Synergy: Resistance (Synergy Series #2) [BWWM]

Chapter 1 "Rio"

Rio Taylor was born on 1st October 2013, weighing 5lbs 4oz. He surprised his parents arriving on a Friday night a month premature, but somehow his untimely arrival felt organic to the situation as a whole. His conception was never planned, and while it wasn't an ideal situation, Jason and Dee had made the best of what could have been a bad situation. Though they were different in nature, they both wanted the best for their child, and that was somehow enough. Rio was around six weeks early, so neither of them expected him so soon, nor so quickly. Dee knew he would be too small, maybe too weak. Her mind raced during the labour pains, wondering whether her baby would be okay, whether he would survive. She thought back to all the alcohol and drugs she'd smoked before she knew about her pregnancy and silently scolded herself. She knew she couldn't turn back time, and she knew she never did those things intentionally, but as she pushed through the pain, the guilt ate at her. The guilt made her do something she rarely did, she prayed. She prayed for her son to make it through, for him to be healthy, or as healthy as he could be.

When Rio graced them with his presence, Jason couldn't believe how tiny he was. He'd never spent a lot of time around babies, but he knew Rio was smaller than most. When he arrived silently, the panic and fear that radiated through Dee's face caused him to feel the same way, babies were supposed to cry. His tiny son was handed off to somebody across the room and Dee started to verbalise her panic, asking what was going on, was their son okay. Jason found himself frozen, just waiting to hear something. Then, a little cry sounded from across the room and the pair of them exhaled. He was alive. He was tiny, but he was alive.

Rio had arrived after just four hours labour, and though it was a quick event as labours go, emotions were at an all time high. After complications took over early into the labour, Dee was rushed into theatre for an emergency caesarean. A caesarean scar meant Dee's stripping career was virtually over but at no point during did she think about such a trivial idea. All she wanted was for her son to make it out healthy and happy. While he spent the first week of his life in an incubator to help his lungs develop, he couldn't have been any more perfect in their eyes, and as Jason held onto his tiny hand, he knew he'd made the right decision making it work with their relationship.

It broke Dee's heart to see her son in that position, but she was just thankful that otherwise he was healthy, and that he was here. When her first son Tushaun was born, he was a healthy 7lbs 2oz, so to see Rio nearly 2 ounces smaller, it amazed her. Holding him in her arms, she could barely believe how light he was, how delicate. Doctors estimated that Rio could go home at the end of the week should his condition improve as they thought, so Jason's family decided to wait until he was at home until they travelled back to Detroit to see him. Dee almost wished her own family had waited too at times, when they were filling the hospital ward up with noise and pictures, treating it like a hotel as they lounged around on the chairs taking advantage of the TV and hospital food.

Though middle names were discussed during their time on the hospital ward, it had taken till the end of the pregnancy to decide on a first name, so they came to a halt once again on a decision. Though Dee had wanted a middle name originally, she decided she no longer needed one for him, given as his first name meant so much to her and her family, a nickname her deceased brother grew up with. It was more than a name; it was a remembrance, a memorial.

After a week of waiting for their baby to come home, the day finally arrived when doctors deemed him healthy enough to go home, and Jason took pride in putting his first child into a baby carrier and carrying him out of the hospital like a proud father. Unfortunately the atmosphere outside of the hospital was not one they were expecting, and after successfully hiding out in Detroit for a while, the paparazzi it seemed had scoped him out, so now everybody wanted the first exclusive picture of Jason Taylor's baby. Jason had never moved so fast in his life as he marched over to the waiting car, it's door wide open for him as his security guard pushed cameras out of the way in front of him. Dee couldn't believe how animalistic these people could be. This was her child, not an object. He wasn't something they had rights to; they couldn't just follow them around like they were doing, though apparently, they could.