I Dream Of You

Chapter Twenty-Three.

Cher was thirty-nine weeks and two days along. At that point, she just wanted to have the baby so she could see their daughter. It was mid-morning, she was spending time alone with Pauly while Andy was at a meeting with his manager. Meryl was expected to be there in a few hours.

Pauly knew her best friend was getting hot due to the warmth of May, considering she was wearing the thinnest clothes could, being a tank top and some leggings. She looked at her for a moment before, " Why don't we go get in the pool? We could both cool off."

She thought about it for a moment before she said, "Okay, let's go."

Pauly went and grabbed their swimsuits before bringing them back to the living room. They changed their clothes and headed outside to the pool. They slowly lowered themselves into the cool water. Almost instantly feeling good for Cher. She looked towards her best friend, "Pauly, can you carry her for the last couple of days?"

She laughed lightly, "So you want me to somehow take her off of you and put her inside me? Want me to do your labor too?"

Cher laughed, "A girl can dream."

Cher said, "Why'd you let me be this pregnant during summer?"

Pauly chuckled, "I'm not the one who got you pregnant."

She laughed, "Touché."

It was a few hours later, Meryl was there and Andy was back as well, but he was in a separate area of the house. Georganne had just shown up with Georgia minutes before. Georganne had been watching her sister, noticing that she had been making a face as she was rubbing her bump. She eventually said, "Stupid, are you okay? You were making a face."

Cher nodded, "Yeah. She was kicking me in the ribs, it was uncomfortable."

A few minutes had passed when Cher had felt the uncomfortable feeling again, making a face. Then Pauly, who had been watching her, said, "Cheralina, are you sure you're okay? You made a face again after few minutes."

She nodded once more, "Yes, I'm sure I'm okay. Nothing is wrong."

All the women besides Georgia were suspicious. They all began timing to see when Cher made the same facial expression again. Unknown to each other, but they were all suspecting the same thing. When Cher finally made the same facial expression again, it was Meryl who spoke, "Cher, there's no way she's just kicking you in the ribs. You're in labor and your contractions are minutes apart."

Cher sighed, "I'm not in la-"

She paused as she felt that feeling again, "Okay, I'm in labor."

Pauly stood up, "Okay Cheralina, let's get you to the hospital."

Cher shook her head, "No, not yet. We have time, all I want to do right now is take a nap. I'm going to lay down."

With that being said, Cher stood up from her spot on the couch and walked to her bedroom. As she laid down and closed her eyes, it was unknown to her that Pauly was telling Andy that she was in labor. While she was asleep, Andy had come to check on her and kissed her head before leaving the room again with her hospital bag in hand.

A few hours later, Cher had woken to her contractions. She carefully made her way to where everyone was at. As they all looked at her, she said, "I'm ready, let's go have a baby."

They all sprung into action, Andy had went to get everything in the car, while Pauly and Meryl helped Cher to the car with Georgia and Georganne following behind. Cher looked at all them and said, "Will one of you call Chaz and Elijah please? Let them know what's going on."

Georganne nodded and said, "On it."

Before they knew it, they were checked in at the hospital. Cher was laying in the hospital bed, hooked up to the monitors for her contractions and the baby's heartbeat. She scrunched her face as she had a rather strong contraction. Andy reached over and grabbed her hand. He whispered to her, "Tranqulia Mi Amor."

She didn't say anything, as she nodded and kissed his lips. Then she said, "I love you."

He smiled, "I love you too."

It was around midnight when Cher's water broke, the only one who was up with her was Pauly. She had insisted that they all get some rest, including Andy, but Pauly had refused. Chaz and Elijah were out in the waiting room with their girlfriend and wife because they didn't want overcrowd their mom's room. Although they would go and check on her every once in a while. Pauly had gotten up to go get the doctor, but was back within a few minutes with the doctor.

After doing her check-up, Dr. Hansen said, "We're right on track, eight centimeters dilated. Shouldn't be much longer."

Cher nodded and thanked her before she had exited the room. She turned to Pauly when she heard her say, "See that Cheralina, she's almost here."

She said, "The offer still stands for you to push her out."

Pauly chuckled, "I see your epidural is still working."

After her water had broken, her doctor checked her every hour for dilation, but it was around three hours later when things had finally started moving along. Dr. Hansen spoke, "Ten centimeters, it's time to start pushing."

At that point, Pauly had gently started waking the others up and had quickly went to waiting room to inform Chaz and Elijah as well. When Pauly came back, they were adjusting Cher's bed for her to push. She moved over to the bed and was ready to hold one of Cher's legs while she was pushing. Andy was ready to do the same even though he was holding her hand as well. Georgia on the other hand, was standing near her eldest daughter's head, whispering her words of encouragement.

After she had started pushing on her next contraction. She pushed with everything she had, determined to meet their baby girl. Those just over thirty minutes felt like hours until she felt the release of pressure and heard their daughter's cry. She cried happy tears as Andy cut the cord and she was placed on her chest.

Andy leaned over Cher and their daughter and looked at them in awe as she was cleaned off. He couldn't help but cry happy tears himself as he kissed Cher's head. He was so in love with both of them. He couldn't believe how much his life had changed in two years but he would never change it. He heard the doctor speak, "May 2nd, 4:02 AM."

After Cher was cleaned up and everything was settled down, Georganne went to get the others from the waiting room. Once in the room, Chaz and Elijah looked in awe of their little sister. Instantly, they both knew that they were always going to protect her. They both knew what her first name was going to be, but they hadn't found out her full name. Elijah spoke gently, "So what's our sister's name, Mom?"

Cher smiled and looked at the baby in her arms before looking at them again, "Her name is Ruby Amaya Aylanie Garcia."

Andy smiled proudly, but he was also surprised at their daughter's last name as Cher told him before that she wanted her to have both of their last names. After Chaz had asked to hold Ruby, they all gently passed her around, Pauly being the last to hold her before she went back to Cher.

An hour had passed before they knew it  and Pauly told all of them that they should go down to the cafeteria and give the new parents time alone. Once they were out of the room, Cher smiled brightly at their sleeping daughter and kissed her head. Without looking up, she spoke to Andy, "Ask me again."

Andy looked at her and said, "What?"

She said, looking at him this time, "Ask me again."

Andy finally catching on to what she was telling him, he quickly searched through his bag. He got down on one knee and smiled at her. He said, "Cherilyn Sarkisian, will you marry me?"

Cher smiled and nodded, "Yes Andy, I will marry you."

He kissed her, smiling, careful of their daughter. After they broke apart, she held out her hand and he slid the ring on her finger. As the others came back into the room, they told them their good news.