when we were eighteen - book one ✔️

Chapter Twelve

LOUIS // DECEMBER
Song of the Chapter: Isn't She Lovely by Stevie Wonder

Louis managed to get Harry into the car, then headed over to meet Gemma on the front lawn Anne's house. Anne came out a moment later, wiping her hands on a kitchen towel. Louis smiled at them and said, "The baby is on the way."

"What?" Gemma asked, her mouth hanging open in shock.

Anne came up, her eyes watery. She nodded then said, "Get him to the hospital, we'll be close behind."

And with that, Louis ran to the car. Harry was starting his second contraction, which meant the contractions were seven minutes apart. She was really coming.

"Breathe, Hazza," Louis said, starting the engine and pulling out onto the street. Harry was breathing through his nose, trying to control what was happening.

"Louis, stay with me. Through the whole thing, okay? I want you to be there, don't leave," Harry begged after the contraction passed.

"Hey," Louis said, reaching over and grabbing Harry's hand. "I just promised you that I wouldn't leave. I'll be there, don't worry about anything. Just focus on getting this baby out."

As they pulled into the carpark of the hospital, Harry had two more contractions. Louis grabbed the hospital bag from the trunk, then came around to Harry's door. He wrapped his arms around his torso and walked him in. They had to go up to Labor and Delivery on floor five. Once there, Harry was contracting against the reception desk and the nurse called for a wheelchair.

"What's his name? And, I need his medical card," the nurse demanded.

"Harry Styles, and..." Louis said, digging through the front pocket of the hospital bag for the medical card. Once he found it, he slid it over to the nurse.

"Can you confirm his date of birth?"

Really? His boyfriend was in labor and she wanted his birthday? "February 1st, 1992."

"Alright," she said, as a nurse came up with a wheelchair behind him. "We'll get him into an examination room, and if he's dilated enough, he'll be taken to the delivery room to push."

All she said basically went through one ear and out the other. Louis was so overwhelmed and excited, and he could barely focus. He followed the male nurse that was pushing Harry down the long, white-walled hallway. In the examination room, Louis helped Harry change out of his clothes into the hospital gown then up onto the examination table.

"Louis," Harry whispered, "she's really coming, huh?"

"Looks like it. Are you scared?" Louis asked him.

"I'm terrified. Did you tell your mum? Did you tell her about us?"

Shit. Louis never got around to telling his mum. He had been giving Harry and his child development course all of his time. He had honestly spaced it. How was going to tell a man in labor that he hadn't told his mother about him or the child they would have together?

"Haz-" Louis stated when a doctor and nurse entered the small room.

"Hello, I'm Doctor Ackles," the tall man said with an American accent, "And, this is Nurse Jesy. I'm going to be examining you today while Jesy hooks you up to all the monitors."

Jesy smiled at Harry warmly, it seemed familiar. She approached the bed, hooking up wires to a belt that monitored the baby's heartbeat and contractions. Doctor Ackles went over to the sink and begun washing his hands.

"Harry, why didn't you tell me that you were in labor?" Jesy asked him as she pulled him up into a sitting position. "I could've gotten you a better room."