Author's Note: Smackdown was awesome yesterday! I was sitting right near were the guys(and girls) walk back to the locker room. During the show, Dean tried to be discreate and I guess he thought he was incognito(he was wearing his "Dean Unstable Ambrose" hoodie with his hood pulled up in an area that was restricted to anyone but superstars. Needless to say, his attempt at being incognito failed miserably. The little girl next to my was the culprit for outting him, and her mother and another guy sitting a few rows in front of me both yelled "DEAN!" Which is when he realized his "cover" was blown and he walked back to where we couldn't see him anymore. lol Here's a tip Dean: don't wear the hoodie with your name on it in an area that's restricted from fan access. ;) After the show finished Dean cut a "promo" talking about how Philly was HIS town because he lived here for two years and he cut his teeth in the indies here and he lost quite a few of said teeth while wrestling in Philly. Then he told us he'd be sticking around the area to sit in the club box seats for the Flyers(that's our hockey team, for those unfamiliar,) home opener where they would kick the New Jersey Devils' asses. Which of course, got a loud pop. But listening to him praise the city and talk about his time here was awesome. I wish I had gotten it on my phone's video camera. Been kicking myself since we left the arena because I never thought to hit record button again after I finished recording the dark match. Grr! Oh well.
Anyway, I'm getting ready to leave for Florida, but before I packed up my laptop, I figured I'd throw out one last update. I'm not sure if I'll be able to write or update on this it at all while I'm away. We have to take two of my neices with us because one's the Flower girl, the other is going along to make sure the little one doesn't end up getting homesick or scared. (Here's a tip: going away for weddings really sucks) But if I get time, I'll try to write chapter thirty five and finish thirty six.(I know some are gonna be like 'how'd she get to thirty six without doing anything on thirty five?' ... let's just say, thirty four got too long and the ideas I had that were supposed to end this chapter got shoved back so what was chapter thirty five will now be thirty six. lol)
Alright, enough of my rambling. Onto chapter thirty four!
Chapter Thirty Four
It was now day two of Kaleb's young, and so far short, life. Colby, Leighla, Joe, Galina and JoJo were all on their way to the hospital to visit Chasity and meet him for the first time. It was initially only supposed to be the adults coming to visit, but Patricia – Joe's mom – couldn't keep JoJo because she already had other plans, so Galina decided that missing a day or two of school wasn't going to hurt her. After all, she was only in Kindergarten.
Initially, Joe was totally against the whole idea, telling Jon in a text that Galina wanted to bring JoJo, but he was against it because of school, and he was currently trying to talk her out of it, so he'd get back to him with the definite answer shortly. He had even gone as far as to tell Jon he'd contacted one of his three sisters, Summer to see if she could keep her for a couple of days, but Galina told her and Joe it wasn't necessary. He was aggravated that Galina didn't see the seriousness in JoJo missing school. He tried to point out that her going with them would mean she'd have to make up the work so as not to fall behind the rest of her classmates. He was afraid if she wound up falling too far behind, and it happened often enough she'd begin to hate school and then she'd decide she didn't need a good education to survive life and she'd drop out in high school, or something.
Galina had just laughed at him, explaining that there was no way that would happen because her teacher gave them the 'online school' information, and she was bringing their laptop, so they would have the work with them, and therefore she wouldn't miss a thing because she'd be able to do it – with Galina's help, of course – while they were on the road with him.
That calmed Joe down and quickly helped him warm up to the idea of them coming with him for a few days. He once again sent Jon a text telling him JoJo was coming for sure because she wouldn't miss any school, thanks to the fact there was now some kind of online school thing she could do. The whole thing confused Jon, but he figured he'd find out what Joe meant once they arrived at the hospital. He knew Joe wouldn't admit it to anyone, but he was for certain the big man was happy to have his fiancée and daughter on the road with him; even if it was only for a short amount of time.
Colby also contacted Jon, like he told him he would, via text saying he had talked to Leighla, and they would also be coming to visit because Leighla had a few personal days at work she had to burn. He only sent one text and it was a lot less dramatic because the only 'kid' Leighla and he had to worry about was their dog, Kevin. Which they could easily bring along and – as long as they were staying in a pet friendly hotel – leave him in their room for the day; no questions asked.
Jon had told Chasity about the texts he received from both of his stable mates telling him they'd be here to visit, so she decided to take a shower and make herself a little more presentable. While she was doing that, Jon told her he was going to sit in the NICU with Kaleb because sitting in her room alone wasn't any fun; which she agreed. Besides, they both wanted to be with Kaleb as much as possible and if that meant leaving Jon there while she showered, then Chasity would allow it. After she was finished her shower she was going to come rejoin him anyway.
