama and baby are fine. Try to stop worrying. I have everything I need right here," I say as I look over at her. She smiles back at me.
"I'll try to stop worrying. But I don't think it's going to work," she says as she pulls into a parking place and we get out of the car. Soon we are boarded on the plane and in the air. I'm still holding onto her hand and have my eyes closed as I lay my head against the seat. I feel something in my stomach, much different than I'd felt before. I had been feeling something like butterflies and little flutters lately, but this feels more like an actual kick. I smile and place a hand over where I felt the movement. It's an amazing feeling to know that I'm carrying this life inside of me. Even though the circumstances weren't what I had hoped for, this is probably the best thing that has ever happened to me. I love this tiny person more than I've ever loved anyone before. I smile as I feel another kick and I look over and see that Heather is asleep so I decide to wait and surprise her after we land.
We arrive on the island and take a cab to our hotel. Heather checks us in and we go up to our suite. It's an oceanview suite with a large deck overlooking the beach and easy access to the nearby pool. The room itself is just as glorious and I feel like we should be here on our honeymoon by the looks of the place. I head straight for the bed in desperate need of a nap, seeing as the Fifa world cup had been going on in my stomach the entire flight. I was ultra-sensitive now to every movement the baby was making since I had felt it earlier in the plane. I hear Heather come in from the deck where she had been on the phone.
"You tired baby?" she says sweetly as she comes over to the bed and scoots herself over so she is facing me.
"Yes, but I have a surprise for you. Well, somebody else does too," I say as I take her hand, lift up my shirt and place it on my stomach. She looks confused as she waits for something to happen. Her smile grows wider than I've ever seen it when she feels the baby kick against her hand. I see tears start fill her eyes and kiss her gently.
"What does it feel like?" she asks in awe of the movement beneath her hand.
"Sort of like popcorn popping inside of me and then sometimes it feels like a million butterflies flying around," I say with a smile.
She laughs and leans down to kiss my stomach. "You've been learning my dance moves," she coos softly.
"Please tell munchkin to take a break from the dance moves and let mama go to sleep. One second there was nothing, now it's like I swallowed a karate kid," I reply as I yawn. She gently strokes across my stomach and the movement calms as I relax under her touch and finally drift off to sleep.