Welcome to the World: March 25, 2015

"Joe get up."

I felt someone roughly push me around. I moaned and clutched my pillow. "Five more minutes." I succeeded in pulling away from the rude hands and tried drifting back to sleep.

If only I was so lucky. "Not five more minutes, now!" The hands returned to shake me.

I grumbled and swatted the hands away.

"Joe, we need to get to the hospital."

I lifted my head and saw the owner of the mean hands through blurry eyes. Sydney stood with her hands on her hips glaring down at me.

"Is someone hurt?"

"You will be if you don't get up." She grabbed my arms and pulled me off our bed.

I landed with a hard thump. "Ow." I rubbed my back where I had fallen. "Okay, okay. I'm up, I'm up. What is it?"

"My water just broke."

How did I end up here? I was barely twenty and already having my first child. I loved Sydney, but this kid wasn't exactly planned. We hadn't even been married for a year yet. She'd gotten pregnant on our honeymoon.

I looked over at her trying to relax in the passenger's seat. She had her eyes closed and her chest rose and fell softly as she took deep breaths. Of course, I was terrified, but I was also excited to have a kid and I already loved it. I knew I'd have a kid eventually anyway. I'd met my own great granddaughter, so it had to happen sometime. I just didn't think it would happen so soon.

Which brings me back to my original question. How did I end up here?

We had just moved into the new house after Sydney had completed all the renovations she wanted. We had been inviting our friends over to check out the new place. Kairi was sitting at our kitchen counter. I was pretending to listen to her excited babble. Apparently today was some special day for her and Fred.

"Where's Sydney?" Kairi paused her happy rant and looked around our kitchen, as if she was expecting Sydney to just appear out of one of the cabinets.

I looked at the digital clock on the microwave. "Huh, she's usually up by now. It's almost eleven."

"Maybe she's in her studio?"

Sydney had converted our top level attic into a dance studio for her and Skyler to work out of. It was a really pretty room. The ceiling was made of stained glass and the sunlight shone in during the day and reflected off the walls covered in long mirrors. There was a small storage room in the corner where we kept old stuff we didn't really have much use for. I could easily see how the room greatly inspired them with their work.

I shook my head as I answered Kairi's question. "No, the house would be shaking from music." She must've been in our bedroom still. "I'll be right back."

I got up and left towards the bedroom. I gently pushed open the door. "Sydney?"

She was curled up under the sheets, deep asleep. I walked up to her and softly shook her. "Sydney? You feeling okay?"

She mumbled in her sleep and rolled over.

"Sydney, it's almost eleven. You never sleep in this late. Are you feeling okay?"

"Mmm… fine, leave."

I crossed his arms. I was not going to give up that easily. Something was clearly not right with her. "No. You never sleep in like this. Something's got to be wrong. Sit up."

I sat down next to her. After a minute of struggling I forced her to sit up. She glared at me.

"Alright, I'm up. What do you want?" She snapped at me.

I looked at her with concern. "Are you sure you're feeling okay? You don't look too good. And you never snap at me like that."

"I'm-" She paused. She got a panicked look on her face and pushed me out of the way. I fell onto the floor as she bolted out of the room.

"I know you're ticked that I woke you up, but was that really necessary?" I slowly stood back up and winced at the pain in my lower back.

I looked in the direction that she had taken off in. I frowned and walked towards the bathroom where Sydney was on her knees vomiting into the toilet. I leaned against the door frame. "Still think you're okay?"

Sydney looked up and glared at me.

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"Dang, not even married for a month and you're already getting sick." Kairi sympathetically looked at Sydney.

Sydney's only response was a glare.

I set a bowl of soup on the table in front of Sydney. "There you go."

Sydney started eating it and immediately cringed. "It tastes like hot water."

"You know I'm not a good cook. My skills are limited to toast, sandwiches, and ice."

"And even you manage to screw those up sometimes."

"I just held your hair back for fifteen minutes, you owe me. And why are you being so snippy anyway? This is not like you at all. Are you really that sick?"