While he was waiting for Chasity to finish showering and a text or two from his friends letting him know they were there, he sat at Kaleb's bed side talking with the NICU on duty nurse that was taking care of Kaleb, Rachel. To make sure Kaleb knew he was there he put his right hand through one of the holes in the isolette and rested his hand on Kaleb's tiny chest inside the isolette.
Making sure she looked as presentable as a new mother possibly could, Chasity made her way down to the NICU and pressed the button. Once she was buzzed in, she thanked the nurse at the desk, washed up – despite having just showered – put on a smock thing over the top of her clothing, and headed toward Kaleb's isolette. But she wasn't pleased with what she saw when she got there. Jon was sitting in the rocking chair beside the isolette, his hand resting on Kaleb's chest through the hole on the side of the isolette, and Kaleb's on-duty nurse was laughing and chatting with him like she didn't have a care in the world. It was almost like they were flirting with each other right there, in the vicinity of Kaleb.
Taking a deep breath, and reminding herself not to flip out because she'd get thrown out of the NICU if she did; and that wouldn't be good for Kaleb, she walked the remaining distance to the isolette, coming up behind Jon. Deciding to play hardball with this bitch, she rested her hands on his broad shoulders lightly massaging them as she leaned down, placing a gentle kiss on his cheek. "How's he doing so far today," she asked. The question was clearly directed at Jon, but Rachel was the one that tried to respond before Jon could.
"Pretty good. His…" Chasity glared up at her, stopping her sentence in its tracks.
"I was asking my boyfriend, not you," she harshly, but quietly snapped. Jon was taken aback by her response. Sensing this could get ugly, and not wanting his girlfriend kicked out of the NICU when their son needed her, he pulled his hand from the isolette and stood up from the chair.
"Umm, I'm going to talk to my girlfriend outside for a moment. We'll be right back," he said. Turning in Chasity's direction, he spun her toward the NICU entrance and – with his hands resting on her shoulders just as hers had been doing on his a few moments before – gently guided her out into the hallway. "What the hell was that all about," he questioned, furious with his girlfriend's attitude toward their son's nurse. Chasity threw her arms up in a huff, as if gesturing that she didn't know.
"You tell me," she responded. Jon furrowed his brow. "You're the one that was allowing her to flirt with you while you're sitting right next to our sick son."
"What the hell are you talking about? I was not flirting with her."
"I didn't say you were; I said she was fliting with you. But if you have a guilty conscience, feel free to come clean now," Chasity spit. Jon shook his head.
"I don't have a guilty conscience because there's nothing to feel guilty about. Nobody was flirting," he exclaimed.
"YES THERE WAS; SHE WAS FLIRTING WITH YOU, JON," Chasity shouted. Jon was at a loss for words, and before this could get any uglier he decided it'd be best to just remove himself from the situation.
"Think what you want, Chas. I'm done with this asinine conversation. I'll be outside waiting for Joe, Colby and the girls to get here so they can see you and meet Kaleb," he informed her, storming down the hallway.
Chasity watched Jon until he was totally out of her line of sight. She knew what she saw and she wasn't sorry for her actions, so if he thought this was going to make her apologize, he was wrong. He could be pissed off all he wanted, but she wasn't going to just sit back and watch him fall into some bitch's trap; especially not when said bitch is supposed to be caring for their sick son, not trying to move in on the baby's father.
Chasity walked back into the NICU and sat in the chair Jon had previously vacated. Rachel had moved on to doing something else, thank God, or things may have gotten even uglier than they had already been. Chasity placed her hand inside her son's isolette, attempting to rub his tiny arm, but he flinched and pulled it away from her reach. Figuring he didn't realize it was her, Chasity switched holes and tried to rub his leg, but again he flinched and pulled away from her hand. Opting to try placing her hand on his tiny chest, as Jon had been doing earlier, she slid her hand back through the other whole, but all that got her was Kaleb crying until she removed her hand. It was as if he was mad at her, too. Sighing, Chasity sat down in the rocking chair and placed her head in her hands. Her boyfriend was pissed off at her and her son didn't want her to touch him. Great. Just absolutely wonderful.
Jon stood outside the hospital, taking slow, deep breaths trying to calm himself down. He couldn't believe how Chasity had acted, but did she really have a reason to act that way? Maybe Rachel was flirting with him and he was just too wrapped up in Kaleb to even notice? Was that even possible? He leaned back against the brick wall behind him and crossed his feet at the ankles as he thought about everything he could remember talking about with Rachel. None of it had been out of line, at least that he could remember. All they talked about was how Kaleb had progressed in the last twelve hours and how much longer he had before he was out of the 'danger zone' of the twenty-four to forty-eight hour window. But for some reason Chasity believed she was flirting with him. There had to be some explanation for her reaction, right? She wouldn't have just blown up like that without a reason. That just wasn't Chasity's nature.
