Why Him?

Your place?

Its the next day and I am all packed up and ready to leave the hospital. Even though I will be coming back this afternoon to see Gabriel. My mom had to go to work so Josh is driving me home. We get to my place and I get settled in. After a moment if talking he goes to head over to his place. "I'll come back to pick you up at 11:30." I smile. "Okay." he leaves and I fall onto the couch. About five minutes later there's a knock at the door. I groan loudly. "Ugh.... Who is it?!" "Its Riley!" I sit up. "Its unlocked." she the opens the door and walks in. "Hey!" "Hey." she sits down next to me. "So when are you going to see the baby?" "Josh is going to pick me up at 11:30 and then we'll head over there. Why, you gonna stop by?" she smiles. "Yeah. I want to see my baby cousin up close." she cringes. "That is never going to sound normal." I shake my head. "Nope. If you want you can hitch a ride with me and Josh to the hospital?" I say. "Thanks but my dad wants to see his nephew so he's gonna drive me." I nod. "Okie dokie."

Her and I watch TV for a little bit then she heads back home. After she leaves I take a shower and get ready to leave. Josh arrives to pick me up and we begin our car ride to the hospital. We're both silent. I'm staring out the window. I'll notice him looking over at me every few minutes.
I decide to break I silence. "Isn't it just like five minutes from your place to the hospital?" he nods. "Yeah why?" I shrug. "Just wondering because we pass your place going to the hospital from fine mine." his brow wrinkles. "Oh yeah. Didn't think about that." it probably be easier for me to stay at his house while the baby's in the hospital but he probably wouldn't want that. He looks over at me. "It would probably be easier if you were to stay at my place while Gabriel's in the hospital. Considering I'm always going to be going up there when you go. Just a thought." wow. Maybe he can read my mind. "Sounds easier to me." he smiles. "Okay." now I'll have to convince my mom. That shouldn't be too hard. I mean come on him and I just had a kid together. We're not going to make that mistake/blessing again.

We arrive at the hospital and go straight to Gabriel. After a few minutes the nurse then sets up the wall divider so we start the "kangaroo" care. I made sure to wear a shirt with buttons up the front to make this process easier. I undo my my shirt and she lays him on my chest. She finagles the chords for a minute or two then drapes the blanket on me. I end up falling asleep while holding him so the hour passes much faster then I want. I am awakened by Josh's hand stroking up and down my arm. I open my eyes and he smiles at me. "He's got to go back in the incubator now."I look down at his little head and whisper in his ear. "Get better soon so I can stop letting you go." the nurse picks him up and walks back over to the incubator. I then button my shirt back up. I sigh as I lean back into the chair. Josh walks away when he sees Mr. Matthews and Riley. And I just sit there for a moment.

Riley walks over to me. "Hey." I stand up. "Hey." her and I continue chit chat for a while but we don't talk about any major topic. After about an hour or so Riley then thinks of a question. "What'd you name him?" I stand up. "Gabriel Noah Matthews." she smiles. "Wow. You gave birth to a Matthews. Who could have seen that coming?!" I laugh. "Nobody. But that's the beauty of it."