Someone Like Us | Completed ✓

Chapter Seventeen: Battles

November 18

After school, Nick decided that it was probably a good idea to go over to the hospital and check on Ace, Joan, and the baby. It had been two weeks since Davian Ryan Dudson was born (Ace and Joan had decided to give him Ace's last name since they planned to get married once they were old enough), and every day since, Ace and Joan would drive to the hospital immediately after school was out. On the weekends, they would stay with their son the entire day, only stopping to eat, sleep, and study. Maybe occasionally change their clothes and shower, too.

Ace hadn't talked to Nick very much since Davian was born. Now Nick knew that it was time to see if his foster brother was okay.

It was the weekend, so he knew where Ace would be. He drove down to the hospital, went to the NICU, and quietly walked into Davian's room.

The room itself wasn't as gloomy as he'd expected. The ceiling and walls were white, the floor was light tan marble, and there was a large window that was letting lots of sunlight in. He noticed that there were personal touches around the room, too. Cards with inspirational quotes were taped to the sides of the incubator, a couple of balloons were in the corners of the room, and a bunting with Davian's name on it was tacked to the wall.

The main focus of the room, though, was the abundance of machines, wires, and tubes all surrounding an incubator in the middle of the room. Inside the incubator was a tiny baby boy, and that was what gave the room a depressing atmosphere.

Nick walked over to Ace, who was hunched over the incubator. He had his hand through one of the ports in the sides and was stroking Davian's soft cheek.

Nick put his arm around his shoulders, and Ace looked up with a start. "Nick," he said. He sounded surprised.

Nick forced a smile. "Hey," he said. "I just wanted to check up on you and the little guy. You haven't exactly been at your best for the past two weeks."

"Yeah, I know," Ace sighed. There were bags under his eyes. He turned back to the incubator and reached through the port to hold Davian's hand. The baby's tiny fingers grasped Ace's pointer finger, and Ace almost started to cry. "Hey, baby," he whispered. "Hey, honey. How are you doing? You staying strong for mommy and daddy?"

He blew a kiss. "I love you, baby boy," he whispered. "You have no idea."

Nick felt a lump rise in his throat. He put his arm around Ace's shoulders again. Ace glanced at him. "You aren't a hugger, are you...?" he said.

Nick gave a crooked smile. "In this kind of situation, I can suck it up and be a good brother," he said.

Tears rose up in Ace's eyes. "Thank you," he said, and he stood up and hugged him. Nick was uncomfortable at first, but then forced himself to hug back. What Ace needed right now was support, and that was what Nick wanted to give him. He and Joan had chosen not to abort their baby, and now that the baby was born and struggling to live, Nick had to choose to be a man and stand by his brother despite their different beliefs.

"It's gonna be okay, man," Nick whispered. Ace just sighed.

When they stepped apart, Nick asked, "Where's Joan?"

"She's at home showering and eating," Ace said. "I told her she had to be a good example to Davian."

Nick grinned. "That sure worked."

"Yeah," Ace murmured absentmindedly. He went back to the incubator and held Davian's hand again.

"This is so wrong," Ace suddenly said after a minute. "When you think teen parents, you think of girls showing off their baby bumps on social media—"

"Not this," Nick finished. He frowned and rubbed Ace's back. "It get it. That sucks. I'm sorry."

"I would honestly rather deal with hate like all the other teen parents in the world than deal with this," Ace murmured. He reached up and wiped his eyes.

"Ace..." Nick stared. He almost brought up the fact that if he and Joan had chosen apportion they wouldn't even be dealing with this right now, but he knew that now was not the time.

"Ace, you have got to know that you aren't alone," Nick said. "Everybody fights their own battles. All teen parents fight their own battles. You and Joan's battle may look really different from other teen parents' battles, but they're not that different. You and everybody else is dealing with expectations, juggling, and trying to do the right thing. You're not alone."

"I know that," Ace mumbled, "But what about teen dads with preemies in the NICU? How many teen dads deal with this?"

"I... don't know," Nick said slowly after a second. "But I'm sure it's happened before. I don't have to research that to know. I know that you aren't alone in this."

Ace gave him a crooked smile. "Thanks," he whispered.

Nick smiled back. "I try."

"Ace, I'm back."

The boys turned. Joan came into the room. She was holding a bag of fast food leftovers.

"Joan," Ace choked out. "Oh, Ace," Joan mumbled. She set the bag on the couch and rushed over to him. They fell into an embrace, and Ace started shaking. Tears streaked down Joan's cheeks, and her mascara ran.

The lump in Nick's throat got bigger. He had never seen Ace and Joan this way before; and because of something so tiny.

Of course, this tiny boy was irreplaceable.

"I don't know what to do," she sobbed into Ace's shoulder. "It's okay," Ace whispered. He lifted her up into his arms, and she wrapped her legs around his waist and cried into his shoulder.

Nick could tell that Ace ws trying to be strong in front of Joan. He didn't want her to see him as the terrified boy he was and get discouraged.

"You're doing a great job, honey," Ace whispered in her ear.

"You're doing better than me," Joan mumbled. Ace scoffed. "Heck no, I'm not. Guys and girls act different, babe," he said. Joan shrugged.

Nick grabbed a tissue and handed it to her. Joan took it gratefully, wiped the mascara off her face, and buried her face in Ace's shoulder again.

"Davey yawned this morning," Ace mumbled after a few minutes. "It was really cute."

"Did you take a video?" Joan asked.

Ace nodded. He got his phone and showed her the video. Joan smiled through her tears. She climbed down from Ace and went over to the incubator, then reached in and stroked Davian's fuzzy head.

"I just want to take him home and pretend this never happened," she whispered. Ace went over to her, put his arm around her, and kissed her. "Me, too," he whispered back.

The three teens stood over the incubator for a long time. After a while, Davian stretched a little bit and yawned again. "Awww," Joan whispered. She wiped tears from her eyes.

Ace reach in and held Davian's hand. "You're so strong, baby boy," he whispered. "You're not even a month old yet and you're already a warrior. Daddy's so proud of you, baby."

"We both are," Joan said. She blew Davian a kiss. "We love you so much, Davey. Keep on fighting."