"Hey Jon, why are you out here," he heard Colby ask, as he and Leighla approached him walking hand-in-hand.
"Oh hey, guys. Just came out for some fresh air," he attempted to lie. But of course, Colby knew him all too well; after all, they had been best friends for over four years now.
"Oh, that's cool," he said, nodding his head. "Now, try telling us the real truth. Why are you really out here?" Jon sighed.
"You and Joe know me entirely too well. It's kind of scary," Jon joked. Colby just shrugged. "Chasity and I just had another argument; this time she accused Kaleb's current on-duty nurse, Rachel, of flirting with me," Jon informed him just as Joe walked up, one arm slung around Galina while the other was occupied by a sleeping Joelle.
"What's this I hear about flirting," Joe questioned, having only caught part of what Jon had told Colby and Leighla.
"Chasity accused Kaleb's current nurse of flirting with Jon," Colby informed him.
"Well, was she," Joe asked. Jon shook his head.
"Not that I can remember. I mean, the conversation we were in the middle of when Chasity walked up wielding accusations was about how Kaleb was progressing and how much longer he had until he was clear of the 'danger zone'. Nothing either of us said was out of line; it was all Kaleb related."
"Is it possible she was standing in a way that would be construed into the two of you being flirtatious, or could appear like you two were flirting," Colby asked. Jon was quiet, thinking about how she had been standing right before Chasity walked up. It could have been. She was standing with her arms crossed over her chest, just beneath her breasts, she had her hip leaning against the side of Kaleb's isolette; only inches in front of Jon, her feet were crossed at the ankles; much like Jon's were now, and her head was slightly tilted to the left, and she was laughing. No, scratch that. Her laugh sounded more like a giggle; like that of a school girl giggle.
She hadn't started out that close to him; she got closer as they started talking. Her arms were not crossed over her chest when she had approached; they were at her side until she asked if Chasity planned to bottle feed or breast feed once Kaleb was off the feeding tube. Her head certainly wasn't titled to the side; until he answered the breast vs bottle question with an 'I'm not sure, we haven't discussed that yet', and that's also when she started smiling and giggling.
Now it all made sense. Wow, he felt like an idiot. An idiot that owed his girlfriend a huge apology.
"Now that I think about it, yes," Jon said. "Wow, I totally owe Chasity a huge apology. How did I not notice that," Jon questioned, rhetorically.
"Go ahead back up to the NICU and talk with her. We'll go get something to eat and come back in a half hour," Joe said, guiding Galina back toward their rental car. "Colby, Leighla, you guys come with us and give them a little time to sort this out," he called to the other couple. "And remember how out of whack her hormones are right now, Jon. Don't upset her any further if you can help it," Joe pointed at his dirty blonde stable mate. Jon nodded; telling him he understood.
"We'll be back, dude. Go make things right with your girl," Colby said, patting Jon on the shoulder before following the others back toward their rental cars.
Without any more hesitation, Jon ran back into the hospital and jumped on the elevator going straight back to the NICU. Buzzing in, he quickly washed up put on a smock and went over to Kaleb's isolette. The sight of Chasity sitting there with her head in her hands as sobs jarred her body broke his heart. Walking up behind her he did as she had done to him earlier in the day, placing his hands on her shoulders and lightly massaging before leaning down to kiss her; only instead of kissing her cheek, he kissed the side of her neck. "You were right. I don't know how I missed it, but you were right," Jon admitted.
Chasity pulled her hands away from her face and turned and lifted her now tear stained face to look at him. "So you weren't willingly flirting with her," Chasity asked, her insecurities getting the better of her. Jon shook his head vigorously, moving around in front of her he squatted down to her level and placed his hands on either side of her face – cupping her cheeks – so he could look her directly in the eye.
"I told you earlier I wasn't flirting with her; I didn't lie about that. I would never do that to you, and you know it." He wiped the fallen tears away with the pads of his thumbs. "I love you way too much to jeopardize what we have for some bitch off the streets that I don't know from Eve. I'll admit, I did it a lot in the past. But that was totally different because that was when I was with girls I wasn't in love with; girls I didn't care about. You're different, Chas; you always have been," Jon confessed.
Chasity smiled. "I love you, too. I'm sorry I've been extra sensitive lately, but my body is all out of whack and sometimes I just can't control it."
"It's okay. I understand," Jon said, shrugging. "Well, okay, I kind of understand. Joe explained it to me a little," Jon said, causing Chasity to chuckle. "Now, let Kaleb know you're here while I go talk to the head nurse and see if they can get a new nurse to take over his care. This will probably get Rachel fired, but oh well. She brought that on herself," Jon said, as he stood back up.
With the mention of letting Kaleb know she was there, Chasity burst into a whole new round of tears, catching Jon off guard as he knelt back down in front of her. "Now why are you crying," he questioned. Chasity shook her head.
