Blake's POV
I sit on the window ledge and look outside. It's a nice day outside. I wish I could be out there enjoying it with my family. I visited my son early this morning. I'm told he's a little fighter. I can only think he gets it from his mom. I haven't named him yet. I'm waiting on Aaliyah. It's going on day three and still no sign of her waking up. Her room is filled with family. There's flowers and balloons everywhere from family and friends alike. My wife is loved dearly, near and far. As we all sit around in her room we share stories of Aaliyah, times she brought us joy, laughter, love, hope, strength and courage. It's nice to hear stories of her life before me. Some are actually funny, but that doesn't surprise me. That's one thing we have in common is our humor. We could be telling inside jokes and look like complete dumb asses, but I didn't care, those are the kind of people you need in your life, someone to be dumb with, reminding you that life doesn't always have to be so serious. It's hard seeing her close loved sit at her bedside, sobbing uncontrollably. Her mom is taking it hard especially, I could only imagine what she's feeling being that this is her only child clinging onto life. I watch as she cares for her daughter. She sponge bathes her, washes and brushes her hair. I've offered to do it but she wouldn't let me.
I've only been home once since this all happened. I miss my baby girl Blaine. I had to be there for her. She's probably wondering what's going on and why we're not home. I have to find a way to give her some normalcy while all this is going on, but to also be there for my son and wife.
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Day four
We were informed that Gia's sick psychotic as has been taken into custody. Finally, we can get some justice and some peace of mind. How could someone be so sick in their fucking head to take a woman from her family? To end a life in general? I was ashamed for being with her before all of this happened. What the fuck was I thinking? Oh yeah, I wasn't, I let my dick do the thinking then. If only I could take it all back, maybe this would've never happened.
"Blake?" Someone calls to me. I look over and see my mom standing there. "Yeah?" I ask. "Do you want to go visit baby for awhile?" She asks. "I'm sure everything is handled on this side." She adds. "Yeah." I nod. I head over to the NICU to visit baby. Just as I enter I see his nurse walking by. She stops. "Hey, I was just about to go in and feed him. You want to do it?" She asks me. "Yes, of course." I reply. "Okay, let's go." She leads the way to his room. He still has to be in an incubator. I stick my hands in some gloves that are attached to the window of the incubator and feed him. He fusses and has a hard time latching onto the bottle but with the nurses help I get him to latch. As he eats I think about when I told the news to Blaine about her new brother. We were laying on the couch together watching her favorite movie, Frozen. "Blaine, guess what?" I ask her.
"What?" She asks.
"You have a new baby brother."
"Baby brother?" She says confused.
"Mhm."
"In mommy's tummy?"
"No, no, no. He's out now. He's a tiny baby."
"Ohh."
"We'll go see him.. Soon. Okay?"
"I want to see mommy. Where's mommy?" She tries to cry.
"Mommy is... Hurt. She has a bad owie, and it's making her sleep. When she wakes up we'll go see her."
"No. I want to see her now." She demands. I can tell a tantrum is coming on. I switch the subject to avoid it. "Want to take a bubble bath?" I ask.
"With the pink bubbles?"
"Yep."
"Yess!!" She shouts in excitement and runs to the bathroom. My sons fussing brings me back to reality. I call the nurse for some help in burping him. She helps me flip him on his stomach on my palm and I rub his back. Almost immediately he lets out a loud burp. I gently lay him back down on his back. The nurse swaddles him and gives him a pacifier. Just like that, he's out for the count. I stay with him for a bit longer before I head back to the ICU.
It's getting pretty late out. Everyone has headed out to get some sleep. It's just me, Aaliyah's mom, Jess, Desi, and Nicki with Aaliyah. They're all asleep around the room. Aaliyah's mom sleeps in the love seat beside the bed. I pull up a seat right next to Aaliyah. I grab her hand before resting my head on her bed and going to sleep.
The coldness of the room wakes me up. I check my phone to see what time it is. 5:30 in the morning, this sucks. I find that my hand slipped out of Aaliyah's while I was sleeping. I grab her hand again before resting my head once more, when all of a sudden her hand twitches and grasps my hand. I look up at her. "Aaliyah?" I softly call out to her. She slowly opens her eyes. I don't want to startle her. I press the nurse call button. A minute later a nurse enters the room. "She's awake." The nurse says as she enters. She runs back out to get the doctor. Aaliyah's mom wakes up from all the commotion. "Oh my god. Aaliyah, baby. It's me, mommy." She says to Aaliyah. Aaliyah then tries to rip all the wires off that she's hooked up to, starting with the breathing tube. "No, no, no." Her mother and I both tell her. She proceeds to try and rip them off anyway. The doctors and nurses step in and intervene. They remove each wire separately and in a calm manner. As soon as they get the breathing tube off Aaliyah talks. "Water." She says hoarsely. The nurses get a sponge for her to suck absorbed water out of instead, advising her to take it slow. They proceed to inform her of her injuries and ask her questions about her identity and what she knows. She answers everything to the best of her knowledge. "Is my baby okay? Where's my baby?" She asks frantically as she sobs. I imagine she must be expecting the worst. The doctors calm her down and inform her that baby is okay and doing fine. We then get to speak to her. Her mom goes first, then Nicki, Desi, and Jess, briefly... Then me. "Hey, baby." I give her a kiss on the forehead. She begins to cry. "Are you still mad at me?" She asks. "No. You know I could never stay mad at you. I love you, with all my heart and soul. I'm sorry for being an asshole. We can have a re-do on our honeymoon. We can go anywhere you want." I tell her.
"To the An--" I cut her off before she can finish her sentence.
"To the Anne Frank house, I know."
"And to swim with some sharks... Let me finish my sentence big head." She jokes.
"There she is." I laugh. I'm glad she's okay. "We have a son. A baby son. You can name him whatever you want."
"I had some time to think about it... I had one name in particular.."
"What's that?"
"Achilles Reign.."
"Achilles Reign?"
"Because I haven't even met him yet and I already know he's my weakness and has reign over my heart."
"Achilles Reign Griffin.. Sounds good to me." I nod. She smiles weakly. "Just so you know.. You're never sleeping again.. Not for awhile anyway."
"And that's fine with me."
Over the next week and a half, with some words of encouragement from Blaine, Aaliyah finally gains enough strength to walk over to the NICU to see Achilles for the first time. Well, for herself anyway, I've been showing her pictures and videos of him. Achilles is also doing well. He's gaining weight and his lungs are now fully developed. I got to hold him the other day for the first time. I fed him and he burped him then he fell asleep my arms. Now it's his moms turn to do all that. No matter how much someone or something tries to break us apart, Aaliyah and I come back 100 times stronger. Now for this next chapter in our lives.
