From Here On Out

42

"Daveed, you want to come back with me?" the nurse from earlier asked, returning to the hallway hours after Emmy had initially been taken back.

He was still sitting with his knees in his arms and his friends surrounding him. He jumped up after hearing the nurse's words, unable to read anything from his tone. "What's going on?" Daveed asked, concerned by the length of time.

The nurse motioned him over. "Walk with me, son" he started. Daveed couldn't see any of these being good signs. He held his head down and quietly begged that they would both be ok.

The nurse continued, "We performed surgery, as you know. Typical appendicitis cases, we remove the appendix and the patient's good to go. Emmy's was a bit different," he stated and Daveed's heart nearly stopped. He wished the nurse would just spit it out. Just let him have it and end his misery.

"Emmy's appendix was ruptured which already complicates things, but she's also 30 weeks pregnant. The infection affects her body even more so because her immune system is weaker. Thankfully, we were able to remove the infection, but we also had to perform a c-section. The baby and her body were under a great amount of stress and we would be worried for fetal death if the pregnancy continued," the nurse continued.

"I'm sorry," Daveed's eyebrows raised, completely taken aback. "A C-section? So the baby's out? He's okay? She's ok?"

The nurse nodded, "Both Emmy and your son are stable. We have Emmy in recovery. And Dylan, right? He's in the NICU."

"Oh thank god," Daveed's hands flew to his face. Stable. That meant they were still here. "Can I see them?"

He followed the nurse's lead down the hallway to the recovery wing. He stopped at a room with the door slightly ajar. Daveed stepped in front and pushed the door fully open. From the doorway, he could already see her. She was asleep and hooked to more machines than he could number.

His feet quickly moved to her side. He graced his hand down her arm to hold a hand pierced with an IV. "Emmy," he said softly, "I'm so happy to see you," he smiled widely even though she couldn't see him.

"She'll probably be asleep for a while. The surgery was a lot especially with what she'd already been through," the nurse said from the doorway, "But you can sit here as long as you want."

"I will," Daveed nodded, fiddling with her fingers. He was overjoyed to be next to her again, and he never wanted to let her go. "Thank you so much sir," he said to the nurse before he left.

Daveed sat at her bedside, watching her sleeping body. He watched the machines tick, and the minutes pass on the clock. He thought of asking to see their son, but he knew he wanted to be there when she woke up. He figured she be in pain and would want someone there she knew.

It was an hour before she started to slowly open her eyes. They fluttered a couple times, as if she was examining where she was. Daveed jumped at the sight of her twinkling eyelashes. "Emmy," he started, before standing over her fully, "Hey baby, it's me."

"Dyl-" she started to say.

Daveed rubbed his hand across the surface of her hair. Tears started to come to his eyes from the joy of seeing her. "They had to take him out. But he's ok. Hopefully we can go see him soon,"

Emmy still showed a look of confusion, understandably. She held up her hand and noticed the IV as well as all the other machines at the side of her bed. "What- What happened?" she questioned in a soft voice. She reached for Daveed's hand as she had many times before, wanting to hold on to something she could be sure of.

"Your appendix burst," Daveed said slowly, pointing down to her stomach with one hand and wrapping to other around hers, "They did surgery and had to take Dylan out to keep him safe. You're gonna be ok and so is he."

"I want to see him," she replied, beginning to squirm under the wires, beginning to get her sensations back.

"I'll have to ask the doctor about it," Daveed assured, "But all our friends came. Rafa, Mary, Jas, Ant, all of them. They don't have to come back yet but they were all worried."

Emmy shook her head, "I want them to come."

Daveed nodded an ok then excused himself out of the room to fetch them. Emmy stared at the walls surrounding her, it was essentially her first time being alone in hours. It was also her first time not being pregnant in months. Her brain was struggling to catch up to what her body had gone through in the last day or so. She'd never imagine giving birth this day or way and it felt weird that it all happened so fast.

She looked down at the blanket draped across where her baby once was. All she could think about was how much she wanted to see him. She had been stripped of all the conventional means of labor and feelings of sadness started to come over at the thought of that. She felt like crying when she thought of not being the first person her son saw, or not holding him, or him not knowing who or where his parents where.

Before she could think herself too sad, she heard knocks on the door followed by the knob turning. Daveed's curls peeked through first then his body entered. "Got some people to see you," he announced before pushing the door all the way open.

Rafa, Anthony, Jasmine, and Mary followed behind him in the doorway. A collective gasp came out of them and her best friends rushed to her side.

"Emmy oh my god"
"I'm so glad you're okay"
"How do you feel"
"You had the baby?!"

Words came firing at her from all different directions. She didn't know where to start so she just looked to Daveed. "Did you get the doctor?"

"Yeah," he nodded, "They said as soon as they can get him here they will. But, are you ok?"

Emmy simply shrugged. She once again didn't know how to put into words the rapid commotion in her head, "Yeah, I mean, that was the craziest thing I've ever been through. But, I guess I'm fine."

"What can we do?" Jas and Mary said at practically the same time.

Emmy thought for a second, "Can I get some water?" she said with the slightest of laughs.

Anthony laughed and shook his head, "What did I tell y'all?"

Jasmine and Mary giggled as well and moved to grab her a glass. Just as Emmy went to take a sip another knock sounded on the door. Perplexed, Daveed went up to open it. Two nurses were revealed as well as a large incubator.

"Is that..." Emmy said with wide eyes the second she saw what they were pushing.

Daveed looked through the holes of the glass box. "Everybody meet Dylan Daniele Diggs." He knew at first look that he already loved the 4 pound baby with all he had. His tiny, brown eyes were opened and Daveed looked into him. He stuck his finger through the holes of the incubator and wiggled it around to catch the baby's attention. Those tiny eyes followed his finger and a grin encompassed Daveed's face.

"Lemme see." Emmy raised her hands and squeezed her fingers back and forth so they would push the baby near. Her heart exploded upon seeing the baby that once lived inside her. "Oh my god," she cried, tears immediately pricking her eyes.

"Would you like to hold him, mommy?" one of the nurses asked.

She nodded quickly, "Yes please." The nurse opened the sides of the box that Emmy felt was bizarre to keep a baby in even if she knew it was necessary. The nurse picked up their son and placed him on Emmy's chest. Emmy gasped at the feeling of holding her baby. Automatically, she felt connected to him, like holding him was the most natural thing in the world. He was so small, so cute, and so hers. "Hi, Dyl," she cooed proudly, the contact making her forget all about what the two of them had gone through for him to get here.

"Hey little man," Daveed blushed at the baby. He rubbed his fingers on his hands that stuck out from Emmy's hold. "I'm your daddy."

"And I'm your mommy," Emmy said, taking in every second of the current embrace, "We both love you so much."

Their friends awed all around them but Daveed and Emmy were much too out of focus. Their thoughts remained to be solely about their new baby. "We'll let y'all have your moment," Mary said before guiding the rest of the friends out.

The nurses stayed for extra precautions, but at last, the little family was all together, on this side of Earth, and all were healthy and insanely happy.