Sydney rolled her eyes and went back to her soup.

"How do you think you even got sick to begin with?" Kairi asked.

Sydney shrugged. "How am I supposed to know? All I know is I feel nauseous, I have a migraine, and I'm pretty sure I have a fever." She placed her hand on her forehead. "You don't think it's one of those cold things again, do you?"

I shook my head and suppressed my laugh. As a goddess, Sydney had never had any diseases or infections. Her first cold had been quite the experience for her. "Do you want me to take you to the doctor?"

Sydney shook her head. "No. I can drive myself."

"You sure?"

"Positive."

888

"Kairi is going to be so upset with you." Sam shook his head at Fred.

"Come on. She won't be that mad." Fred heard the uncertainty in his own voice.

Sydney walked in, but the boys were so wrapped up in their conversation that they didn't notice her. "Hey. Have you two seen-"

"You're right, she won't be mad. She'll be crying her eyes out." Sam interrupted.

"No, she won't… right?" Fred bit his lip in uncertainty.

Sydney tried to speak up again. "Where's-"

Sam interrupted again. "You forgot the day you two first kissed. Kairi will hate that. You know how she is. Every milestone in your relationship, even the small ones, means everything to her."

"I didn't forget. I just didn't plan anything special. She won't be mad. Kairi doesn't get mad."

"She'll still be upset. And that's supposed to be better?"

"Guys, I really need-" Sydney attempted to talk.

"I'll make it up to her."

Sydney pursed her lips in annoyance. She marched up to the boys sitting on the couch in her living room. She picked Fred up by the collar of his shirt and threw a threatening glare at him.

"Hi, I'm Sydney. Joe's wife. Remember me? I'm looking for Joe." She leaned her face in close. "Where is he?"

"Kitchen." He spoke quickly and pointed towards the kitchen. He winced as if Sydney had hit him.

Sydney dropped him on the couch and smiled. "Thank you." She stepped over his legs and walked into the kitchen.

"Today is just not a good day for you, is it?" Sam snickered and teased him.

Sydney walked up to me in the kitchen with a scared expression on her face. I rushed up to her, thinking the worst. "What's wrong? Are you okay?"

She let out a shakey breath. "We need to talk."

"What is it? Is it serious? Are you going to die?" I quickly wrapped my arms around her and held her close.

She laughed and pushed me away. "No, it's nothing like that."

"Then what is it?"

"I'm pregnant."

"You're what?" I looked at Sydney, shocked and wide eyed.

Sydney nodded and shrugged. She smiled, but there was a sadness hidden in it. "I didn't plan on it either, but here we are."

I sat down heavily in the chair behind me, "I'm still in college. I don't have a job. I'm only nineteen," he looked at her still shocked, "Please, tell me this is a joke."

Sydney sighed and shook her head, "No, this is really happening."

I looked down and back up, still not processing the situation. "I'm really going to be a dad?"

Sydney nodded once more. "Yes, and I'm going to be a mom, or I am a mom… I guess." She awkwardly patted her stomach.

I let out a puff of air, a small grin appearing on my face. "I'm going to be a dad." I sat back and stared off into nothing, a lazy smile playing along my lips.

"So that's why you two got hitched so early. I knew it." Fred had a smug grin on his face. He looked at Sam. "Shotgun wedding. You owe me ten bucks."

Sam sighed and rolled his eyes.

I suppressed the urge to yell at my friends for listening on our private conversation. "We got married because we love each other, Fred. No need to be jealous." I stood up and wrapped my arm around Sydney's shoulder.

Fred frowned. "I'm not jealous."

"Don't you have a date with Kairi?"

Fred looked and the clock. "Crap. I'm going to have to call her."

Sam snickered. "I can't wait to hear this."

The boys finally left us alone.

"So what do we do now?" I nervously rubbed the back of my neck.

Sydney was rubbing her temples. "I'm going to go lie down. This migraine is killing me."

I looked at her with a pitying expression on my face. "Come on. I'll help."

