Alysa and Chris have a 'unique' friendship. Whenever they're not in a relationship they hook-up with each other. One hook-up causes a life changing event, but Alysa makes a decision that will throw everyone's world into chaos.
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"Do you feel this Alysa?" Dr. Kyle asked. I felt light pressure on my leg.
"Not really." I sighed. I was laid out on the operating table. Hooked up to several things, my arms out to my sides. The anesthesiologist was by my head, there was an empty stool where Chris could sit on the other side of my head. It was freaking cold in here, but I also felt hot. I felt the urge to throw up and wondered how I could if I was numb from the chest down.
"Can I throw up? I feel like I need to throw up." I was casual about it. The anesthesiologist chuckled.
"I'll give you a little something for the nausea. Unfortunately, if you do throw up it will just run out the side of your mouth into your hair."
"Oh, well, that would suck." I heard a door open and Chris sat next to me. He was all covered up in hospital gear like me. He looked funny.
"Hey, how's it going?" He asked.
"You should play a doctor, you look so cute in surgical stuff."
"I will consider that for my next role." He smiled. The only place on my body he had access to was my forehead, so he put a hand on it.
"I'm so sorry Chris, so sorry. I do love you, no I don't like that word."
"Okay, Alysa, you're going to feel a lot of pressure, possibly some pulling. " She wasn't kidding, it felt like someone was crawling inside me, not being taken out. I grunted as I tried to catch my breath, there was even pressure in my chest.
"I need you, you know? I need you to make me smile, to talk to me, to just make life better, okay? But you're living with someone else, so can you all drop it? Fuck, what is happening down there?" The pressure let up and I heard a cry. That baby was pissed, she did want to stay in there. I felt tears running from the corners of my eyes. They held her up so I could see her. She was gross and squishy, but she was here.
"Do you want to cut the cord?" Someone asked Chris. He looked at me, question in his eyes.
"Go ahead, I'll wait here."
"We're going to check her vitals and clean her up. And put you back together." Dr. Kyle smiled.
"I'd appreciate that."
"Can...um, Chris, is it?"
"Yeah."
"Do you want him to hold her first or should we bring her to you?"
"He can hold her, I trust him not to drop her." I closed my eyes for a moment, then I felt something soft and warm on my cheek. I opened my eyes to see Chris holding the baby's cheek to mine.
"This is mommy." He whispered. I turned my head to look at her. This tiny human that I didn't plan for and wasn't ready for. Everything that came before her seemed unimportant. She was...everything.
"Let's get mommy back to her room." Someone said. I glanced up at Chris as he stood with the baby bundle. He was looking at her with adoration. He used to look at me like that. Things clicked into place. All these years, pretending I felt nothing, lying about the baby to protect myself, and I threw away something real.
They settled me in my room, the little couch in the room was made up into a bed for Chris. I still couldn't feel anything below my waist, it was annoying because I wanted to move around. A nurse came and helped me feed the baby, when she fell asleep I just let her stay on my bare chest. I started to fall asleep and Chris came and took her. He kissed her nose and sat in the rocking chair.
"Aurora."
"Huh?" He looked up at me.
"I want to name her Aurora Christine." I slept, I started to surface again a bit later and I could hear Chris talking.
"So anyway, that's what happened. Your mom didn't want me to know about you. I just figured she didn't love me. Auntie Sofia said it was because, your mommy would feel like I ruined my life. And the only reason we're together is because of you. Why is that a bad thing though? I didn't think it was possible to still love her after she lied, but you know what...I still love her. Maybe you can make us a family. I know that's a lot of pressure but let's face it, you're not even listening because you fell asleep again." I opened my eyes and Chris was walking Aurora around the room. Nervous energy. It was around seven in the morning, he needed to sleep.
"Hey." I shifted so I was in a sitting position, the numbness was starting to wear off. I felt like someone had used me as a punching bag.
"Hey." He smiled and brought her over. I ran my finger over her features. Chunky little girl. A nurse came in and gave me the lowdown. Once the anesthetic was out of my system in an hour or so they would remove the catheter and I would need to start moving. Between the pain from my incision and what I can only describe as nine-months worth of periods happening at once, the three days I was in the hospital was uncomfortable and messy. Sofia showed up that first day around nine. She came skidding into the room, waking Chris from his nap.
"I am so sorry! Henry and I took a little isolation vacation to work on the wedding. You weren't due for two weeks." I was holding Aur in the bed, watching TV. Chris sat up, yawned and rubbed his face.
"Coffee." He mumbled, he walked past me and the baby, pausing to put his hand on her for a moment, before sleepwalking out of the room.
"Has he been here the whole time?" Sofia asked, coming over and looking at Aur.
"Yeah...he sort of caused the labor." The feeling was back all over, so I could change position easier. Sure, I looked like a hunchback when I walked, but I was mobile again.
"And how did he do that?" Sofia held her hands out for the baby.
"I may have told him that he was the daddy in my sleep. He was less than ecstatic. We argued and are in the middle of a time-out in the fight."
"So, have you two talked at all about it?"
"No, priority one is Aurora. We'll deal with all the other stuff when we get out of here." I smiled as Aur yawned and opened her eyes. She liked to hear people talk.
The next two days I spent deciding what to do. Everything for me and Aur was in L.A., out of curiosity I had my N.Y. apartment put on the market. I already had an offer. But I didn't know if I wanted to live in California permanently. Chris was conflicted. He had a place in L.A. and Boston. Either way he could be close to Aur. But he wanted to go back to Boston, he had already missed several of the months he usually spent there on down time. My excuse for not going back, my grandparents, wasn't an issue since I cut them off. They had sold their house and moved somewhere to retire, or so my lawyer told me. Since Chris and I still hadn't addressed our situation, or Natalie for that matter, I didn't know what to do. If he was in Boston, she would be there too. So I couldn't stay with him. Sofia was in L.A. but was going on location, Scar was in Paris with her family for a while.
"I have an idea, but it's going to be a lot of work in a short time." I was changing Aur's diaper, I was due to go home in the morning. Sofia was sitting on the end of the hospital bed and Henry was leaning against a wall. Chris was frowning at his phone but looked up when I said that.
"What?" He asked.
"I'm going to take the offer on the apartment. Sofia I need you and Henry to supervise Aur's stuff and most of mine packed up from the condo. Don't worry about the furniture." All three of them stared at me.
"And where will we be putting this stuff?" Sofia frowned, she disliked moving shit. Chris looked at me hopefully.
"Chris, find me a place in Boston." His face fell for a split second, did he think I would stay with him and his girlfriend? I had professed my more-than love to him, didn't he think that would be awkward? Where the fuck was Natalie anyway?
