A N G E L (Roger Daltrey)

Thirty Three

Janice's POV

"So the good news is, we're definitely not going to die in a tornado." A nervous, fake laugh escaped my body.

"But there's snow everywhere and it's so early and--and--oh, my God, this is--this is terrifying." Nancy put the hand that wasn't holding mine on her belly. 

"Hey what's going on over here?" Beverly asked, jogging up to us, Michelle on her hip and Annie running at her side.

"Nancy's water broke." I wavered.

"Shit," she swore, "okay girlies, let's go back inside really fast, okay? Mommy's gotta use the phone. I'm calling an ambulance, stay where you are. Don't try to move her, okay Janice?"

"Okay." I whispered.

The little family of three hustled into the complex, disappearing from sight. 

"Janice, I'm scared." Nancy cried.

"Me too." I held my body steady, letting her lean on me.

"I'm not ready to be a mother!" She bawled.

"What? Nance, of course you are!" I bit back tears of my own. I had never been so scared in my life, but my best friend needed a brave face. 

"N-no I'm no-o-ot!" She wailed. "You're way more fit for motherhood than me. I can't do this. I can't!"

"Hey, hey. Listen to me. You can. Let's just get this baby out of you and we'll go from there, okay? We'll make decisions when they come. Just breathe, okay? Does it hurt?" I asked.

"Well it doesn't feel good." She gritted. "It's like the worst cramps ever, and I have never been so hot in my life but I can't stop shivering. And it feels like I have a massive shit brewing, like deep in my guts."

"That...sounds awful." I had no idea what to say, I had never been with someone who was in labor before.

"Can I sit back down? I'm sitting back down." She sank back down to her sign on the ground, pulling me with her. I landed in the snow, not caring when it soaked into my pants and froze my butt cheeks. 

"Just hang on, okay? The ambulance is coming." I squeezed her hands and she squeezed back. 

"It feels like it's all happening really fast, in the book I read they said it could take hours!" she groaned.

"Maybe since it's early it's small and it'll just--slip out?" I blurted.

Nancy stopped trembling for a second. "...What?"

"I don't know! I just thought that maybe since it's so early the baby could fall out, I don't know, man." I blushed, embarrassed. 

Nancy laughed. Actually laughed. 

"Oh, God!" She exclaimed. "If it just fell out--ow!"

"Fuck, are you okay?" I squeezed her hand again.

"Far from it. Keep making jokes, I said you were gonna make me laugh during labor, now here we are." She released my hands to hold her stomach.

"Uhh, okay. Remember that time in eighth grade when Jimmy Kane stepped on those mashed potatoes in the cafeteria and wiped out?" I stood up and brushed the snow off myself, I could hear the sirens approaching. 

"Yeah, and then he cried in front of everyone." Nancy giggled. "It would've been less embarrassing for him if he had just gotten up and walked it off."

"Exactly. Here take my hands, up we go. The ambulance is here." I hoisted Nancy off the ground and jumped up and down, waving my arms. "We're over here!" I shouted.

The ambulance got as close as possible, and then two men came out with a stretcher. Despite the snow, they loaded her up and put her in the back. I hopped in after them. 

The ride was harrowing, but the paramedic in the back with us reassured us that the tires were equipped with chains for weather like this, and that they had been running calls all morning with no issue, mostly car crashes. 

Once we got to the hospital, they took us right back. 

"Yup, we're having this baby today." The doctor confirmed. 

"Is she going to make it?" Nancy asked, scared.

"I need you to hope for the best and prepare for the worst." The doctor said grimly. "For now, just try to relax. Is baby's dad on his way?"

Nancy cringed a little, and then motioned to me. "She's dad for today. And probably forever."

The doctor unsuccessfully tried to conceal his shock and confusion. "Alrighty then. I'm sending a nurse to check you, I'll be in and out as I'm able until you're ready to deliver."

"Aw, I'm dad." I commented once the doctor had left the room.

"You are. Speaking of dad, I feel like I should call my parents." She reached for the bedside phone, but I smacked her hand away.

"Don't. They would only make it worse." I said.

"You're right. Ow, Jesus fucking--fuck! It's like hundreds of bees stinging my vagina or something, like lightning." She cried, sweat breaking out over her forehead.

"Oof, that does not sound pleasant." I crossed my legs at the thought of bees or lightning anywhere near my vagina. 

Before I knew it, the doctor was in the room all geared up in gloves and a smock and everything. I tried to be brave to support Nancy, but once things got going, I pretty much blacked out from the fear. 

Nancy said I never actually went down, that I held her hand the whole time, but I don't remember anything between the doctor coming in and someone yelling "it's a girl!"

"It's a girl!" Nancy sobbed. "I knew it, I knew it all along. It's a girl, holy shit, I have a baby girl!"

I leaned over the bed and hugged her, shedding tears of my own. "I'm so proud of you, Nance, you did it. I knew you could."

"How is she? Is she okay?" She asked. 

The smallest cry I had ever heard carried through the air. 

"Awww!" We cooed in unison. 

A nurse then hustled over to us. "Hi mama, we're taking her back to the newborn ICU, she needs a little help breathing and staying warm, but she's looking good so far, okay? Does she have a name?"

"Yes." Nancy breathed shakily. "Melissa. Melissa Dawn."

"That's beautiful! She's three pounds and just shy of sixteen inches by the way, measuring very well for being so early." The nurse smiled and left.

"Wow, my little Missy Dawn. She's here." Nancy beamed.

"I'm an auntie!" I smiled. "And a dad, apparently." 

It wasn't too long before we were able to go to the ICU to see her. I pushed Nance in a wheelchair. Melissa was in a clear box, looking very tiny and frail.

"Ohh, look." I whispered.

"You can touch her, if you want." Said a nurse that materialized from seemingly nowhere, making us both jump. 

Cautiously, Nancy reached her hand through the hole in the box and placed it on her daughter's little head, petting the wispy, almost invisible, blonde duck fluff there. 

"Hi Melissa. It's mommy. Hi, Missy." She said, voice wavering. 

The baby stirred and opened her eyes, and we both gasped at the big brown orbs that blinked and squinted at us. 

"She has Keith's eyes..." she trailed. 

"Wow, she certainly does. That's really something." I chose my words carefully, not wanting to give my opinion until she gave hers. 

"She's beautiful." Nancy broke into a fresh set of tears. 

"So, so beautiful." I rubbed her shoulders.

We stayed there as long as we could, oohing and ahhing over Keith Moon's baby, and marveling at the fact that nobody else in the hospital knew in shared, unspoken wonder.