How on earth were we going to deal with this?

We checked in at the hospital and they asked us the questions we expected to be asked. When did your water break? How far apart were the contractions? Blah, blah, blah. I let Sydney answer most of the questions because frankly, I didn't know he answers. I'd been too busy packing up the car and getting over the shock of the situation.

We were given a room right away. Luckily for us, not a lot of people went into labor at four in the morning. The doctor came in to look at Sydney and explain approximately how long it would be before the baby could be born.

"Are you getting an epidural?"

"No." Sydney answered before the doctor had even finished the question. "Sorry, um, no. I'm not getting an epidural."

"Are you sure? It's really the only safe pain reliever I would recommend."

Sydney rapidly shook her head. "It's okay. We've opted out of all that."

"Well, if you change your mind, and most women do, just let one of the nurses know." The doctor left and we were alone.

Sydney sighed and leaned back into the bed. She absentmindedly began to rub her large stomach. She suddenly doubled over and clenched her teeth together. A low moan escaped her mouth.

I jumped up and ran over to her. "Are you okay?"

The contraction subsided and she nodded. "It's fine."

"You sure you don't want that epidural?"

"No. You know I can't." She bit her lip and traced a spot on her neck where her mother used to give her forced injections of a drug called Pluphoria. It had caused Sydney to develop an irrational fear of injections and even give her terrifying nightmares from time to time.

I soothingly massaged her back. "I know. It's okay."

I nervously began tapping my fingers on my knee. Sydney noticed and gave me a concerned smile. "Are you okay?" She nodded at my fingers.

"Oh, um," I pulled my hand in to stop it. "Yeah, totally."

"It's okay to be nervous, Joe." She reached out for my hand. I took it gladly and gave it a loving squeeze.

"I'm not nervous."

She gave me a look showing that she clearly knew I was lying. "Once you hold the baby, you'll realize everything will be okay. You'll feel like you never knew joy before."

"How do you know?" She seemed awfully calm for someone about to have their first child.

She put on that knowing smile again. "I just do. Call it maternal instinct." She pulled my hand closer to place it on her stomach. "Trust me."

I let out an anxious sigh and slowly caressed the baby. How was I supposed to do this? We were so young. I still had a year of college left and any job or internship I could get didn't pay that much. Sydney still had the Draylon card, but only for another few months, and that would only get us so far. I already knew I was going to have make sacrifices to get this to work. I had canceled any lessons I had with my uncle with The Book, not that I had been doing very well anyways. Sam and Fred understood that this also meant we wouldn't be able to hang out as much, but they offered to help in any way that they could. My family had also offered to help us out a lot. I was thankful for all of it, but I knew in the end it all came down to me and Sydney. Would we be able to raise this kid? Would it tear us apart? Could I actually be a good dad?

"So," Sydney spoke, snapping me out of my thoughts, "boy or girl?"

I grinned. Back to this old game.

"Boy."

"Girl."

"Boy."

"Girl."

I let out a sigh and turned into our parking spot in front of our house. We'd just gotten back from a prenatal appointment. Sydney was a little over twenty weeks old so we had the option of finding out the sex of the baby today, but we decided to wait until it was born to find out. Now we were just arguing about what we thought it was. I wanted a boy, but Sydney kept insisting that it was girl.

"It's a boy."

"It's definitely a girl." She grinned and massaged her baby bump.

"How do you know? Did you look at the screen or do you have a secret deal with the doctor?" I teased her.

Sydney chuckled. "Neither. I just know it's going to be a girl."

"Says who?"

"Says the one who's carrying it."

I sighed and opened the door to our house. Sydney crashed down on the sofa and yawned.

"I think I'm going to take a nap."

I rolled my eyes and sat down next to her. Sydney normally wasn't a very tired person. No matter how late she stayed up, she always woke up early. Yet the pregnancy had taken its toll and she was tired all the time now.

"Can't make it up to our bedroom?"

"Too far." She grabbed a throw pillow and curled up in the corner of the sectional.