"Kaleb won't let me touch him. I tried to when I first came in here after we argued in the hallway, and he pulled both his arm and leg out of my reach. So I tried laying my hand on his chest like you had been doing thinking maybe he'd prefer that, and he started crying until I moved my hand," Chasity cried. "It's like he's mad at me, too."
"I think your demeanor may have been what was scaring him, babe. Calm down and try touching him again," Jon suggested, standing off to the side while Chasity composed herself.
After taking a few deep breaths and recomposing herself, Chasity placed her hand through the whole in the side of the isolette again and was expecting Kaleb to shy away, but he didn't. Instead, he opened his bright blue eyes and looked in his mommy's direction as he gripped her finger when she placed it into the palm of his tiny hand. Jon smiled. "See, your demeanor scared him; he's not mad at you. Now, sit and talk to him, or whatever, while I go talk with the head nurse," Jon said giving her shoulders a quick, gentle squeeze before walking away to find the head nurse.
About a half hour later, Jon came back and put his hand through the other hole in the isolette. "Well, Rachel has been removed from caring for Kaleb permanently," Jon informed her. "The head nurse said that Cara will be over in a few minutes to do his hourly checkup." Chasity nodded. She was okay with Cara; at least she never tried to make a pass at Jon while he was sitting at their sick son's bed side. "And I texted Joe and Colby and told them it was fine to come back now." Chasity gave Jon a weird look at this information. "They helped me realize what Rachel was up to. I wasn't paying attention to her body language; only her words, which were all about Kaleb, but after Colby asked me about how she chose to stand, I thought about it and realized her body language was definitely sexual in nature," Jon admitted. "After Colby and Joe helped point that out they took the girls and went to get something to eat while I came up to sort things out with you," Jon explained. "So I just sent them a text telling them it was safe to come back now, so they should be back any minute." Chasity nodded.
"And you said they have JoJo with them, right?" Jon nodded.
"Yeah, Galina didn't want to leave her at home with Joe's sister, and because she won't fall behind on school work due to some online school thing, they were able to bring her. I didn't fully understand it, but yeah," Jon laughed.
"Well, she's not old enough to get in the NICU. The age limit is sixteen or older; or they have to be a sibling of the baby," Chasity pointed out. Jon frowned.
"I guess Galina and Joe will have to take turns coming in to see him," Jon said. It was the only solution he could come up with as Cara came over to do Kaleb's hourly checkup.
"Hey guys, how's little man doing today," she asked, as she checked the monitors and used her stethoscope to quickly monitor Kaleb's breathing.
"He seems to be doing well. Sleeping a lot, but that's common for all babies, from what I hear," Chasity joked. Cara chuckled.
"If he wasn't sleeping a lot I'd be worried. All his readings look good; vital signs are steady and breathing is good, so I'd say he's moving in the right direction," Cara smiled.
"Quick question for you," Jon said. Cara nodded.
"What's that," she asked.
"My co-worker and best friend will be here shortly with his fiancée and their daughter to see Kaleb. Is it at all possible for his daughter to come in here," Jon asked. He figured since he was pretty sure he already knew the answer, it wouldn't hurt to ask because there was no chance of disappointment. Cara made a weird face.
"How old is she?"
"Only five, going on six in the next month or so. That's why I figured I'd ask." Cara frowned.
"We don't usually allow anyone under the age of sixteen in unless they're related to the baby – such as a sibling – but let me go talk to Doctor Stevens and Nurse Ellen real fast. I'll get back to you with a definite answer within five minutes," Cara said, walking away.
True to her word, Cara came back over to them five minutes later. "Alright, Doctor Stevens and Nurse Ellen said because Kaleb has done so well and his only issue is his breathing, we'll allow her to come in," Cara informed them as Jon smiled. "However, there is a bit of a catch," she said, wiping the smile off Jon's face. "Even though she's going to be required to scrub up and wear the smock over her clothes, just like everyone else, she's not going to be allowed to touch him, and the entire time she's in here, I'll be over here monitoring the visit," Cara explained, frowning a bit. "Sorry guys, but it was the only way I could get them to agree to let her in." Chasity shook her head.
"No, that's fine. I'd much rather have it this way than to have Joe and Galina be forced to take turns coming in and out of the NICU," Chasity said, just as Jon checked his phone.
"Yeah, this is perfect. I don't think any of them are gonna wanna touch him anyway," Jon said. "But I'll be right back, they just got here, so I'm gonna go fill them in on this and bring them up," he said, getting up and leaving the NICU.
Chasity had to admit, Jon's friends coming to see Kaleb the day after he was born made her nervous. If he had been born when he was supposed to and he wasn't in the NICU, it would be different, but with him being in the NICU and germs being a huge factor, she was a little worried. But she trusted Jon not to put their son at risk for a setback.