I swooped her up into my arms before she could get too comfortable.

She laughed in response. "A little uncomfortable, but I guess I could sleep here."

I rolled my eyes as I carried her upstairs to the master bedroom. "Who said I was going to let you sleep?"

"It's not me, it's our daughter. She's the one who's tired all the time. She's very demanding about getting her sleep. I have no choice but to obey."

"I think you mean our son?" I gently set her down on our enormous and extremely comfortable bed. She wrapped herself up in the deep red satin sheets. I laid down next to her and kissed her forehead gently.

"How about we make this interesting?" She spoke with a smirk on her face.

"I'm listening." I rolled over to her and leaned down, showing off what I hoped was a sexy grin.

She giggled and playfully pushed me away. "That's not what I meant. What if we made a little bet?"

"What's the bet?"

"Whichever one of us is wrong about the gender of the baby, has to handle all late night cries for the first month."

"Deal."

"I'm just saying, she couldn't have gone into labor at four in the afternoon instead of four in the morning?" Fred yawned and slumped down in his chair.

I rolled my eyes. "We didn't exactly have a choice. I told you that you didn't need to come here yet. The doctor said that it would still be a while."

"And risk missing the birth of my best friend's first kid? No way." He patted me on the shoulder. "I'm here for you, man. I got your back."

"Thanks."

Our friends and my family had slowly been coming in and we were all gathered in the lobby. The room Sydney was in was fairly small so only a few of us could go in at a time. Sydney suggested I go out and get some air and try to distract myself with my friends for a little bit. I'll admit, I needed to unwind. I still felt unprepared for what was about to happen.

Kairi came bouncing out of the room Sydney was in with Cade trailing along calmly behind her. Kairi ran up to me and started talking so fast, I almost couldn't keep up. "Oh my gosh! This is so exciting! You and Sydney are about to become parents! I just know your baby is going to be the cutest thing in the world. I can't wait to find out if it's a boy or a girl! Either way it's going to be amazing! You have to be so excited, right? Like, I know you weren't exactly planning for this and you have absolutely no experience being a father. And you also still have to finish school and get a good job. Wow, how are you going to do all this?"

"Um, Kairi? Why don't we go grab something from the cafeteria?" Cade kindly tried to pull Kairi away.

"Okay. I'm so happy for you!" Kairi waved as she and Cade walked away.

I sighed slumped down into my seat. I rubbed my temples. Kairi meant well, but her little spiel had only left me feeling worse.

"It'll all work out, Joe. You're family offered to help, right?" Sam looked at me with concern.

I groaned. "Yeah, but they can't do everything." I hung my head in hands. "I'm in way over my head."

"Relax. You're over-thinking it. Try focusing on the positive side. You're about to have a little you by your side. That's pretty cool, right?"

I looked at Fred. "I guess."

"What are you guys naming it anyway?"

"Depends on if it's a boy or a girl, and we're not telling anyone until the baby is here."

"Joe?"

I looked up to see who had spoken. My mom and dad walked out of the room. I thought that they seemed a little too happy for people who were about become very young grandparents.

"Sydney was asking for you."

"Okay. Thanks." I slowly got up and started for the room.

My mom stopped me. "It won't be as bad as you think it will. Trust me."

I did my best to smile for her. "Thanks."

When I walked into the room, Anna and Skyler were taking their turn with Sydney.

"Just try not to destroy our reputation."

"With you gone, it'll probably improve."

I felt awkward interrupting Sydney and Skyler's teasing banter, not that I wasn't used to it. This was how they talked to each other all the time.

"Hey. You feeling okay? My mom said you wanted me?" I sat down on the bed next to her and laced my arm over her shoulders.

"I'm fine. The doctor said it wouldn't be too long, so I thought you better be here."

"And that's our cue to leave." Skyler tried to guide Anna out of the room.

"But I thought you were going to help deliver, Sky?"

Skyler stuck his tongue out in disgust. "No thanks. I don't need to know that much about you."

Anna giggled and rolled her eyes at them. "I cannot wait to be an aunt. I am going to spoil that kid rotten," she said as they walked out of the room.

"You ready?" Sydney looked at me. She was smiling and seemed completely at ease.

"How are you so calm? This is a scary situation to be in. We're young and we don't know anything about raising a child."

"Joe," she placed her hand on my cheek, "of course this is scary, but it's also exciting and wonderful. We are about to have a beautiful child and become a family. We may not know much, but no one does. Every first time parent has their fears, but they get through it. We will too. We can do this."

Her words soothed my fears. "I'm sorry I have been so weird tonight. I need to focus on what's important and that's making sure you and this baby are happy and healthy." I kissed her and felt her smile into the kiss.

"We'll be okay. I promise."

"I just hope little Aiden gets here soon."

Sydney shook her head. "You're still holding out for it to be a boy?"

"Well, yeah, I'm not going to be the one to take care of all the late night cries for a month."

"We'll see about that."

"We're not naming it Adrian." Sydney flipped through the pages of the baby name book.

"Why not?" I crossed my arms. "It's a nice name."

"It literally means dark. I'm not naming my child dark."

"It's my kid too."

"But I'm the one who's been carrying it around for the past eight months."

I leaned back into the sofa. "Then how about Jace?"

"Hmm… no."

I sat up and looked over at her. "What's wrong with that?"

"It sounds like something you'd name a dog, not a person."

I rolled my eyes. "Okay then, what do you suggest?"

"I like Nathan, or maybe Alex."

"There's a million Nathans and Alexs out there."

Sydney sighed. "Why is this so hard?" She flipped to a random page in the book and placed her finger down on a random name. She smiled.

"What is it?"

"Aiden. I like it."

"Aiden." I let it roll of my tongue and thought about it for a moment. "Not bad. But what about a middle name?"

"Drake? Aiden Drake. It rolls right off the tongue."

"Aiden Drake." It did have a nice ring to it. I placed my hand on Sydney's protruding stomach. "What do you think little guy?"

I felt the baby kick underneath my hand and grinned. It was always a good feeling.

"I think he likes it." I pulled my hand away.

"Or she is trying to tell you she's a girl and that's not going to work for her." Sydney soothingly massaged her tummy.

"Well, it's not going to be a girl, but I guess it wouldn't hurt to pick out a name for a girl. I like Ava."

Sydney shook her head. "I already have the perfect name. I talked to the baby last night and she seemed to love it." She continued to rub her stomach.

"And what is this perfect name?"

"Jade Elizabeth Arthur."

Sydney cooed at her softly. Even though I could tell she was exhausted and probably still in pain, she looked so happy to be holding Jade for the first time.

Sydney looked up at me and smiled. She carefully held Jade out for me to take. I took a deep breath. Here we go.

I softly caressed her face as I held her close to my chest. Sydney was right. The moment I touched her, I knew I loved her and would do anything for her. I'd never been this happy in my life.

She was so beautiful. I almost couldn't breathe. My heart was pounding in my chest from fear and joy. She stared back up at me with the most amazing eyes I'd ever seen. They were a light green, fitting given her name, but there were flecks of blue mixed in here and there. Everything about my daughter seemed so perfect and I couldn't wait to see what the future held for us. She had little wisps of light brown hair on top of her small, dark-skinned head.

"Hello, Jade." I had the urge to show her everything in the world. All the wonderful sights and beautiful moments. At the same time, I wanted her all to myself. I knew it was going to be hard just to set her down or hand her back to Sydney, who already looked like she missed having her in her arms.

"Ready to take on every late night cry for a month?" She smirked at me. I saw the exhaustion in her eyes, and yet she still managed to be a tease.

"I can't wait for it."

A/N - I probably should have divided this into two chapters given it's length, but oh well. I was experimenting with a present time to flashback writing style. So yeah, welcome little Jade to the world! If you enjoyed a favourite and a review would be very much loved! Thanks for reading!